“Six came at us,” Temma said hoarsely, shaking her hands to increase the blood flow. “I managed a couple of good blows, and I know Nazer knifed one in the chest.”

“Three attacked me, and I got one, but I don’t think I killed him,” Swacky said.

“Are all the canines dead, Ara?” Jayge asked. They would attack anything on command.

“Only one. The rest are up the tree,” Aramina said with a brief grin. “Jancis heaved and I pulled. They’re perched out of sight—I hope—and on a stay command. I was going to organize the fire-lizards, but then Heth appeared and they all departed.”

From the woods the shouts of the frustrated searchers could be plainly heard, with a louder female voice exhorting them to climb up into the trees if they could not check from the ground.

“Was Farli among the fire-lizards?” Piemur asked weakly, a healthier color gradually reducing his pallor.

“I didn’t see her,” Jancis replied.

“She probably went for help once I was knocked out.”

“To the Master Harper?” K’van asked.

“I suppose!”

“Alemi and the fishermen would be nearer to hand,” Aramina said, shielding her eyes to peer out at the sea-reach. “Would she have the wit to go to them?”

“‘Finding them and getting them back here in time are two separate matters,” said Swacky, who did not think that much of fire-lizard abilities. “And where are Alemi’s womenfolk?”

“Tied up in their holds,” Jayge said, gesturing toward the cots farther up the river bank. “Ara, you and Jancis take the children and go free them. If, by any miracle, Thella left the skiffs intact, I want everyone to pile into them and sail out into the bay until Alemi returns.”

Aramina bristled. “I’m not running away again, Jayge Lilcamp!”

“I think you’d make it a lot easier for Jayge if you were out of Thella’s range,” K’van said firmly. “You and the children. Let him deal with her. It’s going to come to that one way or another, you know.” And with that the bronze dragonrider looked Jayge squarely in the eyes.

“And long overdue!” Jayge said savagely. “Go on, Aramina. She won’t find me such an easy mark this time.”

“Or any of us!” Swacky said fiercely, his eyes bright with anger. He had been searching among the weapons piled on the porch: he found his own sword and passed Piemur his broad jungle blade. “You, me, Temma, Nazer, and Piemur, if he’s got his wits back…” He grinned when Piemur cursed him roundly. “We can cause a lot of damage against such an undisciplined bag of scum with no need to compromise the dragon rider. Dragonriders,” he corrected himself, pointing one of the hunting spears downriver, where a second dragon was lazily gliding in to land.

The newcomer settled on the beach not far from Heth. Then his eyes whirled from placid green to agitated orange, and he emitted a startled bleat.

“Heth just brought Clarinath up to date,” K’van said with a wry grin.

V’line was scrambling down his dragon’s side and came racing toward them, his expression anxious. “Is it true? You’ve been attacked, Jayge? By whom? It’s outrageous. This sort of thing can’t be permitted.”

“Permission is never the issue,” K’van said grimly. “And our hands are tied in such matters.”

“Oh, yes, that’s true, you’re right,” V’line said, belatedly recalling Weyr strictures.

A frantic fire-lizard erupted into the air above Piemur’s head and then wrapped herself around his neck, threatening to strangle him with relief.

“Hold it, Farli, hold it! I can’t understand you,” Piemur exclaimed, protecting his face from her lickings and unwinding her tail from his neck. “Once again, more slowly. Ah, really? Weren’t you a clever one!” Piemur managed a grin as he explained. “She found Alemi, and he’s just beyond the point. He sent her to see what’s happened. Jancis, you got anything to write on? And what do I tell him, Jayge?”

“Alemi had six crew—that gives us twelve.” Swacky looked pleased.

“We can’t wait,” Jayge said. “We’ll have to rely on surprise—and luck.”

“They won’t expect canines to come out of a tree,” Aramina suggested.

Jayge pawed through the weapons, searching for a dagger. Solemnly K’van handed him his own blade.

“They’re heading into the grove now,” Swacky said, cocking his head at the sounds of men crashing through the undergrowth. “We can sneak after ‘em, pick ‘em off one by one.” He flexed his sword arm, grinning in anticipation.

Jayge caught Aramina’s hands as she hefted a fishing spear. “Oh, no, my love. You will take yourself and our children as far away from here as possible. Do you understand me? There’s no time to argue the point. You’re going.”

“And Heth and I will make sure she does,” K’van said unexpectedly, taking Aramina by the arm. “That much I can do.”

She hesitated one brief moment, then acquiesced, her shoulders drooping. “Just don’t let her slip away again, Jayge. I don’t ever want to be faced with this again!”

Piemur dispatched Farli with the message to Alemi. Swacky fortified himself with one more pull from the wineskin, settled the fishing spears to his shoulders, and looked attentively to Jayge. They were all armed now, bristling with assorted weapons, their manner determined. Under the worried gaze of V’line, the Paradise River Holders jogged east, slipping past the thickets that bordered the holds.

The tree in which Aramina and Jancis had taken refuge with the two children was in the approximate center of the grove that Thella was currently searching. The ancient fellis trees, their massive trunks larger than three men could span with fingers touching, spread densely leaved branches to form a large, dimly lit park. Air vines looped in intricate patterns, further obscuring any sun that tried to penetrate the luxuriant foliage. A thick, deep mulch covered the ground and aided the soundless advance of Jayge and the others as they slipped from the shadows of one wide-boled trunk to another.

“Hey, over here! I saw the branches move,” someone called. “Over here!”

Jayge swore under his breath, praying that the canines would not break until he and the others got close enough to make use of that diversion. Thella’s men—he counted eleven, no, fifteen—closed in on the tree.

Then Thella swaggered forward. Even in the dim light, Jayge realized that the woman who had caused him and Aramina so much pain and anguish had altered considerably since their first encounter on the trail. Though better clothed than her ragtag minions, she was as gaunt, and her close-cropped hair framed a face made ugly by scar pocks and privations.

“Aramina!” She peered up into the branches, and her call was brightly wheedling. “We know you’re up there. Your man and all your other friends are tied up tight and out of their senses. This time—” Thella’s throaty laugh was malicious “you haven’t any handy dragons to help you.”

Jayge edged closer, hefting the spear in his hand, marking a burly man as target, but he was not close enough for a killing throw yet. He checked the others. Piemur and Jancis were on his left. Swacky, on his right, crouched low and darted forward, Temma and Nazer moving like shadows beyond him. They would all have to get closer. If each disabled one man, there were still nine to contend with. Though maybe now that the renegades were confident of their quarry, they would relax their guard and lower their blades. He gestured to catch Swacky’s eye and pantomimed his instructions. The man nodded.

“You—Obirt, Birsan, Glay,” Thella said. “Gather up some of those loose branches. I don’t know how well fellis bums, but we’ll soon find out, won’t we?” She laughed nastily. “It’s one way to get someone out of a tree, isn’t it, men? I can just see the flames crackling, climbing quickly up this hairy bark, thick smoke roiling up, choking the brats, making them lose hold and fall to their deaths. Is that what you want, Aramina?” Thella’s jocularity ended. “Come down out of there. Now! Save your babes from suffocating.”