Phineas grimaced as pain shot through his leg. "Takes two days to get here, sometimes more depending upon the weather, but we can't travel in the daylight. Too many of them around and we can't see well enough."

"So two days here," I said, inching the glass a little closer. "So when do you leave?"

"Twelve days before the holiday," he groaned around the agony. "Two days here, a day or two to hunt, and two days back. Gives us five days to butcher the meat so the women don't see it."

"Good," I praised as I passed him the glass. "Drink that. Drink all of it. Every holiday it's the same?"

He sucked back the glass of water, nodding as he did so. "Yes. If two holidays are close together - less than a week apart - we hunt for both, but always twelve days before the first one."

I simply patted his shoulder and gestured for Zasen to release him. The man's arm was trembling, and once the water was gone, Phineas dropped the glass as if his hand could no longer manage to hold it. That was enough to make Zasen let go, but he looked confused.

Then I stood, glaring at the dying Mole. "Phineas, if you end up in Heaven, then tell God he's evil. If it's Hell, then let the Devil know you deserve to burn." Then I leaned into his face. "Because that was not the cure. You laughed when you thought I was going to die. Instead, I found the Wyvern. Now it's my turn to laugh."

"No..." Phineas breathed, realizing I hadn't saved him after all.

Ignoring him, I turned to Zasen. "Tamin's in the trees."

Zasen tossed up his hands and shook his head in confusion, well aware the man was already too far gone to do anything. "What did you give him?"

"Water." I thought that should've been obvious. "Zasen, I had no idea they hunted here - hunted people! I'm not just going to ignore it. They tried to kill Tamin!" And I didn't have time to mess around with all of this right now.

Turning, I jogged to where Tamin should still be in hiding.

Forty-TwoAyla

Frantic, I rushed up the hill, hoping I remembered where the boy was hiding. My eyes scanned the trees and bushes, looking for that downed log. Soon enough, I found it, but there was no sign of Tamin. For a moment, I thought he'd been taken, but then the leaves rustled as the boy lifted his tail.

Sighing in relief, I hurried to his side. "Oh, Tamin. Are you okay?" Switching languages so much was starting to get confusing, but I made sure that was in Vestrian.

"Ayla," the boy sobbed, reaching for me. "I was so scared you wouldn't come back like my papa."

Not knowing what else to do, I just held him close and rocked him gently. Zasen reached down to touch my shoulder, proving he'd followed me.

"They're leaving," he said gently.

Confused, I paused to listen, realizing there weren't any more pops. The bell deeper into town was still ringing, and people were still screaming, but I couldn't hear gunshots.

"Where's Kanik?" I asked. "Rymar?"

"Rymar's at work," Zasen assured me. "Kanik's helping to stop the Moles. We need to take Tamin back to his mother. She has to be terrified."

"He's been shot," I admitted. "I couldn't stop it. I tried, and the man is in the kitchen, but - "

Zasen stopped listening to me the moment I said the boy had been shot. His focus was locked on Tamin, scanning him for injuries.

"His leg," I explained, turning the kid so Zasen could see. "It's shallow and not fatal, but probably hurts. We have to get the bullet out."

"We have to get him back to his mother," Zasen insisted, opening his arms to take the child. "I'll carry him. He's heavy."

"It hurts," Tamin said even as he reached for Zasen.

So I let the boy go. Zasen hefted Tamin onto his hip and led the way. Once again, we were aiming back for our house, but not perfectly. When we came down the steep hill, Zasen went around his own home, slipping between it and the one beside it. I followed, trying to look all around me in case another hunter jumped out of a shadow.

"Ayla, I'm sorry," Zasen said as he walked fast enough that I had to hurry to keep up. "I didn't mean for you to learn about it like this."

"No," I said, cutting him off. "Right now, we need to focus on Tamin. All that matters is making sure he's okay."

"But you attacked your people," Zasen said.

"They aren't my people. They are liars and sinners who fed me Dragons!" I clenched my teeth, making sure my stomach wasn't about to revolt at the thought. It was rolling hard enough that I wasn't sure. "I hated it. I always said it was disgusting, and they all laughed at me for not wanting to eat meat. I can't believe I didn't know."

"Well, shit," Zasen said, sounding like he wasn't sure what to make of that.

But we were at Saveah's house, so I rushed ahead, getting the door. I didn't bother knocking, I just opened it so Zasen could carry Tamin inside.

"Saveah!" Zasen bellowed. "I have Tamin. He's been shot."

"No!" the woman screamed from the far end of the house. "Tamin!"

"He'll live!" Zasen said belatedly, heading straight for the large table at the back of the house.

Saveah rushed down the hall carrying her daughter. The little one was latched onto Saveah's breast, but the woman didn't seem to care about that. Then again, it would be a good way to keep the baby quiet with all the terrifying sounds that had been so close.

"Tamin?" Saveah gasped as her eyes found her son.

I hurried ahead of Zasen to remove the decorative bowl in the center. Grabbing that, I set it on the counter closest to us, then I turned back. Zasen was speaking gently to the boy, smoothing down his hair. Tamin was no longer crying, but the occasional tear slipped out. The boy was trying so hard to be tough.

When his tail flicked, Saveah rushed over, gushing at him. I just held up my arms, taking Taris from her so Saveah could focus on her son.

"Zasen?" I asked softly, not wanting to get in the way - or watch as Saveah adjusted her shirt. "What happened to her husband?"

He lifted sad orange eyes. "Moles. They killed him and took his body."

I gasped. "I'm sorry!"

"No." He caressed Tamin's hair again, but his eyes were still on me. "You fought back. Tamin…" He looked down with a sad smile. "You saved him."

"He saved me too. He bit and stung Elias."

So Zasen asked, "How many did you know?"

"Most of them. I don't know all their names, but there aren't too many people in the compound. I recognized all their faces, and most of them know my name because of how I left."

Zasen huffed in a dry sort of amusement. "If you'd had a knife, your husband wouldn't have lived." Then he smiled to show that was meant as a compliment. "But we need to get the bullet out and close the wound."

I moved around so I could see the boy's injury. "I'm going to need long tweezers, suture, and someone to hold him down."

That made Zasen look at me strangely. "You can treat gunshot wounds?"