I stretched again, not used to spending this much time bending over. Nor were there enough greens in one spot to sit while picking. The two-hour effort hadn't even filled a quarter of my carry net. I sat on a log and took a drink from my water skin.

As I nibbled on some greens, snuffling near my elbow made me jump. The blue Saursune gave a squeaky hum that I guessed was an apology. The adult by the crystal had disappeared sometime in the last few minutes, although the green youngster was stretching as it got up from its nap.

Both of them followed me as I continued picking greens. The blue one helped, although the green one seemed to grow bored soon after and nudged my hand. I pet its neck a few times as it thrummed.

Crouching down, it began sneaking up behind its sibling and pounced on it. The blue one squalled, and the wrestling match was on. In a flash, the greenish-blue Saursune leapt over a bush with bared teeth and a deep growl.

The teeth disappeared even before her hands hit the ground. Her huff sounded less than impressed, and it had an immediate effect on the youngsters, who sat with lowered heads. She looked around, and I took an uneasy step back when her eyes landed on me.

She dipped her head in a bow before turning to the youngsters. As she trotted past them, they followed after her while glancing back at me. Soon, all of them disappeared into the forest.

I breathed a sigh of relief and kept working. They were cute and had helped, but their guardian made me overly nervous.

~

The wandering hunters returned earlier than usual since I had to go check on the ones I'd left at Blackbird Marsh. They brought back a couple of carry nets each, mostly greens, but not as much as they had found in the past. Those from Keywa Village must also be going deeper into the forest to collect greens.

No Saursunes had appeared all afternoon, which I found strange. It also dashed my hopes of trading some energy for food. I took the first group to the Guard Station, wondering if Janette's group had collected enough to make up for our lack.

The air hazed over, then cleared. Only two groups were present this early; and as I had hoped, Janette and her companions had beat us here. Their carry nets of corn cobs and greens easily held twice as much as what my group had collected even though her group was less than half the size. As I came over, I could also see a wild pig beneath two nets.

I sat beside Janette, who was laying on the hides. When she opened her eyes, I asked, "How did it go?"

She yawned and sat up. "Better than I'd hoped. They weren't too sure about us at first, but when we didn't go near the field, they came to investigate. After they took some of my energy, they kept swinging by with cobs of corn. There were lots of greens in that spot too. I'm more than willing to go back there tomorrow. Guess what else they brought."

"I see a wild pig that will fill a lot of soup pots."

Janette held up a small cream-colored clam-like object. "They also brought me some sort of salve for the sunburn on my arms. It works really well."

I blinked, only just noticing that the red tinge on her scars had disappeared. "Oh, nice. I saw they were getting pink the other day."

A shimmer by the crystal heralded another group's return. When it cleared, Mark from Briar Village leaned against the people he'd just brought. The others carried two sheep and a dozen carry nets full of greens.

When Mark spotted me, he grinned and gave me a tired thumbs-up. "We tried that sheep farm you went to yesterday. Didn't take long for the Saursune to appear with a couple of sheep, but he sat there and waited until I came over."

I sat straighter in surprise. "You approached him?" Our public story was that the Saursune had found me away from the crystal.

A hunter helped him over, and he sat beside me, Mark said, "He didn't come close to my group. He just sat there and held up one of those weird braided circles. Once I was closer, he walked over." Mark shrugged. "Craziest thing I've probably ever done, but there's a lot of meat on those sheep."

"Did the Saursune try herding you into the pasture too?"

"Sheesh, I think he tried every hour." Mark shook his head. "We thought about it, but it was just too risky. We found enough around the area."

One of his gatherers added, "At one point, it even brought five live sheep over and tried to herd us with them."

I chuckled at that mental image. "Persistent."

"Definitely," Mark agreed. "Did you see any Saursunes today?"

I grinned. "You aren't going to believe this, but..." I told him about the two youngsters that behaved more like half-grown dogs than an intelligent alien race.

"Wow. I can't believe they just left their children with you like that." He glanced at the side of the cliff. "Did they bring you anything?"

