Ratha’s Challenge (The Fourth Book of The Named) Read Online Free PDF Page B

worn, as she often did after such episodes. Hesitantly Ratha came to her and touched noses.
    “Fessran still is with Mishanti?” Thistle asked.
    “Yes. She can keep him for a while yet.”
    “Don’t want him now. Later. Still shaky.”
    Thistle settled on her belly in the crusty sand. She slitted her eyes and tucked her forepaws under her chest. Afraid that she might go to sleep, Ratha said hurriedly, “While you were in your pool, Khushi came back with a message from Thakur.”
    Thistle’s milky-green eyes opened wide. “He came back soon?”
    “No, he wants us to join him. Both you and me.”
    “Why?”
    Ratha repeated what Khushi had told her.
    Thistle turned her nose toward the sea. “Home is here. Seamares are here. Mishanti is here. Thakur knows that.”
    “I know he does. That he has asked you to come means that it is very important to him.”
    “Help him talk to other clan-cats? Not clever at talking.”
    “I don’t think that it is cleverness he needs,” Ratha said.
    “What, then?”
    “I don’t know. We won’t find out until we get there.”
    Thistle’s face took on a stubborn expression. “Hard for me to leave. Thakur knows that,” she said again.
    Feeling slightly annoyed, Ratha was about to point out how much Thakur had done for Thistle and that she owed him this if nothing else. But she bit back the words. The decision was up to Thistle herself. Trying to sway her would do no good.
    “Thakur wants me,” Thistle said abruptly. “Do you want me?”
    A quick yes would be an easily detected lie. Ratha decided to take the honest but more difficult route. “I can’t say that there won’t be any problems. Having you along will be difficult in some ways. You know why. All I can say is that I will give you every chance I can.” She paused. “I will ask you to do the same for me.”
    “Can’t answer now. Have to talk to sea first,” Thistle said.
    “The sea?” This was one of her daughter’s eccentricities that Ratha had not yet run into.
    “I swim out with seamares. Waves break over my ears and tell me things.” Thistle got up. Letting her eyes meet Ratha’s briefly, she said, “You come here tomorrow. What waves tell me, I will do.”
    Ratha knew she would have to be content with that. With a quick nose-touch, she parted from her daughter and trotted back along the beach to where Fessran was playing tag with Mishanti.
    Fessran halted her game. “What did Thistle say?”
    “She has to ask the sea first,” Ratha said, a little sourly. She couldn’t help letting Fessran know by her tone that she thought Thistle’s reply was a bit on the strange side.
    “Oh, all she means is that she’ll go for a dive with the seamares and think it over. She has a funny way of putting things sometimes. I find it refreshing.”
    Ratha sighed as Fessran plunged back into her game with Mishanti.
    “Well, I hope the sea tells her what I want to hear,” Ratha grumbled to herself, and headed up the trail to get her treeling.
     

 

 
    Chapter Three
     
     
    Thistle waited until Ratha had left the beach. She got up, shook off the sand crusted on her belly, and paced over the dunes toward the seamares’ cove. On the way, she passed Fessran, who was still playing tag with Mishanti.
    “I’ll keep him if you want to nap for a while,” Fessran called to her.
    “Sleep enough. Swim again. With seamares. Will get Mishanti later.”
    Fessran waved her tail in agreement. Thistle watched her chase Mishanti. The Firekeeper leader had a reputation for being acerbic and hard to approach, but Thistle found her easier to be with than Ratha.
    Perhaps it was because Fessran had also been hurt. She had scars in the sandy fur on her upper foreleg. She had said that someone with very long teeth had bitten her there. There were scars on both the inside and outside of the leg. The teeth had gone right through.
    Wonder if teeth hurt her the way Dreambiter hurt me.
    From the beach, Thistle crossed onto a series of