“And then I called out: ‘HOLD THE LINE LADDIES!’ as the Vanlourns hit us. Within ten minutes we won the battle. We lost a few brave men, but their entire brigade was crushed! Even with my great intellect, I couldn't count how many of the greasy bastards I killed. Perhaps eighteen of them, of course, I was a much younger lad then, a few year’s junior to our studious Paug here. I can easily slay a score or so of them at my current state of experience and physical fitness.” Greykin finished, with a long guzzle from his coveted wine skin. We had drunk from it a scarce few times during the trip. Greykin passed the skin back to Iarin.

"Twenty is a large number Greykin. I also have problems counting that high and would need to call upon the aid of my toes," Iarin said with a deadpan face before taking a sip from the skin. His mouth contorted and I imagined the big man had put something stronger than wine in there.

"A hero's greatness cannot be measured in numbered feats lad." Greykin didn't seem to understand Iarin's sarcasm. The bowman's face turned into a smirk as he tried to hold back laughter.

A very stressful dusk descended around us and Greykin helped pass the time with some stories that may or may not have been true. Jessmei tried to look interested while she nibbled on a piece of bread, but I imagined that she had heard all of these accounts already. The tales were new to us, so Iarin and I were fascinated. Without warning, Nadea and Kaiyer bounded into the small clearing as Greykin took a deep breath, ready to begin his next tale.

“We need to leave as soon as possible,” Nadea said through ragged breaths. Kaiyer went over to his horse and began to unpack it. He glanced at me and smiled with excitement.

“There are two hundred guards at the entrance to the canyon now. Come morning they are going to be combing the jungle. We don’t have a choice. We need to leave the horses and climb up the side of the cliff.” Nadea turned to Greykin, ready for him to argue. He got up, nodded, and went over to begin rearranging his packs off his horse.

“How am I going to climb up that cliff face?” Jessmei asked. She didn’t bother preparing her bags. Greykin would do it for her.

“I will carry,” Kaiyer said as he pulled a pack on to his shoulders. He patted the muzzle of his horse and began to chant soft words to him.

“How are you going to carry her and your gear?” Greykin shot over his shoulder.

“I climb up. Make rope. Climb down. Carry Jessmei,” he said with confidence.

“You can’t. The rope was cut at the top. There is someone waiting for us,” Nadea said. She had already transitioned her gear from her horse to her shoulders.

“Wait. Wait. I don’t understand. What rope was cut from the top?” Iarin asked over his shoulder while he frantically rummaged through his belongings. The horses had been carrying a lot of our gear. It would be tough to decide what to leave and what to carry. I had my bag of books, along with another bag that contained small pots, my tent, and a few sets of clothes. The vision of dragging it all up the side of the cliff made me shiver in a cold sweat.

“We tied a rope to a tree at the top. Halfway down someone severed it cleanly. Whoever cut it did it from the top with a knife or sword,” Nadea said.

“And this person still might be up there waiting for us?” Jessmei voiced what we had all feared.

"This sounds like a great idea," Iarin said sarcastically. "How about I go up last?"

“No. I’ll go up. Kill someone. Tie rope. Come down, get Jessmei, and climb up,” Kaiyer spoke as he helped me put on my bag. It must have weighed half as much as I did.

“I’ll carry the girl. It’s my duty. My axe weighs more than her,” Greykin said as he tugged on the straps to his pack. “Is everyone ready?” Kaiyer shrugged.

I looked around the camp. The horses were untied and unsaddled. Part of the soup I had prepared for dinner was still simmering, waiting for Nadea and Kaiyer to come back and claim it. Packs filled with horse feed, extra tents, and cookware lay discarded around the campfire like abandoned trash. Kaiyer disappeared into the jungle before I replied that I was ready. The rest of us looked at each other for a few precious seconds before following him.

We had been through a lot already. I thought bringing the O'Baarni back to life was going to be the toughest part of this adventure. I didn’t consider that our problems would get worse after we woke him.

We should have expected the trip home would be more challenging than the journey down to Vanlourn. Actually, I hadn’t even known what to expect. None of us did. I had pictured him sitting up, offering his help, and then leading us against the Ancients, just like the legends told us he had done so many lifetimes ago.

