Dawn Study (Soulfinders #3)(61)

Excitement shot through me. “No. But Zethan and the Stormdancers can. Would seeding rain clouds with the spores work as well?” I asked Esau.

“Fungus loves moisture.”

“Can the spores get inside the hothouses?” Ari asked.

“There are small holes in the glass panels in the ceiling that allow the smoke from the burning coals to escape,” Esau said. “Plus those spores will stick to boots and clothing, so when a worker enters the house, he’ll drag them in with him.”

“How long until the pods rot?” Ari leaned forward.

“I don’t know for sure, as I’m never there right when they’re infected, but it’s aggressive. The pods shouldn’t last more than ten days. Eventually the fungus kills the tree as well, but that takes longer. However, the tree won’t produce any more pods.”

I glanced at Ari. Judging by the contemplative gleam in his eyes, he was probably thinking the same thing as me. The fungus just might work. I calculated the timing. Ten days for die-off, then probably another twenty before the Cartel ran out of Theobroma—maybe sooner, but it was better to overestimate—then add ten for the effects to wear off. Forty total. That meant we would have to finish spreading the spores by day fifty of the heating season if we wanted to attack the garrisons in the middle of the hot season. So with at least ten days for travel time, our start date would need to be day forty of the heating season, which was forty-six days away. Of course, starting sooner would be even better. I explained my math to the others.

“Father, can you collect enough spores by then?” I asked.

“There are not enough right now for your plan to work. I’ll need time to find a dark, moist location to grow more of the Frosty Pod. Given enough nutrients, heat and moisture, the Frosty Pod should multiply like rabbits.”

“Then we have to start as soon as possible,” Ari said.

I agreed. “After we rendezvous with Valek and Leif, we’ll break into two teams—one to go with my father to help with the spores, and the other to arrange for Zethan and a Stormdancer to meet Esau at the Illiais Market on day forty.”

*

The next morning, we packed up our small camp. The plan was to head for the Stormdance travel shelter. I avoided considering the possibility that Leif and Valek wouldn’t be there and instead focused on my stubborn father.

“I need to return home and get started right away,” he argued. “We don’t have much time.”

He had a point. Except... “It’s not safe for you to travel alone. The Cartel will be searching for you.”

“I’m going with him,” Nutty said. “I’m not staying here.”

Aghast, Esau asked, “But what about the plants?”

“We’ll take a few of them with us, but we do have an entire jungle full of plants.”

He ignored her jab. “It’s a shame we can’t take the glass hothouse.”

I interrupted his musings. “Promise me you’ll travel through the plains as long as you can.”

“Of course,” Esau said.

“All right. Mara, would you like to go with them? I’ll send Leif to you as soon as he arrives.”

“No, thanks. I’d rather not wait any longer than I have to. Besides, I’m still in training,” she said, glancing at Onora.

Janco perked up at that comment. “I can show you this sweet little self-defense move.”

“I hope it’s not the one you used to fight off Svend,” Ari said drily. “’Cause you ended up in a mud puddle with broken ribs after you tried that one.”

“Svend doesn’t feel pain,” Janco protested. “It would have worked if—”

“Time to saddle the horses,” I said, stopping the impending argument.

After everyone was ready to go, I kissed my father goodbye. We arrived at the travel shelter two days later, near sunset. The shelter was located in the Stormdance lands just to the west of the main north-south road. The road hugged the western border of the plains and extended from the Citadel all the way south to Booruby, the capital of the Cowan Clan’s lands.

The disappointment and concern was universal when neither Leif nor Valek waited for us inside the small wooden structure. All that greeted us were two rows of uninhabited bunk beds, a cold stone hearth and an empty stable. If all had gone well in Fulgor, they should have beaten us here by two or three days. Perhaps it took Valek longer to find Leif than expected.

Keeping positive despite the heavy weight of worry pulling at my heart, I decided that since we were safer in the plains, we would camp out of sight of the road and check the shelter at random intervals.

Janco looked at the bunk beds with longing before we left.

“The ground in the plains is softer than that thin straw mattress,” Ari said to his partner.

“I know. It’s just the idea of sleeping in an actual bed.”

“You can stay. Just remember to scream really loud so we can hear you in the plains and escape,” Onora said.

“Ha. You’d miss me. It’d be way too quiet,” he said.

“Nothing wrong with quiet,” she said. “Unlike—”

“Watch it. Or I’ll...”

Onora waited, but when the threat failed to be voiced, she asked, “You’ll what?”