The words fell on her like the stones she had launched at Rovy, and left her just as stunned. She could only stare at Keoke numbly, unable to move, or even speak, her mind going in tiny, panicked circles like a mouse caught in a jar.
Take me away? Where? What will I do? What"s going to happen to me?
She was so sunk in shock that she never noticed that Keoke was moving. She had no idea what he was going to do, until his great foreclaw closed around her waist and he lifted her up and out of her prison.
And then, of course, it was too late for anything, even for tears.
Keoke dropped her-literally-somewhere in a desert. He didn"t even land long enough to put her down; he just hovered, his wings throwing up huge clouds of sand, opened his claw, and let her fall. It wasn"t a long drop-little more than her own height-but it was unexpected.
She went limp as she landed, and tumbled, rolling over her shoulder to keep from hurting herself as she .hit. She lay in the hot sand for a moment, collecting her scattered wits. By the time she had picked herself up, Keoke was a tiny speck against the hard blue turquoise bowl of the sky.
She brushed sand off herself, looked about at the desolation she had been left in, and was tempted to give in to a fit of hysteria. But tears and screaming wouldn"t change anything- So instead she clamped control down on herself and took stock of her surroundings.
He could have picked a worse place to leave me, she thought glumly.
There had been plenty plenty of worse places on the way; they had flown over a flat salt plain that stretched on for leagues, followed by a featureless expanse of sand and small stones worn smooth by the constant wind, then a stretch of sand where nothing grew but cactus, and not too much of that. of worse places on the way; they had flown over a flat salt plain that stretched on for leagues, followed by a featureless expanse of sand and small stones worn smooth by the constant wind, then a stretch of sand where nothing grew but cactus, and not too much of that.
Here, at least, sajus dotted the landscape, and there were some projecting rocks with a cl.u.s.ter of brush around them; enough to give her shelter from the sun for the rest of the day. She was wilderness-wise enough to know that she could not possibly endure the full glare of the sun for long, and that she would have to travel by night- If she could find somewhere to go...
She choked down the tears that threatened to break out of her control, and calmed herself. That clump of brush and rock was too too inviting; undoubtedly there were other creatures in there using it for shelter. Some of those would share it with her without contesting it; others would not. inviting; undoubtedly there were other creatures in there using it for shelter. Some of those would share it with her without contesting it; others would not.
And the only way to find out who was "home" was to "look."
First things first; she had had to have some shade, before she fell over with heatstroke. Already the sun felt like a claw pressing her into the earth, and she regretted every tear she had shed in the caves as lost water. She went to her hands and knees and crawled carefully into the bare bit of shade provided by the closest sajus-bush. Scanty though that shade was, there was a vast difference in temperature between the shadowed sand beneath its branches and the open ground a few footsteps away. to have some shade, before she fell over with heatstroke. Already the sun felt like a claw pressing her into the earth, and she regretted every tear she had shed in the caves as lost water. She went to her hands and knees and crawled carefully into the bare bit of shade provided by the closest sajus-bush. Scanty though that shade was, there was a vast difference in temperature between the shadowed sand beneath its branches and the open ground a few footsteps away.
Shana lay on her stomach, stretched out with bits of the sajus-twigs tangled in her hair, and rested her chin on her folded hands in front of her. There was just enough shade beneath the sajus for her to fit all of herself beneath it. She used the methods to calm herself that Alara had taught her, taking slow, deep breaths, forcing herself to relax. The discipline Alara had made a part of her worked as effectively as ever, despite her strain, her fears, and all the myriad of problems facing her. In a moment more she was able to drop into a light trance and begin searching the area around her for life.
A kestrel in a hollowed-out place in the stone was the first sign of life. That was good; his presence meant no mice, and not a lot of big bugs. A runner-bird rested at the foot of the stone-that was even better! No snakes were ever around runner-birds, unless they were in his stomach...
She searched further, sending her mind deeper, looking for even tinier forms of life. She found them, and identified where they were, exactly, marking them in a little mental map to remember when she came out of trance.
There were plenty of scorpions, though the only spiders were ordinary hunting spiders that would leave her alone. Lots of lizards, mostly small ones the size of her longest finger. A nest of ants, and those those were to be avoided at all cost. No wasps, though, which probably explained the healthy population of hunting spiders, since desert wasps preyed on spiders, laying their eggs inside them before walling the paralyzed body into a nest-cavity. were to be avoided at all cost. No wasps, though, which probably explained the healthy population of hunting spiders, since desert wasps preyed on spiders, laying their eggs inside them before walling the paralyzed body into a nest-cavity.
