"I think there's just been a misunderstanding," Uzca told the men threatening them.

The first man with the black mask with white rings around the eyes responded with a shake of his short spear.

"No misunderstanding. You are here in our forest without permission. Who are you, and why are you here?"

Uzca didn't know how to de-escalate the situation in the most beneficial way, so instead, he cooperated. There were four armed men, but trying to take them down would be a losing proposition when they were already surrounded. Besides, Bezben was still panting from his training.

"I am Uzca, son of Renza, and this is my cousin Bezben, son of Menza. I apologize for our trespassing. I didn't realize we weren't allowed off the road."

That wasn't strictly true, but he had never expected to be caught. What were the chances of a patrol of Laka-uni tribespeople in this random patch of huge forest?

"You are allowed off the road, but you are far from the road. What were you doing here?"

"Practicing. My cousin is new to the spear and wanted to practice away from the prying eyes of our caravan."

The apparent leader considered his words until another man in the group spoke up.

"I smell magic in the air, Bonto."

The leader, Bonto, sharpened his gaze on them.

"Are you mages?"

"No!" Uzca said a little too quickly. "But we're traveling with a mage," he hastily added.

"Hmm. That is a pity. We have need of a mage."

Uzca blinked in surprise. He assumed he was going to be in trouble, but this might actually be an opportunity to extend a hand to another culture.

"What do you need? We're friends with a mage and could bring him to help. Our caravan is departing in the morning, though."

The man eyed him suspiciously. "That is a convenient thing. I am not sure I trust it, but desperate times call for some risk. Go, get your mage, and we will see about forgiving your trespass."

The cousins turned to leave.

"Wait!"

The tribesmen lowered their spears again, and Uzca held up his hands.

"Only you go," Bonto said, pointing at Uzca. "We may require payment for use of our forest if your trespass is not forgiven. Until you can repay with help, we will hold this one here."

Uzca glanced at Bezben, who reluctantly dropped his spear again and nodded to Uzca.

"I'll be fine, cousin. Go get Thad."

He nodded and headed back toward the caravan. Fortunately, they hadn't traveled very far. When he got back, he was lucky to find Thad asleep near the remnants of their fire. The mage snored softly. The rest of the camp had winded down, and most of the fires were burning low. Only a few remained up to watch, but they focused on the road north and south next to the camp. They weren't watching the forest's edge.

"Thad!" he whispered. "Thad! Wake up."

"Huh! Wha?"

"Shhhh! We need help."

Thad groaned and wiped his face, keeping relatively quiet.

"What's wrong?"

Uzca told him about the practice session and the surprise visit from the Laka-uni.

"They need a mage? Huh, I guess we should go then. I wouldn't worry too much about trespassing. Unless you were hunting or cutting down trees, they would probably just ask for a mark as a fine."

Uzca didn't really want to pay an entire mark because he had walked into the forest, but he guessed that's what he deserved. He had been warned, after all.

The moon was high overhead when they got back to the clearing. Bezben sat on the ground, flanked by two of the tribesmen. He looked fine and had caught his breath again, so Uzca wasn't worried about him.

"Bonto, was it? This is my friend, Thad. He is a mage."

Thad stepped forward and made a quick bow. "I am indeed Thad, Mage of the First Circle. How can I help out you fine folks this evening?"

Bonto glanced back over at the man who said he had smelled magic. The man sniffed the air a few times and cocked his head in confusion, his mask nearly tipping off his face. After a moment, he shrugged and nodded.

"What is it?"

"Nothing...I just smell more magic than I should. This is definitely a mage, though."

"Hmm. Greetings, Thad. I am Bonto, the fourth elder of the Laka-uni Tribe. Do you know any healing magic? One of our number has an infection."

Thad held up his spellbook and tapped the cover. "I have just the thing. Lead the way!"

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The tribesmen looked less suspicious of Uzca and Bezben now that they had Thad in tow, and no one watched them as they followed the tribesmen through the woods.

Bonto and his fellows moved through the forest like they knew every leaf. Their forms seemed to slide around the trees and move through the bushes without disturbing anything. Uzca snapped the occasional stick and had plenty of branches catch on his jerkin. Bezben didn't seem to care and plowed through the bushes, stepping on anything that happened to get in his way.

Thad moved through the forest like it was a patch of prickly vines. His robes constantly snagged, and he seemed to push the brush along under his feet, creating even more noise. A couple of the Laka-uni looked back in curiosity but otherwise ignored their collective ineptitude.

"Oh wow."

Before Uzca, the forest suddenly fell away, revealing the Laka-uni village. Instead of the huts and log houses that Uzca had expected for this climate, the Laka-uni lived in the trees. Huge homes made from roughly split wood were attached high up in the trees, and bridges of wood and rope spanned between them, creating a massive network above the forest floor.

The forest floor, for its part, was cleared of brush and extra plants. Split timber fences boxed in a herd of deer and some other animals Uzca had never seen. There were chickens asleep in a penned area, and he spotted the occasional dog curled up for the evening.

"Welcome to Laka-uni village," Bonto said. "We would show you more hospitality as it is not often we get visitors to our inner village, but it is late, and most of our people will be asleep. Come, we're heading to the infirmary."

To both Uzca and Bezben's disappointment, the infirmary was built on ground level on the far side of the village, so they didn't get to explore the tree houses. The infirmary was a long, stout building with small windows that they could see a faint light coming out of but were otherwise opaque.

