But Tamin didn't need to know any of that. My nephew only cared that he was scared and alone. "I'm here," I whispered to him, hugging him as hard as I could. "You're okay, Tamin. I've got you and you're okay."
"But Mama..."
There was no way to make that better, so I simply cradled his head against my stomach, making sure he didn't need to feel alone.
It was Drozel who finally answered Zasen. "Around four this morning, screams woke me up. How the fuck did they get past you, Zasen?"
"They split their forces," he said. "Tobias alerted us so we could capture the smaller one, and he said they were coming, but they were supposed to hit tonight. Theyalwayscome at sundown."
"Not this time," Omden grumbled.
"Shit," Kanik breathed. "They're learning."
"They're desperate!" Rymar said, moving forward. "And what's the problem here?"
"That Mole..." someone sneered, pointing at Sylis.
"He fought for us!" Drozel yelled. "Us! That'sMoleblood on him."
"I don't want their kind!" another called out.
"Then leave," Rymar said, turning to the voice. "This is Lorsa. This is our home, and we are not Moles. We don't pick and choose people because they look like us - or remove them because they don't. We do not torture, or hunt people, or kidnap women! We are a place of laws!"
He turned to the other side. "And I know this was bad." He paused, glancing back. "They took my family this time. My sister-in-law!" And he pulled in a hard breath. "But they forgotonething."
He marched to Jerlis, and the pair shared a look. Jerlis nodded and stepped back, letting Rymar take control of this. I got the impression it was because whatever Jerlis had been doing? It wasn't working.
So Rymar turned to Sylis, dropping a hand on the man's shoulder. "What did you do when they came?"
"Drozel said to stay inside and guard the women," Sylis explained in English - then he stopped and tried again in Vestrian. "Drozel say to stay inside. I was to protect the women. Da lady came with the child, and we had to go after him, so I protected the women." Then he stood taller. "And I killed them. They want me dead because I am not like them."
"How?" Rymar asked. "What makes you not a Mole, Sylis?"
I swore the man looked proud. "I have friends. Drozel. Omden. Meri. Lessa. They are my friends, and I don't care if that's not done. I don't care if I shouldn't be friends with a woman. That is the Mole way, and me Dragon now!"
"Not yet," Rymar said.
"I dunno," Jerlis countered. "I think we should let Boris decide, but if the Scribes agree, then this man should be a Dragon, becausehe is not a Mole!"
"I am not!" Sylis yelled. "I kiss men. I do not eat Dragons! I will never take women, and women should be free! Moles would kill me for that. Moles would make me pain. Dragon? Dragons make me a man instead!"
"Close enough," Rymar agreed. "Where the Moles would call him an abomination, we call him a man. Just a man, and we offer something they can't understand." He turned again, making sure he addressed everyone in the crowd. "We are the not the villains. This? This hurts, and wewillfight back, but we willneverbecome like them, do you hear me?"
And the crowd mumbled.
"Do youhearme?!" Rymar roared.
"Yes!" they called back this time.
But there was one question no one had answered yet. "Did they capture women or just take bodies?" I called out.
And from the side, a woman replied, "I saw them struggling with a woman."
"Me too!" another said.
A man added, "They were putting manacles on them and taking them past the fields."
"What fields?" I asked, looking at Kanik.