I shook my head. "They brought Ariel and Merryl a rabbit, but I'd ported so much this morning they didn't even bother taking any energy." With a sigh, I stood up. "Speaking of Ariel, I better go check if her group returned."

Since Ariel wasn't here, she had probably waited here for an hour to make sure the Saursune hadn't slipped a tracker on her, then gone home to rest. I ported back to Orange Flower, and it took three round trips to get Merryl's, Ariel's, and my groups to the Guard Station. None of the Saursunes appeared.

I sat on the resting hides as Janette got up to leave. She told me, "I'll let Ariel know you brought her groups here."

"Thanks. I have one more trip to make." I still had to go pick up my crystal-searching group. My other five hunters were still with Merryl, and she'd bring them here.

I continued sitting on the hides but didn't really feel tired despite the recent ports. My afternoon nap might have been a mistake since the Saursune hadn't returned. More groups appeared as I debated whether or not I wanted to do a lot of porting to try pushing my limits and strengthen my porting capabilities or if I should track down the fighter this evening so I'd get a good sleep. There wasn't time to do both without someone noticing my prolonged absence.

How strong did my porting ability really need to be? I gazed up at the cloudless sky. What were my goals? Yesterday, I'd managed forty-eight ports, although I'd only done thirty-two so far today. Only. I snorted internally. Both were mind-boggling numbers.

I frowned as I recalled my inability to find five empty crystals this morning. I'd tapped out at twenty light ports. It hadn't been enough.

I sighed and reluctantly tried to come up with a way to tire myself out tonight. The big cart was a possible solution, although others were now interested in porting it around. I'd have to brainstorm up some other options, but I needed to check on my group first.

Getting to my feet, I murmured, "Blackbird Marsh."

My words were too quiet for others to hear, but after making so many trips, it wouldn't stand out as much as a silent port. Light shimmered through my veins as my sight hazed over. Cattails appeared, and Vic waved a greeting from where he sat. My five hunters stood up, each with a carry net or two of greens they'd collected on their way back.

"How are things going?" I greeted Vic.

"Pretty good. I was just about to leave, so you have good timing. Don't linger too long. A Saursune followed one of your hunters back."

I scanned the boggy area. "Sorry about that."

He shrugged. "Not their fault. The lizards always seem to show up lately. I was close enough to the crystal to bounce, so I was safe enough."

His group was lingering nearby, almost loitering. They must have delayed their departure so as to not leave my hunters by themselves.

My hunters gathered around me, and I waved goodbye. "Thanks for letting them come here. See you in a bit. Guard Station."

The air hazed over, then cleared as another group was walking away from the crystal, having arrived just before us. One of the hunters I just brought back caught my eye and gave a nod. They must have found a crystal, but the details would have to wait until we were back home.

I sat on a resting hide near Liam and a few other hunters and asked them, "Did you learn any good gossip while I was gone?"

Liam shrugged. "Someone tried Yellow Bird Bamboo Forest today, and that trap you mentioned was still there. The fruit on the trees had been tied on as bait."

"So that's why there were so many bananas that day!" I exclaimed before pausing as something occurred to me. "How did they know the fruit was tied? Did they go into the trap?"

His expression darkened. "They sent a couple of their elderly villagers inside in case it activated."

I inhaled in shock. "No..."

How could people use the older members of their village as sacrificial lambs? The older ten in my group were technically risking their lives daily to bring back food, but I certainly didn't ask them to go somewhere I wouldn't!

Liam nodded, twisting his lips like he'd eaten something sour. "That's what a porter heard at the Oasis earlier today. The Saursunes opened the trap and left, so they were okay. It's not a group that uses this scanning station, thankfully, but it's still not the kind of news I like to hear."

Another hunter commented, "Apart from that, there isn't much to tell. Three porters were drained by the Saursunes, one of which was Ariel. All villages here had difficulty finding an open crystal. Irwin village only found one."

"We went out early, and we only found four," I told him. I glanced at the sundial to see how much longer I had to hang around and furrowed my eyebrows. "Have any trackers been found here recently? Or at other places?"

