Chapter 24

24

Safer to negotiate with evil than snub your nose at it.

~ Kar’ruk proverb

“Hello?” Kaylina called softly into the silence that had fallen upon the preserve.

Her palms were damp where she gripped her sword and sling, but she didn’t lower the weapons to wipe them. If her father had arrived and been responsible for killing two men… she worried that meeting him was not as good of an idea as she’d envisioned.

A questioning whuff came from the brush behind her. Kaylina was glad for Levitke’s presence but worried for her. She didn’t think the Daygarii had considered the taybarri enemies, but they were associated with rangers, so she wasn’t certain. If her father could snap a man’s neck from a distance without touching him, without ordering a plant or animal or reptile to touch him, might he be able to do the same to a taybarri?

To her?

“I brought some mead and cookies if you’d like to… chat.” Kaylina looked toward the clearing with the mushrooms but couldn’t help but glance at the dangling man’s body, the vines still hanging him above the ground.

I am here , came a soft telepathic call in a language she’d never heard but somehow understood. Because of her blood? Was it possible to be born knowing a language?

After taking a bracing breath, Kaylina headed toward the clearing. She had to pass the fallen swordsman along the way. His death didn’t distress her as much as the others. Because physical taybarri jaws had done it, not magic. Not Daygarii power . Which, even though she’d been using it, Kaylina still found creepy.

Inhuman.

That was the word that stuck in her mind as she approached the clearing.

No take weapons , Levitke suggested, trailing behind. He has great power.

Kaylina didn’t know when she’d started feeling safer with a sword in her hands, but she did. Nonetheless, she followed the suggestion to sheathe the blade. This was her father. Hopefully, not an enemy. She also tucked away her sling, then wiped sweat from her brow before stepping into the clearing.

He stood in the center of the mushroom ring, as if he’d materialized there by magic. But he’d been sailing on a ship earlier, if the sentinel’s vision could be believed. He couldn’t poof into existence in different places. Probably.

The mushrooms started glowing a soft blue that matched their caps. The strange light pushed the shadows back enough to clearly show her father’s face. Arsanti t’el Avadorstar. That was the name the sentinel had given.

His green hair was graying, as in the most recent vision, and age lines creased his face. His aura was more weary than scary and forbidding. Had it been a long journey to reach this place? His eyes gleamed as they reflected the mushroom light. Or maybe they even glowed faintly?

Kaylina wasn’t sure, but, despite having two arms, two legs, and a torso similar to that of a man, there was an alienness to him, something that reaffirmed her earlier thought: inhuman. Not only did his skin have the reddish-brown tint of bark, but it looked rough, like bark. As if all of him were callused. His mouth was wider than typical for a human, his nostrils more flared, and his ears large. Even with the differences, his face had an elegance about it, his features pronounced, and Kaylina could see why her mother would have found him intriguing. Attractive.

As she studied him, he studied her, looking her up and down, regarding her curiously.

“Hi,” she said when the silence stretched, a few insects chittering again, now that the battle was past. “I brought mead.”

It was an inane thing to say, but if he’d liked her mother’s drinks…

I have enjoyed that beverage in the past. And yours is also made from the bees who visit the plants we left.

How he could know that, she could only guess. “Yes.”

She slowly removed her pack, withdrawing the bottle as well as some of her cookies. Had she been thinking things through, she would have brought goblets, but she hadn’t known how long she would have to survive in the preserve and had stuffed in food rather than utensils.

I have wondered whether any offspring came from my minglings with human women and, if so, whether any developed the power of my kind and would be drawn to call upon me.

Kaylina opened the bottle and crept closer to hand it to him. “Were there a lot of minglings? With different women?”

Did she have more brothers and sisters than she knew about?

There were some. When I grew lonely for companionship. For many years, I have been the last of the Daygarii in this world, left to guard that which we left until such time as our kind wish to return. His eyes grew distant. Wistful? That is… if they return. I believe… that will not happen before I pass.

“Why did they leave?” Kaylina placed the bottle and two cookies in his hands, though he wasn’t paying attention to her offerings.

The human population grew uncomfortably large and destroyed great forests and jungles in order to farm and build. My people felt crowded out, our habitats increasingly encroached upon. We are not so fecund a species ourselves and were surprised at the rapidity with which their kind gave birth and matured and spread. And spread. For many years, we debated whether to destroy humanity or to go to one of the worlds where no such beings exist.

“Destroy humanity,” Kaylina mouthed.

