"All I'm saying, Stinn, is that she deserves a chance." Then Lansin dipped his head my way. "All you, Ayla."
"Thank you," I said, stepping into the middle of these people and their dogs. "We all know Moles have guns," I told them. "We have bows, and that means it's not an even fight. When I first got here, I'd hoped we could take enough guns from them to even the odds, but they don't work without bullets. What I didn't know back then was that we have something even better: dogs."
I reached down to ruffle Holly's ears. She looked up at me adoringly, which made me smile. In the crowd, someone chuckled.
"Yep, she's a dog person."
"Told ya," Lansin said.
"So," I said, trying to ignore the way their comments made me feel self-conscious, "I don't know if all dogs like to fetch as much as Holly, but that's how we realized she could do this." I waved Rymar over. "Can you play the Mole for me so I can demonstrate?"
"Oh, this is going to hurt," he grumbled, but it was with a smile.
I passed him one of the guns. He held it wrong, but it was close enough for what I needed. Slowly, Rymar made his way further and further out - and Holly watched him the entire time. So did the dog handlers around me. When I felt he was in a good place for everyone to see, I gave the command.
"Holly, disarm!"
She took off, racing around the outside of the circle the Reapers had unconsciously made. Rymar's head whipped around, trying to find her, but there were too many people and too many dogs for him to have a chance. I knew where she was, though. So when Holly slipped between a pair of men and jumped, hitting Rymar from the side, I got to see it all.
Her feet shoved him back hard. Her teeth caught the shoulder strap. When she landed on the ground again, she took off, dragging Rymar one pace before the strap slipped over his head and left him in the dirt.
"Good girl!" I praised, taking the gun when she brought it to me. "Yes, you're a good dog, aren't you?" Then I stood and lifted the gun. "It's less about getting it back and more about them not having it. I've been working on teaching her to drop it, but in the middle of a fight, she can't always hear me."
"What happens if you try to hold on to it?" Stinn, the angry man from last night, asked.
From behind me, Xav huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, that's not going to happen."
"How can you be sure?" Stinn demanded.
So I offered the gun to him. "Would you like to try?"
"I'm not touching that thing!"
"I will," Xav said. "Demon, go to Ayla. Guard."
His dog hurried over, then sat beside me. When Xav took the gun, he told me I had control of him, and to use him instead of Holly this time. I nodded, seeing where he was going with this. Then, like Rymar had, he began to move away from me.
"I need you someplace they can see you," I called after him.
"Getting there," Xav promised.
The Reapers began to murmur, clearly trying to decide if they like this idea or not. I didn't care. Iwouldteach them how to do it, but if they didn't want to listen, then that wasn't my fault. I couldn't make them pick the right thing. I could only offer to share what I knew.
Soon enough, Xav appeared on the far side of the circle. The moment I saw him, I gave the command. "Demon, disarm!"
Xav's dog took off. Holly lurched, proving she wanted to follow, but her rump only got an inch off the ground before she sat back down. But Demon was a little bigger than Holly, so when he hit Xav, they both flew backwards. Xav's back slammed into the ground, Demon locked his teeth on the gun and growled, dragging Xav across the dirt as they struggled over who'd get the weapon in the end.
And Xav didn't stand a chance. The dog turned, heaved, and was moving so fast Xav simply couldn't get his feet under him. Holding on to the gun made it easier for him to be dragged, and the moment he let go with one hand to stop the motion, Demon had the gun, rushing to bring it back.
"Good boy!" I called, bending over to pet him when he made it back. "Yeah, you're a good dog, aren't you? Good boy!"
"Trying to spoil my dog?" Xav asked, as he climbed to his feet. "And yeah, that was the best I had. If I hold on to it, he drags me to the enemy. If I let go, I'm disarmed. And without a gun, a Mole is harmless."
"I prefer dead," I told them.
"So how do we train this trick of yours?" Stinn asked.
"First," I said, "we taught the dogs the weapon. That's what they need to bring back. I used fetch as the starting point."
