Days passed and the slow hangings, where criminals are slowly lifted and the ropes slowly tightened by the number of their crimes, were carried out. Several noble houses and church council members fell in the aftermath. News of Father Maurice’s torment circulated through the streets for days until ultimately, his mingled body was hung up on display next to his accomplices as a warning. When decay began to set in, their bodies were unceremoniously burned without prayer or offerings of forgiveness for their sins. The people cheered and danced as they were released from the decades of his oppression. 

 

Feeling a sense of relief, I got back into the swing of things, including spending time with my plants. As I entered the greenhouse, it felt a bit odd. It's usually quite filled with plants, but I don’t remember them being so crowded inside. I navigated the room like a jungle until I saw a sea of red in the green field. 

 

“What the-”, I stood shocked.

 

The Red King flower was now several overgrown bushes. 

 

Confused, I shouted, “Spirits! What happened here?”

 

They nervously poked their heads out from behind their pots and looked at me. 

 

“He did it!”, a hyssop spirit pointed.

 

The Red King nervously came from behind his pot.

 

“What did you do?”, I growled at him.

 

The spirit drug a glass jar from behind the pot to reveal the growth stone.  He looked both ashamed and pleased with himself.

 

“Now I won’t be alone, isn’t that great?”, he said as another spirit similar to him emerged and tiny red sprites floated around them.

 

“Ye-yeah”, I said nervously, “Mommmmm!”, I shouted, “Give me that!”, I snatched it away.

 

“Now what?”, Mother came in annoyed.

 

“We got a flowery problem!”, I exclaimed.

 

“My god! Jylan, what have you done!?”

 

“It wasn't me! It was this crazy flower spirit!”, I pointed, “He stole the growth stone and populated himself and the whole greenhouse, now everything is overgrown”

 

Mother sighed, “Now what should we do?”

 

I thought for a bit, "I guess we could trim- ow!" I shouted as the Red King slapped me with one of his tendrils, "You! You're so lucky you're rare, or I would set you on fire!", I yelled at him.

 

The scar began to swell and ache as we glared at each other. Mother looked at the spirit.

 

“How dare you!”, she fumed, “Red King, remember that you are a protected guest in this house. You would be forever extinct if not for our kindness!”, Mother glowered, “give me the antidote!”

 

“Antidote?”, I gasped as heat rose up from inside my body.

 

“This flower… was heavily coveted in the past for both its healing and poisonous properties. That's why it was driven to extinction. The dark red tendril is poisonous, the stem and leaves are aphrodisiacs, the roots and the light red tendrils are healing antidotes and medicine”, Mother explained

 

“You!”, I tried to curse, but pain washed through my body as my temper rose.

 

“Red King! If you won't I will!”, Mother threatened.

 

He looked down, unwilling to uproot one of his own offspring. I felt myself sinking to the floor. My skin and insides were on fire like someone had rubbed habaneros all over me. Mother's anger rose as she looked for the shears.

 

“Either you give it to me willingly and have enough for rerooting, or I snatch out your entire root system!”, Mother yelled at him.

 

He flinched at her words, then began to dig in the soil to cut some roots and picked some light red petals and tendrils. Face full of sorrow, he handed them to mother. Sighing angrily, she took them and turned to peel me off of the floor.

 

“Everyone”, she addressed the spirits, “Clean up this place! Trim and propagate yourselves, or wait for me to do so. Mind you, I am not as forgiving to untamed plants as Jylan is”

 

They all shrieked in horror as they began to buzz around the room, collecting the gardening supplies.

 

“I'll deal with you when I get back”, she pointed at him, “Come Jylan! Stand up!

 

I painfully dragged myself out of the greenhouse as mother rushed to the front door to call the horses over and attached them to the carriage. She assisted me into the seat and pushed the flower pieces into my hand.

 

“Mother…”, I groaned, “where are we going?”

 

“To Herongolde. He would know how to properly extract the antidote. This flower's proposed extinction was before my years, so I never learned its formula”, she breathed heavily in a rush, “now hush and lay down”, she growled. 

 

I did as she told as she closed the door and set off. Cheers could be heard from outside the carriage at the sight of Mother as we passed through the town.

 

“Praise be to the Aniceta”, they shouted.

 

The cheering was constant as the carriage continued making its way to the gate. Just as we were about to exit, the carriage stopped moving.

 

“Madame Aniceta!”, a guard's voice yelled, “The king wishes to speak to you immediately!”

 

“I'm sorry, but I'm very busy right now, please tell him I will come after my business has been attended to”, she said as she tried to start the carriage again. They stopped her and grabbed the reins of the horses.