"When one of our number is injured or sick, we bring them here. Our tribal doctors have herbs and poultices for a great deal of illnesses and injuries, but this one has proved beyond their capability."

Bonto turned to face them and held up a finger.

"Be respectful! These people are at their worst, but they do not deserve pity or judgment. You two may come in with your friend, but you should remain quiet and respectful."

Uzca nodded and elbowed Bezben, so the young man nodded too.

Bonto led Uzca's group inside while the rest of the Laka-uni they were with stayed outside, watching the door.

The inside of the infirmary was much as Uzca might have imagined based on his own village's small sick house. Their sick house only had two beds as it was rare for two people to get sick at the same time in the mountains, but here they had a dozen. He could only see five beds with people; the rest had curtains drawn, hiding anyone inside. Small oil lamps burned near the entrance and by one bed in particular.

Two Laka-uni healers were mixing up a concoction and making a patient comfortable.

"Kono, Ya-uni, I have found a mage traveling the road. He has agreed to help us."

The healers looked up at their names. They didn't say anything to Bonto. They simply rose to their feet and moved away from the patient.

A man lay on the bed, his chest barely rising and falling. His skin was ashen, almost gray, and a sheen of sweat covered his body.

Thad kneeled next to the bed and examined him.

"Do you know how he became ill?"

"Yes. He was attacked on an expedition to the north. He took a worrying blow to his midsection. We treated it for infection after the attack, and he didn't get sick until we arrived back in the village about a week later. This was two weeks ago now."

"Two weeks...hmm."

Thad touched the man's neck and wrist, counting to himself. He looked at the man's scalp."

"Can I see the wound?"

"It is necessary?" Bento asked, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

Uzca didn't know if the man was squeamish or if there was some taboo against it in their culture. He wouldn't put money on the first idea; the man had the look of a hardened warrior.

"It is. There are dozens of healing spells for all manner of maladies within my spellbook, but healing is hard, incredibly so. I will only be able to use one or two healing spells, so it would be best if I had an idea of what is happening."

Bonto nodded slowly. "Very well."

The two healers came back over, performing some sort of brief and silent ritual. Once they finished their voiceless ritual miming, they carefully folded back the blanket. A massive wrap covered the man's stomach. The cloth was white, except in the center, where it was slowly turning grey.

Uzca's stomach clenched involuntarily. Blood didn't look like that. Bezben turned around, clearly uncomfortable. Thad merely held a hand to his chin, deep in thought, as he watched the healers work.

With slow, methodical movements, the healers cut away the bandage and pulled it aside. The first thing Uzca noticed wasn't the massive gash across the man's stomach, though that turned his own stomach. It wasn't the ragged edges of the wound, though they made him think of jagged claws and the ripping and tearing of wild beasts. It wasn't even the grey, rotting flesh that they had revealed, though that was undoubtedly part of it.

No, the first thing Uzca noticed was the smell.

Uzca spent a great deal of his life around the forge. Those smells were sharp, metallic, sulfurous, and often unpleasant. None of them compared to the stench of rancid death that the grizzly gray wound produced. Without any conscious thought, he took a single step back. Bezben had retreated even farther, standing by the door.

Thad, amazingly, didn't seem to mind the smell. He bent over the man, his face inches from the most horrific thing Uzca had ever seen.

"This was caused by a ghoul?"

Bonto nodded grimly. "Our expedition took us far to the north. We came too close to the Valley of the Damned."

Uzca couldn't exactly read the expression that crossed Thad's face, but it was a sour kind of look.

"Well. I'm afraid I can't do anything for this wound—not as it is. The best I can do is help make him comfortable."

Bonto's head fell.

"I had hoped...I have seen wounds like this before. Mages from Amailesh cured the taint."

Thad nodded. "This isn't just damage or infection. It's a magical curse. Its origins are rooted in divinity, and only divine intervention has any hope of curing it. The mages from the City of Gold were undoubtedly priests of the Living God, blessed with his power. They can drive away a curse like this."

"So we need to take him to Amailesh?" Bonto asked with a faintly hopeful expression.

Thad grimaced. "I'm afraid not. This infection is in the final stages. You'd never make it to the city."

"So there's nothing to be done?"

"Not unless you have a connection to your own gods and can call upon them for divine aid."

"Our gods are long dead, like the rest."

"Your gods are dead?" Uzca asked.

"They are..." Bonto said, confusion in his voice. "The gods have been dead for hundreds of years."

"Legends say that when the destruction of Old Livia came, all the old gods died to preserve the rest of the world," Thad explained. "The Living God ascended after the old gods fell. I'm not sure I believe the tale, and besides, there are the gods of the Highlanders...wait. Can you speak to your gods?"

Bonto turned sharply. "You are Highlanders? Yes...I see it now. You both have the look. That magic that Gafee smelled, you two are what they call god touched?"

Just hearing the term brought on a feeling of being pushed into a category, a grouping. Whether or not it was bad depended on the person saying it, but it still made the hair on Uzca's neck rise. "What if we are?"

Bonto said nothing, but Thad was happy to jump in.

"It doesn't matter right now. Can you call upon your gods? We need divine intervention to heal this man."

Uzca looked back at Bezben. The young man shrugged at him.

"This is the only way to save him?"

Thad nodded grimly.

"Come on, Bez, let's see if our gods can hear us in the lowlands."