Disclaimer:  I own nothing.  Mercedes Lackey owns everything.  I just write about it for fun. 

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Chapter 1: Pursuit

            After a moment, Kira spared a glance over her shoulder and groaned inwardly.  Her pursuers were getting closer.  She tried to increase her pace, forcing air into her burning lungs and pushing her aching legs faster, but her body refused to accelerate.  Suddenly a hand grabbed her upper arm.  Quick as thought, Kira whirled, letting the force of the grip speed up her circling and break his hold on her.  The wall of thorns loomed up before her, and she exhaustedly stumbled into the safety of the briar thicket.  Safe … for now.

            Kira collapsed a few steps into the copse, heedless of the pain from the thorns that tore her skin.  All that mattered now was getting air into her lungs.  She lay there for a moment, chest heaving, but as soon as the burning in her lungs eased slightly, she forced herself back to her fee.  If one of the boys happened to find here there, she would be as good as dead.  Carefully, she began to push her way through the underbrush, looking for the hidden deer trail.

            "Ow!" "Ouch!" "Help!"  Kira grinned, despite the cramp in her side.  It sounded like the boys had given up looking for a path and decided to plunge straight through.  She knew from experience that such a course was very painful.  As she raced down the often-trod deer path, she thanked the gods once again for making her so small.  If she'd been any larger, she would never have fit on this trail.  As it was, her path would save her several minutes, long enough to lay a false trail for the boys and go to earth.  She mentally sorted through her nearby hideouts, trying to figure out a way to trick them and hide before they caught her or she collapsed.

            Abruptly, she broke out of the thicket into the dense forest.  She turned to her left, decision made.  Walking carefully, she left no tracks on the fallen pine needles for a ways.  When she judged she was far enough from her trail, she stopped next to a break in the bushes and grabbed a thorny branch.  She hesitated momentarily.  Is this really necessary? Kira asked herself.  But she shook off the moment of weakness.  If the boys think I got through unscathed, they really will think I'm a demon, she reminded herself.  It's only a little pain; quit being such a baby.  Still, it seemed harder to bear self-induced pain.  Gritting her teeth, she shoved back her sleeve and raked her lower arm across the branch.  Angry red scratches joined the other cuts and abrasions that patterned her arm in various stages of healing.  The poison in the thorns hurt worse, now that she was concentrating on it.  Shaking it off, she began to run again, despite her body's protests, no longer bothering to disguise her steps.  Now she angled deeper into the woods, moving far enough into the forest that she could just barely see the thorn bushes behind her.  At last she stopped and leaned against a friendly oak.  It took her a moment to catch her breath again; she'd already been exhausted from hoeing when the boys had caught her in the open fields, and she'd had to run quite a ways to get to her hideout.

            Stupid, lazy… How could you miss those weeds? she scolded herself.  It had meant that she'd had to do her rows twice and had missed lunch, and it was telling now.  Still, the oak was easy to shimmy up, and its broad lower branches crossed with those of the maple nearby.  Walking the branches was easy here; it was strange that she'd never seen or heard of anyone else doing it.  Except my mother, and they called her a demon...  She shook off the pessimism.  Her mother wasn't a demon, but the Clan couldn't know that as well as she did.  They had to be careful.

            Her mind followed the familiar train of thought as quickly and easily as her feet followed the branches, despite being twenty feet in the air.  She went as swiftly as she could while making sure she didn't mark the bark to show her passage, intensifying the ache in her lungs.  Luckily, it didn't take too long to come back to the thorn bushes; she looked around to orient herself.  If she climbed down here…

            She dropped gently to the forest floor.  Reaching carefully into the bushes, she lifted a large branch to let herself in to a small hollow.  Squishing herself inside (even though she was small for twelve, it was a tight fit), she let the branch fall down in front to hide her.

            This time, she stopped panting quickly.  As her breath quieted, forest creatures began to resume their ordinary business.  It wasn't too long before a treehare trundled out in front of her.  "Little friend," she called to it, "can you help me?"

            Treehares were insatiably curious; this one came over to her immediately.  "There are predators after me," she told him.  She had long ago learned that animals wouldn't understand if she referred to them as boys, but predators made sense to them.  "Would you sit in that oak over there and move around so that they think I'm up there?  They won't hurt you."

            The fat little creature whistled agreement and waddled off.  Kira gratefully relaxed, concentrating only on slowing her breathing and her heart rate.  Gradually the aches in her body loosened, and she let her mind drift, waiting for the sound of the boys.

            When she heard their voices, she opened her eyes.  They were approaching the oak where her trail ended; she saw the branches jiggle and silently blessed the treehare.  Her pursuers arranged themselves in a circle around the tree.  For once, they actually watched the outer branches; somehow they must have figured out that she could move from tree to tree along them.  She quelled a quiver of fear; they had never seen her walking the tree road, so they couldn't be sure that that was how she'd escaped in the past.  Maybe they only thought one of them might see her if she moved.  She hoped desperately that they hadn't learned any of her tricks.  Not only would it make it harder to escape, but there was always the dread of ending up like her mother…

            "Come down, demon's brat!" one of them yelled.  Raen was a coward, but he acted tough when he was with a group.  "We've got you surrounded; don't bother trying to get away!"

