"They won't be," Tani told him. "They'll probably be too busy with the sample you sent to say much." There was a kind of soft sadness in the words. "With a puzzle like that to unravel they'll be in the laboratory day and night until it gives up its secrets."
The words gave Storm a further insight into her life. She'd lost parents who loved her and had spent all the spare time they had with their child. Brion had been Alisha's older brother by years. He and Kady must have been set in their ways when Tani arrived. They cared for her, that Storm had seen. But it still wasn't the family love she'd known. Her own words had said that she knew she was less important than a good scientific puzzle. She was used to it, accepted that was the way. But underneath the acceptance was a sense of loss for what she'd once had.
Had he talked to Logan he'd have already known that. Logan had often been indignant in that first week as he rode with Tani. Her aunt and uncle weren't unkind. They seemed to care. But they never had time for her. If they weren't in the laboratory working they were talking about their work. The only time they really talked to the girl was when she'd worked with them and they discussed further tests. Now and again they did remember to ask how her day had been, or what she would do that morning. But mostly they assumed she was happy and busy. If she wasn't, they expected she'd say so.
Logan liked Tani as a friend, but there was no great attraction between them apart from friendship. He preferred girls who were quite different, but he'd come to like Tani a lot, as herself, as a friend he could talk to. In a way she felt like a little sister. On her behalf he sometimes found himself angry at the way she was ignored.
Since Tani wasn't unhappy, she never complained to Brion and Kady. But Logan wasn't the only one who had noticed her isolation. Brad Quade also had seen it. Sometimes he'd quietly prompted her aunt and uncle to ask after her day. Each time he'd seen the pleasure that small bit of attention had given her. He'd encouraged Logan to keep the girl company, listening to her accounts of the things she'd seen on their rides. She lit up when she was interested in something. Brad heard Logan's call now and smiled.
"Hey, Hey! Everyone. They're back."
He hurried to where he could see the two riders walking their horses wearily down the slope. His heart lifted and he ran. Logan trotted with him and together they arrived beside the riders several hundred yards out from the buildings. Storm slid down. Brad's hands closed about his shoulders.
"You are okay, son?"
"I'm well, Asizi. So is Tani."
Logan had gone to sweep the girl from her mount and been warned off firmly by Destiny's lowered horns. He laughed up at Tani.
"Come down before this savage beast of yours eats me." She dismounted, laughing back happily. Logan hugged her hard. "Thank the Thunder you're okay. We worried about you. How did you manage to tame that horse? Where did you get to? What clan did you stay with? How did you ..."
Tani giggled. "Whoa. Wait until we get home and we can tell it all together then. Where are Aunt Kady and Uncle Brion?"
Logan shrugged. "Working. When aren't they?"
Tani looked at him and her voice chided. "Logan, if they can find out what the killer is, then that's far more important than me getting back from a few days with friends."
Storm glanced over as they met, noticed the hug, and looked away quickly. They were the same age. They enjoyed each other's company. What else could he expect? But a shiver of sadness went over him. He blinked. What was he thinking about? Logan could hardly do better, and Tani loved Arzor. He switched his attention back to his stepfather as Brad continued.
"The Carraldos have been working on that sample you sent ever since it arrived. They could tell us almost at once that it didn't come from Arzor. It isn't native."
He began to walk back toward the ranch buildings. Storm walked with him as they talked, Tani and Logan still chattering as they followed.
"What did they find? What sort of material?"
"Poison, and they believe from the size of the bite mark that the killer is a group of insects in some form. Like a swarm of bees or an ant nest. The jaw radius is small. They believe that the swarm specializes. The front-runners are the ones that carry poison to paralyze the prey, then the rest of the swarm feeds. It's all theory as yet. They're running just about every DNA test known to them. They say the more they learn, the more they can then run other tests against outside material. With a full range completed, if anything agrees they should have a match."
Storm had listened closely. "So they are trying for a total reading on the killer? With that completed they'd check it against everything on databases they can access. If the original information is complete and there's a match anywhere, they will find it." Brad agreed.
