The Others 03 Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop Page A

Tess’s form of
terra indigene
: Plague Rider. He almost yelped when his mobile phone rang. “What?” he snapped.
    “Simon? It’s Meg. Merri Lee and I need your permission to take some pictures. Ruth has a camera with one of those memory cards that holds pictures, and Lorne says he can print out the pictures from the computer in Three Ps.”
    He frowned. “Pictures of what?” She sounded . . . odd. Excited and scared. Like a young Wolf the first time he joined the pack to hunt bison.
    “Things in the sorting room, mostly. And maybe the area behind the office. It will help us do what you asked us to do.”
    “All right, but those pictures don’t leave the Courtyard.”
    “
Okay.” Meg hung up.
    “Meg, Merri Lee, Ruthie, and Lorne are going to take pictures,” he said in response to all the questioning looks.
    “Why?” Henry asked.
    “Part of understanding the
cassandra sangue
.” He continued before anyone had a chance to ask him what that meant. “The
terra indigene
need to find out if ‘Wolf lover’ is a term only used in Lakeside, or did the HFL movement create that brand to cause trouble throughout Thaisia?”
    “I told Grandfather Erebus about Meg’s prophecy,” Vlad said. “An order has already gone out to all the Sanguinati to report any ad for employment or rental property that includes NWLNA in the description. That should tell us if the term is local, regional, or has infected the entire continent. It should also give us an idea of which businesses are owned by members of the HFL movement.”
    “Not many Sanguinati in the Midwest and Northwest regions,” Henry said.
    “Not that many in the Southwest either,” Vlad replied. “We’re better suited tothe coasts and the larger human cities.” He looked at Simon. “I’ll give you a copy of the e-mail I sent to the Sanguinati. You can adjust the wording and send it on to the gards who keep watch over the other human places.”
    Simon nodded. He’d contact Joe and Jackson. They would spread the word among the Wolfgard.
    “By the way,” Vlad said. “Per Grandfather’s instructions, the Sanguinati will refer to humans who belong to the HFL movement as Venom Speakers.”
    “And who is supposed to explain to the Snakegard that it wasn’t meant as an insult to
them
?” Elliot grumbled.
    “I don’t think they’ll be offended, because the name is a warning to all
terra indigene
that the words these humans speak are dangerous and shouldn’t be dismissed.”
    “All right,” Simon said. “This is a start to identifying our enemies among the humans in every city. Any thoughts about the vegetable garden Meg saw in the visions?”
    Vlad told them about Kowalski and Ruthie being forced out of their new den and not being allowed to plant their share of the garden for food.
    “Then we’ll take care of our human pack, the true Wolf lovers,” Simon said. “We’ll offer them some of the bounty that can be found in the Courtyard. If they share the work, they can share the food.”
    “Food grows everywhere on this land,” Henry said. “Sharing the work would mean giving the human pack access to most of the Courtyard and its residents. Risky for us, and risky for them.”
    “Sharing the work doesn’t necessarily mean gathering the food or catching the meat,” Simon countered. “Humans preserve foods in jars and make things out of fruit that can be stored and eaten during the winter. The Intuits and the Simple Life folk have been doing that kind of trading for generations, and all of us benefited. Maybe the Wolf lovers are the next group of humans who should be helped, for our sake as well as for theirs.”
    He waited while the rest of the Others in the room thought about it.
    “We can expand the Green Complex garden to feed a couple of humans,” Henry said as Tess, Vlad, and Elliot nodded their agreement.
    “A dozen humans,” Simon said. “We’ll expand enough to feed a dozen humans. If they don’t like what we can offer, they