Moon Chosen

by P. C. Cast

Tentatively, Mari opened her arms. They were glowing faintly, but nothing else happened, and she didn’t feel anything except the warmth of the sun.

  “Your eyes aren’t changing. Turn your face to the sun and raise your arms. Hold your palms out and open, like this.” Nik did an exaggerated demonstration.

  Mari mimicked him. “Okay, I’m doing what you’re doing, but it’s not working the same with me as it does with you. Maybe I can’t do it.”

  “Of course you can! Absorbing the sun is simple compared to calling down sunfire, but you have to accept it, Mari. And that means you have to accept the part of yourself that belongs to the Tribe of the Trees.”

  Mari dropped her arms then. “That might take some doing.”

  “Not if you think about it like this—if you weren’t part Companion, Rigel wouldn’t have sought you out and chosen you to bond with. That’s not hard for you to accept, right?”

  “Right.” Mari drew a deep breath, spread and lifted her arms again, opening her hands and turning her palms up. Then she stared up at the glowing ball of fire in the sky and thought, I accept the part of me that gave me Rigel. By right of my blood, fill me.

  Heat and power sizzled into her body through her palms, causing her to gasp.

  “That’s it exactly! Well done, Mari!”

  Mari looked at her bare arms, fascinated by the detail of the swirls and patterns that glowed up through her body as it absorbed the rays of the sun and began changing heat into energy.

  “It feels incredible!” she said.

  “Your eyes are glowing like you’ve harnessed pieces of the sun in them. You have a gift. I’ve only seen a few people be able to absorb sunlight as fully as you do. Mari, there is so much the Tribe could teach you about yourself!”

  Reluctantly, Mari dropped her arms and turned her face from the alluring sun.

  “I’m not going with you,” she told him.

  “Okay, I understand. But don’t close yourself off from an entire world that you could be a part of.”

  “You said you’d only tell me the truth. So, tell me truly, Nik, would the Tribe completely accept me?”

  Nik stared at her, and Mari could see warring emotions in his eyes. Finally, he answered, speaking with reluctant honesty. “I don’t know. The Tribe has never had to accept anyone like you. I don’t know what they would do.”

  “Thank you for telling me the truth.”

  “I’ll never lie to you, Mari.”

  Their gazes met and held until Mari felt a nervous fluttering in her stomach. She was the first to look away.

  “Come on. Let’s get you to the creek. I need to go back to the burrow. Sora will have the girl there by now, and she needs my attention.”

  Nik slid his arm around her shoulder, which felt oddly intimate to Mari, though she told herself sternly that that was silly. She’d been this man’s Healer. She’d seen all of him, for days and days. It hadn’t been awkward then. Why should it be awkward now?

  Mari wrapped her arm around his waist and they kept walking.

  They made better time than Mari had anticipated. Nik was visibly invigorated after he absorbed the sunlight and even though walking was difficult and slow, it was possible. Mari led him to the southern part of Crawfish Creek, where the eastern bank wasn’t treacherously steep. They crossed very carefully, and Mari breathed a huge sigh of relief when Nik stepped firmly on dry land.

  “You can find your way back to the Tribe from here, right?”

  Nik nodded. “Right.”

  “Okay. Well. Good-bye, Nik.” She started to turn away from him, but he touched her hand, stopping her.

  “Mari, may I see you again?”

  “Nik, let’s not make any plans or promises. You’re a Companion. I’m an Earth Walker. Being friends is not natural for us.”

  “It was for your mother and father.”

  “That’s different. Galen loved Mama.” The words came out of Mari’s mouth before she could stop them. She felt her cheeks flush with heat. “I didn’t mean anything crazy like you’re supposed to love me. I’m just saying that Galen and Mama were different than us, and that’s a good thing because their relationship cost that Companion and his Shepherd their lives.”

  “But you’re not just an Earth Walker,” Nik said.

  “Just an Earth Walker? See, that’s the problem. You might have stopped calling us Scratchers, but you don’t think we’re equal. How am I supposed to be friends with someone who thinks half of me is less than human?”

