Page 46 of Sun Warrior

“Just so I’m clear about this—there’s fire inside that burrow in the ground?” Davis asked, looking even paler.

“Well, sure. My hearth fire,” Mari said.

“I—I’m sorry, Mari. I don’t mean to show you any disrespect, but I don’t think I can go in there.”

“Davis,” Nik began after sighing in frustration, but Mari rested a silencing hand on his arm.

“I think I understand how you feel, Davis. When Nik took me to your City in the Trees, I was terrified of how high up we were. I wanted nothing more than to get back on firm ground, but once I was up there, and saw how special it was—how beautiful—I relaxed. And, most important, I trusted Nik to be sure I was safe. Will you trust me, Davis? I give you my word that you’ll be safe inside my burrow, but if you’re still nervous about it once you’re inside I also give you my word that I’ll guide you right back out here so that you can set up your cocoon and I’ll be sure you have a hot meal.”

Davis shared a long look with his little blond Terrier before he answered Mari. “Okay. Right. Nik trusts you, so we’ll trust you.”

“Okay!” Mari bent to ruffle the blond fur on top of Cammy’s head. “How about we change things up a little? Davis, you and Cammy come behind me, with Antreas and Bast following. Nik and Laru, still bring up the rear.”

“Got it,” Nik said, moving into place.

“Everyone ready?” Mari asked.

Everyone except Davis nodded.

Mari smiled encouragement at the young Hunter before lifting her thick walking stick, snagging the first of the bramble branches, and holding it out of the way so that she and Rigel, with Davis and Cammy close behind, could step inside the enormous thicket of carefully maintained brambles.

For a little while Mari relaxed into the familiar routine of following the labyrinthine pathway around and around her burrow, lifting huge, dagger-tipped boughs aside, guiding those who followed her to the heart of her home. She didn’t think about the Clan Laws she was breaking. A Moon Woman was forbidden to show anyone except her daughter the secret way to her burrow, and of course no Companion was ever supposed to be allowed access to a burrow, let alone the home of a Moon Woman. Mari started to feel sad about it, especially about how the Clan would perceive what she was doing, and then a new thought came to her.What would Mama think about all of this?

Mari knew what Leda would think. She would be pleased that the Clan and the Tribe were finally interacting with trust and compassion. Leda would say the time was ripe for the change she’d desired since she’d met her true love—Mari’s Companion father—when she had barely known eighteen winters.

Mari glanced behind her as she maneuvered around a fat branch of thorns. “How are you and Cammy doing?”

Davis’s face was pale and sweaty and he was holding his little Terrier tightly in his arm, but he grinned bravely at Mari. “We’re okay. But I don’t think I could ever find my way out of here.”

“Oh, it’s a lot easier to get out than in,” Mari said.

“It’s fantastic!” Antreas called from behind Davis. “You know, if we’d thought of using nettles like this, we wouldn’t have to build our dens into the side of mountains.”

Mari heard a flurry of strangely birdlike chirps, which had to come from Bast—though the big feline didn’t look like she should be able to make any of those noises. Then Antreas laughed.

“Okay! Okay! Never mind. And, yes, I love our den, too.”

“What was that?” Nik called from the rear of the group.

“Nothing!” Antreas said, still chuckling. “I forget how possessive Bast can be.”

Mari wanted to ask Antreas a bunch of questions about his feline and his den, but just then she rounded the final turn in the pathway, coming to a small area, clear of brambles, that revealed the arched wooden door that seemed to open into the side of the earth.

“That carving is incredible,” Davis said, putting Cammy down. He started toward the door and the intricately carved figure of the Great Earth Mother that one of Mari’s ancestresses had fashioned with the door, so that it appeared the Goddess supported the burrow and beckoned her Moon Woman to enter the safety of a Goddess-blessed home. Davis paused and looked over his shoulder at Mari. “Do you mind if I touch it?”

“Not at all,” Mari said.

Davis went to the door and slowly lifted his hand, gently tracing the arm of the Goddess. “Is this who your people worship?”

Mari started in surprise, realizing that even though the Tribe of the Trees had taken her people captive and held them for generations, they had never bothered to learn to whom their slaves prayed.

“Yes. That is the Great Earth Mother.”

“She’s beautiful,” Davis said. “I had no idea.”

“It’s the same image your people desecrated when you attacked our Gathering Site by the cherry grove,” Mari couldn’t stop herself from saying.

Davis turned to meet her gaze. “The statues made of the earth? Like they were rising from the ground? Those were of your Goddess?”