Taboo Online

By the following afternoon, Thalen had learned twelve Bureau hand signals.

More importantly, he and Red Hound’s field team had completed three drills beyond the Heartroot’s translation range. The first had been awkward, and the second exposed mistakes that would have placed people in one another’s lines of fire.

The third ended without Lauren translating a single order.

It was not enough for conversation, but Red Hound judged the protocol sufficient for one controlled deployment. Aelira then formally appointed Thalen as her representative to the Ruinborn task group.

His wrist display supplied simple pictograms for the signals he had learned, while a Bureau liaison remained beside Aelira with the same system so the Queen could receive capture, injury, and transport notices.

Thalen stood beneath the silver branches with half of his white-wood breastplate missing and a living blade secured at his hip.

Lauren carried Aelira’s meaning to Red Hound.

The woman in the glasshouse helped destroy Lethariel. Thalen will not forget that.

"I don’t expect him to," Red Hound said.

The Queen turned her attention toward the Rootkeeper.

Bring her back alive if she can be held. The dead answer nothing.

Thalen placed one fist against his chest and lowered his head. When he straightened, the anger in his face remained, but duty stood above it.

Red Hound showed him the capture signal one final time.

Thalen repeated it.

Then the task group left for Southbank.

The glasshouse complex covered several acres near the industrial edge of the city.

Dirty panes rose above abandoned storage buildings. Vines had climbed the walls during the years since the commercial nursery closed, but most had turned brown, their leaves collapsing into dust around the windows.

The missing Ashline unit registered near the central greenhouse.

Bureau teams sealed the service roads before entering. Red Hound led the interior unit with Rhea and Thalen near the front.

A compression brace covered Rhea’s shoulder beneath her light armor. Medical staff had cleared her panel for one controlled manifestation after the freight-yard interception.

Luke rode in a narrow field chair while the teams cleared the outer greenhouses. His right arm remained supported in its sling, and Dr. Shaw had forbidden every combat skill except Truth Behind Motion.

Lauren walked behind two responders carrying ceramic shields. Padded wraps still protected her wrists, and a medic monitored her while she used Ancient Root Recognition.

The first greenhouse door opened without resistance.

Warm, damp air rolled across the team.

Rows of dead plants filled the interior. Brown vines hung from overhead supports, and collapsed leaves covered the paths between planting beds. The irrigation system still ran beneath the floor, filling the glasshouse with a steady trickle of water.

Near the entrance, a silver root had broken through one of the beds.

Lauren stopped.

It was no thicker than her thumb, but it was alive.

She removed one glove and rested two fingers against its surface.

Ancient Root Recognition spread through the fragment.

Living pathways emerged beneath the glasshouse. Some belonged to ordinary plants that had survived inside sealed irrigation beds. Others carried the unmistakable silver-green rhythm of Lethariel.

Those roots had been cut into short sections and buried throughout the complex, where corrupted machinery forced them toward the central chamber.

Many carried no pulse. Others still held weak currents beneath layers of decay.

"The missing Ashline unit is feeding the network from the center," Lauren said. "They’re forcing separate fragments to grow toward one another."

"Trying to make a portable source," Luke said.

"Or the beginning of one."

The Heartroot had survived passage between worlds because hundreds of people held a living route together while Lethariel collapsed. The Ruinborn were trying to imitate that result with severed pieces and machinery.

Red Hound showed Thalen the target pictogram and pointed toward the center of the complex.

The task group moved deeper.

Lauren detected more root fragments as they advanced, marking the paths that still carried living mana and warning responders away from brown channels feeding corruption toward them.

Luke remained in the field chair until the team reached a protected threshold overlooking the central greenhouse. Only then did the medic allow him to stand behind the ceramic-shield carriers. The chair remained beside him in case his legs weakened.

Beyond the final dividing wall, the missing Ashline unit stood in the middle of a wide soil bed. Black cables ran from its frame into a twisted mass of silver roots, where dozens of stolen fragments had been bound together with wire and dark metal clamps.

The decay wielder stood barefoot beside them.

Her thin body looked almost fragile beneath a dark coat. Brown veins covered both hands and disappeared beneath her sleeves, while every root near her feet had begun turning black.

She looked at Lauren first.

"So the tree sent its little human branch."

Thalen did not understand the words, but he recognized the woman. His hand closed around the hilt at his side.

Red Hound raised one fist.

Hold.

Thalen remained in place.

The decay wielder noticed the exchange. "He doesn’t understand you, does he?"

"He understands the order that matters," Lauren said.

The woman’s gaze moved over the ceramic shields, the containment shells carried by the rear responders, and Rhea’s empty hands.

"You caught the loud one."

Nobody answered.

Her mouth tightened. That was answer enough.

She placed one palm against the root mass.

Brown decay spread across the outer fragments.

Lauren felt several weak channels collapse at once.

"She’s destroying the evidence."

Red Hound gave the advance signal.

The Bureau teams entered from both sides.

The decay wielder drove her fingers into the soil.

Rot raced through the planting beds. Wooden supports softened and folded, sending metal trays crashing across the paths. Dead vines dropped from the ceiling in thick tangles.

The ceramic-shield carriers covered Luke, Lauren, and the medic as debris struck.

A section of overhead framework broke loose above the left assault team.

Rhea summoned her scarred panel and tilted it beneath one end. The metal structure slid across the glowing surface and crashed into an empty bed.

Pain tightened around her braced shoulder, but the panel remained solid.

Thalen advanced along the right path.

Red Hound signaled left, then capture.

Thalen circled toward the decay wielder’s exposed side rather than charging directly at her.

From the protected threshold, Luke watched her stance.

Truth Behind Motion caught the intention beneath her retreat.

"She wants him closer," Luke warned. "Her right hand is waiting for his blade."

Red Hound immediately gave the danger signal and pointed toward the woman’s hand.

Thalen changed his grip.

The decay wielder lunged anyway.

Her fingers closed around the living edge of his white-wood blade, and brown veins raced along the weapon.

Thalen released it before the rot reached the guard.

The ruined blade fell between them and broke against the concrete.

For the first time, surprise crossed the woman’s face.

Thalen drove one shoulder into her chest and knocked her away from the central roots.

She struck the Ashline frame, recovered, and reached toward his throat.

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