They walked silently for a time.
"We'll come out at the head of the river. It's a huge marsh that drains off into the main channel," said Argo presently.
Late afternoon darkened quickly.
"I was wondering about something," Geo said, after a little while.
"What?" asked Argo.
"Hama said that once the jewels had been used to control minds, the person who used them was infected—"
"Rather the infection was already there," corrected Argo. "That just brought it out."
"Yes," said Geo. "Anyway, Hama also said that he was infected. When did he have to use the jewels?"
"Lots of times," Argo said. "Too many. The last time was when I was kidnaped. He used the jewel to control pieces of that thing you all killed in the City of New Hope to come and kidnap me and then leave the jewel in Leptar."
"A piece of that monster?" Geo exclaimed. "No wonder it decayed so rapidly when it was killed."