Page 39 of Lake of Sorrow
One of the vines flickered, and she halted a few feet away. But it only adjusted to wrap more firmly around him. The aggressive vines didn’t react to her approach at all.
Vlerion had stopped struggling. His eyes were closed, and he was humming.
Kaylina almost swore again, realizing the beast threatened to rise, to overcome him. In that form, he could be strong enough to break free, but as soon as he did, with no other enemies present, he might turn on her.
“Are you okay?” she whispered. “Other than being completely immobilized by ranger-hating vines?”
Vlerion finished the refrain of his song and took a long breath before lifting his lids to meet her gaze. His face was calm, and she didn’t catch the telltale dangerous glint in his eyes.
“I’ve been better.” He looked her up and down. “They didn’t attack you.”
“The vines? No.”
Not yet, anyway…
“I thought you were in danger.” He shook his head ruefully.
“Well, I might be. If you weren’t doing anything over there, you shouldn’t be what set the flowers off. I’m assuming they’re an alarm.” An alarm that battered friends and their furry companions as badly as whatever they were meant to stave off…
“The Kar’ruk could be returning.” Vlerion’s face turned grim again as his head turned, his gaze sliding toward the lake. “Just before the noise started, I saw a glint on the far side of the lake. Like armor or a sword reflecting sunlight.”
Oh, great. As if this situation wasn’t bad enough.
“Let’s get you down then. I need to borrow your sword.” Kaylina risked stepping closer and stretching upward, but a vine held Vlerion’s arm over his head, and she couldn’t reach the hilt.
“Please, my lord,” he murmured.
“Really? You’re going to be haughty, right now? I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re not in a great position to, as Targon suggested, beat respect into me.”
Vlerion managed a smile. “I knew you were awake during that conversation.”
“You should have shut your office door if you wanted privacy.”
“I’ll remember that in the future. Stand back.”
She did, and he moved his hand as much as he could and tossed the sword so the blade didn’t clip him as it fell. The vine tightened around his wrist. He curled his lip at it.
Kaylina picked up the weapon, wrapping both hands around the hilt and debating which vines were most responsible for immobilizing him. Unfortunately, it was a lot of them.
Aiming for one wrapped around his waist, she lifted the blade overhead like a logger chopping kindling. With that image in mind, she threw all her weight behind the blow, but the sword lacked the heft of an axe. Not only did it fail to sink in deeply, but it flexed as it hit and sent a wobbly jolt up her arm.
“If the Kar’ruk do show up, I’ll ask if I can use one of their magical axes,” she said.
“That would be the ideal weapon for the task.”
She took more experimental swings, trying to find a weak spot. With each blow, she glanced at the vines, afraid her actions would make them decide she was an enemy too.
“Is this all because you’re a ranger?” she wondered. “Do all your people get attacked when they come in the preserve?”
“There’s a reason we usually avoid the area, but I’ve not heard of rangers being outright attacked. It’s more that they find their way blocked and paths disappearing behind them. Some other eerie things that the plants do to let our kind know they’re not welcome.” Vlerion sighed again. “From what I’ve heard and read, it wasn’t always like that. Before the years of famine when the king ordered my predecessors to hunt in the preserve and bring back game to feed the starving populace, rangers were welcome. They found the forest peaceful and loved to spend time here. It was only after the druids returned and put the curse on the castle and my ancestors that the preserve changed toward them.”
“How does it know if a person is a ranger? If you came without a taybarri or your black leather armor, could the plants tell?”
“I don’t know, but I suspect this…” Vlerion grimaced and flexed an arm, again trying to pull free. He only managed to move an inch before the vine tightened. “This is because they can tell I’m one of the cursed. An enemy, someone not to be trusted.” Frustration twisted his lips, but he caught himself and closed his eyes again, forcing his breathing to calm.
“It’s not fair that you’re being punished for something your ancestor decided to do two hundred years ago.”
Kaylina had barely gouged a divot in the vine. She switched her focus to a narrower tendril, even though it wasn’t as instrumental in restraining Vlerion. Still, it gripped his arm. If she could cut it away, maybe he could swing his own sword. His stronger blows would be more effective.