  “I don’t think Earth Walkers are less than human. Not anymore—not after meeting you and Sora.”

  “Oh, so now you like Sora?” Mari unsuccessfully tried to keep a smile from tilting her lips up.

  “Bloody beetle balls no! I don’t like Sora. But I also don’t think she’s less than human. I think she could take on many Warriors of the Tribe and probably defeat them.”

  “She’s actually not a very good fighter. She doesn’t believe in physical exertion.”

  “She could definitely nag them to death,” Nik said.

  “That I’d agree with.” They smiled at each other, and Mari couldn’t stop herself from adding, “Nik, if you ever really need me Rigel will bring me to you.”

  “Just like he did before,” Nik said.

  “Yes, just like that.” Mari found herself not wanting to turn away from Nik. Unsettled by the strangeness of her emotions, she blurted a question that had been circling through her mind for several days. “Nik, now that you know Rigel has chosen his Companion, won’t you bond with another Shepherd?”

  “I wish it was that easy. The truth is Rigel didn’t stop me from bonding with another Shepherd, or a Terrier, either. No one knows why a canine chooses his or her Companion, only that the choice cannot be changed or undone. I’ve been waiting to be made a Companion for as long as I can remember, but it seems that’s not what fate has planned for me.”

  “What do you mean? Is there a shortage of puppies?”

  “No, nothing like that, but canines choose their Companions from Tribe members who have seen between sixteen and twenty-one winters. There are some exceptions to this, but mostly that’s because some Companions are chosen again after their canine died.”

  “Dies?” Mari went pale.

  Nik touched her shoulder in gentle understanding. “Be sure you and Rigel soak up a lot of sunlight. It doesn’t just give our canines and us energy—it lengthens our lives. Your Rigel can live thirty or more winters.”

  Mari felt herself relax a little. Thirty winters! That was a long time. She met Nik’s gaze. “So, are you saying the only exception to the rule of a canine choosing a Companion after he’s older than twenty-one winters is if he’s already been made a Companion?”

  Nik nodded and looked away from her.

  “How old are you?”

  “Last winter was my twenty-third. You see, it doesn’t appear that a canine is going to choose me.”

  “I didn’t know. I’m—I’m sorry, Nik. Really sorry. Does that make things hard with your Tribe?”

  “Yes, not being bonded to a canine keeps me in a strange, limbo state.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, one example is that I’m the best archer in the Tribe, but because no Shepherd has chosen me I’ll never be allowed to be a Leader, so I’ll never be acknowledged as Head Archer. Mari, I haven’t told anyone this, but sometimes it feels like I’m not sure who I am.”

  “Can’t you just be yourself?” Mari said, acknowledging to herself the irony of giving this particular advice to Nik when she was not completely sure who the new Mari was, either.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to do, but who I really am doesn’t fit into what’s normal for the Tribe.”

  “Well, I can’t help you with that one because I’ve never felt normal.”

  Nik grinned. “That’s probably why we make such a good team.”

  Mari grinned back at him. They stood there like that, smiling at each other, until it became awkward.
Then Mari stuck out her hand and, in her best copy of Leda’s brisk, no nonsense voice, said, “I wish you health and happiness, Nik. Good-bye.”

  Nik grasped the hand she offered, but instead of shaking it he turned it gently, holding it in both of his, and then he bent and kissed the pulse point at her wrist.

  When he looked up their eyes met and held.

  “Why did you do that?” Mari asked, feeling breathless.

  “I’m not sure,” Nik said.

  She pulled her hand from his. “Well, good-bye.” This time when she turned away, he didn’t try to stop her.

  Mari made it quickly to the other side of the creek. Pausing for just a moment, she turned, expecting to see Nik’s back as he hobbled away. He was standing exactly where she’d left him, and he was watching her. Self-consciously, she lifted her hand, waving at him.

  Instead of waving back, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted across the water. “I said I’d tell you the truth, and here are two truths! One—I would give my world to have a Shepherd like Rigel choose me. And two—I will see you again. That I promise!” Then he turned and limped into the waiting forest.

  Mari didn’t allow herself to watch him, or at least not for very long.

