Page 151 of Moon Chosen

Nik laughed. “Father, I can’t imagine you wanting to trek through the mountains.”

“Well, not me. The time for roving has passed for me, but there is a whole other world beyond the mountains. I hear that the grasslands stretch on forever, and are a thing of great beauty,” Sol said.

“And don’t forget the Wind Riders!”

Sol laughed heartily. “How could I forget them? When you were a boy you could never get enough of the stories of the magickal horsewomen of the prairie. Do you know I saw you riding a stick and pretending it was a horse when you were about six winters old?”

Nik felt his face flush with heat. “Can we change the subject now?”

His father grinned at him. “I think you named that stick Lightning, if I remember correctly.”

“Old man, your memory is totally fading,” Nik teased. “Let’s go before you’re completely senile.”

Sol laughed again and clapped his son on the back. “All right, all right, are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Nik said.

Just before they left the privacy of the nest, Sol turned to Nik. “Son, I applaud your decision to tell as much of the truth as you can about what has happened to you. I want you to be prepared, though. If all goes as we hope the Tribe will, eventually, know the full truth about Mari. I cannot predict how our people are going to react. They believe Scratchers are little more than underdeveloped children with a strange, magickal ability to grow things. They need to be cared for, as we do our sheep. Losing that belief will change our world, and I just don’t know how the Tribe is going to accept that change.” Sol paused and then added, “Though if they want to stop dying of the blight, they have little choice.”

“Father, that is exactly what I’m counting on.”

40

Nik was relieved to see that the gathering for the Mercenary was small, and mostly made up of the Elder Council and a group of single women who were young enough still to consider mating, but old enough that the chance of a canine choosing any of them was pretty slim.Which means,Nik thought, scowling to himself as he and his father approached the group,that most of the women are my age.

“Nik! Oh, Nik! You’re back! You’re alive!” Maeve jumped up from her place beside Cyril and hurled herself into Nik’s arms as she laughed through happy tears.

“Hello, Maeve. And Fortina. It’s good to see you, too.” Nik disentangled himself from Maeve and bent to rub the growing canine behind her ears, thinking how very much she looked like Rigel—and then feeling a pang. Not of envy, as he would have felt before he found Rigel, but a pang of yearning. He missed Rigel. He also missed Mari. The realization of that missing left him crouched beside Fortina, staring at the pup with his mind in tumult.

“Nik, are you well? Are you whole? Sol, is he really okay?” Maeve was asking.

Nik shook himself mentally, patted Fortina once more, then he stood, smiling at his father’s lover. “Sorry, Maeve. Yes, I’m fine. Completely fine.”

“Nikolas! I cannot express how good it is to see you returned to us.” Cyril grasped Nik’s hand, shaking it warmly.

“Thank you, Cyril. It was a close thing.”

“How did you get back? Sheena said you were mortally wounded when the run-off took you under,” Cyril said.

“That’s a complicated story, my friend,” Sol began. “Nik can tell it after—”

“Father, I don’t mind telling Cyril.” Nik made himself smile, as if he had absolutely nothing to hide. “The sooner the Tribe hears what happened to me, the less complicated the telling will be.”

“Go ahead then, son,” Sol said.

Nik drew a long breath and then dove directly into the deep end. “Sheena was right. I was mortally wounded.” Nik moved so that his back was to Cyril and Maeve. Then Sol helped to lift his sweater so the neatly bandaged wound was visible to all.

“You’ve already been to the infirmary?” Cyril and the rest of the group that had left the Mercenary to join Nik shared confused glances, which Nik understood. Gossip traveled like summer forest fire in the Tribe. If he’d been to the infirmary, the Tribe would have already known he’d returned.

“I’m on my way to the infirmary right now,” Nik explained, pulling his sweater down. “My wound was bandaged by Earth Walker Healers.”

“Earth Walker Healers?” Maeve’s tone was incredulous as she looked from Nik to Sol for an explanation.

“He means Scratchers.” Thaddeus’s voice, laced with sarcasm, came from the rear of the group that had joined them.

There was a sudden, complete silence, and then Nik nodded and smiled at Thaddeus as if the man had just helped him. “Good to see you alive and well, Thaddeus. And what you said is correct. Earth Walker is what they call themselves. The name Scratcher is an insult.”

Thaddeus barked laughter. “Leave it to Nik to worry about insulting a Scratcher.”