Page 41 of Wind Rider

“Yeah, well, if you do you’ll have to answer to Death.” Thaddeus grabbed Ralina’s arm, pulling her away from the Skin Stealer. “Your God wants to talk to her. So, take it up with Him if you have an issue.” Thaddeus turned his back on the Skin Stealer, forcing Ralina to come with him.

A few yards outside the roped-off area Ralina wrenched her arm from Thaddeus’s grip. “What do you want, Thaddeus?”

“How ’bout a thank-you for saving your life?”

“Traitors don’t deserve thank-yous.What do you want?” she repeated.

“Isn’t what I want, you bitch. It’s what the God demands. Go ahead. Ignore Him and watch what happens.”

Ralina lifted her lip in disgust. “Just take me to Him and then go away. You make me sicker than the Skin Stealer disease.”

Thaddeus backhanded her so that she stumbled and almost fell, but Ralina quickly righted herself. She met Thaddeus’s gaze. “If you hit me again you’re going to have to kill me.”

Thaddeus shrugged. “Whatever. Death might command that anyway. Just shut up and follow me. If you were smarter you’d make a deal with Him like I have.”

Ralina’s laughter bubbled from deep within her, rich in sarcasm. “You think you’re safe? You think Death will actuallyspareyou?”

“We’re allies, stupid bitch!” he yelled so close to Ralina’s face that his saliva rained onto her.

She wiped her dirty sleeve slowly across her face and sneered. “Oh, please. As soon as you’ve served whatever purpose Death has for you, He’ll kill you—or, hopefully, hand you over to those of us who are still faithful to the Tribe.”

“You know what? I don’t have to put up with people like you and your bullshit anymore.I’mleading the Tribe now. And because of me we’re going to finally be truly powerful—truly great again. So, shut the hell up and follow me.” Thaddeus turned his back on her and weaved drunkenly toward the partying Skin Stealers.

Ralina followed him, cramming the mushrooms into the pockets of her tunic. They made their way around the group of dancing, drinking Skin Stealers. Ralina noted the Warriors and Hunters who had joined them. Like Thaddeus, they were the men who had abused their canines, flaying the living flesh from their bellies and packing it into the diseased sores the Skin Stealer poison had caused. She looked for their canines. At first she didn’t see them, then she heard a whine and her gaze was drawn to the base of the ancient tree that held the Meditation Platform. The wounded canines clustered there, close together, Shepherds and Terriers—every one of them obviously in pain, and being ignored by their Companions.

Ralina turned her face away in despair.How could they abuse their Companions?

“Come on. Quit gawking and stay with me. He’s up there.” Thaddeus was heading up the stairs that led to the main Meditation Platform.

Ralina had to dodge a drunken Skin Stealer as he passed out and fell right in front of her—then she reluctantly climbed up the stairs after Thaddeus.

Death stood looking out at His people, His back turned to Thaddeus and Ralina. He held a huge wooden bowl easily in one large hand, drinking from it while He eagerly watched His men celebrating below. As Ralina got closer she smelled the strong scent of liquor, and wondered how He’d managed to find the Tribe’s special stores of whisky.

“I brought you the Storyteller, Ralina,” Thaddeus said.

Death didn’t turn. He simply said, “Next time you come to me you will call me ‘my Lord’ and you will bow to me. Do you understand that, Thaddeus?”

Ralina glanced at Thaddeus. His face had gone red, but he bowed awkwardly and said, “Yes, my Lord.”

“Good. Now leave us.”

Ralina could see that Thaddeus wanted to argue, but reason must have gotten through the alcohol soaking his brain, and he bowed again and then took his leave, shooting her a dark look before he disappeared down the stairs.

“So, you are the Tribe’s Storyteller,” Death said.

“I am. My Lord,” she added. It was stupid to antagonize a God—even one she hated—so she was determined to answer Him with as much truth as she could while not making Him unnecessarily angry.

“I like the idea of a Storyteller. I want my deeds recorded and retold generation after generation. It pleases me that you are here.”

Ralina wasn’t sure what the God expected her to say, so she remained silent.

He turned to look at her, and Ralina got her first good look at Him up close—and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from gasping in shock and bolting from the platform.

The God of Death was animal and man merged to create something terrible. She’d thought the things on His head were horns,maybe fitted to Him by some kind of headdress, similar to a crown. She’d been wrong. They weren’t horns—they were antlers. And they weregrowingfrom both sides of His head. His features were coarse—His nose wide and His brows thick. His face was clean shaven, but His hair was more like mane or fur than human tresses. It was the brown of a stag—shaggy and long. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed to be growing down His neck and back. And He was enormous. Easily taller than any Tribesman, or any man Ralina had ever met—and He was so muscular He looked deformed and bloated, more para-human than human. Her eyes traveled down His body, widening when they came to the cloven hooves that should have been feet.

“Have you looked your fill?”

Ralina startled and bowed her head quickly. “Yes, my Lord. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”