Page 142 of Sun Warrior

“DEATH!”the people responded with one word.

He glanced at Dove. She was still standing there, head bowed in supplication to Him. Something about the inherent grace of how she held herself rankled. She should be more subservient. It wasn’t that she said or did any one thing in particular that annoyed Him. It was more what shedidn’tdo.

Dove didn’t worship Him.

That was annoying enough in the Great Goddess. She, too, refused to worship Him, but she was the Mother Goddess, Life herself, and not a human spirit housed within a blind, childlike, mortal shell.

“Well, what are you waiting for? I have given a command. Obey!” With His foot, He shoved Dove away from Him and toward the door to the balcony. Caught off guard, Dove stumbled, arms outstretched, and fell heavily to the floor. Within seconds Lily, Dove’s favorite Attendant, was at her side, whispering soft words to her and helping her to her feet. The girl was younger than Dove and pretty, if you ignored the pustules just beginning to form at the bends of her elbows and knees.

Death waited, expecting Lily to look up at Him—to bow or at the very least to supplicate herself to Him in some way. She did not—not untilshe had helped Dove to her feet and the two girls were leaving the balcony. It was only after Dove stopped and whispered something into her ear that Lily paused, turned back to face Him, and bowed.

Impatiently He waved the girl away, and the two of them disappeared inside the chamber. Death would remember. He would remember that Lily was loyal, not to Him, but to Dove.

“Her blood mixed with Dove’s will surely awaken the Goddess. I will enjoy sacrificing her,” he murmured to himself before facing His people once more and raising His arms to proclaim, “Tonight we feast! And soon, very soon, my beloved People, we will live in a city in the sky!”

***

Dusk fell quickly in the heart of the forest, even if that heart had been severely wounded by fire. From his elevated position on the last of the platforms intact enough to bear weight, Thaddeus looked back at what was left of the City in the Trees or what he was coming to think of ashisTribe.

His clothes were stained with dirt and smudges of blackened moss. His face was ravaged by tracks left by tears. But his eyes were dry. Odysseus’s death had changed him irrevocably. He’d tolerated the Tribe’s condolences as he’d made his way back through the meditation platform without his Companion beside him for the first time in more than ten winters. He’d nodded and thanked the Hunters and Warriors who had sought him out to share in his grief. Then he had gotten away from them. They didn’t understand. None of them understood.

Odysseus wasn’t gone. Thaddeus could feel him. If he didn’t look directly down at the place by his side the little Terrier had always filled, Thaddeus could even make himself believe Odysseus was still physically there, as well as in spirit.

Thaddeus’s city was a mess, but that didn’t distress him. Over the past three days little had been done to repair and rebuild. That didn’t distress Thaddeus, either.

“It’s because they’re all sick, right, boy?” He spoke as if Odysseus were still listening attentively at his side. “That’s right! We know why.”Thaddeus laughed. It was a relief to laugh about it—to be able to show his true feelings. “So, what’s our decision? Do we tell them that this sickness—this poison in their system—can be cured? That the cure will make them stronger, faster, even smarter?”

Thaddeus imagined Odysseus looking up at him, his dark eyes glinting with the same sly intelligence Thaddeus displayed. He could almost hear the Terrier barking sharply, angrily.

“No, of course not! I didn’t mean that we tell themall.Just the ones we choose. Like our Hunters, and perhaps some of the Warriors who just today finally showed enough sense to turn on Wilkes and make me their Leader. Think of it, Odysseus! I am the acknowledged Leader of the Shepherd-be-damned Warriors! Soon they’ll be rolling over and showingyoutheir bellies in submission.”

Thaddeus imagined Odysseus wagging his tail and barking gleefully.

“Hey, hey, hey—let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First we let the Skin Stealer sickness cull the wounded and weak from my Tribe. Thankfully, the fire already got rid of the Council—those relics would never understand about our change. Cyril made that clear before I shut him up for good. But you know who would understand about us? Our Hunters and Warriors who have been the most vocal in their anger toward the traitor Nik and his Scratcher bitch. It’s as you and I decided—it’s what you made your great sacrifice for. Odysseus, it’s time I begin taking them aside and showing them what we know—the cure that changes everything. It works fast—remember? It begins almost immediately. They have canines, and whether they’re Terriers or Shepherds isn’t important. All they need do is get their canines to agree to share flesh with them.” Thaddeus wasn’t able to contain his nervous excitement, and he began to pace back and forth, back and forth, across the platform. “They’ll have it easy compared to you, my brave one. They won’t have to make the choice you did.”

Thaddeus bowed his head then as grief momentarily broke through anger. But he waved away his discontent. “It was worth it, and you’re not really gone—no matter what those fools think. Even my own Hunters and Warriors, the ones who believe as we do, wouldn’t understandwhat has happened between the three of us—you, me, and Death.” Thaddeus shook his head. “No. They will never know, though they will follow me. Oh yes. Theywillfollow me. As for the rest of the Tribe, the wounded are dying off daily. Soon, very soon, those who are left, the ones who are simply infected with the skin sloughing disease, will notice the change in those we share our secret with, and if they ask to join us we’ll save them. If not, they can live sick and miserable. Well, for as long as they are able to live.” He laughed again, a hard, cruel sound. “I never imagined I’d say this, but I’d like to thank those mutant Skin Stealers for what they did to us. Hey, maybe wewillthank them when I lead my changed Hunters and Warriors into their poisoned city and purge it of their infestation!”

Thaddeus could picture Odysseus jumping around him, barking his agreement.

“That’s right, boy! And it all starts tonight. The Hunters most easily led are Andrew, Joshua, and Michael. They’re also the three who are most filled with anger about the fire and Nik’s abandonment. I’m going to pull aside Maxim as well. That Warrior is mean, and mean is what we need. As soon as it’s fully dark, we’ll bring them back here where we can have some privacy for what needs to be done. I’ll just have to be sure they keep their canines quiet. No one can know about this until it’s too late. No one!” Thaddeus shouted, lifting his hands in victory as he heard inside his tainted mind the sound of his dead Companion barking to mirror his glee.

Neither noticed the Warrior and her Shepherd, frozen below them, hidden by the rubble of a fallen nest. Claudia’s eyes were huge with shock, and Mariah glared up at the Hunter with the focused intensity of a true Warrior.

Was the man utterly mad? Claudia had heard everything, and she was still reeling from her discovery. For a moment she considered drawing her crossbow and breaking one of the Tribe’s basic tenants by killing Thaddeus.

She even reached for her bow, meaning to do it. She sighted carefully. One shot for Thaddeus and it would be over.

But would it be over? Thaddeus said the sickness raging through the Tribe was curable and caused by Skin Stealers! How? Why? What was this strange cure he spoke of? Kill Thaddeus and what were they going to do? Go to the Skin Stealers for help? Not possible.

And where was Odysseus? Thaddeus spoke to his Companion as if he were by his side, but though Claudia’s sharp Warrior eyes searched the platform, she could find no sign of the wounded Terrier.

And as she stared up the sight of her crossbow at Thaddeus, Claudia realized something else. Her stomach roiled with more than the sickness that infected her. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t murder a Tribesman. Claudia lowered the bow, motioning to Mariah, and the two of them backed silently away from the tree in which Thaddeus was still carrying on a macabre celebration. They made a wide circle before heading east again.

At the edge of the blackened rubble of ruins that used to be a graceful City in the Trees, Claudia found Wilkes waiting patiently, Odin by his side.

“Good, I was beginning to worry about—”

“We have to talk. Not here, though. We’re too close. You won’t believe what I just overheard from Thaddeus.”