Nanook sneezed, and Bunny sighed, not completely reassured.
They traveled a long way in silence broken by Diego, who whistled odd little snatches of tunes and muttered to himself. The others respected that he might be working on a new song. Bunny looked out her window at the endless snow, shaded blues and grays and occasionally lavenders in the shadows. She could see the distant jagged teeth of spiky up thrusts and wondered which set of them rose above the Vale of Tears.
Then, just as they were approaching the general location of the Vale of Tears, they saw the glow of a huge campfire, sparks rising high above it. Bunny shouted unintelligibly grabbing Johnny by the shoulder and pointing downward; at the same time, Nanook made a sudden attempt to squirm out from under the seat. Johnny issued loud orders for everyone to keep their places and shut their faces. Following Bunny’s screeched directions, he circled the copter to starboard. Below, it was possible to see the three figures stumbling and falling down a hill, actually rolling in one case, leaving a pattern of bloody circles on the snow. One of the figures was feline. Nanook let out an ear-piercing yowl, a sound Bunny had never before heard a track-cat utter.
To her astonished gaze, the cat on the ground looked up, and she could see its jaws opening as if to give voice to a similar cry.
“Tighten your fragging seat belts, all of you,” Johnny cried. His warning was unnecessary: his passengers could feel the turbulence he was fighting as he tried to land.
He was making a low pass to examine the dangerously uneven terrain below when Yana pointed to the bleeding man lying on the ground and cried out, “That’s Sean down there!”
“And La Pobrecita with him,” Johnny said. “I’ve still got to have a reasonably flat space to put this bird down without splintering a skid. Bear with me.”
Using the three figures as the center, Johnny circled until he spotted a suitably level place. As soon as he landed, Yana, medi-kit in one hand and a bundle of extra winter clothing in the other, was out of the plane. Bunny and Nanook right behind her. Just as Johnny was about to follow, Diego pulled at his shoulder and pointed to the top of the rise and the swarm of folks coming over it, brandishing an odd assortment of armaments.
Johnny motioned for Diego to take the LD-404 down from its brackets over the entrance to the cargo bay as he checked that he had clips for his hand weapon and the spare automatic he hauled out from under his seat. Then the pilot and Diego followed the women and the track-cat.
Yana was kneeling beside Sean, wrapping him in the winter clothing and tending his wound. Bunny assisted in the medical chores, searching for the items in the medi-kit Yana demanded. The track-cats stood about six meters from each other, sniffing, tails twitching amiably enough. The child, in a fur jacket much too large for her, was huddled against the clouded cat, wide eyes in a frightened white face.
Diego caught Johnny’s arm, staring a question at him as he pointed his free hand at the child. Johnny grinned and nodded, and then turned to watch the progress of the mob slipping and sliding down the hill toward them.
See ‘Cita, Senior Luzon is as bad a man in his own way as Shepherd Howling,” Johnny said in a gentle voice, bending down to the child. “Loncie was real upset to see you got talked into going with him. So we came to take you away back to your own people.”
“This unworthy one has no people,” ‘Cita said, getting an even firmer grip on Coaxtl’s fur.
‘That’s where you’re wrong, kiddo,” Johnny said. “Bunny, come here. Now, pronto!”
Both Yana and Bunny looked around, their faces showing disgruntlement at being interrupted. Both stared, and Bunny’s mouth dropped wide open.
“You must beyou can’t be anything else …” Bunny’s hand wandered to her cheek, her nose, her lips.
“Your mother made it through, niece of mine,” Sean said, nodding solemnly, looking from Bunny’s face to the thin gaunt one of a child who was so obviously a blood relative.