“I don’t think you’re contemplating sex,” Rysha said, her eyes narrowed. “You’ve got the same look on your face you had when you were plucking up scraps of metal from beside the trail.”
“In fact, I was contemplating what I could do to convince your family that we should have sex. Often.”
“Oh? Let me know if you come up with something genius. As a rule, my father doesn’t approve of me getting horizontal unless it’s to dive for a ball or to tackle someone.”
“You can tackle me.”
“Now?” Her eyes crinkled.
Another bang and barked order came from the camp. Trip swept his senses in that direction to make sure giant bats weren’t eating anyone. He didn’t detect any strange creatures—or un-strange ones, either—but the group did seem agitated.
“Soon,” he said, rising to his feet and picking up his clothing, which wasn’t in the usual tidy stack he made when he disrobed.
His jacket was crumpled next to their blanket. His shirt was draped artfully over a stalagmite—Rysha’s panties dangled from the same rock. His socks were wadded up, only inches from having met with calamity at the pool’s edge. His trousers… ah, there they were. That was an impressive height.
“It was kind of Jaxi to bring a blanket,” Rysha said, grinning as she dressed and watched him retrieve his clothing. Somehow, most of hers, aside from the panties, had found a closer berth.
“Did you suggest that?” Trip spotted the tongs he had created from the iron box. He grabbed them, realizing he would have to change them back so Blazer could carry the ingot without him getting a headache any time he was close.
“I might have.”
“We’ll have to get her a gift for her thoughtfulness.” Trip would happily get both of the soulblades gifts since they had kept their swordly mouths closed while he and Rysha had been having their passionate moments.
“Indeed so. What does one buy for a sword? I can’t imagine she would be interested in a massage.”
I do enjoy getting my blade oiled by a handsome young man, Jaxi said as Rysha and Trip headed back across the rocks toward the camp, their respective scabbards in hand. Trip still sensed Dorfindral sending him dark thoughts. Apparently, their night of bonding hadn’t meant much to the sword. I’m certain Azarwrath does too, Jaxi added.
Azarwrath made a noise in their minds akin to throat clearing. Young men need not be involved.
Old men? Jaxi suggested.
Women who know their proper place in a man’s life.
Such as standing in front of the man and being supported by him?
Trip had more trouble deciphering Azarwrath’s next sound. Maybe that was for the best.
“Shoot them,” came Blazer’s voice across the rocks.
A faint splash reached Trip’s ears as he finished his work of turning the tongs back into a box.
Frowning, he swept his senses out again, certain some creature must have invaded the camp. But once again, he didn’t detect any life in the cavern besides that of his teammates.
“Ma’am,” Duck said, “are you sure? I think they’re just—”
“That one’s looking at me,” Blazer said. “And it spat something. Right there. It’s on the ground, smoking.”
“Should we… uhm, shoot?” Leftie asked.
As Trip climbed over the rock formation where he’d been sitting watch the night before, the camp came into view, along with what had everyone concerned. Out in the water, some only a few yards from the bank, grayish-green bulbous heads on one- to two-foot high stalks waved back and forth. Not animal heads, but… flower heads? They reminded him of giant tulips, but their petals flexed and tightened, their strange heads turned toward the camp. They definitely acted like they were alive.
“They’re flowers,” Duck said.
“I don’t think so.” Leftie had his rifle butt pressed to his shoulder.
Kaika, who stood right at the shoreline with Eryndral in one hand and her opposite fist propped on her hip, frowned at Leftie. “Just be careful where you aim if you shoot. And remember that bullets ricochet.”
Kaika pointed her sword toward the hanging stalactites and the stone wall on the opposite side of the pool. She also pointed her sword at a flower bobbing and waving its head at her from eight or ten feet away. She looked like she wanted to slice Eryndral through its inch-thick stem to see if that put an end to the plant’s agitation.
Leftie scowled but held his fire.
“Rysha?” Trip whispered as they slid down the rock formation to join the others, barely noticed as their comrades focused on the eight or nine flower heads waving at them. “It’s not possible for plants to have dragon blood, is it?”
Trip couldn’t fathom the scenario in which a dragon could reproduce with a plant, but he also had a hard time imagining a dragon and a bat getting together.
“I haven’t heard of it,” Rysha said.
Kaika waved her sword. “Maybe we should just—”
The petals on the flower head closest to her opened wide. Kaika jumped to the side as some kind of thick liquid spat out. If she hadn’t been watching and moved quickly enough, it would have struck her. Instead, it spattered to the ground, hitting the corner of someone’s blanket. The material promptly smoked as corrosive goo ate through it.
“—pack up and get out of here,” Kaika finished, turning a sour eye on the plant.
“They’re not magical,” Trip said, noticing that her chapaharii blade wasn’t glowing.
Now that he could see the flowers, his senses confirmed there was something there, and he could tell they had large lily-pad-shaped bases attached to the rock bed under the water, but they didn’t register as anything more interesting than foliage. He didn’t feel anything more from them than he had from the cactuses they had passed in the desert.
