Outlier

by L. J. Hachmeister

  Sen followed behind her, sniffling and clinging to Akoto as Nya stepped outside the decaying battlegrounds and into the Garden forests.

  “Wait…brodudendrum or occulrum?” she muttered to herself as she hacked away at the shrubs to get to the floral beds surrounding the grey oak trees. Not that she could discern the coral, blue or purple flowers from one another in the twilight.

  “What are you doing?” Sen asked.

  “Eating one of these flowers will improve our night vision.”

  Sen looked at her with a wary expression. “Can’t we just make a fire and carry torches—or pick off a lantern bulb?”

  “And alert all the Virids—and possibly those Nezra—that we’re coming?”

  Anxious to get back to the mission, Nya plucked a dozen random flowers and crammed them all into her mouth. If Sen hadn’t been watching her, she might have considered spitting them out. The acrid taste alone made her gag, but she couldn’t let on in front of the kid.

  “Ummm… did it work?” Sen asked after Nya gulped the bitter pulp.

  Nya blinked a few times and looked around the dark forest. The light from the waning moon gave her some sense of her environment, but not much. Still, she couldn’t stand Sen’s dubious expression. “Yes. Let’s go.”

  After plowing through the underbrush trying to guess her way to the maze entrance, she heard a shudder and moan, as if something immense and inhuman suffered a grievous injury. She angled toward the sound, stumbling upon the outer hedge wall of the maze.

  Just gotta find a way in…

  She followed the wall for several feet but couldn’t find the opening. Instead, she managed to get her hair tangled in the low branches of the trees and snag her shirt in a bush.

  “What about there?” Sen said, pointing to an opening in the wall.

  Nya didn’t like the looks of it. It didn’t appear like an intentional entry point, not with the dried leaves and shriveled-up vines littering the ground.

  The Nezra came through here, she surmised, running her hand along the dead, brittle interior. Squinting, she made out the subsequent holes penetrating the hedges, giving them a straight shot toward a soft light up ahead.

  Sanctum.

  It had to be, at least from Sulo’s description.

  You have to be there, Sho.

  Cracking, groaning; the sound of a thousand branches stretching out, trying to reform.

  “Run,” Nya said, grabbing Sen’s hand and pulling her inside. Akoto roared, too big to fit through the hole without taking out more of the surrounding wall.

  Gritting her teeth against the pain of her injured ankle, Nya sprinted through the holes, towing Sen behind her, her eyes locked on the light, as the walls around her shrieked and collapsed.

  Chapter 13

  Sen landed hard on her hands and knees in the grass, leaves, dirt and twigs spraying out around her. In front of her, Nya grunted and cursed, her face turning red as she pushed herself up and stood on her injured ankle.

  “Akoto!” she screamed, turning back to see him biting and clawing at the vines wrapped around his chest and dragging him back into the Maze.

  Tripping over the plant debris, she stumbled her way to him, batting away the tendrils spilling over the maze walls that sought out the trespassers.

  “Sen, get back!”

  Nya’s shouts didn’t deter her, nor did the ominous creaks and snapping sounds coming from behind the outer wall. Only when the spiny heads of the bird-eater stalk lifted above the hedge did she give pause. She’d only ever seen their rosette faces in picture books, but they now rose above her head, dripping digestive fluids from their pink oral cavities.

  Screaming, she dodged one of the diving heads, its trigger hairs brushing the back of her legs. She smelled sweet nectar as its other heads waved back and forth, spraying the air with their intoxicating scent.

  “Akoto,” she cried, slamming her fists against one of the bigger vines wrapped around his stomach. Roaring, he tried to bite, claw, and wrestle his way out, but the harder he struggled, the more it squeezed down around his torso.

  Vines slithered up her leg and wrapped around her hip as she pleaded with her friend to try harder. “Don’t give up!” she screamed as a vine circled around his muzzle and pulled his head back.

  Focused on her friend, she didn’t give enough attention to the vines snagging both her arms or the bird-eaters spreading out around them, opening their bladed leaves for the anticipated meal. “Akoto!”

