by P. C. Cast
“I will do that for you, Father. What else?”
“As you know, the Tribe’s numbers have grown drastically over the past several winters.”
Nik nodded. “The Tribe is strong. Almost all of the babies survive the winters.”
“They do, and that pleases me, of course. But it also has made many of the family nests overly crowded,” Sol said.
“The Gathering to celebrate Maeve’s being chosen by Fortina was definitely overly crowded,” Nik agreed.
“Exactly, which brings me to the second thing I would ask of you. Wilkes and his Odin are preparing to lead a foraging party into Port City. If we are to accommodate the fertility of the Tribe we must build new nests, as well as new pulley systems to lift and lower along the expanded city. We need the metal that can only be found in the ruins of the city. I want you to lead the party with Wilkes.”
Nik blinked at his father, surprised by the request. “Father, you know that the Warriors will never follow someone who isn’t Companion to a Shepherd.”
“It is undisputed that you are the best bowman the Tribe has seen in many winters. The foraging party will need your talents.”
“The Warriors appreciate my skill with a bow. I’ll join the party to Port City. But they don’t need to follow me for that.”
“They do need to follow you—or at least listen to you—to benefit from your other skill.”
Nik’s brows furrowed. “My other skill? You want me to carve something during the foraging party? I’m sorry, Father, but that makes no sense.”
Sol chuckled. “Outside your mother, you, my son, have the sharpest powers of observation I have ever known. The foraging party needs that particular skill very badly. You do remember what happened to the last group sent to Port City?”
Nik shuddered. “I do.” Two of twelve Companions had returned alive. They had been carrying their mortally wounded Shepherds. Both had died within a double handspan of days, and their Companions had followed them to the grave not long after, but before they died they told a horrific story about how they had been lured into a trap and how Skin Stealers had flayed the captured Companions alive and begun wearing their skin while they were still conscious—
“I need your powers of observation to ensure this foraging party does not suffer the same fate as the one before it,” Sol interrupted Nik’s horrific remembrance.
“I get it, Father, and I’m willing to do as you ask, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am not a Companion and the Warriors will not follow me,” Nik said.
“But they will follow Wilkes, and Wilkes appreciates your skill. He will listen to you, thus the others will inadvertently be following you.”
Nik’s jaws clenched. So, I’m to risk my ass without being granted the respect I deserve for it.
“Is there a problem?”
Nik drew a deep breath. “No. There is no problem.”
“Thank you, son,” Sol said. “It is like an itching beneath my skin, this pity that I have for the Scratchers.”
“Father, I’ll do as you ask, but I have to know—you aren’t actually considering setting the Scratchers loose, are you?” Nik asked.
“Would that I could, son. The Tribe would argue that the captive Scratchers need to be cared for—that what we do by keeping them on Farm Island is really a kindness. But you know as well as I what would happen if we were forced to tend our own crops. The harvests would decrease drastically without whatever earth magick the Scratchers use, but more importantly the accidents that would take place would be unavoidable.” Sol shook his head sadly. “As would the deaths that would follow.”
Nik shuddered. “Has there been no breakthroughs made by the Healers?”
“None whatsoever,” Sol said somberly. “If our skin is broken we become vulnerable to the blight, and once it shows symptoms it cannot be cured—it can only be endured. And there is but one ending for the disease.”
“Death.” Nik shuddered. And a horrible death at that. Nik met his father’s gaze, knowing they both were thinking of the beautiful woman who had been wife and mother to them, and who had slipped one day as she was carving a new lute to be played for the Mother Plants. She’d cut her wrist. Not a bad cut. It hadn’t been deep or long. But the blight had infected her, using the vein at her wrist to spread quickly throughout her body. The disease had ravaged her in weeks. Such a simple accident. Such a small cut. Nik’s thoughts turned to accidents and the tragedy that followed too often, turning small things into horrors. “A Scratcher hit Miguel last night with a rock.”
Sol’s sharp gaze pierced him. “His skin was broken?”
