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“I’m sure that was a sight to behold.”

I didn’t ask what he’d fought. Drev clearly admired him, but those weren’t the stories I wanted to hear about Rauf, especially from someone else.

Drev got us as close to the clearing as he could, and we walked the rest of the way. Rauf took my bag from the cab and ended up beside me while Drev led us along a narrow trail.

I tried to concentrate on the ground. After finding that buried device, I had an excellent reason to watch where I put my feet. Unfortunately, Rauf kept brushing against my arm whenever the trail narrowed. I knew what his skin felt like beneath that shirt. Being close enough to smell him brought back the memory of having my face against his neck, and suddenly I was much more interested in whether he’d kiss me again than in what was underfoot.

I was going to have to get a grip on myself. He hadn’t even touched me on purpose.

“Here,” Drev said, stopping near the edge of the clearing. “His head was pointing that way.”

I crouched to examine the grass. Rauf put my bag beside me, and Drev showed me where the goat’s legs had been. I checked the ground for stains and looked beneath the nearby plants, but there was nothing that resembled the stuff on his mouth. He might have walked a long way after eating it. I didn’t even know if this was what had killed him.

Then I heard a bleat.

I stood up and listened. It came again, weak and miserable, from somewhere down the slope.

“There’s a stream that way,” Drev said.

We followed the sound through the brush. Rauf picked up my bag, and I hurried ahead when I could see the water. Three goats stood among the rocks in the middle of the stream. One kept trying to climb onto a stone and slipping back into the water.

“Oh, you poor things.”

There was a black sheen on the stream. It had gathered around the rocks and stained the pale fur on the goats’ legs. I knelt at the edge and put on a clean glove before touching it.

“What is it?” Drev asked.

“I don’t know, but it looks like what was on the goat’s mouth.”

He glanced upstream. “Could this be what made Goataro sick?”

“It could. We need to keep him away from it.” I got up. The goat in the water had stopped trying to climb out, and I didn’t like the way its head was drooping. “Let me see if I can get close to them.”

Rauf set my bag on the bank. I left it there and stepped onto a rock, then another, moving slowly so I wouldn’t frighten the goats. They’d been friendly enough near the farm. I hoped that meant they’d let me help, though sick animals didn’t always appreciate what was good for them.

“Come on,” I said, holding out a hand to the nearest one. “Let’s get you out of there.”

It backed away. The others followed, splashing toward the opposite bank. At least they were going toward dry ground. I picked my way after them, trying to stay close enough to catch the smallest if it couldn’t make it across.

“Be careful,” Rauf called.

“Be quiet. We don’t want to spook them.”

“I think it’s too late for that,” Drev said.

My boot slid on the next rock. I caught myself against a boulder and waited until I was steady before I moved again. I resisted the urge to look back. I could practically feel Rauf glaring at me.

The goats scrambled onto a low bank beneath an overhang. The stream flowed into a cave there, with a strip of dry ground along one side. I followed them under the rock and found more goats huddled in the hollow. These hadn’t even bothered to run away. One lay on its side, breathing fast, while another stood over it and bleated.

How long had they been drinking this water? Getting them out was only going to be the start of helping them.

“There are more in here,” I called.

I needed a bottle of the water for Otho. If he could test it for toxins, maybe we could figure out what we were dealing with. But my bag was still on the bank beside Rauf, and I didn’t want to send the goats farther into the cave by going back through them. I looked at the distance between us, wondering if he could toss me an empty bottle without frightening them.

A loud bang echoed through the hollow. I turned toward the stream as water began rushing into the cave.

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