“Like what?”
She motioned to the flowers. The oak had no such arrangement growing near its base. Could it be that simple? Could the combination of the flowers add strength to the trees? But why not? Wasn’t the svanth tree stronger for the teary star flower? Why should the other trees be any different?
“The darthshades. They aid the tree. The piksans, too.”
Terran considered the flowers, his brow creased as he leaned forward. “And the teraspals?”
Teraspals grew throughout the forest, so it was possible they were little more than a weed, but she couldn’t be certain. With a delicate touch, she delved through the teraspals. As she did, she nearly gasped. Like the svanth trees, the teraspals were interconnected, worked throughout the forest. A smile came across her face.
“What is it?” Terran asked.
“I’ve been in the forest for months and haven’t noticed before now.”
“Noticed what?”
She motioned to the teraspals. Violet petals spread widely, catching the shadowed light enough to grow and thrive in this part of the forest. “They all connect. Like the trees.”
He touched the petals of the teraspal. “Reminds me of when you and I first started working together,” he said.
She smiled. After the garden in the palace had nearly been destroyed, she had helped Terran work through it, learning the basics of planting and caring for the flowers. They had worked in beds of teraspals, carefully replanting them. “Did you know?”
“Know that they connect?” He shrugged. “Their roots bind up. It makes separating individual flowers difficult.”
“But it might give me a chance to help the forest without reaching into the trees.” After what happened, she still wasn’t ready to reach through the svanth trees.
Eris delved into the teraspals, focusing only on the flowers. With the connection established, she worked along the shallow roots. Had she not had experience while in the Verilain Plains, she might not have learned the skill. This was delicate work, even harder than what she’d managed while in the plains, but she was not the same keeper she had been when she first learned how to trace the roots. Now she had some skill. Maybe not the same as Lira had with organizing her arrangements or like Imryll did with the trees, but Eris could trace along the roots with a soft touch.
As she did, she recognized the subtle change in certain trees. Eris searched, seeking out as many injured trees as she could find. None near the heart of the forest were damaged. Only those along the periphery, along where Shadow said the Darkbinders could reach, if this was their fault.
She reached the limits of what the roots would allow. Hundreds of trees were impacted. Some were oaks or poplars. A few elms and birch scattered about the forest. Even a few scrub plants, barely more than spindly things. No svanth trees. With a sigh and a surge of energy, she pressed out from the teraspals and used their power to cleanse the trees.
The effort weakened her, but she welcomed it. Repairing the forest was what she was meant to do. It was part of who she was as keeper.
Terran squeezed her hand. “What did you do?”
“There were hundreds of trees like these.”
“And you healed them?”
“I think so.”
A playful smile crossed his face, finally removing some of the intensity. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been upset with you when you tried to help. Think of all the free time we could have had.”
She laughed, a flush coming over her. “You weren’t willing to make the time?”
In answer, he pulled her against him and kissed her as he lowered her to the forest floor.
* * *
Night had fallen as they made their way across the rolling hills between the Svanth and Imryll’s forest. Terran’s eyes flickered from side to side, but Eris knew they were alone. Using her connection with the grasses, she sensed nothing to fear.
Every so often, she stretched back toward the Svanth and checked on Shadow. As far as she could tell, he still slumbered, resting unmoving at the heart of the forest. Part of her worried what it meant that he hadn’t moved since arriving, but the connection between them grew stronger with each passing hour. She would trust that he was fine.
“I didn’t know you passed through Varden to reach her,” Terran said.
Eris looked around. Silver moonlight spilled around them, giving enough light to find their way. “I didn’t know this was Varden.”
He nodded solemnly and pointed toward the north. “Once, there was a city not far from here. Loesth. Mostly stone and wood. My grandfather showed me pictures.”
She reached through the grasses and found the bones of the fallen city. Other than massive stones and a faded memory, nothing remained. None still lived there. “Why would he have pictures?”
“He was born in Loesth.”
“What happened to it?” she asked, but suspected she already knew the answer. The border between Errasn and Varden had not often known peace.
“What happens to most of these border villages? When the armies move through here, they are destroyed, lives taken during the attack claiming entire villages.” He turned away and looked over at her. “My grandfather had already gone to Elaysia, but he said he returned to see Loesth, only to find it missing. Even years later, I remember the hurt in his voice.”
Eris sighed and tucked a loose strand of hair back behind her ears. The magi had tried starting another war along the border with Varden. She didn’t know what ended the fighting, whether her brother or her father or simply old general Tholen had finally found sense.
“Maybe when the gardens are rebuilt the keepers will help keep the peace.”
Terran sniffed. “I think the keepers preferred to remain out of politics.”
“Imryll didn’t want anything to do with the Conclave either,” she said. “When I mentioned the magi attacking along the border, she ignored me.”
“So how do you think you’ll draw her in this time?”
Eris pulled her cloak back around her against the growing chill. They moved quickly to the north, well past the border of Errasn. “Because this isn’t the magi.”
