Chapter 33: We Need More Silverflower

The ground around the bushes began churning in so many places that Seraya couldn't tell which way to look, and when more heads breached the sandy ridges, cold dread purged the last dregs of exhaustion from her limbs.

More serpents slithered from beneath the sand, long and blending almost seamlessly with the dunes, while further out, something heavier violently rustled a clump of dry grass, exposing dark, glistening pincers.

"Oh no, no, no..."

Seraya shoved the gathered runners into her pocket, minding not to drop a single stem, then spun on her heel and sprinted back the way she had come. The sand gave way beneath her boots, the wooden spear threw off her balance with every stride, and glancing over her shoulder revealed so many writhing silhouettes that she instantly regretted looking.

What kind of fucking breeding ground is this?!

Whether they had disturbed a nesting site or the creatures were drawn to the tremors of their footsteps, she had zero desire to investigate. She had no way of knowing which beasts were venomous either, making distance the only sane priority.

"Kaela! To the trees, everyone get to the trees!"

A shout echoed from the left. A moment later, one of the women burst from the brush, swinging her spear wildly, looking back every couple of paces. Cutting through the sand behind her came a dark, segmented monstrosity - a sight Seraya tore her eyes from at once, as a giant centipede was the very last thing she cared to inspect in detail.

Near where they had entered the sandy clearing, the rest of the party began scrambling into view, their pale, terrified faces making it clear she wasn't the only one who had run into unwelcome hosts. Kaela dodged a low bramble, shouting for two stragglers, while Raska sprinted with her spear held high, stripped clean of her earlier swagger.

"Don't stop!" Seraya yelled, blowing past them and pointing toward the darker line of timber.

Nobody needed to be told twice. The group plunged into the tree line almost as one, trampling dry leaves and leaping over gnarled roots. Seraya's lungs burned, the harvested plants battering against her hip in her pocket, but she refused to ease up until the rustling behind them faded into distance.

Only after putting a solid stretch of woods between themselves and the open sand did Kaela look back, raising a hand as she called out:

"They stopped at the sand!"

Seraya braced a hand against a trunk, panting so hard she could do nothing else for several seconds. When she finally looked back, she saw numerous shifting silhouettes along the border of the dunes. Snakes wound through clumps of scrub, massive arthropods lingered at the edge of the bare ground, and several lizards darted between them - yet not a single creature pursued them into the forest.

"What were those things..." wheezed one of the women, clutching her aching side.

Seraya shook her head, still drawing ragged breaths, and pushed off the trunk to eye the boundary between the two terrains.

"Don't know, but they clearly hated having guests."

She watched the movement along the sand for a moment, verifying that the chase was truly off. Picking up a stone, she tossed it forward, well short of where the swarm churned. It clipped an exposed root and bounced across the dirt; several reptilian heads twitched toward the sound, but nothing crossed the threshold.

Seraya let out a long breath, taking a cautious step back.

"They're holding there for now," she said. "Maybe guarding their nests, or maybe they just prefer the sand. Either way, we aren't going back to ask."

Kaela nodded, a few women letting out nervous chuckles born far more of relief than amusement. Raska scoffed under her breath as if ready with a contemptuous retort, but one quick glance at the swarming sand persuaded her that silence was the wiser choice.

Checking her pocket, Seraya pulled out the crushed cuttings, relieved to find most of the blossoms still clinging to their stems. Only then did she count heads, looking each woman over to ensure no one had been left behind.

"Is everyone accounted for? Nobody got bitten?"

They answered one by one, still scanning the shadows nervously. Hearing nothing alarming, Seraya stepped deeper into the trees and gestured to her bundle.

"All right, let's see what you gathered. I need to know what we have."

The women traded uneasy glances before pulling out their harvest, laying it across a clear patch of moss. Seraya studied the haul, her expression darkening with every passing second.

One had brought flowers of a completely different shape. Another held up a tangled mass of bare, leafless stems. A third, after rummaging through her wrap, produced dry twigs that she had apparently deemed close enough to what they were looking for.

Seraya stared at them, then at the woman holding the sticks, struggling to find words that didn't consist entirely of profanity.

I told you not to grab blindly... Am I speaking fucking gibberish?

Kaela knelt beside the pile, comparing it to the cuttings Seraya had pulled from her own pocket.

"None of these will do?"

"The dry ones will make decent kindling at least," Seraya answered dryly, tossing a twig aside and rubbing her face with both hands. "Kaela, our people are lying back there, and all we have is a handful of runners the shaman hasn't even vetted yet. If this is the right plant, it still might not be enough for everyone."

The woman holding the wrong flowers lowered her head in shame, while the others glanced toward the sandy expanse, the realization dawning that running away hadn't solved their mission.

"So what do we do?" asked the woman standing closest to Kaela.

Seraya didn't answer immediately. She turned to stare across the open ground, where some of the creatures still patrolled the dunes while others burrowed back into the sand or vanished into the brush. Re-entering that nest was the last thing she wanted to do, and the memory of the thrashing serpent made her knuckles whiten on her spear. Yet looking down at the pitiful cluster of flowers in her hand stripped away any comfort of turning back empty-handed.

If I come back with a few measly petals and we run out before we can treat Niva, I'll never forgive myself.

"We try from the other side," she said at last. "Some of you stay here and make noise along the tree line to keep their attention, while I circle around and approach the plants from a different angle."

Kaela looked up instantly.

"I'm coming with you."

Seraya frowned, but before she could object, Kaela pointed to the Silverflower in the warrior's hand.

"Now I know what it looks like, and two pairs of hands will gather more. I'm not returning empty-handed."

Two more women volunteered on the spot. Seraya looked at their grim faces, remembering that their kin lay stricken in the valley too. She wanted to tell them not to walk into danger needlessly, but she was about to do the exact same thing herself. Instead of arguing, she handed Kaela one of the intact stems.

"Study it carefully. Match everything against this," she instructed, pointing from petal to leaf. "No guessing. We don't have time for another mistake."

The three women leaned in, passing the cutting between them with utmost care. Just then, Raska stepped forward, clearly displeased with the arrangement.

"And why do we have to stay behind?" she demanded. "We can search too. You don't have to do everything yourselves."

Several sharp glares snapped toward her. Seraya felt a familiar spark of annoyance and clamped her jaw shut before answering. She had zero patience for another spat with Raska, not when every wasted minute meant more agony for the women back in Selka's cave.

"Because someone has to keep those things distracted on this side," she explained, gesturing toward the sand. "If we all walk in, there's no diversion."

Raska still looked ready to push back, so Seraya stepped closer, her voice dropping lower, laced with hard steel:

"Whether we make it back safely depends on you doing your part. And whether we make it back in time for Niva."

The mention of Niva struck home harder than any argument. Raska averted her eyes and gave a stiff nod, abandoning further protests.

Seraya ordered the distraction team to stick to the trees and avoid drawing the creatures too close, took one final look at the Silverflower in Kaela's hand, and set off with her three companions along the forest edge.