CIRCLES IN THE SKY (The Mother People Series Book 2)

by JOAN DAHR LAMBERT

  "The pups," she repeated, staring at Borg. The three young wolves, almost grown now, were especially fond of Miko, and followed him everywhere.

  "Show me," Borg commanded. The story of the children who had been taken from other Mother People tribes came into his mind, as fresh as if he had just heard the man's words.

  Had he told this story to the others? He could not remember. He would tell them as soon as he returned.

  At first, Borg could see no tracks except for the three wolves, and a few footprints of men, but any of their own men could have made those. There were not even any prints of the children except right in the area where they had been playing. It was as if they had been plucked from this place into the sky, he thought. Then, a short distance away, he did find a track, but it was only of a horse. How could a horse take children?

  Horror came into his face, horror and a terrible suspicion. "Veeta!" he said aloud. Did she or others in her tribe ride a horse as Nordal did?

  Borg charged back to the clearing, with Katalin following, and grabbed his tools and knives. He would need them.

  Before he left, he went to Zena. "I do not know if I am right," he told her grimly, "but I believe Veeta and her men took the children. Like the boy Nordal, they may ride horses." Everyone listened intently as he repeated the story he had heard from the Mother People, of the children who had been taken.

  "I think they come on horses," Borg finished, "and lift the children up so they leave no tracks, except for the horses. And who would think that horses take children? Few people know that they can be ridden."

  "I will soon know if I am right," he added grimly, turning to leave.

  Another thought struck him and he stopped. He did not think he had told Zena that all the Mother People were looking for her, either, as he had promised the wise one. He shook his head in dismay. The cougar's attack had made him forget many things.

  "The wise one in the tribe I met also told me that many groups of Mother People are looking for you," he said quickly to Zena. "All of them are coming south, looking, though the wise one did not know why, except that it was the will of the Mother. I told them how to find you, and they will tell others."

  Zena looked up sharply, but before she could respond, Borg had headed toward the trees. Lotar followed him, unwilling to stay behind when Balinor could be in danger.

  "I will come," Bukkor said, grabbing his knife and his axe. Others volunteered as well; within moments, they were ready.

  "I must come," Katalin called out. "Miko is my child." Her voice was firm, almost devoid of emotion, her eyes determined.

  Borg turned and nodded. "We will follow the wolves, and the horses, for as long as the light holds."

  The wolves were not hard to follow, or the horses. Veeta was clever, Borg thought to himself. The Mother People would not have paid attention to horse tracks when they were searching for the children, unless they knew that someone rode them.

  They kept going until the light was gone, then they had to stop. "We will lose the tracks if we try to go on," Borg said, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

  "Maybe the moon will come," Katalin said hopefully. "Then we could see enough to follow them." She sank down, exhausted, but got up again immediately. She did not think she could bear to stop. A whole night would have to pass, and Miko would be afraid, and crying for her... He could be hurt, even dead...

  Bukkor interrupted her dismal thoughts. "I am sure Miko is all right," he assured her, his voice filled with sympathy. "We will find him in the morning. Now, you must rest."

  Katalin nodded, but she could not speak. Turning away from the others, she went over to a big tree and sat against it. How could she rest? Certainly, she could not sleep.

  Borg came and squatted beside her. "I am sorry," he said grimly. "I should have thought to tell the story of how the children were taken earlier. Then, we might have guarded our own children more carefully. But I did not realize what it meant."

  "It is not your fault," Katalin said. "How could we know anyone would do this? The woman, Veeta, must be very cruel, to take children from their mothers, their tribes."

  "She is indeed cruel," Borg agreed. "And she has taken my child, too, Katalin. That I will not forgive. But I will get him back, you may be sure of that."

  His voice was hard, totally confident. Forgetting that he did not want to be near her any more, Katalin grabbed his hand and held on to it. She felt suddenly as if this strong hand, the determination that went with it, was all she had, all she could count on to keep Miko alive, and she did not want to let go.

