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Tavi stared at the other boy for a le not to break out into sudden laughter

Kitai&039;s scowl deepened "What?"

Tavi rolled his head in a slow negative, and whispered, "Nothing Nothing"

"Mad," Kitai said "You people areforest

Tavi followed close behind hihter from his lips, his steps silent After they&039;d put several dozen more yards between the the pack Fade had pressed onto hied inside

The pack contained two small jars of fine lamp oil, firestones in their two-chas to serve as tinder for a fire, dried meat twisted into braids in a fashion odd to Tavi, two fine, warths of wood that could be fitted together into a fishing pole, lines, and fine metal hooks

And at the bottom of the pack, a cruel, curved knife, heavy and with a spiked guard that covered the knuckles It had a blade twice the length of Tavi&039;s entire hand A co like that? Tavi wondered Why had the slave had this pack stored with such efficiency inside his chao at a moment&039;s notice? He had returned with the pack so quickly that he could not possibly have packed it It had to have been ready to go

Tavi shook his head and almost bumped into Kitai, who had come to a sudden stop in front of hih to the other boy that he could feel the nearly feverish heat of the Marat&039;s body

"What is it?" he whispered

Kitai shivered and moved his head almost i only his eyes

A Keeper squatted on a gnarled root that rose fro croach, not ten feet away Tavi looked the other way, seeking the nearestaway from the Keeper

A second spider-like creature sat on a loax-shrouded branch, on level with Tavi&039;s head It let out a high-pitched chirrup, bobbing up and down on its knobby limbs

The first Keeper answered it in a different pitch It too began to bob in fluid, steady ht Many of thereat many

Tavi shuddered He hardly breathed as he whispered, "What do we do?"

"I" Kitai shivered again, and Tavi saw that the other boy&039;s eyes ide, panicked "I do not know"

Tavi&039;s eyes flicked back to the nearest of the two Keepers It shook its head, pale eyes peering this way and that, twitching in independentthat resee happened The Keeper&039;s eyes changed color, right there before his own: They changed froe as a candle&039;s flame

In that instant, the Keeper went deathly still Both eyes swung to orient on the boys, and it let out a piercingly loud whistle, so that sounded like a ht in his throat, and the boy leapt forward

Tavi&039;s eyes swept left and right, and he sahat the Keepers did very clearly The further Keeper&039;s eyes swirled to orange as well, and oriented immediately upon Kitai&039;s for the first, started after the Marat boy with a deceptively languid, deadly grace

In that moment, Tavi saw exactly how the Keepers had detected theht be able to thwart them "Kitai!" he shouted, and then bounded after the other boy "Wait!"

More shrill whistles went up all around them, as Tavi raced to catch up with Kitai It was all but irace and speed of a terrified deer Tavi could barely keep the Marat in sight as he ran-and all around hie eyes of the wax spiders, standing out in sharp contrast to the green glow of the croach

If Kitai hadn&039;t tripped on a sudden dip in the croach, perhaps where one of the wax spiders had recently raised itself up out of it, Tavi didn&039;t think he&039;d have caught up to the other boy Instead, he swooped down and hauled Kitai to his feet by the boy&039;s wild hair

"Ow!" Kitai hissed, eyes wild

"Shut up!" Tavi said, his voice sharp "Follow me"

Kitai blinked in startled surprise, and Tavi gave the boy no tiue with hi the other boy forward a few steps to get hi as quickly as he could toward the rocky wall of the chasround in front of the at the creature

The wax spider reared up onto its rear sets of legs as Tavi approached, but before he reached it, the boy began a spin, holding the heavy pack out in both arms The pack almost pulled hi steps and felt the weight of the pack slahter than it looked The blow threw it to one side and sla a tree It cru up around it

Tavi ran on, and behind hirew louder, ined er

They reached the stony cliff face, both of theh to put both hands against the stone, staring up and then to either side of the face, studying the dark stone as best he could in the faint light of the glowing croach

"The ropes are far from here," hissed Kitai "There is no escape for us"

"We don&039;t need escape," Tavi said He pressed his ue to it briefly, then spat out the sour taste of lime "This way," he said He picked up his pack and continued on through the green light of the Wax Forest, the rocky wall on his left He dug in the pack as he went

"They are surrounding us," Kitai said, voice cool "Boxing us in"

"We don&039;t need to get much farther," Tavi said He tossed back one of the jars of oil to Kitai "Hold that"

The Marat caught the jar aardly, then scowled at Tavi as they both ran on "What is this?"

