Page 188 of Sun Warrior

And suddenly the dome of flame that had been threatening to devour them calmed. Mari could actually see through it to the Tribe. The people were milling around, crying out in fear and panic. Even Thaddeus and his group had backed away from her, though their weapons were still aimed her way.

“That’s it!” Nik said, squeezing her shoulders reassuringly. “That’s perfect. Now walk forward. Head into the ruins of the Tribe.”

Slowly, at first, Mari began walking. The shield of flame stayed with her, surrounding the four of them and making the Tribe cringe away from her as she passed them. And as she walked, Mari’s control grew. Her anger simmered low—easily controlled—and the sunfire, made malleable by the gift that was her father’s blood, protected them.

She didn’t turn and look, but she could feel Thaddeus following. She could also feel the Sun setting.

“Nik, the Sun’s going. I don’t know how much longer I can keep the shield around us.”

“That’s okay. We don’t need it much longer. Move faster, Mari. Keep some of the sunfire for yourself, like you’d keep Moon Magick to heal yourself. Once we’re through the ruins of the City, we’ll be within sight of the Channel and we’re going to have to run for it.”

Mari gritted her teeth and nodded. She tapped into a shaft of sunfire, and like a true weaver she imagined threading that warm power into her veins. Hot strength blasted through her and Mari sprinted forward, with Nik close behind, Rigel and Laru on either side of them. They leaped over blackened logs and the debris of the once beautiful City until Nik’s hand closed around her shoulder again.

“That’s it. We’re here.”

Mari staggered to a stop. They were on the edge of the ridge. Before them it sloped down to the Channel, which looked like a shining ribbon of green in the last of the daylight. To their right, the ridge grew to become a wide ravine that separated Tribal territory from the edgeof Port City. Mari reached out with a questioning mind and was instantly rewarded by images of the Pack silently entering many small boats that rushed to fill her mind from Cammy and Captain, Fala, and even the precocious flash of an image of Sora, slipping and almost falling headfirst into the water, which she was certain came from little Chloe.

“The Pack made it!” Mari told Nik. “They’re down there right now!”

“Then let’s join them and get the hell out of here!”

Mari heard a sound behind them and she turned—and was shocked to see that instead of Thaddeus and his goons, just outside the shield of flame stood a Shepherd pup. She was panting with panic, so close to the fire that Mari could see her fur beginning to singe.

“It’s Fortina!” Mari cried. “What is she doing?”

Nik shook his head. “I’ve never seen any canine do this, but I think she’s left her Companion.”

“There they are! Shoot them! The fire’s banking! The Sun’s setting!”

From farther behind them, Thaddeus’s voice drifted through the crackling of the hungry flames. Mari had one choice. She didn’t like it, but she also didn’t see any other way to be free. Mari imagined a half-grown-Shepherd-sized hole in the dome of flames, and the shield parted.

“Come on, Fortina!” she called to the pup. The young canine didn’t hesitate. She sprinted through the opening in the flames, running straight to Rigel.

“Shoot! Now! They’re stealing my Fortina!” It was Maeve’s shrill voice, filled with anger and hate that acted like a goad on Mari.

Mari gathered the sunfire to her so that it sizzled in a flame-shaped pillar in front of her, and then she allowed herself to really think about Thaddeus—about all he’d taken from her and from Nik, about all he still wished to take from them.

“IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!”Mari shrieked as she tossed her anger, and the column of flame, into the heart of the ruined City, cutting off Thaddeus and his group and forcing them to retreat.

“Hurry!” Nik said, grabbing her hand. “There’s not much left for it to burn. It’ll be out soon.”

They half ran, half slid down the ridge. The broken road was in sight when the first of the arrows began to rain around them.

“Run, Mari! Run!” Nik shouted.

They sprinted forward, but the arrows were too fast. They were getting closer and closer—and then from the darkened lookout tower that stood as silent sentinel beside the Channel the tolling of a bell split the night, crying danger to the Tribe.

Mari struggled not to collapse in defeat. They were so close that they could see their Pack in small boats, spreading out across the Channel. Mari looked up at the tower. She saw a man, with a small canine beside him, rushing down the wooden stairs. Mari steeled herself, expecting the man to sight with his crossbow and rain deadly arrows down on them, pinning them between the Tribe and the safety of the water.

Instead, the man paused long enough to drape over the railing of the stairs a large, familiar tapestry of the Great Goddess, circled by her Clan. Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Nik, Mari! What are you waiting for? Get to the boats!”

“Davis!” Nik laughed, shouting his relief. “It’s Davis!”

“But why was he alerting the Tribe about us?” Mari could hardly believe that Davis would do such a thing, but there he was, climbing down from the tower after ringing the clarion bell.

“Oh, sunfire! He wasn’t alerting them about us. Look!”

Mari’s gaze followed Nik’s pointing finger, and there, swarming down the far side of the ravine, came an army of bare-chested painted men, wielding triple-tipped spears as they closed on the Tribe of the Trees.