Terran seemed unmoved by the cold, though he scanned everything around them with intense eyes. “We’ll see.”
“She will know when we arrive.”
“If she’s anything like you, I suspect she will.”
“She had more control over the forest than I have over the Svanth.”
He glanced at her and laughed softly. “I doubt that.”
She turned to the north, looking at the hills rolling in front of her. “It’s true. The trees move at her command. I want you to be ready.”
He frowned. “Ready for what?”
Eris grabbed his arm and held it, enjoying the closeness between them, ignoring that it might not last. “In case I anger her. With the control she has, she could trap us in her forest, prevent us from leaving.” Without Shadow, they would have no way of protecting themselves from Imryll’s wolf guardian either.
“What would you do that would anger her?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, smelling the crisp pine in the air. “The last time I was in her forest, I needed to understand what it meant that I was a keeper. She told me she didn’t think I was a keeper of trees and that was after I demonstrated how to grow the svanth tree.”
“You told her about the teary star vines?”
He didn’t hide the surprise in his voice. He knew how difficult svanth trees were to grow. Without the support of the teary star vines, the trees would never reach any higher than sapling size. They would never gain the strength found in the Svanth Forest. Eris had discovered that secret. It was woven into the roots of the Svanth, left there like a lesson from the first keeper. Without that knowledge, she would never have managed to save her mother or stop the magi. Now, her connection through the trees had spread, roots extending throughout much of Errasn. In time, she would like to have planted even more trees, to leave no part of Errasn unto
uched, but she hadn’t the opportunity. And now, she might never have the chance.
“I had no choice. If I wanted her to teach me—”
“There’s always a choice,” Terran said. “It might not always be easy, but the choice is there.”
“You don’t know that.”
He sighed. “I do know, Eris. And she didn’t teach you anything, did she?”
Eris frowned. “I learned what it means to be a keeper of the forest. I learned I was more than only a keeper of trees.” And she learned how to use the energy of the trees to feed the svanth seed. Had it not been for Imryll, she wouldn’t have managed to do any of the rest.
“Then why do you fear what she’ll do when you return?”
She looked toward a distant darkness. Imyrll’s forest was there. Eris recognized the change of the forest, the way her connection to the roots of the grasses halted as the trees cropped up. She might be able to push into it, probe her awareness, but there would be a cost. But deeper in the forest was the svanth tree she planted. Through that tree, she could reach and access the energy of Imryll’s forest. She had done it once before and only when desperate, not really knowing what she had done, but would Imryll see it the same way? Forgiveness seemed unlikely.
“I accessed the stores of her forest when the magi attacked,” she explained. “I doubt she has forgotten.”
Chapter 70
The sun crept over the horizon, sending streamers of oranges and reds as bright as celias and terispals as they stood on the edge of Imryll’s forest. Eris felt poorly rested and rubbed sleep from her eyes. Terran stood tense and alert next to her. A chill still clung to the air, leaving a bite that pierced even the thickness of the cloak she wore.
The leaves of the trees arching overhead already started turning, now no longer green. Some were vibrant reds and yellow while others turned a more muted brown. The trees stood like guards waiting to block their entry. Soon the leaves would fall and snow would follow. Only the pines would remain green.
She still had not been through a winter in the Svanth. What would it be like trying to find warmth among the trees? Would she be able to manage the same skill as Imryll, to curl the trees around into a cozy shelter? Would the trees permit fire along their branches, trusting that she would keep them from harm? Could she curl up next to Terran, finding comfort and safety?
She pushed away the thoughts. Too much must happen for her to find that kind of peace. Maybe she was never meant to have the idyllic life Imryll managed.
Terran held her hand, waiting for her. Neither felt motivated to step across the threshold of the forest, as if it were a tangible thing that held them back.
Maybe it did.
She nodded and delved, stretching toward the roots. Stepping across without announcing herself would only put Imryll on edge. Eris didn’t know what might happen. She suspected Imryll might react, but what if she did not? What if she simply prevented them from reaching her?
The roots of the forest resisted her, and she pushed. Had she not known she could access the forest, had she not believed that her connection to the svanth tree at the heart would grant that connection, she might have given up. But she knew that deep within the forest, her connection would allow her to reach the other keeper.
Pressure built as she tried pushing through the protections woven into the roots. She persisted, drawing from the strength of the grasses around her and slicing through the protections. Faintly, she felt the connection of the svanth tree and grabbed onto it, pulling toward it.
And suddenly she could go no further. Imryll was aware of her.
Eris withdrew, leaving the roots and moving her awareness more superficially, into the undergrowth. Imryll didn’t command that, not the way she did with the trees. Using it, Eris could tell where Imryll might be and how to reach her.
A pair of wide pine trees parted before her, creating a path.
Terran stared at the trees, eyes narrowed as he tried peering past them and into the shadows. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. But it’s the only one I have.”