"How far along are they?" Storm queried.
"Another couple of days and they can start running comparisons."
Storm blew out a breath. "That's a good start. I just hope they find something. Have they any idea how long it could take on that?"
Brad shook his head. "Nope. I talked to them about it. There was a lot of science but it all boils down to anytime. They think that straight comparison checks could take another three days. They can leave the work mostly to the computers in the Ark. It's the other stuff. There's a number of planets that have information that isn't linked in. They started Jarro, the guy you tangled with, contacting these other places. He's uploading information from any of those who'll cooperate. That takes longer, as a lot of it isn't in standard format, I'm told. They can set the receiving computer to interface so the programs will be rewritten to match, but again, it all takes time."
Storm looked out across the ranch. "And what do we do if there's no match?" he asked softly.
Brad sighed. "We lose the ranch, maybe Arzor for humans. Maybe the natives lose everything including the planet, too. What's it like out there?"
"Bad. Tani and I found some evidence to suggest some of the tribes are losing heavily. What about the settlers. Has anyone else been killed?"
"No, thanks be. Even Dumaroy is staying quiet. A sort of lull-before-the-storm quiet, mind you." His face crinkled in wry amusement. "You know Dumaroy. But show him something he can fight and he's a good man to have at your back."
"I know. Look, Tani will be starving and we've the animals to see as well. Can we eat while we talk, or even before?"
Brad laughed. "You underestimate me, son. I gave orders the minute Logan starting yelling he could see you. The cook has food and hot swankee ready. Miller is waiting to take your horses. All you have to do is take care of your teams and come inside."
Tani was dubious but even Destiny was tired. The filly went meekly off in the care of a hand. Another hand produced an uncooked frawn haunch and the coyotes settled to eat. With her team seen to, the girl headed for the table. She sat, accepted swankee, and drank eagerly. Then she sighed and relaxed back in her chair.
"That's so good." She looked at Storm. "Do you think it could be addictive?"
Brad smiled at her. She was tired and browner, but she looked lean and fit rather than ill treated. "No, swankee has some caffeine but no great amount. I daresay if you took to drinking fifty cups a day it might not be good, but if you keep it to twenty-five I'm sure you'll be fine."
Tani grinned. She was tired and feeling a bit light-headed at being back. "If I drank that much no one would ever see me. I'd always be in the bathroom." She drank the rest of the mug, refilled it, then reached for bread. "Ummm. That's something I missed."
"The clan didn't have bread?" Logan inquired.
Storm answered. "They have a sort of flat campbread type, it doesn't rise. They make it from wild grain that is ground and baked, sometimes with flour made from nuts added. They cut a hole in that and fill it with berries. It's pleasant and probably satisfies their need for something sweet, too, but it isn't real bread. Not as we get it here. There's no butter, either."
He helped himself liberally to the bread, buttering it thickly as a demonstration. Logan grinned.
"Want me to bring the berry jam?"
His half-brother nodded. "Yes, please."
Logan passed over the lorg-berry jam, which had been on the table in front of him. Then, moving quietly, he added pot after pot of the other kinds until even Brad was laughing. Storm eyed his half-brother over a virtual barricade of jam.
"Of course I won't be able to tell you about our adventures until I've eaten all of this."
"Oh, in that case ..." Logan began removing the pots again. Storm held on to a couple, passing one to Tani.
"Try this. I think you'll like it. It's made from those little blue berries you picked with Small Bird."
She took it silently, her mouth full. She hadn't realized how hungry she'd been. Today, once they'd had breakfast with the Djimbut clan, they'd ridden without pausing to eat. Storm had been eager to get back and so had she. The Nitra wanted to return to the clan camp. By unspoken agreement they'd kept going. She felt grubby too. Just as soon as she'd eaten and they'd answered all the questions, she was going to fill her bath as full as it could manage, allowing room for her. Then she'd lie in that until all the dirt soaked off. After that she'd sleep.