I imagined he would be different, more powerful, less confused, like a God with all the answers. Did Nadea’s father think the same? How about the king? I doubted it. I was just a stupid boy. The only reason Nadea invited me was because I could speak the language, and it turned out that I was poor at even that task.

Now it looked like we would all die, either falling from the face of the massive cliff, our screams filling this hot, sticky night with life, or captured by the soldiers of Vanlourn. At least they wouldn’t rape or hurt the women. Jessmei was the princess and Nadea the duke’s daughter. If Vanlourn captured them alive, they would be significant political clout against Nia. But we would be tortured and murdered.

I thought of my home next to the lighthouse on the bluffs overlooking the sea, gulls flapping in the wind and cawing their horrible song. The picture was beautiful in my memory. I should have never come here.

I taught the little ones every morning for a few hours before they went back to their homes in the nearby village of Desai. Grandpa would tell me what I had done well during the lectures. Later in the evening adults from the village would come, eager to learn how to read, write, and do math. Grandfather taught them, but I listened and learned as well.

A sinewy green vine smacked me in the face, stinging my eyes with the wet, verdant chlorophyll scent and bringing me back to the task of throwing myself off of the cliff or getting captured by an enemy nation’s army. I wiped the tears from my eyes and hoped that no one else noticed them. Among these warriors I was already the weakling, I didn’t need them seeing another testament to my vulnerability. Grandfather told me that crying never solved anything. But I knew that he cried sometimes when he didn’t realize I was able to hear him. He missed my mother and grandmother. So did I, though sometimes I felt I only missed the idea of them, a warm, yet strong protective feminine presence. My real memories of them were dreamlike and difficult to grasp.

I tripped and Iarin grabbed my arm with an iron hold. I hadn’t realized he was behind me.

“It will be okay Paug. The Spirits of the Forest protect us.” I looked at him through the dusk light. It was the time of the evening where the orange light filtered down from the sky and made it difficult to notice details of close objects. The features of his strong, angular face were obscured and softened, his eyes looked kind, not pitying or condescending. I realized that despite his reassuring words, he too had doubts and fears about our mission, and I actually felt better about my own trepidation knowing even this confident warrior felt fear. I wondered how dark it would get tonight, and if we would be able to move through the jungle with the moons out.

“The Spirits of the Forest? I didn't know the forest had spirits.”

“Ha! I’ll tell you all about them when we get to the top.” He stopped and I realized we had reached the rock wall. I almost couldn't see Kaiyer; he was already beginning to scale the face. The man moved up the jagged facade like a spider, smooth and graceful, not even stopping to look for holds, pulling himself up with ease. I was clumsier climbing the ladder up the lighthouse.

“There is also a rope here.” Nadea pointed off to the side, where she had hammered the spikes into the wall and ran the rope through them. “We’ll each go up the main rope that Kaiyer ties to the top. We’ll use a smaller piece of rope,” she showed one with a weird looking loop tied to the end, “to anchor into this line over here, it almost goes to the top. You’ll have to unlatch it like this.” She demonstrated that one side of the loop was made like a door and could be opened if you pushed on it. “And take it off the line that is under each piton and attach it to the line that is above it. Understand?” We all nodded.

"That was fast," she said when the thick rope that Kaiyer pulled up leapt next to us. Nadea grabbed it and tugged a few times.

“Paug, you first, Iarin behind him, help Paug with his line.” Nadea handed us each ropes with the metal circles on them. “Those are the only two I have, so send them down when you get to the top.”

The lump in my stomach gave birth to one in my throat. My hands grew cold and my body seized. Iarin touched my shoulder and walked, no, practically dragged me over to the rope. He tied the safety hook on my belt and clamped it into the line on the wall.

“This is going to be easy. Use your legs like you are walking. I’ll care for your safety line. Take as long as you need. There are outcrops you can rest on top of,” he whispered to me. I nodded as my hands wrapped around the rough, fibrous rope. Even my hands were soft and weak, I thought bitterly, wishing I had been more physically active to train and prepare myself for this mission.

The first fifty feet were as awkward as I feared. I kept losing my balance and sliding against the wall on my right side, sending showers of pebbles and dust down to signal my ineptitude. Each mishap stretched my body and mind to their breaking point, as I forced myself to keep from crying out in fear. After each blunder, I stayed still for a few moments until the night wind blew cool against my back, calming yet terrifying as it reminded me that I still needed to ascend farther. I was glad that twilight had descended and I couldn’t see the ground beneath me. When I tried to look down I just saw a dusk-lit Iarin and then endless darkness.

