“I’m sorry to say all is not well. Uruku has commandeered most of the fields and forced my brothers and the field hands to work them from dawn until dusk. They’ve raided our supplies. All my mother’s tinctures.”

“Wait. All of them?” I asked.

“Yes. Shep says nothing is left.” He looked at me grimly.

“Well, then I cannot mix a poison!”

“I know.” He set his lips. “We’ll have to get some elsewhere. And Rish—”

From the direction of the house, I heard a plaintive cry, and a chill ran down my arms. “What’s wrong? Is he ill?”

“He’s been wounded. And it doesn’t look good.”

“Your ummum couldn’t heal him?”

He shook his head, his throat bobbing. “She can’t because she has been taken by the guardsmen to the Palace for some untold reason. Shep told me they came a couple weeks ago. That’s how Rish got hurt. Trying to protect her.”

“Oh Dagan, no.” I caught his big hands between mine. “Can I go to him? To look at his wound, at least? Are the guards there?”

“No. They’ve just left. They come back in the dawn, Shep says.” He stared morosely over the fields he used to work daily.

“Well, let’s go! I can heal him. And we can determine where we can get more tinctures and a safe place to camp until we take back our city.” I tugged my healing satchel up on my shoulders. “Come on. Nanaea, stay with me.”

Rish, a round-cheeked boy of eight years, stood in the common room, clutching a forearm that was slashed from elbow to wrist. Shep, just a year younger than Dagan, stood next to Rish, rubbing his head. “We tried to sew it up, but…” He let his voice trail away.

Nanaea pulled both of them into tight hugs, Rish wincing when she brushed against his wound.

“Let’s sit.” Dagan’s voice was hoarse, anxiety twisting his features as we crossed over the threshold and closed the door quietly behind us. “We don’t have long.”

We formed a tight circle, Shep’s and Dagan’s eyes roving the room, ears perked up like a dog’s.

“Are Marduk and Qishti asleep? And the field hands?” I asked.

Dagan patted the ground next to him for Rish. “Yes, they’re in their beds, thank Selu.”

Shep spoke. “I sent the field hands home. The guardsmen are working all of us hard and taking most of the crop. We still have enough to trade and eat, but you’d barely believe Marduk is fourteen from his face.” His voice took on an edge. “He looks as though he’s aged five years. And Qishti. He was always skinny as a stalk, but now his tunics hang on his frame. He’s starving himself out of worry for our ummum.”

Rish patted his pudgy tummy. “I’m still eating good.”

Dagan’s worried eyes filled with warmth. “You are, little man. For that, I am grateful. You eat your fill. You don’t need to worry, because big brother is here to take care of you.” He pulled Rish, entirely too big for such doings, onto his lap, and Rish settled back into his thick chest.