And my dog ran back, weaving between the people still streaming past us.
Bows were in hands. Dogs were at their sides. I saw knives and krael at the ready, and everyone seemed to be running in a different direction, but Zasen didn't take off again. Instead, he stood there, watching, gauging where we were needed most.
Then he pointed to the southwest. "That's the weak spot," he told me - and took off.
Together, we ran. I had my bow in one hand, an arrow in the other, but Zasen was holding his krael. His bow was slung across his back, ready in case he needed it, but the open space before us felt like it was too big, would take too long to get across. I expected an army of hunters to rush into it any second.
And the gunshots were beside us now.
Then we were inside the tree line and still moving. Up ahead, I could hear the grunts and cries of battle. Gunshots broke through the stillness of the night, closer than before, but so did the snarls and barks of all the dogs. Then I saw a shadow shifting between the trees.
"Down!" I told Zasen, nocking my arrow and letting it fly the moment he ducked out of my way.
"Where?" he demanded.
I pointed, so he ran that way. More were shifting in the trees. They were just dark shadows, but I could still see them better than the Reapers and most Dragons, so I shot. My arrows flew, making my quiver empty faster than I liked, but if I found a gun, I could use that too.
A pop rang out much too close. Zasen yanked me behind a tree, but Holly was already moving. I hadn't even given her a command, but she darted around us, nearly invisible with her striped coat, and then a man cried out.
"Holly, kill!" I ordered - and the screaming stopped a split-second later. "Disarm!"
"You don't need a gun!" Zasen snarled. "Holly, come!"
"I can see," I reminded him.
So he let go of my arms. "Then lead on."
"Holly, guard. Get the Moles," I said, and headed toward the shifting shadows.
We hit the first group from the side. They were focused on what was before them, so they didn't see Zasen until he'd stung the first man and was grappling with the second. The third ducked back, so I sent Holly at him. The fourth and fifth were too close to shoot. Dropping my bow, I grabbed my own blades, and finally got to lash out the way I'd always wanted.
The curved blade of my weapons cut one man across his arm. The spiked end of the other slammed into the last man's back. He dropped in pain, so I punched at the one I'd wounded first. I'd learned how to defend myself, but I wasn't as good with attacking. It also didn't matter.
Combat was different from my lessons with my men. Lessons were controlled, slow, and always predictable. This? It was panicked and wild. The Mole before me tried to grab my blades, not caring if they cut his hands. He tried to use his gun as a shield, unable to get it up between us, but that was good. That meant I was winning.
Then the Mole gasped, his entire body locking up and crashing to the ground. Behind him, Zasen stood panting, his tail up and stinger out.
"This is why the bow's better," he said, lifting a brow smugly. "Your arrows have venom on them."
"I had him!" I hissed.
"Yeah, and this isreal, Ayla."
But behind him, I saw something. Not close, but it made my eyes go wide. Zasen spun, noticing when my attention shifted.
"What?" he asked.
"I think that's Tobias," I said, pointing.
"Here?"
"He's a hunter, Zasen. Heshouldbe here!"
"Fuck!" His head whipped from side to side, checking around us. "How can you be sure?"
"There was a man much taller than the ones around him." And I lifted a brow the way he had a moment before. "If not Tobias, I don't know who it would be."
"Show me," he said.
