Taboo Online

Lauren’s lips curved slightly, and Luke turned toward her.

"You’re enjoying this."

"I don’t often see someone leave you without an answer."

"I had one."

"Complaining about the thorn did not qualify."

The Thornmender’s amusement faded when she noticed the green light beneath Lauren’s skin. She reached toward Lauren’s wrist but stopped before touching her.

"Old blood," she murmured.

"Very little of it," Lauren said.

"Blood does not need to be plentiful to remember."

Before Lauren could ask what she meant, another explosion shook the chamber. Dust and pale leaves rained from the ceiling as a defender rushed through the entrance.

"The western root wall is failing!"

Caelir pushed himself off the bench, but the Thornmender caught his cloak before he could take a step.

"I closed the wound. I did not replace the blood you lost."

"You bought me enough time."

"That was not permission to waste it."

Caelir pulled free and looked toward Luke and Lauren. "The Queen is beyond the western circle."

Luke adjusted his grip on the spear. His mana was almost gone, but he was not staying behind while the village burned.

Lauren rested two fingers against his wrist. A faint pulse passed through their contact. No vision followed, but Luke understood that she was asking whether he could keep going.

He closed his hand around hers for a moment. "Yes."

She did not ask whether he was certain. Together, they followed Caelir out of the market chamber.

The western route climbed through the center of a massive trunk before opening onto the inner terraces. The closer they came to the Heartroot, the more violently the living wood shook.

The roots beneath the walkways moved sluggishly, each motion slower than the last. Some rose to reinforce collapsing walls, while others dragged injured elves toward shelter. Dark brands covered sections of bark where the Ruinborn had already reached them.

Caelir led Luke and Lauren through a narrow gate grown from intertwined branches. Beyond it, the battle had nearly reached the Heartroot.

Fewer than twenty elven defenders remained inside the final circle. They fought across a broad terrace wrapped around the base of the central silver tree, where roots rose in broken lines to block corrupted creatures and force the Ruinborn toward narrow entrances.

At the center of the terrace stood the Queen, and Lauren recognized her immediately from the Heartroot’s vision.

Long silver hair streamed behind Aelira in a tangled sheet, streaked with soot and darkened by blood near one temple. A crown of living branches rested above her pointed ears, though nearly half of it had broken away. Only one pale flower remained among the damaged twigs.

Her armor had been made for ceremony rather than war. White-wood plates covered her shoulders, chest, and hips over a green royal dress embroidered with gold, but several had cracked and exposed torn fabric and blood beneath them.

Even covered in soot and blood, Aelira stood at the center of the entire defense. The cracked plates fit tightly over her generous chest and broad hips, while the torn green dress cinched at her soft waist. Her bare arms were strong, and she moved with the certainty of someone used to being obeyed.

She made no effort to hide her anger. Grief roughened her voice whenever she shouted another order to the defenders, and her emerald eyes held a ring of gold around each pupil.

"Close the northern root!"

Three elves struck their palms against the terrace, and living wood rose before a pack of corrupted beasts, trapping them behind a twisting wall.

"Pull the wounded back!"

Another root slid beneath two fallen defenders and carried them toward the inner shelter.

A black creature broke through the northern barrier before it could seal and rushed the Queen with its claws extended. Aelira turned, raised one hand, and summoned a living blade from the root beside her. The weapon curved into her palm before she drove it through the creature’s throat and ripped it free, leaving the body to dissolve into dark water around her boots.

Caelir stepped onto the terrace. "My Queen!"

Aelira’s shoulders eased when she saw him, but then she noticed Luke and Lauren and immediately raised her weapon. Her gaze locked onto Luke first.

"Down!" Caelir shouted.

Aelira drove her heel into the terrace, and a root launched her forward.

Luke barely raised his spear in time. The Queen’s living blade slammed against the shaft hard enough to drive him back several steps, sending pain through both shoulders as his boots scraped across the pale wood.

"You brought humans into my circle?" Aelira shouted.

"They came through the Heartroot!" Caelir answered.

Without looking at him, she twisted her blade around Luke’s spear and pulled, causing the living edge to grow along the shaft toward his hands.

Luke released one side of the weapon, changed his grip, and turned the spear before the blade could reach his fingers. For a moment, the point lined up with the opening beneath Aelira’s damaged shoulder plate, giving him a clear thrust.

He pulled the spear across his body instead and blocked her next strike with the shaft.

Aelira’s eyes narrowed when he let the opening pass. She stepped inside his reach and slashed across his left shoulder, tearing through leather and skin before Luke managed to retreat.

Lauren moved toward him, but Aelira raised her free hand. Roots burst from the terrace and circled Lauren’s legs without touching her.

"Do not defend him," the Queen said. "You do not know what his kind came here to do."

Lauren remained still inside the ring of roots. "I know exactly what they came to do."

Aelira shifted her blade toward her. "Then why do you stand beside another one?"

"Because Luke is not one of them."

"They all claimed innocence before they began carving my people apart."

Luke pressed one hand against his bleeding shoulder. "I didn’t claim anything."

Aelira turned toward him. "That is your defense?"

"No. You didn’t look ready to listen."

The roots around Lauren drew tighter as Luke raised his spear again, though he kept the point angled away from the Queen.

Caelir stepped between them. "My Queen, they saved me on the lower bridge. The Heartroot opened a protected passage for them."

Aelira’s expression did not soften. "The Heartroot is wounded. The Ruinborn have corrupted its outer branches and forced open paths that should have remained sealed."

"It chose me before we entered the network," Lauren said.

Aelira turned toward her as Lauren slowly lowered one hand until her palm touched the terrace. The roots beneath her fingers reacted at once, and green light spread from her hand through the circle around her legs.

Instead of restraining her, the roots unfolded and curved inward. One touched the back of her wrist with the same careful recognition the Heartroot had shown beneath the forest.

Violet symbols moved across Lauren’s blindfold.

"The dead may be remembered," she said. "Only the living may still be guided."

Aelira went still.

The green light beneath Lauren’s skin brightened as her hair shifted away from one ear and revealed its newly sharpened tip.

"The Heartroot gave me those words during its trial," Lauren continued. "It showed me every village the Black Rain destroyed. Then it showed me Lethariel."

The Queen lowered her blade slightly. "What did the Heartroot put inside you?"

"A seed of elven mana."

"How much?"

"Five percent, according to the system."

Luke glanced at her despite the blade still pointed in his direction. "You make it sound normal when you explain it to someone else."

"This is not the moment, Luke."

For once, Aelira seemed unsure what to say.

"You carry ancient blood and stand bonded to a human."

"I was human before the trial," Lauren said. "I remain mostly human now."

"Mostly?"

"Approximately ninety-five percent."

Caelir closed his eyes for a moment, while Aelira stared at Lauren without answering.

The roots responded before she could. They rose around Lauren’s wrist, formed the shape of an open flower, and then sank back into the terrace, drawing gasps from several nearby defenders.

The living blade finally lowered.

"The Heartroot recognizes you."

"Yes."