Thurfrit shook his head, trying to clear it. “Is everyone okay?” he said, recognizing that he was lying among other humans, a few layers deep.

“Define okay,” Kith the Hunter called.

Thurfrit shifted as the chatter increased. “Quiet down!” he called, surprising even himself. “Everyone, check around you, see if anyone’s hurt. If they are, call out.”

After a few moments, Ithun the Butcher said, “Poxea hurt her wrist, might be sprained.”

“I’m all right, Ithun. I’ll survive.”

“Okay, anyone else?” Thurfrit called.

There were reports of bumps and bruises, and nobody was particularly comfortable, but nobody appeared to be seriously injured.

“All right,” Thurfrit said. “That’s…that’s good, I suppose.”

“What could possibly be good about this?” Mant called out, and a few more voices rose in anger.

“Not much! Not much at all! But tell me, would it be better if one of us was dead?”

That brought the group to a hush.

“There are many of us missing,” Bernd the Pipemaker said.

“I know,” Thurfrit said. “I hope that’s because they got away.”

“Do you think they did?” Mant the Elder Defender asked.

“No,” Thurfrit said.

* * *

Luke was walking through the third level of the Great Tree that he had searched. So far, it had been to no avail. “Is anyone here?” he called, hoping against hope that he’d get an answer from…someone. Anyone.

He opened a door, and looked around; he had yet to see anyone dead. He hoped that whoever had kidnapped the Tribe had done just that – kidnapped them. If that was their aim, then the smoke would have been designed to incapacitate them, not kill them.

Or maybe they just would view whoever they didn’t capture as collateral damage. He had no idea what would possess Titans to try to capture free humans.

Well, he had some ideas. But he couldn’t imagine Aisell or Lezah clearing the tribe from their land, not like that. If it was dire, if they had to leave for their safety…surely they’d come to them? Surely they’d tell them?

He opened a door.

“Is anyone…oof!” Luke said, as he was knocked to the floor. He looked up, and sighed.

“Nela, you can drop the knife, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Nela looked down at her teacher, and spun the blade, tucking it into her hilt. “I’m sorry,” she said, in a voice not much louder than a whisper. “There’s…there’s nobody here. My parents….”

Nela let out a sob, and slumped to the floor. “Why did they take my parents, Luke?”

“I don’t know,” he said, as he righted himself.

“Did…is anyone else….”

“Quendra and Hari are here, we’re looking for others. I need to take you to the healer’s ward, that’s where we’re going to gather.”

Nela nodded, but didn’t move. Luke stood up, and offered her his hand.

“We should kill them,” Nela said, staring at the floor. “All of them. We could live free then. Not hide here in the forest. If we could….”

“If we could,” Luke said, “we’d be no better than the worst of them, would we?”

Nela closed her eyes. “But they’re monsters.”

“Nela…lot of humans have killed other humans because we talked ourselves into believing that.”

“They didn’t take your parents from you, Luke!” Nela said.

“Yes, they did. Now come on,” Luke said, offering his hand. “We can debate the merits of genocide later, right now we need to get you to the healer’s ward.”

Nela looked up, and finally grasped Luke’s hand. He pulled her up to a standing position, and led her out into the hallway. He considered, briefly, and then said, “Nela, you might want that knife at the ready. You never know.”

She nodded, and drew it; he felt quite certain that he did know, that there would be no human threats to them…but she needed something to cling to right now.

* * *

Hari rounded the corner, and nearly ran into Quendra. “Elder Huntress,” Hari said, with a flourish.

“Knock it off, Hari,” Quendra said. “This is not the time….”

“Of course it’s the time, Quendra! Your boyfriend has led us to our doom – how can you possibly say it’s not the time!”

“Luke had nothing to do with this!”

“Didn’t he,” Hari spat. “Strange how he joins the Tribe, and the same day, Guardians come and capture all of us.”

Quendra rolled her eyes. “And what possible connection do you see there?”

