Silent Dances (28 page)

lucky
.
This time the Grus hit only feathers.

Thinking she had a piece of the human,
the avian worried the garment
,

pulling at it fiercely
.
Latching onto the alien's bill as it tugged at her shi
rt,
Tesa held Sailor out of the water and rolled
,
using her body weight to

overbal
an
ce the avi
an
.

With a wrenching yank that made her painfully aware of every
wound
,
Tesa

pulled the female off her feet
.
She fell across the hum
an
like a t
re
e
,
sp
re
ading her wings to counterbalance
,
accidentally creating a shield

against the taller Grus. The tangled avi
an
, her head held pa
rt
ly

underwater
,
struggled wildly
,
slamming her bony w
ri
sts and elbows
against Tesa's head
,
knees, and
ri
bs. Glimpsing the second bird

through thrashing feathers
,
Tesa saw her dancing around, eager to aid

her f
ri
end.

Then there was a shadow of wings and Weaver attacked. The Grus behind

her lan
ded and went after the sho
rt-
billed female lying across Tesa
.

That was too much for the one still st
an
ding
,
and she lost hea
rt an
d
fled, Weaver right behind her.

Tesa was kicked again an
d again as her prostrate opponent t
ri
ed to

free herself by using the woman
'
s body to gain her footing in the mud
.

Finally
,
she heaved herself up
ri
ght by pushing Tesa and Sailor

completely underwater.

When Tesa broke free,
she quickly checked Sailor, who was shaking his

head and sneezing
.
Tesa
'
s bedraggled
,
mud-spattered opponent was
being set upon by two avians, the female that had helped Weaver and-
-

she squinted-
-
Flies-Too-Fast! They attacked fiercely
,
their dark legs
leaping, kicking
,
slashing.

Cradling the chick-
inc
re
dibly uninjured, if muddy
an
d terrifiedTesa scu
tt
led out of
re
ach. Glancing around, fearfully,

138

for Taller, she saw that he was blood-spattered but seemingly
tireless as he

fought Kills-the
-
Ripper
-
and which was his blood
and which his

opponent's, she couldn't tell.

Suddenly another shadow hovered, and Tesa leaped to her feet, only to

curse
in pain
. Two black and white
diamond
-
shaped flying sleds hung
over her
.
Meg's and Thorn's anxious faces peered over the sides
.
No,

thought Tesa, frantically,
Taller's got to settle this without our help or he'll

never hold his leadership.

The bedraggled, stubby-billed female broke at the sight of
the alien

contraptions and fled
, Flies-Too-
Fast giving chase.
The remaining

female approached Tesa slowly.

"I'm Shimme
ri
ng
,"
she signed
, "Taller
's daughter
. Are you
all
ri
ght
?

Is the chick ..."

Tesa showed the female the muddy, protesting baby huddled in her hand.

The sight of the sleds was too much for Sailor and Tesa could feel the

vibrations in her palm from his panic-stri
cken c
ri
es
.
She looked at Taller.

He must
'
ve heard his son's
call over everything else, Tesa realized,

because his crown suddenly flared anew, and recklessly he rushed his

adversary.

Almost immediately, Ripper
'
s crown became dull and
shrank. Then

Taller felled him with a powerful kick. As the
avi
an
collapsed
,
Taller
hamme
re
d his enemy's skull with his bill, pounding the life out of him
.

Finally
,
when Kills-the-Ripper floated dead at Taller
'
s feet
,
his limp
feathers waving
on the current, the blood-streaked leader stood tall, threw

back
his head
,
and trumpeted his victo
ry.
The water around his legs

was st
re
aked with
re
d.

Suddenly Weaver was at Taller's side, matching his call. Shimmeri
ng

answered them with her own
, an
d then FliesTooFast landed near and

joined the chorus. Tesa was buffeted by
sound waves so powerful they

rippled the water. That victory call would be carried through the marsh from

territory to territory. To kill the one who'd killed the Ripper-there'd be no

challenges
to Taller'
s leadership now.

Wearily, Tesa waded to the platform and plopped down,
tucking the

terrified
,
shive
ri
ng chick safely under her damp costume
,
against her
warm skin
. Thorn
and Meg hove
re
d their sleds low, pee
ri
ng wor
ri
edly at her.

Then Thorn moved to step off into the marsh,
igno
ri
ng Meg's stern head

shake
.
As soon as his feet hit the water, Taller was the
re,
blocking
Tesa, staring wild-eyed at the hum
an
male.

139

SILENT DANCES 139 Weaver put herself between them
. "
There have

been enough

challenges,"
she told her mate in calm, measured signs. Thorn stared at

Taller thin
-
lipped
,
his face drawn and nearly as red as Taller
'
s crown
.

Slowly the male Grus lowered his stature
.
Moving his head closer to

Thorn
'
s face
,
he gazed at him unblinking
. Thorn
retu
rn
ed the stare
levelly
,
never moving. As though that solved eve
ry
thing
,
Taller
signed a greeting of fishing and f
ri
endship
.
The human retu
rn
ed it
cautiously.

