Sun Warrior by P. C. Cast

Author:P. C. Cast
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER 22

The day dawned overcast and cool, with the taste of smoke heavy in the air and in Wilkes’s throat as well. His eyes felt as if he’d rubbed sand in them, and as he stretched and unwrapped himself and Odin from the cocoon-like hammock he’d fashioned late the night before in the great boughs of an ancient pine left untouched by the fire, Wilkes heard his cough echoed around him by his brother Warriors.

“Wilkes! You up there?”

Wilkes glanced below to see Claudia with her Shepherd, Mariah, peering up into the boughs of the pine, face ashen and expression grim.

He cleared his throat painfully and steeled himself for bad news.

“I’m here. Give us a minute. Odin and I will be right down.”

Claudia nodded and sat heavily beside her Shepherd, draping a slender, soot-smudged arm around the big canine as Wilkes quickly reworked his travel cloak into a sling, lowering Odin to the ground before he followed him more slowly, climbing down the broad tree trunk.

“Here, I brought this for you.” Claudia handed Wilkes a wooden cup filled with hot, honey-laced tea.

Wilkes nodded gratefully, blew on it, and then took a big gulp, savoring how the herbs soothed his smoke-abused throat. Then he met Claudia’s gaze. “Okay. Tell me.”

“We found Ethan.”

Wilkes’s stomach clenched with dread. His mate had been missing since the day before. He hadn’t made it to the Channel—Wilkes already knew that—but he’d hoped Ethan was one of the wounded who had lost their way in the smoke and fire and had begun straggling back to the Tribe since the blaze had been extinguished.

“Where is he? Is he hurt badly?”

Claudia stood and rested her hand on Wilkes’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. Ethan’s dead. We found him not far from where the Council was killed.”

Wilkes bowed his head and let the grief wash over him. He and Ethan had been mated for a decade. Wilkes had liked to joke about how much Ethan nagged him, but the truth was that he counted on his partner to keep him grounded. And now—now Ethan was no more and Wilkes felt as if he’d lost his true north.

“What about Ginger? Was she with him?”

Claudia sighed sadly. “His Shepherd died with him. They were found together.”

“Where are they? I want to see them.”

Claudia’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “No, my friend. You do not. Ethan and Ginger were placed with the Council, their canines, and those who died on the way to the Channel. Some of the Hunters are building a pyre for them. It should be done around sunset.”

Wilkes wiped tears from his face with the back of his hand as Odin whined and pressed against his leg. “Did you see him?”

Claudia nodded wearily. “I did.”

“Do you think he suffered?”

“It happened fast and he wasn’t alone. Ginger was wrapped in his arms, and there were several other people beside them as well. Let that be a comfort to you,” she said.

Wilkes nodded sadly and dropped his hand to rest on his Shepherd’s head, finding comfort in his Companion’s nearness.

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