Клэр Белл - The Named - The Complete Series

Ratha watched, mouth open. He would land a lot harder than she anticipated. Ouch!

However, the arch of his flight took him into a tree. With a crash, he landed in the leafy crown and bounced down a few branches while the tree swayed.

A whisker-flick later, Ratha also saw Ashon leave his mount, flying forward between the dappleback’s ears. Fortunately he spread his legs and landed on his feet.

Amid the resulting caterwauling applause, the herders rounded up the two dapplebacks and ran them out of the arena.

Ratha saw Thakur run to Mishanti’s tree. The cub was already backing down slowly, yelling something Ratha couldn’t hear over the other noise. She saw Mishanti jump onto Thakur’s back and ride him as the herding teacher paced back to Ratha.

“Sorry, Mishanti,” she said. “Ashon won.”

“Didn’t,” Mishanti sputtered. “Have to land on the ground to finish. Rules don’t say about landing in a tree.”

Thakur glanced at the cub over his shoulder.

Ratha took advantage of the opportunity to tease the herding teacher.“He’s right. The rules don’t say anything about trees.”

“Then we’ll have to make one. Hitting a tree is the same as hitting the ground.”

“Not for this ride,” Mishanti insisted. “Didn’t touch the ground until after Ashon.”

“Yes, but you were off your dappleback before Ashon was thrown from his,” Thakur winced as Mishanti climbed down off his back. “Cub, the rule against scratching applies to me as well as the dapplebacks.”

“Okay, change rules now, but still I won.”

“He has a point, herding teacher.”

“He has too many of them,” Thakur grumbled. Faced with such determination, the herding teacher capitulated. “All right. Both of you won. You both can go again against someone else. Understood?”

Whiskers lifted in amusement, Ratha left him and continued her rounds.

The meadow was large and irregular, with smaller areas fenced off by brush and low trees. In one such corner, Ratha found Cherfan guarding a herd of three-horn deer while his partner for the day, red-gold Bira, tended a watch fire nearby.

Bira was an unusual and striking color for the Named, who tended to be shades of brown and tan, some with faint spots that lingered from their cubhood. The hue of Bira’s long fur was most intense down her back, deep gold tipped with reds and oranges. Her one vanity was her beautifully plumed tail.

Bira had two treelings sitting on her back. One started to jump up and down with excitement as Ratha approached.

“Here she is,” said Bira to the bouncing treeling, as the Firekeeper and Ratha touched noses and slid along one another.

“Was Ratharee any trouble?” Ratha asked, as the little female sprang from Bira’s back to Ratha’s nape.

“Oh no. She just visited with Cherfaree while I looked after the fire.”

Cherfaree was Bira’s new treeling. She had selflessly given up her original treeling, Biaree, to Thistle-chaser when Ratha’s daughter needed him to tie ropes to True-of-voice during the rescue. Bira had named this new one after her one-time mate Cherfan because she was fond of him, but also liked to tease him.

Bira’s new partner was from the second litter that Aree, the original treeling, had birthed. Aree was getting a few gray hairs around the muzzle but was still as lively as ever. Ratha wondered how long treelings lived. She hoped Thakur and Aree would have many more seasons together.

She felt Ratharee starting to groom her nape as she took her leave and went on.

In another section of the meadow, she found the main herd of dapplebacks. New foals played with one another, rearing and play-kicking with their four-toed feet. Their sweaty wet-fur scent blended with the fresh grass. Mondir and Drani watched these animals. Gray-brown Mondir was the same age as Ratha and had trained with her under Thakur. Hazel-eyed Drani was several seasons older, having been born under Meoran’s rule. She had startled Ratha by asking to be trained as a herder. She wanted to give the clan more than just cubs, although they were important to her as well.

Thakur had given Drani one-on-one attention, since she was more mature and disciplined than his cub-students. Both had enjoyed the process, and Drani emerged as a dedicated herder who worked best with dapplebacks; she was fond of the little horses and gentle with them.

Ratha didn’t have to inspect the herd closely. Trusting the two herders, she gave the horses a quick sniff, and departed.

She then made a partial circuit of clan ground, pausing to rub her chin on saplings, leaving her scent. Larger trees she clawed and sprayed, leaving the message that this was clan territory.

With Ratharee on her neck, she ended her circuit and jogged back to the center of the Named territory along the outbound path she had taken.

She was nearing the clan dens when an outraged squall broke the peaceful scene.

“Yeaaarrrr! I don’t care why that thing stuck its nose in my den, Mishanti! Get it out!”

Ratha could already guess why Fessran was yowling. Around a bend in the path, she saw the two rumblers, Grunt and Belch. Belch was casually eating another treetop while Grunt knelt down, huge snout buried up to the eyes in the entrance of a newly dug lair. Grunt’s half-closed eyes suddenly widened and his head jerked back enough for Mishanti’s spotted form to scramble out past his face.

Fessran’s rising yowl followed the cub. The rumbler yanked his nose out of the den, starting to back away. He lurched and teetered as dirt gave way beneath a massive hind foot. Ratha winced. Grunt had stepped through the roof of another den. More outraged cries joined Fessran’s. “Get this thing out of here!”

Ratha briefly thanked whatever guardian spirit looked after errant cubs and overgrown animals that there were no shrieks of pain. Most of the dens were empty since the Named didn’t use them in the spring and summer.

She was about to dive in, although not exactly sure what to do, when she heard a gasp behind her.

“Oh, no.”

It was Bundi. He galloped jerkily past Ratha and bounded up the nearest tree, screeching at Mishanti, who was trying to climb up Belch’s enormous foreleg.

“You little ball of dappleback dung! You knew Grunt would try to follow you in there.”

From the tree, Bundi launched himself with startling agility to Grunt’s rump and scrambled up the rumbler’s back to the head. Hissing and batting the huge ears, he got the big beast into a lumbering turn, but not before a forefoot sank in deep again. Ratha grimaced.

Fessran’s yowl grew stronger as the Firekeeper sprang out of the ruined entrance at Mishanti, grabbing him by the tail with her teeth. He jerked free and shot up Belch’s neck, leaving a trail of scratches. The rumbler only looked vaguely startled; Mishanti hadn’t penetrated the thick skin. Like Bundi, Mishanti gave a swipe at the ears and got the same result; Belch turned and trotted ponderously after Grunt. Fessran, her odor stinging and all her fur on end, bared her teeth and screeched abuse at the retreating den-wreckers.

“I’ll shred your hides, you poor excuses for face-tails! I just finished digging this lair. Bundi! Mishanti! Get your scrawny tails back here!”

Ratha, knowing better than to interrupt, let Fessran yell until she was panting. A very large dust cloud hung in the air in the direction of the escapees.

Fessran turned and glared at Ratha.“And you, clan leader. You let those two cubs keep those … those things! You should have culled them. I’d rather have their meat in my stomach than their clumsy feet through the roof of my den ….”

“Fess, calm down. I’ll help you redig the entrance.”