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.
“And that means…?”
“He lost control of the other snakes.”
“The guards are dead?”
“An unfortunate development, but there is an upside,” Esau said.
“Which is?”
“Now there are four very full necklace snakes who won’t be bothering the Zaltanas for a long while.”
I washed as much dried blood and sticky gore from my body as I could in the small stream flowing underneath my clan’s homestead. My mother would worry and fuss over my disheveled appearance despite the fact I would be standing before her safe and sound.
Climbing the ladder into the tree canopy, I mulled over recent events. There might be a group of Daviian Vermin working in the jungle, gathering vines and distilling Curare. I had no idea where Ferde and Cahil had gone or where my friends had disappeared to. And there was a Fire Warper on the loose who could possibly jump out of any campfire in Sitia. My life in Ixia as the Commander’s food taster sounded like a vacation in comparison.
Why had I wanted to leave Ixia? An order for my execution for being a magician had been one compelling reason to escape to Sitia. That and wanting to meet my family, whom I had no memories of until Moon Man unlocked them. Well, I’d met my parents and the execution order had been revoked. The thought of returning to Valek and Ixia tempted me.
I reached the top of the ladder and arrived into a small receiving room made of branches tied together. Esau hadn’t waited. The Zaltana guard stationed there informed me my father would meet me in my parents’ living quarters.
Walking toward their apartment, I marveled at the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the vast complex of living areas built above the jungle floor. The Zaltanas were resourceful and determined and stubborn. All traits I had been accused of possessing.
I wondered if those qualities would be enough to counter the Fire Warper. Did I have the experience or magical knowledge to find Moon Man, recapture Ferde and stop the Vermin from killing more people?
The daunting and overwhelming to-do list would not deter me from making the attempt or die trying. But how many would be hurt or killed in the process because of me?
CHAPTER 11
I NEVER REACHED my parents’ suite. My cousin Nutty intercepted me en route, relaying a message to go to the common room. She scrunched up her face and tsked over my ripped and stained clothes.
“I have a change in my pack,” I told her.
“Let’s see then.” She held out her long thin arms, waiting.
Knowing it was useless to argue with her, I opened my bag and showed her the other set of skirt/pants and cotton top she had sewn for me. I thought a lifetime’s worth of events had happened since then, but in reality it had only been two seasons.
Nutty examined the clothes with a dismayed purse to her full lips. “You’ll need some new ones. I’ll make them for you.” With a slight nod of farewell, she hopped up into the tree branches with the grace and speed of a valmur, disdaining the practical rope bridge.
“Oh, snake spit,” she called from above. “I’m supposed to fetch Uncle Esau and Aunt Perl.” She changed directions and disappeared through the trees.
I reached the common room. Oran, Violet, Chestnut and the two scouts stood together. My strong relief over the absence of a fire in the central pit alarmed me. If I was afraid of a simple hearth fire, what would I do when faced with the Fire Warper again? I avoided thinking about that scenario and focused my attention on the matter at hand.
When he saw me, Stono sat down. His face drained of color, and I worried he would faint. He muttered a thank-you to the floor, evading my gaze. Oran and Violet continued to question Chestnut on the necklace snakes.
Chestnut stammered and fidgeted. “I wanted to help.”
“You didn’t have our permission,” Oran said. “And now how many are dead?”
“Six,” Chestnut said in a quiet voice.
“Good for you, Chessie,” Stono said. “I wish you had killed them all. Pulled out their guts and strangled them with it!” Stono s eyes lit with murderous intensity.
The elders rounded on Stono. Shock mirrored on their faces.
Violet recovered first. “Stono, you’ve had a difficult time. Why don’t you go and get some rest,” she ordered.
He stood on trembling legs and shuffled a few steps, but paused next to me.
“I’ll kill the snake that tried to eat you if you want,” he whispered in my ear. “Let me know what I can kill for you.”
I turned to protest, but he moved away.
“What did he say?” Oran asked.
What, indeed? An offer of revenge on a snake or something more disturbing. “He said he would like to help me.”
“Not without our permission.” Oran puffed up his chest with importance.
“You can’t just use our clan members as your personal army. Taking Chestnut into an unknown, dangerous situation that could have killed him was wrong.”
I had had enough of Oran Cinchona Zaltana. Stepping close to him, I said, “Could have, but didn’t. If we had waited for your permission, you would have lost three clan members. And I wouldn’t debate too long on how you’re going to search for a possible nest of Vermin living in your jungle. If you wait too long, they’re liable to multiply.”
“What are you talking about?” Violet asked.
It was then that Esau and Perl joined us. Having heard my warning, Mother touched her throat, and my father’s grim expression deepened.
“Father, could you inform the elders about the potential threat? I have other business to attend to,” I said.
“Where are you going?” Perl asked.
“To find my friends.”
I found Leif in our parents’ quarters. He was sound asleep on the couch and it occurred to me that I didn’t know if he had his own rooms within the Zaltana homestead. Esau had knocked down the wall to Leif’s room to expand his work area. Unwilling to bother my brother, I tiptoed past him and went up to my room. Soon the sun would set and I wanted to fly with the bats.
Lying down on my narrow bed, I felt sleep pull at me. I resisted, thinking of Moon Man. He had helped me and Leif in healing Stono. Perhaps the effort had exhausted him and rendered him unable to respond to my search.
As the light dimmed, I drew magic from the power source and projected my mind into the jungle. Finding the collective consciousness of the bats, I joined in their nightly hunt for food.
I floated from one bat to another, sensing the space below and around. On the lookout for any fires or signs of people, I coasted through the air, feeling the sun leave the sky. I wondered how the bats could know the size and shapes of their surroundings without seeing them. Was it a skill I could learn? My magic let me feel living beings, but I couldn’t sense anything from the lifeless objects in my path.
The bats invaded every section of the Illiais Jungle. Nestled below the Daviian Plateau, the jungle wasn’t large. Two days of hard walking would see a person from one end to the other. The Illiais Market marked the western border of the jungle. A few bats swooped close to the market campfires, but they avoided the gritty air and noisy crowds of people.
I pulled my awareness back. Having found no physical signs of Moon Man or the others in the jungle, I decided Leif and I would travel to the market tomorrow. The market was the rendezvous location we had set back on the plateau. If Moon Man followed the Vermin from the jungle, he would eventually look for us there. I hoped.