At the sound of his daughter’s name, tears entered the big raw-boned Healer’s eyes. He made an effort to swallow them and said, “Is everyone else—?”
“They’re still Gannajero’s slaves.” As though he couldn’t keep his eyes away, Toksus turned to the half-buried body beneath the dogwoods.
“Who is he, Toksus?”
The boy whimpered, “Sassacus.”
Wakdanek rose and went to crouch beside the body. He examined it for a long time before he grabbed one of the feet and pulled the boy out into the amber gleam. As he brushed dirt from the child’s face, his heavy brows knitted into a single line. The boy’s empty eye sockets were clotted with old blood.
Koracoo said, “Do you know him?”
Wakdanek jerked a nod. “What happened—?”
Toksus rushed to answer. “Gannajero stabbed him; then she dragged him over and put him on my chest, and she—”
“Did she put your mouths together, Cousin?”
Toksus jerked a nod and twined his fist in the shirt over his chest. “Ever since, I’ve felt something inside me, coiling around.”
Wakdanek’s expression slackened. He rose to his feet and went back to embrace Toksus. “It’s all right. I brought ghost medicine with me. We’ll banish his soul from your body, and you’ll start getting stronger right away.”
“Thank you. I’m so scared.” Toksus propped his chin on Wakdanek’s shoulder, and a peaceful expression came over his young face.
Koracoo said, “After she forced Toksus to catch his last breath, she cut out the dead boy’s eyes. Do you know why?”
“It’s witchery,” Wakdanek replied. “Who can say why?”
He hugged Toksus again and released him; then he tilted his head to Koracoo, gesturing that they step away.
She followed him into a small clearing where the sound of the river was louder and she could smell the mossy fragrance of the water. “Now tell me the rest.”
Wakdanek crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “I’ve heard of the ritual. A witch transfers someone’s soul to another body, but keeps his eyes. No matter where the afterlife soul travels in its new body, the eyes can still see whatever the soul sees. In this case, the soul she placed in Toksus is seeing us.”
A creeping sensation worked its way up her spine to the back of her neck. “You mean she could be using the dead boy’s eyes to watch us right now?”
“It’s possible. But it takes a very powerful witch to do such a thing, and I doubt …”
A scream rent the afternoon. They both lurched through the brush in time to see Toksus topple to the ground with his jaws snapping together like a rabid dog’s. He began jerking violently, locked in a seizure.
Sindak and Towa were on him instantly, holding his arms down so he couldn’t hurt himself. Sindak cried, “Wakdanek!”
As the Healer ran, the children scrambled back, and Hehaka started yelling, “I didn’t do anything! I swear it! He just fell down. I didn’t even touch him!”
“What happened?” Wakdanek grabbed the boy’s contorted face and stared into his rolling eyes. “Did he say anything?”
“No!” Odion shook his head. “He just asked Hehaka his name, and when Hehaka told him, Toksus got a strange look on his face … .”
The seizure stopped. As Toksus’ body began to go limp, his jaw gaped and his head lolled to the side.
“Toksus?” Wakdanek fell to the ground and put his ear over the boy’s chest. “No. No!”
Sindak and Towa rose and backed away as Wakdanek grabbed Toksus beneath the arms, lifted him, and shook him hard, crying, “Toksus, breathe!”
Sindak followed Towa over to where Koracoo stood. Though Towa had left his waist-length hair loose, Sindak had tied his back with a leather cord. The style made his narrow face look even more aquiline.
Sindak murmured, “That looked very much like the effects of poison.”
Only Koracoo’s eyes moved as she met his hard gaze. “You think it’s retribution for the stew pot?”
“It may be. Where did he get that bag of huckleberries?”
“He had them when we found him.”
Sindak seemed to be listening to the melody of birdsong that filled the trees. Finally, he said, “What good would it do to poison the boy unless we knew she’d done it?”
Towa frowned. “Are you saying that she let the boy go and told him to walk down the riverbank, knowing that we’d find him?”
“Not necessarily us, but whoever is after her. She must know she’s being followed. This way, her pursuers would find him … and after hearing Toksus’ story, they would be a lot more hesitant to continue pursuing—”