 

“My lady, though the people revere you as a hero, you are not above the king. I implore you to tread carefully”, he warned, “Your house exists as long as the king tolerates it”

 

I heard Mother scoff at him and get down from the carriage. She opened the door and sat me up. 

 

"You'll have to get to Herongolde alone. Bear with the pain a little longer", she caressed my face as she helped me get out and onto the driver seat. 

 

Detaching Magmus, she set off to the palace with the guards. I weakly commanded Lilith to go forward out of the gate. I fought the urge to close my eyes as Lilith's trotting sent shockwaves of pain and heat through my body. Red blotches swelled and covered my skin. As I reached the gate to Herongolde's home, I slid down from the seat and held onto Lilith for stability as I approached the door.

 

"Herongolde!" I said with all the strength left in me. I coughed from the force of the words, "Are you home? Please…"

 

The door flung open, "Girl, what are you doing here?”, he asked, "Dear goddess, what happened to you?”

 

"The antidote… The red king antidote…” I breathed, "that bastard flower you gave us stung me", I heaved and sunk to the floor.

 

With a frightened look, he caught me and lifted me into his arms. He transported me to a bed and laid my aching body down gently, then rushed off somewhere. He came back with a strange liquid and poured some into my mouth. 

 

“This will only relieve your pain temporarily. The extraction takes 3 days to make and the antidote takes another day”

 

I gasped spastically at his words, "Are you- kidding me?" 

 

“Try to keep that temper in check, it’ll only worsen your symptoms”, he warned.

 

“I’m g-going t-to kill th-th-that flower”, I growled through the pain, “Wh-why did you give us that?”

 

“You and your mother are in the business of saving such rare creatures. It was better to be in your care”, he said, pouring more painkiller into my mouth, “Or so I thought…”

 

As the pain subsided, he placed cool pouches of water on my body to help with the heat.

 

“How did this happen anyway? Did you try to eat the plant?”

 

“No! Its spirit got mad at me for suggesting to trim it after it stole my growth stone and overpopulated itself in the greenhouse!”

 

“Spirit?”

 

“Yes, the Red King spirit”

 

“It took me years to get that seed to sprout, but never got it to bloom. I didn’t know it had a dormant spirit inside”, he thought out loud. 

 

“Well now there’s tons of them!”, I writhed at the thought.

 

Herongolde shook his head at my outburst, “You’ll have to stay here for a few days. Think of it as a break from your heroism”, he patted my head, “Where’s your mother anyway?”

 

“The king forced her to meet him right before we left town. I had to come on my own”

 

He sighed in annoyance. Herongolde never comments on the king, but I could tell he doesn’t like him. I didn’t say anything else and sunk into the mattress of the bed. The pain returned every few hours, so Herongolde would give me a dose of painkillers in between extracting the oils from the plant. As the day wore on, a knock came to the door. Herongolde opened it to find the towering spirit of the Red King flower.

 

“You! Bastard! What are you doing here?”, I hissed at him as he floated to my bedside. 

 

“I-I came to say I’m sorry. I was overzealous in my loneliness and possible extinction...”, he pouted, “Here”, he handed me a strange jar, “The aphrodisiac in my leaves doubles as a temporary antidote and strong painkiller that lasts a day per dose. You can take it until the extraction is done”, he mumbled.

 

I glared at him, still wanting to be angry. 

 

“I know I was wrong and should be thankful for the safe, sunny spot, the even rain, and the stories of the world you tell while caring for us”, he hung his head in shame, “I’ll understand if you want to uproot me”

 

“I want to, I really, really, do! But-”, I sighed, “I know I’d regret it”, I grimaced.

 

“I’ll make it up to you”, he promised.

 

“Tch, and how can a free-loading flower do that?”, I scoffed. 

 

He looked around, then leaned in close, “There are some medicinal secrets… lost to the ages of man… I can teach you”, he whispered. 

 

I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, unsure if I should believe the flower that just tried to kill me.  

 

Realizing I wasn’t convinced, he continued, “And I can help you find some of the rarest plants in the world and teach you how to cultivate them”

 

“You do who my family is and who we associate with, right? Finding such things is quite easy, actually”, I said, unimpressed. 

 

He sat wracking his brain for a better offer to gain my forgiveness. I was enjoying his torment; he looked like a pouting puppy despite his overbearing appearance. Though this brought me joy, I couldn’t stay angry at him. 

 

“Fine, I’ll take your little deal”, I scowled, “Also, you will not take any of my things without my permission from now on, and you will do as I say, got it?”

 

His head shook furiously in agreement as I huffed and sunk back into the bed. He adjusted my bedding, then gave me a spoonful of his medicine. I relaxed as a cool feeling spread through my body. I fell into a daze, then I felt a sharp prick on my wrist.

