Page 51 of Moon Chosen

On the opposite bank, not far from the holly tree Mari and Rigel had hidden beneath the evening before, were several Clan members—all men except for Sora. She seemed to be doing all the talking while the men watched her silently as she and Leda carried on an animated discussion. Just as Mari was sighing in frustration at not being able to hear what was being said, the wind shifted, carrying the women’s voices to her.

“Yes, Sora, I do insist that you abandon your burrow. First, because it is not far enough from here to be safe. As you know, my Mari was here last night. She overheard the Companions speaking to one another. They will return. One of their canine pups is missing and they think it became lost in our territory. They do not intend to stop looking for him. Quite simply, it is not safe for you to remain in this part of our territory, just as it is not safe foranyof our Clan to remain nearby.”

Mari’s gaze went to Sora, who started to speak, but Leda’s raised hand silenced her. “I have not finished, Sora. Second, you agreed to be apprenticed to me last night, which means you will someday—should our Great Earth Mother grant it—become a Moon Woman. You know it is forbidden for the location of a Moon Woman’s burrow to be known to the Clan. You would eventually have to find a new spot for your home. Is now or later really that important?”

“Yes, it is important to me!” Sora said, sounding petulant.

“As it should be. A Moon Woman’s choice of burrow is of extreme importance, as is the keeping of it secret.” Mari smiled at her mother’s response.Sora is definitely out of her league.

“I know that I have to find a new home, and keep it secret.” Then, as if an afterthought, Sora added, “I just don’t understand how I’m supposed to make my new burrow without the help of anyone. After all,mymother wasn’t a Moon Woman.Idon’t have a burrow already hidden by silence and mystery.”

Mari’s eyes narrowed just as did Leda’s. Sora’s tone wasn’t just whiny, it was disrespectful.

Leda had stopped washing the face of the idol, and had straightened. She faced Sora, and as she spoke her words were amplified by equal parts anger and love.

“Sora, I was going to wait until I could call another Gathering to tell you this, but now seems the perfect time. I have decided to break with tradition, which is always a Moon Woman’s prerogative, and to announce that I claim two apprentices.”

“Two? No, I—” Sora began, but Leda sliced her words off.

“Silence, apprentice! You may speak when I have finished. I proclaim that my daughter, Mari, will also apprentice as the Clan’s Moon Woman.” Leda paused and, smiling serenely, added, “Apprentice, now you may speak, but be wise with your words. I have the right to take away apprenticeship as easily as I give it.”

Mari’s heart was hammering so hard that she almost didn’t hear Sora’s next words.

“But the entire Clan knows Mari is too sickly to be a true Moon Woman!”

“Until the Companions attacked us last night, I thought Mari was too frail to be Moon Woman, too, but what she did proved me wrong. You see, the reason I know Xander was killed and Jenna taken, is because just before the Companions overran our hiding place, Mari called down the moon and Washed them both clean of Night Fever.”

Sora’s black brows shot up. “That is hard to believe.”

“And yet I witnessed it,” Leda said.

There was a long silence where Sora looked from Leda to each of the four men, her expression clearly saying what her words could not without invoking Leda’s wrath. Finally, one of the men spoke up. It was, of course, Jaxom, the young Clansman Sora had been sharing looks with at the Full Moon Gathering. Slowly, with obvious reticence, he said, “Moon Woman, why would Mari have Washed Xander and Jenna, instead of you Washing them?”

“Jaxom, are you questioning my word?”

Mari shivered at the tone of her mother’s voice. She had rarely heard it, but on those few occasions she knew what followed would not be pleasant.

Jaxom’s eyes flicked to Sora, who quickly went to him, touching his arm intimately. “Of course Jaxom isn’t questioning your word, Moon Woman. He is simply asking aloud the question we are all thinking.”

“Then I will answer him just as simply. I was injured last night. Badly. Mari saved me from drowning, and got me to a hiding spot, where we met Xander and Jenna. I had a severe concussion. I had cracked ribs. I could not call down the moon, and the Companions were close by, so when Xander began to be consumed by Night Fever, Mari did what I could not. She Washed him. She Washed Jenna. Does that answer your question?”

“Almost,” Sora said, making a big show of seeming to be embarrassed that there was more she needed to ask. “But if your injuries were so great that you couldn’t call down the moon, couldn’t even aid your daughter in calling down the moon, then why do you seem uninjured today?”

Leda lifted her chin, and in a voice so filled with love and pride it had Mari’s eyes tearing, said, “I am uninjured today because after Mari Washed Xander and Jenna free of madness, she Washed me free of my wounds. AndthatSora, is why I proclaim my daughter, Mari, my apprentice and heir in addition to you.”

Mari didn’t think she’d ever stop smiling. Sora’s mouth was actually hanging open, and Jaxom was nodding—practically bowing—to Leda while he muttered something that sounded like an apology. The other three men looked equally chagrined. Mari was so filled with happiness that it took several breaths for her to realize that the sound she was hearing, a low rumble, was coming from Rigel. Reluctantly she turned her attention to the pup. He had been curled beside her on the mossy ground, semi-asleep after his exertions in the creek, but now he was standing. His body almost hummed with tension. The fur up and down his spine was lifted. His tail curled up over his back, scorpion-like, and his ears were pricked forward. He was growling softly, all of his attention focused on the cherry grove behind the creek. Suddenly Mari was filled with the desire torun, escape,go go go!

Mari moved fast, but not fast enough. As she parted the curtain of boughs and shouted, “Mama, run!” Companions and their canines burst from the cherry grove.

Sora didn’t hesitate. Without so much as a glance at Leda, she grabbed Jaxom’s hand and yelled, “Save me! Save me!” The young man half dragged her up the steep bank and then the two of them sprinted into the forest. The other three men followed closely behind.

Not one of them helped Leda.

Leda glanced over her shoulder, searching wildly for Mari. Stepping from the concealment of the willow, Mari gestured for her mother to go—run! She meant to go to her—to leave Rigel there, hidden and safe at least for the moment—and to rush to her mama. But her Shepherd had other ideas. With a strength that utterly surprised Mari, Rigel clamped his teeth into her tunic and pulled, jerking her off her feet and dragging her backward so that she fell to the ground within the safety of the willow.

“Rigel, no! I have to go to Mama!” Mari scrambled to be free of the pup, but it was too late. The voices of strangers filled the Gathering Site like the rumbling of thunder just before lightning strikes.

On her stomach, Mari crawled to the edge of the willow’s sweeping boughs. With shaking hands she parted the long, green tendrils.