Page 117 of Lake of Sorrow

Our young work with the rangers and will help with the skirmish of which you speak. At least the female elder didn’t call Vlerion a cursed one again.

“I think it’s going to be a lot more than a skirmish,” Kaylina said. “There may be thousands of Kar’ruk coming. Your young might be killed right alongside the rangers.”

We have not seen or heard of that many in the mountains.

“They’re invisible.”

The taybarri looked at each other. Skeptically?

“They’re not invisible themselves, but they’re coating their skin and armor with a silver powder from what I assume came from an altered plant that grows in their lands.” Kaylina withdrew the scrap of paper with the smudged sample, glad the Kar’ruk who’d poked in her pack hadn’t removed it. “Maybe you’re familiar with it? Your people have been around a long time and know all about magic, right?”

We have, and we are familiar with much of what the druids did during their time in this realm. The female stepped forward, her head higher than Kaylina’s, and trampling came to mind again. All she did was lower her snout to sniff the silver smear on the paper. This came from a succulent. An altered lithop plant. They are not from the north but from deep in the sandy and rocky deserts to the east and south. The taybarri telepathically shared an image of flat, round purple, green, and gray succulents growing on stones and in crevices. They looked far more like stones themselves than vegetation. They camouflage themselves to blend in so that animals won’t find them and eat them. As far as I am aware, they are not palatable to humans, Kar’ruk, or taybarri, but some of the sandsteader herbalists cultivate them for medicines. I had not heard that they have the ability to camouflage anyone, but… perhaps it is not surprising, given their native characteristic of blending into the desert. You should have acquired a larger sample so that we could have experimented.

“Sorry. I was busy trying not to be killed by Kar’ruk.”

The female lifted her snout to meet Kaylina’s eyes. She didn’t say anything about irreverence, but her gaze reminded Kaylina a lot of the looks Targon gave her when proclaiming that Vlerion should beat some respect into her.

“If you’d like to come with us, uhm, wise elder—” Kaylina recalled Vlerion had used that to address them, “—to aid our people in repelling the invasion, I can show you where we left a body covered in the stuff. Levitke helped kill—well, she did it all—a Kar’ruk who was trying to kill me, which I found quite rude. She agreed.”

You say a druid plant instructed you to make this request of us? The elder’s telepathic tone conveyed doubt, and her tail tapped the ground twice as she glanced at her comrades.

“It implied through a vision that you would help, yes.”

And it sent this one to protect you? The female pointed her snout at Vlerion. That is a dubious choice.

Vlerion clenched his jaw, looking like he would need to hum to calm himself at any moment. As an aristocrat and a proven ranger, he couldn’t be used to having his worth questioned.

Kaylina rested a hand on his arm. “The plant didn’t recommend him, but we’ve been working together because…” She looked at Vlerion, groping for a better way to finish the sentence than our weird blood makes us hot for each other.

“We both desire to serve the kingdom,” Vlerion stated.

“Yes.” Kaylina nodded. “I especially hope to serve them mead, but I need invasions, civil wars, and false accusations against me to end so I can focus on my craft and opening my business. Oh, I have a little honey left.” Unfortunately, very little honey, thanks to the Kar’ruk tongues that had delved into her stash. “Would you like to try some? I’m afraid I don’t have any mead along to share, but that’s not recommended for taybarri anyway, due to the alcoholic content.” She remembered Crenoch snoring on his back in her courtyard as Vlerion worried over him.

Maybe the elder glimpsed the thought in her mind because she snorted. Our kind cannot ingest fermented products without distress. We do enjoy honey when we can find it in the wild.

“Here you go.” Kaylina beamed a smile as she offered the paper, though it held only smears of honeycomb, and what remained had been contaminated by Kar’ruk tongues. She wouldn’t mention that to the taybarri.

“Speaking of dubious,” Vlerion murmured, eyeing the treat.

“Ssh. My anrokk appeal isn’t working on them, so I’m trying gifts. I just wish I had a better gift.”

“Your appeal is working on some.” Vlerion nodded past her shoulder.

Kaylina hadn’t realized Levitke and the other younger taybarri had gathered behind them to watch. She didn’t know if it had anything to do with her anrokk-ness though. Several sets of nostrils were sniffing the air—and the honey scent now in it.

Kaylina offered it to the female who’d been speaking with her while wishing she had enough for all of them.

A bribe? the elder asked.

“A gift.”

The female sniffed it again. It is from one of the valleys where the Daygarii plants flower.

“Yes. In the preserve near the city.”

We are aware of the place.

Meaning they could get their own honey and didn’t need Kaylina’s bribe?

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