  "I am sorry for what happened before," she blurted suddenly, not looking at him. "With Bukkor, I mean."

  "I should have understood," Borg answered. "I can see that now, but before I did not. As Zena has said, each person must decide and others must accept that decision."

  "I have decided," Katalin said softly, "but I am too late."

  Borg frowned. What did she mean?

  "If you should ever want me again, I would choose only you," Katalin continued in an even smaller voice. "But I know you do not, so it does not matter."

  "But what of Bukkor and the other men?"

  Katalin turned to face him for the first time. "Without you, Akat has lost its pleasure," she said sadly.

  She looked away again. "It does not matter," she repeated, dropping his hand. "I know you do not want me now. I have seen it in your face, many times. So there is no need to answer."

  She tried to stand, but Borg pulled her back again. "You have seen this in my face? That I do not want you?"

  Katalin nodded, wishing now she had never spoken..

  "But that is because I could not bear to look at you, be near you, if I could not have you." Borg's voice was puzzled, almost angry. He turned Katalin's face so she had to look at him. "Katalin, I want you still, want you more than any other woman I have ever known, but for me to share you with others is not possible. This I cannot do, and that is my choice."

  Katalin's eyes filled with tears, and her throat was too full to answer.

  "We cannot decide this now," Borg continued, "when we are so worried about Miko. Soon, though, we will speak, and perhaps then we will finally understand each other."

  Katalin nodded and clutched his hand again. They sat for a long time, unable to be happy because of Miko, but still feeling a peace neither had known for a long time.

  "The moon," Katalin said, suddenly aware that the woods were filled with shadows instead of blackness. "It has come." She scrambled to her feet. Borg followed.

  "We can try," he said. They all spread out, searching for tracks. Finally Bukkor found some horse droppings, more by smell than by sight.

  "This way," he called. Together, they were able to follow the tracks for a time, especially the horses, whose prints were large and clear. Still, it was a difficult job; sometimes they had to crawl to find the tracks. Then the moon slid behind some clouds and they were plunged into darkness again.

  They sat down to rest, hoping the clouds would go but they did not. To her surprise, Katalin finally fell asleep on Borg's shoulder. A sudden stiffening in his body roused her again. She sat, totally awake, hearing the same noises that had alerted him. There were soft whines, padding feet...

  Abruptly, the three pups came charging toward them, whining and squealing. They tumbled all over them, licking their faces frantically, pulling at their hands, as if urging them to come. They had not found Torlan, as the command had asked, but they had found someone, and perhaps that was the same.

  Excitement grew in Katalin. She was certain that the pups were trying to lead them to the children. Maybe they would even find them tonight. Pulling herself stiffly to her feet, she followed them into the dark woods. Like their mother, the pups moved like shadows and were almost invisible against the trees, but the group managed to keep going anyway, stumbling, often falling, but at least moving forward. Finally, dawn began to break, and they could see where they were.

  The
light was still dim when Borg stopped abruptly and held up his hand. "Smoke," he said. "There is smoke ahead."

  "Stay here and keep the pups with you," he told Lotar and Bukkor and the other tribe members who had come. "I will look."

  He grabbed Katalin's hand and crept forward until they had almost reached a small clearing.

  "Behind this one," Borg whispered, pointing to a tree whose girth was wide enough to hide both of them. They peered out and saw a big shelter, surrounded by brush and rocks. Two men stood in front of the entrance. Another man suddenly appeared from within the shelter. With him were four children. He spoke a few harsh words to them. The children nodded and went silently into some bushes. A few moments later, they rejoined the man and returned to the shelter. Another group of four children came next, and repeated the process. Still another group came, and Katalin's heart leaped. Miko! And Balinor and the others!

  She moved forward a little to see better. Balinor took the children to the bushes, and as she returned, Katalin saw her eyes scan the woods. They stopped on Katalin's face. Quickly, Katalin put her hand over her lips and shook her head hard. Balinor's eyes dropped and she kept walking as if she had seen nothing.