“It’s prophecy! They said a man from Earth would seal our doom, and we just pulled him right into our bosom! At least, some of us did.”

Quendra stared at Hari a long minute, before shaking her head. “If things were not as bad as they are,” she said, finally, “I would challenge you for that. But this is not the time.”

“Are you sure he didn’t lead the Guardians to us? Tell them how to find us? Are you sure he isn’t working with them?”

“I’ve heard enough. He came to warn me when he heard them!”

“Yes,” Hari said. “He saved you. The one person here he wanted to keep. Figure he’ll bring you home to them next. Won’t have a choice, really.”

Quendra laughed. “Do you think I would go with him?”

“Maybe. He’s persuasive.”

“Great Spirit, Hari, look around! We don’t have time for this! We have to find anyone left, and get away from here. We don’t have time to argue! Go to the cook’s level and gather all the food that will last. I will meet you there shortly. First, I have to go to the healer’s ward.”

“And if you go with him? To the Guardians?”

“Then you’re in charge,” Quendra said, turning and walking away, fighting back the tears that threatened to drown her.

* * *

“All right, they’re in position,” said Siad, the elder of Ncaesi’s crew.

“Good.” She checked the seals; the three containers were hooked up to the terrarium. An HOS invention – good for picking up stray humans. The gravitic suction device wasn’t necessarily fun for the humans, but it was safe. And gods, was it effective.

“All right,” she said. “Do we have a count?”

“108. 35 of them pups,” Siad said.

“Excellent. Better than I was expecting. All right, release them.”

Siad hit a button, and the three containers began beeping; within a moment, the three opened up, each disgorging a few dozen humans.

The Tribe lay on the floor of the terrarium, stunned; they had gone from darkness to dazzling fluorescent light, brighter than any they’d known. They could have been forgiven for cowering in fear, especially once they resolved the looming figures of three Titans.

They could have, but they didn’t have to be. Because swallowing hard, one human stood, and faced them down.

“Why did you kidnap us?” Thurfrit called, angrily.

Ncaesi laughed, a cheerful, melodious laugh. “Kidnap you? Oh, dear, no, we didn’t kidnap you. I’m sorry…I know this must be scary, but no. We’re here to help you!”

That brought derisive laughter from some of the group, and an incredulous roar from its leader.

“Help?!” Drugar said. “We were doing quite well until you showed up. Now we are imprisoned. If you wish to help us, take us home.”

“We’re going to,” Ncaesi said.

Drugar blinked. “Then why did you….”

“Oh! No, not back to the forest. Though I must say, it is pretty. No, it’s dangerous there – you know it, right?”

“It is our home!” Drugar said.

“Yes, but you…listen, you all know there are humans who are kept as pets. You can show Titans that humans are capable of more! We want to take you to a place where you can show them how you make clothing, how you make tools. You can show them how you live, and then they’ll see how smart you all are!”

Ncaesi smiled. A permanent home for them, in a place where humans had been fighting for respect…it would be a triumph. People would come from throughout the Empire to see these humans.

It would help TETH immensely.

“Why would we do that?” Drugar asked.

“Because we’ll keep you safe. You won’t have to worry about shaars and kipps and whatnot. We’ll provide you food and medical care – you’ll have it so much easier! Really, it’s better for you.”

Drugar shook his head. “Life in a prison is not better for us. If you truly want to help us, take us back to the forest.”

Ncaesi shook her head, but her smile didn’t waver. She wasn’t surprised. This had to be disorienting for the poor dears, and she expected them to resist a bit. She’d convince them, though. It would just take time and effort.

“Well, I’m not going to do that, but you’ll see that you’re better off. Siad, can you get them food and mosaberry juice? We’ll let them talk on the flight.”

Siad dropped a package in the corner, and cut it open; it was full of synthetic human chow. He dropped in another two containers, one of juice, one of water.

