“I’m sorry, Desia. I will do what I can when I return.”
Desia snorted. “What you can. And what will that be, do you think? What flower magic do you know that can heal our family? What magic do you have that can bring Jacen back? What magic do you have that will take away Jasi’s fear of the Conclave?” Desia glared at her. “Can you do any of that?”
Eris shook her head. “If only I could bring Jacen back. I…I saw him dead on the battlefield. There was nothing I could have done. I nearly died there myself. The magi were almost too many. They were so strong, and I haven’t been trained nearly enough for that. Had I been stronger—or had I been faster—maybe Jacen would still live. But he doesn’t, and I know I am to blame. I have to live with that.”
Desia laughed bitterly. “You’re to blame? You wish to take credit for his death now, too? You weren’t here in the months following Saffra’s attack. You didn’t see how Jacen became fixated on doing more than driving Saffra and the Conclave back, but wanting to destroy them, too. He was the first of us to change. It became a darkness in him.” Desia blinked and shook her head. “So you have no reason to take blame for what happened to Jacen.”
Could Desia be comforting her in her strange way? And hadn’t Eris seen the darkness within Jacen? When he led the soldiers to the border, he had seemed so eager to attack, almost as if he wanted to die fighting the magi. Desia was right—she couldn’t blame herself for losing him.
But she should blame herself for what had happened with their family. They had lost her as surely as they lost Jacen and Ferisa.
She swallowed. “I promise that when I am done doing what I need to, I will return and be here for the family.”
Desia stared at her, studying her as if searching for some secret, and then nodded. “Thank you.”
Eris knew how hard those words were for her sister to say.
Desia took a deep breath, and turned away, hurrying off down the hall. She paused once to glance back. Eris thought she caught the glistening of tears staining her cheeks but couldn’t be certain.
Chapter 66
Eris met Terran outside the iron gate leading into the palace. She frowned at the gate. Why did iron bother her so much? It hadn’t always been the case, only since she’d manifested her abilities, but the magi had used iron to trap Lira. Somehow iron affected the keepers.
More questions she didn’t have time to understand. Another thing she promised herself to learn when time permitted.
Terran wore his sword with a heavy cloak hanging over his shoulders. A bow slung behind him with a quiver strapped to his back. Another small bag hung alongside the quiver. His face twisted in a serious expression, a deep frown working across his mouth. His gaze darted from one side of the street to the other, as if he was concerned they might be attacked within the city itself. And possibly, they might.
“You don’t want to ride?” Terran asked as they made their way through the street.
At this time of day, the streets were busy, packed with people working their way toward shops. They weaved around carts and wagons, none mindful of the fact that one of the princesses walked among them. Not that Eris cared, at least not usually. She’d never wanted the notoriety that living in the palace provided and was perfectly comfortable with the autonomy granted by the forest. Today, though, she would have liked to move more quickly through the streets.
A thin man with a pointed beard bumped her. Terran grabbed the man and spun him, drawing his face around until he could see into the man’s dark eyes. He frowned and then released him, pushing him back into the crowd.
“Maybe riding would have been better. For you.” She watched him as she spoke.
His features hardened with the comment, and his hand hovered near the hilt of his sword.
Besides, they could still reach the stables quickly and be out of the city within the hour, but it meant pushing back against the crowd, and Eris had no interest in doing so. Once they were free of the city, they would move more quickly without the horses. It was one of the gifts given to her as keeper. She could draw on the energy of the grasses and trees around her to walk without tiring. At least, she had been able to. What would happen now that she had tainted the svanth trees? Would she damage the plants as well?
She would have to risk it. Grasses and flowers could be regrown more quickly, and she needed to reach the svanth tree before the taint spread.
Terran looked up at her, as if waiting for her to turn. “You didn’t go to Lira with this.”
“Would she have been able to help?”
“You should ask. Let her know what happened. It’s possible she will know how to help you.”
Eris considered going to Lira, but what would she say? Would Lira have any way of helping? Would she—as a keeper of flowers—understand how to heal the trees? “I won’t risk having the same thing happen to her.”
She glanced at the gloves covering her hands, still not certain they would do any good. Before leaving the palace, she had tested on a small bed of flowers. They had wilted within moments of her touch. Whatever it was that tainted the svanth tree worked within her. She could still borrow the energy of the flowers, but she wasn’t able to do so without harming the plants.
What would she do when she reached Shadow?
She shook her head, cursing her stubbornness. Maybe she should reach out to Lira, but if she did, what would happen if Lira were tainted as well? If she could reach Shadow, she might be able to discover what had been done. She might be able to reverse it.
And if she couldn’t?
She wouldn’t let herself consider that possibility. If she couldn’t, that meant the priestesses—or whoever had tainted her—had already won. The keepers would be defeated. The taint working along the roots of the svanth trees might eventually reach the Svanth Forest or stretch to the southern border where her newly planted trees formed a barrier to prevent the Conclave from reaching them. After holding back the magi, to think that she would be harmed by an arrangement of flowers.