  Miko did not want to go into the shelter again and protested loudly. Balinor picked him up. Her heart was pounding, but she forced herself to sound normal.

  "Miko!" she said loudly, to get his attention. "Miko, you must try very hard to be quiet," she continued, whispering now. "If you are, then I think we may soon be able to find your mother. But you must be very good."

  He nodded. "Soon?" he asked, watching her carefully with his large brown eyes.

  "I think so," Balinor answered, hoping she was right. Seeing Katalin's face had startled her, and she hoped the men had not noticed - or seen Katalin themselves. She did not think so; she had spotted Katalin only because she had been looking very hard, in case the pups had brought someone to rescue them.

  Katalin watched anxiously as they went into the hut, then another sight drew her attention. A small boy was limping toward the shelter, carrying a bowl of food. Two men were behind him with other bowls. They all went into the shelter, but only the two men reappeared. They took up positions by the entrance, relieving the others, who sauntered off.

  "Now there are only two," Borg whispered. "Bukkor can take one, I the other. You go into the shelter and bring the children out as quickly as you can."

  He crept back for Bukkor and told the others to hold on to the pups until they returned. He and Bukkor slid through the trees until they were behind the shelter where the men could not see them. Each came up behind a man and delivered a blow to the head that would at least disable them for a time.

  Katalin slipped into the shelter. Balinor looked up and her eyes widened, but she did not speak. Miko was harder to control. He came tumbling over, calling her name in joy. Katalin swept him up and hugged him. "We must be quiet, Miko," she whispered. "If you can do that, we can soon leave and go home again."

  He clung to her, tears pouring down his round face. Katalin felt answering tears behind her own eyes but forced them back. There was no time. They must move fast.

  For the first time, she looked around her. Children were everywhere, their faces drawn and sad and pale. She gasped in horror, as Balinor had.

  "You are all Mother People?" she whispered. They nodded.

  "We have come to take you home," Katalin said simply, and watched the faces slowly light up with hope.

  "You must do just as I say. First, no noise. I want all of you to follow me into the woods, where there are people who will help us. The bigger children can help the small ones."

  One of the children stood. "Nordal," she whispered, pointing to the boy who had come with food. "We cannot go without Nordal."

  The boy stood, too, his eyes wary. Katalin went over to him and put an arm around him. "Nordal can come, too," she assured the others. "We will take you to Torlan, if you wish," she told Nordal, remembering what Borg and Torlan had told them about him.

  "Torlan?" he whispered earnestly. "You know Torlan?" He did not understand all her words, but he knew Torlan's name.

  Borg and Bukkor poked their heads in. "You must come now," they said urgently.

  "Now," Katalin whispered to the children, standing aside as they filed out. As quickly as she could, she shepherded them into the woods to a place where they could not be seen from the clearing. They were all completely quiet, even the smallest ones. Katalin grimaced. For children to be so quiet was not natural, and she did not want to imagine how this had been accomplished.

  Borg and Bukkor joined them. "We tied the men with rope we found near the shelter," Borg whispered. "But we must find out if there are others."

  He went to Nordal and knelt beside him. "I have come to help, as you asked,” he said in Nordal’s words. “Now I need your help, to tell me how many men are here."

  "Only the two who guarded the shelter," Nordal replied promptly. “The others have gone hunting, I think.”

  "And Veeta?" Borg's voice was gentle, but Nordal flushed.

  "She has gone somewhere on her horse," he said quietly.

  Borg nodded. "Thank you, Nordal. That is good to know, and will help us escape.” "I would like to take you with us," he added kindly, unable to bear the thought of leaving Nordal alone to face Veeta's wrath when she discovered the children were gone.

  Nordal's face lit up, then fell again. He was eager to see Torlan and the tribe Torlan had talked about so much, but he did not think he should leave without telling his mother.

  Another thought came to him. "I cannot come," he said softly. "I cannot walk." There was no self-pity in his husky voice, only sadness.

  "Then one of us will carry you," Borg promised.

