Taboo Online

The first six elves had barely cleared the passage when another group began gathering on the silver terraces beyond it.

Lauren sensed them before they moved. Their fear reached her through the destination mark in uneven bursts, tangled with the pain of the wounded and the confusion of children who could not understand why the sky on the other side looked so different. Beneath her palms, the young branch answered each new presence with a heavy pulse.

"Wait," she said.

Aelira raised one hand on the far side, stopping the Rootkeepers before they entered the green light.

Red Hound noticed immediately. "What changed?"

"The roots are still taking the weight from the last group." Lauren felt the network spreading farther beneath North Basin, thickening around loose soil and drawing more water from the lake. "If we send anyone else now, they may arrive before the ground is ready for them."

Red Hound turned toward the crews. "Hold the stretchers and clear the arrival path. Nobody crosses it until Lauren gives the word."

Movement around the passage stopped.

The elderly elf who had nearly fallen after crossing now sat on the grass while a medic examined the bruising around his ribs. One Rootkeeper stayed beside him, while another stood near the woman carrying the infant. Both still wore white-wood blades at their hips.

A Bureau officer approached the family and pointed toward the temporary shelter behind the medical tents. The nearest Rootkeeper stepped between them, his hand closing around his weapon.

Several heroes along the perimeter reacted at once. Red Hound stopped them before anyone reached a blade.

"Stay where you are. He hasn’t drawn."

The heroes obeyed, although one kept his hand resting uneasily near his belt.

Red Hound approached with both hands visible and stopped well outside the Rootkeeper’s reach. Rather than trying to speak through a language barrier, he looked toward Lauren.

The Heartroot carried the elf’s intent through the bridge. Lauren felt suspicion first, followed by the Rootkeeper’s fierce refusal to let the woman and her children disappear into an unfamiliar structure surrounded by armed humans.

"He thinks we’re separating the family," she said. "He won’t let them enter the shelter unless he can inspect it first."

Red Hound studied the open-sided structure. "That’s reasonable. Tell him he can look through it before anyone enters. The family stays together, and one of the Rootkeepers can remain with them."

Lauren passed the meaning through the Heartroot.

The Rootkeeper kept one hand near his weapon, but the tension in his fingers eased. After exchanging a few quiet words with the woman, he walked toward the shelter alone. He checked the two open exits, looked beneath the canvas roof, and examined every human standing nearby before waving the family forward.

Red Hound watched them move. "Keep using the open shelters. No closed tents unless the patient needs privacy or the weather changes."

A Bureau officer beside him frowned. "That leaves armed refugees inside the medical area."

"They were armed five minutes ago too."

"We had more distance then."

"We also had injured people lying in the grass." Red Hound kept his voice low enough that the elves would not hear the disagreement. "Their weapons stay sheathed, and ours stay lowered. Anyone who cannot follow that order leaves the inner perimeter."

The officer glanced toward the Rootkeepers. "And if one of them panics?"

"Then we deal with the person who panics. We don’t treat an entire population like attackers before they’ve done anything."

The officer still looked uncomfortable, but he nodded and left to update the security teams.

Lauren carried the revised instructions toward the elves waiting inside the Heartroot. Pressure tightened behind her blindfold as she separated Red Hound’s meaning from the fear already filling the roots.

Keep your weapons sheathed. No one will take them. Families remain together, and the wounded will not be moved alone.

The message crossed, but the effort sent another wave of strain through her arms. Her fingers had grown cold around the branch. When she adjusted her grip, her right thumb dragged across the bark instead of moving cleanly.

Rhea noticed.

She shifted closer without asking Lauren to release the mark. "Try moving your smallest finger."

Lauren attempted it. The finger responded, but only after a delay.

Rhea touched two fingers to the inside of her wrist. "How far has the cold spread?"

"Past the wrist on the right. The left hand still feels better."

"Any pain?"

"Mostly pressure. It feels like I’ve been holding something frozen for too long."

Rhea moved behind her and braced one knee against Lauren’s lower back. "Lean against me. You’re wasting strength keeping yourself upright."

Lauren hesitated, then allowed some of her weight to settle against her.

Beyond the passage, Luke remained pressed against the Central Heartroot’s core. The living support behind him had climbed higher around his body since the last crossing.

Rhea followed the direction of Lauren’s covered gaze. "You’re still holding the mark. Let the rest of us hold you."

Lauren’s shoulders loosened slightly.

A medic waited outside the root circle with a scanner. Rhea motioned him forward.

"Check both wrists. Don’t touch her hands or the branch."

The medic aimed the device at Lauren’s skin. Pale readings moved across the display.

"Circulation is reduced, and there’s abnormal awakened-energy activity around both wrists," he said. "The scanner can’t tell me whether the numbness is coming from the nerves, the bridge, or both. I’m not seeing tissue damage yet."

"Yet?" Lauren repeated.

"It means we keep watching it," Rhea said before the medic’s wording could frighten her into pulling away. "Tell us before the feeling changes again."

Lauren nodded.

Another six elves had already formed a group beyond the passage.

"Arrival path is clear," Red Hound called.

Lauren reached toward Aelira and sent her confirmation. When the Queen lowered her hand, the survivors entered the green light.

The bridge tightened around Lauren’s arms. For a heartbeat, she felt each traveler as another body hanging from the connection before the destination roots accepted them.