“Nice of you two to join us,” Blazer said, glaring at them. “And so good to know that someone was faithfully standing watch over the camp all night.”
Trip grimaced, belatedly realizing he should have woken someone else up to take his place on watch when he left. But he had wanted to work with the sword without anyone knowing about it. And Jaxi had said she would keep an eye on things.
I was on watch, Jaxi said, and from the way several people twitched, Trip knew she shared the words with everybody. Until I sensed that several people were awake. I believe Leftie was looking right at the water when the plants first appeared, so you were not taken unaware. In addition, I convinced several large badger-like creatures to leave the camp alone during the middle of the night, so you are welcome.
Jaxi did an impressive job of sounding indignant. Trip mostly felt embarrassed. The night before, he might have left with noble intentions, but he’d forgotten about the sword as soon as Rysha had lain down beside him. And then she’d told him he should be himself, all of himself around her, and he’d wanted nothing more than to show her everything.
Yes, yes, she was impressed by your amazing dragonness. Now, can we focus on these odd plants? They don’t seem to like your friends much.
Trip’s cheeks warmed, and he walked forward to stand next to the others, tossing the iron box toward Blazer’s blanket while he created a barrier to protect them from further plant spittle. After warning them not to shoot while they were behind it, he silently said, I thought you couldn’t read my thoughts as easily now, Jaxi.
It doesn’t take a genius to guess what you’re thinking about when you’re gazing at your lieutenant with gooey eyes. Also, your bank vault door was flapping open in the breeze.
Ah.
Another plant spat its corrosive ichor, and Duck jumped to the side. But the brownish gunk spattered against Trip’s invisible barrier. It appeared to hang in the air for a few seconds before slowly dripping down.
“That’s disgusting,” Leftie said.
“It’s actually quite fascinating,” Rysha said. “I wouldn’t have expected to find plants down here. Plants need the light from the sun to engage in photosynthesis.�
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“What about the mold in the other place?” Leftie’s lip curl suggested he didn’t find the plants fascinating.
“Mold requires oxygen to grow, but not light. It’s also not a plant. Molds are eukaryotic micro-organisms that live by decomposing dead organic material.”
Trip almost asked what kind of dead organic material had been in that chamber at the outpost, but then he remembered the sacrificing table and imagined blood dripping from it and onto the stone floor. Less grimly, he supposed organic matter could have come downstream in that river.
“There’s not a lecture coming, is there?” Blazer asked. “Because I think it should wait until we get out of here. Everyone, pack your gear up while our wayward captain protects us.”
“That wasn’t the start of a lecture,” Rysha whispered to Trip. “I was simply answering a question.”
“It was an interesting answer,” he said. “If you want to expand on it, I believe Major Blazer just invited you to offer a lecture as soon as the group moves from this area.”
“What?” Blazer shook out her blanket. “I didn’t say that.”
“I heard it that way, ma’am,” Duck said, winking at Rysha.
“I didn’t,” Leftie grumbled, glowering at the plants.
A couple more of them had popped up, and Trip sensed even more stirring on the bottom of the pool. Many of the attached pads that seemed to be the plants’ bases were gathered around vents in the rock floor down there. He sensed air bubbles trickling from those vents and also that the air was warm. Maybe the strange plants were able to live by utilizing some geothermal energy leaking up from within the earth.
“I suppose taking a sample of one wouldn’t be wise,” Rysha said, gazing sadly at the flower heads. “Since they’re clearly agitated with us and seem far more like animals than plants. I have friends at the university who might be interested in studying them. My sister might like samples too. She studies botany.”
Trip recalled that Rysha had collected some of the “intriguing mold” specimens from the outpost. Would her sister get those too?
It was too bad his mother hadn’t lived to meet Rysha. Trip was certain she would have appreciated her academic tendencies—and respect for interesting plants.
“Oh!” he blurted, a thought jolting him. “Could these plants be what brought my mother here?”
“They certainly are unique,” Rysha said. “I have no idea if they have medicinal properties, but I’m sure an herbalist would be fascinated by them. And they do seem like the kind of quirky thing that might be mentioned in journals by travelers who found these caves.”
A flower spat its corrosive goo in Kaika’s direction. It splashed against Trip’s barrier, but she glared balefully at the plant.
“By travelers who survived finding these caves,” Rysha amended dryly.
“You want a sample?” Kaika hefted her sword over her shoulder. “I can get you a sample. Trip, lower that barrier.”
“We sure that’s wise, ma’am?” Duck asked. “We got a saying back home about how it’s safest for the fly to go over the forest dotted with carnivorous Provarian flytraps rather than through it.”
Trip looked at Rysha. He was inclined to leave the plants alone and pack up and leave, but if she wanted a sample…
“Trip, if a superior officer gives you an order,” Blazer said, looking up from packing Kaika’s ruck as well as her own, “you don’t look at your girlfriend for permission before following it.”
Trip rubbed his face. He didn’t regret spending the night with Rysha, not for a damn minute, but he had to admit that if they’d been behaving responsibly, they would have waited until they finished their mission to engage in extracurricular activities. He couldn’t blame Blazer for being sarcastic—and a little corrective. She was right.