Nik nodded. “Yes.”
Sol sighed. “I will go to him after sunrise. Nikolas, if Miguel is infected you should ready yourself. His family may blame you.”
Nik bit back his angry excuses. His father was right. That he hadn’t actually caused the Scratcher to strike Miguel wouldn’t be important to a grieving family. The entire Tribe knew that Nik was still searching for the pup, and that because of that search the Hunters had roamed outside their normal territory. “I’ll be ready. I’ll keep a low profile.”
Sol’s brows lifted sardonically. “That might be a nice change.”
Nik frowned at his father. “I don’t usually cause trouble.”
Sol’s laughter was a little more sarcastic than Nik might have liked, but he joined him, glad that it broke up some of the sadness that had begun to settle between them.
“Come with me to welcome the sunrise?” Sol asked.
“I’d like to, but I need to get back to that holly bush as soon as possible, and I need to let a Hunter know he’s going with me.”
“Thaddeus and his Odysseus are one of the most talented tracking pairs that I’ve seen in many winters,” Sol said.
“Actually, I’d rather not take Thaddeus,” Nik said. “I prefer the company of Davis and his Cameron.”
“They’re young and a lot less experienced.”
“Then searching for my pup will help them gain experience.”
“Might I make a suggestion?”
Nik motioned for his father to continue.
“I’d like to suggest that if I was in a situation where an older, more experienced Tribe member like Thaddeus was, well, for lack of a better way to put it—rather condescending about something I believed strongly in…” Sol paused and Nik gave a weary nod of agreement. “Ah, I thought so. Let’s say that I had a chance to prove directly to this condescending Tribe member that my belief was valid, and that his was rather shortsighted, I would take the opportunity to show him; thereby showing the entire Tribe.”
“He’s so arrogant! He completely dismisses the possibility that the pup still lives, even after we found sign of him.”
“Thaddeus is definitely arrogant, and he can be rather caustic, but he takes immense pride in his tracking skills, which are indeed vast.”
“I still don’t like him.”
Sol smiled. “What if I give permission for you to include Davis and Cameron with Thaddeus and Odysseus in your search? They could use the experience. It would help the Tribe, and make your searching more pleasant. Agreed?”
Nik let out a long, relieved breath. “Agreed.” He paused and then, before Nik could talk himself out of speaking the words aloud, he said in a rush, “Father, have you ever thought that maybe the Tribe’s Law about only allowing bonded Companions to serve in leadership positions is flawed?”
Sol’s brows shot up to his hairline. “Whatever are you talking about, Nikolas?”
“It’s acknowledged by the entire Tribe that Mother was the best carver to have lived in generations.”
“Yes, that is truth,” Sol said with a quizzical smile. “What are you getting at, son?”
“Yet she was not allowed the title of Master Carver because no canine chose her, even though she deserved the title and basically served as Master Carver for most of her adult life.”
“Well, yes, but—”
“And you just sai
d that I am the best bowman in the Tribe, and have excellent powers of observation, but I can’t lead the Warriors because no canine has chosen me. It just doesn’t make much sense to me.”
His father studied him silently for several breaths before finally saying, “This is the hard truth, Nikolas—if you were chosen by a canine our laws would make sense to you. Son, you only question tradition because you are not bonded.”
Nik didn’t look away from his father’s gaze. Instead, with a sad sense of resignation, he said, “You may be right, Father. We’ll only know if I am chosen and I still feel the same then as I do about it now. So, if I may have your blessing on my venture I will go find Davis and Thaddeus and let them know we’ll be heading back to Scratcher territory this morning.”
“You will always have my blessing, Nikolas,” Sol said. “And I do appreciate your keen, questioning mind—as would your mother.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Nik knelt before Sol. The Sun Priest put one hand on his son’s bowed head and lifted the other to the window opening that was letting in more and more light. “I bless you with the Sun’s touch, Nikolas, son of Sol. May you carry warmth and strength and light with you in your quest, and may you return home safely before darkness extinguishes day.”