I couldn’t stop shaking, my hands were wet with sweat and blood, and my forearms burned, my muscles were so unused to this much activity. The pack on my back weighed so much that I wondered if Iarin was hanging on it and trying to drag me down in jest. I wished he would have carried it, but his pack looked three times the size of mine and I knew that I wasn’t really carrying my fair share.

My slick hands slipped and I gasped in horror. Iarin grunted and his hand pushed up on my pack. I took a deep breath and continued on. It felt like we had been doing this forever.

“Break,” Iarin said. I moved a few more feet up and found a small ledge to rest upon.

“I don’t know if I can make it.” My breath came out in ragged gasps.

“Why not?” Kaiyer said from above me. I looked up in surprise and saw him leaning over the edge of the cliff a dozen feet above me. His body was a thin cut of black ink against the starry night.

Iarin chuckled beneath me. I found myself laughing and climbed up the last few feet with renewed strength. When I slumped onto the top of the cliff, I rolled out of my pack, not even bothering to lift it off the ground. I took a deep breath and it tasted like sweet victory. Kaiyer helped Iarin off of the edge and clapped him on the back.

“We have to drop the ropes,” I said while I untied the short line from my waist and passed it to Iarin. He attached the loops to the main rope and let it go. Then he shook the rope for a few minutes until it went taut below us.

It was Jessmei and Greykin's turn to climb. I had enough pride left to hope it would take them a bit longer than Iarin and I. I wondered if he would actually carry the small blonde princess, or if he would do something similar to what Iarin and I had done. Greykin would probably tie her to his back along with all his gear, then grunt, curse, and sweat his way to the top. I looked at how the climb had ravaged my hands and I couldn’t imagine the sheltered white skin of the princess’s hands would be tough enough to endure the journey if she was forced to hoist herself up.

“Did you see anyone up here? Anyone who cut the rope?” I asked Kaiyer. He shook his head.

“No tracks around the tree where we had secured it. But this is a pretty rocky area. I didn't smell anyone either. It is a mystery.” He smiled easily and then looked into the sky. “Why are there no stars over there?” He said, pointing to the distant area to the west, where the bright splattering of pinprick stars that spanned the rest of the sky was blocked by a matte black spot, like ink spilled on the pages of a book.

“Oh, it’s the moons, Alta and Yaha. They are new for the first week of every month. Well, somewhat new. A sliver of Yaha can normally be seen on the sixth day. Why? Did you remember something?”

“No. It comes in pieces. I have remembered a few more things, but they aren’t clear. Parts of conversation, things people have said to me that don’t really relate at all to my past.” He looked from the dark spots in the sky back to me. “I don’t know if I am this person you wish. I do remember people that I called Elvens. Perhaps they were the same people you call Ancients.”

“That’s great!” I stood up in surprise, my fatigue forgotten. Iarin looked over to me and made a shushing noise. “What do you remember?” I whispered. A few seconds passed and I started to worry he had not heard me.

“I remember a woman that used to visit the stables that I tended. She was beautiful but vicious and powerful. Even her own kind feared her.” He walked over to me and sat down on the rocks. “Tell me again what your Ancients look like?”

“They are supposed to be tall, slender, and attractive, with sharp features, curved eyes and pointed ears. Some legends say they have long, flowing hair and everything they created was beautiful. Apparently they used to rule the human race, because we could not take care of ourselves and needed their stewardship. They gave us protection, guidance, and taught us everything. We helped them in their great works.” I paused to gauge his reaction, but it was too dark to see his face clearly. “I don’t believe those stories though.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“It doesn’t make sense. If they were really our protectors then where are their creations, their art, and their teachings? We don’t know much about them. I think that they are more sinister than the legends make them out to be. They are also invading the Northlands and battling our armies. Those same legends I spoke of earlier say that the O’Baarni was a scourge. That he destroyed the Ancients out of hatred and cast the humans into a Dark Age that lasted a thousand years. Some tales even say that he was an Ancient and destroyed his kin out of jealousy. They say that he destroyed all the Ancients’ art, their technology, and their future.” I paused for a breath. I had given this speech a few times in my life. It was the summary of Grandfather’s and my work.

