Botanicaust

froze her in her tracks. Ahead of her, the light of Levi ’ s fire danced between the trunks of the tamarisk, intercepted by shadows and movement.
    Cannibals .
    Dread settled into the hollow of her stomach. Every muscle in her body trembled with weakness. Cannibals had found them, and Levi was in danger. She had to save him.
    But they ’ re cannibals.
    She forced one foot in front of the other, mind spinning without options. Through the thicket, she saw Levi and another man roll across the sand. A smaller man drove blow after blow against Levi ’ s head and arms.
    Although larger than his attackers, Levi didn ’ t put up a fight. He curled in on himself with his hands over his head. A woman joined the fray, kicking Levi in the head and kidneys. The whites of her eyes glowed fiercely in the flickering fire. Levi squirmed and tried to twist away. His attempt to escape rolled him through the coals of the fire, and he yelled in pain.
    “ Levi! ” She barely heard her own voice over the woman ’ s savage ululations and the small man ’ s bellowing.
    She spotted the fire-starting wand on top of Levi ’ s gear just inside the thicket. Drawing on courage she didn ’ t know she had, she crept into the clearing and grasped the compact implement with a trembling hand. She spun to face the skirmish, a tiny flame licking from the tip of the wand. Useless. What would Mo do? Flash them.
    An idea blossomed. She turned to the tamarisk and ignited leaves and twigs. The tinder caught quickly, climbing the resinous trunks like lightning. She moved to another spot, and another.
    In the clearing, oblivious to her entrance, three cannibals held Levi spread against the ground while the fourth approached with a knife.
    Tula braced herself in front of the growing light and in as deep a voice as possible yelled, “ This is the Haldanian Protectorate! ”
    The group around Levi released him in a limp sprawl and swung to face her. She raised the flame wand, dialing the pitiful flame to full and made a show of looking to the sky, as if expecting a duster.
    Without hesitation, the cannibals fled.
    With her help, Levi limped out of the thicket, but he grew heavier as he leaned on her, and she eventually had to stop. She crept back to the burned out grove and searched the clearing in the dying light of the tamarisk fire. While gathering Levi ’ s things, she found a crude metal knife dropped by the cannibals. She kept the blade in one hand as she stumbled her way back to Levi, her eyes and ears attuned to the darkness around her. The Cannibals wouldn ’ t stay away long. And her bluff wouldn ’ t work a second time.
    With no illumination but starlight, it was difficult to determine how badly Levi was wounded. His breathing was rough, a man in stress. She offered him water, but he turned away, clenching his body into a fetal position. Did he have internal bleeding?
    With nothing left to do, she draped him with the blanket. Knife in hand, she sat beside him, arms around her legs to ward off the cold. Part way through the night, he began shivering. She removed her robe and added it to the blanket covering him.
    Still, he shivered, until she heard his teeth clacking. Helpless in the dark, she climbed beneath the blanket, adding her warmth to his. She kept the knife by her ear, and startled alert at every hint of sound. The moon never rose, and Tula didn ’ t sleep at all.
    When dawn broke, she slid into the cold air and looked at Levi ’ s face. Both eyes had swelled shut, his nose was a purple mess, and multiple contusions and abrasions covered his scalp. The shoulder peeking from beneath the blanket screamed an angry red with blisters over blisters oozing fluid.
    Rummaging through the first aid items, she found antiseptic spray, but no burn kit. The stitch kit needle was missing. She found butterfly closures that might work in place of stitches.
    “ Levi, ” she dropped her face close to his ear. “ Levi. ”
    He shivered and his eyelids trembled, only managing to become slits. “ Mmmm. ”
    “ Levi, I help. ” She held up a roll of gauze.
    “ Mmmhmm. ” He nodded slightly.
    “ I look your … ” she didn ’ t know the word for wounds. “ Bad. ”
    He sucked a shuddering breath and slid the blanket off his shoulder. “ Burn, ” he said.
    Tula flinched. The grass shirt over his right shoulder blade had a burned hole as big as both her palms together. The edges of the charred fabric had crusted to the blisters, and spots of