Wind Rider

by P. C. Cast

  “Is he a god?” Mari asked.

  “Not a god.” Dove suddenly spoke. “But someone who proclaimed that their god was present—though he was not. The monument they built to him was filled with secrecy, not divinity. The Mouths and Monkeys began here—it was from somewhere very close to this temple that they escaped their old world and made a new one, more likeable to them. That is why they guard this ruin so jealously.”

  A chill shuddered through Mari. “How do you know that, Dove?

  Dove shook her head. “The words simply come to me. I hope they are sent by the Great Mother Goddess.”

  “I believe the Goddess speaks through Dove,” Davis said. “I feel it deep within me.”

  Sora nodded. “I believe so, too.”

  Mari’s gaze sifted through her Pack. She saw her people nodding in agreement.

  “I do not doubt Dove’s vision,” Antreas said. “It explains a lot—but it doesn’t change the danger.”

  “Well, Nik’s gotten really good at shooting Monkeys,” Mari said. “He can do it one more time.”

  “Nik, you need to be ready to shoot more than one,” Antreas said.

  “We’ll all be ready,” Wilkes said.

  “Okay, be sure everything is tied down securely and your ballasts are all even. Remain behind me—go double file, but do not stray or straggle. And when I tell you to go, paddle fast.”

  It didn’t take the Pack long to batten down their supplies and be sure the canines—and one Lynx—were secure as well. When all was ready, they set out in a double file behind Antreas and Danita.

  “Nik, I’d like you to paddle beside us,” Davis called. “We have Rose and the puppies with us, and also Mariah is moving really slow—particularly today—and she doesn’t want to leave the nest she’s made on her ballast.”

  “Yes, Nik,” Claudia said, sending her very pregnant Shepherd a worried look. “I’d feel better if your crossbow was close by us. Mariah is feeling restless and out of sorts today.”

  “No problem. We’ll stay near,” Nik said as he and Mari paddled their little craft beside Davis and Claudia. Also in their much larger boat, along with Rose and the growing puppies, were Dove and Lily. “Lily, if you transfer over to our boat you can paddle with Mari so that I can focus on aiming this crossbow.”

  “I’m a stronger paddler than Lily.” Dove spoke up immediately. “I would be happy to come to your boat and help out.”

  Nik shrugged and then nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s do this fast, but safely.”

  By now they were all experts on the water, and moving Dove was easy. She settled in at Nik’s place in the front of the canoe and Nik moved to the center, leaving Mari to steer—with Laru on one ballast and Rigel balancing the opposite side.

  “All ready?” Antreas called back down the line.

  “Ready!” the Pack responded.

  They began paddling at a normal speed, but as the ruins drew closer Antreas shouted, “We’ll keep this pace, but when I yell ‘NOW’ I’m going to speed up and get us out of that Monkey-and-Mouth mess as fast as possible. Keep up with me. Let’s go, Pack!”

  The Pack bent their backs to their task, moving forward together as one. Mari was so proud of them. They had truly formed a family unit. Every few strokes Danita would call out a cadence, which Isabel repeated and then Spencer took up as well, so that it seemed as if the boats were shadow-dancing together.

  As they drew closer and closer to the massive ruin, Mari felt a terrible crawling over her skin. The current became erratic. Sucking whirlpools suddenly appeared for as far as she could see around them. The temple was of a size like no building she’d ever seen, and it was filled with Monkeys. The ruin itself had cattails and maidenhair ferns covering it—and from the huge roof area grew a forest of willow trees. Among everything—hanging from all over the temple—were Monkeys.

  The Golden Man was standing on a boulder-sized ball which rested on top of a pointed spire. Bizarrely, he looked to be in perfect condition. Mari could just make out that he was holding some kind of long flute to his lips. Monkeys perched on the ball and the ledge below it—all of them were staring in the direction of the boats.

  “We’ll be speeding up soon,” Antreas shouted. “Get ready. Do not get off track. And don’t stop. Stay with me and keep going no matter what.”

  “Davis!” Claudia’s voice was tinged with fear. “It’s Mariah!”

  “What? Is she okay?” Davis called back.

