Shadow Heir

I frowned. “I’m sketchy on my botany ... but isn’t mistletoe poisonous?”

“Not always fatally so,” Volusian replied. “Especially in such a minute amount. At most, they will get fantastically ill, but that hardly seems worse than their present condition.”

“‘Fantastically ill.’ What a great image,” I said. “Then what? They’re cured?”

“No. Mistletoe simply weakens the dryads’ magic—but it cannot break it. To fully pull them out of the spell, you must give them a reason to come back. The dryads weave an enchantment of perfect contentment. Most don’t want to leave that.”

I thought back to our waterside slumber party. I wouldn’t exactly say I’d been perfectly content, but I had been charmed enough by simple hairstyling to obliviously waste part of the day. If we’d felt that way from just a brush of dryad magic, what would the full force of it do?

“So ... when you say give them a reason, do you mean talk to them? Can they even hear us?” I glanced at the blank gazes around me. “It sure doesn’t seem that way.”

“If what you have to say is meaningful enough to them, they will hear it. That and the mistletoe may be able to free them of the enchantment. Much depends on the individual’s will. The weak rarely escape.”

I didn’t like the implications. “Well, this is a pretty strong group. If anyone can break free, they can. So ... we need mistletoe and a pep talk.”

Keeli stepped toward Volusian and crossed her arms. “Spirit, what kind of mistletoe is required? White?”

“That would work best,” he confirmed.

Whoa. I hadn’t even known there were multiple types. I only knew about the kind you kissed under at Christmas, which was usually plastic in my experience. “You know plants?” I asked Keeli.

“Enough to get by,” she said. “And enough to know that we’re not likely to find white mistletoe in this climate.”

“It grows in the Yew Land,” said Volusian. “And we are very close.”

“How close?” I asked, a bit startled by this news.

“Five miles down the road perhaps. At least, that’s what I observed earlier. The road may have shifted.”

“Your Majesty,” said Keeli eagerly. “Allow me to ride on ahead and find the mistletoe. I know what it looks like.”

I shook my head. “You can’t ride into enemy territory alone.”

“Yet we can’t leave them alone either.” She gestured to our slack-jawed men. “I won’t raise notice if I slip in alone.”

I considered. We needed to get the mistletoe, but she was right that we couldn’t leave the men alone. Who knew what else might come along in this land? I weighed everyone’s abilities and then came up with the best division of labor I could.

“Jasmine will go with you,” I said. “Volusian and I will stay here with the guys and try to talk some sense into them.” No matter her brave words, I couldn’t send Keeli alone, nor could I leave Jasmine alone on defense. This seemed the best option. “But I, uh, might need your help first to move them.”

Much like Pagiel, the rest of the men could be coaxed to their feet and made to walk, so long as someone was there every step of the way. We ended up taking them back to the lagoon since it was relatively sheltered and not near the road. We brought the horses and supplies next, and I was surprised to find myself sweating when all was done, thanks to the heat. It was a welcome change after the blight. Keeli and Jasmine mounted their horses and prepared to go.

“Be careful,” I warned.

“We will,” said Jasmine. She eyed the men, whom we had sat down in an almost artful arrangement near the water’s edge. “You know, this would be the perfect time to kill Kiyo.”

“What?” I exclaimed.

She shrugged. “Just throwing it out there. You know he’s going to keep being a pain in the ass. Toss him in the lake and claim he wandered in there and drowned. No one would know, and we wouldn’t tell.” Keeli nodded emphatically.

“Sorry,” I said. It was a bit alarming that I could understand their reasoning—but there was no way I could go there. “Believe me, I wish I could get rid of him. But doing it to him in this state would be as bad as what he tried to do to me.”

The two of them rode off, leaving me and Volusian behind. I gave him orders to patrol the area and let me know immediately if he heard or saw something concerning. Of course, it was hard to imagine anything much more concerning than my present situation. Despite all the life and noise of the forest around us, there was an eerie silence at the lagoon. It just didn’t feel right to be sitting with five other people and have none of them make a sound. Those freaky, glassy-eyed stares also creeped me out.