  Nordal shook his head. "I cannot leave Alare. Or my mother," he added, so quietly Borg hardly heard.

  "Alare is his horse," one of the children explained.

  Borg frowned. The horse might be useful. Many of the children would need to be carried, and to carry Nordal as well would be difficult.

  "Can you get the horse quickly?" he asked.

  Nordal nodded. "She comes when I whistle," he explained.

  "You can come with us now on Alare and we will tell your mother when she returns," Borg suggested. "For you to be here alone is not good."

  Nordal thought for a moment. "I think that would be all right," he agreed. He limped off and soon returned astride the horse. "Now I can truly come," he told Borg, his face radiant.

  "Alare can carry more than one," he suggested. "Another child can sit behind me, perhaps two. They have wanted to ride Alare," he added.

  "That will be a great help, Nordal," Borg answered. He turned to the children and asked who would be willing to try going on the horse. A number of eager hands shot up. Borg pointed to two children and promised the others they would have a turn next. Alare stood still, soothed by Nordal's voice, while Borg placed the children on her back. They sat up proudly, their faces flushed with pleasure. One held on to Nordal, the other held the child in front, as Alare stepped daintily forward.

  Lotar hugged Balinor joyously when they rejoined the waiting men. Their reunion was interrupted by Alare, who shied violently when she saw the pups, almost unseating a child. Lotar called the pups to him while Nordal soothed Alare. The mare settled, but she still eyed the three wolves warily as she moved gracefully along. The children were also alarmed at the sight of three almost fully grown wolves, but once they had patted the pups and seen how friendly they were, their fear evaporated.

  Once again, the group set off. Katalin and the others, and Alare, carried various children as often as they could, but their progress was still very slow.

  "I wish we had more people to help us carry the children," Katalin commented. "Then we could move faster."

  "We can send the pups back," Balinor told her, explaining how she had managed to get the pups to leave. "They did not get Torlan, but they did get someone," she added proudly.

 
"That is an excellent idea, Balinor." Katalin called the pups to her and gave them the command. They looked puzzled, but trotted off. Then, abruptly, they broke into a fast run, as if they had heard a signal inaudible to her. Katalin stared after them, surprised, but her attention was quickly diverted by the children. Some of the smaller ones were so tired they could hardly stand. The biggest were trying to help but they, too, were exhausted.

  "We must stop and rest, find food," she told Borg.

  He nodded. "We can stop. I am certain no one has followed." He frowned, perplexed. "It is strange that there were so few men to guard the children," he mused. "We were lucky."

  He turned to Nordal. "Are there always so few men guarding the children?"

  Nordal shook his head. "There are more, usually. My mother took most of the men with her to hunt. Only two must stay here, she said, to guard the entrance to the hut."

  Borg's frown deepened, and he looked at Katalin. She saw the suspicion in his face, and her eyes widened as the thought that was in his mind came into hers.

  "Is it possible that Veeta arranged this?” she asked, disbelief in her voice, “that she meant us to rescue the children so easily? But why?"

  The answer brought horror to her face. While she and Borg and the others with them were busy rescuing the stolen children, Veeta and her men had gone to the clearing to kill the rest of the tribe. Only the others in the tribe weren’t there; they had taken the remaining children into the hills where they could be guarded more easily. Only Zena and Torlan had stayed behind…

  "Zena," she breathed. "Zena and Torlan. We have left them all alone."

  ********************

  Zena lay in the clearing, remembering Borg's story of the other Mother People children who had been taken. Ever since she had heard it she had been unable to stop thinking of the vision she had seen, of the children by the fire whose faces were so sad and hopeless and then so changed, so terribly changed into brutal men, wielding their knives, into pale-faced women forced to bear endless streams of infants so that still more men, more women would be born, to wield more knives, bear more young. She had not understood, had been incapable of imagining such a monstrous goal. No one could have imagined such horror - except Veeta. Was that what she planned, to steal all their children and teach them to be as cruel as herself?