Page 264 of Phoenix's Fire

Tobias glanced back, the sound of gunfire and screaming still much too close but far enough away for us to be safe. When he turned back, I watched him swallow, look at my dog, then back at me.

"Ayla, she explains everything in that letter, but she's staying. Callah said she's staying because none of this is right, and she thinks she's the only one who can stop it."

"Iam stopping it!" I snapped.

He lifted his hands. "Yes, I know, but she's helping the women. They reducedthe age of marriage, Ayla. We've lost too many hunters. There aren't enough babies. Children are now graduating at eighteen and entering their professions or marriage. Her wedding will be on the Day of the Seven Trumpets."

"But that's too soon!"

"I know," he agreed while I was quickly doing mental calculations.

"Ten days," I said, because that was the next holiday. The one they were here hunting for.

He nodded. "So I'm going to marry her."

I tensed, shifting my hand toward my krael, but he backed up.

"She'll be safe with me!" he hurried to say. "I will be responsible for her punishment, and no one needs to know if I don't do it. No other man will be allowed to hit her, Ayla. She can keep healing - because it helps me, as a hunter. She'll be able to mingle with the wives, and they're frantic. She canhelp!"

"And I know what happens in marriage," I growled.

He shook his head. "As friends. Just as friends. I don't want to hurt her, and this is all to stop this. A ruse, Ayla, not a real marriage. Just a way to stop this forever and keep women from getting hurt."

My body relaxed and I stepped back. He had a point, and one I'd made myself. If the women worked together, the men wouldn't have a chance. They didn't know how to care for themselves. They made us think we were worthless, butwewere what kept them alive.

"Then you tell her -" I tried, but Holly's head snapped up.

My dog growled just as a bush rustled. Something metallic clicked, and Tobias's eyes went wide. That was all I needed.

"Disarm!" I breathed.

Holly lunged. I grabbed my krael and spun, slicing hard just as the man put his arms up. The blade sliced through his arm, parting cloth and flesh - but not enough.

The Mole jumped back, and between one breath and the next, Zasen was there. When the man bumped into his chest, Zasen calmly clasped the unarmed Mole's shoulders, lifting his tail between us so the man could see.

"One drop," Zasen said, expelling a bit of fluid from his stinger, "and you are dead."

"Don't!" Tobias begged. "That's Sylis. He's my friend!"

Eighty-Three

Ayla

"Save me, Ayla?" Sylis begged, holding his open hands out before him to show he wasn't fighting. He didn't even grasp at his own wound. "Help me?"

"You want my help?" I growled, lifting my krael to show him I was not some helpless woman. "You eat these people, and you think I'll save you?!"

"He doesn't eat meat," Tobias said. "And he's helped me. I asked him to marry Callah if I can't get back because she's not leaving and he won't hurt her."

"Why?" Zasen demanded, speaking right beside the man's ear.

Sylis closed his eyes and whimpered, "I don't want to eat people."

So I put my krael back on my belt, then turned to get the gun Holly had taken from him. She got a rub as praise, but I didn't have time for more. Checking the weapon, I pressed it to my shoulder, then turned back.

"Let him go, Zasen."

"Ayla, please?" Tobias begged. "He doesn't know, but I think he'd help."

---