Nik closed his eyes as the warmth of the sun cascaded into his body, but instead of concentrating on the pup he so desperately wanted to find, all he could see against his closed eyelids was Jenna’s pale, tear-streaked face.
14
Even after they were safely in their burrow with the bramble thicket protecting and camouflaging them, and the door barred firmly behind them, Mari and her mother at first spoke in hushed tones, their heads near one another. Though they knew little about canines and the specifics of their tracking abilities, both women understood that something had to be done to confuse Rigel’s trail so that any returning Companions, especially the one named Nik, would have a difficult, if not impossible, time tracking the pup.
“I wish I knew more about what canines can and cannot track,” Leda said.
“I wish we had time to test Rigel—to find out how to make him lose a trail,” Mari said. “But we don’t, Mama. I have to go back as soon as it’s close enough to dawn to be sure that any swarming roaches will have finished.” Mari paused, shuddering. The roaches would, for sure, have followed the wolf spider pack and the deadly raid of the Companions at the Gathering, looking for the leavings of death.
“Do you have a plan, Mari?”
“I have an idea. I know what makes it most difficult, impossible even, to track deer or wild boar. I’m going to try to duplicate as many of the circumstances that have messed up a day of hunting for me—and for you.”
Leda nodded slowly. “Interesting, and it just may work.”
“It will. It has to. So, let’s finish eating, and then try to get a little sleep.” Rigel stayed so close to Mari that she had to be careful not to trip over him as she got up to replenish the hearty rabbit stew that seemed to disappear from their bowls. While they ate, Mari studied Leda, not liking how pale she looked.
“Don’t go with me in the morning. Stay here and rest, Mama. Rigel and I will be just fine, and back in no time.”
“Absolutely not. We will make sure Rigel is safe. Together.”
Mari nodded slowly as she ladled more stew into their bowls and fixed Rigel another bowl of the raw rabbit mixed with grasses and grains that he preferred over cooked food. Mari was worried about her mother, but she did need Leda’s help if they were to be sure that nosy Nik wouldn’t be able to track Rigel back to their burrow.
“He’s not going to give up. No matter what we do in the morning, that Companion is going to keep searching for my Shepherd,” Mari said.
Rigel whined and Mari opened her arms so that he could try to curl as much of his growing body as possible on her lap.
“From what you told me it seems this Nik Companion believes Rigel was going to choose him,” Leda said.
“Well, he’s dead wrong!” Mari snapped, and then gave her mother an apologetic smile, and petted Rigel soothingly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to take that out on you.” She sighed as she took her seat beside Leda. “It was so bizarre to hear him talking about Rigel like he belongs to him. Bizarre and scary.”
Leda patted her knee. “What you heard answers one of our questions about how the Companions could have lost a treasured Shepherd pup.” Her mom smiled for the first time since Jenna had been taken. “Clever Rigel escaped so that he could find you!”
Mari grinned back at her. “Yes, he did!” She hugged Rigel around his neck and the pup licked her enthusiastically. Then Mari’s expression sobered. “And that’s why I know that man won’t stop searching for him. They weren’t being careless. They haven’t stopped cherishing their canines. I’ll bet Rigel is the first pup to have escaped them in a long time.”
“I’d wager in forever,” Leda said. “And I am in complete agreement with you. That Companion won’t stop looking for your Rigel—not as long as he has not found evidence of his death.”
“And that’s something we can’t fake. Isn’t it?”
“I don’t know how we could make it seem to a Companion that the pup has died. Your father told me that Shepherds are used to track people, and Terriers are used to track game. Either way, they are sure to have a canine involved in the search for Rigel, and a canine nose is not easily fooled, even if we could figure out a way to have his fur and some canine bones discoverable.”
Mari’s jaw tightened with anger. “Wait, you said they use Terriers to track game, but I heard that friend of Nik’s say that a Terrier found Rigel’s paw prints.”