 

“Now what are you doing to me?!”, I quickly pulled my arm away.

 

As I inspected my new wound, the language of the flowers was streaming into it. My head filled with information.

 

“What-”

 

“It’s ancient knowledge”, he interrupted, “Use it wisely”, he smiled wearily as he stood up and left. 

 

“That damn flower”, I spat in anger, “Always doing things on his own accord”

 

I crossed my arms in a huff, fell back into a mindless daze, and waited for the completion of the antidote at Herongolde’s. Mother came by to check on me in the morning and brought some supplies.

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

“Better. That rude flower gave me some good medicine as an apology”

 

“I know. He and I had a long chat when he returned home last night. After putting the fear of the goddess into him and the rest of the greenhouse residents, things got cleaned up pretty fast”

 

I nodded with a grin, “What did that half brained king want with you anyway?”

 

“Ohhh, something about keeping secrets and stolen valor from the monarchy; a few lines about disrespect and getting to know one’s place before it becomes the end for us”, she smiled.

 

I chuckled lightly and rolled my eyes at the thought.

 

“Well, get some rest. I’ll come get you in three days”, Mother stood to leave.

 

I nodded as she kissed my forehead. 

 

I slept away the days, slightly sedated to keep the poison from wrecking my body. Herongolde, with the look of exhaustion, finally appeared with a reddish pink liquid in hand, but he didn’t administer it to me immediately.

 

“We have to wait until the painkiller wears off”, he said checking the time

 

We waited, then as the heat and spasms of pain returned, he sat me up, and poured some into a deep ladle for me to drink. It tasted horrid, but almost instantly, a feeling of cool calmness washed over me. I felt so much better, like a window of a stuffy room was opened. Mother soon arrived, happy to see me sitting up, though my face still looked dreadful. 

 

“Herongolde”, Mother said tearfully, “Thank you”, she hugged him tightly.

 

“Anytime, little one”, he gave a gentle smile. 

 

He handed her the rest of the antidote and the recipe for it for any unforeseen future uses. Mother helped me get dressed and walk out to the carriage. As we entered the courtyard, I froze. I blinked rapidly trying to remove strange objects that were floating before my eyes. Thinking it was just the sun bothering me after so long inside, I looked down at the dirt path, but it was to no avail. Weeds that spotted the ground, had the same squiggly sentences emitting from them. I rubbed my eyes and focused closer, the lines started to become readable. It was information about this plant and how to use different parts of it.

 

“Jylan, Jylan!”, Mother shook me violently out of my trance, “Are you okay?”

 

I furrowed my brow in confusion, unable to answer her. I blinked my eyes again. 

 

“Are you feeling ill? Let’s get you home to rest”

 

“Mother”

 

“What?”

 

“This plant just told me how to use it… We usually use it to treat cuts, but it just told me the formula to treat stomach parasites”

 

“Jylan, you’re not making any sense”

 

“I-I can read the plants!”, I exclaimed with a look of horror.

 

Mother hurried me into the carriage and rushed me back home and put me to bed, believing I still needed more time to recover. When she left, I immediately got up and ran to the greenhouse to the Red King.

 

“Tell me now, and tell me straight, what did you do to me?”, I said, trying to keep my eyes closed, so I couldn’t see the messages swarming around the plants. 

 

“I gave you knowledge”

 

“Yeah, I remember that bit, but how do you---you turn it off”, I stammered.

 

“Just ignore it”

 

“Heh, ahahahahaaaa”, I let out a maddening laugh at his absurdity, “Real solutions, please”

 

He looked at me with a serious, straight face. 

 

“Y-y-your serious?”, I breathed out a nervous laugh and roughly blinked my eyes again. 

 

I stared at him in horror as he nodded. 

 

“You’ll learn to control it in time”, he assured.

 

“T-take it back!”, I shoved my wrist into his face.

 

“It cannot be undone. Give it time”

 

“There are millions upon millions of plants-”

 

“And animals”, he added.

 

My eyes grew wide, “I’m going to go insane!”, I screamed.

 

“Only if you are weak of mind”

 

“Ugh-Uuuuugh!”, I groaned in frustration, then my head began to swim.

 

I hit the ground hard. Hands promptly appeared to carry me back to my bed, where I remained for the rest of the week. Stuck with an unwanted gift, I practiced ignoring the messages my bedroom plant was sending out while on bedrest. 

 

“No! No! You. Stop. Talking!”, I yelled at the plant.

 

Mother looked on, worried, but left me to myself. After a few days, I managed to get a hang of it, but had to avoid the greenhouse for a while and increase my plant exposure slowly.  

 

“I’ll get you for this, Red King, just you wait”, I thought as I nodded with determination in front of the greenhouse doors.