I nodded. "And that wasn't enough to get me promoted before. I've also made mistakes. All of us have, but here we are, the worst of the hunters? Don't any of you find that odd? And we're being told to attack the middle of this line of heathens now? Exactly when..." My words trailed off as the all-too-obvious answer hit me.
"What?" Harald asked when I was silent for too long.
"If they can discard the women who aren't good enough at their jobs," I said, "then what about the men who are the same? Us. The ones who aren't the best hunters, but aren't bad enough to move to another assignment? What if they sentusoutside, then made sure we couldn't return?"
"No..." someone breathed.
"And if they send us out to attack the enemy exactly when Gideon's team is sneaking around them? Make all the Dragons and wild men look this way, not that one? Let us die so we won't cause any problems?"
The men around me erupted. People were yelling on all sides. Many were trying to deny it, but others were saying they weren't going to make it easy to be killed off. Twenty-four men, give or take a few empty spots on the squads, and all of them were roaring in anger.
"So what do we do?" I yelled over them.
But they didn't hear me. They were now screaming at each other, offering suggestions, and verging on panic. This was why Gideon kept them quiet. I'd always been told women were excitable, but my experience said otherwise. These men - most of them barely more than boys - were growing louder and louder, and none of them were listening as I tried to get them to focus!
I turned to try again, but I swore I saw something move under the trees. I froze, ignoring the cacophony around me, and saw another. Spinning, I found more on my other side. They were fast, but too familiar, and these men were screaming loud enough to let everything in the area hear us.
"Enough!" I snapped, needing them to stop talking.
Something bigger moved at the edge of my vision. I turned, trying to find it, but there were too many trees. Too many shapes to make out. Plenty moved, but was that just the wind or something else? I couldn't hear to be sure, not over these men.
So I roared, "Silence!"
The hunters immediately stopped talking to gape at me. But in the hush that followed, there was still sound. A low, deep, rumbling I knew much too well.
"Guv oup," a voice called, the words strange and twisted. "Tur zorundud."
And the dogs moved closer. Around me, the men spun, trying to see them all. Dark shapes, light ones, and spotted ones were barely visible in the underbrush. I knew these men could see them, and they were all tensing up like they were about to panic.
"Do not move," I warned, and then raised my voice to whoever was out there. "We do not understand. We speak English!"
"What are you doing?" Jonnas hissed.
That voice called out, speaking too fast for me to even make out the sounds. Another, further away, either replied or repeated it. I couldn't be sure. But all around us, footsteps shifted. Over there, a Dragon was just visible, partially hidden by a tree. On my other side, it was a Reaper - er, wild man.
"Do you speak English?" I asked again, pulling my gun strap over my head.
The sound of a dozen bowstrings tightening was louder than I'd expected. I couldn't even see them all, but I'd heard it - and the growling grew more intense.
This was how I'd die - here, knowing the code, but unable to give it to anyone because of a foolish language barrier!
My heart hammered in my chest, then skipped a few beats as fear took over. I wanted to run, but knew better. Out there, the Dragons and Reapers were waiting. Those dogs would tear us apart if given half a chance. And worse, if any of these men broke, we'd all be assumed to be enemies - and killed.
Then, directly on the path we'd been heading, a dark Dragon stepped forward. His size was impressive. His clothing was as black as the sky above, but it didn't hide the stripes on his head and hands. Behind him, his tail lashed, revealing the most vivid blue I'd ever seen.
"You all just really want to die, don't you?" the Wyvern asked in perfect English.
"Stand. Still!" I ordered the men with me. "Right now, there are at least a dozen bows trained on us. Probably more. None of us will even get a gun up before we're dead."
But Jonnas didn't listen. He spun, trying to grab his weapon and aim at the same time. I heard a garbled word and a singledark streak rushed between us, slamming into Jonnas and yanking him off his feet. The beast grabbed the gun in the middle and pulled, ripping the strap over the hunter's head, dragging Jonnas three feet in the process, and then raced back into the trees the moment it had the gun.
Men moved. Everyone turned to assist, but it all happened so fast they barely had time to do more than twist.
"Stop!" I ordered. "The next man who moves is probably going to die, or do you not understand that? We're surrounded, unprepared, and at their mercy."
"And we have alotof dogs," the Wyvern almost purred, moving a little closer. "So, what will it be? Are we going to kill all of you tonight?"
"If they surrender, will they live?" I asked.
