by P. C. Cast
When they’d made the decision to voyage up the river and through the mountains to the plains of the Wind Riders, Sheena, Davis, and O’Bryan—led by Antreas—had given the Earth Walkers quick lessons on how to paddle the canoe-like watercraft the Tribe used. So, Mari bent to her task and drew on the reservoir of strength she’d managed to retain from calling down sunfire, paddling as hard as she could. She ignored her burning shoulders and listened for Davis’s direction, “That’s good, Mari. Keep it steady. Stroke … stroke … stroke.”
When she could, Mari glanced behind her—each time relieved to see the bow of Nik’s boat still within view. She lost all track of time, and was shocked when Davis called out, “Hello, the Pack!”
“Davis!” O’Bryan’s familiar voice responded before Mari could differentiate Nik’s cousin from the floating blobs that were suddenly coming into view. “Do you have Nik and Mari?”
“Yes! We’re here!” Mari called back. “But Nik’s wounded. He can’t go on much longer. We have to stop long enough for me to call down the moon and help him heal.”
“Come closer!” Antreas’s voice carried easily from the lead position back to them across the inky water. “Tie up with O’Bryan and the rest of us will circle back to you.”
“Will do!” Mari said.
Nik called out. “Jaxom and I are right behind Mari and Davis. We’ll tie up with them.”
Mari wondered what Antreas was up to. They needed to get to shore so she could call the moon to her, but perhaps tying up was part of that plan. Regardless, she was incredibly relieved when she saw the rest of her Pack paddle into view.
“Great Goddess! I am so glad to see you!” Sora cried as her boat drifted to them. It was bigger than Mari’s—large enough for Sora to share it with Sheena and her Shepherd, Captain, as well as Rose with her little mama Terrier, Fala, and Fala’s litter. Mari could see Sora’s pup, Chloe, and her bright little eyes peeking out from the sling Sora had rigged to carry the canine close to her heart. “Nik?” Sora looked around worriedly. “Where’s Nik?”
“Here, just behind us.” Mari gestured to him.
“How badly is he hurt?” Sora asked as she began searching through a woven basket by her feet.
“I’m not sure. Thaddeus and his goons were using him for archery practice. He has several lacerations that don’t want to stop bleeding. I thought they were only superficial, but his weakness and the feel of his skin tell me they’re more serious than that.”
“Hey, Moon Women. I’m right here. And I’m going to be fine. Although, sadly, I think you might have to sew me up. Again. And this time without the help of that tea that knocked me out.”
Antreas paddled up to them in his little boat, expertly gliding around them as he assessed the situation. Mari thought his Lynx Companion, Bast, would look like a statue perched before him on the front of the watercraft had her yellow eyes not been shining as she gave the wide body of water suspicious looks. Then Danita’s head peeked around from her spot in the rear of the canoe and her teeth flashed white. “Mari! Thank the Great Goddess! We were all so worried about you.”
“It’s good to be back with our Pack, that’s for sure,” said Mari.
Antreas maneuvered their canoe beside Mari’s. “So, you’re absolutely certain you must call down the moon now?” he asked her.
“Yes. Nik has lost a lot of blood, and he’s still bleeding. I need to call down the healing power of the moon and then see if I have to close the wounds, or just clean and pack them.” Mari tried to see through the darkness to glimpse the shore. “Can’t we go to shore for a little while?”
“No,” Antreas spoke grimly. “We haven’t even gotten around Farm Island yet. I know the Tribe is under attack, so we shouldn’t have to worry about them following us, but we have no idea about the size of the Skin Stealer army or their intention beyond invading the Tribe. They definitely could think we’re part of the Tribe that is attempting to escape. It would be very bad for us if we gave them an opportunity to catch us.”
“But do Skin Stealers even have boats?” Davis asked.
“They can swim. Amazingly well,” Nik said. “I’ve seen them.”
“As have I,” came a weak voice drifting over the water.
“Wilkes? Is that you?” Nik asked.
