She sensed relief. The oaks let her surge through them, drawing from them, and the elms followed. Eris felt strengthened by the connection. It might not be the Svanth, but there was power here, and she would use it.
The chanting stopped.
“She is here. The keeper.”
“Destroy the trees and move back. We can’t risk confronting her yet.”
A loud crack split the cloudless sky. Lightning streaked toward the top of the nearest elm. Fire danced briefly before fading. Whatever Eris had done kept the flames from hurting it. She wondered if it was the same thing Imryll did to keep a fire in her hearth.
Another crack and lightning shot down, this time striking the elm. The elm was weaker than the oak, already damaged by whatever dark spell the magi worked on it, the desolation crawling through it. Fire licked the topmost leaves. Eris pushed against it. For a moment, she thought she might be strong enough, but then flames consumed the top of the tree.
Agony shook through the tree.
She pulled more strongly on the energy around her, using that of the plains, borrowing what she could from the oaks.
Lightning struck again, this time missing the trees. A familiar shout filled her mind.
Terran.
Her concentration faltered, and the flames erupted.
Soon all the trees were consumed. There was not enough energy along the plains to put out that fire. If Eris knew how, she would summon rain, but that was a trick she hadn’t learned. Even if she had, the fire worked too quickly to do anything.
The magi scattered.
She felt them leave, moving south and to the west. Through the connection to the grasses, she recognized that the creature followed them.
Eris ran toward where she’d heard Terran scream.
He lay on the ground. At first, she thought him uninjured, but his chest didn’t move.
A black streak burned through the front of his jacket, leaving the fabric singed and still smoking. The air around him smelled of hot fire and charred flesh.
Lightning had torn through him.
“Terran?”
She said his name hoping he’d answer, but he didn’t move.
Eris touched his forehead. It felt warm. She rested her head on his chest, hoping to hear his heart still beating. There was nothing.
Tears streamed from her eyes, spilling out onto him.
Terran couldn’t be gone. Not yet.
But he didn’t move. His chest didn’t lift, and no breaths came from his mouth.
Eris bit back a scream. The Sacred Mother wouldn’t take him from her already, would she? Would Eris be a keeper like those in her visions, a keeper whose gardener had passed before her?
No. Not without doing something; trying anything to save him.
She delved into the roots of the plains around her. The sense from them already faded. Whatever destruction the magi had worked on the trees had already begun to spread. Desolation worked through here, dragging across the ground, making its way toward her.
“No!”
She pulled the teary star from her pocket and set it next to her. Connecting to the flower, she pulled through it, demanding energy.
None came.
“NO!”
Eris grabbed one of the svanth seeds and shoved it into the ground. The earth split before her hand, and she pressed the seed deep, far deeper than she had even at the palace. She placed the cutting of the teary star next to it, leaving only the teary star flower pressing out of the dirt.
The earth flowed back over the seed as she removed her hand.
Eris pulled on the energy of the plains, pushing it into the seed.
It came slowly, oozing through her, but it came.
But it was not enough.
Even if growing a svanth tree could save Terran, she didn’t have enough energy to do so.
Chapter 57
Eris rested her head on his chest. The teary star poked out of the top of the disturbed earth, practically taunting her. Terran’s cheeks had cooled, and he still didn’t move. She no longer expected he would.
How could he be gone?
And how could there be nothing she could do?
A memory floated through her then, something Imryll said to her when Eris had grown the teary star vine along her svanth tree.
You draw too much, pull from yourself as you do.
Could Eris feed the svanth seed?
Even if it meant losing herself, she would do it for Terran. She had to try.
She shifted so she could touch the teary star again and delved deep into the soil to where the seed rested. With a thought, she tried drawing from the grasses, but they had little to give. Then Eris pushed herself out.
Energy flowed from her, filling the svanth seed. Eris didn’t know what she did—or how she did it—only that her own energy streamed away.
The seed swelled and burst.
As it did, Eris pushed more of herself, pressing into the young sapling, letting it mingle with the teary star vine.
As the svanth grew, she sagged, falling forward.
The tree caught her and pushed her away.
Still Eris drew upon herself. The tree grew.
As it did, the teary star vine wrapped around it, working around the trunk. Both grew quickly, somehow more quickly than it had in the Verilain Plains or the palace. And as it grew, the grasses welcomed the presence of the svanth and lent what energy they could.
Eris lay on the ground, eyes falling closed. She reached her hand toward Terran, wanting to touch him as the last of her energy left her.
Strangely, she felt content. Terran was lost, and she had given herself to this svanth tree, but it would stand as a marker to them, its strength would fight against the desolation the magi tried inflicting.
Maybe Eliara would survive. Maybe the Svanth would survive.
But she wouldn’t be around to see it.
