Page 273 of Phoenix's Fire

There were eleven men left - twelve if I counted my brother - and they were all staring at me with their mouths open. Blatantly, I lifted my hand to the trees, letting Jeera and the men know to stay hidden, and moved to Zasen's side.

Then I looked from him to the men pointedly. "I should cut off your tail," I hissed in Vestrian.

He shrugged, completely unconcerned. "He's your brother."

So I switched to English. "My brother who never cared enough to help me when I needed it. My brother who stood by while I was sold to the highest bidder in a lie they call marriage. Moles are not Dragons, Wyvern - they do not love all of God's creatures. They live in a pit, spread lies, insisttheyare righteous, and spend their days worried about either giving or receiving punishment! What is that, if not Hell? And nothing about their evil ways makes them worth helping!Thisis their punishment. They starve because they cannot learn, refuse to adapt, and worry more about the way things used to be then how they actually are now."

"Then we should teach them how to be better, Phoenix." He looked back at the Moles. "Take your man and leave. We will let you go. Fire a single shot, and we will kill you all. Is that clear enough?"

Gideon gestured to the man beside him. "Get him."

"He can't walk," Zasen warned.

"He'll probably die," Gideon shot back. "So why did you carry him so far?"

Zasen shrugged. "Because if we keep trying to kill each other, neither of us wins. Hunt deer. It tastes better - or so I hear."

But I pointed straight at Meri's former husband. "That is Gideon Kobrick."

Zasen caught my arm and lowered it, switching to Vestrian. "Donottell him she's alive. Now, when I nod, simply walk into the woods proudly. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Wyvern," I mumbled.

He looked back at Gideon. "Are you the leader?"

"I am now," he said.

Which made Zasen smile. "Good. I will remember your face. If you return, I will kill you slowly." Then he looked at the rest. "We do not want to hurt you. We would much rather teach you how to find animals to hunt and harvest. Things that do not fight back. We would be willing to help you relearn how to survive on the surface, but to do that? You must stop attacking us. Now, talk to your elders. If you're wise, you'll ask your wives. But the decision is yours: live or die. Your actions will show us the answer."

A few of the men were nodding at that. Maybe three. One of them was Sylis. Beside him, Tobias was completely still, but I saw his eyes on me. The other men were ones I didn't know, and lying before me, my brother had his eyes clenched shut, panting against the pain.

Then Zasen said in Vestrian, "Walk into the woods proudly, Ayla. Do not look back; do not stop. If they shoot, run."

So I turned gracefully, just as I'd been taught when living with Moles, and walked back into the tree I'd come out from. Holly followed. Zasen stayed right beside me, and neither of us looked the least bit worried until we hit the brush. Then we both bent quickly and scurried, gesturing for Drozel to keep up.

Holly kept glancing back, but I couldn't hear any pursuit. We also didn't headstraight north. Instead, the three of us raced for the closest grouping of foliage and vegetation, making sure we were impossible to find. Only then did Zasen let out a trill.

By the time the Moles recovered from our brazen departure, we were all long gone.

Drozel had sent the militia back to town, so there was no point in heading to the pond to meet up with them. Instead, we all turned north, listening hard to make sure we weren't being followed. I said nothing for a while, not until I was sure we were truly out of harm's way.

Zasen was chattering with his sister as if that had been nothing more than a little bit of entertainment. Drozel kept sighing, proving he thought it was as stupid as I did. Beside me, Xav kept glancing back, likely as worried about the Moles giving chase as I was. But eventually, I couldn't take it anymore.

Reaching out, I grabbed the end of Zasen's bright blue tail, pulling him to a stop. "What were you thinking back there?" I demanded.

He tried to downplay it. "Someone had to show them we're people, not animals."

Jeera and the other men paused, moving closer, but I wasn't going to let Zasen get away with this simply because others were around. "So you walked into a group of guns? Are you an idiot?"

"I keep telling you," Jeera muttered.

I groaned in agreement. "Zasen, they don't care if you speak English. They call you Hellspawn. They say you're demons. They still don't think you're human, and they never will!"

Drozel looked at me in astonishment. "Really? But we can talk to them now."

I simply gestured to my body, then Zasen's. "Tails? Bright colors? I'd never heard of men like you. I read so many books when I was down there, ancient ones from before the world changed, and they said nothing about stripes, patterns, colors, or tails - and that's all they have."

"And now they can't deny we talk!" he shot back.