He’d said it so casually. Would it have been a simple feat to accomplish?

She glanced back toward the dead men.

I, and others, voted to leave humans be for now, to only use our magic to protect some areas from their axes and plows.

“Like this preserve,” Kaylina said.

Yes. There are other such places around the world. I have waited, as I said, to see if any of the seeds I attempted to plant would germinate and what the result would be. Arsanti gazed steadily at her.

“I guess that’s me.” Kaylina pointed to herself. “I have no idea if there are others. Uhm, we do have a term called anrokk though. I guess that came from your people. Is anyone with that animal affinity half druid?”

Not half. That is rare. His lips stretched in something between a grimace and a smile. Not since the era of experimentation were there half-bloods. Not until my experimentation. Before then, it had been centuries since the Daygarii mated with humans. Those you call anrokk , and that is our word, are indeed distant descendants of our kind, but far more human than Daygarii blood flows through their veins today. You are different, the mating recent.

“A little over twenty years ago, I gather.”

Yes. That may be correct. Arsanti noticed the mead bottle in his hand and lifted it to his nose. Your mother was on those islands, working in that eating house.

“That’s her.”

She was beautiful and emotional.

“Sounds right.”

She was not… the ideal choice for my experiment.

“Uh, okay.” Kaylina didn’t know what to say. She’d gathered from her sister’s words that Arsanti had been a traveler and hadn’t stayed that long, so she hadn’t assumed he and her mother had been in love and devoted to each other, but Kaylina wasn’t tickled to find out she’d been part of an experiment.

Her mother would have been the logical choice, since she had an aptitude for many things. She first found the Daygarii honey near your island, made the drink from it, and she well understood nature and respected it.

Kaylina blinked. “You were… hot for my grandmother ?”

“She was unfortunately nearing the end of her reproductive years at that time.”

“I’d imagine so.” Kaylina subtracted twenty-two years from Grandma’s age and decided she wouldn’t have been terribly old then, and may well have been appealing, but she would have been nearing fifty.

The germination of the seed would have been less likely.

“Yeah, my grandpa might have objected to you germinating things in her too.”

Arsanti gave her a confused look, as if he wouldn’t have worried about whatever woman he chose being married. All he said was, Since your mother was her direct descendant, I deemed it acceptable.

“What were you trying to accomplish? With your, uh, minglings? I get that you wanted half-human offspring, but why?”

As I said, I’m the last of the Daygarii on this world and have been for a long time. It was… not exactly a punishment, like exile or banishment, but the collective suggested that since my vote had broken a tie and decided an important matter, I could stay here and protect our interests.

“What matter?”

Whether to let humanity survive or not.

“And you voted yes.” Kaylina didn’t glance at the dead men again but couldn’t help but wonder what the druids who’d voted no had been like.

I did. But now, with age, I grow weary. One day, I’ll not be able to protect that which my people left. Since they said they would one day return, I feel obligated to ensure the preserves remain untouched, the species that dwell in them safe.

“Are you the one that created the curses?” Kaylina remembered Vlerion and put aside her curiosity about her origins. She needed to ask her father how to lift Vlerion’s curse.

No, but I helped plant the sentinel in the human city. He tilted his chin in what was probably the direction of Port Jirador.

“Three hundred years ago?”

Yes. I wasn’t the only one remaining then. Some of the others who voted yes also stayed in this world for a time. He paused. When there were others, I did not feel so isolated. So lonely, his eyes seemed to say.

Kaylina opened her mouth to ask for more details about the curse—especially about Vlerion’s curse—but he continued on.

I sought to leave offspring so that they could take my place. I believed they would have some power—our texts spoke of the experiments in the past ? —

“Didn’t any of your people fall in love with the humans they, er, seeded ?” Kaylina couldn’t help but interrupt, affronted on behalf of her mother and any other women the druids had used for experimentation.

Arsanti gazed blankly at her. Love? For… another species?

He looked toward Levitke, who’d stood silently throughout this, watching from the edge of the clearing.

“Yeah, an intelligent species with feelings and hopes and dreams.” Kaylina thought of how Silana had said their mother had fallen hard for her druid lover and had not been the same after he left. But for him… It sounded like she’d been one of many, and not even a first choice. Poor Mom.

I… cannot know what the Daygarii in the past felt, those who lived before my time. Arsanti set down the mead and cookies, then made a rope—or maybe vine —tugging gesture with his hand that might have been the druid equivalent of a shrug.

