Mari nodded, deciding Sora was correct; they really didn’t have time for her to be on bed rest because of an inconveniently timed cold. “That’s a good count, yes. My idea is that you’re going to lead all of them to the birthing burrows. Make them comfortable. Treat their wounds. Feed them. Isabel will help—so will Jenna, if she can leave Danita,” Mari said. “Actually, it might help Danita to think about someone else’s needs for a while, so be sure you bring her to the burrow, too.”
Sora chewed her lip contemplatively, nodding slowly as she brushed her hair back from her damp forehead and stifled another cough. “It’s not a bad plan. At least the birthing burrow is big enough for everyone and with a little help from the Clanswomen we can repair the door and bar it against the night.” Then she frowned, as if understanding the rest of Mari’s words. “Wait, while I’m doing that, what’ll you be doing?”
“I’ll be saving Nik.”
* * *
Mari ran. She didn’t let herself think about Sora’s worry, the Clan’s fear, or the refugee Companions she’d left in the care of strangers and enemies. She thought of nothing except keeping up with Rigel and of Nik.
I’m not going to let him die. I’m not going to let him die. I’m not going to let him die. The litany played through her mind as she sprinted up inclines, scrambled over rocks, and dodged fallen logs. She paused only once at a stream, calling Rigel to her and coaxing him to roll in the water, soaking his thick, double-layered coat as she splashed water all over herself, thoroughly soaking her clothes, as well. Then she met her Companion’s wise gaze. “Rigel, find Nik!” She repeated the command she’d given him as they sprinted away from Earth Walker territory.
The Shepherd surged out of the stream, heading directly into the thickening smoke. Mari tore a soaked strip of wet cloth from the sleeve of her ragged tunic and tied it over her nose and mouth. Then she ran after her Shepherd and as she ran she sent images to Rigel of avoiding people—any and all people except for Nik.
She knew Rigel understood. She didn’t question him or hesitate as he led her, winding and twisting around trees and brush, sometimes coming to a sudden halt to avoid more and more of the walking wounded.
The closer she got to the burning City in the Trees, the more surreal the day became—if it could be called day. Smoke tainted everything, hiding the sun while it made tears fill her eyes and its acrid scent coated her nose and throat. She wondered if she’d ever get the taste of it from her hair, her skin, her mouth. And always, always there was the keening of the wind as it battered the forest, changing directions as if it couldn’t make up its mind, carrying with it the seductive sound of distant thunder that teased at rain.
It was easier than she’d expected to avoid the Tribe. Those who straggled past her in the smoky haze moved as if they had no energy to spare for anything except putting one staggering foot before another.
Mari felt for them. A large part of her, the part that belonged to her mother and her Clan, ached to be the Healer—to gather the injured together and begin tending to their terrible wounds. But she couldn’t. She had to keep going. She had to find Nik.
No one paid any attention to her. With her face hidden by the wet strip of cloth, Companion Shepherd beside her, they assumed she was a member of the Tribe as she ran into the heart of the City in the Trees and the ravenous forest fire.
Rigel led her to a wide, clear stream that they splashed into gratefully, stopping to gulp the cold water. This time Mari didn’t have to encourage the pup to soak himself. He waded straight in and lay down, lapping thirstily. Mari quickly washed her face, drenching her hair and clothing before retying the cloth around her nose and mouth. When she was ready Rigel got to his feet, though he didn’t leave the stream. Together they waded with the current taking them closer and closer to the center of the Tribe.
She heard and felt the blaze before she saw it. The sound was feral, almost alive, as it ate through the ancient pine forest and the City in the Trees, and as they got closer and closer to it the heat that radiated from the inferno was terrible. Sweat mixed with soot and water dripped down Mari’s body. She and Rigel came to a gentle curve in the stream; the young Shepherd stopped, backing suddenly against Mari, growling softly.
Automatically, Mari left the water. She moved slowly and carefully, inching her way forward as voices raised in anger drifted to her with the smoke like wrathful specters. Using the thick trunk of an enormous pine to hide them, she peered around it at the scene just yards before her. She wiped her sleeve across her eyes, clearing her vision, and Mari’s stomach tightened with a sickening twist.
