And plunged out of sight.

Lilia dropped to the ground immediately. She clawed her way forward the rest of the way on her belly. There were many kinds of pit traps and bladder traps in the woodland, most of them brimming with poisonous reservoirs and thorny protrusions. Many killed their prey neatly the moment they fell. Others took weeks to digest them.

“Gian!”

The ground softened under her reaching fingers. Lilia slid up to the lip of the torn turf. She peered over the edge.

Gian lay six feet below, coughing up green bile into the fleshy pit of a bladder trap.

“Are you hurt?” Lilia asked.

Gian spit more green liquid. “Dropped my sword. Nicked my leg.”

“Did you drink any of that?” Lilia asked.

The green digestive juices of the plant sloshed around her. “I think so,” she said.

Gian fished around for her sword. Took hold of it. As she stood, Lilia saw a gout of blood jet out from her leg.

Lilia held out her hands. “Quickly. You’re losing blood.”

Gian gripped her wrist with one hand and shoved her weapon into the soft flesh of the trap with the other. Lilia pushed the spines at the top of the trap down while Gian pulled them in. Squeezing through the bent spines without impaling Gian took time. Finally, both of them out of breath, Gian crawled out.

Lilia lay next to Gian, covered in blood and the plant’s digestive juices, panting.

Her mother would have called her a coward, letting this woman die. The Oras would call her a horror.

“I’m sorry,” Lilia said.

“I don’t feel… My head’s buzzing.”

“It’s poisonous. It’s all right. Everything will be all right.”

Lilia helped drag Gian away from the trap. It took all her strength to push Gian onto her side. She ripped open her trousers. The weapon had jabbed deeply into her thigh, cutting a great wound as big as Lilia’s fist. A killing wound. Gian would bleed out here.

Lilia dug into the wound, pinching off the affected artery. Gian cried out.

“What kind of trap?” Gian growled.

“Fellwort,” Lilia said. “We need to clean this wound.” She wanted to tell Gian the poison would eat her from the inside out, but didn’t think that would be helpful.

Lilia pulled a length of cord from Gian’s pack and used it as a tourniquet. “You have any honey?” Lilia asked.

“No,” Gian said. “No alcohol, either.”

“We can use honey,” Lilia said. “It’ll take me awhile to find. Keep that sword close. There are bears and wolverines. Can you still call on Para?”

Gian nodded, but her face was very drawn. Lilia worried she would go into shock.

“I’ll be back,” Lilia said. “I promise.”