Page 14 of Sun Warrior

“No, sorry, Mari. I’m better at tracking than I am at plants.”

“I know what chickweed looks like. I’ve spent time on the Farm,” Sheena said.

Mari looked up at her, nodded her thanks. “Back around the bend and up a little ways from the path I’m sure I saw a big bed of them. Could you pull a bunch for me?”

“Will do!” Sheena jogged back down the path.

As Mari wound the strips of her tunic snugly around Sarah’s swollen ankle as support, she spoke to Lydia. “I see that you soaked that cloth and put it over your burns. That was smart, but I know it must still hurt a lot.”

Mouth closed in a firm line against the pain, Lydia nodded.

“I’ll do what I can for you now, but I promise to give you something that will bring you relief as soon as we get to the burrow.”

“You don’t seem like any other Scratcher—I mean Earth Walker—I’ve ever known,” Lydia said.

“Have you really ever known an Earth Walker?” Mari’s smile kept the bite from her question, but still the girl looked away and shook her head.

“No. I’ve only been to the Farm once or twice with Mother.” Then Lydia clamped her lips together again, blinking her eyes in an obvious attempt to keep her tears from spilling over.

“She’s dead.” Sarah’s voice shook. She did nothing to stop the tears from running down her cheeks. “So is our father and their Shepherds. They—they made us leave our nest first. They were supposed to follow right behind us. It happened so fast. One second they were shouting for us to run. The next our tree was ablaze and—” She broke off, unable to continue.

“I’m so sorry.” Mari looked from Sarah to Lydia. “My mama died not long ago. It’s awful, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Lydia said on a sob. “It’s awful.”

Both women—girls really, Mari realized as she looked through the soot and dirt, sweat and wounds, and saw how young they were, probably barely Jenna’s age—bowed their heads together and clung to each other. Mari stood, moving away to give the girls privacy for their grief.

“Mari, Rose’s back is burned pretty badly,” O’Bryan said softly to her.

Mari went to the petite blonde who sat in the middle of the path with her Terrier snugged to her side, her puppies rooting earnestly for their mother’s milk.

“Rose, may I examine your back to be sure you can travel?”

Rose shrugged. “Sure, but I can travel. I don’t have any choice.”

Mari went around to the woman’s back, carefully lifting her tattered shirt, frowning at the blisters that were already beginning to ooze.

“Here, I picked all of it!” Sheena jogged to Mari and handed her a nice bundle of delicate white-flowered plants.

“Thank you, Sheena. Now could you call Captain? He’ll make sure we don’t get lost from the Clanswomen while everyone is following Rigel,” Mari said. Sheena nodded, cupped her hands, and whistled sharply. Then Mari hurried to Sarah and handed half of the chickweed bundle to the girl. “Chew these—whole. Then spit them into your hands and carefully smooth the mixture onto the worst of Lydia’s burns. I’ll be doing the same for Rose; then we’ll get going.”

“Really? You want me to chew these up and then spit them onto Lydia?”

“Well, kind of. Spit them into your hand andthenput them on Lydia’s burns. Don’t worry if you swallow some. They’ll help with that swollen ankle.” Mari stuck a big handful of the bitter herb in her own mouth and began to chew as she headed back to Rose’s side.

“Here, I’ll help.” O’Bryan held out his hand.

“How’s your leg?” Mari asked through a full mouth as she handed him a fistful of plants.

“It’ll be okay until we can stop. You fixed me up good!” He grinned and filled his mouth with chickweed. Soon he was chewing and spitting alongside Mari.

It didn’t take long and Mari didn’t like how weak the wounded women were, but within just a few minutes they were hobbling along with Sheena and Captain leading them, not far behind the Clanswomen. Mari glanced at O’Bryan. He was carrying half of the Terrier pups, with Sheena carrying the other half. The two of them were staying close beside Rose, who was too weak to do much except lean on Sheena and stagger forward. Mari cleared her throat, and O’Bryan met her eyes. She gave him a pointed look before saying, “Sheena, could you take the pups from O’Bryan for a moment? I don’t like how much he’s limping and want to take a look at his wound.”

“Sure,” Sheena said, taking the squirming pups from O’Bryan. “Maybe we should all rest for a moment.”

“No,” Mari said quickly. “We’re almost to Earth Walker territory, but we’ll have to hurry to make the burrow before night. The four of you keep going. I’ll just be a second with O’Bryan. We’ll catch up with you quickly.”

Mari motioned for O’Bryan to sit on a nearby log. First, she checked his burns. “Here.” She handed him what was left of her chickweed. “Chew this and put it on your arms and face. You’re not burned badly, but it must be painful.”