Chapter 31

31

No matter how grand the adventure, the yearning to return home always arises.

~ Elder Taybarri Ravarn

Levitke whuffed, then let out a high-pitched noise that Kaylina hadn't heard from a taybarri before, a cross between a goat's bleat and a bird's cheep. Several answering bleat-cheeps came from the tunnels. Levitke rose up on her hind legs, forelimbs swatting at the air, and Kaylina snatched fistfuls of fur to keep from falling off. Vlerion gripped fur and her .

As soon as Levitke's paws touched down again, he said, "Get off. Your taybarri is overly excited."

"She's not my taybarri," Kaylina said but obeyed the order to slide to the ground. "She's simply been kind enough to give me rides in exchange for honey drops."

Levitke bounced around like a puppy as other blue-furred taybarri ran out of the tunnels. To greet her, Kaylina assumed from Levitke's reaction, but these wild taybarri had the same fangs and powerful muscles of the ranger mounts. Getting in the way of one would not be wise.

Unconcerned, Levitke romped over to meet them. On the way, she bounced and hopped.

Two of the taybarri trotting toward her also rolled across the ground. Pure joy or a part of an official greeting?

"Oh, she's yours," Vlerion said. "She's at least meant for you."

"Because we have the same maturity level?"

"Yes."

"Really, my pirate lord, I hardly ever bounce anymore."

His eyebrow twitched at the pirate add-on, but he didn't sound affronted when he replied. "You pace, wiggle, and gesticulate a lot when you scheme."

"When I dream. I'll admit I get excited envisioning dreams." Kaylina tried to remember when she'd done that in front of him. It was odd that he'd come to know her so well in the scant weeks she'd been in Port Jirador.

"Schemes," he corrected.

"You sound like Frayvar. Maybe you've spent too much time around him."

"He does visit Doc Penderbrock in our headquarters a lot."

"He's frail and easily injured."

"He has his own cot in the infirmary now," Vlerion said. "And I understand he alphabetized and categorized the doctor's medicines."

"He tries to be a helpful houseguest."

Kaylina and Vlerion trailed off as a number of silver-furred taybarri walked into view, their heads high. Unlike the youngsters, they didn't bounce. They didn't even amble, sashay, or swish their tails overmuch. Their steps were graceful but calm and precise, and their eyes, the same silver as their fur, held intelligence and wisdom.

The elders stopped ten paces away and looked at Vlerion instead of Kaylina.

What brings one of the cursed ones to a taybarri community? a female voice spoke into their minds, the words not in the kingdom tongue but somehow understandable. The cursed ones are dangerous to us—to all.

Kaylina had worried the taybarri would be wary of Vlerion. She raised a finger. "Actually, it was my idea. Lord Vlerion is kind of… my bodyguard."

" Really ." Okay, that time he sounded affronted.

"You said you came to protect me."

"Because you're my—" Vlerion glanced at the taybarri and didn't finish.

Too bad. Kaylina would have been curious to hear his label for her. Friend? Responsibility? Mate? Not-normal-girl-that-my-cursed-blood-compels-me-to-guard? She sighed. Probably that one.

He was right. The beast was less conflicted.

The taybarri eyes were unwavering as they regarded Vlerion. Only one elder had glanced at Kaylina when she'd spoken.

Resolute, she stepped forward and attempted to command their attention. She turned her hand so they could see the leaf-shaped mark.

"I have been chosen by the plant in Stillguard Castle to seek out your kind in the hope that you can help the people of the kingdom with Kar'ruk invaders." Technically, the plant had only given her a vision, one of many, and she didn't know if it cared a whit about the Kar'ruk, but it wasn't here to naysay her. "A supposed diplomatic party came under the guise of negotiating for access to the catacombs, but they're enacting a plot and hope to kill everyone in the city while burning it down."

Something she only knew because of another vision. Hopefully, the elders wouldn't ask her for proof about the Kar'ruk plans.

This sounds like a human problem, a male taybarri said. The Kar'ruk have not disturbed us in our mountain valleys or on the plains for many generations.

"Humans and taybarri have a treaty, wise elders," Vlerion said. "An alliance ."

Do not tell us that which we already know, cursed one.

Vlerion's lips rippled at the order, but he didn't get huffy and tell them he was a lord or demand reverence. For all Kaylina knew, these taybarri were royalty. He'd once said Crenoch was a prince.

