Page 20 of Knight's End
“Stay back!” I called out. “If there’s an attraction spell, resist!” I shot a little peace at Blue. I had no idea if it would counteract the attraction, but maybe it would slow him a bit. Dull him a bit. Let him sink into lethargy. His eyes didn’t turn white as Cerena’s had. I hoped that was a good sign.
But the peace magic didn’t only affect Blue.
The little pink flower turned its head toward my magic and unfurled its leaves.
“More,” a squeaky voice said. “I need more!”
I started, and Connor had to yank me back from the edge of the hole.
Blue turned around and stared at the flower, whose stem started growing rapidly, until it looked like a vine nearly as tall as his waist.
“Pluck me, pull me out!” the flower cried, its five pink petals curling and unfurling rapidly.
Blue turned and looked up at us, his face crumpled in confusion. “Do flowers talk in Rasle?”
Connor and I shook our heads.
“Please!” the flower begged. “I’ll owe you a favor. I’ve been stuck in here for nearly a century!”
Connor and I exchanged a look.
Behind me, Declan shuffled forward. Even his insistence that this was an awful idea couldn’t overcome his curiosity.
“A flower sprite,” my scholar whispered.
“Help me, sir!” the flower begged.
Blue looked up at me, questioning. “Think it’s a trick?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you ask for help from the old woman?” Blue gazed down at the flower.
“Magic makers,” the flower’s high-pitched voice spit vitriol. “They can’t see past their own desire for power.”
“Why do you think I came down here if not for power?” Blue asked.
“To grab a weapon. That’s different.”
“Killing someone is just death.” The flower shrugged. “All things have to die. But magic makers are lying, betraying tufts of monkey grass!”
We all stared at one another, weighing the flower’s offer.
“You know what a favor from a sprite is worth?” the flower asked. “I can—”
“Swear it,” I stopped the sprite before she could go any further. “Swear allegiance to the country of Evaness for one hundred years.” I glanced up at Dec, for reassurance that sprites did live more than a hundred years. I thought I remembered that from tutoring.
His nod reassured me.
I glanced back down at the flower; whose leaves stroked its yellow face in thought. “You want allegiance to your country?”
“To the land and citizens of Evaness and the throne, yes.”
“Not to you?”
“To myself while I’m on the throne, but to my heirs and their heirs, however many are within that hundred-year span.”
“That’s quite the favor.”
