“Ouda was the Elder Spirit of our forest,” Poppy said. “But hundreds of years ago, long before I was hatched, her tree began to die. Ouda appeared less and less. My grandmother told me that for most of her life, they had believed Ouda long dead. But then she started to reappear again. Yes, yes. There were stories that she had changed, that some who sought her out never returned. Yet, we all believed it to be Ouda, because... our forest was safe. But it is clear now, she was not Ouda. No, no.” Poppy shook her head, her floppy ears drooping.
Magda glanced over at Kaelan. She set down a half-eaten mushroom. “Where are my knives?”
“I have them,” Damion said. He reached into his vault and withdrew her sheaths, setting them before her.
She took them up and slid them on. Their weight was both comforting and, somehow, heavier than ever.
“My ghast blade?” she asked, holding up the sheath, which no longer held a knife.
“We were in a hurry. Sorry,” Damion said, scooping up a handful of berries the moment Poppy laid them before him. Red juice dribbled down his chin.
Magda pushed up from the table. “Then I’ll go back.”
They all stared up at her.
“Now?” Damion asked.
“Why not?” she said.
“Because you are weak,” Poppy said. “Rest, rest.”
“I just want to go back to look for my blade. That shouldn’t require very much energy.”
“Ouda’s lair is far, far from here,” Poppy said.
“Then Kaelan will have to take me,” she said, turning to him. “Can you?”
He frowned, sagging. “I’m tired.”
“Then we’ll leave now so you can get back and rest,” she said. “Do you want to put on a shirt?”
“You’re not going without me,” Damion said.
“I’m just going to look for my blade. You said Lavana is gone.”
“Yes, but . . .”
“What about Ouda?” Poppy asked, wringing her hands.
“She’s dead,” Magda said.
“You don’t know that,” Damion said with a deep scowl. “We don’t even know what manner of creature she was. She could have recovered. She could still be there. You’re not going—”
“Are you giving me an order?”
Damion lowered his head. “No, Mistress.”
She placed her hands on the table. “If there’s even the slightest hint of trouble, I will return at once.”
“It seems an unnecessary risk,” Kaelan said.
“That blade is one of a kind, made just for me at my birth and infused with the rarest of magic. Magic that saved us. It’s priceless and irreplaceable. I can’t just leave it. I don’t want to come face to face with another creature like that and have no defense against it.”
Kaelan rose to his feet. Poppy raced away. A few seconds later, she returned with Kaelan’s tunic. Hero, too, rejoined them, clambering up to her shoulder.
Damion drummed his fingers against the rock. “At the first sign—”
“Yes, I swear.” She turned to Kaelan. “Ready?”
