Oh no. No, I wasn't supposed to use that word! Heaven help me, but I had to come up with an explanation, and fast. That, or I could use a little bravado to give me time to think!
"Dog," I said, enunciating the word as if he simply hadn't heard me - or wasn't smart enough to know it. "That's what the beasts are called."
And his eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"
"My mother told me stories about them. Long ago, people kept them as pets, I guess? I don't know what else to call those things, and there are a lot of 'beasts' up here, so that's what I've been calling them. They aren't the beasts with trees coming from their heads. They aren't the ones wild men use to move the boxes on wheels. So, dogs."
"Dogs," Gideon said, nodding. "I can go with that. And you killed one?"
"It tried to bite me. That hurts." I shrugged. "So I crushed its neck. A big red-and-white thing."
"I think I saw that one!" Jeshiah said, shifting closer in the cluster of people. "It got Abiel."
I growled under my breath. "Then I'm glad it's dead."
In truth, I wasn't.Itwasn't. I'd made the story up like Ayla's Rose had told me, but Abiel was dead? How many more of my team had been lost? Turning toward Jeshiah, I headed that way, no longer caring about Gideon, what he thought about me, or any plans the man might have.
"Who else was lost?" I asked. "I saw Elijah."
The man's name was barely out of my mouth before he moved to my side. "Timon's wounded. I got him back, though." He gestured to the young man only a few feet away.
And that was when Uriah joined us. "I got separated. One of those beasts - "
"Dogs," I corrected, deciding we were all going to use this word now.
He nodded. "Dogs. One took my gun!"
"They do that," Jeshiah agreed. "And they had more this time."
"I don't know why we're not hunting the animals!" Elijah snapped. "Theydon't fight back!"
"The dogs do," Jeshiah grumbled.
"We have meat," a man said on his other side. "Lots of it. God delivered it to us."
Elijah turned to look right at me. "God."
"Yeah..." I said, wondering what he thought about that.
Considering he'd seen his sister out there already and knew she was the Phoenix? He also knew she was with the Wyvern, and that Dragon had saved his life. Knowing those two even the little I did, I was sure they'd talked to him - and in a language he understood - but he said nothing else.
Sadly, we couldn't wait forever. The world was quickly growing brighter, and we were still almost a day's walk from the compound. As the sky lightened, men began to murmur, and the sound was growing more worried and frustrated.
"Okay!" Gideon called out. "It is not safe for us to camp out here tonight. Those demons are still out there! We need to head back, and that means walking under the fires of Hell."
"It's not Hell," Jeshiah grumbled.
I hissed at him, silencing him. Timon's head whipped around, but the young man was smart enough not to say anything. But Jeshiah's comment wasn't the only one. A wave of whispers spread through the surviving hunters, and too many of these men were looking around as if hoping someone else would speak up. No one did.
So Gideon kept going. "Stick with your squad. My group will lead. Flank out, watch the edges, and stay under the trees so the skies won't burn your skin away." Then he turned, finding me amongst everyone else. "Tobias, your squad can guard the back, since you killed a beast with your bare hands."
"And my squad is brave enough to stand their ground," I agreed.
"Then let's go!" Gideon pushed through the people, walking forward like he knew exactly where he was going.
I didn't know how he did that. I knew general directions for things, but all these trees looked the same to me. Somewhere, there was a path. If we found that, I'd have a better idea, but not much of one. As much as we'd turned, run, and altered our course, I'd be lucky to pick which way held the compound and which held Dragons.
Group by group, men headed out. Some aimed to the left, others to the right, but my men stood our ground, waiting until everyone was on the move. Only then did we finally start walking, trailing well behind all the rest.
