Wheel’s Thread9
BARK and BROTH
Sustained
1 Using the knife given him by the captain of the guard, Pyks was careful to break off only a piece of bark. 2 He had been foolish enough to get lost in the Barrens; he would not be foolish enough to ignore the plant lore he had known since he was a child. 3 Only the bark of the glissid tree should be used in a most dire circumstance to derive sustenance, for if you taste the tree itself, there is revealed a terrible mystery.
4 Underneath the course rind of the tree, Pyks discovered a dark brown sheen with a fragrance that made his mouth water. 5 And he thought that if a broth made from the bark was enough to keep him from starving, surely the tree itself would give him enough strength to finish his journey back to the tower. 6 This, he reasoned to himself and he carved off a simple sliver and dropped it into the soup.
7 It was delicious and he fell asleep shortly after he swallowed the last of it, listening to the murmuring of the wind.
8 He was startled awake by the sensation of roots emerging from his arms and legs, anchoring him into the rich soil. 9 The transformation sloughed off his armor, his cries joining the wind that moved through his leaves—the mystery blowing wordless over the road.
This was good. I wish it could have been longer – you would have been able to draw it out further. I even thought for a minute that the mystery wouldn’t be negative – that the tree itself was chocolate and the terrible mystery was that you had been eating bark while chocolate was at your disposal.