“Desia wanted me to stay behind,” Eris began. “She wants me to help Mother and Father deal with what’s happened. She thinks Jasi needs additional support. Especially since Jacen died.”
He looked at her. “Are you sure she isn't right? Your family hasn't had you around either. It must feel as if they've lost three children.”
Eris fell silent as they turned down another side street, moving past carts full of vegetables and wagons loaded with cloth, all likely headed towards the palace. She glanced at them briefly before turning away.
Outside the city, the throng of people thinned out quickly. Carters and wagons became infrequent. Everyone pushed to move into Eliara, not out. Farms became more sparse, the farmsteads less frequent, as they moved away from the palace. Eris drew on the plants around her for energy as she made her way from Eliara, risking the damage to them. Terran kept up, moving easily alongside her, his ability as gardener allowing him to keep pace.
“One of the gardeners thought he saw someone leaving the palace who looked like your sister.”
Eris nearly stumbled. “Ferisa? You waited until now to tell me?”
“He couldn’t be certain.” Terran touched her arm and turned her toward him. “It could have been Jasi or Desia just as well as Ferisa.”
He didn’t have to remind her they all looked similar, but Eris didn’t believe it had been Jasi or Desia. They hadn’t left the palace. That meant Ferisa had returned. That meant the warning—and the poisoning of the svanth trees—had come from Ferisa.
“You said Shadow was on the Verilain Plains?” Terran asked.
They had reached a small hill rising above the city. Eris paused and turned to look back upon the city, her gaze skimming over the palace and stopping when she saw the svanth tree. Even from here, she could tell the leaves wilted, the color fading from them. With enough time, the tree might fail. Could Ferisa really be the reason?
“That’s where he was the last time I sensed him,” she said.
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“You don’t sense him now?”
Eris shook her head slightly. “It’s different. He’s there, but faded. As if whatever has flowed through the trees impacted him as much. Maybe more.”
The Verilain Plains was just visible from where they stood. Tall needlegrass, long flowing blades as sharp as a knife, stretched higher than her head, each blade seeking to tear through her skin. It had been a long time since needlegrass bothered her.
“When will it reach the Svanth?”
Eris shook her head. “I don’t know. But Shadow—” she let out a tense breath “—I think that’s why he’s there. I think he means to stop whatever happened from spreading.”
And in doing so, she worried he would sacrifice himself.
* * *
As they reached the Verilain Plains, Eris took Terran’s hand and ran her gloved fingers over his calloused ones. Tension drew the corners of his eyes tight, and his mouth pursed into a thin line. She suspected he felt the taint as she did.
The sensation grew stronger the farther they walked, increasingly reminding her of the desolation caused by the magi. That had nearly destroyed Errasn. Had she not managed to learn the secret of her trees, it might have. In some ways, what she sensed now was worse. It went deeper and worked into the roots of the trees themselves, different than what the magi had managed.
“Are we close?” Terran asked.
She shook her head. “Not yet. Shadow is near the svanth tree I planted. Where the magi attacked us.”
He nodded, touching his sword as he did. “I remember.”
Eris took a deep breath and started into the needlegrass. For a moment, she didn’t know if it would part for her as it had in the past. Then, with a sigh of wind, the grasses bent to the side, tipping away from her and creating a walkway for her to hurry through.
They moved quickly. Occasional blades caught at her cloak, but only the tips of the grasses, as if whatever power she exerted over the Verilain Plains had weakened enough that they couldn’t completely move away from her. Terran walked along a line, pulling himself behind her, careful to avoid the sharp grasses. Some still caught at his hands, slicing through flesh and drawing beads of blooming blood. He winced but said nothing.
The sun dipped overhead, shining weakly in the sky, the air crisp and cool. The earthy scent of a coming rain hung in the air. Thick swirls of gray clouds hung in the sky without any of the patterns she’d once thought she saw. Maybe whatever tainted her had affected that as well.
In the distance, the svanth tree rose over the plains, like a shepherd watching its flock. Even from here, she could sense the weakness writhing through the tree. Something pushed against it—Shadow, she suspected—but in time, that would fail. The tree would die, and the connection to the Svanth Forest would spread. The forest would fall. Even the Source buried deep beneath the forest would fail.
All because of her, because of the priestesses. If only she knew why.
Terran pulled on her hand, and she paused long enough to glance back. His sword was drawn from his sheath, and the lithe way he slid around her, pressing his warmth briefly against her, reminded her of her father’s soldiers. He might be her gardener, but he was also much more.
“Let me go first,” he said.
“What do you think you can do with that?” she asked, glancing at his sword.
“Stop a knife from sinking into your belly.”
He missed the glare she shot him as he turned and slipped through the grasses toward the svanth tree. Eris sent a whispered request to the needlegrass, asking it to part for him. The response came more slowly than it should have.
