“That was too much food,” Syl told Dena on the return trip to the Ka-Sho field.

  “I think I ate an entire boar by myself,” Dena groaned.

  Syl reached over and patted her friend’s stomach as they walked. “Just one?” she asked.

  Dena scowled at her but quickly turned her attention down to her tummy. “Do you think…?” she asked half-heartedly, pinching the skin beside her belly button.

  “A few hours on the Ka-Sho field will work it right off,” Syl said, and then they both groaned at the thought.

  “The Sho-Sen is a cruel person if he makes us practice more,” Dena complained. “We worked our butts off last night. And this morning! We need a chance to rest before the next dance tonight.”

  “Compassion hasn’t been one of his most prevalent qualities,” Syl chuckled. “We’ll probably go through the forms we skipped this morning. Twice.”

  “If I die,” Dena turned and grabbed Syl’s arm. “Make sure my mom doesn’t look under my cot. Make sure!”

  Syl laughed at the concern on Dena’s face, but promised, nonetheless.

  Dena breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the Ka-Sho practice yard. The others from their group joined a few minutes later, and they all sat waiting for the Sho-Sen to arrive.

  “He’s usually here when I get here,” Rogar said. “Maybe he had a bit too much ahbay over lunch?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him touch the stuff,” Edar countered.

  “He lost his older brother to a fishing accident. Blames it on ahbay,” Dena told them. “Happened just after his brother’s eighteenth birthday. The Sho-Sen was two years younger, so he’s never even had so much as a sip as far as I know.”

  “How do you know that?” Leeze asked.

  “Mom told me. I think she had a thing for him before she met my father. But the loss of his brother… broke… something inside of him. He withdrew and devoted himself to the Ka-Sho. No wife or kids because of it.”

  “That’s kind of sad…” Syl said. “He seems like a good person.” Shocked looks surrounded her, so she amended her statement, “I mean… beneath the Ka-Sho slave-driver…”

  “I’m almost looking forward to the Ka-Sho practice this afternoon. Ate way too much,” Rogar mirrored what Dena had said earlier.

  “At least out here on the Ka-Sho field we don’t have to worry about even catching a glimpse of boar,” Kule said, his hands on his stomach. “I swear if I see even a hint of one before the feast tonight…”

  “Congratulations,” the Sho-Sen said loudly as he approached the group. “Ka-Sho practice is cancelled. You’re going boar hunting.”

  Six heads swivelled in unison to look at Kule.

  “I didn’t…” he started defensively.

  “Enough chatter. Grab your bows. Arrows are over in the tent,” the Sho-Sen thumbed back over his shoulder.

  “Why do we have to go hunting?” Leeze whined as she slowly got to her feet.

  “Because we already had people coming from the other villages last night to see our Ka-Sho-Dan,” the Sho-Sen answered.

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  “Coming to see Syl, you mean,” Edar said. Suddenly six accusatory glares turned her way.

  “You’re going to blame me for having to go hunting?” Syl asked flatly.

  “Yup,” Kule said.

  “Seems that way,” Leeze said at the same time.

  “I wouldn’t…” Reylo mumbled.

  “It’s usually your fault,” Rogar chimed in.

  Syl rolled her eyes and threw up her arms.

  “You’re not the only people that’ll be out today,” the Sho-Sen advised. “Several hunting parties are involved. Try not to shoot anybody.”

  Syl’s eyes fell on Edar. “I can’t make any promises.”

  “Not my fault you’re popular,” he shrugged in response.

  “At least with so many people out hunting, it shouldn’t take too long,” Kule said.

  Three hours later, crouched in yet another bush, Syl turned and smacked Kule across the shoulder. “You just had to say something, didn’t you?” she hissed at him.

  “So not my fault,” he shot back in a whisper. “We would’ve had one already if Rogar didn’t piss on it.”

  “I had to go,” Rogar growled. “How was I supposed to know it was sleeping in that bush?”