Eris took a breath, wishing she could see the Svanth one more time, but wishing more that she could have fallen beneath its trees. What better place for her and Terran to rest? She could nourish the next generation, maybe add her memories to those within the roots. If another keeper appeared, maybe she would serve better than Eris had managed.
Her breath came raggedly, and she let it out.
As she did, a glimmer of energy surged in her mind.
Eris frowned. Could she reach for it?
With the last of her strength, she delved.
This time she traveled the roots of the new growth. She followed them, tracing them deep beneath the earth. A great well of power, vast and oppressive, lay there, and she drew upon it.
Energy and power surged through her.
Eris gasped.
The tree surged, shooting toward the sky, given sudden life.
Eris pushed a message through the new tree she’d planted, sending the roots toward the desolation. With another command, she instructed the teary star vine to send a shoot toward Terran. It wrapped around him, winding him in thick arms of deep green. Eris summoned a swell of energy and pushed it over Terran, washing over his injury until she felt the damage.
Then she sent a pinpoint surge.
It struck him where the lightning had struck, moving through his chest and out his back, lingering in his heart.
And then Eris let the energy fade.
It hovered in the back of her mind.
The teary star vine slowly unwound until Terran touched the ground.
Eris ran to him. His skin was warm rather than cold, but he still didn’t breathe. She placed her hands on him, forcing another surge of energy through him, but nothing happened.
She leaned toward him and kissed him. “You can’t leave me yet, Terran. I need you too much. Come back to me.”
Then she rested her head on his chest. She heard it faintly, the slow thump of his heart. Tears again streamed from her eyes, but different than they had before. Finally, he took a slow breath. And then another.
Only then did Eris dare let he
rself hope.
She held him until the sky turned dark and the moon rose in the distance. She held him as countless small campfires glowed from the Errasn troops. She held him as a chill came to the air for the first time since they’d made their way this far south, draping her cloak around them both to keep him warm. And she held him as the sun slowly started to rise, the pattern in the streaks of color giving her hope.
Finally, his eyes opened. He smiled weakly. “What did you do?” His voice came out as a croak.
She kissed him on the lips, pressing too hard, pulling away only when he started coughing. “Terran.”
He blinked and looked up. A soft gasp escaped his mouth.
Eris followed his gaze. She hadn’t looked at the tree she’d forced from the ground. Her focus had been on Terran, on doing whatever she could to see him live.
The tree towering over her rivaled any in the svanth.
“You’ve been busy,” he said.
“You tried to die.”
He started to cough. When it faded, he smiled at her. “You know I wouldn’t do that to you. And I know you wouldn’t let me.” He turned and met her gaze. His deep brown eyes held flecks of green now. “How did you save me?”
Tears welled in her eyes again, and Eris pushed back the sob that threatened to overcome her. “I did what I had to.”
“And the magi?”
She shook her head. “They destroyed the trees.”
His eyes traced back overhead. “Not all of them.”
She sniffed. “No, not all of them.”
“This must have taken all the energy of the plains to grow. If you wasted it on me—”
“Not wasted, and not the plains. At least, not all of it.”
He frowned.
“Once the tree sprouted, I felt the connection to—” To what? Something like the Svanth, but not the forest, at least not that she knew “To something like the Svanth. It helped feed the tree.” She chose not to tell him how she’d nearly spent herself on saving him. “I don’t know if it will work every time.” In the back of her mind, she still felt the connection, but it was vague and more like a distant sensation. Nothing like the surge of power when trying to heal Terran or when she’d tried to heal her mother…
Each time she accessed the power since learning she was a keeper, she’d been healing. Even when battling the magi, she’d used it to keep them from destroying the Verilain Plains.
Could it be so simple?
Did it matter what she tried to use the energy for? Did the Svanth care?
If that was the case, would it help if she used the energy there to push back the magi? If it wanted her to use the power to heal rather than destroy, what better use could there be?
Terran laughed softly. “I see you’ve thought of something.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
He nodded. “Then you have to try.” He pushed off the ground, attempting to sit, but fell back with a grunt. “But it looks like you might have to do it without me.”
She touched his forehead, his cheeks, and kissed him again. “I’m sorry, Terran.”
“Do what you are meant to do, keeper,” he said.
Eris nodded, then stood. She touched the trunk of the svanth tree and ran her hand over it. A long tendril of teary star vine wrapped around her arm. She clipped it quickly and tucked it into her pocket. “Keep him safe,” she murmured.
The tree seemed to shudder in response.
* * *
Eris left her shoes off as she walked, delving through the grasses of the plains. The connection was better, more solid doing it that way. The svanth tree loomed distantly and stayed with her even as she pressed her awareness out and around her. If she closed her eyes, she could connect to it, to the energy now filling it. That energy—that distant, deep source of power—had to be the same source the Svanth accessed.
And now that she understood, Eris thought she could reach toward the tree growing in the palace in Eliara. Possibly all the way to the Verilain Plains. Each tree left a signal in her mind she could detect.
