The camp split into disparate groups after Colm provided the evening meal. The hunter squad—who I learned like to call themselves the Ghost Hounds—took over the area around the cooking fire. Arwin started a game of dice and gambling, but it wasn’t long before the others good-naturedly eased her out of the game for “winning too much” and “cheating her luck”. It seemed like a situation they were all familiar with and Arwin went to join the group on the other side of the fire that was trading stories, both tales that they actually experienced and a couple of old myths.

I kept out of the busy ring of firelight as I sat against the trunk of the great pine the festerlings had used, but I still listened to the snatches of story that drifted my way. I kept my fingers busy by checking over my weapons and supplies. Not that I had a spear anymore, but I would make do with my sling and knife.

Surprisingly, Nii took over Arwin’s spot in the gambling ring and it didn’t take long before they were asking if she had a lucky blessing too. She laughed, something I hadn’t heard since we first shared a dome together on the Seed Landing, and said it was because she had sharp eyes. That got her some ribbing for being caught by the festerlings and they made her move from the newly declared lucky spot, but still let her play.

Wren and Breck were with the storytellers and were hooked on a story one of the whisper women was telling. Not that I could blame them. She made shadow pictures with her hands on a blanket back drop as she told a tale of the squad hunting down a great beast. Even Chirp seemed somewhat entranced as he perched on Wren’s knee.

The family sat near the fire between the two groups, looking somewhere between lost and grateful and worried that if they made a wrong move the goddess’s wrath would come down on their heads. I doubted they had ever spent so long in the company of whisper women and, to their eyes, with our black lips, the other seedlings and I likely multiplied that number. Intimidation by quantity and quality, even if we didn’t fully intend to cause it. Everyone had woken up by the time the Ghost Hounds returned from hunting down errant festerlings thanks to us getting them washed off, and Sid and Morgan’s treatments.

Kane had remade her barrier so that it only encircled the more open area around the large tree and part of the stream. She had to stay partially submerged in the barrier to keep it up, but she didn’t seem to mind as Ima talked to her outside the firelight. The barrier glimmered faintly under the night sky.

I could hear Ulo taking her frustration out on the stream and its bank. Splashing water and dull thuds as she punched and stomped and kicked. She had wanted one of the remaining spears, but Fern hadn’t trusted her with it yet. With the way her eyes had been flashing it wouldn’t be a surprise if she tried to go hunt festerlings on her own. Not that there should be any left and Kane’s barrier kept things in as well as out.

We all left Ulo alone. She even snapped at Nii when she tried to talk to her and I was surprised that I wasn’t being ranted at and blamed for the festerlings’ presence. I wasn’t going to push my luck and incite a confrontation now. I could get petty revenge later, when I wasn’t injured and tired, for everything she put me through between tracking and dragging us into monster territory.

Juniper had stared up at the tree for a bit before disappearing up into it. It didn’t have any easy low hanging branches, but the festerlings had left divots in the bark with their thick claws. More than enough to find a path up to the branches. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but the air of melancholy that had hung thick around her had come back with a vengeance.

Near a secondary, smaller fire Sid, Colm, and Morgan were butchering the bodies of the defeated festerlings that the whisper women had been able to gather up. No one had much interest in the oily, puss filled meat, but the outer shell would make for good firewood. None of the sections were long and straight enough for spears, unfortunately. I had tossed my makeshift walking stick in with the lot. It was starting to rot and I knew I didn’t have the skills to clean it out properly. Nor did I think my makeshift work would last much longer.

All of which meant I needed to find another solution or two to my mobility issue. My ankle was on the mend. With another night of rest I could probably walk on it fine tomorrow as long as I took care not to roll it again on uneven ground and left off sprinting for awhile.

My hip was the real problem. The bruising was deep and dark, and I was lucky that the spear had broke instead of my hip. It ached badly if I settled my belt and pouches wrong around my waist and the swelling hindered my ability to walk. I worried that the limp might hurt my ankle’s recovery. If Ulo wasn’t throwing a fit by the creek I’d be down there now, soaking the bruise in cold water. As it was, I did what I could to rest it and not send pain lancing up my spine by accidentally pressing on the bruise.

Stolen novel; please report.

Fern came out of the area where the tents had been set up a bit away from the cooking fire and any sparks it might spit out. She went to the family and talked to them before drawing Arwin aside and talking to her. Arwin didn’t look that impressed with what she had to say and they went back and forth a bit, though Fern was clearly being more respectful than the boisterous whisper woman.