With a deep breath, she stepped into the forest. Scents surrounded her, both different and the same as those within the Svanth. There was the familiar earthy scent mixed with the decay of fallen leaves and the dusty, dry scent of branches. But mixed with it were other scents, that of pine and berries that weren’t found within the Svanth. In her forest, shade flowers mixed their aromas in with the others, creating swirling and sickly scents that lingered. Eris held her breath as she followed the path.
Trees continued to move to the side, controlled by Imryll from where she stood near the heart of this forest. Much beyond that, Eris couldn’t quite reach by using the shallow roots of the grass and scrub plants. They followed the path made by Imryll as it led them through the forest toward the other keeper. Had it not, Eris wondered what she would have done. Would she have tried to step off the path and push through the forest anyway? Doing so would take considerable strength and might require her to overpower Imryll. That wasn’t what she wanted to do, even were she able to manage such a thing.
Terran moved with lithe grace, his hand always hovering over the hilt of his sword. He left it sheathed, but the tension in his arms and shoulders told her how quickly he could draw it. He stayed in front of her, and she didn’t argue or tell him he could do nothing against Imryll, were he to want to. Not while in her forest.
After a while, Eris became aware of another creature watching them, moving in shadows alongside them. Terran seemed to as well. He started turning, looking out as if he could see through the dense branches of the thick pines, but nothing other than shadows looked back at them.
“It’s her guardian,” Eris whispered.
He nodded. “What is it?”
“He’s a wolf.” She tipped her head slightly to the side, toward where she sensed him. “In the trees to my right. About a dozen paces away.”
Terran kept his hand on his sword. “I wish Shadow was with us.”
“Never thought I’d hear you say that.”
He glanced at her before turning his focus back toward where the wolf prowled alongside them. “I was grateful he was with us along the border.”
“Me too.”
They continued forward in silence. The farther they made it into the forest, the more the trees seemed to filter and trap the light. Without her sense from the undergrowth, she might feel completely uncomfortable. With it, she felt mostly so.
“How much farther?”
“Not much.”
The path began to narrow, as if funneling them into a trap. Eris stopped and waited. Terran stood apart from her, giving himself enough room to unsheathe his sword, prepared to do whatever he needed to stop Imryll or her guardian when they appeared. She doubted they would be attacked. Not now that Imryll allowed them into the forest. Likely, her curiosity allowed them access.
When nothing changed after long moments, Eris stepped forward. “Imryll. I know you’re there. I sense your guardian. I have come to talk.”
Nothing happened at first.
Then slowly, trees parted, peeling away like curtains, leaving the dense forest slightly less imposing. The enormous grey-black wolf sat back on its haunches, watching them. As before, intelligence gleamed in its eyes. This time it reminded her of Shadow.
“Guardian,” she said, tipping her head to it.
The wolf growled but otherwise didn’t move.
Imryll stepped forward. She wore a cloak of the same cut and fabric as the one Eris wore, only with slightly more embroidery. Leaves and branches were woven into the fabric along the edges in a dark blue. No other color or adornment marred the cloak.
She looked much the same as the last time Eris saw her. Her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders with perhaps a little more grey than before. Deep brown eyes studied her. Wrinkles lined her face.
“You should not have returned,” Imryll said.
“No? Where s
hould I have gone for answers?”
Imryll shook her head and pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders. “I don’t have the answers you seek. I am a keeper of trees.”
“As am I.”
“No. You are a keeper of flowers. Learn their patterns and smell their fragrance, but do not think you can understand the trees.”
Eris took another step forward. The wolf guardian watched her, yellow eyes studying every move. Muscles tensed beneath his fur. She wondered briefly how he would have reacted had Shadow come. Would they have received a different welcome?
“I am a keeper of flowers and of trees,” Eris said.
Imryll laughed dismissively. “Such a person does not exist.”
Eris tilted her head. Behind her, she heard Terran shift his feet. “I bonded the teary star for a reason. Who else but a keeper of trees and flowers could bond such a plant?”
“You remain confused. This is why I can’t teach you. Teary star is a flower.”
“And a tree. I showed you that without the teary star vine, the svanth could not grow.”
Imryll studied her, the corners of her eyes twitching as she considered her answer. Would she allow them to come with her, or would she push them away, driving Eris from the forest as she had driven her away months ago?
“The svanth,” she said. Bitterness touched her voice. “You knew what you did.”
Eris shook her head. “I’m sorry, Imryll. I didn’t understand at the time. I do now.”
Imryll watched her a moment more. Her eyes finally flicked over to Terran. She took a deep breath and then nodded. “Perhaps you did not. Perhaps you did. I will know the truth.”
“As will I.”
Imryll stared at her before blinking. She let an annoyed breath and nodded, waving Eris on. “Come. We will talk.”
* * *
The clearing parted suddenly before them. The once small hut built out of the branches of four trees stood at the center. Branches weaved around each other, working together as they formed the supports for her hut. The svanth tree that had been so small and weak now stood tallest, its branches providing the most support, demanding the other trees compensate. The pine and elm had grown the most. The birch lagged behind. What had once been a tiny hut had grown into a wide house. Eris hid her laugh.
The Lost Garden: The Complete Series Page 55