After a few minutes, a thin figure half Noak’s size joined him. But he dashed past the large tribesman and headed straight for me. I glimpsed his face before he almost knocked me over as he wrapped his arms around me with rib-crushing strength.

“Danny!” Heedless of my ribs, I hugged him tight.

He squeezed harder and I gasped, “Can’t breathe.”

Danny let go and pulled back. “Sorry, but I didn’t quite believe Kerrick when he said you were alive until I saw you.”

“If you knew about Avry, why didn’t you tell Noak?” Ryne asked.

“’Cause I gave my word to Kerrick not to tell anyone. Is he here?”

Danny bounced on the balls of his feet as he glanced around, but he spotted the monkeys and they pounced on him. They ruffled his shaggy black hair and slapped him on the back. The boy had grown a foot since I’d last seen him over seven months ago.

Ryne dismissed the guards, ordering them to return to their positions. He invited Noak to join him to discuss strategy. Understanding the hint, the monkeys led Danny over to the main fire to catch up on the news. I trailed after, noticing that Noak kept an eye on his little brother and on me. When my gaze met his, a chill raced up my spine.

Danny recounted his adventures with the tribe. Most of the stories we’d heard from Kerrick, but it was fun hearing Danny’s side of the story. We ate our supper as we listened.

“...I got this funny, twisty feeling in my guts and I knew I needed to touch Kerrick, but he stopped me and told me to wait. We experimented later and—” Danny pulled up the sleeve on his right arm and pointed to a tiny scar near his elbow “—that’s my first scar. It’s Kerrick’s.”

We exclaimed over the faint line. Encouraged, Danny continued his tale. “...and after Kerrick left, I stayed and helped them. They were real sick.”

“Were?” I asked.

A huge smile spread on Danny’s face. “I healed them, Avry! I figured it out with your journal and with Rakel’s help, we cured them.”

“That’s wonderful. What ailed them?”

“They’d been eating cloovit leaves and slowly poisoning themselves.”

“Why would they eat cloovit?” Quain asked. “Everyone knows—”

“They don’t. It resembled a rare plant that grows in the Vilde Lander. One that is considered a delicacy.”

“How did you figure it out?” I asked.

Danny launched into a story about how he tried to treat the symptoms by finding herbs that might work. “Then I’m walking through the town and there’s this lady with an armful of cloovit leaves. I felt like a lightning bolt had just struck me. Then I felt like an idiot for not thinking of it before.”