"Yep." Gregor said, "Can't even stop to eat. Snake!" He called over to their guide. "Where is that river we should so desperately avoid?" He put his arms out and waved them in the fluid motions of a babbling brook, the pointed at Water Snake, then pointed at the jungle. "No time to lose now. Ulric even now must be hot on our trail.

[hr]

"I'll be damned if that's not a human face." Dinah said looking down at the perfect imprint of Brinly's face from where she'd fallen in the mud. "It's weird. Perfect. Look at that. That!" She said, pointing to the eyes and lips of the person. "I swear you can read the fear. This is frikin' art's what this is. This belongs in a museum."

"Either a' you recognize this one?" she asked. "She one of the special stock or what?"