Page 40 of Wind Rider

Ralina did her best to make the injured comfortable, though there was little comfort to be had in the section of the forest the Death God had forced them to move to. She sent a silent prayer up to the departed sun asking that the swarm stay away, as there was no way to combat them should the insects attack.

Mari had healed the Tribe of the horrible skin-sloughing sickness—or at least she’d healed those of the Tribe who had wished to be healed—but there were still many people who had been wounded in the fire, and, of course, the short but bloody battle with the Skin Stealers. After Thaddeus, the disgusting traitor, surrendered in the name of the Tribe, the invaders had forced them from the ancient Meditation Platform and the infirmary they’d created around the tree and declared it theirs, herding the weak and wounded away to a roped-off section of the forest where they had only the living canopy to protect them and whatever they could carry with them to use as pallets, medicines, and food. However, as the Tribe were forced out of their own city, the Skin Stealers randomly confiscated anything they wanted—including women.

Ralina had never been so glad that she was covered in blood and gore from tending to the sick. None of the men so much as glanced herway, and when they did her big Shepherd, Bear, showed his teeth, encouraging them to look away from his Companion.

She’d watched Thaddeus and his men join the celebration with the Skin Stealers. The traitor had even shown the invaders where the spring beer was buried, and he was currently drinking and dancing with them.

Good riddance,Ralina thought.

“Ralina, I’m so hungry!” The Tribe’s Storyteller shook herself and refocused on her nearest patient—a young girl named Celeste, whose legs had been burned when she fled the forest fire.

Ralina bent and put a hand on the teenager’s forehead. She could feel that Celeste’s fever had broken—no doubt because of Mari’s healing powers.

“I know, Celeste. You only have to wait a little longer for my soup to be ready.”

“But people are eating stew—with meat—over there.” The girl pointed to a group of weary Tribe members clustered around the main campfire they’d rebuilt inside the roped-off area Death had ordered them to.

Ralina crouched beside Celeste. “I explained to them just like to everyone else—they should not eat that stew. The meat stinks. It’s tainted. You know how sick everyone was before the Moon Woman healed us. I’m sure we’ll get sick again if we eat that stew.”

Celeste sighed. “Okay. I’ll wait.” The girl looked around. “But not very many of us are waiting.”

I know that and it terrifies me,Ralina thought, but she only said, “I can’t force them to believe me. All I can do is let our people know what I’ve observed—that, added to what Mari said, tells me that the Skin Stealers poisoned us. If you do not want to get sick again, do not eat their meat. The choice is not mine to make for others, only myself.”

Ralina turned back to the small campfire she’d built and the old pot she’d managed to grab when the invaders had forced them away from the Meditation Platform. It had been easy to forage edible roots, greens, and mushrooms and then add water to create a thin, but untainted soup. She stirred the soup and glanced around, counting the number of people who had joined her and were waiting like Celeste for food that wouldn’tsicken them. Ralina was almost overcome with a great sinking feeling. Though the majority of the Tribe hadn’t listened to her and were hungrily eating the tainted stew, those who had followed her lead were more than her meager soup could feed. She’d need to add more water and, hopefully, mushrooms.

“Celeste, keep an eye on the soup. I’m going to get more water and see if I can find some more mushrooms as well.”

As she stood and began to move away from her campfire, Bear tried to join her. She knelt and took his face between her hands, speaking quietly to him and projecting an image of him lying beside her campfire. “Stay here and wait for me. I don’t like how the Skin Stealers look at our Shepherds, and I don’t want you to draw any attention from them.”

The big canine growled low in his throat as his gaze went from his beloved Companion to one of the disgusting-smelling guards that had been stationed around their roped-off area.

“I know,” Ralina whispered as she kissed his face. “They’re horrible.”

Bear growled again before padding back to his position beside young Celeste and the campfire. Ralina smiled and nodded at him before hurrying away—her eyes cast down as she searched for anything edible. She spotted a patch of morels and hurried to it, then dropped to her knees to harvest the meaty fungi.

His smell hit her before he spoke.

“Get back inside the rope!”

Ralina glanced up to see an old Skin Stealer, his body riddled with painful-looking pustules, his skin slick with fevered sweat, standing over her. She looked behind her, and realized she’d been too focused on the mushrooms and hadn’t noticed that she’d moved under and outside the rope boundary as she harvested them.

“I’m just collecting these mushrooms for my soup. As soon as I have them all I’ll go back inside the boundary.”

“No, woman. You’ll go back inside the boundary now.” The Skin Stealer nudged her with his foot, throwing her off balance so that she fell back on her butt.

Ralina looked up at him, shaking her head in disgust. “I’m not tryingto escape. I’m not trying to do anything except gather these mushrooms and feed my people.”

The Skin Stealer bent and shoved his face closer to hers. “I don’t care whether you and your people starve.Get back inside the rope.”

She shouldn’t have said anything more. She’d been the one to tell Bear that he couldn’t follow her because they shouldn’t be drawing attention, but her exhaustion and hunger spoke before reason could silence them.

In one fluid motion Ralina stood, facing the old Skin Stealer. “Back off, you reeking wretch! I’d call you an animal, but that would be an insult to all woodland creatures. You’re certainly not a man—you’re a walking disease.”

The Skin Stealer was carrying a sharply tipped trident, which he raised, readying it to run through Ralina. She braced herself. Her only regret about dying was that Bear would lose her and that her beloved Companion would not live long after her death.

“Ah, Ralina, here you are. I knew you’d be easy to find—always causing trouble. You’re always causing fucking trouble.” Thaddeus was slurring his words as he stumbled up to Ralina, shoving aside the Skin Stealer. “Don’t kill her, you idiot! She’s a pain in the ass, but she also knows things.”

“She’s outside the ropes!” the Skin Stealer said stubbornly. “I should kill her.”