Клэр Белл - The Named - The Complete Series

She felt her ribs heave in a deep sigh.“You shouldn’t trust something precious to someone who stumbles and loses it.”

“Since when does a leader have no right to stumble or fall? Only if you have someone or something else doing your thinking for you, like True-of-voice’s hunters, can anyone expect you to always be perfect. ” Thakur’s teeth flashed as he spoke. “You may feel like everything is lost, Ratha,but we haven’t lost what is most important, and we won’t, unless we deliberately give it up.”

“I feel I should just step aside and let you or Cherfan take over. As the only female left among you, maybe the best I can do is give you cubs. I’m not sure I can even do that.”

Thakur crouched down before her, nudging her head up with his nose, looking her in the eyes. His eyes had a deep glow that penetrated the blanket of despair she had cast over herself.“Ratha, if you really feel this way, I won’t argue you out of it. It wouldn’t be me who leads. I’m a teacher, not a leader, and they know that. Cherfan could, but he’s not really a leader.” Thakur paused. “Besides, you wouldn’t really be happy, and we wouldn’t be either.”

“ ‘In your eyes I will always see challenge,’ ” Ratha said. “That is what Meoran said to me when I promised to obey him in order to return to the clan.”

“The one thing he was right about,” said Thakur gently. “Yes, eventually you would challenge. I wouldn’t want to face you. Neither would Cherfan or any of the rest.”

“Being a leader has spoiled me. I don’t think I could to go back to being a clan female, or even just a Firekeeper or herder.”

“You could if you truly wanted, but I don’t think you do. Not yet.” He paused. “Don’t make any decisions now. Come inside and rest. You’ve had a bad shock and you‘re spent. Let things go for a while.”

Ratha felt a yawn building up in the back of her jaws and gave in to it. Hauling herself back to her feet, she followed Thakur back inside their refuge.

“We’ll get Thistle back,” she heard him say as she finally let herself drift loose, floating into sleep. “And Fessran, Bira, and the others. I promise.”

In the morning came a pleasant surprise. Ratha woke to the sound of a joyous tumult outside the rock-fall shelter. Mixed into it was the sound of small hooves. Startled, she tumbled out, fur sticking up at all angles. She saw Mondir, Khushi, and Ashon dancing around a newcomer and three dapplebacks. Unsure, she sniffed and then knew. Quiet Hunter had returned, bringing the little horses with him. To Ratha’s sleep-blurred eyes, his back looked a little odd, a little lumpy. Then, as her vision focused and she caught more scents, she realized what the bumps were.

One lump leaped off Quiet Hunter and bounded to her, chirring excitedly. Small wiry arms encircled her neck, fingers wove into her fur, treeling-scent surrounded her. Ratharee!

Ratha was so involved in the return of her treeling that she couldn’t pay attention to anything else. Finally looking up from all the licks and nuzzles, she saw that Quiet Hunter had brought back all the treelings, even Thistle’s Biaree and Bira’s Cherfaree. With Ratharee clinging to her nape once again, Ratha rushed inside to wake Thakur. He bounced to his feet and shot through the crevice. When Ratha came after him, she saw him sitting up on his hind feet, cradling his Aree between his forepaws while the treeling licked his face so vigorously that he toppled over backward, grinning with delight.

Quiet Hunter still had two furballs left. Cherfan sauntered up, his tail curving. He smelled Cherfaree.“Since that bug-eater’s got my name, I’ll take him until Bira comes back.”

“This one will keep Biaree for Thistle-chaser,” Quiet Hunter replied.

“I thought you didn’t like treelings,” Cherfan said, as Cherfaree sniffed him cautiously, then made a quick decision and skipped up to his nape.

“This one … I didn’t. But I felt so bad when I nearly killed the cub I felt this one had to do something … To make up for it.”

“Quiet Hunter, I’m so glad to see you,” Ratha said, nose-touching and then sliding alongside him with a tail-flop. “And not just for bringing the treelings back, either. We missed you.”

“How did you get those dapplebacks all the way from the meadow up here?” Mondir wanted to know.

“They weren’t in the meadow. New Singer isn’t looking after the herdbeasts and they are straying. After find the treelings, this one came upon these horses.”

“You weren’t seen or chased?”

“This one was chased, but the chasing only made the horses run fast ahead of me.”

“You still had to round them up and bring them here,” Ratha said, still buoyed by Ratharee’s return. “And with the treelings, too. Quiet Hunter, you are amazing!”

“It took me all night. This one is a bit sleepy,” he confessed.

Giving his face a last grateful lick, Ratha asked Mondir and Khushi to take care of the little horses while she led Quiet Hunter inside, fed him, and then settled him and Biaree in the most comfortable place she could find.

“I know you want to hear about Thistle-chaser,” he said, making Ratha’s heart give a sudden bound. “She and the others — New Singer is not treating them badly. They are frightened but not hurt, and they are being fed. New Singer has Fessran and Bira making Red-Tongue-nests for him. This onehid and saw.” His gold eyes darkened to deep amber. “This one wants Thistle back. I will fight for her.”

“That time will come,” Ratha promised, watching his eyes close. And I’ll be right beside you.

That same day, Cherfan and Thakur led a team to catch more of the straying herdbeasts. Ratha led another to watch New Singer and his Named captives.

Quiet Hunter was right — the renegades were not treating the clan females badly. Ratha couldn’t get close enough to speak to any of the captives, but she and her party saw that Fessran was keeping the blaze in the fire-den alive. Bira was even allowed, under guard, to gather wood and stack it in the fire-den. Ratha paid close attention to how far Bira was allowed to go, and which renegades guarded her on these trips. Sometimes Thistle went with Bira to help carry the wood back.

Ratha remembered the joyful dancing around and through the fire-den when they had first dug it; the Named and their treelings celebrating the end of Shongshar’s tyranny. Now the fire-den and the Red Tongue had again fallen under the control of a usurper. How long would the seizure last this time, and could the Named ever dance around the fire-lair again?

We will. I swear that we will.

Thakur and Cherfan returned with a few more herdbeasts and found a sheltered area nearby to graze them. Ratha returned with the beginnings of a plan to free her friends from New Singer. It would have to wait until next day, however, and Ratha still felt drained from the previous two days. She meant to think over her plan and discuss it with Thakur on the rocky sill just outside the refuge. Instead, before twilight, she fell asleep with her treeling still on her back, leaving Thakur keeping watch.

The night was warm, and the herding teacher saw no reason to interrupt Ratha’s slumber. Thakur stayed outside with her, silently requesting that the other clan males step quietly around her or use another entrance to their refuge.

With his own treeling, Aree, curled up against his neck, Thakur listened to Ratha sleep. She made an odd sound that he wouldn’t exactly call a snore. It was more like a squeak or creak that she made while inhaling and then a little exhaling sigh.

He thought about what had happened to her and why, what she had said, what he had said. He hoped he had chosen words wisely enough to bring her out of despair and give her the hope she badly needed.