  Their boat was to Mari’s right, and she was closest to the ballast on which Mariah had made a comfortable nest of woven mats and pelts. Cammy was usually beside her, but for the trip past the ruins he’d joined Rose and the puppies in the boat, and they’d balanced the other ballast with supplies. Just then he had his front paws up on the side of the boat, staring at Mariah and whining softly.

  One look at the Shepherd and Mari knew what was happening before Claudia spoke again.

  “She’s fine. But she’s in labor!” Claudia said.

  “I’m steering closer to the ballast Mariah’s on,” Mari said.

  “I will keep paddling,” Dove said, bending to the task.

  “And I’ll focus on the water around her,” said Nik.

  They moved closer to Mariah’s ballast just in time for Mari to see the Shepherd strain, and then in a liquid rush a puppy was born.

  “The first pup is here!” Claudia shouted, wiping tears from her eyes. “Oh, good girl, Mariah! Sweet, strong girl!” Claudia looked around frantically. “Can’t we stop? I need to get out there with her.”

  “Okay, everyone—time to paddle like you never have before! Now!” Antreas shouted.

  “We can’t stop!” Nik said. “Claudia, tell Mariah to hang on. Comfort her. Reassure her. We’ll get her through this and you can join her as soon as possible.”

  Tears streaming down her cheeks, Claudia nodded, and then began talking to her Companion in a calm, soothing voice as she wiped her cheeks with her sleeve.

  “Good girl, Mariah. Brave girl. You’re doing wonderfully!”

  There was a little coughing sound, and then the beautiful mewing whines of a newborn pup drifted across the water while Cammy barked joyfully.

  “What’s happening back there?” Sora shouted from her boat just ahead of them.

  “Puppies!” Mari yelled. “Puppies are being born!”

  “Oh, bloody beetle balls!” O’Bryan said, picking up his crossbow and loading it. “Mouths—to the left. I just saw a tentacle.”

  Drawn by the liquid scents of birth, Monkeys started dropping into the water. Some barked, sounding exactly like Cammy, and others whined and mewed, making a mockery of newborn puppy noises.

  From farther up in the double line of boats, Wilkes fired two arrows in quick succession, killing two Monkeys. As their blood began to stain the water, it also started to froth and tentacles reached up, dragging the twitching creatures under the surface.

  “Monkeys closing in! To our right!” Davis shouted.

  “Got ’em!” Nik fired and skewered two of them with the same arrow. They screamed and convulsed and the water around them began to ripple—much too close to the boat that was carrying Mariah.

  Something flashed in Mari’s periphery vision, and she turned her head in time to see a thick white tentacle snake up from below the surface and reach for Mariah’s ballast, wrapping around the Shepherd’s tail, which was extending out over the water.

  Mariah’s piercing yelp of agony exploded across the lake.

  “Nik! Help!” Mari shouted at the same moment Cammy began barking ferociously. The little Terrier leaped up and ran the length of the arm of the ballast. Still barking and snarling, he launched himself from the boat, hurling himself at the tentacle. Catching it in his jaws, he shook his head mightily, severing the thick, snakelike thing as easily as he could break a rabbit’s back, forcing the Mouth to release Mariah’s tail.

  “Cammy! Get back to the boat!” Davis screamed.

  “Keep paddling! I’ve got thi
s!” Nik yelled.

  But Nik didn’t have it. He couldn’t. Cammy still had the tentacle in his mouth and he was half swimming, half standing on top of the huge fish’s head.

  “Cammy! Move! I can’t get a shot with you there!”

  The brave Terrier instantly let loose the tentacle and jumped from the fish’s back to paddle to the boat, but the Mouth was now focused on him—and two uninjured tentacles slithered around Cammy’s rear legs, pulling him back toward the ravenous maw that opened like a cave just under the surface.

  “Cammy!” Davis cried, dropping his paddle and leaning out of the boat, trying to grab the little Terrier. But he wasn’t close enough. He’d never reach his Companion in time.

  With a ferocious growl, Rigel leaped from his ballast and began swimming for the Mouth. From the ballast on the other side of their boat, Laru stood, barking frantically as their canoe dipped and tilted, trying to find its balance.

  “Nik!” Mari shrieked.

  “Laru, do not get in that water—you can’t help! Rigel, get back! I can’t get a clear shot!”