Kaylina wanted to lecture him on how people shouldn’t be used in experiments but reminded herself of her most pressing need. She didn’t want to offend him and drive him away if he had the knowledge to help Vlerion.

“Look, whatever the reason. I appreciate you coming here.”

I was curious if my power would convey and you would have the intelligence to grasp it.

“ Something conveyed.” Kaylina turned the brand on her hand toward him. “The plant—sentinel—has been showing me how to use it. Sort of.”

Interesting.

“Yes, I am. But I have a friend who’s cursed to turn into a beast.”

“The descendent of the Havartaft king who drew the ire of my people.” Arsanti sounded stern. Talk about holding a grudge.

“Apparently. But he didn’t have anything to do with that.” Kaylina was tempted to argue that it hadn’t even been a crime, but Arsanti’s expression remained stern. He wouldn’t want to hear that. “He’s generations removed from the one who did. I know the druids put the curse on him, and I want to use my power to lift it. I’m trying to figure out how. Can you help me?”

She didn’t ask if he had the power to lift it or would, having a vague feeling that he would prefer if she asked to learn rather than wanting to have things done for her. Of course, if she got the gist that groveling at his feet would prompt him to help Vlerion, she would put her pride aside and do so.

I knew she who placed the curse.

Was that promising? Kaylina raised her eyebrows hopefully.

“She foresaw a time when I and the other guardians would be gone from this world. She wanted to ensure this preserve, in particular, had a protector.”

“Well, he—the beast—doesn’t do that. He loses his mind and kills people.”

Arsanti paused. Was that a surprise to him?

He kills those who threaten the preserve, he said.

“Uh, no. Among others, he kills those who threaten me.” Kaylina considered bringing up the mercenaries.

Of course. Arsanti extended his hand toward her. You have my blood, Daygarii blood. He would be drawn to you and seek to protect you.

“I don’t want him to be compelled to protect me because of my blood or magic or anything else except—” Kaylina kept herself from saying love , not wanting to explain her feelings to this man she’d just met. This strange non-human man. “Logical reasons,” she finished, then added, “I also don’t want him to turn into that monster, that killer, whether he wishes it or not.”

She doubted Vlerion would ever wish it. Though maybe that wasn’t true. He’d intentionally roused the beast, with the superior senses that came with that, to hunt the sage assassin who’d threatened her. He might not admit it, but there were times that power was handy.

The preserve must be protected, Arsanti said, as if it were a reasonable response to her statement.

“I told you he doesn’t do that. Is that what he’s supposed to do?”

I am certain of it, yes.

“Then the curse is broken. Can you lift it?”

I cannot.

Kaylina ground her teeth in frustration. “You can’t or you won’t ?”

He gazed at her without responding.

“Did you try the cookies? They might put you in the mood to help your strange mixed-blood daughter.” She attempted to smile but feared she was giving him her badger-baring-her-teeth-to-protect-her-young look.

Arsanti regarded the bottle and cookies at his feet, then picked up both. Maybe he would swig the mead, get drunk, and be more helpful then.

“Vlerion doesn’t protect the preserve when he turns into the beast,” Kaylina said again as Arsanti sipped from the bottle.

She didn’t think that was sinking in for him. If the curse had never worked the way the female druid had intended, that made Vlerion’s affliction even more distressing.

“Nobody does,” she continued. “Well, maybe the cursed castle and the sentinel somewhat protect the area. People kind of remember why there’s a link between that power and the preserve. But the Havartafts have kept their curse a secret, or tried to. At least until recently.”

Until journalists had started printing stories about it…

“Nobody knows the beast is supposed to have anything to do with the preserve.”

This is delicious. Arsanti held up the bottle.

Kaylina wanted to throttle him. Too bad humming songs from childhood didn’t calm her the way it did Vlerion.

She took a deep breath and made herself say, “I’m glad you think so. The cookies have that honey in them too.”

He nibbled thoughtfully on one of them and sipped again from the bottle. The preserve must be protected. In addition to being the home for plants and animals and insects we wish to survive humanity’s bruising touch, it houses our ancient ruins, the scattering above and the many below. Our libraries. Our memories. When the Daygarii return to this world, after the passing of man, they will wish for those items.

“I get it. I’m not arguing against protecting this place. It’s very pretty and only slightly creepy with all the twitching vines that can get pissed and kill people.”

They protect the Daygarii as well. They protect you.

