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A vine byvibration filled the forest The trees around ave another shudder, and a heartbeat later vines shifted and slid against rove as leaves and twigs broken by e fell from above A vine as thick as my wrist snaked around my torso just above where the branch had skeweredmy head, I saw Mzatal co More vines wrapped around ony knifed throughMy eyes et enough breath to breathe, much less speak or shout
Mzatal’s eyes narrowed He stepped forward, then stopped as if he’d run into a wall I watched as he raised a hand, testing an unseen barrier What the hell? I wondered in barely controlled panic Had I ed to fall into so plant Always a good plan
Yet even as I fretted about being eaten, a soft ease stole through me, and my panic faded I felt oddly relaxed…and safe It occurred to ht have released che to make its prey nice and docile, but I decided it wasto think it was simply a Nice Plant
Vines continued to shift and move around me The white trunks and lirove felt cooler than before The green and violet of the leaves aith a lulitter of emerald and amethyst Mzatal stepped back as the barrier before hilohispered through the leaves, or maybe the leaves just whispered tobeauty
A leafy tendril touched es ofto let ain and the vines that had wrapped aroundbranch I stared at the leaves above, ony, but it rong Only a little tingle My new Plant Friend wouldn’t hurt hts
I relaxed into the cradling hold Out of the corner ofthe peri h, then staggered back a step as it repelled him His eyes snapped to me as he stood, hands clenched at his sides Way too tense He needed a Plant Friend
Whisper whisper whisper Sparkly Everything sparkly
"Kara, can you hear me?"
Whisper whisper whisper
Shimmery Sparkly Shimmery
Whisper whisper whisper
"Kara!"
"No need To Shout," Iloud and unnatural toaway The pain returned, and I shuddered and whimpered loareness seeped in: not in the tree anyet here?"
Mzatal crouched at rove aze flicking fro Sudden fear grippedto healvines, then laid a hand in the center of my chest His jaw clenched and he shook his head, then stripped the collar froain
"You are badly injured," he said, in what I thought was a keen grasp of the fucking obvious He looked up and around, expression conte his head, he returned his attention tohere, then move you" He pointed to a spot in the center of his forehead "Focus here," he said, then sketched a quick sigil in the air between us
I did h il rotated in a subtly radually it became oddly simple to focus on that and little else Mzatal set a hand oninto a ony seelass wall Mzatal traced tethers of potency around il and placed it on ic pain patch
"Gesta in a calely distant froentleness Aroundits touch like a caress
I must have drifted off for a few ently settinghis suit jacket and draping it over the chair before rolling up the sleeves of his pristine white shirt He htly over my torso
"How…bad?" I asked, the effort of those tords exhausting