  39

  The rest of Nik’s journey home was exhausting, painful, and entirely too silent. He should have been excited to get back to the Tribe, but the truth was the closer he got, the more his mind was at war.

  He’d found the pup, but he didn’t have the pup.

  He’d found the cure for the blight, but he didn’t have the cure.

  And he’d found the girl on fire, but he didn’t have her, either.

  “Sure, yeah, I could announce the truth to everyone. Then what happens?” Nik reasoned aloud. “The entire Tribe demands I find Mari and bring her, the pup, and the cure to them.” He shook his head. “If I found her again, and that’s a big if unless Mari wants to be found, she wouldn’t agree to come to the Tribe.” Nik scowled to himself, imagining what men like Thaddeus would do. “They’d bring her to the Tribe, willing or not. Rigel would protect her. Who knows where that would lead?” He shuddered, remembering too well the terrible story his father had told him about Galen and his Orion. They’d both been killed—both. And they had been full members of the Tribe, Companions, respected by all. “What would they do to Mari?”

  No. There had to be another way. Mari was smart and compassionate. Once he earned her trust, made her understand that he and his father would fight to change things for the captive Earth Walkers, then he believed she would share the cure for the blight with him.

  “I need time. Father will help me. He and I will figure this out.” And that meant he couldn’t tell anyone except Sol about Mari’s ability to heal the blight. “So, where have I been? How do I explain not being dead?” Nik limped forward, thinking … thinking …

  He found the answer as he topped the ridge on which spread the Tribe of the Trees. Standing there, catching his breath and admiring the majesty of the Tribe, Nik understood what he had to do.

  Nik had to tell the truth. Or at least as much of it as he could without putting Mari’s whole world in danger.

  He limped to the lift and tugged on the chain. From far above a voice called, “Who goes there?”

  “Davis?”

  There was a long pause. “Nik?”

  “Yes! It’s me!”

  The lift immediately began to lower, and as Nik climbed in it and ascended he could hear Cammy’s excited barking. As soon as the door to the cagelike lift opened, a blond blur ran to him, leaping around and huffing as the little Terrier greeted him.

  “Cammy, it’s good to see you!” Nik bent stiffly, petting the canine.

  Then Davis grabbed him in a bearlike hug, making Nik laugh while he grimaced in pain.

  “Sorry! Sorry. Are you hurt? They said you’d been killed, so you have to be hurt. Sorry, didn’t mean to grab you like that!” Davis babbled and he pumped Nik’s hand in a less painful greeting.

  “I’m okay, or at least I am now. It’s really good to see you, Davis.”

  “Sol’s going to be beside himself when he sees you. Come on! Let’s get you to your father.”

  “Wait, Davis. Where is Father?”

  “Oh, bloody beetle balls, what’s wrong with me? You need to see the Healers first. You’re standing, but you look like you could fall over any second. And what are you wearing? Can you walk? How badly hurt are you?”

  “Okay, one thing at a time. I can walk, but not very much farther. I can make it to Father’s nest, though. Do you know where Father is?” Nik repeated.

  “I think he’s on his platform, taking in the last rays of the setting sun.”

  “Could you get him for me?”

  “Of course, Nik!”

  “And can I borrow your cloak?”

  “Sure. Are you cold? In shock? You look bad,” Davis said, pulling off his cloak and handing it to Nik.

  “No, I just don’t want anyone else to see me before Father does.” Nik pulled the hood of Davis’s cloak over his head. If he kept his face down, no one should recognize him—especially since they thought he was dead.

  “That makes sense. It’s been bad, Nik. Really bad since the survivors got back from the foraging trip.”

  “Who did we lose besides Crystal and her Grace?”

  “Monroe’s Viper died two days ago. Yesterday Monroe followed him.”

  “Suicide?” Nik felt sick.

  “No. He caught a spear in his side. It killed him. It just took several days,” Davis said.

  “What about Sheena and Captain?”

  Davis shook his head sadly. “They’re barely hanging on.”

  “They made it back!”

