Page 172 of Sun Warrior

“Thank you,” Nik ground out the words, and limped to the stairs. He moved slowly and carefully up them, in case anyone was watching, but as he reached the landing and glanced down he realized no one was paying any attention to him. Everyone was too embroiled in their own private misery.

The landing was empty, so Nik straightened to gaze fondly at the life-giving Mother Plants. Emma had been right. They certainly were flourishing.

The ancient stories said that the Mother Plant had been formed from what used to be called a staghorn fern. The resemblance to a stag’s antlers was still apparent, though the ferns had evolved to an enormous size. At maturity, their fronds were easily big enough to engulf an adult Tribesman. Their fantastically large root balls anchored them to the pines, and from that security they grew and reproduced. They had three kinds of fronds—shield fronds, sterile fronds, and fertile fronds. The sterile fronds grew all the time, along with the shield fronds, which looked exactly like their name. They shielded the root balls, allowing them to anchor to the surface of the trees as they also wrapped around the bark, creating a barrier protecting the roots. The fertile fronds budded when Tribeswomen became pregnant, opening to form massive sheets of filigree-patterned green as babies were born. The fertile fronds were soft and pliable and covered with spores. It was these fertile fronds in which the Tribe’s newborns were wrapped from birth until they had known one full winter. The spores of the ferns—each in a pattern as individual as each infant—were absorbed through the skin, miraculously allowing the child to begin to absorb sunlight, much like the fern itself.

Nik approached the enormous cluster of plants. He reached out and gently stroked a frond.

“I’m sorry I have to uproot you. I promise the Pack will take good care of you. Earth Walkers can grow anything, so I’m sure you’re going to do well with us. And I’ll be as careful as possible with you.”

Nik studied the fern closest to him, lifting the massive sheets of fronds, both sterile and fertile, so that he could peer beneath them to the underside of the plant. Sure enough, peeking out from the moss that Maeve and her Tribeswomen had packed around the root ball were several small plants the Tribe called pups.

“There you are,” Nik said. “The future of our Pack.”

Nik took the soaked cloth from its woven container inside his satchel. Ever so gently, Nik used his knife to sever the young fern’s roots from the main plant’s root ball, placing it in the middle of the cloth. He moved to another plant, not wanting to overtax any of the ferns, and chose another pup, carefully severing it from the root ball. Then he moved to yet another fern, harvesting one more pup.

“That should be enough, especially with the Earth Walker’s talent with growing things.” Nik wrapped the wet bandage cloth around thethree pups and was sliding them back into their woven carrier when he heard a sound behind him and whirled to see Maeve with her young Shepherd, Fortina, beside her.

“Nik! What in the name of the Sun are you doing?”

Nik finished packing the young Mother Plants into his satchel before he responded.

“Hello, Maeve. It’s really good to see you.” Nik smiled at Maeve, trying to sound calm and normal, as if Clan Law didn’t proclaim stealing from the Mother Plants was a crime punishable by death.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Maeve’s voice was as hard as her expression. Her young Companion, Fortina, whined fretfully at her side, and Nik could easily see why the pup was so upset—Maeve looked terrible. Her face was flushed with fever. Her bare arms were covered in sores, and when she wasn’t coughing her breath wheezed painfully.

Nik forced himself to respond as if Maeve weren’t deathly ill. He turned his attention to the pup, just as he would have if they had been meeting under normal circumstances. “Hey there, Fortina. You’re looking well, and you’re almost as big as your brother, Rigel.”

The pup began wagging her tail, but Maeve’s sharp tone had her tucking it between her legs and peering up at her Companion with big, sorrowful eyes.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

Nik drew a deep breath and told the truth. “I’m harvesting a few pups from the Mother Plant to take with me. I’m not returning to the Tribe but starting a new group of people who want a change from the past. We’re called a Pack. Maeve, if you’d like to join us, we would be happy to welcome you.”

“And is thisPack,” she pronounced the word disdainfully, “made up of Scratchers?”

“Earth Walkers. That’s their real name. And, yes, there are some Earth Walkers. There are also some Companions—Hunters and Warriors—who have chosen to join us, as well as Antreas and his Lynx, Bast. You remember him, don’t you? He was visiting the Tribe to find a mate.”

“I remember him. I also remember your father and the fact that he died because of your Scratcher.”

“No, Maeve. I was there. I saw exactly what happened. Father was killed by Thaddeus.”

“Only because your father was too kind! He was trying to protect that bitch Scratcher. Thaddeus was right. Had she died that night instead of Sol, none of this nightmare would have happened to us.”

“Maeve, Father died protecting Mari because he believed in protecting the innocent and he knew Mari was innocent. Don’t you think I miss him more than anyone?He was my only living parent!And now he’s gone, but not because of Mari. Father is gone because Thaddeus is consumed by hate.”

“Maybe that’s how it looks from where you stand. You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?” When Nik said nothing, Maeve’s face twisted into a sneer. “That’s what I thought. Young men can be so stupid—led around by their desires. Well, from where I stand it looks like this Scratcher has bewitched you.”

“You’re ill and not thinking clearly. Come with me. Mari will heal you, and you can tend a whole new generation of Mother Plants. Think of the adventure it will be, Maeve!”

The older woman shook her head disdainfully. “If your father could see you now, he would be disgusted.”

Nik’s anger began to stir. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. It was Father’s wish that the injustices we committed against the Earth Walkers be remedied. He would be the first to congratulate me on our Pack—and the first to join us, as I cannot imagine him wanting any part of a Tribe led by Thaddeus.”

“I see you find it easy to put words in a dead man’s mouth,” she said.

“That dead man was my father. He gave me those words. I have no need to make them up. Now I’m asking that you stand aside and let me leave. I have only harvested three small Mother Plant pups. I have not injured the ferns in any way. I want nothing from the Tribe except to be allowed to go my own way in peace. This is the life you have chosen,so I will leave you to it. All I ask is that you show me the same respect and leave me to the life I’ve chosen.” Nik began to walk past Maeve, but one of her skeletal hands shot out, snagging his wrist with surprising strength as Fortina whined pitifully.

“Quiet, Fortina!” Maeve snapped at the pup. “I think we should see what the Tribe has to say about Nik stealing Mother Plants.”