Chapter 21

21

The forest remembers.

~ The Sentinel

Kaylina headed up the stairs, fighting down yawns while bracing herself for snarky comments from the sentinel about what had happened during her last visit to its tower. Even though those vines had hung limp for most of the time she and Vlerion had been together, she knew it had seen everything.

She hadn’t heard from it since they’d failed to stop the beast and she’d gone into the catacombs after him. It might be disappointed in her and would let her know.

She clenched her jaw, not slowing her stride. If the sentinel had news about her father, she wanted to hear it, no matter what censure came with it.

All sign of the broken vines had disappeared, magically drawn back into the walls again. At the hole in the ceiling, a couple hung down, as they often did. An empty pot lay on its side near the chair she used to climb up.

“Is that your way of saying you’d like more honey-water fertilizer and thank you very much, Kaylina, for taking time out of your increasingly busy and chaotic life to make it?”

The tip of a vine flicked a few times. It didn’t make any noise, but it reminded her of when the taybarri batted their tongues against their lips irreverently. Apparently, the rangers didn’t mind irreverence from their mounts.

Kaylina picked the pot up. “Since you asked nicely, I’ll be most pleased to fill that for you after you give me the news about my father.”

She half-expected the sentinel to demand she bring the fertilizer first, but, after a slight hesitation, it lifted the tip of a vine toward her face.

This time, she didn’t play power games with it. After being up all night, she was too tired. Instead, she sat in the chair, placed the pot next to it, and yawned, halfway hoping the sentinel would knock her out. She needed some sleep.

“Go ahead.”

The cool green tip pressed against her temple.

A vision filled her mind, the same man the sentinel had shown her before, leaning against the rail of a ship. This time, there were gray streaks in his green hair and creases in his forehead and at the corners of his eyes. It shouldn’t have been surprising that he’d grown older, but Kaylina hadn’t known how many years the druids lived. From the stories of the Daygarii, she’d sometimes gotten the impression that they were immortal.

In an earlier vision, he’d also leaned against a railing on the deck of a ship, gazing out to sea. Before, she’d seen him near the cliffs of her islands back home. This time, the fjords were visible, the spot where the North Drakmoor Sea transitioned into the Strait of Torn Towers. They were the same fjords she’d sailed past on the last couple of days of her journey to Port Jirador.

Is that where he is now? Kaylina couldn’t help but feel hopeful.

Maybe her father could solve her problem. Vlerion’s problem. Though Vlerion had a number of problems now, not only the beast curse. But if they could remove that constant threat…

She reminded herself that she didn’t know if her father would help her in any way. He might arrive, think her a disappointing mess of a mostly human girl, and sneer and walk away.

He shared that he was sailing into the area, the sentinel spoke into her mind.

He can communicate with you?

From this distance, yes.

Could he… communicate with me? If he wanted?

You are not the sentinel.

Thank all the altered orchards.

Is that supposed to be an answer? Kaylina asked.

The sentinel waits. The sentinel watches. The sentinel listens throughout time.

And the sentinel was apparently in the mood to talk about itself in the third person.

“Definitely not an answer. Will my father come here? Is he on his way to see me? Does he want to try my mead?”

It was silly, but a part of her believed that he might be more impressed with her if he enjoyed her creations. From what her sister had said, he’d enjoyed the mead at the Spitting Gull, and hers was as good as what her family made. Silana, and even Kaylina’s nemesis, Jana Bloomlong, had said so.

Not commenting on the mead question, the sentinel showed her the preserve, a meadow near the river, not too far from one of its entrances. Kaylina remembered running through that area at night when she and her brother had been fleeing the Kar’ruk. She even glimpsed the log that they’d darted across before falling— diving —into the river.

“That might not be my first choice of meeting places,” she said, but it wasn’t as far as the ruins. Since her taybarri had gone back with the rangers, closer would be better.

Not her taybarri, Kaylina corrected with sadness. If she didn’t return to her ranger training, Levitke would be assigned to another.

Arsanti t’el Avadorstar will not enter the human den of overpopulation and depravity. The sentinel showed an image of Port Jirador to make sure she didn’t misunderstand.

We call it the capital.

Distaste rolled off the plant. Kaylina didn’t try to correct its feelings. Since the sentinel had lived here and kept an eye on the city for centuries, it probably had seen a lot of depravity, and it had doubtless witnessed the population in the area grow.

Should you wish to speak with Arsanti, you will wait for him in that meadow as the sun sets.

I will. Though nervous about meeting her father, Kaylina nodded firmly. Thank you for relaying that message.

I serve the Daygarii.

Kaylina decided not to ask if that included her. Previously, the sentinel had admitted being drawn to her druid blood, but she doubted it thought it was serving her. It probably referred to her father. No doubt, she should be appreciative that it wanted to defend her and hadn’t killed her, like it had so many other visitors to Stillguard Castle over the years.

The vine lifted from her temple. She rose and started down the hall, but another question occurred to her, and she halted.

“Do you know where Vlerion went? If he left the city?” Kaylina remembered the plant showing her a vine that it could grow through the roof of the tower and use to magically see miles in every direction.

You are not now linked enough that you can feel where he went? The sentinel sounded… dry. And then it showed her encounter with Vlerion, her writhing against the wall as he lowered to his knees to give her the reward he’d promised.

Her cheeks flared with heat. It had been a reward. She should have wished it hadn’t happened, since it had led to disaster, but that was hard. What she really wished was that he were here with her and they could have another night together—one in which they fully enjoyed each other’s company without the beast arising.

“We should have gone to the bedroom,” she muttered, though she doubted that would have mattered. The plant could probably spy through walls without trouble.

You remained so you could call upon me if needed.

They’d remained because she’d been too into the experience to think about going anywhere else.

Unfortunately, weary after our earlier joining, I lacked the power to halt the cursed one.

“I know. Me too. I would have had to throw the vial.”

She should have thrown the vial, and yet… She recalled Vlerion’s gaze when he’d realized she could have and hadn’t… the love in his eyes.

Your power is not insignificant, and you are able to keep him from harming you, but you hesitate when it is possible that you might hurt him.

“Because I care about him.”

Had you fewer feelings affecting you, your power would be greater. You would be closer to your Daygarii ancestors.

“I like my feelings.” Kaylina yawned, wobbling and bumping the wall. She needed rest, but… “If I wanted to find he whom I’m linked to, how would I do that?”

Simply reach out with your power to sense his location. Because of the curse, he has magic about him and should be easier to detect than a normal insignificant human.

“So glad he’s a significant human,” she muttered.

The sentinel didn’t reply. Kaylina, having no idea how to reach out , rested a hand against the cool stone wall for support and imagined Vlerion’s face in her mind. She had called out before to Levitke, letting the taybarri know when she’d needed help, and, a couple of times, it had seemed to work. But she didn’t want to call to Vlerion. She only wanted to know where he was going and if he was safe.

But, as she attempted to draw upon her power, weariness seeped into her body, making her limbs heavy. She yawned again, her lack of sleep making itself known. She only had time to think that she should head to her bedroom to rest before her body gave in to the fatigue and she slumped against the wall and collapsed.