  “Yeah, Captain’s front leg is broken. It’s too early to tell if he’s going to heal. If he dies, Sheena will follow him.”

  “Was she hurt?”

  “She almost drowned, but wasn’t wounded. She managed to avoid being sucked into the run-off. She and Captain clung to the bridge ruins long enough for Wilkes to paddle back for them. Captain’s leg got caught in the truss, and it snapped. I don’t know how Sheena kept ahold of him and the bridge, but she did.” He paused and then put his hand on Nik’s shoulder. “That thing with Crystal. It was pretty terrible, huh?”

  Nik nodded, not trusting his voice enough to speak.

  “You did the right thing, though, ending her before those bastards took her away.”

  Nik nodded again, blinking hard and looking away. He cleared his throat. “Did the rest of the team make it home? What about Thaddeus? I saw a Skin Stealer grab him from his kayak, and tried to stop him, but I couldn’t get a good shot.”

  “Yeah, it was really bad. Skin Stealers captured him and Odysseus and started flaying the flesh from the little Terrier’s body.”

  “Bloody beetle balls, that’s awful! I don’t like Thaddeus, but I wouldn’t wish that horror on him or his Odysseus.”

  “Hey, don’t get too sad. Thaddeus managed to escape with Odysseus, and he’s back to being even more arrogant and asinine than he was before.”

  “Odysseus is alive?”

  “He is! And healing remarkably well. Seems that the Skin Stealers started on him, and were so distracted by how hard the little guy fought them that Thaddeus somehow managed to get free, kill a bunch of them, grab Odysseus, and escape on the river.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. It was awful—truly awful. I’m glad any of us made it out of there, though we were all in the same amount of danger.”

  “How Wilkes tells it the team wouldn’t have been in danger had they listened to you.”

  “It’s too late for second-guessing. And Wilkes had good reason to make the decisions he did.” Nik passed a shaking hand through his hair.

  “Well, shit! Here I am blabbing on and on, and you’re about to fall down. Go to your father’s nest. I’ll get him for you.”

  “Thank you, Davis.”

  “Welcome home, Nik. It’s real
ly, really good to see you alive.”

  * * *

  Laru burst into the nest, tackling Nik just seconds before Sol. Nik was laughing and groaning in pain and telling Laru to get off him when he was lifted from the chair he’d gingerly sat himself in and engulfed in his father’s arms.

  “Father, careful! My back’s hurt.”

  Sol loosened his grip, but didn’t release his son. Nik felt his father trembling, and realized the big man was sobbing. Feeling unexpectedly childlike, Nik rested his head on his father’s shoulder, returning his embrace with as much strength as he could muster.

  Eventually, Sol leaned back, holding Nik by his shoulders. His face was wet with tears, but his smile blazed with joy.

  “You scared me, son. You scared me.”

  “Didn’t mean to. And I scared myself, too,” Nik said.

  “I love you, boy. Too much for you to do that again,” Sol said.

  “I’ll try not to almost die again anytime soon,” Nik said. “Father, I have to sit down before I fall down.”

  “Of course! Of course! Laru, move, so that Nik can get comfortable.”

  Gratefully, Nik sank back on the chair. Laru sat beside him, leaning against him and whining softly.

  “He’s fine, Laru. He’s fine,” Sol gently scolded the big Shepherd, but then he squatted in front of his son, studying him carefully. “You are fine. Aren’t you?”

  “Yes, but the truth of it is a long, crazy story.”

  “I’ll brew you a big mug of tea while you tell it to me,” Sol said.

  “That’s a deal, but do you have anything stronger than tea?”

  “Thankfully, yes.” Sol collected two wooden cups and a big pitcher, filling the cups and handing one to Nik before he pulled a chair from the other side of the table to sit beside his son. “All right. Tell me.”

  * * *

  Nik felt his father’s fingers gently probed the skin around the wound in his back.

  “You’re right. There’s no sign of blight at all. It’s obviously a serious wound, but it’s hard to believe it happened only a week ago. The healing that’s taking place is incredible. Just like the cut on your leg.” Sol stepped back and Nik pulled down the tunic top. “It’s unbelievable.”