  When tentacles wrapped around Rigel’s neck, Mari didn’t stop to think—she acted. She stood, gathering sunfire to herself, and lifted her hand to throw it like a ball at the fish—but Rigel was now at the Mouth’s head, joining Cammy, who was being pulled into the beast’s enormous, hook-toothed maw.

  “No, you cannot have my Rigel or Cammyman!” Mari shouted as she grabbed a flint-tipped arrow from Nik’s stash and then, moving swiftly, crawled on her hands and knees out on the ballast arm until the Mouth was directly below her.

  “Mari! What are you—”

  Mari let loose of the ballast arm, dropping to land on top of the gigantic fish. She straddled it like it was a slippery log. The fish bucked and began sinking, pulling Cammy and Rigel under with it. Like it was a spear, Mari raised the arrow and then with all of her strength plunged it down into the water and began stabbing the beast directly in its saucer-like black eye, over and over again.

  The creature bucked and writhed in pain as the water was filled with blood and gore. It knocked Mari off its back at the same time it released Cammy and Rigel.

  “Move! Move!” Nik shouted.

  Mari, thanking the Goddess that they’d all practiced swimming, stroked quickly to the boat, with Rigel and Cammy beside her.

  “Monkeys coming with more Mouths!” Davis yelled, pointing.

  “Get in the boat! Get in the boat!” Claudia screamed.

  Mari gripped the side of her boat. “Dove! Lean to your left!”

  Dove did so, and Mari was able to pull against the boat and lift first herself in, and then she helped Rigel scramble aboard before reaching down and hefting a soggy, bleeding Cammyman into the boat as well.

  “Rigel! Are you hurt?” Mari yelled at her Shepherd as she grabbed the paddle and rushed to her seat while the boat tilted and tipped precariously.

  Rigel’s answer was to lick her face in reassurance.

  Mari kissed his nose and then told him, “Get back on your ballast before we capsize!” Rigel barked and then raced back along the ballast arm, and the little boat righted itself.

  Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Nik’s arrows sang as they picked off two Monkeys and one more big-eyed Mouth whose tentacles were reaching for Mariah again.

  The water frothed scarlet, drawing every Mouth and Monkey nearby.

  “We need to get out of here!” Mari shouted.

  While the Mouths and Monkeys devoured their own, Nik took the paddle from Dove and Davis sat as well, taking over for a sweating Rose.

  “Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!” Mari called cadence, and the two boats shot forward together, catching the rest of the Pack.

  “Are you okay?” Sora called over her shoulder.

  “Okay enough! Go! Get out of here!”

  The boats ahead of them had some idea of what was happening, because Wilkes and Sheena began firing at a group of Monkeys who were chattering and shrieking as they dangled from the ruin. The creatures fell into the water, creating more of a distraction so that as the boats sped past the temple, its sides were stained red and the water around it was filled with blood and grasping tentacles as Mouths feasted on Monkeys and Monkeys feasted on Mouths—ignoring the Pack.

  It seemed a terribly long time before Antreas called for them to circle up. Sweat ran down Mari’s face and dripped from her arms, which shook with effort. Dove was sitting in the bottom of the canoe, cradling Cammy as she held pressure bandages on his two rear legs, which had been lacerated by the Mouth’s barbed teeth. The last six inches or so of his tail had been completely desleeved. The moment Antreas called a halt, Mari went to Cammy.

  “His rear legs and his tail are injured!” Davis said. “I’m coming over there!”

  “Hang on, Davis. Stay where you are until I see how bad it is,” Mari said. Then she called to Claudia. “How’s Mariah?”

  The Companion was crawling along the ballast arm toward her Shepherd. “The second pup is coming. Mariah is fine, but she’s worried about Cammy.”

  “Hey there, little guy. Let me check you out.” Mari gently unwrapped the makeshift bandages from his legs, grimacing at the lacerations—but they were only bleeding slightly. His tail looked terrible, showing bare cartilage and bloody ooze. She knew immediately that she was going to have to amputate it down to an uninjured nub, but neither his legs nor tail had suffered life-threatening injuries. “I have some healing to do, but he’s going to be just fine!” she called to Davis, who sat so heavily Mari thought he was close to fainting. “Good job keeping the pressure on those wounds,” Mari told Dove before pulling one of her medical satchels out from where it had been stowed under her seat and searching through it for salve and proper bandages.

