"Uh, like ten? Twelve?" Harald guessed. "Why?"
"And they've actually foundbothends of the line?" I demanded.
"Yeah," Timon said. "I told you that! One side is the wild men's camp. The other is left a ways. Further than we've been before."
"They said the ground starts going up like it does around the compound," another offered. "But there's a trail."
In my chest, my heart felt like it had stalled. My skin prickled. None of this was right, but as I looked at the men around me, I started putting a few things together. These were men who'd made mistakes. Men Gideon had screamed at in training. Men who'd been said to have no chance of a promotion, who would eventually end up in the fungus farms at the rate they were going.
But I was still missing something. I could almost feel it like an itch on my skin I couldn't reach. There was one piece that didn't make any sense, and I knew I had to figure it out now, before we went any further.
"How many of you have been reprimanded for something?" I asked.
"Really?" Elijah asked.
"Have you?" I shot back.
He murmured, tilting his head slightly as if I wasn't completely wrong. "I was saved by the Wyvern. I said he might not be wrong. Gideon - and the operations manager before him - made it clear I should never say that again."
"I shot my last squad lead," another man admitted. "Didn't kill him, though!"
"Still made him retire to reloading," his friend pointed out.
So I asked, "Isanyonehere moving up the ranks, getting promoted, and comfortable with what the leadership thinks of you?"
Silence. The men looked at each other, then to someone else. There was guilt on a few faces, which meant I'd found the problem.Thiswas why we'd all been picked!
"Okay," I said. "What does anyone know about Gideon's mission? I don't care if it's gossip."
"They took carts," a man in the back offered.
"And shackles," someone else said.
"Daveed said this was going to be the redemption we've been waiting for," another called out.
"One of the squad leads was saying that if this worked, he'd never have to deal with his shrew of a wife again." And the man shrugged.
But those words? That was the missing piece!
"Satan's testicles!" I snarled.
"What?" Elijah asked.
"Do you remember the last men's meeting? The one that had only hunters?" I looked around, seeing a few men nodding. "They want to capture wild women to replace any wives whodisobey. They want to stop the girls from attacking their intended, or the widows from refusing suitors, right?"
"Don't we all?" Jonnas asked.
"But what are those women doing wrong?" I asked. "What is their sin?"
"God said to be fruitful," another offered.
"But what is thesin?" I demanded. "Which commandment are they breaking? Of all God's laws, how are they disobeying one?"
"They're not listening to their husbands," Uriah tried. "That's their job. They're supposed to obey and bear our children."
"Their. Job." I said, turning to see the men behind me too. "And look at us. I know I'm not the most qualified man for this position. I wanted it, yes, but others deserve it more. Never mind that it came out of nowhere!"
"But you led the team back last time," Jeshiah said.