Our young work with the rangers and will help with the skirmish of which you speak . At least the female elder didn't call Vlerion a cursed one again.

"I think it's going to be a lot more than a skirmish," Kaylina said. "There may be thousands of Kar'ruk coming. Your young might be killed right alongside the rangers."

We have not seen or heard of that many in the mountains.

"They're invisible."

The taybarri looked at each other. Skeptically?

"They're not invisible themselves , but they're coating their skin and armor with a silver powder from what I assume came from an altered plant that grows in their lands." Kaylina withdrew the scrap of paper with the smudged sample, glad the Kar'ruk who'd poked in her pack hadn't removed it. "Maybe you're familiar with it? Your people have been around a long time and know all about magic, right?"

We have, and we are familiar with much of what the druids did during their time in this realm. The female stepped forward, her head higher than Kaylina's, and trampling came to mind again. All she did was lower her snout to sniff the silver smear on the paper. This came from a succulent. An altered lithop plant. They are not from the north but from deep in the sandy and rocky deserts to the east and south. The taybarri telepathically shared an image of flat, round purple, green, and gray succulents growing on stones and in crevices. They looked far more like stones themselves than vegetation. They camouflage themselves to blend in so that animals won't find them and eat them. As far as I am aware, they are not palatable to humans, Kar'ruk, or taybarri, but some of the sandsteader herbalists cultivate them for medicines. I had not heard that they have the ability to camouflage anyone, but… perhaps it is not surprising, given their native characteristic of blending into the desert. You should have acquired a larger sample so that we could have experimented.

"Sorry. I was busy trying not to be killed by Kar'ruk."

The female lifted her snout to meet Kaylina's eyes. She didn't say anything about irreverence, but her gaze reminded Kaylina a lot of the looks Targon gave her when proclaiming that Vlerion should beat some respect into her.

"If you'd like to come with us, uhm, wise elder—" Kaylina recalled Vlerion had used that to address them, "—to aid our people in repelling the invasion, I can show you where we left a body covered in the stuff. Levitke helped kill—well, she did it all—a Kar'ruk who was trying to kill me, which I found quite rude. She agreed."

You say a druid plant instructed you to make this request of us? The elder's telepathic tone conveyed doubt, and her tail tapped the ground twice as she glanced at her comrades.

"It implied through a vision that you would help, yes."

And it sent this one to protect you? The female pointed her snout at Vlerion. That is a dubious choice.

Vlerion clenched his jaw, looking like he would need to hum to calm himself at any moment. As an aristocrat and a proven ranger, he couldn't be used to having his worth questioned.

Kaylina rested a hand on his arm. "The plant didn't recommend him, but we've been working together because…" She looked at Vlerion, groping for a better way to finish the sentence than our weird blood makes us hot for each other .

"We both desire to serve the kingdom," Vlerion stated.

"Yes." Kaylina nodded. "I especially hope to serve them mead, but I need invasions, civil wars, and false accusations against me to end so I can focus on my craft and opening my business. Oh, I have a little honey left." Unfortunately, very little honey, thanks to the Kar'ruk tongues that had delved into her stash. "Would you like to try some? I'm afraid I don't have any mead along to share, but that's not recommended for taybarri anyway, due to the alcoholic content." She remembered Crenoch snoring on his back in her courtyard as Vlerion worried over him.

Maybe the elder glimpsed the thought in her mind because she snorted. Our kind cannot ingest fermented products without distress. We do enjoy honey when we can find it in the wild.

"Here you go." Kaylina beamed a smile as she offered the paper, though it held only smears of honeycomb, and what remained had been contaminated by Kar'ruk tongues. She wouldn't mention that to the taybarri.

"Speaking of dubious," Vlerion murmured, eyeing the treat.

"Ssh. My anrokk appeal isn't working on them, so I'm trying gifts. I just wish I had a better gift."

"Your appeal is working on some." Vlerion nodded past her shoulder.

Kaylina hadn't realized Levitke and the other younger taybarri had gathered behind them to watch. She didn't know if it had anything to do with her anrokk -ness though. Several sets of nostrils were sniffing the air—and the honey scent now in it.

Kaylina offered it to the female who'd been speaking with her while wishing she had enough for all of them.

A bribe? the elder asked.

"A gift."

The female sniffed it again. It is from one of the valleys where the Daygarii plants flower.

"Yes. In the preserve near the city."

We are aware of the place.

Meaning they could get their own honey and didn't need Kaylina's bribe?

