"Have a seat, Merienne," he said, gesturing to one before his desk. Then under his breath, he added, "You two as well, I guess."
"Thanks," Rymar said dryly.
Drozel gently pressed a hand against my back, guiding me where I needed to be, then sat beside me. "So, I only know part of why I'm here. Rymar, you want to tell us the rest?"
"The Moles are mixing things up," Rymar said. "They hit the Reapers, and it wasn't an accident. The attack that sent us down there? It was bad, Jerlis. Many were killed. Seven women were captured by the Moles and put in quarantine."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
Rymar nodded. "Tobias confirmed it. But a few days later, they attacked again. That was when Tobias'sfriendwas injured. The man's name is Sylis." And he lifted a hand, begging Drozel and me to wait before interrupting. "Zasen decided to hunt for them, and with the Reapers' help, five carts of meat were left outside the door to their compound. Evidently that's enough for them to freeze the excess. Well, that only slowed them for a bit. They attacked again last night, but thanks to the quick thinking of Lansin and Ayla, they did not make it here."
"Here?" Drozel asked, his head whipping around.
Rymar nodded. "Here's where they were headed. Apparently, Reapers all train their dogs commands from a dog whistle."
"Too high-pitched for humans to hear," Drozel explained to me, "but dogs can hear it just fine."
Rymar nodded. "Tobias has a whistle. Making the dogs sit means they're going to the Reaper's camp. Making them lie down means they aren't going to the Reapers' camp, and that pretty much means here."
"Shit," Jerlis grumbled. "But you stopped them?"
"Yes, but it gets worse," Rymar said. "They're way off schedule. Tobias says he was told the night before with only enough time to get ready to leave when the lights came on. This is at least the second time that's happened, because we think the attack on the Reapers wasn't quite on schedule either."
"I knew something felt wrong," I muttered.
Drozel simply reached over to rub my shoulder.
"But last night, they weren't trying to hunt," Rymar explained. "Tobias thinks they're shifting from gathering food to a war. He didn't use those words, but that seems to be the impression he's passing along. The age of maturity is now eighteen down there. Both boys and girls. That means there's a lot of brand-new hunters, and the latest fight? Zasen said it was a complete mess."
"Where were you?" Drozel asked.
Rymar chuckled. "Talking to Jerlis's nephew. Kanik didn't want me in that fight because I stand out."
"I thought you said it was at night?" Drozel asked.
But I knew the answer to this. "That's enough light for Moles. It's what we think of as daylight, and we don't have bright colors in the compound. Even the ones we think are bright are nothing compared to what's up here."
"Okay," Jerlis said. "So why are we all here? What am I supposed to do about any of this?"
"More wounded came in," Drozel said.
Rymar nodded. "And this is going to be a long fight, Jerlis. There's no more schedule. That means we can either go back to heading inside before sundown, or we can meet them in the middle. Eriska -" He paused to look at me. "She's the leader of the Reapers, their chief." Then back to Jerlis. "The Reapers she has with her right now are out for revenge. They're not leaving. Most of their clan has headed to their winter camp, and today they should be closing down their summer camp. The plan is to set up a chain of smaller camps that make a barrier between the Moles and Lorsa."
"Just Lorsa?" Jerlis asked.
Rymar made a little noise and lifted one shoulder. "There was discussion about where to end the line, but since thesummer camp is going to be empty, it doesn't need to be guarded."
"And it's going to be winter soon," Drozel pointed out.
"Is that bad?" I asked.
"Cold," Rymar told me. "Usually wet. Basically miserable. That's why we need to use the emergency housing."
"The tents?" Jerlis asked.
Rymar nodded. "Wood stoves would be a big help too. They have twelve campsites. If we can do at least two tents for each one, and one stove?"
"We'll start with one stove," Jerlis said, "and I'll have the manufacturers make up some more if we don't already have them. What else?"