“Yes, ma’am.” Trip waved a hand to let Kaika know he’d lowered the barrier in front of her.
Kaika strode into the water, eyes intent as she approached the plant. Several of the heads rotated toward her. She shifted her angle of approach so she could keep them in her line of sight.
Trip, worried they had some sort of collective intelligence, or at least awareness, reconstructed his barrier so that only the plant she approached would be able to shoot her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t place a barrier in front of it or she wouldn’t be able to get her sample.
Kaika swung her sword like an executioner lopping off someone’s head. Belatedly, it occurred to Trip that he could have done that with magic. She needn’t have strode out waist-deep in the water.
But her sword cut easily through the plant’s stem, severing the head. The flower flopped into the water right beside her.
“I’ll take a sample of the stem, too, please,” Rysha said.
As Kaika grabbed the flower head and stuffed it in her pocket, the nearby ones fired their ichor at her with eerie precision. She anticipated the attack and ducked. Trip thought she would have been all right even if his barrier hadn’t been there, but he was satisfied when the ichor spattered against it well away from Kaika.
“Thanks,” Kaika said, and sliced off part of the stem that still stuck upright. “I—gaaawk!”
She jerked her foot up, her gaze lurching down toward the water. She tried to leap back, but something had her leg.
Trip swore and strode to the water’s edge. He’d forgotten about all the plant pads there that hadn’t deployed their flowers. Several of the dormant ones had come to life. Instead of simply shooting their flowers up above the surface, the flowers and stems were stretching toward Kaika. One already wrapped around her ankle.
Before Trip could form a magical attack, Kaika drove Eryndral’s point down into the water. Even without being able to see through to the dark bottom of the pool, she managed to skewer the pad and slice off the stem. That killed the plant, but other tendrils reached toward her, some under water and some above.
Trip kept the barrier up because the original threats he’d walled off were shooting more of their goo. The entire pool had come alive with the plants, and they were all focused on Kaika now.
She wielded the sword as if she were in the middle of a battlefield, not simply flailing but striking with impressive accuracy, especially given the barrage of enemies that had appeared. Including more stems that proved to have the flexibility of vines as they snapped out and wrapped around her legs.
Kaika tried to back to the water’s edge as she fought, lopping off flower heads left and right, but the plants fought valiantly to keep her in the pool. From the way they tugged at her, they seemed to want to drag her under the surface.
In addition, a keening sound started up. Was that coming from the plants? Or had they triggered some magical alarm?
Splashes sounded as someone else charged into the water to help Kaika. Rysha. She raced in with Dorfindral in her hand. It glowed a faint green, but Trip suspected that was because of him and his magical barrier rather than the plants. Whatever these crazy things were, they weren’t magical.
That keening is coming from the plants, Azarwrath observed. The ones with their petals spread. They’re acting like trumpets. Shall we destroy them? It would be a simple matter to incinerate them, even in the water.
I do love incineration, Jaxi put in.
Trip manipulated his barrier, trying to protect the women. He was tempted to try to attack the ones near them at the same time, but he didn’t want to accidentally hurt Rysha or Kaika.
Do not think so small, Telryn, Azarwrath warned. Remember the tidal wave you created? You have the power to end simple confrontations such as this.
I remember that the people in those boats all died in that tidal wave, Trip thought grimly. Though he worried about Rysha and Kaika, they weren’t hurt yet, and Kaika was proving rather amazing with that sword. Also, she was grinning as she spun about, slicing off the flower heads leering in from all sides. With Rysha’s help, they were making their way back up toward the shoreline. For all I know, these could be the only plants like this
in the entire world. I don’t want to be responsible for making a species extinct.
I understand, Azarwrath said. It is a worthwhile consideration. This place does appear to be isolated and unique.
A little incineration wouldn’t hurt, Jaxi said, sounding less understanding.
But Kaika and Rysha had made it out of the water, hacked-up gore sticking to their wet uniforms. The plants did not—could not—follow them onto dry land, but they continued to wave menacingly from the water. Many of the stems had lost their flowers, but that didn’t keep them from posturing like apes beating their chests.
Rysha glanced down at her ankle where a vine was wrapped three times around it, its severed end dragging on the rocks. Grimacing, she used Dorfindral’s tip to pry it free.
Kaika picked up a flower head floating near the water’s edge and grinned at Rysha. “How many samples did you want?”
“With all due respect, ma’am, you’re a maniac.”
“Yes, I am.” Kaika’s grin widened. “Do you have something to put this in, or does it just go in my soggy pocket?”
Trip could barely hear their conversation over the keening that continued to come from the water. Every single pad on the bottom had sent its flower above the surface. Even though Kaika and Rysha had severed dozens of them, many more remained, their petals unfurled and making noise.
Trip kept his barrier raised, but the plants weren’t shooting anymore. They were all too busy adding their voices to that unearthly keening. The torturous song echoed from the walls, and he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn it was audible all the way back at the entrance to the cave system.
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