Page 2 of Sun Warrior

“No,” he repeated. “There are too many ifs and maybes. I won’t risk it. I can’t—” Nik began, and then broke off when his voice began to shake. He drew a deep breath and wiped sweat from his brow before continuing. “I can’t let anything happen to you, Mari. Do you understand?”

“I do,” she reassured him. “I understand completely.”

“Good.” He breathed more easily, his shoulders relaxing. “Laru and I will go, and when we’ve done all we can to help we’ll come to you at your burrow.”

“Please, please be careful,” she said.

He touched her chin, lifting her face so that their eyes met. “You do know why I have to go, don’t you?”

She nodded, blinking hard against threatening tears. “Your friends are there. O’Bryan and Sheena. You have to try to save them.”

His smile was slight and sad. “Yes, but not just them. Mari, many of my people are good. I know it doesn’t look like it from where you stand, but it—it’s like your friend Sora.”

“Sora? What do you mean?”

“Well, when I met Sora she wanted to kill me, or at least let me die of my injuries, just because she saw nothing but an enemy. It was only later that she sawme. I’m asking you to understand that it’s the same with my people. Trust me, Mari. Please.”

Mari drew a deep breath. “I trust you. Remember, you can count onme—and Rigel—to have your back. Save your friends, Nik. And then return to me.”

“I will, Mari. I give you my oath.”

Nik framed her face with his hands and pressed his lips to hers. Mari tasted smoke and sweat and sadness in his kiss. She clung to him, willing strength to flow into him, to bolster him, to bring him home to her.

“I accept your oath,” she said as she broke off the kiss and hugged him close. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

Nik held her for another moment, and then he released her, turned, and with Laru at his side sprinted down the path, disappearing into the smoke and the trees.

At her side, Rigel whined softly as he stared after Nik and Laru, and Mari knelt beside him, putting her arms around the big pup’s sable-colored neck and pressing her cheek against his thick, soft fur. “I know, I know. I’m worried about them, too. But Nik’s right. It’d probably do more harm than good for us to go with him. Plus, we need to get back to Sora. If the wind shifts in the wrong direction that fire could spread into our territory. Also, we need to find the women freed from Farm Island. They’ll need our help.” She squeezed her Shepherd again and kissed the top of his head before releasing him. “All right, let’s get going.”

***

Nik paused as he and Laru stepped into a stream that was close enough to the City in the Trees to be familiar, even in a world that had turned dark and smoke shrouded. He ripped a strip of cloth from his tunic and dunked it in the water, thoroughly soaking it while he splashed water quickly over himself.

“Laru, lie down here. Soak yourself. We’re going to need every advantage we can muster against that fire.”

Obediently, the big Shepherd entered the stream, lying to submerge all but his nose, his eyes, and the tips of his sable-colored ears.

“Good. You’re a good, smart boy. I love you, Laru. I love you,” Nik murmured, taking a moment to stroke Laru’s head affectionately. TheShepherd met his gaze, and Nik felt the weight of their new connection as sadness, regret, and pure, unconditional love flowed from the big canine into him. There, in the middle of the cleansing stream, Nik knelt beside Laru and looked into his intelligent amber eyes. “I miss him, too. I’ll always miss him.”

Nik fought against debilitating despair. Just a few hours before, his father, Sol, Sun Priest and Leader of the Tribe of the Trees, had stood strong and proud with his Companion Shepherd, the Tribe of the Trees Alpha canine, Laru, by his side. He’d faced Thaddeus and Cyril and spoken against the Tribe’s prejudice and ignorance and for Mari and releasing the Earth Walkers his people had enslaved for generations.

Sol had been brave and wise and had done what he knew was right. Without a moment’s hesitation he had saved Mari’s life, though it had cost him his own.

Nik thought he’d replay the scene forever in his memory—Thaddeus raising the crossbow to aim at Mari, Sol shoving Mari out of the way so that the arrow meant for her pierced his heart instead. And then the fire devouring the dock, the floating homes, Nik’s father’s body—and almost, too close to almost, devouring Laru as well.

Nik gently lifted the canine’s head in his hand. Laru’s muzzle was beginning to be flecked with silver, but the mature Shepherd’s body was massive and strong. His coat was thick and glistened with health. He was just entering the prime of his life.

“Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for not dying with Father.” Nik spoke softly, earnestly. His voice shook and tears leaked slowly down his cheeks. His earliest memories were daydreams of the Shepherd who would one day choose him as a lifelong Companion—a choice that couldn’t be manipulated, predicted, or changed. In recent years he’d hoped that one of Laru’s pups would choose him—had actually believed for a while that Rigel was going to choose him.

Nik had never, for so much as a brief heartbeat in time, thought that Laru would outlive his vibrant, healthy father and choose him as Companion.

“To be chosen by a Shepherd was all I ever dreamed about. Now thatit’s happened I’d give it back—I’d give it all back if Father could be alive.” Canine and human bowed their heads together and shared a moment of loss and misery. It was Laru who pulled them out of their despair. Abruptly he stood, shaking water from his fur. He bounded from the stream and onto the path that would lead them to their Tribe, looking back at Nik and adding an encouraging bark to the flood of love and reassurance he sent his new Companion.

Nik stared into Laru’s eyes and saw a future there—a future formed from the ashes of an old, cast-aside life—a future that could be brighter than his father’s sun,ifhe had the strength to rise from the rubble and rebuild.

A vision of Mari’s steady gray eyes flashed before him, and he knew hehad tobe strong enough. For his father and Laru, for Mari and Rigel, even for himself, Nik had to be strong enough.

Silently he pledged to himself and his new Companion,I am strong enough!