Meg parked her sled a few feet above the water and approached Tesa. "
Are

you all
ri
ght
?"
she signed brusquely. "What in the world happened
?

Thorn
was watching the shelter
,
t
ry
ing to see the chick
,
and the next
thing I knew, he was grabbing sleds and signing like crazy
."
Meg

produced a medi-scanner and tu
rn
ed it on
,
forcing her to stop

signing.

"Tell
me
what happened," Thorn
signed to Tesa as he joined Meg. Tesa
had seen his expression before
-
on her father whenever she'd ignored

her own safety and done something
ri
sky.
You can
'
t earn eagle
feathers by covering your ass,
she thought.

"It was an attempted coup,"
she signed
. "
But ... we won." Meg and Thorn
shared a look
,
then glanced at the floating bodies. They were probably

ready to send her back to StarB
ri
dge
.
No, not StarB
ri
dge
.
Go past
StarB
ri
dge
,
do not pass Go, do not collect 200 credits
,
go straight to
Ea
rt
h
.
Just because she was a little banged up.

Actually,
Tesa had to admit that she looked ter
ri
ble. She was plaste
re
d
with mud
,
blood
,
and broken feathers
,
and her leg and shoulder bled
sluggishly
.
Her once-beautiful Grus costume had a ragged hole
,
which
alone made her want to c
ry
.
The rest is just
a flesh
wound
,
she thought
inanely
.
That cliche, from one of Dr
.
Rob's tacky, racist weste
rn
s
,
seemed crazily approp
ri
ate.

"'An attempted coup,'" Thorn
repeated
. "
How many of those can we
expect now that you
'
re pa
rt
of the royal family?" Before Tesa could
respond, Meg began to itemize her injuries. "Tesa
,
this is se
ri
ous
.

Your leg is punctured, and infection is setting in. Your shoulder
'
s not

much better, and there
'
s joint involvement there
.
Your nose and

cheek have hairline fractures and there
'
s swelling building up around

your eyes. You've got two cracked ribs, and we
'
ll have to do a body

scan to make sure your kidneys aren
'
t compromised." She stopped
,

as though to compose herself
,
her blue eyes glistening.

140

"We saw the beating you took,
Tesa. We thought you would be killed."

Ti
re
dly, Taller peered at Ripper
'
s dead body
,
feeling
an
emp
ty re
vulsion
.
Later, others would car
ry
the bodies away
an
d leave them
somewhe
re
whe
re
no others had ever been left. Kills-the-Ripper would
be ostracized in death
,
even as his mate
an
d the others that had sided
with him would depart in shame
an
d travel the world in solitude
,
never
again lifting their voices to the suns
.
He pitied them,
an
d himself
,
for
being unable to p
re
vent this wasteful tragedy.

"Say something to Flies-
Too-Fast
,"
Weaver signed, "and to our
daughter
. They ri
sked themselves
an
d their status." Had Taller been
killed
,
it would have been his allies that

flew the skies alone.
It was always safer to h
an
g back
an
d
declare loyalty to the victor.

His daughter was the last of his children still in this flock. Her mate had

been dead a year, yet she
'
d found no other to
re
place him. If she

didn't soon
,
he knew
,
she never would. Today, Flies
-
Too-Fast
'
s
re
ckless courage made him seem older th
an
his years
.
Taller nar
ro
wed
his eyes as he watched the two. Weaver could make the arr
an

gements
.
She was
an
excellent matchmaker
, an
d who would deny her
after today?

Yes, he
decided
,
it would be a good pai
ri
ng
.
He would let them stay he
re
and feed Sailor
.
The p
re
sence of the chick was bound to stir up

their rom
an
tic feelings
.
He felt be
tt
er. Something good would come of
this
,
after all.

Then he looked for Good Eyes an
d felt uneasy all over again. Relaxed
an

d First
-
One-The
re
we
re
hove
ri
ng over her with things not
-
of-the
-

World
.
The hum
an
s still felt
re
sponsible for Good Eyes
,
but they had
to realize that that was no longer true. Especially Relaxed
. Why
had
he
given the hum
an
that name?

Taller and Weaver moved to stan
d on either side of Good
Eyes. "What

kind of customs do your people have," Taller asked, "that you worry over

survivors instead of calling to the
gods your gladness that she saved

herself and our child?"

The two humans glan
ced at each other.

"Forgive us," First-
One finally signed
, "
but our f
ri
end's taken a ter
ri
ble
beating
.
We're wor
ri
ed about her."

Taller supposed it was one of their un-Worldly
things
that
had told them

about her inju
ri
es since poor Good Eyes was so muddy it was hard to

see what had happened to her.

141

Suddenly Sailor popped his head out th
ro
ugh the laced-up

shirt,
plainly sta
rt
ling Meg and Thorn
.
Almost as a reflex, Tesa

snagged a shimme
ri
ng off her arm and pulled it apa
rt
. The chick

gobbled the soft pa
rt
s greedily
.
Taller felt a g
ri
m amusement as his
human pa
rt
ner stolidly grabbed another insect, c
re
atures she had