sign of the Daviians. The rhythm of climbing from tree to tree combined with the
steady pulse of the jungle’s undisturbed life force. When an out-of-tune presence
plucked at my senses, my energies focused on the distant ripple. Engrossed, I
concentrated on discovering the source. A man in the tree canopy. Before I could
determine if he was friend or foe, my left hand grasped a smooth and pliant branch.
Surprised, I jerked my awareness back and my mind connected with a hunter lurking
in the trees.
The leaves rustled with movement. The terrifying rasp of a stirring snake
surrounded me. The limb under my feet softened. I scrambled for a solid branch,
and touched nothing but the snake’s dry coils. The necklace snake’s coloring
blended with the jungle’s greenery so well that I couldn’t determine where the rest of
it lay.
I closed my eyes and projected into the snake’s mind. It had looped part of its
body between two branches, creating a flat net now closing around me. Pulling my
switchblade from my pocket, I triggered the blade.
When the heavy coils of the snake dropped onto my shoulders, I knew I had
mere seconds before the predator would wrap around my throat like a necklace and
choke me to death. I sensed satisfaction from the snake as it moved to tighten its
hold.
I stabbed my knife into the snake’s thick body. Would the Curare on the blade
affect the creature? Mild pain from the thrust registered in the snake’s mind, but it
considered the wound minor.
The snake contracted around me, trapping my legs and left arm. I realized the
necklace snake held me aloft. If I cut through its coils, I would plummet to the
ground.
Another loop brushed my face as the snake tried to encircle my neck. I pushed it
away with my free arm. A coil slid up my back.
Deciding the odds of surviving a fall were better than dying by strangulation, I
stabbed my blade in the nearest coil with the intention of sawing through it. Before I
applied more pressure, the creature stopped.
Perhaps Curare had paralyzed the snake. I pulled the blade out and the snake
resumed its tightening. The Curare hadn’t worked. But when I reinserted the knife,
the creature paused. Odd. I must have found a vulnerable area. We were at an
impasse.
Through my link with its mind, I sensed the snake’s hunger warring with its desire
to live. I tried to control the predator’s will, but our minds were too incompatible.
Even though I could feel its intentions, I couldn’t direct its movements.
I wanted to avoid killing the snake, but I could see no other way. Once dead, I
should be able to cut my way back into the trees.
“Hello. Is someone in there?” a man’s voice asked.
My struggle with the snake had seized all my attention. Cursing myself for
forgetting the man, I directed my mind into the tree canopy and encountered the
well-protected thoughts of another magician. But Warper or Story Weaver, I
couldn’t tell.
“Has the snake got your tongue?” He laughed at his own joke. “I know you’re
there. I felt your power. If you don’t belong in the jungle, I’ll gladly let the snakes
have you for dinner.”
“Snakes?” I asked. His speech patterns sounded familiar. Not Daviian. Not
Sandseed. I hoped Zaltana.
“Your necklace snake has sent a call for help. You might kill this one and
untangle yourself, but by then its kin will be here to finish the job.”
I scanned the jungle canopy and, sure enough, I felt five other snakes moving
toward me.
“What if I do belong in the jungle?” I asked.
“Then I’ll help you. But you’d better make a strong case. Strange things have
been happening lately.”
I thought fast. “I’m Yelena Liana Zaltana. Daughter of Esau and Perl and sister to
Leif.”
“Common knowledge. You have to do better.”
Soul mate to Valek, the scourge of Sitia, I thought, but knew that wouldn’t help
my case. I searched my mind for a bit of information only the Zaltanas knew. The
problem was, since I had been raised in Ixia, I knew only a few things about my lost
clan.
“I could send you on a wild-valmur chase, but wouldn’t it be easier if I gave you
a piece of sap candy?” I held my breath, waiting.
Just when I was convinced I would have to cut my way out of the snake before
its brothers arrived, a low drumbeat throbbed. More beats followed. The vibrations
pulsed through the snake.
The snake relaxed. A gap appeared above my head and a green painted face
smiled down at me.
He extended his hand, which was also camouflaged. “Grab on.”
I clasped his wrist. He pulled me from the snake’s net and onto a solid branch.
Relief puddled in my knees and I had to sit down.
The man’s clothes matched the jungle’s colors and patterns. He placed a leather
drum on the branch and played another song. The snake unraveled and disappeared
into the jungle.
“That should hold them off for a while,” he said.
From his clothes and dyed-olive hair color, I knew the man had to be a Zaltana. I
thanked him for helping me.
His answering nod reminded me of someone. “Who are you?” I asked.
“Your cousin, Chestnut. I was out on patrol when you were here the last time so
I didn’t get a chance to meet you.”
After living in Ixia for fourteen years, I had finally returned to a home I hadn’t
known existed. It had been such an emotional whirlwind, and I had met so many
cousins, aunts and uncles it was unlikely I would have remembered him even if I had
been introduced to him.
Seeing no sign of recognition on my face, he added, “I’m one of Nutty’s
brothers.”
Nutty’s stories about her siblings had been humorous and I remembered a game I
used to play with her against her brothers before my kidnapping.
“How did you control the snake?” I asked.
“I’m a snake charmer,” he said as if the title explained everything. But when I
failed to respond, he said, “It’s part of my magic. The necklace snakes are very hard
to spot. Not only do they blend in so well, but also they mask their life energy. Even
if you’re able to sense the other jungle animals you probably wouldn’t feel the
snakes. Not until it was too late.” He rubbed his hands together in appreciation.
