Years of forgotten training returned to her as she lashed out with her dagger. The blade stuck in the tuber’s beak, and the creature tugged Valenna off her feet. She clung onto the hilt, her knees scraping across the ground, and dug the fingers of her free hand into the dirt. Valenna cast around frantically for a plan, an idea, but before she could latch onto anything, Evander broke out of the darkness and slammed his body down on the tuber’s head, forcing it to the ground. The tuber twisted, knocking Evander aside. It was upon him in an instant, snapping its beak as he landeda heavy punch to its small eye. It only snarled. Weaponless, Valenna jumped on its neck, grappling with its thrashing head. Squealing, it shot out a rough branch, caught her ankle, and flung her with astonishing force. She arced through the air and struck soggy ground, her ears ringing.
With bright spots darting in her vision, Valenna sat up and watched in horror as the tuber looped its branch around Evander’s leg and dragged him across the clearing. Leaves piled under him as he clawed at the loose earth. Then, Valenna glimpsed a flash of metal— Evander’s cutlass was tucked in his belt.
“Your sword, Vander!” Valenna cried, staggering to her feet.
The tuber closed its jaws around Evander’s shoulder and shook him. He yelled through clenched teeth.
“CUT IT!” Valenna shrieked. “KILL IT, VAN!”
He drew his cutlass, but instead of slicing the tuber’s head off, he slammed the hilt into its eye.
This was not what Valenna had in mind, but the tuber released Evander for a breath, just long enough for him to reach into his coat and pull out the glowing green jar. He hurled it down, the glass shattering. Luminous caterpillars crawled from the wreckage and fastened onto the tuber’s stalk, sinking their tiny pincers into its flesh with a faint chittering. Squealing, the tuber reared back, and Evander gained his feet, swayed, and stumbled to his hands and knees, his head hanging. Blood poured from his nose and down his neck from his ears.
Terror gripped Valenna. He was bleeding inside his head like the physician said he would.
“CURSE THE OATH!” Valenna screamed, rushing across the clearing. “CUT IT!”
He glanced at her for a fraction of a second with a look of mingled stubbornness and anger.
Valenna’s anger rose to meet his in equal measure. She raised her hands, and a briar bush burst through the soil, its craggy arms wrapping around the tuber, thorns slicing its flesh. The tuber screeched, then curled inward again, snarling, and went still. The briars dissipated into sparkling purple ash.
Evander managed to get to his knees, then staggered to his feet. Valenna ran to him and dragged him behind her toward the safety of the trees.
When the tuber awoke, Haldir had frozen at the edge of the clearing, his face porcelain pale, his body rigid with fear. He shook out of his trance now and picked up Evander’s cutlass from the ground. His expression darkened, and he raised it over his shoulder.
“NO!” Evander shouted, lunging toward him.
If Valenna hadn’t caught Evander around the waist and pulled him back, Haldir’s downward swing would have cut off his arm.
There was a sick, wet slicing sound, and the gawper tuber lay limp on the soggy forest floor, its neck severed, its fat brown tongue lolling out of its mouth. Yellow sap pooled around it, like blood.
“What have you done?” Evander gasped, staring at the carnage in shock.
Haldir lifted his chin and walked past Evander toward the path.
“The oath!” Evander shouted, gesturing at the dead plant. “You broke your oath!”
Haldir pointed a shaking hand at the dead tuber. “It was going to eat us!”
“We had it under control,” Evander said, his voice strained. “If you hadn’t lost your head and angered the tuber …”
“If you hadn’t left me behind, I wouldn’t have been angry!”
“You. Were. Drunk,” Evander said through gritted teeth. “You’re. Always. Drunk.” He was a birch tree bent over by snow, ready to snap.
“Boys,” Valenna intervened. “Let’s just go back to the tavern. We’re tired, and we’ve been through an ordeal, and no one is thinking clearly …”
“Thomasina will hear of this,” Evander said, turning toward the path. “I’ll send her a sprite tonight.”
Valenna gasped. Of course Evander would tell Thomasina. Killing the tuber was akin to murder in his mind, but why goad Haldir, if he didn’t want a knife in his back …
Haldir bent down and snatched something from the ground.
The shotfire.
For an instant, Valenna thought he was going to shoot Evander. But instead, he grabbed Valenna’s arm and yanked her toward him. Before she could react, he was holding her against his chest, one arm tight across her ribs, the barrel of the shotfire pressed against her temple.
Evander whirled around, and his face washed white. “Let her go,” he demanded, almost irritably.