The hives and those bees, imbued with and protected by Daygarii magic, do not let us take samples, the female continued, as if she'd heard the silent question.

She washed her tongue over the paper, the offering pitifully small in comparison to her size. That didn't keep her from cleaning the paper thoroughly, leaving it—and Kaylina's hand—moist with saliva. She even made the same purr-clucks Crenoch had when he'd enjoyed her mead.

"They didn't seem to mind me taking some. Maybe I can get you more." Since Kaylina had been accused of bribery attempts, she didn't finish with after you help us save the city.

Hmm. The female backed up to rejoin the other elders.

Their tails swished slowly back and forth in the grass as they huddled to confer. They made few vocalizations, so Kaylina assumed they communicated with each other telepathically.

When they finished, the female again spoke for the group. We believe the Daygarii would not have cared if the Kar'ruk and humans killed each other in a great battle. The same would be true of a plant they left behind to watch over their interests.

"It marked me and gave me that vision for some reason." Kaylina spread her arms.

Indeed. Most curious. Perhaps it has a use for you.

"I believe she carries some druid blood in her veins, wise elders," Vlerion said.

Yes, we can see that is true.

Kaylina rocked back at the taybarri's certainty. Even though Vlerion and the plant itself had suggested that, she remained skeptical, not understanding how that could be. She knew her family and her parents, and nobody else was an anrokk or had any strange affinity for flora or fauna.

"I don't know about the plant's motivations, but I care about stopping a war," Kaylina said. "Especially when it's starting in the middle of where I'm trying to open a business."

Maybe she shouldn't have added that. It sounded self-centered, but all the problems in Port Jirador were derailing her quest to prove herself, damn it.

"As do I," Vlerion said. "I also care about Crenoch and the other young taybarri. As Kaylina said, they would be as much in danger as my rangers. If you have a way to stop the Kar'ruk…"

We are aged and beyond the years when we easily sprang into battle, the female said, glancing at her silver-furred comrades, and the Kar'ruk have ever been willing to kill our kind. That is one of the reasons we allied with humans, to more effectively keep the Kar'ruk out of these lands that we share. We do, however, know a few things about those catacombs and the supposed Kar'ruk rights to the lands humans now inhabit. Perhaps we might speak with their diplomatic party and help with the negotiations.

"The negotiations are a ruse," Vlerion said. "We believe?—"

Kaylina held up a hand. "We'll take any help you can give. Thanks."

Vlerion raised his eyebrows at her interruption, but he didn't say anything further.

We must first have an assurance, the female said. Before traveling with a cursed one, we must be convinced that he can control himself and refrain from changing into a beast in our presence. She looked toward Levitke, who lowered her head to study the ground.

Had Levitke relayed that she'd seen Vlerion change earlier that very day?

"I can control myself." Vlerion's words were firm, but he glanced at Kaylina, a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.

The female watched their exchange, her silver eyes more knowing than Kaylina would have liked.

"I'll help you." She smiled at Vlerion. "I know how much my rendition of ‘Lake of Sorrow and Triumph' calms you."

"The rendition where you can't remember the lyrics?" he murmured.

"It's not my fault I dozed off while you sang them. I've hardly gotten any sleep lately."

There will be a test, the female said, interrupting them.

She looked toward the group of young taybarri and must have given a command because a perky male loped into a tunnel.

"How will you test my control?" Vlerion asked warily.

In a way that will allow us to escape if need be. If you become a beast, we will not help you, and we will not be here when you return to your human form.

Kaylina watched with concern as the young taybarri reemerged carrying something wrapped in hide. The thought that this long journey might end up being for nothing distressed her. Worse, they could have been back in the city, helping out. The war might already have erupted, with Kar'ruk killing people left and right. Frayvar and the rangers would be in danger.

"I hope this is worth it," Vlerion murmured, his eyes equally concerned.

The taybarri set the hide-wrapped item on a rock.

You may sit there, the female told them. Do you have rope?

Kaylina shook her head.

Vlerion nodded. "Yes, why?"

Before we begin, we will tie you to a boulder and to each other so that if you change, we will have time to escape.

"If I change , rope won't stop me from attacking anyone nearby."

You will attack the closest being while we leave the valley. The female looked at Kaylina.

"Oh, great. I get to be sacrificed."

Perhaps this will be a test not only for him, the elder said, holding Kaylina's gaze, but for you.