She spread jam and bit into the still warm bread. The jam was as good as Storm had claimed. Across the table he was starting to tell his story. How he'd found another victim of the killer and how the Nitra had found him. He ended the story with his arrival in camp and his first sight of her. Then they all turned to look at Tani. She swallowed her last mouthful of bread and jam and began her own tale.
It took a long time to tell it all. There were times when she saw she was surprising both Brad and Logan, but she was at a loss to understand why. They were Arzor born. Surely there was nothing she'd have found out they didn't already know. She plowed on to the point where she'd first seen Storm. After that they told the stories in turns, Tani adding bits about Small Bird and Jumps High and their family. She also talked about Speaker of Dreams and saw the surprise on their faces more strongly this time. She stopped.
"Is something wrong?"
It was Storm who replied. "Tani, she gave you her medicine name. That wasn't a small-name. She does have one, but her people mostly address her by title. But I heard the other a few times. It's Sweet Frawn. Speaker of Dreams is her second name. The one that's tied in with her spirit. She only gives that to friends or family and it's more for formality." He paused. "She'd have a third name, too. But that's not to be spoken. Adults choose those for themselves or ask their Thunder-Drummer to choose. She's the only one to know everyone's true-name, and no one else in the clan would know hers because of that."
Logan whistled. "What I wouldn't have given to have been with you. Hunting beside a Nitra clan, getting to know them, fighting their enemies, learning their names. Wow!"
Tani laughed. "You make it sound special. I thought you spent most of your time with the Shosonna. Aren't you adopted into their clan?"
She saw they were all looking at her and blinked. "Now what did I say?"
Brad explained slowly. "Tani, didn't Storm say anything about the clan?" He watched as the girl shook her head. "Well, my dear. You are only the second human in Arzor's history to be named as clan-friend to a Nitra clan. There are two types of native tribe. There are the Norbies, who are relatively civilized. Then there are the Nitra. They live the way their ancestors lived and they don't like humans. Mostly they don't come near human-settled lands, but when they do someone usually dies. Mostly it isn't Nitra, either."
Tani's eyes were widening as Brad continued. "My dear, the only other clan-friend they ever named was murdered in the early settlement days. The clan warriors rode into the port and hunted down his killers. Half the warriors in the clan were killed, but it was a debt of honor. They'd have kept coming until either they had the killers or there were no warriors left alive. Patterson was the first. It's been six generations since then. Now Tani, daughter to Bright Sky, is the second."
He smiled at Tani, who by now was staring at him huge-eyed. "The gods help us if anyone kills you, child. Your whole clan would paint for war. The more so as you seem to have a real friend in their Thunder-Drummer." He stood up. "Well, we all have things to think about. There's a lot of hot water waiting for you."
Tani made a small moaning sound. "Thank you, Mr. Quade. I won't keep it waiting."
She hurried for her bedroom and Brad stood listening as her footsteps died in the hall. Then he closed the door and turned to look at Storm.
"I gather there's more you didn't want to say in front of Tani."
Storm leaned back in his seat. "The medicine woman talked to me too, yes." He reported that discussion. "I know she did like Tani, that was genuine. So was the clan-friend naming. She saved several lives and I know Jumps High spoke for her. So did Stream Song and Swift Killer, after she saved their son. And no Thunder-Drummer would give her medicine-name casually. But the woman had an agenda as well. She wanted to bind Tani to the clan and Arzor."
"Why, what do they think a girl barely nineteen could do for them?"
"Save the clan, save the land. Destroy the Death-Which-Comes-from-the-Desert. "
Brad snorted. "Would they like her to make the deserts fertile and the mountains flat while she's about it?"
"Asizi." Storm hesitated and Brad saw he was serious. "They aren't so wrong. Speaker of Dreams said that I was a trained warrior. I'd fight an enemy where one was found. But Tani's not a warrior. She isn't trained and she isn't used to battle. They wanted her to love the clan and the land. That way she'd fight to save them. They said a knife needs to be honed. That isn't all. Tani's been hearing the killer when it kills. She may be able to lead us to it. A hunting party from another clan was taken the night before we left. It's where the sample came from."