“So what is the real story?” He lay back on the rocks next to me and I imagined him putting his arms behind his head like a pillow. I was a little disappointed. I had wanted him to be enthralled. This was about him after all. This was his story. It was his legacy. He should be more attentive.

“There are other legends. The one I think is closest to what I believe is that you killed the Ancients to free humans from an epoch of slavery. You saved the human race and should have been a hero. Maybe you slept voluntarily in case Ancients returned one day. You knew that we would need you again. The legends are rife with hypocrisies, statements that don’t make sense. The only logical explanation is that someone planted false evidence to make us think that the Ancients were our benefactors. That way, when they came back we would accept them with open arms. You are here now, alive and able to help us against them, we need you now.” The lump in my throat was back. I didn’t think I would ever be able to meet the O’Baarni. Yet here I was talking to him. Explaining how he needed to save us. I would never forget this.

“You seem pretty sure that I am the O’Baarni. What proof do you have?” I seemed to have his attention now.

“No one has proof you were a scourge. Why would you be asleep in that ruin? Why would you even have been kept in such a state of stasis if you were dangerous?” My head bobbed. “It all makes sense. You were kept like a weapon in a chest, ready to be used against invaders. The legends were placed by our enemies to keep us from waking you. If you were dangerous, your enemies would have killed you instead of leaving you here.” I realized that we had been having a long conversation in his language without looking in my book. Maybe I was learning his native tongue as fast as he was learning mine.

“Listen Paug, I don’t want to upset you, but I don’t remember anything like that in my memories--“

“You will!” I interrupted him. “You just need more time for your thoughts to come together.”

“I remember an army and a banner in the wind. But how can you be so sure I am this person? What if I was just a soldier on the front line?” He sounded unsure.

“Why would a simple soldier be stored away like you were? How is it that you can fight so well? You took out eight Vanlourn soldiers with ease.”

“Honestly Paug, I thought I was going to die. They seemed weak. I don’t feel strong though. I am tired all the time, I want to sleep again. Forever . . .” he trailed off and looked back up to the sky. We didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“I believe in you,” I blurted out. “We need you now.”

“Okay, okay.” He laughed quietly and I blinked away the tears in my eyes. His laughter hurt even though I knew he didn’t mean to cause me pain. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want Grandfather or the children I taught to die. I thought of Nadea, the duke, the king, all the millions of people who would die if the Ancients conquered Nia.

“What if I am this O’Baarni that you think I am? Let’s say that the legends are true and I am really a horrible monster. What then?”

“You aren’t. I know you were our savior. You aren’t even an Ancient! You look completely human. I believe in you.” I sat down next to him and grabbed his hand with my blistered ones. “You can save us.”

He looked into my eyes, or at least, I imagined their green color in the darkness. It almost looked like they were glowing, the embers of a ghost fire.

“My friend, there are two sides to every story. And the truth always lies somewhere in the middle,” he said. His voice echoed with sadness and remorse. Perhaps he had remembered something else.

“Of course no blasted cliff can withstand my physical prowess!” Greykin shouted loudly as he climbed over the edge. Iarin struggled to untie a frantic Jessmei from the Old Bear and made shushing sounds as Greykin continued his rant. “I’ve killed more Losher Horsemen than there are stars in the sky. I’ve wrestled half a dozen Astical Conscripts to the ground without even breaking a sweat. I ran the Teeth Mountain range in two days with full gear, no food, and only the blood of mountain goats to drink. This measly cliff is no match. Next time you all should choose a path that offers a real challenge.” Jessmei fell to the ground and clutched the dirt and rocks like a baby clutches its mother's teat.

“Nadea?” Kaiyer asked.

“She’ll be coming up in a moment, Skinny. Had to take her spikes out of the wall.” Greykin stretched and I heard a bunch of his joints pop in his shoulders. “Did you take care of the guy who cut our rope?”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

“Humm. They probably saw me coming and decided to run. I don’t blame them. If I saw me coming I’d either run, or buy me a drink!”

“The question is: Do we camp here for the rest of the night? Traveling across the top of the cliff at night might end tragically. I can hardly make out more than five feet in front of me,” Iarin said to Kaiyer.

“What Nadea wants,” Kaiyer said back to him.

“Ha! That girl has you trained already, Skinny! No wonder she likes you so much.” Greykin’s voice turned a rough laugh that reminded me of rocks being crushed together.

