Chapter 28

28

Imprisoned our bodies may be but never our minds.

~ Writings of the Divine Servants

After a time, the Kar'ruk warriors left the highway to trek up an animal trail deeper into the mountains. In the dark and slung over her captor's back, Kaylina struggled to tell which direction they were going. To attack another watchtower? Back to their homeland with her? She had no idea.

Only when dawn lightened the cloudy gray sky did she start to recognize streams, clearings, and rocky cliffs as familiar. Since she'd never been in these mountains, she realized right away why they were familiar, and greater and greater dread crept into her.

This was the second vision the plant had given her, the one in which Vlerion changed into the beast, charged into the Kar'ruk gathering, and killed them all, then finished by killing her.

Her gut churned, bile rising into her throat. She didn't want to die. She'd barely found her freedom from her family and begun working on her dream. Further, she didn't want Vlerion to be responsible for her death. When he realized what he—the beast—had done, he might go mad or commit suicide. At the least, he would never forgive himself.

But Kaylina had inadvertently set up the possibility of Vlerion finding her and the plant's vision turning into reality. Because she'd wanted to save Levitke, she'd told the taybarri to locate him, to bring him to help her.

"Fool," she whispered softly.

When full daylight arrived, the Kar'ruk stopped in a valley with goats browsing clumps of tiny flowering plants high on the rocky sides. Dome-shaped tents made from animal skins clustered by a stream-fed pond.

Kar'ruk came outside to greet those returning, several pointing curiously at Kaylina. One grunted and drew a finger across his throat. To suggest human prisoners were all supposed to be killed?

Several of her kidnappers spoke in their tongue while gesturing at Kaylina and also at a few pine trees dotting the slopes. Could they have somehow learned about the Kar'ruk she'd distracted and that Levitke had killed? They couldn't know she'd called to the tree for help, could they?

Her captor lowered her to ground covered with grass and a low creeping plant with small glossy leaves. Red berries grew in clumps among them. It was early in the season for fruit, especially up in the frosty mountains, and Kaylina wondered if it was an altered plant. This encampment was far from the preserve, but the Daygarii had left evidence of their magical touch all over the world.

The discussion about her grew heated, with two more Kar'ruk making throat-cutting gestures. The door flap of a tent pushed open, and a female with a sewn-hide kit strode out. She waved for the males to stop arguing and walked toward Kaylina, opening the kit as she came.

Hopefully not to grab a knife for the suggested throat-slitting.

Kaylina's captor had taken not only the ranger's sword from her but her sling and knife as well. With her ankles and wrists bound, all she could do was watch from her knees as the female approached.

Her eyes were gold instead of yellow, and braided black hair wrapped around her horns before falling behind her head. A magnifying glass and a number of less-familiar tools hung on a leather thong around her neck.

"Hi," Kaylina said. "I don't suppose you or any of your large brethren speak my language and can tell me what you want? I'm a very accommodating soul. I'm trying to open a meadery in town. Do your people like alcoholic beverages? I'll share some with you if you let me return to make another batch."

The female poked in her kit, not indicating if she understood or cared.

One of the Kar'ruk tossed something to the ground a few yards away. Kaylina's pack. He used a knife to slash the cord that held the flap shut.

She scowled. "Yeah, just cut things. That's much more civilized than tying and untying knots."

The male looked over at her, waved his knife, and showed her his teeth. Far sharper than a human's, they were suitably intimidating. He dumped the pack upside-down.

At first, she worried about the journal and Vlerion's secret—however bastardized the Virt version of it was—but she doubted that many Kar'ruk would be able to read the pages. The warrior only sniffed the spine of the book before tossing it aside. He fished out dried fruit and jerky and gave them to his comrades.

Kaylina realized he might also find the powder she'd saved and wished she'd thought to tie her pack to Levitke. If Kaylina managed to reunite with the rangers, would they believe her story of invisible Kar'ruk without any evidence?

The female pulled out a small knife. Or was that a scalpel? She held it up triumphantly.

"Uhm." Kaylina might have said more but the pack invader was unwrapping the remains of the honeycomb she'd taken from the druid valley. "That's reserved for a special plant. I'd appreciate it if you didn't take it."

The Kar'ruk not only sniffed it but licked it. Then groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head with unmistakable pleasure.

Kaylina sighed. If she hadn't observed the taybarri sweet tooth in action, she wouldn't have thought beings with so many fangs would be that into honey.

Several other Kar'ruk surrounded the warrior and attempted to snatch some of the treat for themselves. He growled at them and clutched it to his chest.

Maybe they would get in a huge fight involving the entire camp, and Kaylina could escape. If only she could free her wrists and ankles. She eyed the female's scalpel.

"Any chance you want to use that to release me? Since you're a girl, and I'm a girl, we could be secret allies. Sisters from different species. You can't truly enjoy all these brutish?—"

The female grabbed her wrist with callused fingers, turning it toward the sky. The scalpel dove for Kaylina's flesh with startling speed.

Kaylina cried out at the sharp pain and jerked back, afraid the horrible female had slit her vein. Blood welled from her skin.

Fury overrode her pain, and she curled her fingers into fists, longing to lash out. The female leaned close to look at the blood.

