Chapter 10
Chris and Turk filed out of the village. Faruk came after them, but Emily stopped to look back. “I almost wish I could stay here longer. I only just got here, and there’s so much to learn about these people.”
Faruk surveyed the village. “Yes. I never knew they had such a complex and interesting culture. I’ll have to study them further, and I’m sure Donen will want to hear everything we learned here. Our people don’t know nearly enough about the Lycaon.”
“Do you think there’s any chance for peace between our factions?” she asked.
“If all the factions and all the Alphas are guarding the same secret in fear the others will find out,” he replied, “it’s a simple matter of letting the secret out.”
“Letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak?” Emily chuckled. “But who will be the first to let their guard down? It would take a brave Alpha to take that step and expose himself to his enemies.”
“Donen would do it,” he told her. “I know him well enough to know he’s waiting for an opening like this. When I tell him Caleb has the same problem of not enough men to guard the border, Donen will jump at the chance to lower our defenses and make peace. You heard him back home. He sent word to Renier that he wants a truce, and that’s after he invaded Renier’s territory and almost got killed for it. If that didn’t take courage, I don’t know what does.”
They set off down the trail. “Maybe now isn’t such a great time to be flying off to Avitras territory to search for my sisters.”
“It’s the best possible time to do it,” he replied. “You won’t rest until you see them safe and happy, and we can carry word to Aquilla that our factions want peace. If all the Alphas want peace the way we do, we could be on the doorstep of a great era for our planet.”
She stole a sidelong glance at him. “Aren’t you worried about seeing Aquilla again? Aren’t you worried he’ll try to kill you in revenge for his brother’s death?”
“He doesn’t know which Ursidrean killed his brother.” Faruk grinned at her. “If he did, I wouldn’t set foot anywhere near Avitras territory.”
She slipped her hand into his. “Good, because I don’t want you endangering yourself for me.”
“I’d do a lot more than endanger myself for you,” he replied. “And you don’t have to worry about me going back to the border patrol any time soon. After this trip, I’ll be staying in Harbeiz for a long time, reporting to Donen and the Supreme Council about what we found. This is important information. No one has come back from our neighboring factions’ territory with information like this—ever.”
She squeezed his hand. “You might even enter politics.”
He made a face. “Don’t even joke about that.”
Chris stopped by a stream bed near midday, and they shared a meal out of Turk’s pack of supplies. Emily looked around. “How do you know this area so well?”
“This is our territory,” Chris replied. “We’ve traveled over this area dozens of times over the past year.”
“Have you used this stopping place all those times, too?” she asked.
Chris laughed. “No.”
Emily studied her. “Why do you say it like that?”
“We cross this territory in a fraction of the time,” Chris replied. “We usually run it instead of walking it. We’re walking because you’re here.”
Emily stared at her. “You....run it? How?”
Chris shrugged. “We run. We don’t walk.”
Emily blinked. “How can you run with packs on your backs?”
“We don’t carry packs,” Chris told her.
Emily’s mouth fell open. “But....”
“We don’t carry anything except our weapons,” Chris told her. “Sometimes we don’t even carry that. We hunt along the way, but sometimes we use our bare hands. The Lycaon can run down anything they find in these woods. I can’t catch the biggest prey. I’m not as fast as most Lycaon. But Turk can.”
“But how can you do that?” Emily asked. “How can you run that fast, to run down an animal....?”
“I learned,” Chris told her. “I didn’t know anything when I came here. I didn’t even know as much as you do. I never spent six years with the mountain search and rescue. I trained horses and dogs for a living. I was a real greenhorn.” She burst out laughing and shook her head at the memory.
Turk gazed at her across the fire. “You had the will to learn and change, though.”
Chris beamed. She smiled at Emily. “We all do.”
Emily stared in the water flowing by their feet. “It’s amazing.”
“Not really,” Chris replied. “Anybody could have done the same thing in my place.”
Emily shook her head, but Faruk interrupted. “Why are you going back to your village now? Why aren’t you going back up to your mountain home?”
Chris pushed pebbles back and forth on the ground at her feet with a dead stick. “We have business in the village.”