“It is. Claudia and I made it to the Pack.” Then he had to stop speaking as his words were drowned in racking coughs.
“Mari, can you just bandage Nik and make do for a few hours?” Antreas asked. “If we all bend our backs to it, we should be able to get far enough upstream that we can rest and you can call moon power to you then. I planned our first stop to be about ten miles from here. If we’re lucky we’ll get there in a little over four hours.”
Mari’s ears caught the sound of Wilkes’s coughs and of another person, whom she guessed was Claudia, retching into the river. “Antreas, it seems Nik isn’t the only Pack member who needs healing. And if the Pack is weak, we won’t make it to your stopping point.”
“We’re fine, Mari.” Claudia’s voice drifted to her, sounding sick and wet and absolutely not fine.
“Antreas, could we stop to draw down the moon if we knew that the Skin Stealers weren’t after us?” Sora asked.
“Briefly, yes. But we’d need to get going again as soon as possible.”
“Well, good. That’s an easy fix,” Sora said. “O’Bryan, could you paddle over here to us, please?”
“Sure! Coming!” O’Bryan’s voice came from somewhere in the middle of the group of boats that were all tied together and filled with nervous Pack members and supplies.
Soon, O’Bryan’s boat, another one of the larger, multi-oared crafts, came into view. Mari could see that Jenna and Sarah were paddling with him. Jenna grinned and waved quickly to her before continuing to dip her oar into the water. There were no canines on their boat and it had one of the refurbished bed frames attached to the rear of it, loaded with supplies. Lydia, Sarah’s older sister, whose back had been burned in the forest fire, was one of the three passengers. There were two other women sitting in the middle of the boat, and as they drew closer Mari was surprised to realize she didn’t recognize either of them.
Then her initial surprise was replaced by shock as one of the women turned her face toward Mari—her eyeless face!
“Who are these girls?” Mari asked.
“Skin Stealers,” Sora replied nonchalantly. “We found them on the way to the channel. They were fleeing their people. That’s Lily.” The younger of the two women—the one with eyes—bowed her head respectfully to Mari. “The other girl is Dove. Your Dove, Mari. The one from your dream.”
Mari felt a jolt of shock, instantly understanding that Sora was referring to the dream Mari had shared with her about a dove seeking safe haven with the Pack and Mari’s mother’s voice insisting she should be given sanctuary, but on one condition only. “Did you make her swear?” Mari asked Sora.
“She did, Moon Woman.” The eyeless girl answered for herself. “It is good to meet the second leader of this Pack.”
Mari had little time for pleasantries and no inclination for them. “What was that creature on the ridge? The one with the horns?”
“They are antlers, Moon Woman. He is the God of Death. It is from Him that Lily and I fled.”
Mari felt a terrible foreboding shiver through her body. “What is the intention of His army?”
Dove didn’t hesitate. “To defeat the Others you call the Tribe of the Trees and to move the People from the poisoned city to the City in the Trees.”
“Do you think He’ll follow us?” Sora asked.
Dove moved her smooth shoulders. “I cannot speak for Death. I was His captive, not His confidante, so I can only repeat what I have heard Him say. Occupying the City in the Trees has long been His dream. He has not spoken of a desire to capture your people, the earth dwellers, but I have sworn to only speak the truth so I must admit that if He knows that I am with you, I believe He may come after me.”
&n
bsp; “What are the chances this Death God knows she’s with us?” Nik asked.
“He did not know Lily and I escaped,” Dove said. “He will not discover our absence until He returns to the city to get me.”
“Dove, there are many more questions I need to ask you,” Mari said. “But they will wait. Antreas, it sounds like it’s safe to stop here—if only for a short time.”
Antreas’s sigh drifted across the water. “Okay, call down the moon and heal Nik and Wilkes and Claudia, but you’re going to have to do it from out here. We need to stay in the middle of the river. We get too close to Farm Island and we’re going to get caught by its unpredictable currents—same thing with the far shore.”
“Can you do that? Draw down the moon on the water?” Nik asked.