“That’s enough Greykin. Nadea doesn’t have him trained,” Jessmei’s meek voice filled with authority. Greykin grunted and looked away. The exchange surprised me, since the girl had not said more than a few sentences since Kaiyer awoke.

Nadea reached the top a few minutes after the princess and her guardian. Before greeting us she took a few seconds to pull up the thinner line she had used as a safety. She wasn’t breathing heavily at all. I remembered her climbing all over the ruins, examining cracks that could have contained clues to the O’Baarni’s tomb, and she was much stronger than I was.

Jessmei and Nadea were cousins, and while both were extremely beautiful, there was little family resemblance. They had about as much in common as the sunrise and the sunset. Jessmei almost glowed, her smile radiating with warmth and femininity, inviting you in like an embrace, her eyes gentle, her gaze appraising and insightful but never harsh. Jessmei was also about four years younger in age and probably eight years in maturity. Nadea seemed almost too responsible. Her beauty was fierce and strong, she was intimidating, stunning rather than pretty, her eyes sharp and her gaze as direct and confident as any man’s. Her body was lithe and firm, with curves carved of stone, not the yielding female flesh of most women.

There was a rift, a chasm, between the women. The princess had found us almost four weeks after we left my home. We were in Brilla, a few days from the border of Vanlourn. I had felt pity for the princess when she approached our group. It was clear that she was very proud of herself for making the journey successfully on her own and had expected a warm reception, perhaps even congratulations from her cousin in recognition of her ingenuity and new-found independence.

Instead, she was met with Nadea’s fearsome rage. While justified, my heart had hurt a little for the princess. Like me, she had until now led a quiet and sheltered life, and I knew well how much courage she had to muster to leave her safe haven. And I had undertaken the journey with the protection and guidance of Nadea and Iarin. While foolish, it truly was impressive to imagine the princess successfully making such a journey unescorted.

Nadea’s wrath had crushed her and she had remained quiet and passive throughout the rest of the journey. She had left a trail of gold and questions that Greykin had easily followed, but he hadn’t reached us until two days after her, when we reached Vanlourn's border. At that point he had decided that it was safer to push through with us and travel back with the group than to set off for home alone with Jessmei. Nadea and the Old Bear figured that spies must have realized she had left the castle in search of us and it would be better to buy time.

“You have jeopardized this whole mission you dim-witted, selfish brat!” Nadea had screamed at her.

“I’m sorry Naynay. I just wanted to come with you. You always get to travel and have fun. I am stuck in the castle, doing boring things. Dancing, weaving, singing. Ugh! I hate it,” Jessmei had said. Tears flew down her cheeks.

“Should we stay here and camp for what is left of the night, or move onward? I vote we stay here,” Iarin said to Nadea, pulling me from my memory.

“What do you think?” Nadea asked Greykin.

“Do my ears deceive me? Did you just ask for my opinion?” Greykin’s voice was filled with sarcasm.

“Don’t be an ass. Kaiyer?”

“Stay here. Guard in shifts,” the man said with confidence.

“I agree with Skinny and Iarin, since you asked,” Greykin’s voice was gruff.

“Alright. Let’s move farther against those trees. Start a tiny fire to keep the bugs away, even though they’ve already sucked out half of my blood." Nadea laughed lightly to help ease our mood.

I couldn’t help but smile as I picked up my bag. Even though I was tired, my hands hurt, and I was covered in dirt. I didn’t feel any more of the self-pity that I had a few hours ago. I could do anything now that I had climbed that cliff face.

We found a small clearing past the first set of trees in the jungle and set up camp. I lay next to Kaiyer, like I always did, and fell asleep. His smile in the darkness was the last thing I saw, and serenity sang me softly to sleep.

But the feeling didn't last long.

I was startled awake by a hand covering my face. I struggled to suck down air but the hands sealed off my nose and mouth like I was underwater. The fire was still burning and I could see Kaiyer a few inches from my face, his features obscured by the light behind him. Once my eyes opened he took his hands away. He moved a single finger up to his lips and I got the message.

It sounded like something was moving in the jungle. I wasn't a woodsman, but it seemed that the sounds were coming toward us, like a creeping monster. I looked around the campfire and didn't see anything but four bedrolls, the camp equipment and Kaiyer. Where had everyone else gone?

