by P. C. Cast
“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.
“Yeah. I disinfected it as best I could with the supplies we have here, and packed it with goldenrod, too, but I know it needs more attention.”
“It’s nothing. Less than I deserve for what I tried to do.” Jaxom looked away from them, staring into the hearth fire.
“Talk to me more about that stag. The one that was sick,” Nik said.
Jaxom shrugged. “I don’t know what else to say. Strips of his flesh were missing and his blood smelled wrong. And he was enraged.”
“All stags are enraged when they’re in rut,” Nik said.
“Not like this one. I know because it happened to each of us,” Jaxom said.
“You’re not making any sense,” Sora said.
Jaxom looked up at her, beseeching understanding with his kind brown eyes. “After we got sick we were enraged, too. Not just at night. And not just at ourselves. All the time. It was uncontrollable, and much, much worse than Night Fever. It was like there was nothing left inside me except anger and pain. My skin—it felt like it was boiling all the time.”
“Have you ever heard of anything like this before?” Sora asked Mari.
“No,” Mari said.
“I have.” The group turned to see Rose standing just inside the burrow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Sarah and Lydia are out of poppy tea. Isabel said she’d get more for them, but I told her to stay and dance, that I’d get it.”
“Rose, it’s okay. Of course you may have more tea. But what did you mean when you said you’ve heard of Jaxom’s illness?” Sora asked, motioning for Rose to join them.
Hesitantly, Rose moved closer so she could take a look at Jaxom’s strange wounds. She nodded and blew out a breath. “Thaddeus had wounds just like this before he was captured by the Skin Stealers, and that anger he’s describing … Well, that happened to Thaddeus, too.”
“Are you Thaddeus’s mate?” Mari spoke up, sending Nik a wary look.
“No! Well, I almost was. After his Odysseus mated with my Fala, Thaddeus and I were a thing.” She moved her shoulders. “You know how it is, Nik, when your Companion mates and you’re unattached.”
“Well, not directly, but I do understand,” Nik said.
“I don’t,” Sora said.
“Me, either,” Mari said.
“Companions share emotions with their canines,” Nik explained.
“We understand that,” Mari said.
Sora snorted. “We sure do. Mari’s creature almost ate me when we first met.”
Mari rolled her eyes. “I did tell you not to follow me, and you know Rigel wouldn’t eat you.”
“Now I do. I didn’t then. But my point is I understand the shared-emotion thing because I’ve seen Rigel and Mari share emotions.”
“Take what you’ve seen them share and triple it, because when it’s mating season those emotions can get pretty intense. It’s not unheard of for canine lust to cause their humans to share a bed for the season and from that bond they sometimes even become permanently mated,” Nik said.
“I think that’s what Thaddeus expected to happen with us,” Rose said. “I just expected some lusty fun. Thaddeus wasn’t exactly what I’d consider mate material, even before the stag.”
“The stag?” Jaxom said. “You know about that?”
“Just from what Thaddeus admitted,” Rose said. “He and some Hunters found a sick stag. They put him out of his misery and burned the carcass because they could tell something was seriously wrong with it and didn’t want to bring it back to the Tribe.”
“And Thaddeus got the stag’s blood in his face and mouth,” Nik said.
“Yes, how did you know?” Rose said.
“Davis told me about the stag. That’s all I know, though—just what you’ve already explained.”
“Well, I only know more because of what he did to Thaddeus. He got mean and mad.”
“Thaddeus was always mean and mad,” Nik said.
“No, before the stag he wasn’t always like that. Sure, he used to get defensive and he spoke his mind, even when what was on his mind shouldn’t have been spoken aloud, but he treated me with respect, so I figured he and I could have some fun along with our canines. Then that Hunt happened, and within just a day or two he began to change. He was filled with anger all the time. I started avoiding him. Actually, that’s why he had to admit to me that something had happened. I saw him coming to my nest and Fala and I hid above it. I watched Thaddeus without him knowing it, and he couldn’t stop scratching at his arms. Later, he found me and confronted me, wanted to know why I’d been so distant—accusing me of avoiding him. I told him he was right; I had been avoiding him. That I knew something was wrong. Told him I’d noticed him scratching at his arms and heard him coughing and seen him throwing up blood.”
