Kylandra
Ky and Zand spent the morning fusing the
broken glass panels for the growing house. The rest of the group busily fitted
the pieces together. When all the panels were in place, the covered area would
be three times as large as the one they had found in the Cedris garden.
“Ky,” Jay called. “I’ve finished another
one.”
She crossed to where he sat and knelt
beside the pane he had assembled. After calling fire to her fingers, she traced
the cracks and watched the glass shards fuse. With a grin, she rose. “Once we
finish the panels, all we’ll need to do is repair the beds and find plants to
fill them.”
Zand looked around. “Where will we find the
plants?”
Ky walked to his side. “Jay, Geni and Dyna
already have cuttings in the stillroom. They’ll also search the fields and
forest.”
Bran waved her over. “Another one is ready.
We have some seeds the doma bought from the Rovers, and they promised her
more.”
Ky ran her finger over the glass and
watched a solid sheet form. She rolled her shoulders. “I need a rest.” And a
change. Doing the same thing again and again was boring.
Doma Jandia appeared in the doorway of the
growing house. “The midday meal is ready. Go wash your faces and hands.”
With a shout of joy, Ky dashed outside and
splashed cold water from the trough on her face. After finishing two bowls of
soup, toasted bread and cheese, she decided Zand could finish the dozen glass
panels needing to be fused. She wanted to work in the large barn. She stayed in
the kitchen to help with the dishes.
After she emptied the dirty water, she
sauntered to the large stone structure that abutted the rear wall of the keep.
The walls seemed solid and so did the beams of the roof and loft. Something
about them puzzled her. How had the builders made the wooden stalls and troughs
look like stone?
Along the walls, she noticed a number of
places where bits of the mortar had crumbled. If she used fire to melt the
white material when it hardened, the walls should be solid. Before that
happened the debris from the loft had to be removed.
She ran her hands along one of the stalls
and formed a ball of fire to take a closer look. Wood and not wood. The smooth surface
felt like porcelain or polished stone yet the grain of the wood was visible.
What had the former occupants of the keep used to produce the smoothness and
the longevity? She climbed the stone steps to the loft and began flinging down
the matted leaves and other things. There was less debris than she had
expected. She inched along the beams finding the same type of preservation. Why
hadn’t they treated the loft floor and the roof?
Ky laughed at her questions. They couldn’t
be answered. The people who had produced such wonders were lost in the past.
Once the last of the waste matter was on
the ground, she climbed down and raked the material into a heap. To her
surprise, the floor was stone with channels to aid in cleaning the stalls. She
loaded a barrow and pushed it to the pile outside the gate. Then she returned
for another load. She felt as tired as if she had used her sword in a battle.
She sank to the ground and leaned against the wall. Would the keep ever be
ready for winter?
Don’t be so negative. Jay’s comment flowed over the twin bond. Dragen’s cutting
saplings to use as flooring for the loft.
A sharp pain jabbed her hand. She screamed.
Flames spurted from her fingers. Ky jumped to her feet. What? Then she saw the
barbed tail of a scorpon poised to strike again. The creature was larger than
both her hands placed side by side. She seared the scorpon with fire. A mass of
smaller creatures emerged from the cracks in the wall. Ky turned and ran.
The poison from the barbed tail of the
scorpon burned a trail up her arm. “Help! Scorpon,” she shouted. Her stomach
clenched and threatened to erupt. Dizziness caused her to stagger. She
struggled to keep on her feet. If she fell the rest of the vermin would attack.
Dragen dashed into the barn. Zand followed.
He sent lashes of flame into the milling mass of creatures. Ky fell to her
knees. She tried to stand. Bran appeared.
“Be still,” he ordered. “Running makes the
poison move faster. Val and I will take you to the keep.”
They lifted her. The jarring movement increased
her nausea. By the time they reached the kitchen, she opened her eyes. The room
spun. She swallowed to keep from spewing her lunch. The burning sensation had
traveled past her elbow. Her fingers were numb. The pain was akin to what she
had felt when she’d cleared the web from the tunnel during the escape from the
henge, and a strand had wrapped around her wrist. Had Dom Senet found a way to
weave scorpon poison into a web?
She heard voices, but they were blurred.
Her eyelids seemed too heavy to raise. Her thoughts swept away as though
captured by the wind.
Ky opened her eyes to find Doma Jandia and
her siblings seated around her sleeping mat. “My arm.” Her fingers barely
moved.
“Will be weak for a day or two.” Doma
Jandia gestured to Bran. “Raise her head.” He propped pillows behind her back.
The doma held a cup to Ky’s mouth. “Drink.”
The liquid was cool and so sweet she
grimaced. “What is that?”
“A stimulant.”
“You were really sick,” Jay said. “I
couldn’t find you on the twin bond.”
Ky swallowed the rest of the drink. “You
really couldn’t hear me?”
Ash nodded. “You’ve been ill for three
days. Even your thoughts were absent from the winds.”
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