“That simply means the Hunters were searching for Rigel all along.”
“No, Mother. That’s not what it means. I also overheard that they were hunting for captives, and that Nik had talked them into searching outside their usual territory because he was looking for Rigel.” In answer to her mother’s confused look Mari continued bluntly. “Leda, they don’t consider Scratchers people. That’s why the Terriers were hunting us, and not the Shepherds.”
“Oh. Oh dear.” Leda looked faint.
“Well, let’s look at the positive.” With a Herculean effort, Mari brightened. “If they didn’t think of us as animals they would have had Shepherds with them, and Shepherds would have been searching only for Rigel. They would have found him, Mama. I know it. So, arooooow!” Mari leaned back her head and, much to Rigel’s amusement, howled happily. The pup joined her until Mari collapsed breathlessly beside him as he wagged his tail and smiled his tongue-lolling canine grin. “Tonight I don’t mind being an animal with Rigel! Not one bit.”
But Leda’s mood would not lighten. “It worries me, Mari. Your father never told me that they thought of us as animals. He only said their Tribe thought of us as childlike, unable to care for ourselves. They enslave us under the pretense of protection, but they also need us to labor for them on their island. But if they see us as less than human, then what is to become of you after I’m gone?”
“Mama.” Mari took Leda’s hand. “We don’t need to worry about that. You’re strong and healthy and young still. We will have many, many more winters together. Let’s just focus on how we’re going to fix the problem of the Companions tracking Rigel. And—” Mari broke off, not wanting to add more worries for her mother.
“And what, Mari?” Leda prodded.
Mari sighed. “And Jenna. What do we do about Jenna?”
Leda met her daughter’s gaze and spoke slowly and distinctly, as if she wanted her words to be imprinted on Mari’s mind. “There is nothing we can do about Jenna. Not now. Not ever.”
“But Mama, she’s only known sixteen winters! Without a Moon Woman to Wash the sadness from her, she’s going to die. She’ll never fall in love. She’ll never have her own daughter. She’ll never know happiness ever again.”
“Mari, you must listen to me.” Leda gripped her daughter’s hand tightly. “Unless they find a
way to escape, all Earth Walkers captured by the Companions go mad with despair and die early. You already know this.”
“I do,” Mari said, choking back a sob. “And that’s why we have to help Jenna escape.”
“At what cost? I don’t believe it possible that Rigel could get close to a Companion Tribe and not be discovered. After what happened tonight I have no doubt that the Companion named Nik would forcibly take your pup away from you. If they see us as no more than animals, then I am afraid they would consider you unworthy of a Leader canine…” Leda’s words faded as her face paled. She shook her head as if trying to dislodge the disturbing thoughts forming there. “Are you willing to sacrifice Rigel and possibly yourself to save Jenna?”
A terrible chill shuddered through Mari’s body and her free hand reached down to touch Rigel reassuringly. “No. I can’t.” Mari whispered her response. “I won’t give up Rigel.”
“And I do not fault you for that. Rigel is meant to be with you for life. Your bond with him is as deep as your soul, as strong as your heart. I would go. I would try to save our little Jenna, but if I was unsuccessful—if they captured me—”
“No! You can’t! And not because you’re a Moon Woman and the Clan needs you. Because you’re my mama and my best friend. I need you.”
“I know, Mari. I know.” Leda pulled her daughter into her arms. “Remember, my sweet girl, these bodies of ours are but our shells. It is only Xander’s body that has died. His true self—his spirit—has moved on, just as Jenna’s body is all that has been captured. Her spirit will be free again.”
“Mama, I don’t think I’ll ever quit seeing Xander’s face just before Jenna screamed. He saw Rigel. He knew that we were together, that I was the cause of the Companions trespassing so far into our territory, and he looked at me like he hated me.”
“Sssh, Mari. Nothing can be done to change what happened tonight, and Xander is now free of pain—free of the madness Night Fever brings—reunited with his beloved mate.”