Клэр Белл - The Named - The Complete Series

His legs and belly were encrusted with mud. He was starting to sneeze from the repeated chill. His teeth ached and his mood had soured.

Thistle lay in a sodden puddle on the ground. She was so exhausted after the last attempt that she hadn’t even been able to shake off before collapsing. Thakur was almost glad that she was unconscious again. It meant that she couldn’t try to brave the Dreambiter.

He ran a paw along her side, trying to squeeze the muddy water out of her coat. At least the sun was warm today. It would dry her quickly.

He stared at her funny pointed little face, the eyes now shut, muddy smears on her nose and whiskers. His heart ached for her.Why is it so hard? Why does this wretched Dreambiter have to bar her way?

He watched the water dry on her coat, feeling helpless.This is beyond her. It is beyond me. Perhaps it is beyond all of us.

“Thakur?” said a voice. He lifted his head and stared at — the Dreambiter? His fur bristled before he could flatten it. Then he shook himself. It was just Ratha.Yarr!He was getting so involved in Thistle’s struggle that sometimes he felt as though he, too, could see the nightmare image. It took a shape he knew well.

Ratha crouched by Thistle, gave her a tentative nudge.

“Don’t worry, she won’t wake up. After that last fit, she’s going to be out for a while. You can show her a little affection if you like. She won’t feel it.”

Ratha shot him such a hurt look that he instantly regretted the words.

“I’m sorry,” he said curtly. “Three days of struggling with this hasn’t helped my patience. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

Ratha put a paw on her daughter and tried to squeeze more water out of her fur.“She’s a mess. You’re a mess. What are you attempting to do?”

“I thought I explained it.” Thakur, trying to groom himself, sneezed into his fur.

“Here, sit down and let me clean you up,” Ratha said. She spat and grimaced after her first lick. “Ugh. That mud tastes awful.”

“I know,” Thakur answered.

“So she’s trying to get herself into that sleepwalking state to talk to the hunters?” she asked. “Is it working?”

“No. Every time she tries, something kicks off another one of her fits.”

“Something?”

“The Dreambiter.”

He saw Ratha shift her gaze, felt an angry twist in his stomach. She was going to back off again, retreat into her clan-leader role.She’s leaving me with the responsibility that should be hers.

“You don’t like to hear that word, do you?” Thakur said, his voice flat.

Ratha yanked a piece of dried clay from his belly. It took some fur with it. She spat it out, then backed away.“I think I’ll come back when you are in a better mood.”

“Are you going to run away again, clan leader?”

“Thakur, I don’t know what kind of burr you’ve got in your coat this time, but—”

“I don’t have a burr. I’ve got your daughter. Your daughter,” he said again. “And I’m fed up with seeing you run away from her.”

He watched Ratha’s eyes narrow. “I gave you what you asked for. I gave you both a chance to talk to the hunters.”

“Yes, you did. I need more than that, Ratha. I need your help.”

He could almost see her closing down inside, becoming remote.“There is nothing I can do,” she said. “If Thistle can’t overcome this …”

“She can’t. Not alone. Not with me either. She needs you.”

“Why? I can’t do anything for her. She doesn’t need a mother. She’s responsible for herself.”

“I want you to face your part in her life,” Thakur snapped. “Who is the Dreambiter, Ratha?”

Again she looked away, and when she looked back, her green eyes were blazing.“Don’t blame that on me, herding teacher. That thing isn’t me. It’s part of her sickness. She dreamed it up. Why, I don’t know. But she made it.”

“Yes, she made it,” Thakur said, his voice steady. “It looks like you.”

Ratha flinched.“I bit her when she was a cub. I know I did. I was impatient. I wanted her to talk, to be like other Named cubs. I couldn’t accept that she wasn’t. I can’t go back and undo everything.” He heard her voice start to tremble. “It is all in the past. You can’t change the past.”

“For Thistle it is not the past. Ratha, I am not trying to blame you. I am only saying that both of you created the Dreambiter. It will take both of you to put it to rest.”

A sudden look came over Ratha’s face, one Thakur had never seen before. He found himself staring at her in fascination and frustration. He had seen her triumphant, angry, grieving, even scared. But never had he witnessed this expression of utter dread that seemed to steal the life from her face and drain the color from her eyes.

Her voice sank to a whisper.“I can’t, Thakur. I’ve given you what I can. A chance. I can’t give any more.”

She was backing, turning tail. A part of her had already fled far away.

“Ratha, please don’t run,” he said softly.

She glanced back at him, a glance so filled with torment that it seemed to hit him like a blow.

“Tell her I was here,” she said, and before Thakur could speak or move, she was gone.

With Bira and Khushi, Ratha made her way along the outskirts of the face-tail herd. The animals spread over the river plain, and there were some small groups that had broken off from the main herd.

It was the morning of the day following her talk with Thakur. She wasn’t ready to face him again. Nor did she want to see Thistle.

“Surely the hunters won’t bother us here,” said Bira, when the three found several face-tails and their young in a small side valley between two hills.

“We’ve just come to watch the animals,” Khushi reminded her. “Ratha said that we need to learn more before we try to catch one again.”

The clan leader listened to them, feeling slightly guilty. She wasn’t going to break her promise to Thakur, but he had said nothing about scouting the beasts. Well, watching was all they would do, no matter how the creatures tempted her. Anyhow, Thakur wasn’t with them and he was the best at dealing with face-tails.

He was also the only one who could cope effectively with Thistle. He had said he would keep her from trying again to make herself ready to talk with the hunters. There was no reason to, at least for now.

No sooner had she, Bira, and Khushi settled down in the grass to watch the face-tails than Bira’s sharp eyes caught movement in a bush nearby.

“That is definitely not a face-tail,” Bira said. “I think the hunters are spying on us.”

Ratha considered a hasty retreat, but the idea made her hackles rise. Khushi and Bira both agreed with her. They weren’t going to be frightened off by one spy.

“They don’t own the whole face-tail herd,” Khushi said indignantly.

“Perhaps the watcher will just stay hidden and report later,” the more even-tempered Bira suggested. “But I could go and light a torch from the fire-den I dug.”

“No,” Ratha said. She wanted to keep her promise to Thakur. She had disappointed him — and Thistle — in so many ways already. She wasn’t going to add another, although Bira’s offer was tempting. She would like to feed these arrogant hunters a small taste of the Red Tongue.

She turned her attention to watching the face-tails, but it was hard to keep her mind on the big animals.

Maybe Thakur is right. Maybe we should just move on and leave these animals to the hunters. Then we could forget about them, and Thakur wouldn’t need me to help him with Thistle.

“The spy just left,” said Bira, who had been keeping an eye on the suspicious bush. “I think he’s gone to get the others.”