Page 48 of Moon Chosen

Mari felt a sharp, cold stab of fear. Leda’s mother had died just before she had seen forty winters. That had been two years before Leda met Galen and conceived her, but she often told Mari stories of her grandmother.Why exactly had she died? Mama had only said that she had sickened, grown weaker and weaker, and died not long after Leda had finished her apprenticeship.She tended to not ask her mother questions that brought Leda sad memories, but Mari vowed silently to find out what had happened to her grandmother.Would it happen to her mother, too? Was it something all Moon Women had to suffer?

No! That would not happen to Mama. Not now. Not ever. If that means Sora or I or both of us have to remain apprentice Moon Women for all the winters to come—then so be it.The thought echoed through Mari’s mind so furiously that Rigel stirred restlessly in his sleep, turning to whine questioningly and lay his head across her, waking Leda. Her mother peered blearily at her through sleep-fogged eyes.

“Is it time?”

“I’ll check.” Mari untangled herself from Rigel, who grumbled, and then stretched and yawned. She hurried to the little hole that served as a window to the upper world. The black of night was lightening to gray and the palest of pinks. She turned back to her mother. “Yes, it’s time.”

Silently, Leda and Mari broke their fast, feeding Rigel as well. They dressed carefully, making sure Mari’s arms and legs were fully covered, her hair was completely dyed, and reapplying the concealing clay and mud to her delicate features. Mari brought her slingshot and a pouch filled with smooth stones. Together they replenished the skins with the lavender oil and saltwater that blinded wolf spiders. When all was ready, they paused before the door.

“We need to move quickly and silently,” Leda said. “The sun hasn’t broken the horizon, but when it does—when it has vanquished the fog—you will be vulnerable. I do not doubt that other members of the Clan will be out today searching for loved ones gone missing.”

“We’ll stay off the trails, and we’ll be quiet.”

“And vigilant. Remember that you are not simply vulnerable because of your skin. If any Earth Walker saw you with Rigel, I do not know what they would do.”

Mari knew what they would do. She’d seen it in Xander’s eyes last night. “I won’t let them see Rigel. He knows what hide means—we practice it whenever I take him out to relieve himself. I don’t even have to give him the command anymore. I just point and think about him being so quiet and still that he becomes invisible, and Rigel understands.” She stroked her pup affectionately, kissing him on his nose before nodding to her mother.

Leda opened the door. With her walking stick she held the razor-edged brambles aside as Mari and Rigel followed her around the winding, hidden pathway that led away from their burrow.

Mari hesitated just outside the bramble thicket, staring back at their camouflaged home and worrying her lip between her teeth.

“What is it?” her mother asked.

“I wish I knew how to cover Rigel’s scent. If the Companions ever get near our burrow, whether they have Terriers or Shepherds, he is going to be scented.”

“Then let us be quite certain they have no reason to come anywhere near our home,” Leda said.

Mari nodded tightly. “Okay, I’m going to carry Rigel all the way back there. I don’t want them to find one more pup-sized trail leading here.”

“I think that’s wise,” Leda said.

Mari lifted Rigel in her arms, feeling his warmth and his solid weight, and thinking that it wouldn’t be long before he’d be too big for her to carry very far. Keeping a tight hold on her pup, she moved with her mother through the ash and willow trees that dominated the damp, stream-filled forest that was Earth Walker territory. This close to their burrow, Mari and Leda kept the forest floor cleared of any edible plants that might draw others—be they Earth Walkers or Companions—and encouraged wild brambles, stinging nettles, poison oak, and devil’s club to flourish, making their little section of the forest as unappealing as possible. There were no obvious pathways through the mixture of unpleasant and dangerous plants, but Mari and her mother made their way confidently and quickly through the area.

As agreed upon before they left their burrow, they did not go directly back to the Gathering Site and the holly bush under which Rigel’s paw prints had been discovered. Instead they made their way to the site of Xander’s murder, and the last place Rigel had been before the three of them had raced for home.

Leda was leading when they came to a spot where the ferns were trampled and broken. Rigel suddenly became restless in Mari’s arms, whining and sniffing the air.

“Xander’s there, isn’t he?” Mari said.

Leda motioned for Mari to stay where she was, and she walked ahead, stopping abruptly and pressing her hand against her throat.

“Mama?” Mari whispered.

Leda bowed her head and mouthed a prayer before she returned to her daughter. “You were right. The roaches were here last night.” Taking Mari’s arm, she guided her in a wide circle around the horrific leavings. “This is it. I can smell the lavender. This is where we fought the spiders.”

“And this is where we fell.” Mari pointed at the dip in the forest floor where Xander had pushed them when he was trying to save them. “Okay, I’m going to put Rigel down now.” She did so, wiping the sweat from her face and stretching to relieve the soreness in her back. “And now we circle all the way back to the cedar we hid under.”

The women moved swiftly and silently. The ground was wet from the rain that had fallen late the night before, and Mari was glad to see that Rigel’s oversized paws were leaving distinct prints. She and her mother were, of course, leaving prints as well, but Mari consistently threw twigs and pinecones for Rigel to chase, sending him out away from them while Leda used a mature deer fern as a broom to muddle and make much of their tracks indistinct.

When they arrived at the dead cedar, Leda went within and Mari kept Rigel outside the curtain of vines while her mother smoothed the tracks left by the four of them. She rejoined her daughter and Mari pulled the ivy aside, pointed, and told Rigel, “Hide!”

Wriggling happily, the young Shepherd ran within, spinning around and lying down to look up at Mari, his tail thumping against the floor of dead leaves and dirt, thoroughly enjoying the game. She let him stay where he was for a moment, hoping that his scent would be trapped within the hiding spot.

“That should be an easy find for anyone tracking Rigel. From here we walk straight back to the holly bush, and I’ll tell him to hide in there, too.”

The three of them closed the distance between the cedar and the holly bush. As they drew closer, Mari saw that the area was a disaster of trampled ferns, smashed logs, and destroyed undergrowth. There were a few places where Mari had spied the feathers of an arrow, and she had quickly averted her gaze.

“Another Earth Walker. Yet another male gone,” Leda said softly. “I wonder how many they killed?”