Free The Crowned (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga, Book 6) by Jeremy Laszlo Page A

more, and the
veil of leaves outside her cage parted slightly, giving her a much improved
view of the ruins and tree men surrounding it. A great groan broke the silence
and from just out of view another of the great tree men leaned forward to come
nearly face to face with Sara. She recognized him as the first tree man she had
seen after the accident. At least she thought it was him, they all sort of
looked the same.
    “Every life is precious,” the tree began hollowly. “And
every life deserves its life. But not every life deserves to be among other
lives.”
    Sara concentrated on the slowly coming words, searching them
for their meaning. She watched the bark upon the creature’s face crinkle and
stretch with the movements of its speaking. He reminded her of an old man, the
way his features drooped and moved with too much slack.
    “What is that supposed to mean?” she shouted back at the
tree.
    Several other trees nearby creaked and groaned before their
apparent leader began to slowly speak once more.
    “Every life has a destiny and a fate that can only be
changed when encountering another life. Now your life has encountered ours, and
so all of our fates have changed.”
    Sara gave up on asking direct questions as there were
apparently not going to be any direct answers, so instead she simply repeated
her previous question.
    “And what is that supposed to mean?”
    The tree creature paused a moment, its features changing to an
expression that might have been contemplation before beginning to speak once
more.
    “Your companion and the beasts you enslaved to do your labor
perished in our forest because our lives collided. From that collision their
fates were sealed, and now their only destiny is to feed us by giving nutrients
to the soil. It was a sad and abrupt end. One that would not have befallen them
had their lives not first collided with your life. You, foul plague bringer, elicit
an abrupt end to most that your life collides with. It is troublesome, and must
be stopped.”
    Then Sara thought she understood. Her alteration was being
spread and apparently had been noticed by more than just herself. These tree… things…
planned to kill her to stop her from creating more vampires like herself.
    “So you plan to kill me then? I thought all life was
precious?” she said, sneering at the creature.
    More groaning and creaking ensued from around the gathering,
and old wrinkly face started to talk exhaustively slow once more.
    “Your plague creates an explosion of life collisions, ending
lives and altering others’ destinies to something that has no real purpose. All
lives are meant to serve life and creation. The lives you change serve only
death and destruction, constantly killing, feeding, consuming, spreading,
without want or need to make new life. You, Plague bringer, are to remain our
captive until we can decide what is to be your new fate.”
    Then it all came together. The tree man was right. He had
said little that she had not heard before from her own husband. Not the exact
words perhaps, but the meaning remained. Life was precious. The gods used men
to create war in order to further their own agendas. By her alteration, and
subsequent series of mistakes, she had changed the natural cycle, accelerating
them all to an inevitable end. The end of life for mankind.
    Those infected by her would feed unchecked. They would kill
most, and those who were not killed would succumb to the infection and become
like her, accelerating the process to only one possible outcome. Eventually her
kin would outnumber the uninfected and then it would not be long before there
were no more uninfected. Then they would feed on each other. The extinction of
every race of man was the destiny she foresaw if things did not change.
    It was her bite, and her inability to ignore the need to
satiate the thirst that filled her with wanting the pleasure that came from
feeding. Her weakness had served the gods better than any war. She was the