Nik was there, on the far side of the fast-moving stream, standing with his back to a newly felled pine. Laru stood before him, fangs bared at the group surrounding them. Even above the ravenous sound of the not so distant fire and the shouts of men, she could hear the Shepherd’s deep warning growl as he faced a group of grim-faced Companions led by a maliciously grinning Thaddeus.
Mari scanned the crowd, trying to judge their intention. Thaddeus appeared swollen with rage. Companions who Mari knew must be Hunters because they each had a Terrier beside them were milling with obvious discomfort behind Thaddeus. Mari thought she recognized the Companion Nik had called Davis. She saw him and his little blond Terrier backing away from the group led by Thaddeus and disappearing into the smoke
There were other Tribe members present, men and women who had no canines with them but were working grimly to fell trees and clear foliage as they sent surreptitious glances at the crowd surrounding Nik.
“I said arrest this fucking traitor!” Thaddeus’s hate-filled voice carried easily over the water. “He and his Scratcher whore caused all of this!”
Thaddeus’s words were like a physical blow to Mari. She felt them hit her in the gut, but instead of being knocked to her knees, Mari embraced the anger and allowed it to begin to build within her.
It was the hatred of men like Thaddeus that had killed her father.
It was Thaddeus himself and the tunnel vision of his bigotry that had killed her mama and Nik’s father.
Mari wasn’t going to let that poison destroy Nik, too.
She had a momentary wish that she had her slingshot and a basket of rocks. She even searched the ground and found one flawless round stone that fit smoothly in the palm of her hand. Mari fisted her hand around it, even as she understood that something as mundane as a stone or a slingshot wouldn’t get Nik out of this mess. She needed power, and she needed it fast.
Mari looked down at Rigel. The young Shepherd met her gaze. She sent to him one intention, complete and perfect like an unfolding blossom—we save Nik.
And then Mari stepped from the concealing pine and began striding forward, with Rigel so close beside her that his powerful shoulder brushed her leg.
The other canines noticed Rigel before the Companions. Terriers sniffed the smoky air and turned their heads in the pup’s direction. Mari felt more than saw Thaddeus’s mean little Terrier shift his attention to them. His warning growl was surprisingly fierce for such a little dog.
“It’s her! The Scratcher whore!”
Nik’s head snapped to the side and Mari saw his eyes widen in disbelief as he caught sight of her.
The crowd behind Thaddeus shifted their attention to Mari. “Get her!” Thaddeus shouted the command. A couple of the Hunters started toward her.
Rigel’s response was instantaneous. He moved so that he was standing between the approaching men and Mari. His ears went up with his tail. The thick sable fur along his neck and back lifted as he bared his teeth, pressing even more closely against her. His growl came from deep in his strong, wide chest, echoing in perfect accord with Laru.
“It’s just a pup! Grab him and take her!” Thaddeus shouted, spittle raining from his lips.
Mari didn’t flinch. She didn’t so much as glance at Thaddeus. She sprinted to Nik. Rigel ran with her, his growl changing to snarling barks—the strength of which belied his youth. The Terriers tha
t were standing between Mari and Nik scattered, ears down and tails between their legs submissively, and suddenly she was beside Nik! He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace, allowing herself one small heartbeat of a moment to be secure in his strength and his affection.
“I told you she was his Scratcher whore,” Thaddeus said.
Mari positioned herself so that she was beside Nik. Laru and Rigel stood before them, teeth bared at the Hunters.
“I’m getting really tired of him calling me that,” Mari told Nik, as if they weren’t facing a group of angry men and women and their canines.
“Yeah, Thaddeus isn’t known for his social skills,” Nik said.
“Enough talk! Get the bitch and her traitor lover!” Thaddeus shouted.
“Stop!” A tall man with a large dark-coated Shepherd at his side ran into the clearing, followed by the young Hunter Davis and his blond Terrier, as well as several more tall Companions accompanied by adult Shepherds. They all looked singed and exhausted, covered in sweat and soot, coughing into wet rags they’d wrapped around their faces and necks. But the tall man’s voice was firm and filled with unshakable strength. “Thaddeus, you have no authority to order the arrest of Nikolas, or of this woman.”
