Tayan shrugged. ‘Dakto told me. He asked which direction I’d come from and said he’d check my backtrail.’ He stared around. ‘Isn’t he back yet?’

Lilla swore. ‘How many times do I have to tell him not to wander off on his own this close to the border? Come on, we better find him.’

The war party was scattered into its Paws over half a stick to cover more ground and to better filter through the thick tangle of jungle. By the time they’d all confirmed Dakto wasn’t with them, the Xenti had been missing for two hours and the light was failing.

‘We’re supposed to head east tomorrow, Fang, to link up with the next war party,’ Lutek said into the worried quiet. ‘Dakto knows that; if he can, he’ll catch us up, but we can’t miss that meeting for the sake of a single warrior.’

Tayan shivered, but no one contradicted her.

Lilla grunted and then nodded. ‘Pass the word. We go now and we don’t stop until midnight.’

They didn’t make it to midnight.

In the dark, fewer than five sticks further on, arrows and darts cut into them from both sides, from below and above and seemingly everywhere. Out of the trees; out of the ground. Out of the black.

There were screams and over them the unmistakable lilt of a Pechaqueh war cry and Lilla threw Tayan into the mud and crouched over him, shouting orders to fan out, press on at the front, fall back at the rear. Split up, get out of the ambush site, then take them from two sides. He jerked and grunted, swore viciously, and cold flooded Tayan. He scrambled up and peered around, squinting, but it was impossible to see anything in the dark. Impossible for him, anyway.

Lilla pushed him into the mud again and an arrow whickered by overhead. ‘Stay,’ he growled and was gone, lunging into the blackness. Tayan lay on the trail for a frenzied eternity as screams and curses and thumps shattered around him, and then he rolled onto his hands and knees. He couldn’t just stay here. He’d find Lilla.

Someone grabbed him around the neck before he’d moved far and he swung blindly at them. ‘It’s me. Lutek. Follow me and stay low.’

A body dropped next to him, coughing and clawing at the dart sticking out of their throat. An awful bubbling scream shuddered out of them and Tayan jerked forwards on instinct. He was a shaman; he could help.

Lutek grabbed a fistful of his grubby tunic and dragged him backwards. ‘Now,’ she growled in his ear. ‘Fang’s orders.’

‘What?’

‘Lilla says to get you out. So move.’

‘Where is he? Is he all right?’ Tayan babbled, struggling. Lutek transferred her grip to around his chest and wrestled him away. Into the night. Into the black.

Away from Lilla.

ENET