“It’s not that bad. We won’t hurt you,” he said with a smile, then headed up to the cockpit of the cargo shuttle, closing the door behind him.

“Drugar, Nela is missing,” Aila the Defender said.

“Quendra and Luke, and Hari….” Thurfrit added.

“I hope many are missing,” Drugar said, quietly. “But I can tell they are not.”

Drugar the Leader of the Tribe looked over his people. “Those who are hungry, eat. Those who are thirsty, drink. Those who are tired, sleep. We will not win our freedom tonight,” he said.

“Will we ever?” someone called out.

Drugar shook his head. He would not lie to them.

“I don’t know,” Drugar said. “It will be difficult. But I know this: We will never surrender to them. We would rather die than live as pets.”

The crowd looked on him quietly, stunned for a moment, until Thurfrit stepped forward.

“That’s right. Better dead than pets!” he shouted.

That brought a small cheer, and a few more shouts, and suddenly, the entire Tribe was on its feet, chanting, over and over, “Better dead than pets! Better dead than pets! Better dead than pets!”

Drugar looked over his people, and nodded. He may well be the last leader this Tribe would have. But the Tribe would be the Tribe until the very end.

* * *

Luke had made it to the bottom of the Great Tree; aside from Nela, he had found nobody. He had heard someone in the kitchen, but it was just Hari, gathering food for their flight to…wherever they would flee to. He had no idea what would happen next.

He looked about the Great Hall; it was eerie. Save for the lingering sickly-sweet smell of smoke, it was unaffected. It looked like it had as he’d stood in it, waiting to be inducted into the Tribe, less than a sunset ago. He half-expected Drugar to wander in and take his customary seat.

“Five,” Quendra said, walking through the open doors.

“I’m sorry?”

“Five of us are left. You, me, Hari, Tendrar the Armorer, and Nela, Daughter of Tosi and Aila. That’s…that’s all that’s left of us.”

Luke looked down. Bastards. Why would they do this? Why?

“This is why I never trusted them,” Quendra said, sitting heavily down on a step. “I knew this day would come.”

“I never said that we could trust the Titans.”

Quendra looked at him evenly. “You said we could trust Eyes Like Ice. Hair Like Fire. Even Tall As Tree. And look at us now.”

“They weren’t out there,” he said. “You and I saw. It wasn’t Aisell and Lezah. Wasn’t even Seeks the Tribe. I’ve never seen these Titans before.”

“So they hired someone else to commit the crime for them. It would not be the first time.”

“They wouldn’t,” Luke said. “I swear on my life…they wouldn’t. Whoever did this acted without their knowledge.”

“And what, Luke the Teacher, makes you think that? Hmm?” Quendra’s voice dripped with recrimination. “Did you think that if they knew we were here, your dear Aisell would come for you herself? Save you from us? Hold you to her breast? Kiss you gently? Make love to you, perhaps, once she found you?” A mirthless laugh escaped the huntress’ lips.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Luke said.

“You love her,” Quendra said, not even looking at Luke. “I don’t know how you could love that monster, but you do. You’ve never countenanced a bad word against her. You’ve been on her side the entire time you’ve been here, always trying to convince us to go say hello! Go meet the monsters, give ourselves away! And…and…the way you talked of her….”

Quendra spat on the ground. “And even now, even after they stole away almost everyone I love…you still defend her.”

Luke stared at Quendra a good long time, before he looked down at his shoes. He did not answer her charge, not right away. Instead, he said, “You remember the other day, when Loram the Hunter asked me to go with him to scout by the Guardians’ house?”

Quendra said nothing.

“I didn’t go with him. I stayed here, went on that walk with you, saw the glowberry tree. You remember?”

Quendra continued to say nothing.

“I could have gone up to the house with him. I could have gone to Aisell. Told her I forgave her. Would she have taken me back? I don’t know, maybe. And would I have stayed?”

He sighed. He owed her the full truth.

“I don’t think so…but I don’t know.”