“Wilkes, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Red-faced, Thaddeus shouted at the Warrior, “You were there, on the Channel, when this bitch let the Scratchers escape and set our world on fire!”
Wilkes’s voice was flinty and Mari was sure she saw disgust in his expression as he faced Thaddeus. “I was there, but things didn’t go down exactly as you’re saying. And there is still the matter of our Sun Priest’s death to deal with—and that death was by your hands, Thaddeus. This fire is the only reason you haven’t been arrested.”
Mari watched the expressions of the Tribesmen and women. They ranged from shock and grief to anger. Then Wilkes took a step toward them, as if he wanted to speak in private to Nik. Laru and Rigel’s response was instant and in sync. Side by side, the two mighty Shepherds alerted, snarling twin warnings.
Wilkes’s big, black Shepherd’s reaction was just as instantaneous and was mirrored by every canine in the clearing, Shepherds and Terriers alike. Their ears, tails, and heads all went down, and they refused to move forward, showing complete submission to Laru’s Alpha position in the Tribe.
“Nikolas, it appears Laru has chosen you as his Companion. Is this true?” Wilkes asked.
“It is,” Nik said. “Laru chose to live with me, instead of dying with my father.” Nik’s hand found his Companion’s head and he stroked the big Shepherd reverently. “That is something for which I will be grateful for the rest of my life, and maybe beyond.”
Laru’s tail wagged, but he didn’t take his intense amber gaze from the crowd.
Wilkes studied his Companion, and Mari could almost see the connection between them. Then the tall Warrior nodded, as much to himself as his Shepherd. “Our Companions have decided. They still acknowledge Laru as their Alpha and Leader. As is tradition for the Tribe, that choice is up to our Companions, and cannot be changed. I propose we work together to stop this fire and when the Tribe is safe again we can convene the Council and allow the people to decide how we move forward, what we do about our Sun Priest’s death, as well as what action, if any, should be taken against Nik and his Scratcher,” Wilkes said.
“Earth Walker.” Mari’s voice was strong and sure. “My people are called Earth Walkers. To call me a Scratcher is to insult me, and you should all know that I’m only half Earth Walker. My father was of your Tribe, a Companion named Galen.”
Mari saw surprise flicker over Wilkes’s face, and that surprise echoed throughout the surrounding group, especially in Tribesmen who were middle-aged or older.
“She can’t really be saying she’s one of us,” Thaddeus sneered.
“She doesn’t have to say it, and you don’t have to believe it,” Nik said. “The fact that a Shepherd has chosen her makes her one of us.”
“Nik has a point. It isn’t blood that makes a Companion. It’s heart and soul and the love of a canine,” Wilkes said.
“And Mari has all of those things.” Nik smiled proudly at her. Then his gaze moved through the crowd as his voice lifted so that everyone in the clearing would be sure to hear his next words. “She also has the ability to cure the blight.”
“Lies!” Thaddeus shouted.
“Truth!” Nik countered. “I had the blight. She cured me. O’Bryan had it, too, as all of you know, and now he is cured.”
“That’s just talk! No one has seen O’Bryan since the fire began,” Thaddeus said.
“I have.” Everyone’s attention shifted to the young man named Davis. He moved his feet nervously, a movement the little blond Terrier at his side mirrored. Then he continued. “I saw him helping Rose try to save Fala’s litter. He might not have made it because part of the fire cut him off from me, and from her, but I definitely saw him and he was definitely not sick anymore.”
“He made it,” Nik told Davis. “I saw him after that. He saved all of Fala’s pups and was getting them and Rose to safety.”
“Oh, well, obviously that makes all of this okay!” Thaddeus said.
Mari was done being silent. She shook her head with distaste. “Thaddeus, you’re the worst kind of hypocrite—a lying one. It’s because of you that my mother is dead. It’s because of what you and that old man did at the Channel that the Earth Walker women panicked and the fire started. It’s because of you that Nik’s father, your Sun Priest, is dead. And if we burn today it’s going to be because hatred is more important to you than life.” She looked at the other Companions, meeting their eyes. “Is hatred more important than life to all of you, too?”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, you Scratcher whore!” Seeming unable to control himself, Thaddeus lurched forward, hands reaching as if for her throat.
