Page 12 of Sun Warrior

“YourClan? Aren’t you part Companion?”

“Serena, shut up!” Mari’s exasperation boiled over. “You’re no better than the Companions who refuse to believe we aren’t Scratchers. Not all of them are bad, just like not all of us are good.”

“Oh, Great Goddess! Companions! Run! Run!” several of the Clanswomen screamed.

Mari looked down the path to see a singed-looking O’Bryan stop in shock as he came around the bend and almost ran into the group of Clanswomen scrambling away from him. A heartbeat later Sheena, three other women, and a small black Terrier came into view. They, too, froze with O’Bryan as the women of the Clan milled around in senseless panic.

“No, please! Everything’s okay! You don’t have to run. We’re not going to hurt you!” O’Bryan shouted over the hysteria of the Clanswomen while the ragged-looking women behind him stood, rooted in place, staring openmouthed at the frightened Earth Walkers.

Mari cleared her throat, and as she strode through the group of women to face the Companions she borrowed her mother’s sternest voice, speaking over the cries of women and happy greeting barks of canines.

“Clanswomen, be quiet and get behind me! Rigel, with me!” Instantly the group went silent as they scrambled to get behind her and her pup rushed to her side, alert and on guard.

O’Bryan’s fire-ruddy face split into a wide grin. “Mari! I found you!” He hugged her quickly.

“Mari? What is she doing with those Scratchers?” Sheena said, stepping up beside O’Bryan before she called sharply for Captain to come to her.

“O’Bryan, who else is with you besides these women?” Ignoring Sheena, Mari shot the question at him.

“No one. I don’t think.”

“I don’t thinkisn’t good enough. Tell me the truth. Now,” Mari saidfirmly. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do if there was a whole gang of Companions trailing after O’Bryan. She glanced surreptitiously at the sky. The sun was there—somewhere above the smoke and clouds. She’d called down sunfire once before. Surely she could again to protect the Clan. Couldn’t she?

O’Bryan’s brow furrowed in confusion and then suddenly cleared. “Oh no, Mari. You don’t need to worry. None of the Warriors or Hunters followed me. They’re all trying to stop the fire.”

“And Nik? Where is he?”

“He’s back there, Mari.” O’Bryan’s honest face was too easy for Mari to read, and she felt her stomach lurch with foreboding.

“Back there? Collecting more of the wounded?” Mari tried not to believe what her gut already told her was the truth.

O’Bryan shook his head slightly. “Not exactly. He’s gone to the heart of the city to try to make a firebreak.”

Mari’s body went cold. “He’s in danger, isn’t he?”

“He is. The fire’s a nightmare, especially with the wind continually changing. Mari, the City in the Trees is being destroyed.” O’Bryan’s singed face was set in worried lines. “And after he told me about Thaddeus and Sol…” His words trailed off and he glanced nervously at Sheena and the other three women who were grouped together behind him.

“Thaddeus? What about Thaddeus?” One of the wounded women stepped up to stand on the other side of O’Bryan. A little black Terrier was at her side and wrapped in her shirt she was holding what Mari realized with a start of surprise was a bunch of puppies!

Mari opened her mouth to answer the Companion, but O’Bryan cleared his throat quickly, sending her a sharp look. Mari nodded a slight acknowledgment before saying, “Let’s get to safety, tend to the wounded, and feed everyone—then we’ll finish this discussion.”

“Nik told me to get to the creek. You know, the one where your mother…” O’Bryan paused, looking uncomfortable.

“You mean Crawfish Creek and our old Gathering Site,” Mari finished for him.

“Yes. Nik thought it would make a decent campsite. And he said you’d be able to find us easily there, too.”

“That’s where he’s meeting you?” Mari asked.

“Yes. If he makes it out,” O’Bryan finished reluctantly.

“I have a better idea. But first, let’s get everyone to the Gathering Site,” Mari said.

“You’re going to let them come with us?” Serena had stepped away from the group of Clanswomen behind Mari and was facing her with a storm-cloud look. “Companions? Who, just yesterday, were our captors.”

Mari turned so that she could look from Serena and the Clan to the Companions’ group. She drew deeply from the anger that was simmering within her—that had been simmering within her for most of her life.

“This is going to end now. Serena, these people are wounded and exhausted. There are even puppies—just babies—with them.They are no threat to us.I am your Moon Woman, and a Healer. I am going to care for them, just as I cared for Nik when I found him wounded, and it’s because I chose to help him instead of letting him die that you are now free. If you can’t handle that, if you can’t get past your hatred for them, then you should make your way back to your burrow, and eventually to another Clan.” Mari looked from Serena and the women of the Clan to O’Bryan. “And if there are any Companions among you who insist on calling us Scratchers and enslaving us, leave now. We won’t follow you. We won’t hurt you. But we also won’t help you.”