Page 62 of Sun Warrior

They followed Sora up the wide stone stairs, Mari growing more and more concerned as she listened to her friend try unsuccessfully to stifle several more coughs.

“Hey, you’re really sick,” Mari said.

“It’s nothing. I just danced too much,” Sora said. “But there is someone in the burrow whoissick—and strangely sick at that.”

“Well, some of the Clanswomen swallowed a lot of river water crossing the Channel,” Mari said. “That might very well make them sick. There’s a lot of muck in that Channel. The water really should be boiled before drinking and—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know all that,” Sora interrupted, sounding irritated. “It’s not a Clanswoman who’s sick.”

“Who is it then?” Mari asked.

Sora turned at the door to the burrow, her hand resting on the wood. “It’s Jaxom.”

CHAPTER 15

Jaxom lay on the pallet closest to the hearth fire. He’d been sleeping when they entered the cavernous burrow, but as Sora bent over him his eyes opened. Mari tensed, ready to move behind Nik, who had his crossbow notched with an arrow and ready to fire. But she needn’t have worried. Jaxom only had eyes for Sora, and there was no red haze of danger in his vision—there was only regret.

“Sora, I am so sorry. About the clearing—with Bradon and Joshua—that wasn’t me.”

“Yes, it was you. I was there. That arrow wound in the back of your shoulder proves it,” Nik said.

Jaxom appeared to have just realized that Nik was there. “Why is a Companion here?”

“He’s with me,” Mari said.

Jaxom squinted up at her as if he was having trouble focusing. “Mari? You look different. Where’s Leda? Why are Companions allowed here?”

“I think the better question is why are you allowed here? I’ve never attacked a Moon Woman. You would have raped one had I not stopped you,” Nik said.

“No! That wasn’t me—not who I really am.” Jaxom ignored Nik and pleaded with Sora. “Please. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but please believe that I would never hurt you.”

“Leda is dead.” Mari spoke before Sora could. “I look different because Iamdifferent. I’m not hiding my true self anymore. I’m part Companion.” She jerked her chin in Rigel’s direction. “That young Shepherd belongs to me, and I belong to him.” Mari met Sora’s gaze. “Is this what you wanted to show me? That he seems normal after you Washed him?”

“Partially. Jaxom, I need to show Mari your arms.”

Jaxom raised his arms so that Sora unwound the bandages that swathed his wrists and elbows. “They look much better. How are you feeling?” Sora asked as she stepped aside so Mari could get a closer look.

“Better than I have for weeks,” Jaxom said.

“What is that?” Mari bent over Jaxom, taking his arm gently in her hands and examining the creases in his skin where angry red flesh was beginning to fade to a healthier pink and scabs were already forming over what looked like areas that had been covered with huge pustules.

“I don’t know. I’d never seen anything like it. It was really bad before I Washed him, even though I dressed his wounds and packed them with the goldenrod salve. The blisters were big, filled with pus, and his skin was sloughing off around them.”

“The blisters happened to all of us who ate the stag,” Jaxom said. “It made us sick, but that’s probably because he was sick, too.”

“Wait, did you say you ate a sick deer?” Nik asked.

Jaxom nodded. “Stag, really. It was a few weeks ago. We were mad with Night Fever, but not out of our minds. It was uncomfortable when our Moon Woman didn’t appear at the Third Night Gathering, and then the next and the next, but we were still able to function during the day, though the nights were horrors.” He paused, his eyes veiled with remembered misery, before continuing. “Then we found the stag, and everything changed.”

“How so?” Mari had unwrapped another bandage and was continuing to examine Jaxom as he explained.

“We only found him because of the fight. We heard the rutting, and the banging of antlers. We followed the noise and found two stags locked in combat. One was a huge male—the biggest I’ve ever seen.There was something wrong with him. Some of his flesh had been cut from his body in strips and his blood smelled terrible, like he was rotting from the inside out. But sick or not, he was unusually strong. He beat the other stag easily, and then ran off into the forest. The losing stag was wounded. We followed him and killed him.”

“And you ate his flesh?” Nik said.

“Yes, though it already tasted strange, a lot like the big stag smelled. After that we got sick—all of us. It was like a cold first—just coughs and aches. Then our skin started to fester. It began in the creases, like here and here.” Jaxom pointed to his wrist and elbow creases. “And then we festered on the inside.…” He paused, sucking in a breath painfully as Mari got to the arrow wound in the back of his shoulder.

“This looks bad,” Mari said.