And that comprised the entire population of this arid little bit of vegetation. There was nothing living here that needed to drink water, no mammals at all, and the two birds received all the moisture they needed from their prey. That meant there was no water Shana could dig to.
No water-she fought a surge of fear, but it broke her out of her trance. She opened her eyes on the same view of sand and barren branches, and licked dry lips. She knew she would be all right for now-knew intellectually, that is. Convincing the unreasoning part of her was another question altogether.
First things first, she told herself. She needed shelter and rest, and soon.
Now that she knew where every creature down to the ant colony was, she could avoid a potentially fatal mistake-like putting her hand right down on top of a scorpion. She resumed her hands-and-knees crawl under the branches of the sajus, working her way into the cl.u.s.ter of rocks at the middle, and projecting calm at the runner-bird as hard as she could manage while still moving. The closer she could get to that bird, the better off she would be. Not only would its presence ensure that there would be no snakes, but it would probably keep scorpions away too. She"d never seen one actually eat a scorpion, but she had seen had seen them kill the venomous insects. them kill the venomous insects.
As she neared the base of the rock she saw the bird, resting quietly, its bright black eyes watching her as she crawled nearer. It had chosen to bed down right against the bottom of the boulders in the deepest shadow, and its mottled gray-and-brown feathers blended right in with the sand and the stone. It blinked at her and tilted its head to one side to get a better look at her, but didn"t seem in the least alarmed at her approach.
She wriggled her way in past the last of the branches and to within an arm"s length of the bird, hardly able to believe her luck. The bird continued to stare, but its crest was down, and its posture relaxed. She curled up next to it, putting her back up against the rock-the rough stone was cool, or at least, cooler than the earth beneath the sajus had been. The bird tilted its head the other way, and she reached out to it, greatly daring, and began to scratch the crest feathers gently. This was the closest she had ever been to a runner-bird; the long, sharp beak was at least as long as her hand, and quite dangerous-looking-but if she could make friends with it, she wouldn"t need to fear falling asleep beside it.
The bird leaned into her hand, closing its eyes in pleasure. She continued to scratch until it pulled away; she took her hand back, and it gave her another of those bright-eyed, measuring looks. It fluffed its feathers a little, and raised its crest for a moment, then settled back down with every appearance of content.
She lay down beside it, and pillowed her head on her arms, closing her tired, burning eyes for a moment.
Or at least, she only intended to close them for a moment.
But sometime between resolving to close them, and deciding to open them again, she fell asleep.
When Shana woke, the runner-bird was gone, and she came very close to crying. That bird was the nearest thing she had to a friend here in this empty wilderness of sand and stone.
Night had fallen while she slept; a desert night, full of sound and scent. Insects chirred, sand hissed as the breezes moved it. And off in the distance, a pack of loupers howled-not a hunting howl, but a pack-howl, undertaken just for the sake of community.
Shana wished they were closer; she had grown to like the loupers Keman kept, and they would have been company, however simpleminded. If she could find and be accepted by a louper-pack, she wouldn"t need to worry about finding food or water.
Keman-she hadn"t even gotten to say good-bye to him, or to Alara. Her last memory of him was of seeing him limping away in the custody of some of the adults, his shoulder and wing-muscles marked by bleeding punctures. She remembered him looking back over his shoulder and trying to say something, but being hurried away. Her throat closed, and once again, tears threatened.
But now crying was something worse than merely futile-crying meant loss of precious moisture. She fought the tears back and carefully wiped the two that did escape onto her finger and licked it dry. The salty liquid only made her thirstier.
She looked up through the branches of the sajus at the brilliance of the stars, and made a guess as to the time. Probably not too long after sunset; she hadn"t lost much traveling time to sleep.
She set her back against the rock, and entered her trance again-necessary, since it was likely that everything she had pinpointed except the ant nest had moved since she"d fallen asleep. Scorpions were just as much a danger after dark as in daylight. More, actually; they tended to be nocturnal.
But most of them had converged on the remains of a kill the runner-bird must have made; a half-eaten snake on the other side of the rock. They were busy nipping off tiny bits with their pincers, and quarreling over choice positions on the carca.s.s.
That was an unlooked-for blessing-and Shana wondered for a moment if the runner-bird had dropped the thing there deliberately, to lure the poisonous insects away from her.