Mari glanced at Sora as she tried to stifle another cough. The young Moon Woman was staring at Rose, absorbing every word she was saying. A terrible foreboding skittered down Mari’s spine.
“He admitted that he was sick, and he even showed me the blisters that were forming on his skin. He said he wasn’t worried because it’s obvious it wasn’t the blight, but that it was an annoyance, like he’d gotten into a bad strain of poison oak, and it was making him irritable. I said I understood, but even after that I avoided him. Like I said before, Thaddeus isn’t what I wanted in a mate, and after Fala’s lust was gone I wasn’t interested in him—especially in a sick, angry version of him.”
“And he just stayed away from you after that?” Mari asked. The Thaddeus she knew didn’t seem like the type of man who would stop pursuing a woman if he thought she should belong to him.
“Actually, I stayed away from him. And then the foraging mission happened, and he changed again.”
“How?” Nik said.
“I was only alone with him once after that. It was right after he and Odysseus returned to the Tribe. Remember how Odysseus had strips of his skin cut from his body?”
“I didn’t see it, but I heard that the Skin Stealers flayed the Terrier’s flesh and it was because the little guy fought so hard that Thaddeus was able to escape,” Nik said.
“I don’t know what really happened, but it was something strange—something Thaddeus didn’t tell anyone. When he returned his skin was healing. He was real excited, which is why he showed me. It was—it was…”—Rose paused and shuddered—“awful. I could see that his flesh was healing around long strips of other flesh.”
“Bloody beetle balls! The Skin Stealers packed Odysseus’s flesh into his!” Nik said.
“Oh, Goddess! Like they were doing with that boar.” Mari felt sick remembering the disturbing scene she, Nik, Antreas, and Davis had been silent witness to earlier that day. “Did you notice anything else, Rose? Anything at all that changed about Thaddeus after his skin healed?”
“His anger didn’t go away, but it got colder, more calculating. He threatene
d to hurt Fala if I told anyone about his sickness, and I knew he would do it. He’d gotten so strong and so fast, I knew he’d figure out a way to hurt her without anyone knowing, so Fala and I stayed away from him, which wasn’t hard because he completely ignored me. Odysseus changed, too.”
“Odysseus? How so?”
“Well, he always tended to be aggressive, though he hid it pretty well.”
“Some of the Terriers can be kinda snappy,” Nik said. “You’d think it’d be the Shepherds—they’re a lot bigger and have more powerful jaws—but it’s rare that a Shepherd is actively aggressive.”
“Kinda snappy—that’s a good way to describe how Odysseus used to be. Ask your friend Davis about him. All the Hunters know if one of the young Terriers gets stuck with Odysseus as a mentor that canine will come home with bites that are too deep and happen too often to be simple corrections. After he and Thaddeus came back from being taken by the Skin Stealers, Odysseus was just plain mean. Fala refused to let him around her pups.” Rose raised her eyes to meet Nik’s. “I’m sorry. I should have gone to Sol or Cyril or someone, but I just wanted to avoid Thaddeus and forget about the whole ugly thing. Nik, is it true that Thaddeus killed Sol?”
“Yes. He was trying to shoot Mari, but Father stepped in front of her, taking the arrow instead.”
Rose bowed her head. “My fault—my fault. I should have said something. I should have told someone.”
“You couldn’t have known what he was going to do.” Nik rested a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Thaddeus is to blame—none other.”
“Rose, here’s some more poppy for the tea. There’s enough for Sarah and Lydia, and for you. Drink a big mug of it. Your burns are going to start aching again soon; you’ll need it.” Sora handed Rose a small, tightly woven basket filled with dried poppy pods.