  Two knives whizzed past her head, plunging into the thicker vine crushing Akoto’s rib cage. Everything around her—the hedges, the bird-eaters, the very leaves—shrieked and shuddered.

  “Use your knife!” Nya shouted as she sliced her way toward them with her twin blades.

  When the command registered, Sen hesitated, afraid to grab the borrowed blade from her waistband.

  I can’t—

  “Do it!”

  Sen cried out as another vine slapped down around her neck while another two lashed around her wrists and pulled her in opposite directions. Three of the bird-eater heads dipped down to her eye-level so that she could see into their maw, down their ribbed gullet.

  Choked by the vines, she could do little more than squeeze her eyes shut as they lunged toward her face.

  A terrible cry rose above the din. The vines around her neck slackened enough for her to take a gasping breath and open her eyes.

  Silver flashed in the moonlight.

  Nya!

  But as she watched Nya hack down the vines, she realized it wasn’t the warrior’s concerted effort that stopped the attack.

  The cry intensified, piercing the Gardens with a chorus of suffering. All the vines retracted, then sprouted back out of the Maze, rushing toward the origin of the sound somewhere up ahead. The bird-eaters followed, their bladed leaves whistling in the winds as they slithered away.

  Akoto!

  After picking herself up off the ground, Sen ran to the midnight beast shaking off near the hole in the outer Maze wall.

  “You okay, buddy?” she said, brushing off the twigs and leaf bits from his fur.

  He answered with a grumble, then a snort as he cleared out his lungs.

  “Phew,” she said, giving him a hug. He growled, but she didn’t let up until Nya grabbed her by the elbow and yanked her toward the awful sound.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Wait—what’s happening?”

  “What do you think?”

  You don’t always have to yell, she thought, keeping pace with the warrior.

  Lights up ahead hinted at multiple structures hidden within the trees and vines. The closer they got, the more Sen dug in her heels. She didn’t like the pitting feeling in her stomach, or the way all the plants and trees up ahead shivered and shook.

  Nya gave her a good tug, making her lurch forward. “Come on—we’re close.”

  Without the bioluminescent bulbs dangling from the trees, she wouldn’t have been able to see the fallen branches, curled up leaves and shriveled flowers, or the Virid soldiers lying face-down in the mud. Nya let go of her arm to inspect the dead bodies, her trained eyes moving from soldier to soldier, and then to the agitated trees.

  Not again.

  Terrified, she reached back to hold on to Akoto. “Don’t leave me.”

  Nya returned to her, holding her stomach, a thin line of sweat accumulating across her brow.

  “Are you okay?” Sen asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said, wiping her forehead with the back of her sleeve.

  She’s lying. Even if she had the guts to call her out, it wouldn’t matter. The way Nya pushed herself, she wouldn’t stop until she was dead. And maybe not even then.

  “Up ahead… Nezra… Virids, fighting…” Nya said, gritting her teeth as her color went from pink to green. “…gotta circle around.”

  Uh oh—it’s those flowers, Sen thought, remembering Nya taking a huge handful from the base of the grey oak tree. I bet she ate the emesiliu
s and occulrum together.

  One of her mother’s lessons came to mind: “The potent emesilius flower, beautiful in its coral color and heart shaped leaves, causes severe nausea and vomiting, unless paired with…”

  Sen drew a blank. Oh no—what did she tell me?

  “…and then it acts as a vitality boost.”

  However, she did remember the fluffy look of the clouds that day as she lay on her back twirling her hair, gazing at their bulbous formations and dreaming of exotic foreign landscapes—or anything beyond the stone and steel protection of the Guild fortress.

  “Sen, are you paying attention?”

  “Nya!” Sen yelped as the warrior dropped to her knees and lost the meager contents of her stomach in a sun bush. When she tried to hold her hair back, Nya shoved her aside, but didn’t have the breath to tell her off.

  A fresh wave of desperate cries and shouts came from up ahead, as did animal noises Sen couldn’t identify. The ground beneath them trembled, as if thousands of roots and hidden plants charged to assist in the battle.