Then she decided that it had probably been an accident; although it was hard to tell the actual size of the dead snake from the tiny minds of the scorpions, it appeared to be a real monster. Very likely the runner-bird had found it couldn"t couldn"t eat it all, and had left the remains where they wouldn"t lure scavengers too near eat it all, and had left the remains where they wouldn"t lure scavengers too near its its chosen resting place. chosen resting place.
But no matter what the cause, the result was that Shana could crawl out of the brush to the open ground in relative safety, and she was deeply grateful for that result.
But once out of her temporary shelter and on her feet again, she looked around with a growing sense of despair. North, south, east or west, the landscape was the same. Silver sand under the brilliant moonlight, dotted with dark clumps of sajus or rocks. There was no hint of anything different on the breeze; just the ever-present spice of the sajus. Any direction was as good as another. There really didn"t seem to be much point in moving-except to find water. Now her mouth was dry as well as her lips, and she tried to work up enough saliva to wet her tongue. She had to find water soon. She couldn"t last longer than a couple of days without it.
She closed her eyes to the blazing stars, and invoked her water-sense, but the best she could get was a hint of something eastward, faint and far away.
Well, that was better than nothing.
She turned her back on the little clump of brush, and set off across the sand, with no more goal than that. The moonlight gave her enough light to find her way without stumbling too much, and as long as she kept to the open, she thought she"d be all right. Before long, she knew she was lost-or at least, she"d never be able to find that particular clump of rock and brush again. The loupers howled again, but farther away, and there was no way to distinguish where she was from where she had been except that the faint "feeling" of water was a little stronger than before.
Was she walking in circles? With no landmarks to show her way it was certainly possible.
But if she worried about that, she might as well give up.
She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, staying to the open ground to avoid snakes and scorpions, and trying to concentrate on that promise of water. She succeeded better than she had antic.i.p.ated, for after a time, she was simply a kind of walking machine, repeating the steps over and over, her mind gone into a kind of numb haze where coherent thoughts simply weren"t possible. Her world had narrowed to the need to keep moving, and that far-off hint of water.
Once or twice, she woke up, and finding that nothing much had changed, she sank back into her trance of apathy. But just before dawn, she sensed something in the air that made her stop and scan with all her senses for trouble.
It didn"t take her long to find it.
Trouble was a darkness on the eastern horizon that blotted out the false dawn; a hissing roar, and the dead calm of the air around her. The darkness grew with the speed of magic, towering higher and higher, obscuring more of the sky with every breath.
Sandstorm!
She had no chance to avoid it, and only enough warning to enable her to take shelter in the lee of a rock. She dug a hole at the base of it as quickly as she could, then, as the roar of the storm neared, pulled the branches of a bush around her and cupped a s.p.a.ce between her body and the rock to give her clean air to breathe.
Then the storm was upon her, and the universe narrowed to the tiny dark s.p.a.ce between her and the stone. The voice of the storm shrieked, howled, and bellowed, and after the first few moments, the noise was so overwhelming it was meaningless. Wind and sand scoured the back of her tunic and her arms and legs, and she tried desperately to tuck as much of her bare skin under shelter as possible, feeling the sting that was certain to mount to pain in no time unless she protected herself.
Then there was nothing but dark, and noise, and the fight for breath.
She was certain she was going to die.
For a time, until the klee-klee-klee klee-klee-klee of a kestrel overhead convinced her that the sandstorm had pa.s.sed, Shana was certain that either she had gone deaf, or the storm had indeed killed her. She sat up slowly, sand pouring from her shoulders, her abraded skin stinging, and blinked at the blinding white morning sun. of a kestrel overhead convinced her that the sandstorm had pa.s.sed, Shana was certain that either she had gone deaf, or the storm had indeed killed her. She sat up slowly, sand pouring from her shoulders, her abraded skin stinging, and blinked at the blinding white morning sun.
There was no sign of the sandstorm that had done its best to kill her, except for the pile of sand half burying her, and the fact that the tiny leaves had been entirely stripped from the sajus-brush she had used to protect herself.
The air was already warming, and the tiny kestrel shot past and pounced on something just on the other side of the boulder, mounting back to the sky with a mouse clutched in its talons, crying a klee-klee-klee klee-klee-klee of triumph. of triumph.
Shana"s dry mouth and tongue were nothing less than torture.
She pulled herself up out of her shelter, fighting her way clear of the mound of sand piled to her waist around the boulder, and finally stood free of it, one hand on the boulder to keep herself steady.