She followed, putting only a little distance between the two of them, wanting to hurry. Shadow was close.
Terran stopped alongside the tree. His sword hung loosely in his hand as he leaned toward a form lying on the ground. As she approached, he swung his gaze to her. The expression on his face told her all she needed to know.
Shadow lay on the ground, his black fur slicked down and dull in appearance. His back rested against the svanth tree, pushing against a pair of low lying teary star flowers. Breaths lifted his chest slowly. He swung his massive head to look over at her as she approached, blinking golden eyes that shone with less life than the last time she’d seen him.
She ran to him and knelt beside him. “Shadow?”
“Keeper. You should not have come.”
She touched his back, searching for injuries. Thick oily fur was barbed, much like the vine of the teary star flower. The barbs eased away from her touch as she petted him.
“How could I not come?”
Shadow growled softly.
Terran jerked his head around at the sound, sword held before him, gaze darting.
Eris reached through the roots of the needlegrass without thinking, probing for what had caught Shadow’s attention, but found nothing.
“Not your fault,” Shadow said. “This has been planned for many years. I should have seen it.”
Eris shook her head. “What has been planned?”
Shadow didn’t answer, instead, laid his head back upon the grass, pushing it against the tree. He took a few deep, ragged breaths then let them out slowly. “I will contain the spread. The Source will be protected,” he said without looking up, “but you should not be here. What will happen is dangerous.”
Eris pulled on her cloak crouched in front of his head. Terran circled the tree, a deep frown creasing his face as he sniffed the air.
“What is it?”
He shook his head. “Don’t know. The air smells…hot.”
She stood and sniffed but didn’t notice anything at first. Then she felt it, but not in the air. Rather it came from deep beneath her, as if drawing from the earth, perhaps even deeper, down through the Source. The sensation sizzled against her skin, tingling and leaving nerves on edge and raw, like a fresh cut or a sunburn.
“You should leave this place,” Shadow said. “It will not be safe when it comes.”
Eris looked down. “When what comes?”
As she asked, she realized the source of what she felt, if not how she knew. She looked over at her guardian, watching him as he lay weakly against the tree, the power drawing from him, through him, spreading out and away.
Now that she was aware of it, she recognized how it radiated out from him. Shadow was the reason there was a heat to the air. He was the reason she sensed the deep drawing of energy. Eris had experienced something only once before.
“You can’t survive this,” she said. “Even I know that.”
Shadow’s ears twitched. “It will take more than this to end me.”
Eris ignored him and leaned forward, resting her hand on his side. She delved through him to feel how he pushed out his power into the roots of the svanth tree. It was this energy that bottled up the taint, holding it from spreading to the distant forest or farther, south toward the border with Saffra. She had done the same when trying to save Terran.
Energy rushed out of him in a flood, washing through the roots, more than she could fathom. How could he store so much within himself? And what did it mean that he tried this on his own?
As she delved, she recognized something else. Did he even know? Was it what he sought to keep from her?
Shadow would not be enough.
Connected to him as she was, she could trace the stores of power surging through him, leaving him, and knew that he was nearly depleted. But the taint continued to spread.
It worked along the roots, rapidly drawn along, as if something physical. Eris resisted the urge to pull away from it, somehow knowing if she did, the darkness would spread. Instead, she plunged toward it, mingling with it.
The damage done to the plains and the flowers would require time to repair, but she needed to do what she could to halt this spread.
She pressed out with stores of energy to trap the residual effect, but failed. She was not strong enough. Neither was Shadow. Without accessing the power stored within the Sva
nth—or without accessing the Source itself—she would not have enough strength to contain the spread.
She looked up at Terran, but his gaze remained fixed on something in the distance. Tension filled the muscles of his broad back, straining at his forest green jacket. He clutched his sword tightly, holding it away from him, pointed toward whatever it was he saw.
Shadow took another breath and sighed, already fading.
“Shadow?” she whispered.
“Go from here, keeper.”
His voice came to her as no more than a whisper, drifting through the fading connection between them, drawn as if from a great distance. Their bond failed. Soon he would be lost.
“I can’t. You know that I can’t. There has to be something I can do.”
Shadow turned to look up at her, his eyes growing increasingly dull with each passing moment. “There is nothing. I will contain this. I will protect you.” He seemed to sigh. “I am the guardian. Return to the trees. Learn. Grow as keeper.”
Eris shook her head.
“Do not let the Darkbinders win.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Shadow took a wheezing breath. “You will. In time, you will.”
Then he breathed no more.
Chapter 67
Eris looked on Shadow’s unmoving form. Tears streamed down her face, and she wiped them away. This couldn’t be the end of him. How could he die before she understood why they bonded in the first place?
“Terran!”
Terran’s gaze locked onto Shadow’s unmoving form. “What happened?”
Eris shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s gone.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do?”
The Lost Garden: The Complete Series Page 52