  We can’t stay here, Sen thought, eyeing the swaying trees.

  “Nya—we gotta go,” she said, shaking Nya’s shoulders. “We’re too close to the battle. The trees are reacting to us.”

  The warrior responded in another round of stomach cramps and upheavals into the plants, her entire body shaking.

  Can’t stay here—

  Can’t leave Nya—

  Think!

  “The potent emesilius flower… causes severe nausea and vomiting, unless paired with…”

  “No no no,” she muttered, pressing her palm into her forehead. Why didn’t I ever pay attention? I’m worthless—

  Something bumped her from behind. Turning, Sen found Akoto’s giant head in her face.

  “Akoto, stop,” she protested, holding on to his cheeks as he pressed his face even closer, “we need to—”

  But as she stared into his blue and yellow eye, she saw a peal of light in the distance, unfolding and blossoming in an impossible space. The cries and shouts of battle, the shaking ground, Nya’s violent retching all telescoped away as she watched the light essence form into familiar faces and scenes.

  “Akoto…”

  Arms falling slack to her sides, she allowed herself to fall into the trance of his gaze, into the light that should not exist.

  Sen found herself lying in the courtyard garden, staring up into the cloud-studded afternoon sky. Distant rumblings portended the usual evening storm her father summoned to the Scylan grove, to strengthen the spirit of the Lightning Guild, connecting them from the Realm to the heavens.

  “Sen, are you paying attention?”

  Glancing to her right, she saw her mother sitting prim and proper, a leaf-bound book open in her lap. Her mother’s gaze, which never lingered long, dashed back to the marked pages.

  “This is very important, Sen,” she said, tilting her head so that her auburn hair would cover the scars on her neck.

  Mother—

  As much as she tried, she couldn’t deviate from the memory, and though she wanted to cry out for her mother’s help, she merely muttered the same desultory response she did months ago. “Yes, mother.”

  “Even if you have another gift, it’s important to learn about Virid culture and medicine. All the denoms are connected, Sen, as are all things in this world.”

  An old thought crushed down on her mother’s words: Except me. I’m not connected. I’m not a part of anything.

  Sen cringed, but as her greatest fear pressed its thorns into her heart, she perked to the familiar statement that followed.

  “Let’s continue. Chapter three, lesson one: native flowers and roots of the western Gardens. The potent emesilius flower, beautiful in its coral color and heart shaped leaves, causes severe nausea and vomiting, unless paired with…”

  Sen fought her old self, straining against the stream of imagined places running through her head, ridiculous fantasies of adventure and laudation for heroic deeds she could never accomplish in real life: fighting monsters, finding fabulous treasures, saving the lives of entire villages, cities, even the world—as her mother uttered the answer she needed to save her friend.

  Gotta…help…Nya, she thought, the vision blurring as she zeroed in on the forgotten words.

  “…moonstar root, and then it acts as a vitality boost…”

  With the answer she needed, Sen pulled away. But as the images disintegrated into wisps of firelight, she heard the rest of her mother’s sentence, no longer drowned out by another daydream adventure:

  “…You aren’t listening, are you? So much like your uncle…”

  And then she added in a sorrowful whisper: “One day they’ll take you away, too…”

  “No!” Sen shouted, stumbling back, arms flailing. Akoto caught her with his tail, keeping her steady as she reoriented back to the present.

  Shouts and screams came from all around her, the trees arcing back and forth. Still kneeling into the sun bush, Nya continued to retch, unable to fight off the effects of the emesilius flower.

  The moonstar root, Sen remembered, pushing away Akoto’s tail and plucking one of the biolumescent bulbs from the tree branches. But where do I find it?

  Her mother’s voice echoed out from the dark corners of her mind: “When searching for the moonstar, rememeber—the sun and moon are never far apart.”

  The sun bush… Sen touched the yellow blossoms of the poor bush Nya polluted. It’s gotta be close.

  Holding the glowing teardrop-shaped plant in one hand, she searched the ground for the tiny blue flowers that indicated the medicinal root below.