Eris used the awareness to track the magi.
She’d expected them to have moved back across the desolation where she would no longer be able to feel sense them, but as she used the grasses to listen, she recognized a patch of discord still on the plains.
Eris hurried toward it.
When she neared, she was not surprised to find the magi chanting near another small copse of trees. Much like the other, this was nearly a dozen oaks and a few maple trees. Through the chanting, the rising desolation worked through the trees.
There was something else, though.
The creature.
It crouched near the trees, unmoving.
A chill washed over her. Could the magi control the creature?
What would it do when she tried to stop them? Would it attack her, or would there be anything she could do to keep it from her? If Terran were with her, she would have someone else able to watch over her, but with him too injured to come along, she would have to find a way to do it on her own.
Eris lowered herself to the grasses, staying low. Anything she did now risked both the magi and creature realizing she was there. Once they did, she needed to be ready to push back.
At least this time, she had the energy of the svanth tree to draw on.
The thought reassured her.
Eris took a steadying breath and delved toward the trees near the magi.
The desolation pulsed through them, weak and thready, but growing strong.
Eris drew on the power stored in the new svanth and pushed out, letting it wash over the trees in the same healing spread she’d used on her mother. The chanting faltered, and with another push, Eris burned away the effect of the desolation.
One of the magi yelled something Eris couldn’t hear.
The creature moved, and she readied a protection.
It wasn’t needed. The creature moved toward the magi, not away.
Then the magi screamed.
A crack of lightning split the sky, striking the trees. Eris pushed against it, holding a barrier in place, and it fizzled out harmlessly.
Another scream followed by more lightning.
Eris pushed against this as well, drawing from the trees themselves, strengthened now that the desolation had been pushed out.
A third streak of lightning, but this struck the ground near the trees rather than the trees themselves.
A loud roar erupted, followed by a high-pitched scream.
Eris started to her feet before pulling herself back down.
She’d almost done the same thing she had when Jacen went to battle. There, Terran had been able to watch her back. She needed to be smart here.
Closing her eyes, she delved through the trees, uncertain what to expect. Jacen had told stories of the magi sending wild storms of lightning that would often catch the men of Saffra as often as it caught those of Errasn. What she sensed was different.
Lifeless bodies lay upon the ground. Without getting closer, Eris couldn’t tell how many, but none of the magi still moved.
The creature still lived.
It didn’t move. From what she sensed, she suspected it was injured.
Had the magi unintentionally helped her?
She started forward, needing to see, making certain to stay close to the ground and holding tight to the energy stored in the svanth tree. She had used some of it, but already it was replenished, more quickly than she would have expected.
As she neared the trees, the sight before her made her gasp.
Magi bodies lay strewn about the trees. The nearest had the top of his face missing, slashed through. Blood poured from his open wound, draining into the dry ground.
Had she done that?
The thought actually horrified her. She needed to stop the magi, but not like that.
Eris moved to the next tree. Another body rested there. Both arms had been pulled free from the body, leaving ragged stu
mps, almost as if chewed.
What happened to them?
It wasn’t until she reached the next body that she understood.
This one had a large gouge through his stomach. Slashes opened rents in his flesh. Charred blood congealed around the wound. Breaths still came raggedly and slowly. Wet blood pooled from his lips with each slow breath.
The magi had been attacked, but not by her.
The creature from the Svanth had attacked the magi.
And now it lay wounded.
Without thinking what she was doing, Eris ran toward it.
Chapter 58
Eris found the creature lying outside the ring of trees. She recognized it from the times she’d sensed it in the forest, the dark undertones to the way the grasses pressed against it. The creature was enormous. From a distance, it resembled a massive cat with a wolf-like head. Jet-black fur covered it. Long claws curled from huge paws. Standing, it would tower over her.
The head of the creature swiveled toward her. Deep yellow eyes stared at her.
Eris stared back. She had seen those eyes before.
“What are you?” she whispered.
The creature blinked. Eris recognized pain in the expression.
It was injured. Whatever the magi had done had somehow injured it. Eris wanted to touch it—to help it—but feared getting attacked.
Something about the creature seemed familiar, and more than simply its eyes. It had a smell, like the bitterness of the teary star mixed with the bark of the svanth tree…
Eris took a step toward it. This was a creature of the Svanth. She felt that with certainty.
More than that, she needed to help it. If she was right, and the creature had attacked the magi, she needed to help.
Eris summoned a surge of energy from the surrounding trees and tried pushing it over the creature, washing over it to discover its injuries, but it was as if the energy disappeared as soon as it struck the creature.
Did the trees not have enough energy to detect any injuries from this creature? Maybe the effect of whatever the magi had done to them—the desolation that Eris had only barely managed to heal—had not completely faded. In time, the trees would grow strong again, but perhaps they still needed that time, like Lira’s garden after Eris had drained it healing her mother.
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