I struggled to push the pain away, but it clung to me, eating its way through my spine and toward my heart. Leif’s voice battered at my ears. He wanted something. Annoyed by his persistence, I transferred my attention to him for a moment. His energy flooded my body. We stopped the advance of pain, but we couldn’t conquer it. It was only a matter of time before our strength failed and we would lose the battle.

Moon Man’s resigned voice sounded in my mind. I can not leave you alone. What made you believe you could counter the power of the Kirakawa ritual on your own?

I didn’t—

Know? Think? Does it matter now?

Moon Man’s blue energy added to Leif’s and together the three of us banished the pain.

I reached for Stono and laid my hand on his smooth stomach. Go back, I instructed his soul. A tingling sting pulsed down my arm. When I felt his gasp for breath, I pulled my hand back.

Too exhausted to move, I fell asleep where I lay.

At one point a hand shook me into semiconsciousness.

“Theobroma?” Leif asked, his voice a distant call.

My tired thoughts slogged through a fog. “Pack,” I muttered.

“Where?”

Leif shook me again. I batted at his arms, but he wouldn’t stop.

“Where?”

“Backpack. In jungle. Snake.”

“I’ll go,” Chestnut said.

His retreating footsteps lulled me back to sleep.

I woke choking on a foul-tasting liquid. Coughing, I sat up and spit.

“You still need to drink the rest,” my father said.

He offered me a cup.

“What is it?” I clasped the mug. The green-colored contents smelled like swamp water.

“Soursop tea. Restores the body’s strength. Now drink.”

I grimaced and put the cup to my lips, but couldn’t produce the nerve to consume it.

Esau sighed. Blood and dirt matted his shoulder-length gray hair. He looked older than his fifty years. Weariness pulled at his broad shoulders. “Yelena, I would like to get home. And your mother must be having fits by now.”

Good point. Cringing at the rancid flavor, I gulped the tea. My raw throat burned as I swallowed the liquid, but, after a few moments, I felt more awake and energetic.

The sun loomed high in the sky and the clearing was empty. “Where is everyone?” I asked.

Esau grunted. “I’ll tell you on the way home.” He stood.

Spotting my backpack nearby, I checked through the contents before shouldering the pack. My bow rested on the ground next to a wide scorch mark. I hefted the weapon, running my hands along the ebony wood. It appeared to be unharmed. A nice surprise since, during the skirmish, I had thought the Fire Warper had reduced my bow to a pile of ash.

A hot flush of fear raced over my skin when I thought of the Fire Warper. I had never encountered magic like his. I had been completely unprepared to fight him, and I couldn’t think of anyone in Sitia who could match his power. But what about in Ixia? My thoughts turned to Valek. Would his immunity to magic save him from the Fire Warper’s flames? Or would he be consumed?

“Come on, Yelena,” Esau said.

I shook off my morbid thoughts and followed my father from the clearing. He set a quick pace, and, once I caught up to him, I asked him what had happened after I had fallen asleep.

He huffed in amusement. “Passed out, you mean?”

“I had just saved Stono’s life. And yours, too.”

Stopping, Esau grabbed me in a tight hug. “I know. You did good.”

He released me just as fast as he had seized me and continued through the jungle. I hurried after.

“The others?” I asked.

“You were asleep for a full day. We thought it best for Leif and Chestnut to take Stono and Barken back to the homestead. The Sandseeds and the other Ixian fellow never came back.”

I stopped. “They could be in trouble.”

“Two Sandseed warriors and a swordsman against three Daviians? I doubt it.”

“How about against three Vermin with Curare?”

“Ah, hell!” Esau spit. “I wish I had never discovered that foul substance!” He pounded his fists on his thighs. “I had hoped the supply they stole from the Sandseeds would be almost gone by now.”

“You extracted the drug from a vine in the jungle?”

“Yes.”

“So how do they know how to make more?” I wondered out loud.

“And where are they making it?” Esau glanced around. “Maybe in the jungle. I’m going to cut down every single Curare vine and burn it,” Esau vowed.

I put a hand on my father’s arm. “Remember why you searched for it. There re plenty of good uses. Our immediate concern should be for Moon Man and the others. I’m going to try to contact him.”

Gathering power, I projected my mind into the surrounding jungle. My awareness touched a variety of life. Valmurs swung through the tree canopy, birds perched on branches, and other small creatures scurried through the underbrush. But I couldn’t locate Moon Man’s cool thoughts.

Did the Vermin have him hidden behind a null shield? Was he dead? I searched for Tauno and Marrok, also to no avail.

My father said, “Let’s go home and figure out a way to find them. All of them, including the Curare-making Vermin.”

He reminded me of the other Vermin guards we had sprayed with the snake perfume. “We can question the Daviian guards. Are they at our homestead?”

Esau tugged on his stained tunic as if deciding how to tell me something unpleasant. “When you were picked up by that snake, the creature wasn’t happy to discover you weren’t a female snake. So in order for Chestnut to keep you from being devoured, he had to concentrate all his efforts on saving you.” He paused.