            She saw the branches shake in reply and mentally blessed the treehare.  She'd have to remember to bring it some food as a reward.  The boys continued to throw taunts at where they thought she was; she tuned them out.  They knew she could climb faster and better than they could and go in branches that wouldn't hold them, so they didn't want to try to force her down physically.  Eventually, however, they realized that insulting her was not working; the only reaction they got was more leaves rustling.

            After a brief squabble, Raen was forced into the tree.  The other boys watched as he climbed around and around, hunting for her.  Kira suppressed a grin.  "She's not here!" he called in surprise at last.  "There's nothing but a scrawny treehare!  She must've gotten away!"

            "Impossible!" Darus replied, glaring up at the tree.  Kira couldn't see his face, but she could picture the expression.

            "Maybe she flew," one of the younger boys suggested.  "She's part demon, you know.  Let's go eat or we'll be late for supper."

            Darus started to protest, but the others, who were all hungry, agreed.  "Fine," Darus announced when he could get a word in.  "I'm going to look a little longer.  We'll catch her."  His voice was threatening.

            The others backed away from their leader, nodding acquiescence.  It wasn't safe to cross Darus in that mood.  Moving cautiously, they headed back toward the village.

            Darus remained.  He moved around, apparently randomly, looking for some sign of her.  As he searched, he gradually moved toward her hiding place.  Finding nothing, he seemed about to leave, when a mark on the ground suddenly caught his eye.

            Oh, no!  A surge of fear coursed through Kira.  I didn't wipe away my footprints when I landed!  She drew herself deeper into the shadow of the bushes.  Now she couldn't see Darus clearly, but she heard him begin a slow and careful search of the area.  He walked around slowly, apparently looking up every tree.  All too soon, he approached the bramble she was hiding under.  He didn't crouch down and peer in, though; instead he reached an arm between the thorns and groped amid the limbs.  As his hand came closer and closer, she tensed in fear.  On the spur of the moment, she moved a branch slightly.  His hand came directly in contact with the thorns.

            "Ouch!"  He withdrew his hand swiftly.  She heard him move away.  "I'll get you yet, demon," he muttered as he left.

            Kira lay still a long time, waiting for her body to relax.  That had been far too close.  Knowing it was getting close to sunset, she had started to get up when the branches above her began to rattle.  She froze in terror for a moment, but then laughed at herself.  The furry face of the treehare poked through the brambles.

            "Checking up on me, little friend?" she chuckled.  "Thank you very much for helping me with those predators.  Could I do something for you in return?"

            She concentrated on clearing her mind and was rewarded with an image of young yabbac plants.  They were very rare, but she happened to know where a patch was. 

            "I'll bring some here tomorrow.  Do you want anything else?"

            The treehare chirped negatively and turned to go.  "Thank you," she called after him.  Scrambling out from under the bush, she looked at the sun.  It had nearly set; the boys would be done with dinner.  If she could just get back to the village without running into them, she'd be safe in the women's lodge.  No boy, once he reached the age of twelve, would ever set foot in the building where the women and children ate.  It wasn't "manly."  She would be secure there, at least for the night.  As for tomorrow…  I'll just take that as it comes, she told herself firmly.  For now, she just had to get back.

            She walked over to the main path through the thorn bushes.  Later, she wondered if her exhaustion had played tricks on her.  She went down the major path without even watching for danger.  Her mind was on food, and she wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing.  As she turned off the path, she noticed too late the odd shadow under the tree.  Jorn grabbed her before she could react, letting out a sharp whistle to call the others.  She struggled frantically and almost got loose, but he jerked her and she tripped over a root.  Before she could stand, he sat on her back so that she had no chance to get up.  As she looked wildly around, she saw that the other boys had gathered around them.

            "Well, what have you got there, Jorn?" someone asked.

            "A likkle baby demon," another boy said in a mock-child voice, raising a laugh.

            "A pretty pitiful one – look at it flop like a stranded fish."

            "Let it up, Jorn," Darus commanded.  The boy scrambled off her back.  Kira just lay there, waiting, until two of the boys lifted her roughly to her feet.  She tried to stand and gasped at the pain in her ankle.  For a moment, she just sagged limply in her captors' hands.  Darus came over and grabbed her hair, forcing her to look him in the face – not a pretty sight.

            "You thought you tricked us, demon," he hissed.  "You thought you'd made fools of us.  But no one does that.  You may have avoided us for a time, but we've got you now.

            He spit in her face.  When she tried to wipe it away, he socked her in the stomach.  She doubled over, retching.  It seemed like a signal; the whole convoy attacked her as if she were a live punching bag.  Struggling through a crack in the mass of bodies surrounding her, she tried to run, but someone caught her arm and wretched it around.  She heard a crack and screamed as pain shot up her arm.  The scream startled her captor enough that he released her, and she collapsed to the ground.  She felt a few more kicks to her ribs before she mercifully blacked out.