Chapter 27
Mila worked carefully under the ever-present blue light of the King’s Trees. She could hear Elias moving about the underground orchard, slowly inspecting every inch of the chamber for something that might be useful. Her knife moved easily in her hands, slipping beneath the line of the pocket she worked to disconnect from her pant leg without cutting the string short.
The thought had occurred to take the string from her boot that now lay discarded on the ground near her. As she had predicted, her ankle swelled three times its size after she had removed it, and it would probably become another burden for the two to bear. She spent three hours whittling down some branches they had broken from the trees to craft a splint; the wood of the King’s tree was terribly difficult to work