After that she made her way over to where the men were working and took her fire starter aside for a much longer conversation. I watched as she went back to Arwin after, determined and tense, and they worked through a few more details of whatever they were talking about. Finally, Arwin gestured to her second-in-command and the Sapling finished off her discussion with Ima by the camp’s ghostly perimeter.

It wouldn’t surprise me if she was trying to figure out what to do with the family. We had our task to find the Rookery that we needed to focus back on, and the hunter group had their own responsibilities. They could probably take the family to wherever they were trying to go through the shadow paths, but the only time I knew of shadows paths being used for regular tribesfolk was when crowds were transported to see the goddess walk on the Calling Road—and they weren’t transported back.

We could also leave them to their own devices and some food, but the mother didn’t seem like she was a huntress and that made it doubtful that they would make it through the woodland on their own. The others had gotten more of their story after the parents had woken up, but I kept out of it. I didn’t need to get involved with even more people.

I was wrapping up my equipment inspection, since I could only do so much in the dim light the fire cast my way, when soft footsteps came toward me. I looked up to find Morgan standing a short distance away, medical bag slung over one shoulder.

He said, “Ressia said you could be prickly and that you knew more than you should.” He patted the bag. “But from what I heard you have a long distance to walk and your injuries won’t make that easy.”

I sat up straight. “I can take care of myself.”

“Sure.” The healer nodded like he didn’t have a care in the world. “And I can heal.” He crouched down, so that we were level, hands clasped together. “Would you like to make it to the Rookery whole or broken?”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Hmm…your healer knowledge agree with that assessment?”

No. It didn’t.

My hip would take weeks for the bruising to fade completely and in the meantime I was gambling if the pain of one injury would make me worsen another minor one. If I had salves and ointments I could cut down on the pain and healing time, and make it more likely that I wouldn’t slow down the group. I could use bandages to wrap my ankle and help it hold strong. But I couldn’t make my own or apply those treatments myself anymore.

That knowledge felt like a burn on the back my throat.

Now I had to lower myself to be like all the tribespeople who barely knew what to do with a cut and get treated by someone else. Trust someone else’s ointments and salves and knowledge.

I didn’t like it.

Doing everything myself was much better.

But I also wouldn’t be much of a whisper woman if I managed to cripple myself now trying to keep up with the other seedlings. And Morgan, for all of his thoughtless faults, was better than Sid.

“I’ll go to the healer’s tent.”

“I can—”

“No.”

The last thing I needed was for the rest of the group to see me leaning on some healer’s arm. Not when the first rescue was my idea. Not when I had already gone this long without looking weak.

I pushed myself to feet, took a moment to collect myself as I leaned against the tree, and limped to the tent Morgan had set up. Technicality, there were two healer’s tents, given that Sid had put up his own, but we both knew what I meant.

In the privacy of the tent Morgan treated me and went through what each of the treatments contained, what those ingredients were for. Some of the ingredients were new, but their purpose all fell into what I knew and would have done if I was treating myself. The lesson wasn’t…strictly within acceptable bounds since those without healer’s beads didn’t need healing knowledge or its taint, but I appreciated in that it made it easier to accept his help. The lesson itself made the burn in the back of my throat strong enough that I didn’t trust myself to speak.

My ankle and hip were wrapped after they were treated, and he showed me a few small jars that held the mixtures he had made.

“I’ll give these to Sid. Go to him to get these reapplied each evening for the next three days. After that your ankle should be good as new and the only thing for bruising will be time.” Morgan saw the look on my face and added, “You should know better than anyone to listen to me. Healers don’t just give instructions for fun.”

My lips pressed together as the need to retort back him fought with the knowledge that he was correct. In the end I gave him a tight nod and left.

Nii ended up in the tent with Wren and I that night. Which made there be too many limbs, not enough air, and I had to escape into the night air before the walls of the tent could swallow me into a memory.

I slept better behind the tent even if I did wake up to Juniper staring down at me. When she saw me look back up at her, she opened her mouth to say something before snapping it closed again and striding away.

I rubbed my hands over my face.

The Ghost Hounds left that morning after double checking that the area was clear. They took the family with them after blindfolding them. Only those that would become whisper women got to see the inner workings of the shadow paths. The whisper women weren’t planning on taking the family all the way to their cold season shelter, but it should make up for the time they lost while in the festerlings’ clutches. The boy waved at me and Wren before they disappeared.

And then there was only our original group again. Lacking some supplies, somewhat wounded, and waiting to see if Ulo and Nii would make another break for it now that the barrier was gone. All in all, it made for strained, uncomfortable travel as we continued our search for the Rookery.