Page 296 of Kingdoms of Night

As she moved, thorns and weeds sprang up in front of her, obstructing her forward motion. The plants didn’t listen to her commands to move aside as she tried to go forward. She tuned out their wind-whispered pleas to turn around, to go back. Finally, the roots of a tree reached up from the ground and wrapped around her ankle. It was the Welwitschia’s roots. In its wordless communication, it urged her to return to the safety of Camelot.

The flora’s magic went against the direction of the protection spells that the witches had woven around the castle. The bewitchment aimed to keep intruders out. But the divination wasn’t old enough to keep fairies out.

That spell was a nuisance to her father. Sooner or later, he would find a way around the enchantment. The main deterrent was the ancient tree that was the foundation of this land, a flora older than her father. It was the sole reason Gyges couldn’t set foot on the land. But if given time and more power, her father would find a way around the tree.

With that knowledge, the tree hesitated. That small falter was enough for Enid to break free of its roots and step over the boundary of Camelot.

Looking back, Enid saw the roots of the tree in the ground still striving for her. If she stepped back toward it, she could be safe, as would all of the residents in the town. But she would never know if it was possible to give her husband a child. If she kept on the current path, her father might give her what she wanted, but she and her child and all on the other side of that imaginary line in the ground would never be truly safe.

Enid lifted her heel off the ground. Her toe rose, and she prepared to take a step. Her father’s voice halted her.

“You brought me a stick?” he asked.

Her foot hovered over the border of Camelot. She placed it back down on the other side and turned to face her father.

Enid knew what she wanted. She'd had a taste of it, and it had been more than she'd ever imagined. She'd finally made friends. She'd found somewhere she wanted to be rooted to. She'd found love, something she’d never thought was real.

It had all been so very real, and so very perfect. But the moment her father got his hands on this sword, it...

No, it wouldn't be over. It would never stop. He would never stop.

She tossed the sword back across the border. It sailed tip over end through the air. And then it stopped mid-flight as a vine furled around it.

With a flick of his braceleted wrist, her father brought it close for inspection. She didn’t panic. Not yet. The sword was encased in the stick and would only reveal itself—

“Ah,” said Gyges, giving the cane a whack. The bark broke free and revealed the blade inside. “Clever.”

The only reason Loren had given Enid her sword was because the knight had been certain the weapon would not reveal itself to anyone but her. It hadn’t revealed itself to another Galahad in over a hundred years. But again, her father’s magic was far older and purer.

Enid felt the angry buzzing of the bees around her head. The energy was coming from the sword. As her father wove vines around it, the hum quieted.

It was all going wrong. She saw her father’s selfish gaze. He ignored her in favor of his new plaything and the evil pleasures it would bring him.

He’d always ignored her unless there was something he wanted to gain by using her. He never gave anything back in return. She knew then that he didn’t know how she might have a child with her human husband. She also knew it no longer mattered.

Enid gave her father her back. Something she never would have done before. But her mind was made up.

She bent down, putting her fingers into the fertile soil of the grounds of Camelot. All the plants for miles perked up at her presence. But there was only one that Enid wished to talk to.

She felt her flower seed. It was snuggled happy and safe in the plentiful soil. This was her decision. The only decision she could make with her progeny as an autonomous plant who wanted to keep both it and the people she loved safe.

"What are you doing?" said Gyges.

She felt his magic around her. Felt him reach out to the earth to counteract the spell she wove. With the Welwitschia tree heeding her command, the land responded to Enid, ignoring and completely shutting out her father and his magic.

"You foolish girl."

Enid felt a blade at her neck. What surprised her most was her lack of surprise. She’d seen her father kill for power before. Even if he took her life right now, it would not change the fact that he would never be able to set foot on the grounds of Camelot. Not while the tree lived with her seed cradled in its roots.

“Take it back,” her father snarled.

“I can’t,” said Enid.

“But I can,” said another feminine voice.

The sword nicked Enid’s neck as it flew out of her father’s grasp and across the border. Loren grasped the sword that flew into her hands and then aimed it at her father. Geraint charged past Loren, heading straight for Enid.

Enid held up her arms to keep him back, knowing that her father would tear him to shreds with his brambles and thistles. A glance over her shoulder showed only the rustle of leaves where her father had disappeared.

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