Page 265 of Phoenix's Fire

"Would you?" I asked.

"I don't want to go back and get married," Sylis said, those pale eyes of his locked on me. "I don't want to be a hunter, but most of us are now. I don't know what's going on, but I wanted to make sure Tobias was safe." He glanced over to the man behind me. "Did they hurt you?" he asked.

Zasen ducked his head and chuckled. "You Moles are fucked," he mumbled.

"And I told Sylis you speak English," Tobias said. "I trust him that much, but I haven't told him the rest."

"What rest?" Sylis asked, keeping his hands high even as blood began to seep from the wound.

"Sit!" I ordered, using the tip of the gun to show him where I wanted him. "You too, Tobias. Zasen? If the new one runs, sting him."

"Yes, ma'am," Zasen said with a smile.

But the moment Sylis's rump was on the dirt, I moved in. "Talk."

Finally, he dared to clasp his own wound, proving it had to hurt. "I don't know what to say!"

"He doesn't," Tobias promised. "He's been asking about you, but not like he's trying to stop you. Ayla, he's my squad leader, but only because everyone else was dead. He started hunting right around when you got thrown out, and he started with pulling the carts. He's also helped me."

"I've seen the town," Sylis said. "It's a place for people, not animals. There are children! They put them in the carts too, and I don't eat meat anymore. I'd rather be hungry than do that!"

I nodded, lowering the gun a bit. "Then what do you want?"

Sylis looked at Tobias, who simply shook his head. "I'm not helping you," he said. "Sorry, but I can't. I'm helping me and hoping you really are on my side."

"Some of us realize the elders are lying," Sylis said. "We'd be shot if we say anything, but there's like five of us. Well, I'm including myself and Tobias. Men I've been talking to who don't think this is right, and the elders want us dead so they can have the girls, or something! We don't know, but it can't be food, since they don't get it themselves, and I don't know what stuff they don't have, so it has to be the young and beautiful wives."

"The power," Tobias corrected. "Obey them or die."

"The Lord have mercy," Sylis breathed. "That makes sense."

"What will you do?" I snapped, refusing to let this man get too comfortable.

"What? I don't..." His eyes jumped to Tobias desperately.

"She means about me talking to her," Tobias explained, sounding much too calm about this.

Beside me, Zasen lifted a hand to cover his mouth. "Mmm..." he murmured.

"What?" I demanded, aware he saw something I didn't.

So Zasen switched to Vestrian. "I think the little one is in love with the big one."

"They don't do that," I assured him.

"No, Ayla. They aren'tallowedto do that, but watch him. He's trying to protect your friend while also hoping he'll be protected by him. He keeps looking, and with soft eyes. Not angry or merely scared, but more like worry and... attraction."

"I don't know those words," Tobias said.

"Don't worry, we're just debating your friend," Zasen said, turning to look at Sylis. "Why did you follow him?"

"I didn't want him to die," Sylis admitted, but his voice came out weak before the Wyvern.

Zasen just glanced at me. "Put the gun down, Ayla, and use this to our advantage."

That was in English, which made Tobias look between the three of us. Yeah, Iknew there was a lot of double-talk going on, but I had one more thing to say, and this was what would convince me whether this man should live or not.

So I lowered the weapon and leaned into his face. "If you run, my dog will kill you. If you attack me, the Wyvern will. If you say anything about this, Tobias will. Am I clear?"

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