*It's good advice for you. I think he has come to it independently. He has grown to like you; he does not like Dedran. It would amuse him to see that one fail in some way, just so long as neither Dedran's wrath nor that of his superiors falls on Cregar.* Quite a speech for Prauo, and Laris took heed of it.
The coyotes were still angered: by abduction, confinement, and the loss of their own human. She cared for them but made no further attempt to touch or communicate with them apart from a few soothing murmurs. They sat in a corner of the cage, eyes fixed on her, but made no overtures. She could feel their anger and understood it. She did her best to show in her movements that she meant no harm and wished only to do her work. They accepted that, moving to the cleaned part of the cage once she'd done the first half. When she left they were lying together, eyes staring at the walls.
Surra was still motionless in her hidden cage when Laris entered. *She lies,* Prauo sent mentally. *She is awake and watching when you do not see. She remembers your scent. She is clever this one. She has made her kills and plans to live to make others. She is weak. She must mend. Until then she will lie.*
Laris smiled at the pun. *Would she understand me?*
*If I aid.*
She moved up and dropped into a sitting position beside the still form. Then she opened her mind and reached out. At first she could feel nothing, only a wall between herself and the animal. Then Prauo slipped into link. Laris reached again. Now she could feel the glow of anger, the pain of wounds, the sullen determination not to yield that burned in the big cat. Prauo approved. In the back of the girl's mind he anchored her thoughts, strengthening the thread she spun out to touch. Cat eyes opened to study her. A thought formed without words, an emotion then pictures. A query.
*Why?* Laris could see behind it the events. Logan falling, the stench of blood. Surra's fury and her charge, and then red agony, blackness. There was also a sense of disgust with herself. She was battle-wise, yet she had forgotten this. Too long from the war-trail she had reacted in rage when the human-friend had fallen. Storm would have reprimanded her for her recklessness.
Laris understood both feelings and question. Patiently she strove to explain. She was as much captive as Surra. She would help if she could. For now the path the big cat had chosen was wise. Let old skills be recalled. Let her lie, as a predator waits at the den-mouth for prey. In time the prey will come out, the kill will be made, if only one is patient long enough. Surra did not understand time as humans did but still she asked a query which could have been translated that way.
Laris did not know. If they waited it might be that another would find them. Free them both and the team-friends with them. They must be patient. Over and over she repeated that together with the picture of a cat which waited. The prey came when the prey came. Who could set a limit on that time?
*Storm?* That picture was powerful. A compound of scent, sight, touch, and emotion. It could be expanded to mean: This one who is loved, trusted, who leads. Who is also equal. Laris clutched the ring in one hand. Then she gathered her will.
*Storm searches for you.* Agreement flowed between them. Surra knew. Storm would find the path, follow it to trail's end, and none would turn him from that. Surra would wait until she was strong again. All this time she had lain limp, eyes shut. Now she opened them to stare up at the human girl. Golden eyes, fierce and determined. Eyes without the knowledge of surrender.
And in that moment Laris knew what she had done. Perhaps it had not been by her hand. But she had stood by. If she continued to stand aside she would be responsible for events she could not accept. There was no way she could get word to Storm of where his and Laris's stolen beasts were held. But when the time came—and she was sure it would—she would be prepared. She felt her decision weigh her down. She could die if she challenged Dedran. Prauo could die.
*I prefer to live, furless-sister.* Prauo mind-sent in response to that thought. *Let us continue to work to that end. Let the sick one sleep again. And you also, you are tired.*
That was the truth. Laris stumbled to her bed and fell on it wearily. Yet somehow she felt good. She had made a crucial decision herself, had not had one forced on her by others. She belonged to herself still. It was a warm feeling. She reveled in it as she fell into the dark.
Chapter Twelve
On Arzor Logan healed slowly. The injuries had been severe and Arzor, like many of the more rural settled worlds, had little of the faster-healing technology. Storm fretted at the lack of news. Tani rode Destiny, retreating more often to the healing calm of the desert fringe. She was welcome in the camps of the Norbies. They knew her to be clan-friend to the Djimbut Nitra. What was good enough for the wild ones of the clans was better still for the civilized clans.
That she wore some of the jewelry of a Thunder-talker was impressive. The items meant that while she had not received the training, she had the potential. Because of it she was welcomed also in the tents of the clan's shamen. It did not hurt that none but she or Storm could ride Destiny. The filly was three-quarters duocorn. She bonded to her rider, accepting Storm as an extension of her human friend. She had not yet accepted a stallion. It was hoped that when she did she would produce colt foals.
This day Tani had ridden over to the Larkin ranch. Put Larkin had a small place on the edge of the basin where he sent mares due to foal. They had warmer weather and better feed than in the High Peaks, and cooler temperatures and fewer predators than on the edge of the Big Blue, as the main desert was known. Tani leaned on a fence with the middle-aged man, Destiny standing hipshot behind her, and admired the first of the still wobbly new foals.
"From Fate?" Once she'd taken Destiny and named her, Put had been amused enough to call the filly's half-brother by a matching name.
Put shook his head. "Nope, I don't reckon he should be used until next season when he's rising three. I used a crossbred colt I already had for the main herd. It makes them half-bloods with him and the mares both being half-duocorn. Enough to add that duocorn toughness. Not so much they bond to one person only." He grinned at her. "Not saying many riders wouldn't appreciate that. But it makes it hard for some."
Tani knew. Not everyone wanted to teach her own mount. And what about those ranches which needed their horses to be available to any who might need a mount?
"What about Fate and Destiny's dams?"
"Risked him there. Just two mares wouldn't spoil him. They'll foal later. Should be interesting to see what we get. But maybe I'll have to sell them to riders as can do their own training. They'll be five-eighths duocorn. They'll likely bond. Dumaroy's already interested." He laughed softly. "That won't go down well with any Nitra horse thieves. Mounts they can't ride and which could be too dangerous to even try stealing."
The girl agreed with that. Her filly, Destiny, had killed two men thus far. One, a Nitra who'd tried to ride her against her wishes. The other was one of the clan camp raiders who'd run into Destiny in the dark and struck out angrily to drive what he believed to be a loose horse from his path. He hadn't lived long enough to scream.
Tani lingered, talking casually. It felt good to be here in the sunshine. She could feel her shoulders relaxing from the tense hunch they'd been in. The heat soaked through her. The foals' play made her smile. Later, the feel of Destiny's powerful body under her made her sing as they cantered for home. She missed Minou and Ferarre painfully but she'd learned to live with the loss—for the moment. She returned to an atmosphere which was tense but, as she realized in the first minutes, with information, not danger. She looked at Logan.