I wanted to run to him and pull him out, but the barbs were angled so that if I pulled him out, he would be shredded.
“I’m here, sweetie. I’ll help you.” I knew he couldn’t understand me, but it mademefeel better to say it.
I ran to the edge of the flat ridge and yelled as loudly as I could for Myka, before running back to the boy. Something told me he couldn’t be in there long. Whether he would suffocate orsomething else, I didn’t want to know. A plant that could take down prey the size of a teenage human likely had mechanisms to kill the prey before it could struggle free.
What I had with me was woefully inadequate to deal with the situation at hand. Since I couldn’t get him out of the mouth, and the razors on his wings hadn’t been able to cut it when he flailed, I needed to try a different method to get it to let go. As I looked around, an idea formed. I ran to a bush with lush perfectly round fruits that were so acidic they had burned my mouth horribly when I’d tried them. Thyra had been horrified, and both Junyv and Vuldrex had nearly drowned me in water as tears streamed down my face. It had made me less keen to try what they ate so easily.
The boy screamed again.
“I’m here, I’m trying. Myka!” I called her name at the top of my lungs, not stopping what I was doing. Time was of the essence and I couldn’t waste any going to get her. “Please let this work.” I took an armful of fruits back to the massive plant. Leaves decorated its stem all the way to the dirt and I pushed them aside so I could see. I clawed at the dirt at the base, pushing it away as I dug deeper and deeper. “How secureisthis thing?”
A network of thick roots spread out about a foot down. I cracked the fruit open with a stone, held it over the roots, and squeezed. I did the same with three more in quick succession. Nothing happened.
“Please work.” I whispered. If it didn’t…
The plant began to jerk and heave, slapping me with its huge leaves as it trembled as if it were in its death throes.
Open up, damn it.
It spit him out.
I ran to him, dropping to my knees by his sticky form. He was having difficulty breathing. I wiped at the sticky mess that coated his nose and mouth.
“Ah!” I jerked away as my hands burned. That’s when I noticed he also had burns on the upper part of his body. “Shit.” I yanked off my outer shirt, leaving my cropped cami to cover me, and wiped the substance off him as quickly as I could.
“Jacqueline?” the call came from close by.
“Myka, over here!” I continued my work. He was awake, thankfully, but he was trembling and clearly in pain. I grabbed the container of water I had with me and carefully tested it on a small area. No reaction, good. I began washing away the substance that was left with the water.
“By the divine spirits, what happened?” Myka was there an instant later.
“That plant.” I waved vaguely behind me.
She looked at the slowly dying plant and then back at me, lips parted in surprise. Then she seemed to collect herself. “I must take him. There are medical kits at camp and his grandmother will want to know what happened.” she gathered him up into her arms. “Go to the group and help them. I do not want you staying here by yourself.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a place I plan to vacation.” I had already gathered my bag and was making my way down toward where I dropped my basket when she took off, sailing down the mountain.
I joined the group and received a couple of wing waves from some who recognized me. I waved back and got to work.
Myka didn’t come back and eventually we’d gathered everything in the area and headed back to camp. I was sore and tired, and despite having wrapped a cloth a friendly female gave me around my blistered hands, they throbbed. “This place.” I muttered, looking them over in front of the cook fire. It would be a couple of hours until dark, but I wasn’t about to go out again. I needed to find a medical kit and some cream.
I went in search of a kit. I happily found one near another campfire, and was crouched next to it, swiping the healing ointment over my hands, when a familiar voice made me cringe.
“You.”
I turned to see the cranky senior who had denied me service but had brought Arrazyl all those wonderful treats. “Yes?” I sighed tiredly, getting to my feet. I wasn’t about to pretend I was happy to see her. She needed to bug off and leave me alone, and I would tell her that.
“Do you know that it’s impossible to rescue someone from a ykthwithout energy swords to chop it down and then pry open the mouth?”
My lips parted as I desperately tried to understand what on earth she was talking about. “You mean the plant that had the boy?”
“My grandson.” Oh good lord. She would probably blame me for his being there in the first place. “I haven’t changed my mind about what I think of your kind, but…” she seemed to struggle with the words. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And if you don’t have an energy sword on hand, dump acid or something extremely acidic on the roots.” I walked away, smoothing binding leaves over my palm. They adhered and already my hands felt cool and the pain numbed.
I stopped to gaze up at the clear sky and wished I could talk to Arrazyl. Had his day been this eventful?
Chapter 31
