Page 22 of Wind Rider

“I could trade places with Nik,” Sheena said. “There’s room for him to rest in our boat. Sora and Rose are doing an excellent job of paddling. Add one of the other women to take my oar and they won’t have any trouble keeping pace.”

“I’m better,” Wilkes called from where his boat was bobbing on the other side of Mari and Nik’s. “Nik could take my place and I could paddle for him.”

“No, no no!” Nik said. “And stop talking about me like I’m unconscious! I feel great!” He placed his hand over Mari’s. “I give you my word that if I start to fade you’ll be the first to know.”

“Fadeorfeel sickordizzyorlike you’re bleeding again,” Mari insisted.

“Yes, all of those things.” He lifted her hand and kissed it. “I promise, my Moon Woman.”

“Mari, we really need to get going again.” Antreas sounded stressed as he paddled close by. “I’ve had a crawling feeling along the back of my neck, and that’s never good.”

“Okay, well, we’re as ready as we’re going to be tonight,” Mari said, moving to take her place in the rear of the boat.

“Good! All right, even though the clouds are letting through a little moonlight, I still believe we should remain loosely tied together—if our Moon Women have no objections.” Antreas looked from Sora to Mari.

“Hey, I’m perfectly fine following your lead on the water,” Sora said.

“I’m definitely out of my element here, too,” Mari said. “We’ll do what you recommend, Antreas.”

The Lynx man nodded, then raised his voice so that the Pack could hear him. “Most of you are new at this, so we’ll remain tethered together tonight. Loosely, though, and if a boat begins to get in trouble or lag behind call out immediately. It’s easier to help youbeforeyou capsize or drift away. Understand?”

The Pack murmured agreement.

“All right. We’ll reach our first obstacle by midnight. Normally, I would wait for sunrise to pass the ruins of a bridge, but I want to put as much of the river between this place and us as possible. So, whether the clouds continue to cooperate or not, my recommendation is that we light our torches and get past the State Bridge tonight. Not far from it is a good place to beach and get some rest before we begin again with first light.”

“I’ve not traveled on the Umbria,” Nik said. “Do the ruined bridges have the same runoffs as the Willum River at Port City?”

Nik’s question was reasonable, but Mari could hear the stress in his voice, and she understood. It was one of the Willum River runoffs that brought him to her—and almost killed him.

“No. The Umbria has worse things than runoffs,” Antreas said. “Though not in the area we’ll be traveling through tonight. The State Bridge is broken in three sections. As long as we pass between those sections we’ll be fine. And we must stay together.”

“Can we light the torches now?” Sora asked. “I think it would make everyone feel better if we could see better.”

“Not until we’re farther away from the Tribe,” Antreas said. “Keep in mind that torches on the water will draw attention and make us very clear targets. I’d feel better if we waited until we were near the ruins and are forced to light them.”

“Might I speak?” Dove’s voice was polite and pleasing.

“Yes, of course,” Mari said. “We believe every member of our Pack should be able to speak his or her mind.”

Even in the dim light, Mari could see that Dove’s expression was delighted. “That freedom is something I will enjoy becoming accustomed to. What I wanted to say is that I must agree very strongly with Antreas. Do nothing to draw the God’s attention to us. His moods are capricious and fluctuate from benevolent to cruel rapidly. I believe He will post sentries all around the Tribe’s territory, and if they catch any sight of lights from the river they will report it to Death. And the one thing I know beyond all else about Him is that He always wants more, more, more.”

“Which means his latest conquest won’t satisfy him,” Nik said grimly.

“Not for long,” said Dove.

Mari found it difficult to speak. She kept replaying over and over in her mind the huge figure silhouetted on the ridge and how His eyes seemed to burn her. She was sure that His raised spear and His bellow had something to do with her.

“No torches,” Sora said.

“Not until we must light them, and by that time we’ll be well away from danger,” Nik agreed.

“Just this particular danger,” Antreas reminded them. “There are many others, which is why we will not always be able to travel at night. Nor will we always be able to use our torches, even when we are forcedto travel in darkness. So, get used to staying close—alwayswithin sight of others.”

“Pack, I want to be clear on this.” Mari found her voice and stood, balancing cautiously. “It is not a cliché, but rather a fact that we are as strong as our weakest member. We will survive this journey, but only if we work together and remain together. Got it?”

“Yes, Moon Woman!” came the answer from her Pack.

“I’m proud of you. All of you.” Mari’s gaze swept the moonlit group that bobbed around her in their collection of little boats. “What you have already accomplished is amazing. And now we’re going to keep going—keep moving ahead one day at a time until we find our new home and make our new world. Antreas, lead and your Packmates will follow!” Everyone cheered, and Antreas looked a lot less grumpy as he struck out at the head of what became a long, loose line of boats.