With a ferocious snarl, Rigel flew at him, knocking the grown man to the ground, where he stood over him, growling a warning, bared teeth almost touching his neck, while Laru pinned Thaddeus’s mean little Terrier to the ground, forcing him to bare his neck and belly, too.
The other canines, Shepherds and Terriers, moved as one, backing away from Laru and Rigel, lowing their heads, and tucking their tails submissively.
“Nik, Mari, call your Shepherds to you,” Wilkes said. “Thaddeus, we need to focus on stopping this fire. Later there will be time for the Tribe to decide what is to be done about the other events of today—if the Tribe survives. Until then, you will keep your hands off Mari and Nik.”
Laru and Rigel padded back to their positions beside Nik and Mari, leaving Thaddeus and his Terrier to get slowly to their feet. Thunder boomed in the background and the wind shifted again, whipping suddenly from north to south, bringing with it sparks, smoke, and the ravenous roar of the approaching inferno.
“We’re out of time! We need sunfire to make a break in the forest fire, but without our Sun Priest—”
Wilkes had begun to quickly address the group, so everyone’s attention had shifted to him—everyone’s attention except for Mari’s. She was still watching Thaddeus, still considering how a single hate-filled man could have so drastically affected her life, when she saw his hand go to the small sheath at his waist. He glared at Rigel as he flicked it open and with practiced dexterity pulled the throwing dagger free.
Mari’s fear boiled from deep within her. “Not Rigel!” As she screamed at Thaddeus she let loose the anger that had been simmering within her since he’d first called her whore. A ball of fire burst from her outstretched hands, landing at Thaddeus’s feet and catching his pants, causing him to drop the dagger, which fell, blade down, burying itself into Odysseus’s flank. Both man and canine shrieked in pain. Thaddeus ran into the nearby stream while Odysseus screamed in agony and tried to grab the handle of the dagger with his teeth.
“Help him! Help Odysseus!” Thaddeus shouted from the stream. Two of his Hunters hurried forward, pulling the blade
from the little Terrier’s flank and applying pressure to the bleeding wound.
Mari stared at the injured Terrier in horror—torn between the understanding that she probably wouldn’t be allowed to help the canine and her gut reaction, which was to help the canine. She must have taken an involuntary step forward, because Nik’s hand was suddenly clamped around her wrist.
“Thaddeus caused his Terrier’s injury. Not you. Stay strong, Mari. You just called down sunfire. You’ve proven Companion blood beats through your veins,” Nik whispered to her.
Every Tribesman and woman in the clearing stared at Mari. She pulled her eyes from the wounded canine, lifted her chin, and let her gaze take in the group.
“Do you still doubt that my father was one of you?”
Thaddeus staggered from the stream to Odysseus, roughly pushing aside the two Hunters who had been tending to the Terrier’s wound. He crouched beside the little canine, who was still whining pitifully, and skewered Mari with his hate-filled green eyes. “You fucking bitch! You’re going to pay for hurting Odysseus!”
Nik started to speak, but this time it was Mari’s hand on his that stilled him. “Do you ever take responsibility for your own actions?” she asked as she shook her head in disgust. “Everyone here saw what happened. You threatened my canine. I called down sunfire to stop you. You dropped the dagger you would have used to cut Rigel, hurting your Odysseus instead. It was your fault!”
“And it wouldn’t have happened had you not trespassed here. Just like the fire wouldn’t have happened—and Sol’s death wouldn’t have happened,” Thaddeus shot back.
“It’s simple,” Nik spoke up. He didn’t so much as glance at Thaddeus. Instead, he addressed the watching men and women. “Do you want to wallow in hatred with Thaddeus, and continue to reap what anger sows, or will you open yourselves to something more, something different, something better?”
Into the waiting silence came the disembodied voice of a stranger. “It’s even simpler that that. Do you want to attack the only person here who can call down sunfire and save us all?”