Despite what I’d contemplated earlier, the thought of the Death Lily snatching each soldier and essentially killing him or her didn’t sit well with me. No. Please let them go after we disappear into the mines.
Agreement pulsed.
Thank you. Okay, drop me...now.
The Death Lily yanked its barbs from my arms and spat me onto the ground. I yelped as I hit hard, rolling. Disoriented for a moment, I lay there. But the voices of the soldiers returning to investigate reminded me of the danger.
I staggered to my feet as the nine men and three women stopped to gape at me. The soldiers needed to be closer to me for the vines to reach them. Hogan and Odd stood in the center of a loose circle. Odd kept his expression neutral, but an amused amazement sparked in his eyes. Hogan frowned, but kept quiet.
Swaying, I gestured wildly to the Lily. “Whoa. Did you see that?” I asked. “So fast. I just dropped my pack and...swoosh!” I hugged my arms and faked a shiver.
They moved in a few feet. The Lily’s vines crept toward their boots.
My shirt had been ripped by the Lily’s barbs. Blood welled. I coated my fingers with it and then thrust them out, showing them the bright red tips. “Look! It attacked me!”
“Calm down, miss,” the leader said. He stepped in, but kept out of the reach of the Lily’s petals. “You survived. You might live—”
“I’m going to die,” I screeched. “No one lives. No one. Ohh...” I put my hands on my face and stumbled as if about to faint.
Instinctively, the soldiers shuffled a couple more feet before they halted. Good enough. Vines from the Peace Lilys snaked along the ground behind them.
“Miss, you need to move away from the Death Lily so we can help you.” The leader held out his hand.
I stared at him. “Help me? There’s nothing you can do.”
“She’s right, Vonn. Leave her,” a woman said.
Vonn turned to her. “She’s with them.” He pointed to Odd and Hogan. “Since they won’t talk, maybe she will. And we can’t have her running back to her commanding officer as soon as we leave.”
Blinking as if really seeing the group for the first time, I said, “You... Oh, no.” I backed away.
The Death Lily hissed. Everyone’s gazes jerked to the huge white petals parting above my head and not to the vines circling their ankles.
“Maybe this time it will kill her,” the woman said.
I squealed in alarm and rushed Vonn. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I knocked him over. On the way down I touched the base of his skull and zapped him into unconsciousness. Other cries and yells followed mine as the eleven remaining soldiers were yanked off their feet by the vines.
They struggled and some grabbed their knives to cut the tendrils. But regular steel wasn’t sharp enough to do the job. It didn’t take long for them to be wrapped tight. Not able to move, they begged me to help.
His face white, Hogan stared at them.
Odd grimaced. “The Lily has enough food for a season.”
I searched Vonn’s pockets until I found the key to the manacles. Unlocking the cuffs, I freed Hogan and Odd.
Hogan rubbed his wrists. “What—”
“Not now. I’ll explain later.”
“Did you get what you need?” Odd asked.
“Not yet.” I picked up my knapsack and returned to the base of the Death Lily. It bent over and deposited two toxin sacks and two seed pods into my open pack. “Thanks.” I secured the flap. “Let’s go before another squad finds us.”
“But what about them?” Hogan asked. “We can’t just leave them.”
Odd agreed. “I know they’re the enemy, but that’s cruel.”
I studied the panicked faces of the patrol. Odd had a point. And what difference did it make to tell them now versus them realizing it later? That was if they even believed me, which I doubted they would.
“Listen up,” I said to the soldiers. “You’re not going to become the Death Lily’s next victims. Once we’re well away, it will release you.” I turned to Odd. “Now can we go?”
“Are you lying to them?” Hogan asked.
“No.”
“How can you...” He caught my expression. “You’ll explain later. Got it.”
We hustled back to the tunnels. Once deep inside, I told them about the squads heading east and the seeds.
“And you learned all this from a Death Lily?” Hogan asked in disbelief.
“Yes.”
“Death Lilys can communicate?” Again he didn’t mask his incredulous tone.
“Only with healers. We’re immune to the toxin.”
Hogan glanced at Odd with a “do you believe this?” look.
“I’ve ceased being surprised when it comes to Avry,” Odd said.
Now it was my turn to gaze at him. Did Odd mean that in a good or bad way?
“Oh, come on. You can’t deny that you’ve been full of surprises since we’ve met, Sergeant Irina.”
He had me there. I’d worn a disguise and joined Estrid’s holy army using the name Irina from Gubkin Realm to gather information. “But I had good reasons.” And they benefited the most by learning how to go silent in the forest.
“I didn’t say you didn’t. You just keep things...interesting. Like today, for example.”
Uh-oh. Time for the lecture.
“I’m torn over how to feel. If you hadn’t insisted on going to that Death Lily, we wouldn’t know about Cellina’s plans. But when we were captured, my thoughts about your impulsiveness weren’t all warm and fuzzy.”
I’d bet.
Odd spread his hands out. “I figured we were done for. The only bit of hope was that you might escape and tell Prince Ryne what we encountered. But then you dropped out of that Lily, and I thought you were insane.”
“I couldn’t let them take you,” I said. “They were going to feed you to the ufas. Talk about cruel.”
“Yeah, that would have been horrifying.”
“I agree. Those poor ufas.”
“Hey.” Odd bumped me with his shoulder.
I shoved him back. He pushed again.
Hogan cleared his throat and gazed at us. We stopped as if scolded.
After a few minutes of silence, Hogan asked, “Who’s Sergeant Irina?”
Odd’s laughter echoed off the hard stone walls. “Oh, man, it’ll take too long to explain. Trust me.”
* * *
“Clever. She’s being smart. Damn it,” Ryne said, throwing his stylus down.
Odd, Hogan, and I stood on the opposite side of the conference table in the factory. We had reported in and now faced a very angry prince.
“Did you check all the exits?” Ryne asked.
“No,” Hogan said. “There is still one left.”
We’d headed straight back after the encounter with Cellina’s squad. It had taken us a full day.
“All right. Get out of here and wait for your orders. I need to think,” Ryne said.
I