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with a rusty slicer that he’d found half-buried in the ground several days ago. He’d been trying to clean the rust off it without much success ever since.
    “Ready,” Paket said and held up his slicer with a grin.
    Tantha also stood there, holding a water skin and carrying her hunting sling. “Ready,” she echoed. “Let’s go before the Rejects come back with the cubs and there is much trouble.”
    Elrabin glared at her impatiently. “Slack yourself, Spots. Ain’t no way we’re taking you.”
    “Of course I will go,” Tantha declared.
    He sighed, hating the way she always tried to take charge when Ampris was absent. Elrabin felt that Tantha ought to be sitting quietly somewhere, weaving swaddling cloths for her unborn cubs, instead of demanding to be included in the action. But at least she wanted to help, unlike Velia, who had to be bribed and distracted with food.
    Looking up at Tantha, Elrabin tried to keep his annoyance out of his voice. “You can’t go,” he said.
    Her hand clamped hard on his shoulder, the claws digging in slightly. “I will go. I am strong. You need me with you, not tending a cooking fire.”
    Elrabin met her fierce eyes and didn’t back down. “You’re near your time. You can’t run and if we hit any trouble, you won’t be able to fight.”
    She bared her teeth and held up her sling. “I can fight! I have good aim with this.”
    “And if there’s shooting?” he asked, hoping Velia didn’t overhear this. “A sling and some stones up against stun or worse? No,” he said sharply. “Sorry, Spots, but you’ll just slow us down.”
    She growled at him, but he held up his hands, refusing to relent.
    “I wish we could take you. We need you, but you ain’t no good for this.”
    “I can do what is necessary,” she said fiercely. “I want to kill Viis.”
    “Yeah, and what if they kill you?”
    She backed her ears in disdain.
    “Or what if you start birthing? We gonna all get caught or killed ’cause we got to stop and carry you? What if you lose those cubs? They gonna be all you got left of Morlol. You lose them, and you got nothing. Is that what you want?”
    She snapped her teeth together and turned away, but not before he saw the stricken hurt in her eyes. Hunching her shoulders, she strode away without another word.
    Silence fell over the camp for a moment. Elrabin stared after Tantha unhappily. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. But she was so stubborn she had to be hit between the eyes to get her to understand. Still, he felt bad about it.
    Velia emerged from their shelter, still holding the grain, and shot him a look of reproach that told him she’d overheard every word. “Oh, Elrabin,” she said softly. “That was harsh.”
    “But necessary,” Paket said in his gruff way. “Tantha has no sense sometimes.”
    “That doesn’t mean she should be treated cruelly,” Velia said.
    “Wasn’t trying to be cruel, see?” Elrabin said. “I just—”
    She reached up and gripped his muzzle to silence him. “I know,” she murmured. “But she wants so much to be active. Otherwise she thinks too much about Morlol, and her heart breaks inside.”
    He nodded, understanding, wishing these females could understand too. “Better Tantha gets hurt this way instead of with plasma slugs. Now be careful. Light just one cooking fire, and keep it small. They ain’t going to smell that with all the fields blazing. If any shuttles fly this way, everyone hide in the canyon past the stream. Promise me.”
    Velia nodded seriously. Her eyes filled with fresh worry, and she began to pant.
    He recognized the signs and turned away. “We’re going.”
    Collecting Paket with a look, he strode out of camp before Velia could fall apart again. Paket hurried along beside him.
    Elrabin glanced at the old one. “Females,” he said with exasperation.
    Paket winked at him. “Right,” he said with feeling. “Got their uses though.”
    Refusing to laugh, Elrabin snorted, but his annoyance