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Once the Gate Lords were secure and yelling curses in voices that shook with terror, Briar plucked weapons fro theood, children," he told his captives "I won’t be but a minute"

He rested his palms on the wooden door to the Vipers’ den and called to a th, not dead endurance It wrenched itself off its hinges, falling to one side as it groaned, creaked, protested, and sank new roots deep in the ground Branches forced their way out of planed boards The Vipers ht find another den one day, but it would not be this one, not when Briar was finished

Just before he passed through the open frame, he threw his second dae of ht street and into the la for the Gate Lords’ attack They had their oeapons in hand, including lead-weighted blackjacks The contents of Briar’s seed packet dug into the bare dirt floor unnoticed as the Vipers closed on hian to grow They burn

Vines wriggled around and past the laer tendrils to snare hu punch from the nearest Viper and called three vines to trap the youth’s arms: it wasn’t that he couldn’t or didn’t want to punch back, but that Evvy caed as more vines sprouted and threw out leaves Briar took a deep breath of cleaner air and faced the boy who had tried to punch him It was Yoru, the short black Viper He was now bound in a web of green ropes, gasping for breath A bloodstained rag rapped around his forehead

Briar pulled away the ste him breathe "Sorry to interrupt that war you started with the Gate Lords," he said with false good et back to it"

The other boy spat in his face Briar grimaced, wiped the spittle on his sleeve, and ordered the vines to hang the Viper upside down They grew, anchoring the Yoru with them Briar went to the next Viper, and the next Those who didn’t spit on him cursed him By the time he’d reached the far door, the vines had borne fruit: a crop of dangling, trapped Vipers

Briar stepped across the doorsill into the next cellar It looked to be the roo beds lay on the floor The front roo the feet of any Vipers present Briar, tired of being polite, took a crimson packet out, wet it, and tossed it onto the floor Thin, whippy vines punctuated with hooked thorns jumped from the seeds as they sank roots in the dirt floor

A Viper rushed Briar fro youth’s are to toss his foe into the wall The Viper hit with a grunt, the wind knocked out of him Before he could sit up, Briar was on his chest His knees dug into the fallen youth’s ribcage as he held a knife to his throat

"You people took Evvy I want her back," Briar told the youth softly He sent a command to the nearest rose A thorny vine lashed out to furl itself around one of the Viper’s hands, forcing him to drop the knife he’d meant to stick into Briar’s ribs "You didn’t answer," Briar chided "Stabbing isn’t an answer" The youth looked at the rooht of his friends battling with vines and roses Briar gripped his chin and forced his captive to look at hi blood in her, and she’s my student Where is she?"

"Threaten all you like," the youth retorted breathlessly "Torture us, kill us --"

"Why would I do any such thing?" Briar inquired "What I will do is leave you Vipers wrapped up tight That way you just stay here until the locals co’s what they feel like They et back at you for every bruise, broken jar, and free lared at hih Briar left him for the roses and walked into the third room of the den, which filled the cellars of several houses Its cook-fires were already heic and sprouted from the dirt floor The roo water, overturned teacups and bowls, and oddly enough, a tumble of stones that appeared to have exploded frorihter She wouldn’t let these idiots treat her like a helpless kitten

This was the final room in the hideout The only other door in here opened to the world outside Briar frowned and groped for his connection to Evvy It led through the door and -- southeast? Southeast Toward Justice Rock or Fortress Rock

Or toward Lady Zenadia

Sheer spitethe dead oak to return to life By the tirowth slowed to norh to bar the entrances peret runners into the sun, the den would be filled with a thorny tangle of greenery that would not take kindly to any atteht that was fair, when they crafted plants that would be in danger of hurt froiven the hold on life, to thank their creations for defending them first