Page 41 of Sun Warrior

“I haven’t seen him for hours.” Thaddeus stood, facing Sean, then added silently,And I hope that pain in my ass won’t ever be seen again.“What is it, Sean? What do you need?”

“When Kitto got burned I was with Latrell on the west edge of the city. He told me to carry him and try to make it to the Channel, so that’s what I did. But on the way there the fire shifted and cut us off.”

“Yeah, it’s been shifting all day. Go to the meditation platform. They’re setting up an infirmary there. They can see to you and your Kitto.”

“I will, but that’s not why I was looking for Latrell.” Sean lowered his voice and stepped closer to Thaddeus, obviously not wanting anyone else to hear. “It’s the Council. I—I think they might be dead.”

Thaddeus felt a rush of excitement, which he covered by cloaking his reaction with concern. He pulled Sean by the elbow, guiding him away from the Hunters. “Tell me what you know quickly. Keep your voice down.”

“Cyril called for the Council to evacuate the city and get to the Channel. I know because they were right ahead of me when the fire shifted. Thaddeus, a tree exploded. It set another afire, and then another. It happened insanely fast. One moment there was the wide, clear path to the Channel. The next there was a wall of fire. It cut me off from them, and all I could do was run as they screamed and screamed.” Sean bowed his head, pressing it into his Terrier’s soft neck, and while the little canine whined pitifully in sympathy his Companion sobbed.

Thaddeus pulled the crying man farther away from the others. “Are you sure the entire Council was trapped?”

“They were all there—all twelve of them and their canines.” Sean shook his head. “All those Shepherds—all those Elders. It’s—it’s just too terrible.”

“Where were you? Which trail?”

“The west one—the wider of the two that crosses that little stream. We were only about ten minutes outside the city.”

“All right. You did well telling me. Now go to the meditation platform and get Kitto tended to. I’ll follow the path. Maybe some of them survived. But don’t tell anyone about this until I know for sure what happened to the Council. There’s no point in adding panic to the chaos of today.”

“I pray to the Sun that they survived, but Thaddeus, I don’t know how any of them could have made it out of that blaze,” Sean said.

Thaddeus said nothing. He just nodded concernedly and gestured inthe direction of the mediation platform. Sean staggered away, clutching his Terrier and sobbing softly. Then Thaddeus glanced down at Odysseus. Even wounded, the attentive Terrier was watching him closely. “That’s right. We’re going to do a little hunting of our own. Come here, boy.” Odysseus limped to his Companion. Thaddeus lifted him, settling the small Terrier in his arms before they disappeared into the forest.

It didn’t take Thaddeus and Odysseus long to find the Council members—or, rather, what was left of them. A tree had fallen across the path, which was what probably saved Sean’s life—cutting him off from the Council as the blaze spread toward the Council members, rather than toward Sean.

It was impossible for Thaddeus to tell the bodies apart. They had died piled together—humans and canines almost as one. Even with the still-falling rain, that part of the forest was too hot to trek through—and he certainly wasn’t going to put Odysseus at risk by sending him into that smoking mess of rubble and flesh to try to count bodies, even had the Terrier not been wounded. Instead, Thaddeus studied the area, looking for a way anyone could have broken through the blaze and escaped.

“I think they’re all gone, Odysseus.” Thaddeus gently put his Companion beside him on the trail. He crouched down, scratching Odysseus’s black ears. “And I’d say that leaves quite a gap in the ruling Council, as in no swarm-be-damned Council at all. Seems it’s time for anewCouncil—like I’ve been saying. One that’s not monopolized by Shepherds and their Leader Companions.” Odysseus wagged his tail so hard the whole rear of his little body was wriggling, which caused the canine to whine in pain. Thaddeus laughed. “Hey, be careful. You’re going to start bleeding again. Come on, boy. I’ll carry you back and see what kind of rabbit stew I can find for us.” Thaddeus had just begun to turn toward the trail to return to the city when a weak voice drifted to him.

“Help! Help me. I’m here. I’m alive!”

Thaddeus peered around. “Who is it?”

“It’s Cyril! I’m here!”

“Where? I don’t see you!”

Odysseus began to squirm in Thaddeus’s arms, so that he had to put the canine down. The Terrier yipped and began to limp to the right of the path, leaving it, and standing, three-legged, at the edge of a sheer slope that bottomed out into a ditch almost filled with rainwater and burned debris, where he barked an alert.

Thaddeus rushed to him, stopping in shock when he realized what he’d thought was a charred log moved, rolled over, and opened his eyes.

“Sunfire! It is you!” Thaddeus didn’t think. He started down the slope, moving as quickly and confidently as a Terrier—inhumanly quickly and confidently. He came to a rest beside the old man. “Where’s Argos?”

“Sent him to get help. How—how did you get down here so easily? It’s almost completely vertical.” Cyril was blinking his vision clear and staring at Thaddeus with a strange expression.

Thaddeus shrugged. “Hunters are good at getting in and out of tough places. Lucky for you, right? How bad are you hurt?”

“Don’t know. I feel wrong inside. It’s why we weren’t with the others. My chest and my arm—they were hurting. Badly. I was having trouble catching my breath, so Argos and I stopped to rest. The others went on. The—the others, they screamed. I can still hear them screaming. Why am I alive? I should have died with them.”

“They’re past pain now.…” Thaddeus paused and then added, “Was that thewholeCouncil?”

Cyril nodded weakly.

“Any chance any of them got out like you did?”

A shudder passed through the old man’s body and he closed his eyes. “No. No one could have lived through that.”