“About stupid stuff, not the important things. You’ve never heard me come back from a patrol and brag about how many enemy soldiers my squad killed. Or how we ambushed them while they slept.”

True. He’d bragged about stealing the last cookie from the mess tent or about dumping Ursan in the mud during a training session. Actually he’d never seemed to tire of teasing Ursan over that one.

“I understand and I’ll be more careful in my...word choices from now on,” I said.

“Thank you,” Odd said.

We walked in silence for a while. While Odd and I moved with the sounds of the forest, Hogan didn’t. He needed the silent training. The afternoon sun warmed the air and drove off the damp chill. Tipping my head back, I enjoyed the heat of the sunlight on my cheeks. We’d been overnighting in the tunnels for the past two nights. I hoped Ryne’s new infirmary location wasn’t inside a cave.

After an hour, we reached the Death Lily. It grew among a dozen Peace Lilys, the largest cluster I’d seen since I’d been harvesting the toxin.

I dropped my pack and approached. It snatched me in one quick gulp. Impressive. Pain jabbed my upper arms. Then I broke free from my body, flowing into the roots of the plant and joining with its soul.

Joy and contentment pulsed over my arrival. I smiled. Death Lilys didn’t get many willing visitors. It wished to help me and it showed me its entire network of Death Lily plants, offering the toxin sacks from them all. A generous gift. Committing as many to memory as I could, I concentrated on the locations.

Then I asked it about not taking Ryne’s soldiers.

Show me, it said. It desired a mental picture of every person in Ryne’s entire army.

I can’t. Another way?

No response. Perhaps I could mark the Death Lilys with paint to warn Ryne’s men. But then Cellina’s army would figure it out, too. And I didn’t mind if the Lilys ate them.

Another memory occurred to me. It wasn’t nice. When I’d been a prisoner in Tohon’s castle, I’d learned how to kill a full-size Death Lily. With its toxin. If I sprinkle it on the ground below the flower, the toxin would be absorbed by the Lily’s roots. It would die. But just the idea... I hated it. However, it might be the only way to make those exits safe for Ryne’s army.

Seeds, the Death Lily said.

What kind of seeds?

Mine. It showed me an image of a deer grazing under a Lily. A breeze shook the leaves and a handful of oval seeds showered on the animal’s back. Eventually a noise startled the deer and it ran off, carrying the seeds. Protect seeds. Make new.