Sun or not, she had to find water-water, or someplace to wait out the heat of the day, or both. If she couldn"t find water soon...
She shook her head to drive away the thought, took a deep breath, and set out towards the east on rubbery legs that felt like they were going to give way under her at any moment. Her mind was simply not working; every thought emerged only after a long fight through a fog of weariness. It wasn"t until she had staggered forward for half the morning that she thought to look look for water. for water.
And as soon as she did-her entire body shook with the nearness of it, as if she were inside a cavern and a dragon gave a full-throated bellow, so that everything in the cave shook with the reverberating echoes.
East. Due east. Into the sun- Her legs moved on their own; first a clumsy shuffle, then a stiff walk-then, unable to help herself, an awkward, stumbling run. She ran, even though she was blinded by the glare of the sun, even though she fell over rocks and had to pull herself to her feet a dozen times and more. She ran until she finally tripped and fell over something that wasn"t wasn"t a rock, something that stood knee-high and sent her falling flat on her face, with all the breath knocked out of her. a rock, something that stood knee-high and sent her falling flat on her face, with all the breath knocked out of her.
She lay there for a moment, panting, while her head cleared and the stars stopped dancing in front of her eyes, until she could again draw a full breath.
When she did, she pushed herself up off the hard-packed sand, to find herself in the middle of a ruin.
She had fallen over the remains of a low stone wall; there were what appeared to be the remains of buildings all around her. And in front of her, cool and serene beneath the equally blue sky, was the impossible.
Water; an entire pool of it.
She didn"t even try to get to her feet; she scrambled towards it on hands and knees, and flung herself down onto the stone rim confining it. She scooped up the cool, pure stuff by the handful, gulping it down, then splashing it over her face and neck, laughing and babbling hysterically to herself.
Finally her thirst was a.s.suaged and her hysterical energy ran out. She rolled herself away from the edge of the pool and slowly sat up.
And found herself staring at a body. A two-legger body.
What was left of one, anyway.
There wasn"t much; the desert air and the sand had mummified what there was that the insects and birds hadn"t gotten. A few shreds of silk; the bleached remains of the bones.
"I guess you didn"t get here soon enough, did you?" Shana said aloud, staring curiously at the oddly rounded skull, the talonless fingers. "I wonder how long you"ve been here? It could be a hundred years, or only ten. I wish you could tell me. Well, I"m sorry for you, but right now I"d better take care of me. I wonder if you had anything with you?"
She began to search through the sand beside the pool for anything the unknown might have brought with him. At this point, even a hollow gourd would be more than what she she had. She combed the sand with her fingers, and before too long, encountered something hard and oddly shaped. had. She combed the sand with her fingers, and before too long, encountered something hard and oddly shaped.
She pulled it out of the sand, and gasped at the sight of it; she held in her hand a kind of band of flexible gold mesh, studded with cut jewels that flashed in the sun with thousands of points of multicolored light. She"d never seen anything so beautiful in her life, and as soon as she saw it, she knew she had to have it.
She was puzzled for a moment about how to carry it, and finally hit on the idea of coiling it into a roll, making a little bundle of it with one of the sc.r.a.ps of silk still fluttering around the poor two-legger"s skeleton, and tying the bundle around her neck, dropping it securely inside her tunic.
Once it was safely there, she felt immensely better, although she couldn"t have said why. Maybe since it had come from a two-legger it could focus her magic like Keman"s jewels focused his. Maybe it would even let her shape-shift. She still still might be Kin, who could tell? Maybe all she needed were the right gems... might be Kin, who could tell? Maybe all she needed were the right gems...
She blinked, beginning to feel a little light-headed from the sun beating down on her.
I"d better find someplace to sleep out the day, she realized finally. I"m going to fall over if I don"t I"m going to fall over if I don"t . .
There was a sand-and-wind-worn hollow beneath the wall of one of the ruins, a place where the sun wasn"t touching even though it was directly overhead. Shana tried to go into trance to check for snakes or scorpions, but was so tired and so dizzy she finally gave up.
Instead she poked around inside with one of the leg-bones of the skeleton, and when she stirred up no more than a single flat desert toad, rolled herself into the shade and shelter, and promptly went to sleep.
Chapter 10.
