Page 25 of Moon Chosen

There was more noise outside the cave door, and then came one, two, three scratches against it.

Worry had Mari dropping the small piece of charcoal and hurrying to the door. Had Mama been hurt again? She usually knocked, but not always—not if she’d shared too much of the healing power of the moon so that it left her weak and vulnerable.

“Mama! I’m coming!” she called through the door as she unbolted it. “Sorry, I lost track of time while I was drawing. I’ll have your tea brewing right away.” Mari swung open the door and her world was forever changed.

Instead of her mother, a panting canine was sitting in a pool of blood outside the door.

Mari shrieked and stumbled backward, trying to close the door against the creature. But the canine was too fast. Though he limped and whined pitifully, he managed to slip inside the burrow.

He was still whining, but his ears were pricked forward and his tail was wagging as he followed Mari. Backed against the moss-covered wall of the cave, Mari froze, unable to look away from the canine. Now that she’d stopped retreating, he sat not far from her, gazing up with eager, amber eyes that seemed to see through her skin to Mari’s heart.

He’s big, but he has to be young. Mari’s thoughts were clear, but felt detached from her body.His paws are huge, but they don’t look like he’s grown into them yet.She looked from his paws to the rest of his body, and gasped. The thick sable fur of his chest was matted and covered with fresh blood.

“What happened to you? What are you doing here?”

At the sound of her voice the young canine wriggled joyfully, and then started forward again toward her, only to yelp in pain and stagger to a halt, pitifully lifting and licking one of his oversized paws.

Mari moved without thinking. She went to her knees before the pup and reached out to him. He limped to her, falling into her arms and resting his head against her chest. Then he looked up at her, again meeting her eyes, and Mari was flooded with emotions: relief, joy, and an unconditional, unending current of love.

And then Mari knew beyond any doubt what the pup was doing there. “You came for me,” she said, unable to stifle the sobs that had been building within her.

Mari and the pup might have stayed that way for hours, curled together, sharing a bond that was miraculous and indescribable and life-altering, but her mother’s voice, hushed as if she was speaking a prayer to the great Earth Mother, interrupted them.

“Mari, what is his name?”

Mari looked up through her tears to see Leda standing in the open doorway and smiled as if her heart would explode from happiness. “Rigel! His name is Rigel, and he has chosen me!”

“Of course he has. You are your father’s daughter,” Leda said matter-of-factly, but the tears that washed down her face belied the nonchalance of her tone. Leda wiped them away briskly. “Do you think Rigel will mind if I come in?”

“Oh, Mama, please come in!” As Mari gestured with one hand for her mother to enter their home, she stroked Rigel’s thick fur soothingly with the other. The young canine had shifted in her arms at the sound of her mother’s voice so that he faced the door, and he was watching Leda carefully, but Mari could feel no tension in his body.

Leda entered the little burrow they had fashioned into home, and slowly bent just inside the door to put down the basket filled with the tribute the Earth Walkers had paid her that night, before she closed and carefully barred it once more. Then she turned to face her daughter and the pup. “Mari, your father’s Orion seemed to be able to read his mind. Galen explained to me that their bond was an intuitive one, an ability that a canine and his Companion would always share.”

Mari glanced down at Rigel. “He reads my mind?”

“In a way.” Her mother nodded. “Mostly Orion sensed Galen’s emotions, sometimes even before your father had fully thought them through himself.” Leda’s smile was sweet and sad with remembrance. “Orion knew Galen loved me long before he admitted it aloud—or, I think, even to himself.” Leda shook herself and continued. “So, though your bond with Rigel is new I believe we are going to have to test the strength of it.”

“Test? Mama, what do you mean?”

Slowly, Leda approached Mari and the pup. “Ah, I thought so. It is his blood I followed to our door and not yours.” Leda paused and smoothed back a sweaty tendril of hair from her face. Mari noticed her mother’s hand was shaking, and her eyes widened in realization. “Mama, I’m sorry Rigel scared you. I’m okay—I promise. I didn’t go outside.Hecame tome.”

“Yes, I see that now. There was just so much blood, and it led straight here. I didn’t see you leave the Gathering, Mari. Jenna said it was before it was fully dark, but when I saw the blood…” Leda’s voice trailed off as she wiped quickly at her eyes.

“Oh, Mama! I really am sorry.”

“There is no need for you to apologize, sweet girl. You have done nothing wrong, but I am very much afraid your Shepherd has been severely wounded.”

Mari’s arm tightened automatically around Rigel, who whimpered in pain. She loosened her hold on him instantly. “It’s okay! It’s okay!” she soothed, petting him and letting him nuzzle closer to her. “I’m such a fool, Mama. I’ve been sitting here, holding him and petting him, and the whole time he’s been bleeding and in pain.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Leda squatted in front of them. “This isn’t something you were prepared for.”

“He was limping when he came in.” Mari lifted one of his front paws and turned it so that she and her mother could peer at the pad. “Look, Mama, his paws are punctured and bleeding.”

“It was our brambles that did this,” Leda said. “You’ll have to teach him how to get safely through them,afteryou be sure there are no thorns embedded in his paws.” She pointed at Rigel’s bloody chest. “I’m more concerned about what’s causing all of that blood.”

Leda quickly wiped her eyes and nose with the back of her sleeve and then gently, oh so gently, brushed aside the thick, soft fur that was soaked with blood, wincing as she exposed the deep lacerations zigzagging Rigel’s chest. The pup began to shiver and pant, but he didn’t so much as whimper, though he did press closer to Mari.

“Mama?” Her gaze found her mother’s as she tried to think through the fear that suddenly seemed to press down on her, smothering her joy.