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Page 106

| er that neither could, or would, ever try to scale it. |

| It was a high summer's day in January when the trees kept their leaves but shed their bark. In them, squat brown birds roared with laughter. The dragon of the outback, a carrion-eating lizard known as a goanna, rushed up a tree at Sasha's right side and clung there staring at her as she passed by, its throat puffed out in soundless alarm. Other animals crept, slid, and waddled through the dry brush ahead. A silvery-coated eastern gray kangaroo bounded away, emitting a faint, querulous sort of bleat. |

| A persistent itching drew Sasha's fingers to her neck. She scratched and scratched, then found herself itching in other unspeakable places that she could not touch in the presence of the men who rode on each side of her. Nervous perspiration beaded up on her brow as the itching worsened. She scratched everywhere that she could reach, then noticed that everyone else seemed to be spending a lot of time scratching, also. |

| She looked at Ashton, whose back was to her. Smiling devilishly, she watched his hands flutter along his neck, his arms, and his legs as he also scratched himself incessantly. |

| Arching an eyebrow, Sasha looked at the other men again. Not one of them were without eager fingers clawing at their skin and clothes. |

| Suddenly Ashton stopped his horse and turned to face everyone. "So what do you think is causing this damnable itch?" he shouted. "Ever since I woke up, it seems like something is crawling all over me. And I see it is the same for you. Do any of you have any idea of what we may have been exposed to?" He |

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