Fire Study
Page 23

“It has to be the Daviians,” I said. “We have to rescue them before they can do any part of the Kirakawa ritual.”
“Let’s go.” Leif held his machete tightly, a fierce countenance on his square face.
“You do not know for sure if the Vermin have your father,” Moon Man said. “Or where they are. Or how many Warpers there are. Or how well defended they may be.” The words tumbled out in a rush. Moon Man’s eyebrows pinched together, reflecting his obvious discomfort with being surrounded by walls.
“All right, Mr. Logic. How do you propose we get this information?” I asked.
“Marrok and Tauno will search for trail signs and report back.”
“Where?” I asked.
“To the east.”
“And stumble into the same ambush as my father? They’ll be caught and killed,” I countered. “It’s too risky to send people out there. The jungle is the perfect setting for ambushes. Unless—” A sudden idea circled in my mind. I thought it over, looking for any holes. If the Daviians hid behind a null shield, no magic could pierce it, but mundane physical things like sound and light would.
“Unless,” Leif prompted.
“Unless we could get a bird’s-eye view,” I said.
“They probably have men stationed in the trees,” Marrok said. “Isn’t that how the scouts would have been captured?”
“Actually I was being literal. I could link with one of the birds in the jungle and see out through its eyes.”
“You will not see much during the daytime,” Moon Man said. “The Vermin will be well camouflaged. In the night, they will need a small fire and the moon to perform even the first level of the Kirakawa ritual.”
A cold wave of dread washed over me. “The moon rose last night.”
“Too soon. They need time to properly prepare themselves.”
“For someone who claims the old rituals have been lost, you certainly know a lot about them,” Marrok said. Accusation laced his voice.
“The specifics of the ritual have been forgotten, but some knowledge about them has been included in our teaching stories,” Moon Man replied, meeting Marrok’s stare. “It keeps us from making the same mistakes over and over and over again.”
A warning to Marrok or just cryptic Story Weaver advice, I couldn’t tell. Marrok rubbed his healed cheek. He tended to stroke the spot whenever he was upset or frightened. The wounds from Cahil’s beating went deeper than shattered bone fragments. Broken trust was harder to fix than bones. I wondered if Marrok would change his opinion about Moon Man if he knew the Sandseed had helped repair his injuries.
“Can a bird see at night?” Leif asked, bringing our attention back to the problem at hand.
“There’ll be light from the fire,” Marrok said.
“But what about guards in the trees or outside the firelight?” Tauno asked. “We need to know how many Vermin are there.”
I considered the difficulties and a solution flew into my mind. “Bats.”
Tauno hunched over. “Where?”
“I’ll link with the bats to find the Vermin. Their fire should attract insects the bats like to eat,” I said.
“Can we afford to wait until dark?” Leif asked. “What if Yelena can’t locate them with the bats? Then we will have wasted time that could have been spent searching for Father.”
“Yelena will find them,” my mother said. She had kept her promise and controlled her emotions during our discussion. Her confidence in me was heart-warming, but I still worried. Three lives were at stake.
“What happens when we find the Vermin?” Marrok asked.
“An army of Zaltanas could capture them,” Leif said.
“That might or might not work,” Moon Man said. “It will depend on how many Warpers they have with them.”
“No. It’s too risky.” Oran Zaltana broke the silence he had held during our discussion. “I won’t send clan members until we know what and who we’re dealing with.”
I glanced at the floor beneath the ceiling’s smoke hole. The patch of sunlight had shifted. It would be dusk in a couple hours. “Let’s find the Vermin first and determine their strength. Everyone else should eat and rest. It might be a long night.”
When we filed out of the common room, Chestnut touched my arm. He had stood apart from our group as we talked. His dark brown eyes showed concern. “Esau is my favorite uncle. Let me know if I can help.”
“I will.” I followed Leif and Perl back to her apartment. She made us sit down on the couch Esau had built from vines. The leaves in the cushions crackled under my weight. Perl went into the kitchen and fetched a tray of food and tea. Our mother hovered over us until we ate. I pushed the fruit and cold meat past my numb lips and chewed without tasting.
Eventually fatigue from climbing through the jungle caught up to me and I dozed on the couch. Nightmares about serpents coiling around my body plagued my sleep as they hissed in my ear.
“—wake up. It’s getting dark,” Leif whispered.
I blinked in the gray light. Perl, curled in a ball, dozed on one of the armchairs. Moon Man stood near the door to the apartment.
I woke my mother. “Can you fetch the clan elders? We’ll need to make plans once I’ve found Esau.”
She hurried out the door.
“Where do you want to go?” Leif asked.