Emperor's Edge Republic by Lindsay Buroker Read Free Book Online Page B

these were a result of ma— the Science?”
    “I’m not the expert to ask. My brother and sister would be if they hadn’t gone home. I can sometimes sense the presence of artifacts or of people tinkering with the elements, but this just feels like a plant to me. My mother said the same thing when I brought her down to see it, and she’s more of a Sensitive than I am. Still, a practitioner could have created the seeds in a laboratory, then planted them, and what grew up wouldn’t necessarily feel Made, if that makes sense.”
    “Hm.” Sespian set the pad on top of a piling and dropped to his belly. He peered under the dock. “Do you think this started as seeds? As in a lot of seeds?”
    “It could have started as one plant and spread laterally via rhizomes. I haven’t dug around in the soil down there to see yet. Someone said the water is fifteen or twenty feet deep around the docks here, and, at the risk of sounding like a weak-blooded foreigner, the lake seems cold for swimming at this time of year. I checked on the beach to the south and north of the city, but there’s nothing growing around there yet, so I couldn’t simply wade in and pull up some roots. I tried to pull on one of these tendrils, but it didn’t budge.”
    Sespian slithered halfway off the dock to dip a finger into the water. “Very cold,” he agreed, “but I imagine I could survive a thirty-second immersion to pull up a root for you.”
    Mahliki hadn’t expected such an offer and beamed at the back of his head. “Thank you, but there’s more than water to be concerned about down there. I wouldn’t want you to become entangled and not be able to get back up.”
    She was on the verge of explaining how the plant could wrap its vines around anything—or anyone—quite quickly in its bid to grow up into the sunlight, but Sespian lifted his head first, his face fixed in an expression between repugnance and horror. A tendril from under the dock had fastened to his arm, wrapping twice about his wrist. The tip wavered toward his sleeve, as if it meant to slither into his shirt and take over his body.
    “I see what you mean,” Sespian said. “I don’t suppose I could use your knife? Now that nobody has any good reason to assassinate me, I’ve been wandering the city armed with little more than pencils and sketch pads.”
    “Of course.” Mahliki slid a hand into her collection kit and pulled out a scalpel with a sharper blade than her utility knife. “I have all manner of tools and weapons. My father wouldn’t let me out of the hotel if I didn’t carry something sharp and pointy. He’s not particularly trusting of young men, at least when it comes to his daughters.”
    Sespian tried to wedge the tip of the scalpel under the tendril, but it tightened before their eyes. His hand grew a few shades darker than the rest of his arm.
    “Not that pencils can’t be turned into weapons,” Mahliki said, edging closer and thinking of taking a pencil to the vine herself. “Stab a boy in the eye a few times, and he’ll stop trying to touch your backside. Or, uhm, other parts.” She knelt beside Sespian—the tip of that vine had grown an inch as she had been watching; she was sure of it.
    “I’ll keep that advice in mind, should groping boys ever accost my nether regions.” Sespian gave up on delicately removing the vine from his wrist and hacked at a lower section instead. The scalpel cut through the finger-thick tendril, but it did take several tries. Sespian’s face remained calm, though he did tear the vine free and fling it to the deck with feeling. “I ought to forgo steel in my design for the president’s residence and have the walls constructed from that stuff.”
    “That would be a unique look. In the meantime...” Mahliki nudged the severed vine toward him. “Would you mind drawing that?”
    Sespian’s lip curled. “It’s still twitching.”
    “Yes, from my prior observations, I believe that’ll eventually start growing