Mari shared a look with Sora. The other Moon Woman shrugged.
“I’ve never done it before, and I don’t remember my mother ever mentioning calling the moon from any body of water, but I’ll try,” Mari said.
“I hope it works,” Antreas added. “We’re going to be spending many nights tied together and anchored in the river.”
“Sounds like a skill we’re going to have to learn,” muttered Mari, more to herself than to anyone in particular, but Danita answered.
“Then you can do it, I know you can. The moon is the moon is the moon. She is everywhere, even out here on the water,” said Danita.
“I think she’s especially out here on the water,” Jenna said. “When I was captured and imprisoned in the floating houses in the Channel I used to force myself to stay awake at night as long as I could so that I could stare at the reflection of the moon on the water. It was brilliant, and it turned the Channel from green and frightening to silver and familiar. It was the only thing that helped me remember home through that horrible depression.”
Several of the other women who had been enslaved with Jenna murmured agreement, and Mari found herself filled with gratitude for her people.
“Thank you, Jenna and Danita. I needed to hear that.” She turned to Jaxom and held out her hand. “Help me get back to Nik.” Carefully, they exchanged places again, lifting Fortina back to Jaxom’s boat with him.
“Hey, is that another canine?” Sora asked.
“It is!” Jaxom’s happiness was like a torch of sunfire. It blazed so joyously that the entire Pack could see it as the pup leaned into his side, gazing up at him adoringly. “This is Fortina. She is my Companion.”
“Bloody beetle balls! Fortina?” Sheena gawked at the pup. “But she’s Maeve’s Companion.”
“Not anymore.” Jaxom put his arm protectively around Fortina. “She ran away from the Tribe and Chose me. She told me her name, and she’s with me now. Forever. Right, Mari? Right, Nik?”
“Of course,” Mari said quickly, understanding the fear in Jaxom’s voice. Just the thought of being separated from Rigel made her stomach sick.
“Fortina left Maeve,” Nik said. “I’ve never seen anything like it—never even heard stories of it happening before—but the pup Chose a new Companion, and that Companion is Jaxom.”
“I have heard of it. It’s rare, but it can happen when a canine is being abused,” Wilkes said before he coughed so hard he, too, retched into the river.
“I’d like to hear that story after I’ve healed you and after we’re out of danger,” Mari said. Then she paused another moment to say to Jaxom, “Don’t worry. No one will ever try to take Fortina from you.” She turned to Sora. “I’m going to call down the moon now.”
Sora nodded. “What do you need me to do?”
“Concentrate with me. Think of the moon and her beauty, and how she is everywhere.”
“I will. You can count on me, Mari.”
“You can count on me, too,” Danita said eagerly, followed by Isabel.
“I’ll concentrate, too, Mari!”
“Me, too,” said Jenna, grinning at her friend and Moon Woman. “I can’t draw down the moon with you, but I’ll try to help.”
“As will I, Moon Woman!” called another member of the Pack.
“And I!”
“Me, too!”
Soon, Mari’s eyes welled with grateful tears. The love and support of her people swelled around her—and it made her feel invincible.
“Thank you—all of you.” Then she raised her voice. “I need the boat that’s carrying Wilkes and Claudia brought over here, close enough for me to touch them.”
“On our way!” Mari recognized the voice of Mason, Jaxom’s younger brother. Soon, he and Spencer, a young female Earth Walker Mari was learning to appreciate as capable and filled with energy, paddled the boat up so they could take the place Antreas vacated on one side of Mari’s canoe, with Sora’s boat on the other. Balancing carefully, Mari moved to stand behind Nik. She looked at Sora. “Ready?”
“Always,” said the other Moon Woman.
Mari closed her eyes and began sketching a picture in her mind. She drew a wide, placid river. On the river she then imagined a cluster of boats. In that cluster she was careful to draw the boat she was in with Nik, as well as Mason’s and Sora’s boats close beside them. She took three long, deep breaths, letting each out slowly as she imagined reaching down, down, through the dark water to find the muddy bottom of the river. Then she raised her arms, threw her head back, opened her eyes, and began the ancient invocation, altering it just enough to reflect the newness of calling the moon to her on water.
