Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [35]
Zhara squeezed her eyes tightly shut, concentrating on the numbness creeping up her left hand into her arm, across her torso, up her throat, down her other arm and into her legs. She took a deep breath and sat straight up in the bed. The dagger plants resisted her movements with their woody stems, but she could no longer sense their sharp prickers. Her spell had transformed her skin into bark that was hard enough to protect her but also smooth and supple enough so she could still move. She fought back the attacking greenery with her arms as if it were nothing deadlier than hay.
Her eyes were still vulnerable, so she was forced to keep them closed. The spell wouldn't last long. It wasn't panic that caused her to seek help, she assured herself, and she did so, shouting, "Dragonbait!" at the top of her lungs. She pushed herself off the bed and stomped on the plant stems, crushing them under her bark-covered heels until the floor was smeared with sticky pulp.
All around her, the plants kept growing faster than she could crush them. They began winding around her ankles and wrists, restricting her movements until finally they held her fast. Another plant twisted tight around her throat, and she knew that when the bark skin faded, she'd either be strangled or have her jugular vein pierced by the thorns.
She screamed for Dragonbait again and again, until a flowering pod thrust itself into her mouth. The prickles stung like a hundred bees, and the plant forced itself deeper, choking her.
Unable to get her hands to her mouth, Zhara bit down on the plant and ripped the flower from the stem with her teeth. She chewed, despite the agonizing pain, until she'd worked the flower into a wad small enough to spit out.
Something thumped on the door. "Help!" Zhara screamed. "Hurry!"
The door opened just wide enough for Dragonbait's arm to slip through. He held out his sword and growled. The sword glowed, then burst into flame, illuminating the room in a brilliant light. Dagger plants swayed instinctively toward the light, only to be scorched by the fire. The saurial slashed blindly at the greenery until he'd cleared the way enough to thrust the door open all the way.
He hacked at the stems, setting them alight and filling the room with an acrid, black smoke. Then he slashed at the base of the plants that held Zhara until he could pull her from the room.
The saurial stood in the doorway, brandishing his flaming weapon. The plants hesitated to approach now, as if warned that the glowing weapon was deadly.
Dragonbait hissed once and pulled the door shut.
Very gently the saurial pulled away the prickly shoots and flowers still wrapped around Zhara. Now that they'd been separated from their roots, the plants were no longer able to move, but they still clung ferociously to the priestess.
Zhara's skin was reverting to normal, and it was an effort to keep from wincing as the paladin freed her from the plants. Her mouth and tongue were numb and so swollen she could hardly talk. "Akabar-" she gasped, and began to weep hysterically.
Dragonbait pulled her into his own room across the hall and forced her to sit on his bed, holding her firmly by her shoulders. Zhara smelled woodsmoke all around her, and then she felt calmer. Her mouth tingled, but at least it no longer ached. She took a deep breath. "You healed me, didn't you?" she asked.
The lizard nodded, brushing her reddish-brown hair out of her eyes and stroking her cheek gently with one of his scaly fingers.
"Alias was the one who sent those things after me," Zhara said.
Dragonbait looked down at the priestess with widened eyes, as if she'd lost her mind.
"She did. I dreamed it."
The saurial paladin shook his head vehemently.
"I have to find Akabar! He's in terrible danger! You must take me to him! You must!" Zhara cried.
Dragonbait nodded. He pulled a scarf from his pack and handed it to her, signing