Rose wiped her face. “Thank you. You’ve been kind—much kinder than I deserve.” Clutching the basket to her chest, she hurried from the burrow.
“Well, that’s the most bizarre story I’ve ever heard, which is saying something, because I’ve heard some weird stuff lately,” Sora said.
Mari just stared at her.
“How are you feeling?” Nik asked in a loaded voice.
Sora looked annoyed. “Like I said just a few minutes ago—I am fine.” She coughed and scratched at her arm.
“You seemed irritated,” Mari said.
“Of course I’m irritated,” she snapped. “You’d be irritated, too, if you’d had to deal with wounded strangers who were enemies up until, I don’t know, yesterday, as well as Clanswomen who are also hurt and frightened and confused.” Sora glared at Mari as she dug at her wrists.
“Sora, look at me.” Mari took her friend’s hand, holding it so that she couldn’t keep scratching her skin. “Listen carefully—the stag was infected with something. It infected Thaddeus and some of our Clansmen—Jaxom for sure.”
“I already know that. We’re wasting time. I’m assuming you brought more medicines than just aloe plants in those baskets, and Jaxom needs something potent for the wound in his back,” Sora said, trying to pull her hand from Mari’s.
Mari held on more tightly. “Sora, you’re not listening to me. The stag infected Jaxom. Then Jaxom bit you. Deeply. His bite broke your skin.”
“Yeah, so? I already know that, too. I don’t know the point of all of this. We’re way too busy to—”
“Jaxom infected you,” Nik blurted.
Sora stared from him to Mari.
Mari nodded and loosened her grip on Sora’s suddenly limp hands. “Your symptoms are identical to those Jaxom and Rose described. How have you really been feeling? Sick, feverish, and unnaturally angry?”
“This is ridiculous. It’s just a simple cold. Let go of my hands!” Sora ended the outburst shrilly, yanking her hands from Mari’s and baring her teeth in a menacing snarl at her friend.
“Sora, this isn’t you—it’s the illness. Think, Moon Woman.”
Sora opened her mouth as if she would hurl more abuse at Mari, and then Jaxom’s somber voice interrupted.
“Sora, she’s right. Try to think through the anger and the pain.”
Sora looked down, as if she was surprised to see that her hands were already at her wrists, digging bloody furrows in the inflamed skin that peeked from under the arm of her tunic. “Oh, Goddess, no! I am infected.” Sora covered her face and began to sob, her shoulders bowed like a willow branch.
“Sora, stop! It’s going to be okay.” Mari gently pried Sora’s hands from her face, leading her to a chair not far from the hearth. “Where’s more of that poppy tea?”
“N-no. I c-can’t take any. It’ll make me sleepy and there are too many people to tend.” Sora coughed miserably and wiped her mouth, leaving a long red slash on her tunic sleeve. The young Moon Woman stared at the scarlet streak. “This is bad. This is really bad.” Her gaze locked with Mari’s. “Please help me!”
Mari knelt beside her. “I’m going to help you, but you need to do as I say.”
Sora nodded shakily as she scratched at her elbow crease. “Anything, just don’t let me go mad.”
“First, you need to drink the tea.”
“There’s more of it in the big basket next to the water bucket. There are mugs next to the cauldron beside the hearth.”
Mari nodded to Nik and he went to the basket, pulling out a little pouch of herbs like the one Sora had given Rose. He placed the cauldron over the fire and ladled water into it, slowly adding the dried pods while he stirred. Satisfied that the tea was brewing, Mari returned her attention to Sora.
“Let me see your arms.”
Sora hesitated, but only for an instant. Then she held out her arms and allowed Mari to roll up the sleeves of her tunic to reveal the blisters and red welts that were forming at the creases in her friend’s otherwise flawless skin.
Sora turned her face away and wept.
