Dragon: A Histories of Purga Novel

Chapter Seven

The branches wrapped around the arm holding the girl first and squeezed so hard he could hear his bones grinding together. His hand sprang open involuntarily and she quickly snatched her arm back. Then they wrapped around the wrist holding the knife until he was forced to drop that too. It burst apart into nanos that were sucked back into his mechpak. The other tendrils whipped around his chest, his other arm, and his remaining leg. He ground his teeth, fighting the pain, but there was too much. The damned plants were constricting him, making it hard to breathe. Spots exploded in front of his eyes.

"S-stop," he gasped.

"I will," the old crone replied. He could hear the laugh in her voice. "But first, you will listen young Rook. Can you do that?"

The tendrils squeezed, causing Rone to yelp. He nodded his head yes. Emphatically. The plants constricting power eased somewhat and he felt he could breathe again.

"Are we listening now?"

Rone nodded again. He turned to look at the Terra girl. Her eyes were frightened and she was pushed as far away from him as she could get. He felt a brief pang of guilt over what he did to her, but it was washed away by the fact that they had cut his leg off. He looked again at the crone, whose eyes were sparkling with amusement.

"Keiara, being the dear girl she is, rescued you from the desert. You had been injured in some kind of fall I believe is what she said." She looked at Keiara for confirmation.

"That's right," she whispered back, unsteadily.

"Despite the fact that everyone was set against her, Keiara brought you here. She defied everyone else, including her father, to make sure you would live."

"W-what about my leg?" he asked. "Did you cut it off so you could e-eat it?"

Keiara stared at him blankly for a second and then laughed out loud. She couldn't help it. The idea was ridiculous.

"You have been told one too many lies, boy," the crone answered, chuckling herself.

"What do you mean?" He looked from one to the other, clearly confused.

"We do not eat flesh from living creatures," Keiara responded. The crone nodded, laughing hoarsely. "We only eat vegetation that we grow ourselves, milk that we harvest, and cheese that we make from the milk. Things of that nature. We do not eat...," she paused here, her face a little green, "meat."

He looked at her, trying to see how truthful she was being or if she was lying to him. Judging by the severe disgust on her face, however, he could tell she was being serious.

Now he was the one that laughed out loud and for so long Keiara grew a little worried.

"Vege-," he tried to say, but he was laughing too much. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried again. "Vegetarians? You are all vegetarians?"

She wasn't familiar with the word, but she got the idea of it. She nodded her head.

"All of you?"

She nodded again.

"Even you, witch?" he asked, turning to look at the crone.

She smiled, shook a hand, and the plants constricted again.

"I am no witch," she responded. There was a note of anger in her voice. "I am a healer. Call me that again and I will feed you to my babies." She looked meaningfully at the plants.

"Sorry. Sorry. I meant no offense," Rone replied quickly.

The crone looked at him, cocking her head to one side. She seemed to realize he really didn't mean to offend her so she snapped her fingers. The plants unwound themselves from his body. He took several deep breaths, flexed his arms, and stretched.