“They usually hunt alone, but if one gets into trouble it can call to the others with a
low sound we can’t hear. My magic allows me to locate the snakes and hear their
calls. And my drum is my way to talk to them. It doesn’t work on the other
animals.” He shrugged. “But I keep the snakes away from our homestead.”
“You were out on patrol when you heard my snake?” Funny how I had become
possessive of the creature that had tried to squash and eat me.
“Yes. Although, when I left this morning, I had hoped to find more than snakes.”
He gave me an odd look. “I guess I just did. Why are you here, Yelena?”
“I’m following a group of people who had been living in the plateau,” I said.
“They came through here. Has anyone seen them?” But what I really wanted to ask
was had they attacked the clan? Were my mother and father okay?
“Seen? No. Strangers are in the jungle, but we can’t find them and…” He paused,
probably considering what information he should divulge. “Perhaps it would be best
for you to talk to our clan elders. Are you alone?”
“No. My brother and some Sandseeds are traveling with me.”
“In the trees?”
“On the ground.” I told Chestnut about the attack and how I had been acting as a
scout for our group.
Chestnut accompanied me to the Zaltana homestead. It contained a vast network
of living, sleeping and cooking areas connected by bridges and suspended above the
ground. Hidden by the thick jungle vegetation, the homestead was hard to find, but
once inside the complex, I continued to be amazed the tree canopy could
camouflage such a collection of rooms.
Built of wood, the floors of the buildings were anchored to wide branches. Ivy
grew on the outside of all the walls to hide their shape. Almost all of the furniture
was constructed of wood, and rope hammocks provided comfortable places to
sleep. Handcrafts made of jungle items like seeds and sticks decorated the various
rooms, including animal sculptures created by colored pebbles glued together.
The main throughway of the homestead tended to be common areas of each of
the families within the clan. The living and sleeping quarters branched off from the
public rooms.
Besides being extensive, the homestead was also well defended. The Zaltana
magicians kept a vigilant watch for any strangers.
After our arrival, Chestnut hurried to find the clan elders and I scanned the path
back to Moon Man. Once I was certain that the way was clear, I made contact with
the Story Weaver’s mind.
Come, I told him. Come quickly.
We are on the way, he replied.
I raced to my parents’ suite. A few surprised glances and quizzical calls followed
me as I dashed toward the Liana quarters, but I ignored them.
My mother, Perl, paced the living room. The air smelled like ginger and
cinnamon, but her perfume distillery set up on the long table against the back wall
appeared to be empty.
“Yelena!”
She flew into my arms. A few inches shorter than me, the slender woman
clutched me as if to keep from falling.
“Mother. What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Esau,” she said, and cried.
I suppressed the urge to shake her as she sobbed in my arms. Instead, I waited
for the flow of tears to subside before I pulled her away and looked into her light
green eyes. “What about Father?”
“He’s missing.”
I RESISTED THE URGE to use magic to calm my mother. Many horrible
scenarios played in my mind before she settled enough to tell me the details. My
father had been expected back from an expedition yesterday and had failed to return.
“There was a clan meeting,” Perl said between sobs. “A couple of scouts had
gotten lost, and he went to find them.”
“Lost scouts?”
She gave me a watery smile. “Some of the newer ones will lose their way. Esau
always finds them. No one knows the jungle as well as he does.”
“Maybe one of the scouts was hurt,” I said, hoping to calm her and to stop
myself from imagining Esau being a victim of the Kirakawa ritual. “Why was he
expected yesterday?”
“Another clan meeting. The jungle creatures have been restless and disturbed and
we can’t pinpoint why. When the two scouts failed to return, the clan decided
everyone should stay close to our homestead. Each night we gather in the common
room to make sure everyone is safe. Esau was only supposed to be gone a few
hours.” Tears tracked down her cheeks.
Her face reflected the hours of worry and fear. Her long hair had more gray than
black. I couldn’t leave her alone, yet I needed more information.
“I have to talk with the clan elders,” I said. “You can come along only if you
promise not to get too upset.”
She agreed, but uncertainty filled her eyes. Her hand went to her throat. Maybe
taking her with me was a bad idea. Perhaps Nutty could stay with her?
Perl stiffened as if with a sudden realization. “Wait,” she said before bolting
toward the lift.
As I watched her pull the ropes and ascend to the second floor of the apartment,
my heart filled with dread. Esau had invented that lift, using vines from the jungle and
a pulley system. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if anything happened to him.
Panic made me fidget, and just as I was about to call out to Perl to hurry, the lift
moved. My mother had splashed water on her face and had tied her hair back. She
also wore my fire amulet around her neck. I smiled.
“For strength,” she said, and she met my gaze. This time only stubborn resolve
radiated from her. “Let’s go.”
I thought about the fire amulet as we made our way to the homestead’s meeting
room. Winning an acrobatic contest during an Ixian fire festival, I had achieved a
moment of pure joy in the midst of hell. Reyad—one of my captors, the first man
I’d killed—had tried to keep me from participating, and I was severely punished for
my disobedience, but I knew I would do it again. I now realized the stubborn streak
from both my parents had kept me fighting despite Mogkan and Reyad’s efforts to