Which made me realize he had a point. I just didn't know how to make it work. Not for him, me, or anyone - and that was the problem. None of this worked.
And it was only getting worse.
Thirty-Four
Ayla
We'd been in the Reaper camp a few days, and I'd started to get used to the way they did things here. Zasen, however, had been on high alert. He'd assigned shifts for guard duty, and everyone who stayed had to take a turn. The crews were a mixture of the support staff, those who could fight, and dog handlers - and the Reapers had alotof dog handlers.
I'd been assigned to the early morning shift. The darkness before the dawn, Rymar called it. Zasen said it was because my eyes could see better than anyone else's, but Moles wouldn't attack right before the sun rose. The predators in the forest would be bedding down around then. In other words, it was the safest of the shifts he could give me, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
It also meant going to sleep early enough to be rested when Rymar woke me. The Reaper chief had assigned everyone from Lorsa to one of the now-empty cabins. Ours had a loft. A small one. It was enough room for two people to sleep on the main floor, and the other two could fit up there, but since there was always one of us on a protection shift, we had more than enoughroom, and my bed? It was the one on the ground floor, simply because Holly couldn't climb the ladder.
I had the blankets pulled close, with one arm out in the cold so I could wrap it around my dog. Too many times, I stirred, thinking I heard something, but eventually I fell into a real sleep - which was when Holly began rumbling.
At first, it was a soft, deep sound I could feel more than hear. Then, she barked! That loud, piercing sound startled me enough to jerk my body up to sitting. The cabin was still dark, but Holly was staring off to the side as if she could see through the wall.
"Hush," I told her, easing myself back down into the bed.
But while she stopped barking, her growl continued. I nudged her, thinking she was just distracted by the strange noises outside, when her mild complaints turned into something else.
Between one breath and the next, Holly jumped to her feet - still on the bed - and began barking like she was going to kill something. This wasn't her being annoyed. This was her guarding!
"Silence!" I ordered.
Her mouth snapped shut, and she turned to look at me. In that pause, I could hear the guys in the loft moving, clearly awake now, but there was something else. In the distance, other dogs were barking. Many of them.
"Shit," Zasen said, making a ruckus like he was scrambling out of bed. "Ayla, get dressed. Something's wrong."
"I'm up!" Kanik said.
"Find Eriska," Zasen told him. "I need her awake, and we need things organized."
I was mostly dressed, so I pulled on a second shirt with longer sleeves, then shoved my feet into my boots. The whole time, Holly was staring off at the wall, cocking her head fromside to side. Every so often, she growled again, but as quietly as she could.
"Bows!" Zasen said as he rushed down the stairs.
I was ahead of him there. The quivers for our arrows were by the door, and the unstrung bows were under my bed. Pulling them out, I tossed his over, then twisted mine the way I'd been taught, using my leg to make the bend so I could put the string on.
"Ayla, take my quiver," Kanik said.
"No, you'll need it," Zasen told him before I could agree. "If we need backup, Holly will find you. I'd like that backup to be armed."
"Got it," Kanik agreed, making his own way down the stairs.
And then we headed out, leaving him behind. Zasen took the lead, knowing this place better than I did, but he was following Holly. We weren't the only ones moving, either. From a dozen other cabins, people began to pour out. Dogs were everywhere, and yet somehow it felt like this was organized rather than chaos.
Then, from the southwest, the pops of guns rang out and someone cried, "Moles!"
Zasen stopped hard and grabbed my arm. "Fuck, we need to watch the back."
"Kanik," I told him, looking down at my dog. "Holly, find Kanik!"
She spun around and ran as fast as she could. Considering we weren't that far, it was almost a waste to send her, but she hit the door to our cabin and scratched down the front with both paws. Kanik shoved it open, saw her, and looked around.
"Kanik!" Zasen yelled. "Get a group to watch our backs! It's Moles!"
"On it!" Kanik said, turning for the building Reapers used as a dining hall. "Holly, get Ayla."