Storm's face was hard. "A girl on her name-trial died too. I heard her dying while I slept and dreamed. I sent Baku out and she found the girl's skeleton in a hollow where she'd made camp. But Tani didn't have to search. She knew the direction for the other killing, and that bunch were more than twice as far away when they died. Mandy just flew a line out and called us when she saw them. Tani can hear the killers from a much greater distance and know from what direction they're coming. Speaker of Dreams was right. Tani could be what saves us in the end."
Brad sat in silence as he considered all of that. At last he stirred. "Her father was a Beast Master. Her mother, from what Brion says, was most probably a sensitive. Picking up the killers is so distressing to Tani that she shuts most of it off. Her team seems to help with that."
"Except that we need her not to. She has to open her mind, and we're asking her to live the death the killer hands out. At least long enough to get a direction. She needs to practice that, so we're saying she should do it maybe six, eight, a dozen times. As many times as it takes."
Brad nodded slowly. "So the Thunder-Drummer gave us a lever." He looked at Storm. "We'll use it if we have to. For now let her enjoy life. Oh, and you can tell her that filly is hers, too. I'll get Logan to take her to meet the Shosonna clan. She'll fascinate them and they'd keep her occupied. Once the Carraldos can tell us what we're facing we may have to use the lever. Until then let the girl build up her strength." His mouth tightened to grimness. "She's going to need it. Maybe we all are."
By the time Tani could spend a day with the Shosonna Logan had already told them her story. Krotag, the Chief, met her, his hands signing formally.
"We welcome one who is clan-friend to the Djimbut Nitra. Be at peace in our tents." His eyes shifted to the team. "One welcome holds for all of you. Share food, drink, and fire with the Shosonna of the Zamle clan."
Tani beamed. Her fingers flickered in answer. "Food and drink I bring to share as a guest should. My bird totem watches over me. My animal totems walk beside me. In their name also I thank you."
At her signal Mandy landed on a branch nearby while Minou and Ferarre sat down. Tani dropped to sit cross-legged by the flames and accepted the food offered. Meat was brought for the coyotes, who ate and the
n allowed themselves to be enticed into a game by the camp children. Tani smiled after them.
"Your children do not see what is strange as evil."
Ukurti, the clan shaman who had made certain to be present to speak with this strange human, leaned toward her. "Storm has visited us often. We know his totems are friends. Logan has said this would also" be so with yours," he explained. He watched the children playing a game with the coyotes and gave the soft twittering that was Norbie laughter. "I see that he spoke only truth." His eyes met hers. "Did he speak also truth that you are small-sister to One-Who-Drums-Thunder in the Djimbut clan?"
"Yes. Why, is it important?"
Ukurti's face crumpled into a smile. "Such is always important, but some things are medicine. Since it is truth I may speak to you of dreams." Tani settled herself as Krotag quietly signaled the others to rise and leave them alone. She watched as fingers danced.
"I have dreamed that evil comes to the clan and the tribe. I have dreamed that the land rejects the evil. It is not of our lands."
Tani nodded. "So spoke the medicine woman of the Djimbut clan," she signed back.
"Yet the thing which slays comes from the heart of the desert. From the center of the lands you name the Big Blue. I have dreamed that behind lies hatred not of our kind, but of yours. That until That-Which-Hates lies dead also, the slayer will thrive. Find what lies at the heart of the desert and hates, Sunrise. Then will your arrows find the life of the enemy."
Tani nodded. "I thank you for your wisdom. May I speak of this to the Quades and my kin?"
"If there is need," the Thunder-Drummer accepted.
Tani returned from her day with the Shosonna very thoughtful. She'd seen enough in her life to believe Ukurti and Speaker of Dreams. Those of power had other avenues from which they might learn. She unsaddled Destiny, settled Mandy on her perch with a lastree nut, then went inside. Brion and Kady were there."Both looked exhausted and preoccupied. Tani knew they'd been working on the sample Storm had provided, since its arrival.
Beast Master's Ark Page 17