“I understand,” Emily told her. “You don’t want to live alone on the mountain anymore. You wanted to spend some time alone with Turk when you first got together, but now that’s over and you want people around you again. Turk’s family is in the village, and now that you’re mates, they’re your family, too. Besides, there are other human women there. Aimee is there, and some other women from the crash. I can see why you would want them around you, too.”
Chris blushed. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”
Faruk listened to her with his head on one side. His expression gave her a queer feeling. She couldn’t look at him. Turk said the words she read in Faruk’s face. “You sound like you’re talking about yourself.”
Emily shrugged. “I suppose I am. I wouldn’t want to live alone on that mountain. I’m amazed she’s lasted as long as she has. She must really love you and the woods to live out there alone all these months. I can see why she wants her family and friends around her now. What if she got pregnant up there? Who would help her? Who would talk to her and set her mind at ease? It’s one thing to run through the woods when you first get together, but she needs other people now.”
Chris and Turk gazed at each other. Neither responded.
Emily shifted in her seat. “After I find my sisters, I’m going back to the Ursidrean city. The only other human woman I’ll have to talk to is Aria, but that’s enough. I’ll make friends, and I’ll have the infirmary to take care of me when I give birth. I won’t be alone.”
Now all three of them sat in silence. No one answered her. Faruk still studied her with that searching expression on his face. What was he thinking right now? He would have to give up his beloved mountains to stay in Harbeiz with her.
The silence went on and on. No one broke it. In the end, Emily couldn’t sit there any longer. She stood up and stretched her legs. “I really appreciate you taking the time to take me to Avitras territory to find my sisters, Chris. I know how much it means to you to be back in your village. You probably didn’t want to trek all over creation to help me after coming home.”
Chris got to her feet, but her eyes radiated with joy. “I’m glad to take you. I love trekking all over creation, and once we get back to the village, I won’t be leaving it for a long time. This is the last chance I’ll have to get out.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “Why?”
Chris touched her arm. “I’m pregnant. That’s why we’re going back.”
Emily gasped. “But you can’t.....you shouldn’t.....why did you......you should go back!”
Chris shook her head. “I’m okay. Like I told you, we usually run this trail back and forth between the mountain and the village. I’m not straining myself by walking.” She laughed again, and a pure clear light shone from her eyes and cheeks.
Emily stared at her. Then she shook her head and turned away. “I never would have come if I had known.”
“You did me a favor.” Chris waved her hand at Turk. “Do you really think Turk would have let me come if I was in any danger?”
Emily glanced at Turk. He listened to their conversation with a perfectly relaxed expression on his face. “I guess not.”
“I’ll be living in the village for a long time,” Chris went on. “I’ll have my mother-in-law and my sisters-in-law in and out of my house many times a day. I’ll look up at the mountain from my front door with my baby on my hip, and I’ll wish I was up there.” She laughed again. “And I’ll remember this last trip we took, and I’ll be glad I met you when I did.”
Emily opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out.
“I’m going back for all the reasons you said,” Chris told her. “I’m going back to have my family around me, and to have the help and care of other women. I could never go through pregnancy and childbirth and raising my children alone on the mountain, and I’m not going to try.” She pressed Emily’s hand. “You shouldn’t, either.”
Emily cast a glance at Faruk and blushed.
“She won’t have to,” Faruk replied.
Emily dropped her eyes to the ground, and they all started walking without saying anything more. They walked until the sun sank below the trees and the air turned cold. Then Chris built a fire while Turk disappeared into the trees. He came back with the carcass of an animal Emily didn’t recognize. He roasted it over the fire.
Faruk sniffed the meat and raised his eyebrows. “Porkini? How did you kill it?”
“Chris told you before,” Turk replied. “I ran it down and broke its neck.”
Faruk frowned. “That’s impossible.”
Turk shrugged. “Lycaon run a lot faster than Ursidreans.”
Faruk glared at him. “How do you know that?”
Turk cocked his head. “Would you like to run a race and see?”
Faruk fixed him with a hard stare under his heavy brows. Then he turned his gaze at the meat dripping sizzling pearls of juice into the fire. “I don’t care to run a race against any man who can run down a porkini and kill it with his bare hands.”