  Come on! she thought, digging into the soft, mossy ground with her fingers.

  Footsteps approached, loud and tromping. She didn’t dare think of the size of whatever awful thing headed toward them.

  Hurry hurry hurry—

  Akoto roared, raising up on his hind legs and lashing out his tail as a giant bear knocked down one of the dead trees just feet from them.

  “Whoa, Akoto.” A tattooed man emerged from behind the bear, sheathing his weapons and holding up his arms. “Peace.”

  Terrified, Sen scurried backward on her hands, unable to take her eyes off the golden-quilled bully bear growling and baring his teeth.

  “Peace!” he shouted again as Akoto took a swipe at the approaching warrior.

  “Sen!”

  The familiar voice broke through her fright. Recognizing the dark-haired young warrior, Sen scooted up and grabbed on to Akoto’s thigh to quiet him. “Sahib? What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, for the love—” Nya said before her stomach continued the upwards onslaught.

  “Osan thought Nya would be foolish enough to attempt a rescue without us,” the other warrior said, approaching Sen with one eye still on Akoto. “Just didn’t think you’d follow.”

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Sahib said, offering his hand to help her up. Sen accepted, surprised at the strength of his scrawny arms.

  “That’s Kaden. And you remember Sulo,” the young warrior said, pointing to injured bear shrinking and reshaping into the form of a man.

  Sulo. The injured bully bear that couldn’t shift back until Akoto’s howl triggered his return. How’d he recover so fast?

  Lacerations and burn marks still covered his body, but they appeared more healed than she would have expected. Did Natsugra’s medicine do that?

  …Or Akoto’s howl?

  While Sen watched the last of the bully bear’s transformation, Kaden and Sahib attempted to help Nya.

  “Get away!” she shouted between heaves.

  When the warriors looked at Sen for answers, she sighed and admitted Nya’s deed: “She ate an emesilius flower.”

  Sahib covered mouth his hand to stifle a grin, but Kaden’s face remained as cold as stone.

  “We need to find the antidote,” the veteran warrior said, grabbing one of the low-hanging bioluminescent bulbs.

  “It’s t
he moonstar. It’s blue and grows near the sun bush,” she said, pointing to the suffering bush in front of Nya.

  “I got it,” Sulo said, wrapping a canana leaf around his waist before dropping down to his knees and sniffing around. Still covered in a transparent film, he paused at the base of a tree. “Here.”

  Running over, Sen dropped down to her knees and dug out the moonstar, exposing its white, five-point roots.

  “What now?” Kaden said as Sen cleaned off the root on her shirt.

  She won’t be able to eat it¸ Sen though, clutching the root to her chest as Nya heaved and spit. “I-I don’t know.”

  Kaden’s voice dropped, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t know?”

  Sen hated the way he regarded her, his lips pinching upwards in disappointment and his eyes looking her over, as if measuring of her worth.

  “Give it here,” Sulo said, taking the root from her and bunching it up in one of his fists. Sen watched as his hand vibrated, the color going from pink to golden brown, as he channeled the strength of his bear. When a few clear droplets came from his fist, he ran over to Nya and, as gently as a bully bear Shifter could, held her head with one hand, and raised his fist with the moonstar over her right eye.

  “Hold still,” he said, wrestling with her to get the drops in.

  “Enough!” Nya grabbed him by the wrist and elbow and put him in a lock. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “He’s just trying to help,” Kaden said, trying to get her to let Sulo go.

  But Nya wouldn’t have it. “You giant, mutt-lovin’—”

  “Feel better?” Sulo said, twisting around to show her the crushed moonstar in his hand.

  Nya paused, swallowed without gagging, and then let the shifter go. “Lucky guess.”

  “No, guessing is what you do.” Sulo rubbed the arm Nya had locked and nodded to Sen. “You’d better thank the kid for figuring out the antidote.”

  Nya’s eyes flicked her direction, but instead of a thank you, she snapped her fingers at Kaden and Sahib. “Show me what you brought for supplies. One minute, then we move.”