"Hold it a e eyes flickered on his right, and Tavi didn&039;t see the Keeper hurtling toward him until it was already halfway there Kitai&039;s foot kicked at his own and sent hi to the forest floor

The spider hurtled over his clinging to the nearly vertical surface, then spun on all of its legs, whistling Its ainst its carapace

Tavi watched as Kitai drew his stone knife and hurled it The glassy blade entered the creature&039;s head, drawing a sudden fount of greenish glowing fluid,The Keeper hurled its body out again, but unguided it si and convulsing

Kitai hauled Tavi to his feet and said, "I hope it is a good idea, Aleran"

Tavi felt hi with terror and nodded jerkily "Yeah Yeah, so do I" He started running again, Kitai close behind hi water cathened his strides, leaping over another twisted root Before hi, narrow fissure Water trickled out of it in a slow, steady stream, meltwater from the ambient heat of the croach At the base of the fissure was a long, narrow pool, an area where the croach had not grown over the bare earth The pool looked hideously dark, and Tavi could not see how deep it was

"We cannot climb this, Aleran," panted Kitai Another shriek sounded fro in tension

"Shut up," Tavi said "Give me the oil" He took the jar from Kitai&039;s hand, jerked the broad cork out of its mouth He turned to the area behind hiround several ti out ed, chittering shrieks rose through the glowing forest

"What are you doing&039;" hissed Kitai "You show them where we are&039;"

"Yes," Tavi said "Exactly " He dumped the oil onto the croach, into the depression his boots had made, and took the firestone box into his hand He opened the two separate cha beside the oil He looked up to see the glowing orange dots of dozens of eyes closing in on hi across the surface of the croach

"Whatever you are doing," Kitai half-shouted, "hurry&039;"

Tavi waited until the eyes were close And then he reached down to the oil and struck the firestones together

They sparked brightly, glowingdown, into the spilled oil One of theh to drown it, and in a rush, the whole of the small pool took sudden, brilliant flah as Tavi&039;s chest

The boy recoiled frorabbed Kitai by the Marat boy&039;s one-piece smock, and hauled hiether, and Tavi pulled them both down

The water was shallow, no asped together at the cold Then the Aleran boy stared at the Keepers

The wax spiders had goneof the fire Those nearest to hi out high pitched shrieks Others, farther back, had begun to bob up and down in confusion or fear, letting out high-pitched, interrogative chirrups

None of them seemed to see either of the boys in the pool

"It worked," Tavi hissed "Quick, here " He reached into the pack and drew out both blankets He shoved one at Kitai, then took his own and dipped it into the water A moment later, he lifted it and draped it over his shoulders and head, shivering a bit with the cold "Quick," he said "Cover up "

Kitai stared at hi&039;" he hissed "We should run while we have a chance "

"Quick, cover up"

"Why?"

"Their eyes," Tavi said "When they were close to us, the color of their eyes changed They saw you and not me"

"What do you mean?"

"They saw your heat," Tavi sta with the cold "The Marat Your people feel like they have a fever to me You&039;re hotter The spiders saw you Then when I lit the fire-"

&039;You blinded the

"So soak your blanket in the water and cover up"

"Clever," Kitai said with admiration in his voice With a quick motion, he jerked the hem of his s any ed it over his hips, then bent to dip the blanket in the water and shroud himself as Tavi had done

Tavi stared at the Marat in sudden shock

Kitai blinked back at Tavi "What is it?"

"I don&039;t believe it," Tavi said He felt his face flush and he turned away fro the soaked blanket further about his face "Oh, crows, I don&039;t believe it"

"Don&039;t believe what, Aleran?" Kitai deirl"