Turk sat back on his heels, but he didn’t answer and he didn’t smile. Emily studied the two men. Turk was much too polite to gloat over the victory he won over Faruk without lifting a finger, and Faruk was intelligent and tactful enough to admit Turk’s superiority in this matter. Maybe the hostilities between the Angondran factions really could be solved by reasonable discourse.
Chris busied herself making camp and pretended not to notice the exchange between the men. The fire crackled, and the intoxicating aroma of roasting meat filled the camp. The party sat in silence until Turk took the carcass off its spit and tore it into four pieces. Chris brought him four large leaves from a nearby bush, and he set the pieces on them. Chris added dried berries and cut up tubers to the leaf plates and handed them to Faruk and Emily.
Emily broke the silence. “How far are we from Avitras territory?”
“Another two days’ walk,” Chris replied. “But it’s an easy walk. The country’s not as rugged as the terrain we crossed between Ursidrean territory and the village. We won’t have any trouble.”
“The Avitras will be guarding their border,” Faruk pointed out.
Chris nodded. “They keep their border much better guarded than we do. I wonder how they’re fixed for population. They might not have the same problems we do.”
Faruk waved his hand. “You never know. Aquilla is on good terms with Renier. He could have diverted his warriors from the Felsite border to guard this part of his territory.”
Turk spoke up. “What you mean to say is, he could have diverted his warriors to this part of his territory since the Ursidreans attacked the Felsite. He might anticipate a similar unprovoked attack by the Ursidreans against the Avitras.”
Faruk frowned. He stared into the fire and nodded. “That’s true.”
Turk watched him, but when Faruk didn’t say any more, Turk turned his attention to his food. Emily bristled. “No one knows better than Donen how ill-advised his attack on the Felsite was. I stayed with him and his family in the city, and he regrets it so much he sent word to Renier to ask for peace between our factions. He never would have attacked the Felsite if the Supreme Council hadn’t ordered him to do it.”
Turk listened, but Chris replied instead. “I’m sure all our factions have reasons for doing things the others don’t understand. We’ve all got a lot of work to do to make peace with each other.”
Emily raised her eyes to Chris’s face. The same clear light glowed out of Chris’s eyes. “Do you think all of us—the human women—could have some hand in bringing peace to Angondra? We’re a neutral force, and we’re in every faction. We could bring them back together.”
Chris smiled, but she shook her head. “It’s a nice idea, but I wouldn’t put too much hope into it if I was you. For one thing, the human women on this planet have integrated into their factions. I’m Lycaon now, as Lycaon as Turk or Caleb or any of his family. I know Marissa feels the same way. And Carmen, Renier’s mate, feels she’s fully Felsite. I’m sure Aria considers herself Ursidrean.”
Emily nodded. “She has four sons with Donen.”
“Even you are doing it now,” Chris pointed out. “You refer to the Ursidreans as your own faction. We’ll all work to defend our factions. Look at your cousin Aimee. She joined the Lycaon warriors to defend our border. I’m sure others will do the same thing.”
Emily stared into the fire. “You’re right. I would take up arms to defend the Ursidreans if I had to.”
“And another thing,” Chris went on, “there aren’t any human women with the Aqinas. We wouldn’t be able to get them on board your Peace Train.”
Emily’s head shot up. Then she lowered her eyes and smiled. “I suppose it is an idealistic pipe dream.”
“But a good one,” Chris replied. “You should be proud of yourself for wanting what’s best for all Angondra.”
“This is my home now, isn’t it?” Emily asked. “I’m going to live here for the rest of my life, and I’m going to have family here the way the rest of you are. I don’t want to think about my people or anybody else going to war if there’s anything I can do about it.”
Chris lay back on the ground with the flames flickering on her cheeks. “We’ll see Aquilla in a few days. We’ll find out if he feels the same way.”
“Do you know his mate?” Emily asked. “Do you know the woman who went to live with him?”
Chris shook her head. “I know her name’s Penelope Ann. That’s all I know about her.”
Emily closed her eyes against the penetrating heat. “Aria knows her.”