That finally got Quendra to look at him, though the intense fury in her gaze almost made him wish she hadn’t.

“Quendra,” Luke said, daring to meet her eyes, “part of me always will love Aisell. I won’t deny that. She was my friend when I desperately needed one, and she cared about me when there was not another person in this universe who could. But I had the chance to go up and see her, to maybe go back to her, and…and I decided to stay here. With the Tribe, and with you. Because I didn’t want to open up old wounds. Didn’t want to face her before I was ready to, before I was sure that I would not waver. Because I do not want to waver. I know where I want to be, and who I want to be with.”

Quendra turned away from him. “And yet now, even now, you’re going to tell me that we must go to them.”

“I don’t want to. But we have no choice.”

“Well, convenient it works out for you, then.”

Luke sighed. “Quendra the Elder Huntress, Screams Like Kipp…I have to go back to them. I don’t want to, not like this, but it’s the only way. We can’t recover the Tribe ourselves. Not even you, amazing as you are, can track a shuttle through the sky. If we are to recover them, we have to get the help of Titans, and the only ones I remotely trust are up at that house.”

“Likely, that. Or maybe you expect me to go with you, and live as a pet with them.”

“Never,” Luke said. “You are nobody’s pet, and I would die before I let anyone keep you as one.”

“So you’ll go on your own. Well, good luck,” Quendra spat. “I hope you find love there. If you make it. You probably won’t get more than a quarter of the way there before you’re killed by something.”

“Probably not,” Luke said. “But I have to take the chance. Maybe I die on the way. Or maybe you’re right, maybe they’re behind this. And if they are…I will pay with my freedom or my life. But I have to do something. And all I can do is hope that at long last, my trust in her and them was not misplaced. That they are, in fact, the people I think they are, not the monsters you do.”

“The proof of who’s right is in the empty room around you, you idiot!”

Luke looked down. “Maybe it is,” he said, knowing that indeed…maybe it was. “But I’m still going. Not for companionship, or safety, and certainly not for love. I’m going because the only hope of recovering the other members of my Tribe – my Tribe – is to ask for their help. I don’t like it, and I damn sure know you don’t like it, but there’s no other answer.”

Quendra said nothing. Luke sighed. He couldn’t wait any longer. Every second took the Tribe further from them.

“I’m going now. I…if they are untrustworthy, I promise, I will not tell them of you. I will tell them all the members of the Tribe died, save me. And…and….”

Luke said something else in his native language, not much above a whisper, but Quendra was so enraged that she did not process it. She heard him set something down, and then heard him walking away, toward the main gate.

When he was out of earshot, she broke down, weeping, weeping for her Tribe, and her friends, weeping…weeping for something that disgusted her, given what he was going to do to her. To them.

It took her a good ten minutes to recompose herself; there were precious few members left. She had to get them organized; they would have to abandon the tree, look for somewhere else, other humans. Like the People of the Rock had, long ago.

She got up, and wiped her eyes, and that’s when she saw what he’d set down, behind her.

For her.

She knelt back down, not quite believing it. But it was there, clear as day – the necklace of Luke the Teacher, still new, folded into a perfect lemniscate.

She stared at it, hard, for what felt like forever. She thought back to the last words he’d said. Words in his language. She knew them; he had taught them all to her, on their walk to the glowberry tree. He had not put them in order, not then. But she could; her memory was keen, and she had already filled in you, the second-person pronoun, and I, the first person pronoun, and the last word, the one in the middle….

“Oh, Great Spirit, I’m an idiot,” she said, grabbing the necklace and carefully putting it into her pouch. She made sure her knives were secured, and slung her bow over her shoulder.

She walked into the stairway, and bellowed, “HarI!”

The Defender poked her head out. “Yes, Elder Huntress?”

“If I am not back by the next sunset,” Quendra said, “take what is left of the Tribe and go.”

And with that, she turned, and took off on a dead sprint for the low gate.

She just hoped she could get to him in time.