  “And it was aaaaaangry,” Leeze said, and Syl had to nod. She’d never seen a boar that mad before.

  “Well, I’d be pissed off too,” Kule said dramatically. “Get it?”

  “Yes, Kule, you’re very funny,” Leeze deadpanned, shaking her head.

  “Can we focus, just for a minute, on why we’re out here?” Edar asked the group, always the serious one.

  “What can we do before Dena gets back from scouting?” Kule asked. “Who chose Dena anyway? She’s about as sneaky as my grandmother.”

  “Then your grandmother must be a ghost,” Dena whispered, a hair’s breadth from Kule’s ear. The man jumped and spun, startled, only to trip over a thick root and topple into a large, prickly bush.

  Everybody tried to keep their snorting laughter in check, but the trio of nearby birds taking off in fright showed how grossly they were failing.

  “What did you find?” Rogar asked Dena.

  Dena took a moment to smirk at Kule, and then turned her attention to Rogar. “There’s a boar path running alongside the road up ahead there,” she pointed off at an angle from their position. “We can probably follow it, and maybe get lucky.”

  “I’m not eating the one we found earlier,” Kule said as he got out of the bushes. “It’d just taste like…”

  Rogar’s shove back into the bush drowned out the rest of Kule’s words.

  “I hope the others are having better luck than us,” Edar lamented, but started walking where Dena had pointed.

  The group spread out when they found the boar path and followed it for almost fifteen minutes before Leeze called out.

  “Hey guys, you should come take a look at this,” she said loudly.

  If Leeze had found a boar, she wouldn’t be so loud. Something else had gotten her attention.

  Syl cut through the trees to the road and found Leeze standing beside a small, two-wheeled, toppled-over wagon, small casks scattered on the road and in the nearby grass.

  “Dena, isn’t this…?” Syl turned to her friend.

  “Yeah, this is one of my family’s wagons. And… this is our ahbay,” Dena said, kneeling down and righting one of the casks.

  “Guess we just got lucky! Can I pour you a cup Leeze?” Kule asked and strutted over to one of the casks.

  “Don’t,” Dena said evenly while she inspected the top of the cask she’d righted. “These were marked for last night’s feast. What are they doing out here?”

  “Kilik!” Syl realized.

  “The old tanner?” Edar asked.

  “Yes. Remember last night Dena, those guys said he’d gone to get more ahbay, but he hadn’t come back?” Syl asked her friend.

  “That would make sense…” Dena said as she thought about it. “But where is he? And why would he leave our ahbay here in the middle of the road?”

  “He knew we were coming and that we’d be thirsty?” Kule offered.

  “Maybe we should take a look around,” Reylo said, ignoring Kule. “He might have fallen and hurt himself.”

  “Good idea,” Syl agreed. “Rogar, Rey, why don’t you check further down the road on that side. Leeze, you and Kule take the other. Dena, Edar, and I will check in this direction,” Syl pointed opposite where she’d told the others to go.

  “Yes, Sho-Sen!” Kule said with an over-dramatic bow.

  Leeze grabbed Kule by the ear and dragged him off, her other hand wrapped around the pendant at her throat. “She’s got a point, let’s go.”

  The others, likewise, started searching, but Dena walked right up to Syl. “Not like you to take charge like that.”

  “Something about this is bothering me, Dena,” Syl said, and looked at the toppled cart. “We’ve only seen one boar all day, in an area usually thick with them, and now this.”

  “Maybe the festivities last night scared them off,” Dena reasonably suggested.

  Syl considered it but shook her head when she eyed the cart and scattered casks.

  There was more to it than that. But what was that ‘more’?

  “Guuuuuuuuuys,” Kule shouted, and Syl’s stomach fell at the panic in his voice. “You need to get over here. Syl… Syl you need to help him.”

  Not one for hesitating, Syl sprinted to where Kule pointed into the bushes.

  Well, there was her ‘more.’ They’d found Kilik, but he was beyond anything Syl could do.

  Something had ripped his throat out.

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