“Moon Woman I proclaim myself to be!
Greatly gifted, I bare myself to thee.
Though not on land, burrow, or gathered site
Still I call and ask for your powerful light.
Find me here, your Moon Woman who calls to you
Your child I am—faithful, loving, and true.
Earth Mother, aid me, show your magick might,
Lend me silver strength on this river tonight.
Come, precious light—fill me to overflow
So those in my care your healing will know.
By right of blood and birth channel through me
The Goddess gift that is my destiny!”
In her mind, Mari continued the picture she’d so carefully fashioned by filling a clear night’s sky with a brilliant moon. From that moon she drew rays of light that rained down in thick, shining ropes from above onto Mari, drenching her in healing silver magick.
She felt the cold strength of it and quickly completed the picture by sketching the silver power being channeled through her body and cascading from her hands, which she placed lovingly on Nik’s bowed head.
When she spoke her voice was amplified by the strength of the brilliant, but invisible moon.
“Nik, I Wash you free of weakness and wounds, and gift you with the love of our Great Earth Mother!”
Nik’s head was bowed, but after just a few minutes he lifted it, smiling brilliantly up at Mari. Because she was aglow with moon power, Mari could clearly see that Nik’s cheeks were once again pink with health. “Thank you, my beautiful Moon Woman,” he said.
She bent and kissed him on his forehead, noting automatically that it no longer felt cold and clammy. Then she turned to her left, where Wilkes and Claudia huddled beside each other in the middle of their boat, coughing and gasping for breath. Mari offered her hand. Wilkes nodded to Claudia, and the young woman didn’t hesitate: She took Mari’s hand, gripping it tightly. Mari felt the heat in Claudia’s flesh and knew the sickness had rooted deeply within her body.
Mari closed her eyes and concentrated. She imagined moon power flowing from her into Claudia—a huge tide of it—drowning the horrible Skin Stealer disease.
“Claudia, I Wash you free of all sickness and gift you with the love of our Great Earth Mother.”
When she felt Claudia’s hand cool and heard her draw a deep breath that was free of wheezing and coughing, she let loose her hand and briefly opened her eyes.
Claudia was staring up at her with an expression of utter astonishment. “Thank you, Moon Woman! I—I feel
like myself again!” From the rear of the boat where Claudia’s big Shepherd, Mariah, was crouched beside Wilkes’s Odin, came excited, relieved barking while Odin whined fretfully, staring at Wilkes.
Mark held out her hand to the Warrior, who took it eagerly. She closed her eyes again and painted a tide of silver, flowing from herself into Wilkes. She felt his hot hand spasm against hers, but he didn’t release his hold—he only gripped her more tightly.
“Wilkes, I Wash you free of all sickness and gift you with the love of our Great Earth Mother.”
His grip loosened as his skin cooled, and Mari opened her eyes. He was smiling up at her, his eyes filled and overflowing with tears of gratitude.
“‘Thank you’ is not enough, but that and my oath to always stand beside you—always believe in you and our Pack—is all that I have to give. Thank you, Mari, our Moon Woman.”
“The Great Earth Mother asks only for loyalty, honesty, and kindness from her people—and what is good enough for her is more than good enough for me. You are most welcome, Wilkes.”
Mari started to lift her arms again and thank the moon as she let the silver power ebb from her, but she staggered, and Nik had to take her elbow to keep her from tipping their canoe.
“You must not let it go yet, Mari,” Sora reminded her. “Keep some for yourself.”
Mari nodded and closed her eyes once more. Slowly, she lifted her arms and tilted back her head. And then she sketched one last picture, showing a gentle fall of silver from above, raining down on her, absorbing through her flesh and blood to fill her body with cool, healing light.
It only took a moment for her dizziness and weakness to wash away. “Thank you, Moon,” she spoke to the orb that was cloaked in cloud. “And thank you, Great Earth Mother.”