Page 256 of Phoenix's Fire

Eighty

Tobias

The sky had just begun to lighten when we reached the first camping spot. The moment we were told to set up camp, all sixty men pulled out the paltry supplies we were given for protection. It consisted of a foil tarp that could fold small enough to fit in a pocket on our vests and a string. Twine, they called it, but it certainly wasn't a rope.

The twine went around a tree on one side, then was wrapped around a stake on the other. Well, a stick that was pounded into the ground with a local rock. More sticks secured the edges, making a triangle shape that would block us from the sun as we slept.

I'd just finished setting mine up when Sylis made his way over. "I'm supposed to check to be sure you know what you're doing," he teased. "Mind if I use the other side of your tree?"

"Nope," I said.

So he passed me his twine. "Willing to tie it up by yours?"

I let out a hearty laugh. "You're going to owe me for this, you know."

"Worth it for the reach," he assured me.

But I helped him set up his cover as well. Without these foil sheets, we'd all roast in the daylight as we slept. Since many of these men weren't used to walking so far, the sheer exhaustion of the effort would likely be enough to make them sleep through the heat.

But when we finished, Sylis sat down on the short side of his shelter and pulled a package of dried trail mix from his vest. With a grunt, I joined him, finding my own. It was little more than the parts they used to make our daily vegetable mash, and not exactly tasty, but it was food.

"Hey, I wanted to ask a favor," I said.

He gave me a confused look. "About?"

"Callah." I popped a pinch of the grains into my mouth and chewed loudly. "You said you were thinking you might need to get married, right?"

"Yeah," he muttered. "They want all of us to have a child by the time we're twenty-five now. As hunters, they say the sooner we start, the less chance of our line being lost."

I grunted at that. "Well, that's the thing. A lot of us aren't making it back, and um..." I took another bite as I desperately tried to figure out how to ask this. "If I die, would you marry her?"

"What?" he huffed. "Tobias..."

This was not the conversation I wanted to be having. It definitely wasn't something I should be planning for, but I'd forgotten to tell Callah one thing. The Wyvern had told me to get numbers and a map. I hadn't. I'd tried, but while I could make some vague guesses, there was no way for me to get such things without raising too many suspicions.

And I was sure the Wyvern was not a very forgiving man.

Between the grenades, the lack of information to help them, and the reality that I might not see Ayla or her Dragon friend? The odds were not in my favor for making it home. I couldn't dwell on that, though. If I did, the fear would become crippling. Instead, I simply needed to make sure I planned for everything - including my death.

"Callah's a sweet girl," I told Sylis. "And she's kind, and caring. She's pretty too."

"That she is," he agreed. "Saw that when you made a fool out of yourself proposing to her."

"But she said yes," I pointed out.

"And yet you're askingmeto marry her?"

"If I die," I clarified. "Just so she doesn't get stuck with someone like Reynold Saunders. She's scared of him, and I think she's too good for an old man who's already had a dozen kids. She needs a husband who'll take care of her."

He swirled around the contents of his bag. "And not hit her, right?"

"Yeah, that's the important part," I said. "She's so scared someone will hit her. She got punished a few times as a girl, you know. And it makes her cry, and I don't like it when she cries, so I thought maybe..."

He tilted the bag, pouring a bit into his mouth. I looked over as he chewed through the overly dry mess. Around us, the sky was shifting to a blue color, and pinks were creeping behind the trees, yet I refused to look away until he finally swallowed.

"At least think about it?" I asked.

"Okay," he said. "But on one condition."