Bilman and Iskal shared a wild look.

  'This is arcane flora!?' expelled Lithan, like the words had been coughed up.

  'No but it's a marker for one of the types', Fiegh was now staring deep into the shadows of the wood. 'It can't be more than half a mile away - somewhere in there.' He was holding his hands close to his body. To Bilman, it looked like he was trying to avoid touching the entity dripping off the dock leaves like yellow blood.

  Iskal took a big step over the treeline and into the gloom. He'd waded a few paces through the bracken and tall grass before Bilman called out to him.

  'Where are you going?!'

  'To see if Fiegh is on to something. It's not everyday you see arcane flora. Last time was over a year ago and that was just a handful of halfmoon thorns. Everyone’s seen those. What if it's one of the really rare ones?'

  'That's the last thing we want!' It's not something we're even remotely qualified or intelligent enough to mess with'.

  'Looking at it isn't messing with it'.

  The others had now started following him into the wood, Fiegh taking the lead, his short legs carefully sidestepping hidden roots and flowers.

  Bilman felt fully nervous now, but she was tired speaking only of negatives. Perhaps she was being too meek and pessimistic? Too sycophantic about the rules? And curiosity was tugging at her arm now as well. She trusted Iskal too, more than most, more than anyone really, and so she ran in after them.

  They walked slowly, cautiously, for about 10 minutes before Fiegh found another trace of the yellow liquid. This time it was dripping from a knot in the silver bark of an ash tree. They walked a little further, until Fiegh pointed at a clearing between three trees growing outwards at a slant, as if they were recoiling from something, some 20 yards away. At the centre was a flower patch no wider than Bilman's trundlebed.

  As they neared, the sight of the flowers grew into clarity. The stems were conical and sturdy, like taper candles, and at the pointed tip bloomed a flower of the same bright yellow as the dripping ooze. It was made up of two semicircular petals, and etched onto each was a black mark like a plus symbol. They came to a stop next to two of the angular trees.

  'Do you recognise them?' Asked Lithan, in his usual reedy tone.

  'Yeah. Yeah! Those are two-cross ajers. I never thought-. I wasn't even sure they actually existed. Those are worth, no lie, fifty, maybe a hundred ryals a bud.' Said Fiegh. He looked utterly bewitched. 'I thought they grew in single sprouts though....' He went off into a train of thought.

  ‘We should take some.' Interjected Iskal.

  'What?' Replied all of the others. Even Fadaka looked surprised and he'd be the one that Bilman would put money on to suggest such a thing.'

  'One hundred Ryals is enough for a nice cliffside villa overlooking the Triskellion Valley with enough left over for your grandchildren.' Said Iskal. 'We'd be mad not to! I mean this is a sign from Collosea herself no? Goddess of fate? Goddess of earthly riches?'

  'I've known you ten years now and that's the first time I've heard you even suggest the Gods are real. You know there's no retail market for arcane flora right? Hell, even possession of most arcane flora gets you time in the catacombs. You'd have to sell it underground, and the moment you do that's your time in the army forfeit. We don't even know what these flora do!'

  Fiegh stepped off his train of thought for a second. 'You can talk to plants...' He said.

  Bilman jerked her head towards him, utterly nonplussed.

  '...and control them,' he continued, 'at least that's the theory. There are stories of wielders using tree roots to trap and smother whole platoons. But there hasn't been a documented use in maybe decades.'

  All five of them quickly erupted into a four-way debate, the volume getting louder by the second until stole himself away, took one step closer towards the flowers and reached out, tentatively. 'I swear I read that they grew as single, lone sprouts or... wait no.'

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  'What?' Said Fadaka, snapping out of the argument.

  'They do grow in single sprouts.' continued Fiegh. 'To grow like this, in patches, they have to be cultivated-' As this

  final utterance left his tongue, Bilman heard a hollow whisp sound, and then a single, muted thud. Fiegh stood eerily still, facing away from them. Out of his back, an inch or two from his left shoulderblade, the dull black bolt protruded, a single inky drop of blood gathering at its tip. He dropped to his knees with his arm still extended, before falling forward into the flowers, the fletches of the arrow snapping under his weight.

