“Sst! Khushi!” Ratha called, leaning out of her hiding place. The cub jumped and turned his head back over his shoulder.
“Sst! Over here. Quickly.”
Khushi blinked as he caught sight of her. With a quick look to either side, he galloped over to her thicket.
“Clan leader!” he said, his eyes large with surprise. “What are you doing, hiding in the bushes?”
“Never mind that,” she said, trying to keep enough leaves over her head to conceal the treeling. “Go get your teacher. Tell him that I have something for him.”
Khushi eyed her doubtfully. “Clan leader, he’s really grumpy today. If I interrupt him, he’ll chew my ears and they’re already pretty ragged.”
“I have something for him that will help his temper,” she answered. At that instant Aree chose to poke her head through the leaves and Khushi’s eyes got bigger than ever. “Oooh!”
Ratha ducked farther back in the thicket. “I’ve got Thakur’s lost friend. Hurry up and get him, or I’ll chew your ears!”
With a gasp, Khushi took off and scampered across the grass to where Thakur was supervising the other cubs as they rounded up the two dapplebacks. Khushi had to tug at Thakur’s tail to get the herding teacher’s attention and Ratha saw him duck an irritated swipe. But the cub was persistent and at last Thakur left his pupils with the dapplebacks and crossed the grass to Ratha’s hiding place.
“Ratha?” he called crossly. “Khushi said you were here. Where …?”
She was lifting her foot over a low branch when Aree gave a joyful squeal and sprang over her head. She had forgotten to unwind her tail completely from around Ratha’s neck. Suddenly unbalanced, Ratha spilled out onto the grass and landed on her front.
She looked up, dazed and half-choked. Aree hung between the two of them, suspended by the tail, with her arms around Thakur’s neck. She was rubbing her cheek against his and cooing as if she would never stop. Thakur looked as taken aback as Ratha was. His jaw sagged open against the tree-ling’s arm and he stared at Ratha in complete bewilderment for an instant.
Then his drooping whiskers sprang up and his ears perked. His disbelief quickly gave way to delight.
“Aree!” he cried as the treeling loosed her tail from Ratha’s neck and hugged him with her legs and arms. “Aree, you’re really back! Oh how I’ve missed you, you little flea-picker! You can eat fruit on my back all day long and dribble and I’ll never complain, just as long as you stay.”
Ratha picked herself up and smoothed the rumpled fur on her breast. “And not a word of thanks to the brave clan leader who risked paws and tail to bring this unpredictable creature back to you?” she said hoarsely, adding a cough for effect.
“He didn’t hurt you badly, did he?” Thakur asked, wrinkling the fur on his brow. She sat up stiffly. “She”—Ratha paused—“nearly choked me to death. The next time you lose your treeling, the clan may need another leader.”
Thakur eyed Aree with astonishment. “You’re right. He’s a she and soon there will be more of them.”
“If Aree’s cubs prove to be as clever as she is, then we’ve solved Fessran’s problem, haven’t we?” Ratha grinned at Thakur.
“If I can train all her young ones. I don’t know how I’m going to teach herding and cope with a whole treeling family at the same time,” he added with mild dismay.
“When the time comes, I’ll help you,” Ratha offered. Then she explained how she had found the treeling, and how the creature had stayed in the tree until she hissed and clicked her teeth. “I don’t know why Aree was so afraid of me. She used to enjoy grooming my fur,” she said, puzzled.
Thakur had been nosing the treeling and licking her coat. He paused, went back over a spot he had licked before and carefully spread the treeling’s fur with his tongue and teeth.
“Look,” he said, his voice indistinct. Ratha peered at Aree’s back. On the treeling’s skin she saw two bright pink lines side by side. They were half-healed claw marks.
“Now we know that she didn’t just run off on her own,” Ratha said at last. “Someone chased her.”
“And nearly caught her,” Thakur added, his voice grim. Aree shook herself and smoothed her fur. “You were too fast for Shongshar, weren’t you, little tree-climber?”
“So you think it was Shongshar,” she said in a low voice.
“Yes. There is no one else who had as good a reason for getting rid of Aree. He’s convinced that the only way to master the Red Tongue is by strength and fierceness. My Aree proved that there is another way. If the Firekeepers listen to me, they will no longer believe Fessran and Shongshar. Fessran might be willing to change, but not Shongshar.”
“What about Bundi’s accident?” Ratha asked.
Thakur’s eyes narrowed. “That is harder to explain. Shongshar and Bundi were like lair-brothers. Even now, I find it difficult to believe that he could deliberately hurt Bundi.”
“I found his pawprints at the edge of the firebed,” Ratha told him.
“That doesn’t prove anything. Shongshar could have been there earlier, helping to light the fire. No. I think it was Nyang who pushed Bundi.”
“Fessran’s son?” Ratha was startled by this suggestion, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. “Yes. Nyang would do anything to please Shongshar. I have seen how that cub looks at him.”
“Yes, but we don’t have any evidence,” Thakur reminded her.
“You know me too well, herding teacher,” Ratha said, somewhat ruefully. “Until I can prove to myself that Shongshar and Nyang are guilty, I can’t punish them. If they are, they have covered their tracks well.”
“And you may not be able to unbury those tracks. I think we should look ahead on this trail, not back,” said Thakur. “Now that Aree has returned, we can continue training her with the fire.”
Ratha felt a slight twinge of uncertainty. “Do you think that’s really a good idea? I mean …” She faltered as he stared at her in surprise. “We aren’t sure what happened to Bundi, are we? It might have been the fire-creature itself that burned him.”
“Don’t tell me that you’ve been listening to that dappleback dung! It may be fit for frightening litterlings, but you have more sense.”
She hesitated, thinking about her dream. “I know, but sometimes I’m not sure. What happened to Bundi scared me.”
“It frightened others too. If Fessran had posted a Firekeeper to guard the herders’ fire before Bundi’s accident, the yowls would have set her fur on end. Now no one complains.”
“They’re glad,” said Ratha. “That also frightens me a little. I’m not sure what to do.”
“Help me work with the treelings,” Thakur suggested. “We can continue teaching Aree, and after her little ones are born, we can train them too.”
“Then Fessran won’t worry about having only one tree-ling,” said Ratha excitedly. “She may even decide to help us.”
“Maybe later, but for now we should keep this as secret as we can,” Thakur cautioned.
“Bring Aree to my den this evening, then. I’ll have a fire there. If we keep the Red Tongue small, it won’t be able to hurt her.”
“I will. I have to get back to my pupils now,” he added, glancing over to where several cubs stood watching him with their tails raised in curiosity.
Ratha stayed hidden long enough to be sure that Thakur could manage both Aree and the rambunctious cubs. When she was satisfied that he was in no danger of losing the creature again, she slipped away.
She decided to go and inspect the ground near Thakur’s den for any traces of footprints. The old ashes from the last fire Bira had built for him were still there and the site had been left alone. She might find some faint prints she had overlooked before.
On her way along the path that wound through scattered trees, she heard far-off splintering sounds and cracks. Soon a Firekeeper came hurrying along the trail, with kindling in his mouth. The sounds of breaking wood continued and another Firekeeper followed with a jagged piece of a dead log that he could barely get his jaws around.