After being dragged for almost a day, the Zourtzi guards abandoned Tarik and Chinwe. In the direction that they thought the Greencloaks were in, they were both starting to feel as if they had been led the opposite direction. Tarik occasionally spat blood here and there, his sickness worsening by the hour. Chinwe held his arm tightly, using herself as support for him. Lumeo and Chinwe's wildebeest were now out of passive state and following behind them.

Tarik never got to say goodbye to LaReimaja and his family. He was terribly worried about his father, but was told nothing more. He and Chinwe were kicked out of Fort Zourtzi, giving them no choice but to leave. It made Tarik's blood boil. The fact that he had left his Greencloak friends to check if his family were okay, only to be captured and tortured on a ship for days. He slowly realised that his trip to Nilo was hardly worth it, but then he thought again that if he didn't come, he wouldn't have known if they were safe or not.

"Are you okay?" he heard Chinwe ask softly.

"I'm fine," replied Tarik.

Chinwe still held him as they walked across the Niloan desert. Her grip seemed to tighten even more.

"Liar. I know you aren't," said Chinwe.

"Maybe it's because you're hurting me," Tarik looked at the girl.

He saw Chinwe's eyes widen before she let go of his arm. "Sorry."

"Not the first time," Tarik knew it wasn't the right time to bring up how Chinwe had lured him to Lynk, but he was upset. With everything.

Chinwe stopped and glared at him. "Do you want me to help you or not? I could leave you out here and let you die if you're going to be like that."

Tarik kept walking.

"Hey!" the Niloan girl ran to him and grabbed him, facing him so that their faces met. "I understand that it's been hard for you, okay?"

Tarik looked her in the eyes seriously, but said nothing. He saw her frown at him, but he didn't really care at this point.

"You're the most stubborn boy I've ever met in my entire life. It's actually so painful to deal with you sometimes, you know that? I hate your attitude right now," Chinwe slapped him across the face.

Tarik's face stung and he rested his hand on his cheek. "Are you crazy?"

"Are you?" Chinwe's fists we're clenched. "Want me to punch you instead?"

Tarik hissed and kicked her underneath her feet, knocking her to the ground. "Maybe I am," he said before walking away. "Let's go, Lumeo."

The otter squeaked before looking back at Chinwe, he didn't move. Tarik noticed shortly after and looked back.

"Lumeo?"

Lumeo sat next to a surprised Chinwe who was still on the ground staring at him. Tarik rolled his eyes. Lumeo actually seemed to disagree with him.

"You're mean," Chinwe said before getting to her feet, her wildebeest helping her.

"I know," Tarik admitted. "But I wonder why."

Chinwe walked forward again, and Tarik noticed that she had scraped her knee on the way down.

"Sorry," he said to her.

"I just... how do you know a move like that?" Chinwe questioned.

"Training," Tarik pulled out a piece of jerky from his pocket.

"But I've been training too, really hard," Chinwe sounded defeated.

Tarik sighed before chewing a piece of his jerky. "I can teach you."

"Wait, do you see that? It's a village," Chinwe pointed in front of them.

Tarik stopped behind Chinwe. How did he not recognise where they were going? This village was his home.

And it had been destroyed.

He almost dropped his jerky, before screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Tarik?!" Chinwe cried before holding him again.

Dragging her, Tarik raced forward into Caylif. He sped passed dead bodies who had been covered with white blankets, burnt down huts, dead livestock, trashed shops and small fires. He was scared for his life.

Ahmar.

He had to find Ahmar.

"Tarik, what is going on? Talk to me!" Chinwe tried stopping him, but he just kept dragging her wherever he went. He ran through huts, searching inside shops and behind cupboards looking for his missing friend. Lumeo was squeaking worriedly, also running around trying to look for Ahmar.

"Ahmar!" Tarik called out once he stepped back outside.

Nothing.

"Tarik," Chinwe pinned him against a hut wall. "Talk to me."

Tarik was breathing so fast that he could barely speak. His heart was racing and he felt dizzy. It was almost like he was going to faint...

"No!" Chinwe slapped him again. "Stay awake! Stay awake!" the girl shook him desperately, screaming at him.

For a moment he could see two Chinwe's. Her words were fading, but he couldn't do anything. And then something green came into his vision, like a green blanket.

