Page 87 of Lake of Sorrow
The tip of the vine eased closer to her face, stretching toward her temple.
Heart hammering against her ribcage, Kaylina lifted the ladle to use as a shield and backed away as far as she could. When she bumped into the stone wall, she had to stop. Either that, or she had to dive past the vine, out the hole, and tumble to the floor below, possibly breaking her neck.
The vine paused again, the tip only a few inches from her eyes.
It wasn’t aggressively reaching for her—when the plant had branded her, its movement had been abrupt, too quick for her to escape—but she found even this mild interest alarming. Yet it paused, hanging there. Silently asking if it could touch her? She didn’t know why it needed to. Before, it had shared visions with her without any contact. No, not visions. It had taken her memories and shown them to her, shown her it could read minds.
But now it seemed to be asking permission.
Kaylina lowered the ladle. “Go ahead.”
The vine drifted closer, the cool green tip touching her temple. In the still quiet of the tower, she could feel every rapid thump of her heart. She closed her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t regret this.
22
Ask not for the Creator to grant you clairvoyance, for the future inevitably holds your death.
~ Talivaria, Daygarii wise woman
Kaylina’s eyesight darkened, awareness of the tower around her fading, and a vision swept over her.
This time, it wasn’t a memory. She was riding through a deep forest on a taybarri with nobody else around. Was it Levitke? She believed so, but she couldn’t see her mount’s face in the vision. She could see her own face, which was odd. She seemed to be flying along, watching herself from above.
The taybarri came out of the trees and into the valley with the druid beehives. Instead of stopping, Levitke passed through it and out the other end, climbing into the mountains.
The afternoon sun beat on their backs, meaning they were traveling east, farther and farther from Port Jirador. The ground sloped upward, growing rocky and treacherous, but the taybarri was sure-footed. They passed goats and rams but didn’t slow, only climbing higher and higher until they reached a mountain valley with snowy peaks all around and patches of snow in the shade on the ground. Here and there, huge tunnel openings dotted the earth, as if giant gophers lived there. But no gophers could have dug such large holes.
The taybarri evolved as diggers and tunnel dwellers, a dry voice spoke into her mind, to escape the great prehistoric winged predators of the time, predators that swept down from the sky and preyed upon the young and old and infirm. Only later did taybarri venture forth more freely, when the winged predators became extinct. Some traveled down from the mountains and adopted residence in the temperate blue-grass plains, where they encountered humans more frequently, but many remain in the mountains in their original homeland.
Kaylina didn’t know who was speaking but guessed it was the plant. Or someone sharing the vision through the plant? She had no idea, but it had never spoken to her before.
As Levitke carried her into the valley, numerous taybarri came into view. Silver taybarri. Elders?
Vlerion had once explained that the taybarri turned from blue to gray as they matured. That was when they supposedly gained the ability to communicate with humans. Maybe a taybarri rather than the plant was somehow monitoring her thoughts and communicating with her. But this was a vision or a dream, right? A real taybarri off in the mountains somewhere couldn’t know about it.
Four blue-furred youths bounded out of a tunnel as the large silver creatures calmly watched Levitke approach. She stopped, and the Kaylina in the vision slid off her back.
Levitke bounded over and romped with the young taybarri, wrestling and racing about, as if their long journey hadn’t tired her in the least. Or maybe it was a reunion, and she was seeing family and friends she hadn’t visited with since joining the rangers.
The Kaylina in the vision approached the elders and spoke and gestured. Whatever she said wasn’t relayed to Kaylina in the tower. Frequently, she pointed back in the direction of the city. She also touched her head with the index fingers of each hand, making horns. That had to indicate the Kar’ruk.
The silver-furred taybarri ambled away and conferred with each other. Levitke finished playing with the others and returned so that Kaylina could climb onto her back again. One of the elders joined them, and they rode the way Levitke and Kaylina had come, down out of the mountains and toward Port Jirador.
As an anrokk, you may use your kinship with the taybarri to assist with your problems and with those of your people, the same voice said.
The elders can help with the Kar’ruk? Kaylina asked. And to clear my name?
Was that what the voice was implying?
The speaker didn’t respond, and the vision faded before showing Kaylina and the taybarri arriving at Port Jirador, but she had a lingering sense that the elder going to the city was a good thing. She questioned how one lone taybarri could stop the Kar’ruk or help her with her problems, but a spark of hope lingered. Maybe the plant had given her a solution.
Before Kaylina could contemplate it further, another vision swept over her, a more alarming one.
Again, she was in the mountains, a camp set up around a pond in another valley, but, this time, Kar’ruk approached her with their axes raised. She was alone with no taybarri to ride, no way to escape, and the horned warriors surrounded her. She used her sling on them, but the lead rounds didn’t deter them. The Kar’ruk charged at her with their blades swinging.
Before they struck, Vlerion rushed into view, turning into the beast as he ran. He sprang into the Kar’ruk warriors, his power enough to match theirs. To more than match theirs. Ruthless, he killed them all. Before Kaylina could express her gratitude, the beast sprang upon her.
There was nowhere to run, no caves or rock piles to crawl into for safety. With no hint of recognition in his eyes, only the murderous frenzy of a rabid predator, the beast bore her to the ground.