The Stewart was right; there was trouble on the horizon. As he trotted along, Joe thought about the Intuits. They had a few pups in their settlement, and no good places to hide if other humans turned rabid.
Joe didn’t like bringing himself to the Elders’ notice—he was a small shifter in comparison—but he would go up to meet them and ask them to allow the Intuits to hide in the hills if Prairie Gold was attacked.
CHAPTER 21
Moonsday, Juin 18
A vigorous debate between members of the Courtyard’s Business Association ended minutes before Jerry Sledgeman drove in from the train station, his livestock truck filled with bison. None of the Others had been happy about allowing Jerry so far into the Courtyard, but everyone agreed that unloading animals in the Market Square wasn’t a good idea, particularly if the bison stampeded down the access way and thundered into the traffic on Main Street.
That was the reason five yearlings were unloaded at the Pony Barn, and the female pack and Kowalski were on hand to witness the arrival of a future item on the menu.
Simon itched to shift out of his human skin and help herd the bison to the part of the Courtyard where they would be settled—once everyone decided exactly where that would be. Henry had just laughed, saying deer roamed throughout the Courtyard’s three hundred acres and the bison would do the same. Since Simon agreed with him, he didn’t offer any opinions. A full-grown bison would go where it chose, but most of the Others in the Courtyard hadn’t lived in the Northwest and had no experience with prairie thunder.
Meg looked at the bison and then at him. “You said we were getting little bison.”
“They are little bison,” Simon replied.
She waved a hand to indicate the female pack. “We thought you meant baby bison.”
“Yearlings are close to babies.”
“Don’t go there,” Kowalski muttered.
“Besides,” Simon continued, ignoring the man, “if we’d brought calves, we’d also have to bring the mothers, and they’re big.”
“Oh,” Meg said. She and the female pack stared at the bison.
“Even if they’re bigger than we’d expected, they are kind of cute,” Ruthie said. “And so docile.”
Jerry Sledgeman scratched his head and looked at the trees. Vlad pressed a fist against his mouth and stared hard at the ground. And Nyx gave everyone the complacent smile of a well-fed vampire.
Jackson was currently in Meat-n-Greens quieting a sharp appetite, but Nyx hadn’t gone hungry during the journey. Docile bison were testimony to that.
“What are you going to call them?” Meg asked.
“Lunch?” Simon offered.
The female pack gave him a look that made him think running away would be a good idea, if he wasn’t the leader and couldn’t back down.
“Simon? Shouldn’t you and Jackson be heading to the River Road Community to settle the other bison?” Vlad gave the female pack a pointed look. “And shouldn’t the rest of us be getting to work? I know some of you have to review the items Jackson brought from Prairie Gold.”
Ruthie and Theral rode off on bicycles. Meg and Merri Lee drove off in the BOW.
Simon looked at Kowalski, who was usually at work by now.
“Where are you going to put them?” Kowalski asked, nodding at the bison.
“Why?”
“Out of sight, out of mind. If they’re around where the girls see them every day, they’ll end up with names, and I don’t think the girls will forgive you if you put a platter of Fred or Henrietta on the table.”
Jerry nodded. “Oh, yeah. What he said.”
Simon thought this over. The Wolves wouldn’t be serving up their bison on any platters, but some of the meat would be sold at the butcher shop in the Market Square for the humans to buy. How would they know which bison had become a roast? Would it matter?
Humans were no end of trouble even before they did anything.
“Right,” he said. “Don’t name the food.”
“Jackson said males and females remain separate most of the time,” Nyx said. “We can keep the females in the Chambers. It’s fenced.”
It was also off-limits to everyone but the Sanguinati—not the best choice to establish the bison where they couldn’t be hunted. Then again, deer were plentiful, so there was no reason to hunt bison for another year or two, and the land inside the Chambers offered plenty of grazing and fresh water.
“Will Erebus agree to this?” Simon asked. “Bison aren’t dainty when they poop.”
Vlad shrugged. “Deer roam inside the Chambers. I don’t see . . .” One of the bison lifted its tail and demonstrated not being dainty. “Ah.”
“It will be fine,” Nyx said.
“I’d best be getting back,” Jerry said. “Anything you want me to deliver to Ferryman’s Landing?”
Simon shook his head. “Not today.”
The bison wandered across the road and began to graze.
“Anyone want a lift to the exit?” Jerry asked.
“Sure,” Kowalski replied. “It’s time for me to head out to work.”
“I’ll walk,” Simon said.
Nyx shifted to smoke and flowed in the direction of the Chambers.
Vlad set out with Simon, heading for the Market Square, where Blair and Jackson would meet them with the van, since two of the juvenile Wolves from the Addirondak packs were coming with them to the River Road Community.
“Wouldn’t a few cattle be easier to manage if you’d wanted something . . . exotic?” Vlad asked.
“We have access to beef and to dairy foods from terra indigene farms,” Simon replied. “Don’t need cows here. Besides, bison don’t need tending as long as they have food and water. And in another year, one of them can feed the whole Courtyard for days.”
“You think humans in Lakeside are going to continue to let earth native trucks reach the Courtyard to supply us with beef, eggs, and milk?”
“You think this city will survive if they don’t allow those trucks to reach us?” Simon countered.
“No. Fortunately, there are those in the Lakeside police who understand that too.”
They didn’t speak for a minute. Then Simon said, “You’ll keep an eye on Meg?”
Vlad nodded. “Henry is working in his studio—or, more precisely, he says he’s sanding a piece and is working in his yard. With the sorting room window open, he’ll hear enough of what Meg and the other girls are saying about the decks of cards Jackson brought—and what they think of the sketches Hope made for Meg.”
Blair passed them but didn’t stop, giving Simon a few more minutes before he reached the Market Square and had to deal with the next task.
? ? ?
Meg opened one deck and laid the cards on the sorting room table in rows.
“Lovely artwork on these fortune-telling cards,” Ruth said. “It’s almost like the illustrations make up an entire fantasy world.”
“Lovely, yes, but not realistic,” Meg replied.
“The art is supposed to be symbolic of what the cards represent, not realistic.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Merri Lee said, watching Meg. “You’re not going to see visions about people or events in that fantasy world, so you need a picture of fire, not a picture of a dragon that represents fire.”
“Yes,” Meg said. “And we need to call the cards by a different name because saying we’re telling fortunes sounds like a kind of entertainment, and we’re trying to use the cards as a tool for prophecy.”
“Then that’s what we’ll call them—prophecy cards.” Merri Lee swept the rows of cards into stacks, her movements hampered by the splint on the left index finger.
“How much longer?” Ruth asked, pointing at Merri Lee’s hand.
“Hopefully the splint comes off tomorrow after Dr. Lorenzo checks the finger. Gods, I’ll be glad to have both hands to wash my hair.”
“At least it was a simple break. It looked . . .”
“Like the bone was sticking through the skin. Lucky for me it was a shard of bone china from all the dishes that had broken during the fight at the stall market. Sure looked like bone, especially since my finger hurt.” Merri Lee blew out a breath. “Most of us were lucky.”