"No," Tarik whispered, thinking aloud. It wasn't a green blanket, it was a Greencloak. He felt someone grab him from Chinwe, or was it multiple people? He couldn't see as his vision was fading.

"Move!" Tarik heard a familiar voice say. It was loud and booming, like Olvan's.

Olvan!

Tarik felt his knees buckle under him and he slowly fell to the ground. Why was it taking so long for Lynk to tap into his head? Or perhaps it wasn't Lynk at all. Could it be his illness?

The sky above him was spinning. He felt himself being held by somebody, just resting in someone's lap. Chinwe had been dragged a few feet away, kicking and screaming at the other Greencloaks.

He felt something drip into his mouth. It tasted awful, but within seconds his vision slowly came back to him. A blonde boy crouched down next to him and rested his hand on Tarik's chest. The figure still looked a little blurry. Tarik squinted at him, trying to figure out who it was. A horned owl sat on the boy's shoulder.

It was Dorian. Tarik aggressively reached out to him, grabbing Dorian's arm and pulling him closer. He tried to wiggle out of whoever held his grip and get closer to Dorian. He had missed him so much. A familiar tan hand clutched his shoulder and held him down firmly. Was it Lishay's hand?

His heart suddenly stopped.

Oh. My. Tellun.

Lishay was holding him! This time, Tarik stopped struggling. The voices around him still echoed. He had no idea what was going on, but it appeared that Dorian and Lishay were trying to talk to him, while Olvan and possibly Ricko were questioning Chinwe. He could still hear the Niloan girl screaming, almost in fear.

He felt himself being lifted off the ground by Lishay and Dorian. They held him firmly, and what looked like Ricko's figure approached him. His mentor took Tarik from Lishay and Dorian and led him over to one of the horses nearby. He couldn't tell if his friends had followed or not. Ricko was speaking, but Tarik didn't understand what he was saying, but the man looked panicked.

Ricko reached a shaking hand into the horse's saddle pocket and fished out a canteen. Once the lid was removed, all of Tarik's senses came back to him.

"Let me go!" Chinwe screamed.

"Lenori, grab the tranquil gun now!" Olvan ordered.

Tarik looked over in Chinwe's direction. She had been pinned to the ground by the Greencloak named Finn. Alec had a sword pointed at her head. Lishay was staring at Tarik, and Dorian was watching Chinwe in horror.

"Drink this," Ricko pushed the canteen up to his lips.

Tarik drank the water inside, trying to push out all of the yelling that came from the other Greencloaks. He felt Ricko pat his back.

"Where is Lynk?" Olvan questioned Chinwe. He sounded furious, and that scared Tarik.

"I don't know!" Chinwe cried.

Tarik grabbed Ricko's hand once he had stopped drinking. "She didn't do anything."

"What?" Ricko looked confused.

"Please, you have to tell them to stop," Tarik begged.

Ricko and Tarik looked back at Chinwe. Lenori came running back with some type of small gun. Chinwe struggled once more under Finn's grasp. She had lost her voice, but still cried out.

Tarik's eyes widened, and suddenly some type of power flooded through him. He sprinted towards Lenori who aimed the gun at Chinwe, ready to fire. Tarik jumped in the air and spun, performing a spinning kick and knocked Lenori to the ground. The gun fell in the dirt.

Swiftly, he moved towards Finn and threw him off Chinwe before punching Alec in the gut causing him to buckle over.

"Shoot them both!" Tarik heard someone say.

Then he faced Olvan. The Greencloak commander was in a fighting crouch, his large moose at his side.

"Stop this right now," Olvan said firmly to him.

Chinwe's screams stopped once a loud bang went off. Tarik snapped out of his trance-like daze and realised that everything had happened so quickly. Lumeo had just given Tarik high levels of agility, Chinwe had been tranquillised, and he had attacked other Greencloaks.

He turned around to see Lenori back on her feet, aiming the small tranquilliser gun at him. Her eyes were wide and her hands were trembling.

"No!" he heard Lishay scream.

Lenori pulled the trigger and Tarik fell to the ground unconscious. All he could hear before falling was the angry squeaks from Lumeo. His spirit animal was on the attack, and Tarik could do nothing about it.