Page 31 of Wind Rider

Mari walked through the busy campsite with Danita, nodding at the people who called greetings to her.

“There are salves and bandages in that basket.” Sora pointed to one of the tightly woven supply baskets. “As soon as the cauldron with the stew is set, I’ll start brewing tea for Wilkes and Claudia.”

Mari saw Nik grimace as he dragged the huge cauldron toward the fire, which was already burning cheerily.

“O’Bryan?” Mari called, and Nik’s cousin dropped another load of firewood into the blaze.

“How can I help, Mari?”

“You can be sure your cousin doesn’t rip open his wounds from doing too much,” she said.

“Not an easy job, but I’ll do my best!” O’Bryan said. He winked atMari and jogged over to Nik, taking the opposite side of the cauldron to help him drag it to the fire and lift it up to hang from the poles he’d already erected.

“Brew enough tea for Nik, too,” Mari told Sora.

“With the juice of the poppy?” Sora asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“Definitely,” said Mari before picking up the supply basket and following Danita past the fire to the far side of a circle that was forming around it where Claudia and Wilkes were resting quietly on their travel cloaks, their Shepherds curled up contentedly beside them. “How are you two feeling?” she asked as she knelt beside Claudia and began checking her pulse and feeling the warmth of her skin.

“So much better!” Claudia said, stilling Mari’s hand by taking it in hers. “Thank you, Moon Woman. You saved our lives.”

“Yes, Moon Woman.” Wilkes bowed deeply to her. “You will always have my gratitude as well.”

“I only ask for your loyalty, if you plan to stay with our Pack,” Mari said.

“We do!” Claudia said. “We’d decided to leave the Tribe even before the Skin Stealers attacked.”

Wilkes’s shoulders bowed in defeat. “I wish I could have understood what was happening. Maybe then I could’ve stopped the Tribe from being taken in by Thaddeus’s nonsense.”

“It wasn’t nonsense,” Mari said as she continued to examine them. “It was hatred and disease. It seems the two are somehow working together to create a new climate of violence and a new type of Tribe—one that leaves no room for compassion. Irrational hatred is as difficult to defeat as the belief that one group of people is superior to another simply because of skin color, or where they prefer to live, and who they prefer to worship. You did what you could—you escaped. You can’t be responsible for the delusions of an entire people.”

Wilkes sighed deeply and lifted his arm so that Mari could begin replacing the old bandages, soggy from river water, with salve and new wrappings. “There are still good people in the Tribe. I have to believe that.”

“You can believe it. I know it’s true. Ralina is one of them. I wish she had accepted my invitation to join us, but she said that she must stay with the Tribe,” Mari said.

“That’s a mistake,” Danita said as she handed Mari a fresh dressing.

“What do you mean?” Wilkes asked. “She is our Storyteller, revered by the Tribe for years. I understand why she stayed. She wants to try to record what is happening, as well as to try to uplift the remaining good people.”

“I understand that, but I still say it’s a mistake,” Danita continued. “Good people don’t make haters like Thaddeus better. They get pulled down to the level of the haters, or they get destroyed by them. Sometimes the only answer, especially when a group has been as tainted by hatred as the Tribe, is to leave hate to destroy itself—to segregate it from decent people. Hate is a lot like a disease. When it can’t be cured it needs to be isolated.”

“I’m afraid I agree with Danita,” Claudia said.

“I was there,” Mari said. “I witnessed how Thaddeus’s delusions have been ingested by the Tribe along with the Skin Stealers’ poisoned meat. There’s no curing Thaddeus and his ilk. I tried. I asked if they wanted to be healed. Wilkes, theylikebeing filled with hate. Theyenjoymaking others feel less so that they can feel more. I agree with Danita, too. They should be isolated and ignored so they don’t contaminate anyone else.”

“I do feel for Ralina, though. She’s a good person,” said Claudia.

“Maybe she’ll find a way to escape. Does she know where we’re going?” Danita asked.

“No. Nik and I only told the Tribe that we’ve started a new group called a Pack and that we were leaving to find a new place to live,” Mari said. “But I do hope Ralina and the others of the Tribe who are still kind and caring can escape.” She met Wilkes’s sad gaze. “If Ralina and those like her find us, we will welcome them to our Pack.” Mari glanced over her shoulder to see that Sora was adding a smaller pot to the fire below the cauldron. “Your tea will be ready soon. Both of you are doing well, but you still need to rest. Drink the tea. Eat a large bowl of stew, andthen sleep. Tomorrow Antreas and I will reorder the boats before casting off.”

“I’m willing to do my part,” said Wilkes.

“Me, too,” said Claudia. The two Shepherds beside them wagged in agreement.

“We know that,” Mari said, touching Claudia’s shoulder reassuringly. “But when someone in our Pack is injured, the rest of us help them—that’s one thing that makes us stronger together.” Mari paused, suddenly remembering. “There is something you can do now, though.”

“Name it!” Wilkes said.