The sounds grew closer and panic climbed like an acid snake through my esophagus. There were either several men, or one very large thing approaching. I feared ogres or goblins. They were mythical creatures but they were known to exist, sometimes they would come down from mountains or caves and kill entire villages.

Kaiyer yawned next to me and I looked over to him in shock. He looked extremely tired and was only wearing his undergarments. The swords he had procured from the Vanlourn guards lay on the ground next to his bedroll. I tried to relax, if he wasn't concerned then I probably shouldn't be. Then again, why had he woken me so if there wasn't need for me to be worried?

The fire illuminated a metal-clad foot, then a leg, and the chain-armored body of a Vanlourn soldier as he stepped into the clearing of our small camp. He looked at us in surprise and muttered something behind him while he raised a crossbow. He cautiously took a step forward and aimed down the sight at Kaiyer.

Three more soldiers emerged from the trees behind the first, and my body began to shake. I should have known it wasn't going to be this easy. I had felt like a hero a few hours ago when I had climbed the wall of the cliff, but now I knew I was going to die anyway.

"Where are your companions?" One of the men in the back said. Like his brothers, he had dark, coffee-colored skin and a thick mustachio. Unlike his companions he didn't have his crossbow raised.

"The princess?" The man's question was urgent. His face looked hungry, like a dog that hadn't eaten in a few weeks.

Kaiyer shrugged and yawned again. He looked unconcerned by the four heavily armored men, three of whom had crossbows leveled at his chest. I needed to say something or he was going to be killed. I went with the truth.

"I'm sorry sir. We just woke up. We don't know where our companions are." My voice came out in a high-pitched squeak. Sweat dripped down my back because of the heat and my fear. I noted the armored Vanlourn soldiers were almost swimming in their armor.

"They must be around nearby. Perhaps they will come when you start screaming." The man in the back stepped forward and walked around the fire toward us. I started to move back in fear and was stopped by a vine that draped across a few large trees and held me like a spider web. Kaiyer laughed next to me, it sounded more like a giggle and he yawned again.

"Is your friend an idiot?" the leader said to me as he got within arm's length.

"Please don't hurt me," I whispered in panic. I looked around again for Greykin, Nadea, or Iarin, but I couldn't see anyone. The soldier's hand closed around my shirt. He seemed impossibly strong as he pulled me toward him.

Suddenly everything went to chaos.

Kaiyer dashed from my right at the man and slammed his left fist into the soldier's face. I heard something break and the twang of three crossbow strings being released at once. The grip of the soldier went slack and I fell backward onto my bedroll and got tangled up in the vines behind me.

Kaiyer lifted the man he had punched over his head like he was lifting a pillow. The man didn't scream and his head rolled to the side unnaturally, so I guessed that his neck was broken.

The remaining three soldiers' faces were a blur of panic as they dropped their crossbows and drew their swords. They let out a cry of fear as he tossed the body overhead and it collided into them and forced them to the ground.

Kaiyer landed on the tangled mass of arms and body parts. He knelt and began punching into the pile while he leaned down on them. His hands were quickly covered with blood and gore.

I gasped out his name in fear and he stopped. Then he sighed.

The silence hung between us for a few moments before he stood and turned to face me. I gasped when I saw the amount of inky blood that coated his body.

I also gasped because of the crossbow bolt that had found its mark deep in his chest.

"Kaiyer," I whispered in fear, "your chest." Tears began to form in my eyes. Even though I had only known him for a few days, I couldn't stand the thought of losing him. I pointed at the bolt and sobbed.

Kaiyer looked down in confusion and noticed the bolt sticking out of him. It looked like a nail that had gone in to a board of wood halfway.

"Oh." He grabbed onto the bolt, grunted, and then yanked it out with a quick, jerky motion that I would never forget. Then he smiled at me in a carefree way, his eyes looked sleepy.

"I am going to go to bed," he said as he walked back to his bedroll.

"Wait! You need to clean your wound! We have to wash the blood off of you. Where is everyone?" The words poured out of my mouth so fast that bile began to chase it. Before I said anymore I leaned over the side of my bedroll and vomited into the thick tangle of vines next to me. The sickness tore through my body and mind like it was being ripped from me. I cried in pain as a second stomach spasm sent more shuddering through my body.

Then darkness came.