Lief swallowed, and for a moment wondered if he was still dreaming. But Prin was standing in front of him, large as life. Now he could see that she did have fur after all — a silken fuzz like fine brown moss. Her folded wings were covered with the same velvety stuff. He longed to stroke them, to see if they were as soft as they looked.
“Will you play with me, Lief?” asked Prin, twitching her whiskers and bouncing up and down on her toes. “Will you play hide-and-find?”
Lief realized then that she was very young. And of course she must be! Standing upright she only reached his shoulder. But fully grown Kin, he had been told, were so large that people in the old days, looking up and seeing them in the sky, had sometimes taken them for dragons and tried to shoot them down.
“Where is your family?” he asked, looking around. “Should you not ask —?”
“They are still dreaming!” said Prin scornfully. “They will not wake till long after the sun comes up. See?”
She pointed to what Lief had taken to be groups of huge rocks scattered among and beyond the trees. To his amazement, Lief saw that they were not rocks at all, but Kin, curled up so tightly that all that could be seen of them were their hunched backs.
“I am supposed to stay curled until they wake,” said Prin, lowering her voice. “But it is not fair. I have nothing interesting to dream of. I would rather play. Now — you hide and I will sing. I will not cheat, I promise! I will sing slowly, and I will close my ears as well as my eyes. Ready? Go!”
She put her paws over her eyes and began to sing.
“You can hide but I will find you,
My sharp eyes will seek you out …”
Lief quickly realized that the song was used by Kin children instead of counting. At the end of her song Prin would open her eyes and expect to find him gone. Not wishing to disappoint her, he ran away quickly and hid behind one of the trees in the thickest part of the grove.
It was not a very clever hiding place, but he did not want to stray far from where Jasmine and Barda were sleeping, and at least it would show the little Kin that he wanted to be friendly.
Flattening himself against the trunk of the tree, he smiled to himself as he listened to her voice squeaking on towards the end of the song.
“… You can hide but I will find you,
Flap your wings and you’ll be out!
You can hide but I will find you.
My sharp eyes will — oh!”
With a choking squeak the song broke off. There was a burst of loud, harsh laughter.
“Got it!” roared a voice. “Yo, help me! It’s putting up a fight.”
Horrified, Lief crept out from behind his tree and peered back to the spring. Two Grey Guards were bending over a struggling bundle on the ground. The bundle was Prin.
They had thrown a jacket over her head, and now were winding her round and around with rope.
“Give it a kick, Carn 4,” the second Guard growled. “That’ll teach it.”
Lief smothered a cry as Carn 4 kicked savagely and the bundle stilled.
Lief took a step forward, then jumped as a hand gripped his arm. It was Barda, his eyes swollen with sleep. Jasmine was right behind him.
“Come away, Lief,” Barda whispered under his breath. “They are going to rest and eat. We can be long gone by the time they are ready to leave.”
Lief shook his head violently, his eyes still fixed on the figures by the spring. “I cannot go,” he hissed. “I cannot let them kill my friend.”
He saw Barda and Jasmine exchange glances and knew that they must think he had lost his wits. “There is no time to explain. Where are the blisters?” he breathed. “Go and get them.”
Without a word Jasmine slipped away into the trees. She might think Lief was being foolish, but she was not going to let him face the Guards with only a sword to protect himself.
With Barda close behind him, Lief began moving closer to the spring, running from tree to tree until he was very near to where Prin was lying.
“Pig for breakfast,” Carn 4 was crowing. “Nothing better.”
“It’s not a pig,” the other one said. “Look at its feet.”
“It’s fat, whatever it is. It’ll be good eating.” Carn 4 straightened his back and went over to the spring, taking the cap off his water bottle.
“We smelled out this water just in time, Carn 5,” he called, tipping up the bottle and shaking it to show how empty it was.
Lief heard Barda draw a sharp breath. “They are members of the Carn pod,” Barda breathed. “Like …”
“I know,” Lief whispered in reply. “Like the Guards who caught us in Rithmere.”
His hand was slippery on the hilt of his sword. Did Carn 4 and 5 know or guess what had happened to their brothers in the Shifting Sands? Had they taken over where Carn 2 and Carn 8 had left off, to save their pod from disgrace?
Carn 5 strolled over to join his fellow at the spring, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. “This place stinks of ticks,” he complained.
Lief held his breath.
“Not ours, though.” Carn 4 bent to fill his bottle. “Our two and their friend went straight on. That big ugly one — the one they call Glock — he drags his feet. You can smell every step he takes. He didn’t come in here.”
Lief’s heart was thudding wildly. So Doom had released Glock and Neridah, as he had planned. Carn 4 and 5 must have been Glock and Neridah’s captors. Now they were pursuing them just as Carn 2 and Carn 8 had pursued Lief and his companions after their escape.
The Guards were both facing the spring. Now was the time to try to get Prin away. Lief glanced urgently over his shoulder. Where was Jasmine with the blisters?
“We’ll get them by nightfall,” Carn 5 said confidently, kneeling down beside Carn 4 and plunging his own water bottle into the water. “Them and whoever let them go. And won’t we make him sorry for himself?”
“We’ll have some fun with him,” the other agreed.
They both laughed and bent to drink, sucking and lapping noisily.
Lief knew he could not wait. He could not miss his chance. Ignoring Barda’s restraining hand on his arm, he darted into the open, seized the limp bundle that was Prin, and began dragging it away.
Afterwards, he cursed himself for his stupid thoughtlessness. He had just assumed that Prin was unconscious. But Prin was very much awake, lying motionless in an agony of fear. Feeling unknown hands upon her she squealed in terror.
Instantly the Guards leaped to their feet and whirled around, still swallowing the water in their mouths, their blisters and slings already in their dripping hands. They saw Lief bent over Prin. Snarling, they rushed towards them.
“Lief! Run!” Lief heard Barda roar, as the big man lunged forward trying to push him out of the way. But Lief was frozen to the spot. He was gaping in shock.
For the Guards were screaming. They were staggering, stopping. Their feet were sprouting roots that snaked into the earth, tying them in place. Their legs were drawing together, hardening into a solid trunk. Their bodies, arms, and necks were stretching towards the sky, and pale leaves were forcing their way through skin that was becoming smooth bark.
And in moments, two trees stood in their places. Two new trees for the grove — as silent, still, and perfect as all the others.
Jasmine came running, with Filli chattering in fear on her shoulder. “The rocks are coming alive!” she panted. “They are coming this way!”
Half an hour later, still dazed, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine were sitting among a group of huge Kin. Filli was staring, wide-eyed, at the great creatures. Prin, complaining bitterly, had been made to climb into her mother’s pouch.
“You must stay curled until we awake, Little One!” her mother scolded. “How many times have I told you? Now see what has happened. Those evil ones might have killed you!”