KEMAN BRISTLED WITH resentment and stared at Keoke until the Elder dropped his eyes. Keoke"s crest was already flat, and Keman didn"t intend to give in to him one tiny bit, no matter how hopeless his cause. If he could make Keoke and his mother feel horribly guilty, he would. "Rovy tried to hurt me real bad, and you know it," the youngster said angrily, his voice full of undisguised contempt. "He"s been hurting everybody younger or smaller than him and you know that that , too. And you let him. Then, when Shana gave him what was coming to him, you punish , too. And you let him. Then, when Shana gave him what was coming to him, you punish her her and let him get away without even getting yelled at! Is that fair?" and let him get away without even getting yelled at! Is that fair?"
"Lashana was not of the Kin, Keman," the Elder said, looking steadfastly over Keman"s shoulder. Keman figured it was to avoid looking into his eyes.
I hope you feel rotten, he thought angrily at the elder dragon. I hope you feel awful. I hope you have nightmares about Shana for the rest of your life I hope you feel awful. I hope you have nightmares about Shana for the rest of your life . .
"But I am am , and she was just defending me!" he insisted. "If she"d been one of my loupers and she"d , and she was just defending me!" he insisted. "If she"d been one of my loupers and she"d bitten bitten Rovy when he was hurting me, would you have punished her?" Rovy when he was hurting me, would you have punished her?"
"It"s different," Keoke said lamely. "You"re too young to understand, Keman, but it"s different-"
"Why?" Keman interrupted. "Because she"s a two-legger? Why should it be different? Mother raised her like one of us, with the same code of honor, and she she lived up to it and Rovy didn"t! It"s not fair, and you know it!" lived up to it and Rovy didn"t! It"s not fair, and you know it!"
"Keman!" his mother said sharply, with enough force that he turned away from Keoke to look at her. "You"re still young, and Keoke is an Elder. This situation is very complicated. There is more at stake here than just Shana"s welfare."
That was what she said aloud, but she added, mind-to-mind, :If you keep up this insolence, I"m going to have to do something neither of us will appreciate. I can"t explain it all to you now. Someday you"ll understand :If you keep up this insolence, I"m going to have to do something neither of us will appreciate. I can"t explain it all to you now. Someday you"ll understand .: .: Keman ducked his head between his aching shoulder blades, his spinal crest flat in submission, but muttered rebelliously, "It"s not fair. You know know it"s not fair. And nothing you can say is going to make it fair." it"s not fair. And nothing you can say is going to make it fair."
The adults exchanged a glance that he had no trouble reading. Exasperation, shared guilt, impatience, "well-you-know-children-he"ll-learn-better." He slunk away, back to his cavelet, his stomach churning with anger.
Right now all he wanted was Rovy"s throat in his claws. Rovy was ultimately the one responsible for this, him and his stupid mother. It wasn"t fair. They should never have done that to Shana. She didn"t know anything about the two-leggers; Mother had never told her. All she knew was the language and the writing. And now they"d thrown her out there and she was going to get hurt. Keman was positive of that.
He wanted to claw something, bite something, scream his rage from the top of the mountains. He"d already staged one temper-tantrum when he had asked where Shana was and his mother had had to tell him what had happened to her. That had gotten him nowhere. He"d thought he could get some justice if he forced one of the Elders to see see what had been done to him. So he"d insisted on seeing Keoke as soon as he could stand without hurting too much, and this was all the result he"d gotten out of what had been done to him. So he"d insisted on seeing Keoke as soon as he could stand without hurting too much, and this was all the result he"d gotten out of that that interview. interview.
He"d intended to show Keoke how wrong he"d been, how Shana had been the hero, and Rovy the villain. Then when Keoke capitulated he would demand that the Elder go find Shana and bring her back. He never got any farther than insisting on how unfair it all had been. Keoke refused to admit that his decision had been in error, on the grounds that Shana was not of the Kin. "Unfair" simply didn"t apply to her her , nor did honor or the Law, and that was the end of it. , nor did honor or the Law, and that was the end of it.
He wasn"t going to get anywhere with his mother, either, that much was certain. She backed Keoke; he didn"t know why, but it was plain she had no intention of helping him or Shana.
So if anyone was going to save Shana, it was going to have to be him, all alone.
Do what you think is right, had been Father Dragon"s first advice to him about Shana. Well, he knew knew what was right. If she was going to get thrown off in the desert somewhere, it was only right that he share her exile. After all, she was there because of him. what was right. If she was going to get thrown off in the desert somewhere, it was only right that he share her exile. After all, she was there because of him.
Except that right now he couldn"t fly... which was going to make some serious problems with mobility.