  “Oh, I was so worried for him,” Dove said, feeling for Cammy’s head and stroking it gently.

  Cammy was panting with pain and whined as Mari applied the salve, causing Davis to stand again. “Cammy?”

  “It’s okay. I’ve just put some numbing salve on his wounds. Dove almost has the bleeding stopped. I’ll sew the lacerations as soon as I’ve cleaned the wounds.” She looked up, finding Sora’s boat just a few feet away. “I’m going to need the surgical knife.”

  “Getting it!” Sora stood and hurried to the medical storage baskets stowed under the seats.

  “Light that mini-brazier you rigged, too. I’m going to need to cauterize his tail,” Mari said.

  “What? His tail?” Davis was looking very pale, and sounding worse than Cammy.

  “It’s okay. It’s not a serious injury—just painful. His tail is going to be shorter, but that’s just a battle scar.” Mari stroked the Terrier’s head. “Right, brave boy?”

  Cammy tried to wag his tail, but whined painfully instead.

  “Good boy, Cammyman!” Davis said, tears in his voice. “You’re so strong and brave. You saved Mariah and the puppies!”

  “Nik, would you hand me a dry tunic?” Mari asked. Nik quickly tossed her a shirt, which she put into Dove’s hands, saying, “Dove, could you carefully dry Cammy and then wrap this around him like a blanket? He’s going into shock, which is dangerous, and being wet does not help. We need to keep him dry and warm.”

  “Of course! And I’ll be very careful.” Dove felt along the Terrier’s body, drying him gently as she murmured encouragement to him.

  Sheena and O’Bryan paddled Sora close enough to Mari’s boat for her to pass Nik the surgical knife. Sora then began stoking the little brazier she’d used during the very long overwater trip to brew tea and render tinctures. She placed one of Leda’s valuable cauterizing irons in it, waiting for it to heat.

  “Another pup!” Claudia said.

  “Goddess! I feel like I’m going to pass out.” Davis sat again as all the remaining color drained from his face.

  “All will be well.” Lily moved closer and patted his back with a tentative but comforting hand. “Mari and the Goddess will heal your Cammy—and the Goddess has already protected
sweet Mariah and her puppies.”

  Mari glanced up at Davis. “Put your head between your legs. If you pass out it’s going to agitate Cammy, and I’m going to need him to stay still.”

  “Okay—okay. Cammy, everything is fine. I’m just worried about you, that’s all. But be a brave boy and hold still for Mari so she can fix you,” Davis called to his Companion before he put his head between his legs, breathing heavily.

  Cammy panted and whined, but laid his head on Dove’s thigh, allowing her to dry and comfort him.

  By this time the boats were circled around them and the Pack was watching anxiously. Antreas guided his canoe over to them. He looked from one boat to the other, shaking his head.

  “You scared me. Badly,” he said. “Is anyone hurt?”

  “My Cammyman is,” Davis said.

  “He’s also a hero,” said Claudia, smiling through tears at the little Terrier. “He saved Mariah and all of her puppies.”

  “And Rigel and Mari saved him!” Davis said.

  “Will Cammy make it?” Antreas asked.

  Mari lifted her head and tossed back her hair. “He will. We all will. We’re bound, all of us, by strength and devotion and love. Nothing is going to tear us apart—especially not a watery death. Don’t worry about brave Cammyman. Tonight I will draw down the moon and be sure he heals quickly and completely.”

  While the Pack cheered, Dove’s hand sought and found Mari’s. For her ears alone she said, “But He will find us eventually.”

  “Not today. Death is definitely not catching us today. Now, help me by holding Cammy still.” Mari placed Dove’s hands in the proper positions, and then she bent to the task of sewing his lacerations while the numbing salve soaked in so that she could amputate his mangled tail.

  CHAPTER 21

  ROCK MOUNTAINS—THE PACK

  They made land mid-morning the next day, beaching the boats for the last time. Mari stared up at the mountains that seemed to touch the sky above them. They were covered with huge old pines, making her suddenly and terribly homesick.