Kaylina tried to punch her. With her wrists bound, it wasn't effective, and the Kar'ruk didn't bother dodging. She didn't even seem to notice a fist striking her shoulder. She only tightened her grip on Kaylina's wrist and delved into her kit again. This time, she withdrew a vial and took a sample of the blood dribbling from the wound. Not a vein, Kaylina didn't think, but that didn't make the experience much more palatable.

Once the female had a sample, she rose, and stepped back. She lifted the vial overhead and yelled at it. Or… was that singing? Maybe chanting. Kaylina caught rhyming sounds in the language.

A few other voices joined in as the female tapped the tools dangling from her neck and took her kit—and Kaylina's blood—into her tent.

"This is my weirdest kidnapping ever."

The female returned, carrying a flagon and the vial to a campfire. She poured the contents of both into a cauldron and lowered it over the flames. Several males circled the area, and everyone started chanting.

Why did Kaylina have the uneasy feeling they were going to drink a concoction made with her blood? She'd heard before that Kar'ruk didn't mind eating human flesh when their favored prey couldn't be had, but this was chilling.

She glanced down at her wrist as a drop of blood dribbled into the undergrowth. The leaves rustled slightly, and a few rotated toward her.

"You are absolutely an altered plant," she murmured.

The chanting grew louder as more Kar'ruk joined in, circling the fire and waiting for the strange brew to heat.

Kaylina flattened her palms onto the leaves underneath her and silently asked them for help. What two-inch-high berry plants could do, she didn't know. It wasn't as if they could send vines to choke her captors or hurl heavy branches at them. Unfortunately.

The leaves rustled, and an oddly warm breeze swept through the valley. A tingle ran up Kaylina's arms, and a vision filled her mind.

Hundreds if not thousands of Kar'ruk were marching into the area from the end of the valley. Two females, including the one who'd taken her blood, greeted them in a grassy section near the pool. Thick stakes had been driven into the ground around the water, and fire burned in wolf skulls mounted atop them.

As the horde of warriors approached, the females gesticulated and chanted, invoking some ritual. They opened a large cylindrical container on a flat rock near the water. Made from bone and stretched hide, it looked like a drum until the lid came off.

The females wet their hands in the pond, then dipped their fingers into the container and pulled out silver powder. They rubbed it onto the faces, hands, and armor of the new arrivals. Even though the females were brisk and the powder didn't coat the Kar'ruk completely, it caused them to fade from view, the same as the invisible warrior that Kaylina had battled.

The vision blurred, shifting to a nighttime view of Port Jirador. Camouflaged by the magical powder, the Kar'ruk sneaked into the city through the catacombs and flowed up out of entrances, including the one in Stillguard Castle. They charged into the streets with their axes and torches, cutting down humans and setting buildings on fire.

The guards weren't a match for the invaders, and, for some reason, there weren't many rangers and taybarri around to fight them. Soon, Port Jirador burned to the ground, the inhabitants either killed or forced to flee. Afterward, Kar'ruk stomped about in the ashes, celebrating that they'd reclaimed their land.

As the vision faded, Kaylina withdrew her hands, regretting that she'd put them down.

Why all the altered plants liked to share these horrible potential events with her, she didn't know. Nor did she know if that vision was guaranteed to pass or if it was a possible future that might be avoided.

The plant leaves rippled under her knees.

"I don't suppose you could let me go instead of filling my head with visions?" Kaylina whispered, looking toward the pool. The stakes and skulls weren't there yet, but the cylindrical container rested on a rock, the same as the plants had shown her.

Too bad it was a hundred yards away. If she could slip away and reach it, she might slather that powder on herself and disappear.

One of the male Kar'ruk stopped chanting and strode toward Kaylina. Had he been watching her communication with the plants? Something contorted his bumpy face into a dyspeptic expression.

He grabbed her and drew a bone knife.

Kaylina twisted, trying to escape while silently asking the plants to help, but they didn't seem capable of more than rustling their leaves.

The Kar'ruk sliced his blade through her wrist bonds but left those tying her ankles. He hoisted her in the air and carried her away from the undergrowth. Some of the plants rustled, but they did nothing more. That didn't keep him from glancing warily at them and toward the female who'd taken Kaylina's blood.

She nodded gravely and pointed to a stout pine, but then shook her head and redirected him toward an eight-foot-stump, the top torn off long ago in a storm, moss covering the rotting remains.

The Kar'ruk pressed Kaylina's back to the stump. When he shifted to move around her, she tried to jump free, envisioning rolling and untying the bonds around her ankles before he could capture her.

But another Kar'ruk rushed forward to keep her pinned while the first yanked her arms behind her back. He tied her wrists again, this time around the stump and behind her. Her shoulder blades ached at the uncomfortable position and pressure.

"This day keeps getting worse." Kaylina looked down, but there were no altered plants beneath her, and the tree had died long ago. She doubted the lingering stump could help her in any way.

With their task accomplished, the Kar'ruk returned to the gathering. The chanting had grown faster and more eager. The female withdrew the cauldron, the concoction inside steaming. Not waiting for it to cool, she passed it around, and each warrior drank from it.

Kaylina tilted her head back against the stump, groping for a way to escape being killed by these people.

A furious roar rang out from the head of the valley. A familiar furious roar.

Vlerion. And he'd already turned into the beast.

Kaylina shivered, afraid the plant's vision was about to play out. If the beast prevailed against all the enemies in the camp and turned on her… being killed by him would be even worse than being killed by the Kar'ruk.