Page 23 of Lake of Sorrow
“You want the pot?” Kaylina hadn’t determined if the plant fully understood her, but it had shown her not only visions of its past but some of her own memories. She had no doubt it had intelligence. “It’s heavy,” she warned but crept forward, lifting the handle.
The vine didn’t move. She hung the pot from the end, releasing it slowly to let the plant gauge its weight. The vine proved strong enough to hold it.
She didn’t know why she was surprised. The rangers had struck these vines multiple times with their swords, and only their greatest of blows had been enough to cut the dense plant matter. The magical plant matter, she corrected herself.
After she let go, the vine drew the pot up through the hole.
“Very magical,” she murmured.
A soft clunk sounded as the plant set the pot on the floor. The vine lowered down again, its tip twitching a couple of times. In invitation?
“Guess you can’t fertilize yourself, huh?” Kaylina wouldn’t have minded skipping the climb up the wall, the only handholds the bent and rusty bits of iron left behind after the removal of the stairs.
The vine flicked its tip again, beckoning for her.
“Right.” She set the lantern down, climbed the wall, and lunged to grip the edge of the hole. As she’d done before, she swung herself like a pendulum until she could throw her leg up and lever herself into the room.
A few dead star-shaped leaves that littered the floor fell through the hole. Nobody had been up there to disturb the plant since Kaylina’s last visit, but it had grown more vines and branches. And did the leaves on those branches appear larger and more robust than before?
It hadn’t been her imagination that the red glow was stronger. She could see the details of the room clearly. Already, a number of vines draped over the pot, absorbing the liquid inside.
Careful not to touch anything—the soil had zapped her before—she took the ladle and spooned the mixture over the dirt in the large pot. A soft sigh came from the plant. One of the branches shifted, a leaf brushing her cheek, its surface velvety.
“I’m glad you approve,” she murmured, determined not to find it creepy that a plant was caressing her. “I don’t suppose you’d like to give me a hint about how to permanently remove the...” She paused, not certain the plant wanted the curse removed, not if it had been left long ago by the druids to punish the rangers. “How to permanently make you happy?”
The plant didn’t answer, so she ladled more liquid onto the soil, thoroughly moistening it.
“I can leave the pot here in case you want more, but the honey will settle on the bottom since I didn’t get it mixed in very well. After I’m no longer a wanted criminal and can live here again, I’ll make a proper fertilizer, okay?”
Kaylina returned the ladle to the pot. No sooner had she released it than a vine wrapped around her wrist, trapping her.
Alarm coursed through her veins. “Uhm, do you want more fertilizer?”
A leaf pressed against the top of her hand.
“I can give you more. There’s plenty for?—”
Searing pain erupted in her hand, as if someone had jammed a hot iron against her skin. Kaylina couldn’t keep from screaming as she stumbled back, trying to fling herself through the hole and away from the plant.
The vine tightened around her wrist, keeping her in place. The pain intensified.
She screamed again and cried, “Vlerion!”
The vine released her so abruptly that she fell through the hole.
Cursing, she tried to twist so that she could land on her feet, but there wasn’t time. She smashed to the floorboards on her side, shoulder ramming into the unyielding wood, and cried out again.
Confusion, betrayal, and anger gave her the strength to push herself to her knees. She almost knocked over the lantern. Frustrated, she was tempted to throw it through the hole at the plant, but her hand hurt too much to contemplate grabbing anything.
Footsteps thundered toward her, Vlerion with Jankarr right behind him, their swords out.
With her hand cradled to her chest, she opened her mouth to explain what had happened, but they didn’t stop to ask. Vlerion swept her into his arms.
Two thick vines lowered through the hole like vipers. One of them even seemed to hiss.
Jankarr sprang at them, sword slashing as Vlerion backed away.
“Don’t stay to fight,” he ordered.