It had been quite a while since I heard about one being found, and I hadn't bounced any out recently. The guards were watching the scanner as they usually were. The possibility of a tracker was the entire reason we waited here for an hour, and the lack of them suddenly struck me as suspicious.

One of the guards overheard my question and replied, "We haven't found anything here for nine or ten days. Other scanning locations have, mostly from the raiding groups."

"Is it possible our scanner isn't working properly?" I asked.

The guard shrugged. "There's no way to tell unless someone brings a tracker here, and that's not something I feel like risking."

"No one here is raiding," a hunter commented thoughtfully. "I think that's the biggest difference."

"Each of the villages coming here have agreed they won't raid. If they do, they can't use this scanning station," one of the guards said.

Interestingly, this guard was from Hinton Village, so if their porters didn't think the rules were firm, they did now. One looked disgruntled, but all the porters from that village had clearly heard this before.

"I wonder if it's worth waiting here for an hour," I murmured, tilting my head. "Especially since some of those intermittent trackers don't start sending signals for half a day or more."

Several of the hunters thought about it, and one asked, "Is it worth the risk? An hour doesn't hurt, and it lets the porters rest."

"True," I agreed. Just because I was chafing against time, that didn't mean the others were ready to bounce. Most looked rested enough after sitting by the crystal all day, but weariness was present in some faces, likely from their morning efforts to find an empty crystal.

Would their limits increase due to their morning searches? Or were they like most porters who always stopped while they had at least two ports in reserve, and thus, never really hit their limits unless it was during their last trip home?

Unaware of my internal contemplations, the discussion continued as a guard said, "There's a possibility that an intermittent tracker slipped through. Some go half a day without a signal, but no one here has seen air ships, so it's hard to say."

"They could be biding their time until they know where each village is," another hunter added. "The tracker in that bag of corn wasn't well hidden, but we've already seen them tuck those blasted beads into firewood and between the joints in baskets. For all we know, they could have slid one into the seams of our carry—"

"In firewood?" I interrupted. I didn't recall this.

Cooking fires took a surprising amount of wood, even in the stone ovens that trapped residual heat for hours after the flames went out. The firewood we collected always came from whatever was closest to the crystal. All of our food was thoroughly inspected in case of intermittent trackers, but we never checked the firewood.

"It was the same day you brought that huge log and were sleeping," one of my hunters told me. "A group from Hinton Village saw a Saursune put a tracker in some firewood they had gathered."

"Could they have put a tracker in that big log?" I asked, thoroughly confused about why they hadn't said anything.

"We checked for holes big enough for a tracker and didn't find any. That's also why the carpenters removed the bark first, just to double-check."

I rubbed my forehead, suddenly reminded of the knife the Saursune had left by the Orange Grove crystal. "I think we better be careful if we find anything really valuable by a crystal. They could be leaving things with trackers in hopes of us picking them up."

After this discussion, I was quite certain the Saursunes knew where most villages were, which scanning stations they used, and which groups belonged where. All they had to do was take note of which group used that crystal then watch where the tracker went. I also had a growing suspicion that the Saursunes were using some trackers our aging scanners couldn't detect.

The hunters and guards began discussing any unusual or valuable thing they might have found near a crystal, suddenly recalling a bunch of small events over the last two weeks. Two groups had found "forgotten" empty baskets behind shrubs. Someone had found a bow with a broken string. A few stray arrows had been found in various places.

All these items had been taken back and none had triggered our scanner. If those items had trackers, the Saursunes knew where at least three villages were, which was leading to a flurry of discussion about possibly relocating those villages. Thankfully, no one from Vermilion had taken back such items, but as we'd seen in the past, the Saursunes were crafty if they wanted to slide a tracker somewhere.

At this point, the Saursunes had likely noticed we only went to the Guard Station in the late afternoon or if we were forced to bounce. What if they somehow made their tracker only send a signal at night when everyone was tucked up in their village?

The Saursunes seemed to be pulling out a lot more tricks in their recent track-the-porters endeavor than in past culls. But why?