  'Brace and cover!' Screamed Iskal as he dragged Lithan and himself behind a tree. Bilman did the same with the towering Fadaka, while arrows began sailing past them from the dark of the woods on the other side of the flowerpatch. Bilman thought quickly. They'll advance, but not through the flowers. They wouldn't want to damage any and the clearing is too open and well lit for return fire. They likely flank around the trees, probably on both sides. She assumed Iskal was working on the same hypothesis; after all, he'd been the one who trained her in drills similar to this. She left the small striker crossbow in its holster at her waist and took the partizan firmly in her hands.

  Fiegh was gone, she knew that. The bolt had pierced his heart. The arrows had stopped now; without their whistling sound the wood became awash with silence once again.

  'Be ready,' she said to Fadaka, 'keep your eyes keen, they'll be advancing any second now.' They stepped, slowly, squinting in the shade.

  Suddenly, as if travelling through some portal in the air, a woman cloaked in sage and brown appeared from the darkness, pointing a shortsword fiercely towards Bilman. She parried it with her partizan, sending the assailant past her for Fadaka to tackle while another appeared, this time a stocky man with wild black hair. He too thrust his sword and Bilman dodged, grabbing his lapel and shoving him against a tree with her forearm. He headbutted him, causing a sting to pierce through her forehead. The wildman's sword had dropped now, as had her partizan, and he returned a punch to Bilman's kidney.

  She heard Fadaka yelling somewhere behind her but she couldn't look.

  The Wildman, being what must have been twice her weight, pushed her back easily using the purchase of the tree behind him. But as he braced to shove her, Bilman had managed to loose her dagger from its sheath. She lunged and drove the blade under his ribcage. His strength faltered immediately and he sank to the ground.

  She turned, panting, to check on Fadaka, who was at this moment pulling his partizan out of the woman's belly. It made a slick metallic sound. He looked up at her and his eyes went wide.

  Before she could turn, a long blade pierced through her blue-green collosean chest armour.

  'No!' cried Fadaka, as he pounced in her direction. The strength went from Bilman's legs. Her breath felt caught, the lung must've been pierced, she thought, with a strange calm, as if reading the words in a book. Oddly, there was no pain, just the short laboured breaths and the warm pool of blood forming underneath the leathers, as she heard a clash of steel above her.

  Then, another cry, and Fadaka landed beside her, one eye torn by a blade and the other open, staring coldly at the ground.

  Footsteps crunched around her and she was turned onto her back. An older man - in his 50's maybe - weatherbeaten and grey was staring down at her. There was no anger in his wide, black eyes, only curiosity, like he was observing a rare bird.

  Then, an arrow struck him at the top of the forehead, and the curiosity turned to bemusement, then fear, and then the light of those shrewd eyes went out.

  Bilman recognised the green of the arrow feathers: Collosean army issue. Iskal came to a skidding halt beside her, almost falling over the leaves and mossy tree roots. He crouched, his gaze transfixed to the wound on Bilman's chest. He pulled a bandage from the patch-kit strapped to his belt.

  'Did he run you through?' He asked, unfurling the gauze roll.

  'And then some.' Smiled Bilman. She always seemed to feel a strange sense of levity in the most taxing of moments. Maybe it was a coping mehanism of sorts.

  'Try not to move okay.' He looked terrified. She'd seen him scared before but not like this.

  'It's okay', she said, holding his wiry forearm. Her voice was getting hoarse with blood now, a groan was forming with each breath.

  'I know', he replied, 'We're gonna blot this, then we'll get you to the East Road. There'll be a cliff rider or carthorse or there might be a funicular we can reach and then it'll only be a few miles down the road to the nearest hamlet.' He looked around desperately for the way they came. Bilman looked too. It all looked the same, an expanding recurrence of trees and

  green plants.

  'I think you might be telling tales.' Each word was a struggle now. Her back felt numb.

  Iskal was still pressing gauze to the bleeding wound. Bilman reached and gently stopped him. He met her gaze.

  'I'm glad you killed the bastard.' She said.

  Iskal laughed and looked around again for any form of help. Bilman reached out and took his bloody hand in hers.

  She watched the high green leaves sway, and the mild blue sky that flashed in moments behind them. Then the greens and the blues turned to grey, and the shapes began to melt away into darkness.