Page 22 of Sun Warrior

“Climb? No, we have to run and then burrow. Hide from the swarm.” She wiped a trembling hand across her unnaturally pale face.

Nik’s stomach clenched as he quickly assessed her condition.After calling down that amount of sunfire she should be resting. She should eat mounds of food, drink lots of herbal tea, and sleep for a day, maybe more. She’s not thinking straight. She’s too tired to think straight.But Mari didn’t have the luxury a Sun Priest would. Mari had to move or she wouldn’t survive—which meant Rigel would die with her. Then the truth blazed through Nik’s mind—it wasn’t just Rigel who would die with her. Nik wouldn’t leave her. Laru wouldn’t leave him. Ignoring the pain in his bandaged hands, he grabbed her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. “Mari, listen to me. We have to climb. We have to get up to the City in the Trees. That’s the only way for us to survive the swarm.”

Mari swayed as she shook her head. “Climb? But Rigel can’t climb. That means I can’t climb.”

Nik didn’t waste any more time on trying to reason with her. He looked at Laru. “Get us home! Up to Father’s nest! Now, Laru!”

The big Alpha barked, and then he sprinted away, Rigel on his heels.

“Okay, Mari. I’ve got you. Just lean on me and everything will be okay.” Nik put his arm around Mari’s waist and half carried, half dragged her after their Companions as other members of the Tribe raced past them, heading for the safety the big pines promised.

Nik caught Laru and Rigel easily. The two canines had come to a halt before one of the main lifts to the tree city. The decorative wooden cagelike creation was already full, but Nik pushed Mari ahead of him, trying to get her to squeeze on with Rigel before the door was latched.

“Back off!” Thaddeus had climbed on top of the lift and was perched there, crossbow pointed directly at Mari’s heart. “Take your whore and get to Scratcher territory. I’ll bet the swarm hardly ever goes there,” he said sarcastically.

Nik didn’t even glance at Thaddeus. Instead, his gaze touched each of the people crowding into the lift. “She saved you. She saved all of you. She called down the sunfire that stopped the blaze.”

“She also caused the fucking blaze!And wounded my Companion!” Thaddeus shouted, angry spittle flying from his thin lips. Odysseus was curled up in the corner of the lift, shivering pitifully.

“Youdropped the dagger that hurt Odysseus!Youled the hatred that caused the fire to start on Farm Island. Bloody beetle balls!All of this is your fault,” Nik shot back at him.

The people in the lift looked nervously from Nik to Thaddeus.

“Let’s go, Nik.” Mari took his arm and, with surprising strength, pulled him from the group. “You can’t force people to accept me, and I’d rather face the swarm than Thaddeus and his hatred.”

Nik only took the time to grunt his agreement. He looked to Laru again. “Another way up, Laru! Fast!”

The Shepherds sprinted off, with Nik pulling Mari with them. The sound of the descending swarm surrounded them. It was a terrible unending humming noise, punctuated by shrieks of agony from the unfortunate creatures that the Swarm devoured in their path.

“Nik, I have to stop.” Mari staggered to her knees, looking up at him through a sweaty, tearstained face. “I—I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t keep going. I’m sorry,” she gasped. “Take Rigel with you. Don’t let them get you, too.”

“That night-be-damned swarm isn’t getting any of you.” The voice came from above them, within the thick boughs of the pine Mari had collapsed against. Nik peered up to see that Antreas was crouched on a huge limb, his Lynx beside him, Bast’s glowing yellow gaze taking everything in. Antreas stretched out a hand to Nik and Mari. “It’s simple Lynx logic. Your Mari saved Bast and me. Now Bast and I are saving you and your Mari.”

“Laru and Rigel, too!” Mari said.

“Of course,” the Lynx man agreed.

Nik nodded his thanks to Antreas, telling Laru and Rigel, “Up! Go up!”

He saw Mari frowning and shaking her head, but Nik ignored her. He knew Laru and his son would do exactly what they had been trained to do—drilling over and over again in case of this kind of emergency. Nik bent so that his face was pressed against the bark of the pine. His arms were lifted, like the sides of an impromptu ladder, resting firmly against the tree. “Now, Laru!”

The big Shepherd didn’t hesitate. He jogged a few yards away and then sprinted to Nik, leaping onto his back, scrambling up his shoulders, and using his forward momentum and the corded muscles of his athletic body to drive himself up until Antreas was able to grab the big canine around his torso and heave, so that he finally landed safely on one of the Tribe’s lower platforms, still well above the danger-filled forest floor.

“Rigel! Now! Up!” Nik shouted.

Rigel followed his sire, using Nik to catapult himself up within arm’s reach of Antreas, who grabbed him by his scruff and tossed him up into the tree after Laru.

“Hurry!” Antreas said, his gaze flicking behind Mari and Nik. “The swarm is almost here.”

“Mari, climb up my back. Just like Laru and Rigel. Do it now!” Nik told her.

With a painful groan, Mari stood and staggered to him. She started to climb up, onto his back, but her arms and legs were trembling so badly that she kept slipping.

“I can’t,” she said, her voice so weak he almost couldn’t hear her as she collapsed across his back. “I’m sorry, Nik. I’m sorry, Rigel.”

“Oh, stop being so sorry and look up!”

Nik looked up. He would never forget his first sight of Antreas in his natural Companion state. The man was within an arm’s reach, with one hand stretching down, beckoning to Mari, and with the otherhe was clinging to the bark of the pine with his claws! His eyes were glowing with the same yellow light that radiated from Bast’s eyes, and Nik was sure he saw other changes in the man, too, changes that had to do with his hair and his ears, but he blocked it all out and barked at Mari.