The camel had disappeared into the rocky landscape before Cale approached Raspeth. It had not been his intention to leave her waiting, but he had needed time to let his temper cool before speaking to her. None of the trouble with the Dahro was truly her fault, and he knew it, but he was also keenly aware that the trouble would not have existed without her. The girl did not belong in the desert, did not belong around boys like that. He had to make sure that there would be no more problems before they reached Lahkis.

Cale collected a few water skins and his bow. He found the girl sitting in the dirt amongst the camels, and gestured that she should get up. Without waiting, Cale started away from the camp, climbing the easy grade of the outcropping to the south. He did not say anything to her, and she didn't seem brave enough to speak either. As they neared the top Cale slowed and began to move more quietly, taking greater care to place his feet where they would not grind the gravel. Raspeth caught on quickly enough that she should do as he did, but she seemed not to have a clear idea of what was quiet footing and what would crunch. Without speaking, Cale showed her by demonstration how to shift her weight and where to step to make as little noise as possible. Inexperienced though she was, she learned quickly.

The campfire below had been smothered by the time Cale motioned for Raspeth to stop. The light was fading, but there was still enough to see by and the slope was gentle enough that there would be no danger descending. Cale crouched down amongst the scraggly brush and pointed where Raspeth should look. A few strides away lay a husham lizard, partially buried in the dirt and difficult to spot without knowing where to look. What gave it away was its vivid red tongue, stretching out two handspans from its mouth across the sand. The husham held perfectly still, as it probably had been doing for hours now. Even Cale could not tell for sure that it was not already dead without disturbing it, but he knew that it was very unlikely that the lizard had died in predation position. Not far from the husham's tongue was the entrance to a small burrow for some kind of rodent. Cale did not know how long the lizard had been waiting, but with the sun almost down now a meal would surely be emerging soon.

They did not have to wait long, the observers or the predator. The inhabitant of the burrow was a lyesa, a scavenger common to this type of terrain. The little rodent poked its head out cautiously, and took immediate notice of the tongue. It looked very much like the core of a stalk plant appreciated by lyesa -- though poisonous to humans. The rodent did not concern itself with why a stalk would have been broken off and peeled, then left outside its hole. It approached for a taste. The tongue was not wholly prehensile, but it had enough speed and accuracy to attach to the unlucky rodent with its adhesive excretion and drag the little thing in. Unexpectedly, the rodent managed to struggle violently enough to break the adhesion. The husham immediately staggered to its feet and trundled after the lyesa, but the rodent was much too fast and escaped into the brush. Deprived of its meal, the husham started glumly away. The sun would be setting, and it would be too cold soon for the lizard to hunt.

It was getting darker, and when he motioned for her to stop she took a step before she caught herself. He crouched down and pointed at what looked like a stalk of vegetation, dyed red. After looking at it for several seconds in the failing light she made out that it was attached to a lizard, and as her eyes adjusted she could see that the lizard appeared to be asleep. She relaxed a little and wondered why he had brought his bow to hunt this lizard when anyone could probably just pick it up, but he didn't move or speak and so she followed his example and kept her questions to herself.

Then a little mouse poked its head out of what had looked like an insignificant little pile of dirt and a few dry leaves far too small to house an animal. It sniffed inquisitively and then made for the red stalk, and then quick as lightning the stalk attached itself to the little mouse and started to drag it toward the lizard. Raspeth jumped when the stalk moved and then watched as the unhappy rodent was pulled in, but at the last moment it managed to wrench free and bolt off into the desert. The lizard roused itself and trotted after the mouse, but the little creature was already out of sight and the lizard quickly gave up and headed slowly in a different direction.

Cale sighed and stood up, and she looked up at him and stood as well. "What was supposed to happen," he said ruefully, "was an enlightening metaphor for the danger of trusting blindly the intentions presented to you by those who wish you harm. Obviously you'll just have to take my word for it." He looked at her then, and she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "How old are you?"