"Don't," I told him, looking at the rest of my squad. "I can ignore a lot from skilled hunters, but that? I want a promotion, and ignoring the heresy you all throw out?"
Elijah clasped Timon's arm and dragged the young man forward, convincing the rest of us to start walking again.
"Relax, Tobias," he taunted, making it sound light-hearted. "It's not like anyone's watching you or anything."
"We are always being watched," I countered. "We watch each other. We watch the other squads. Gideon watches all of us. Inside, there's even more, but if you think we're not being judged for everything we say, you're fooling yourself."
"But we're allowed to joke," Uriah insisted.
"I'm not."
"Why not?" Jeshiah wanted to know.
But it was Elijah who answered. "Because his wife was in the wrong room as a girl. The elders are probably convinced she's possessed, and waiting to see if that corruption extends to you, huh?"
"Something like that."
"But," Elijah said, "it's entirely possible the corruption that took my sister and Gideon's wife has a name."
"What's that?" I asked, unsure where he was going with this.
"It's called 'not being stupid,'" he said. "And from what I can see, Tobias, you're not a stupid man. Here's the thing. We aren't either."
"And I don't trust anyone," I told him. "I've already seen what betrayal can do. I am here to hunt like I'm told. Nothing more, nothing less."
"One day, you'll have to trust someone," he pointed out.
I scoffed at that. "We'll see. For all you know, I'll die before making it back. That is what happens to hunters who open their mouths. At least in my experience."
"And yet I'm still alive," Elijah reminded me. "Saved by the Wyvern himself, and still very much alive."
"How about we just let Tobias be grumpy on his own," Jeshiah suggested. "He can sulk. We'll be over here when he wants to give us orders."
And yet, when they wandered off, those four men didn't go very far. It was almost like they weren't scared of me. Or maybe they also had nothing else to lose.
Which meant we all might have something to gain.
Seventy-Nine
Ayla
Over the last few days, there had been multiple attacks. We'd heard about most of them after they were all done, but the Reapers had a method of using the dogs as messengers, and it was working out. Neighboring camps could be summoned for support and updates were moving quickly up the line of campsites.
Even better, the Moles would hit someplace, meet resistance, and then retreat quickly. So far, according to the messages, the casualties had been minimal. That was the good news. The bad? While the Moles hadn't been systematically moving down the line of camps, they had been mostly moving west.
That meant they should hit us any day now.
Because of that, our schedules had all changed. Everyone was staying up later and sleeping as much as we could during the day. Lansin was adamant the dogs would be enough during daylight hours. Since the Moles would be nearly blind, and dogs could hear or smell them long before we could, it was the best option.
So our shifts were now divided through the dark hours. We didn't have a true schedule, though. The nights had started getting colder, and fast. To keep warm, we needed a fire. Sittingaround the fire was bad for our eyesight, so a pair would head into the trees to watch for shadows moving until they got too cold.
And it was currently my turn. Holly and Pepper seemed to like this weather. Rymar? Not so much, but he'd still volunteered to join me. He'd also brought a wonderfully thick blanket to wrap around both of us.
The pair of us were far enough into the woods that the fire was only a speck behind us and the voices of our friends couldn't be heard. Rymar had found a big tree, then kicked dried leaves up around the base and sat down. It hadn't taken much encouragement to get me to sit between his knees, and when he wrapped the blanket around both of our shoulders, it was almost pleasant.
"So," I asked, relaxing into him, "is this winter?"
"We're right at the cusp," he admitted. "There's a few weeks where it's really cold, but mostly it will be about like this."
