Page 291 of Scorched Earth

Someone had destroyed the xenthier to prevent more blighters from passing through.

Lydia sent up a silent prayer to whichever of her comrades had struck the blow in the south, then raced down the hill to the glowing nightmare below.

Sliding to a stop next to Malahi and Agrippa, Lydia stared up into the seething mass of vines. What had once been separate mounds was now a single sphere, the vines all tangled around one another. “I just climbed in last time,” she said between gasped breaths. “They each had their own connection to the blight.”

“This is an abomination.” Malahi reached out to touch one of the vines. It shivered like a horse trying to shake off a blackfly, and Lydia almost gagged.

“We’ve only got minutes,” Agrippa said, his attention not on the monstrosity but back the way they’d come. It was impossible to see over the ridge to the wall far below, but even from here, Lydia could hear the noise of far too many blighters. She did not think the wall would hold them back for long.

Agrippa heaved on two vines, opening a gap that Malahi crawled into. “I’ll keep watch from the outside.” He caught hold of Lydia’s wrist. “Please take care of her for me.”

“I swear it,” she promised, knowing full well that there was every chance she’d fail in her oath.

But that no one would be alive to see it.

Lydia crawled into the mass of vines, following Malahi’s heels. The interior of the sphere was humid and warm and heavy with the scent of decay. It was like climbing through a ball of yarn, but the strands were as thick as her wrist and strong. Sweat poured down Lydia’s face from the effort of forcing her way through.

“Where are they?” she hissed.

“They’ve burrowed. And not they.It.”

Lydia understood what Malahi meant a moment later. Illuminated by the strange glow of the vines, her eyes fell upon what had once been separate human beings, now merged into one grotesque form that throbbed with a single heartbeat.

“My gods,” Malahi whispered. “How do I control this?”

“Would it be easier to control it if it’s injured?”

“I don’t know.” Malahi’s voice was panicked. “Maybe?”

Unsheathing her sword, Lydia crawled next to Malahi and stabbed the creature with all her strength. It sank deep, and black blight oozed around the edges of the blade, the whole sphere shuddering.

Except rather than withering and dying, the creature began toexpel her blade. Inch by inch until her sword dropped onto the shuddering vines, the creature entirely regenerated.

“I can try to pull the life out of it. Try to weaken it that way.” Lydia reached for the throbbing mass of plant, but Malahi caught hold of her wrist.

“No,” she whispered. “I think… I think if you do that, it will only expand the reach of the blight to feed itself. You can’t take life from it, because it will take from everywhere else. This thing… it’s not human. It’s a plant. It doesn’t think about anything beyond survival.” Malahi’s head tilted. “Which gives me the advantage.”

Lydia did not see how, but before she could ask, Malahi pressed her hands to the mass of plant matter that had once been human beings.

Only to shake her head as she met Lydia’s gaze. “I can’t control them from the outside. I have to join them.”

It seemed like madness, but everything they held dear stood at the brink, so Lydia only gave a tight nod. “If you start to falter, I’ll keep you alive.” She gestured all around her. “There is enough life here for tens of thousands of people.”

“If I falter, this is over.”

Her friend was right, but the blighters on the far side of the wall felt like a distant concern as Malahi pressed her hands to the creature again.

Lydia gasped as shoots sprang out from the creature and burrowed into Malahi’s hands. She whimpered in pain, body shaking, only to abruptly stiffen.

“Malahi?” When her friend didn’t respond, Lydia moved so they were face-to-face. Malahi’s unseeing amber eyes moved back and forth. Her muscles flexed, jaw tight with strain, as though she were fighting against someone.

Or something.

“Help her, Yara,” Lydia prayed as the sphere of vines trembled. “Give her the strength she needs.”

As the words left her lips, Lydia found herself flung sideways, the entire sphere moving as though a god had plucked it off the ground and shaken it.

Except it wasn’t just the sphere, it was all of Reath. The ground shuddered with violence that made the destruction of the xenthier pale in comparison, the roar of distant avalanches making it sound like the whole world was tearing asunder.