“Jaxom, let me see your arms again.” Mari hurried to the young man on the pallet. He held out his arms, now free of bandages—and Mari realized he didn’t need the bandages reapplied. His skin was already healing. “How do you feel?” she asked him.
“Much, much better. My back hurts pretty bad, but the skin around my wrists and elbows and knees feels almost normal.”
“What about your emotions? How are they?” Mari said.
“Other than not knowing how to live with the things I remember doing, I feel good. My mind is clear and my anger is gone. I’m myself again,” Jaxom said.
Mari hurried back to Sora. “You felt better when you Washed the Clan, didn’t you?”
Sora sniffed and nodded. “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I thought I just had a little cold. I didn’t think it could be anything too bad if I was able to draw down the moon. I can’t believe I was so wrong. Mari, you have to go look in your mom’s journals. See if she has a cure for this—whatever it is.”
“I don’t think I need to do that.”
“But you have to! You have to help me, Mari!”
“Hey, s-s-sh. You’re not yourself. Of course I’m going to help you, but I already know how. I don’t have to look in Mama’s journals, though I am curious if she ever noted an infection like this before.”
“Seriously, Mari. Now isn’t the time for guesswork.” Sora frowned at her. “If I have to, I’ll go back to the burrow and get—”
“Moon Woman, you just need to be Washed and you’ll be cured like Jaxom!” Mari said, exasperated at her friend. “Is that tea ready yet?”
“It’s steeping,” Nik said.
“Well, try to steep faster,” Mari said. “And Sora, you try to not say anything.”
“Washed?” she whispered.
“Washed,” Mari said firmly. “But first I want you drugged.”
Sora stared at her, and Mari was sure she saw a crimson tint beginning to shine from deep within her friend’s dark pupils.
“Where’s the goldenrod salve?” Mari asked.
Sora m
otioned to one of the wooden containers on the shelves that framed the hearth.
“I’ll get it,” Nik said.
“Nik, would you also bring in the baskets we left outside the door? I need the fresh bandages and some of that salve you said smells like newly cut hay.”
“Will do.”
“Bedstraw salve?” Sora asked.
“That’s good. You remembered. Do you remember what the salve made from the bedstraw flowers and leaves is used for?”
“Stops bleeding and helps skin eruptions,” Sora said.
“I think you’re a much better student than I am a teacher,” Mari said.
Sora’s snort ended in a coughing fit. When she could speak again she said, “Don’t you think I need something stronger than bedstraw? Isn’t that just for minor skin problems?”
“Exactly, which is what you’re going to have after I Wash you of this illness.”
Nik returned with the baskets. Mari went through them quickly, finding the salve and the bandages she needed. While Sora downed the bitter but potent poppy tea, Mari cleaned and bandaged her wounds, trying to keep her expression neutral, even as she saw that many of the blisters were so red and swollen that her friend sucked in her breath when she touched them. But the tea worked its magic, and soon Sora’s head was lolling and she was obviously having a hard time focusing on Mari.
“Hey, did you see the puppies-s-s?” Sora slurred.
“I did,” Mari said, tying off the last bandage around Sora’s wrist.
“Sunkissed. One is s-s-ssunkissed.”
“Really?” Nik perked up. “You mean like with a splotch the color of the sun on it?”
“Yep. And it’s on her. It’s a her. And the s-s-splotch is in the shape of a crescent moon,” Sora said.
“That’s great news!” Nik said. Then, seeing Mari’s confusion, he explained, “It’s a fortuitous sign for the Tribe if a dark-colored canine is born with a sun-colored patch of fur. We call it being sun-kissed. It foretells good luck.”
“Are you sure?” Mari said. “Seems like the Tribe’s luck hasn’t been so good lately.”
“Not the tree Tribe. His. Nik’s new Tribe. His Pack!” Sora’s wobbly arm lifted and she pointed at Nik before dropping it back to her lap and nodding off to sleep.