“I know. I figured that out and appreciate it.” Mostly. Kaylina resisted looking at the dead men again. “But since Vlerion doesn’t feel any urges to protect this place as the beast, I’m suggesting the curse wasn’t done right. Or was a mistake altogether. Can’t you revoke it?”

It is not indignation and anger over humans hunting here or destroying these plants that rouses the beast?

“No.”

Finally, he was getting it.

Arsanti took another bite from a cookie. It is possible something went awry and it’s not being as effective as intended.

“ Yes .”

He frowned thoughtfully toward the mountains.

Was Vlerion in that direction? Kaylina had no idea, but she hoped her father wasn’t thinking that he had to adjust the curse to make sure the beast killed every logger looking contemplatively toward the preserve. Dear moon gods, what if she inadvertently made things worse for Vlerion?

“Can’t I protect the preserve?” she blurted. “Wasn’t that the point of your experiment?”

His gaze returned to her. Indeed. I didn’t know if you would have the power, but I believe you have potential and will grow into it.

“Yeah. When I’m not making mead, I can ride out here and keep an eye on things. There’s no need for Vlerion to be cursed.”

You would become a guardian and give yourself to protecting the preserve until such time as the Daygarii return?

Kaylina almost repeated a passionate yes but had the foresight to squint and ask, “What do you mean exactly by becoming a guardian ? I was thinking it could be a part-time gig while I work at the eating house.”

Should you give yourself to protecting the preserve, the curse on the Havartaft line might not be necessary, especially since it is not functioning as desired. It is not a simple matter, however, to alter a curse another has placed. I can confer with the ghosts of memory.

Kaylina had no idea what those were, but she liked the direction his thoughts were going now. Did that mean he knew how to lift the curse, despite his earlier obtuseness? That would be wonderful, but what did give herself to protecting the preserve mean? Arsanti was being vague about that, and she worried she wouldn’t like what it entailed.

“Would I have to live here? And not get to run my business?”

Not get to be with Vlerion, she thought but didn’t say. Of course, the preserve wasn’t so far away that he couldn’t visit her, but…

You would need to become as the sentinel, a watcher and protector of this place, of what lingers of the Daygarii.

“I wouldn’t have to be turned into a tree or something, would I?”

A sentinel can have many forms.

“Many plant - or tree -like forms?”

They are of nature, yes.

“I’m not signing up for that. Besides, you’ve already got a sentinel.” Kaylina waved in the direction of the city.

It is not ambulatory and cannot leave its pot, so it’s not able to guard the preserve.

“It’s pretty good at extending its influence beyond its pot,” she muttered, memories of killer vines coming to mind. “Maybe I could get a wagon to load it in and a taybarri to pull it out here.” She pointed at Levitke. “Then it could guard the preserve more easily.”

This area is vast.

“Oh, I know. Finding Kar’ruk hiding in it isn’t easy.”

A guardian capable of walking, one with Daygarii blood, would be the ideal defender of these lands.

Great, a walking tree. Just what she’d always dreamed of being.

Should my offspring volunteer to become a guardian, and lead others with Daygarii blood to help protect the preserve, the curse may no longer be necessary.

“So, I just need to give up my life and my dreams for Vlerion to be free?”

Her earlier hope sank like a boulder in her stomach. She would give a lot to make it so he didn’t turn into the beast, but could she give up herself? She had a feeling that whatever she became wouldn’t be something compatible with a human being, with Vlerion, so she wouldn’t even get to be with him. Maybe once in a while, he would come out and sit against the trunk of her tree.

“Gods.” Kaylina bent over and gripped her knees. This couldn’t be the only solution.

Before I make that promise, I need to research and see if it is possible to lift that curse. Amending it, I could possibly do, but since another Daygarii, one more powerful than I, placed it… He made the vine tugging gesture with his hands again before popping the rest of his cookie into his mouth.

“Well, let me know when you figure it out, okay? I need to think about things.”

A lot of things.

You also need rest. You have been hunted.

“Tell me about it.” Kaylina couldn’t bring herself to thank him for helping. For murdering people. Especially not when she and Levitke had been doing okay on their own.

Rest while I research. Arsanti lifted a hand, revealing a leaf-shaped brand not unlike hers glowing green in his palm.

She stared at it, mesmerized. Had a plant—a sentinel—once marked him to help him learn to use his power?

The green glow extended to her, wrapped around her, and her eyelids and muscles grew heavy. In the middle of the clearing, she collapsed and fell asleep.