“Wes?” Val asked, hesitantly. She hadn’t been able to contribute any further than her own chant, but she still hadn’t left my side.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Just need to catch my breath.”
“Um,” she said hesitantly. “What was that about your lifespan halving? And I think I saw your knuckles melt off?”
“I have no idea what he was talking about,” I admitted. “I just heard the same quiet voice you heard, and it taught me how to do that technique. It only works at certain times though.”
“Like when you’re in a boss fight, or something?” Val offered. “One you can’t win on your own?”
“Not even that.” I shook my head, remembering Raw-Maw. “I don’t have it all figured out. But it’s never done more than tire me out and give me a brief, painful sensation. My knuckles don’t actually melt off.” I took off one of my gloves to show her. “And I’ve done that attack at least four times by now. I don’t know where he got his info from, but I probably should have already died by now if my lifespan had been halved that many times.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. “So… you’re okay?”
“As far as I can tell,” I said with a smile, putting my glove back on. “Thanks for the save, by the way.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, shy and confused. “I have no idea what was going on back there. Who is that voice?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I think Dad knew him.”
“Really?” Val said, her eyes blinking and flashing with something I couldn’t make out. But through the mindlink I could feel her struggle through raw memories. “How do you know?”
“I see him, in my dreams sometimes,” I said awkwardly, realizing how stupid that sounded. “He talks with him, and he tells me I can trust him.”
“Oh,” Val said, surprising me with her acceptance. “Okay. Um…” She hesitated briefly. “I’m glad you get to see him again.”
“Thanks,” I smiled. “Me too.”
I turned back to the pool of woad sap.
“We need to figure out what to do next,” I decided. “Unless Avalon suddenly informs us that we’ve completed the Rite.”
“Confirming that the Rite of Territory has been successfully completed by Challenger Lord Wes Malcolm and his retinue,” Avalon suddenly intoned. I saw mist stream in through the now-clear opening leading outside of the tree.
“Did you just jinx yourself on purpose?” Val asked, annoyed. I shrugged.
“Around here, it happens so often that it’s better to trigger it on purpose, when you’re ready for it.”
You guys are alive, right? Eadric sent to my mind. We can tell through the mindlink, but Alum’s people are still worried.
Right, I sent back, then shouted out, “We’re okay! Just another fight with the downstairs neighbor!”
I heard confused muttering, and disparaging remarks about my sense of humor.
What about you guys? I sent back. It looked like you got some action as well.
Damned tendril things kept us from getting to you, the dwarf muttered. Didn’t really hurt us, but we weren’t able to cut or blast through them. Glad you’re okay, though. Any news about Breena and your new babies?
They’re not my—nevermind, I answered. They haven’t come out of the pool yet.
Alright, the dwarf grunted. You might want to get out here, though. Another one of your pain-in-the-ass miracles is happening.
I stepped outside to see what he was complaining about. I felt sunlight stream into my face as soon as I did so. I looked up to see patches opening all over the once-black ceiling. Now I could see that the covering over all our heads had been nothing but massive branches, limbs, and leaves. I could see that the Keepers’ venom had been banished from all of the trees and Gaelguard by now, and I saw the newly restored Woadfather trees sway their limbs as they went to work clearing away the giant Monarch’s dead limbs, letting the pieces crumble to a much smaller size before they reached the rocky floor. Their roots were also shifting, pushing up large cobblestones to reveal rich, black soil underneath.
The underground cave was transforming into an aboveground forest, right before our very eyes.
I cocked my head in confusion. I distinctly remembered descending into a tunnel to begin this Rite. At no point did the ground ever slope back up. In fact, I never even stubbed my toe on a loose rock.
“Am I the only one who realizes this should be impossible?” Karim asked with annoyed calm. The elf and dwarf, two people coming from cultures very familiar with forests and caves (respectively), shook their heads.
“No,” the bright-haired elf said. “This isn’t supposed to be a thing that happens. Which makes it a noteworthy event,” he added with a pained sigh.
“Gonna be a real bitch to try and figure out how to record it, too,” Eadric grumbled.
“Witnessed in script…” Karim began reluctantly.
“Witnessed in song,” Weylin sighed unwillingly.
“And witnessed in fucking stone,” Eadric groaned. “Somehow. I’ll have to figure it out.”
“Do you think you can get away with just carving a statue of a tree growing from a rock?” Weylin muttered, still looking up.
“I sure as hell hope so,” the dwarf replied. “At least we all know who to bill for the materials, though,” he added darkly.
“Agreed,” the other Testifiers said at once. All of them looked over to give me a look of smoldering discontent.
“Guys, I swear to God and the pasta monster,” I began to protest. “I had no idea this would happen. I don’t ask for stuff like this to keep happening any more than you do.”
“Then work on your nonverbal cues,” the dwarf replied. “Because someone else is getting the wrong message from you.”
I decided they were all impossible and gave up talking to them.
“Lord Wes Malcolm addresses Avalon and the Woadfathers,” I called out. “We request advice on assisting the birth of the next Woadfather.”
“Answering the Lord of Avalon.” Mists suddenly rose out the rocky soil. “The Rite of Territory has been completed. Avalon is adjusting the shape of its terrain to better accommodate the Ritual: In Case of Trouble. The Monarch’s body and seed will both be taken into account.”
“What?” I asked, confused. “I thought the Shelter was already activated?”
“Confirming that the Shelter was successfully activated,” Avalon replied. “Upgrading capabilities to allow protocol to better carry out full function: survive, and then thwart, current tribulations. To that end the Shelter serves to protect, repair, and then empower inhabitants to overcome current threats. Avalon will now modify newly available terrain to accommodate overall goal. Please stand by.”
“Um, okay,” I said, wondering what weird thing was about to happen now, and just how much I would get blamed for it. “Everybody brace yourself. The uh, ground, is about to move.”
My comment was greeting with over a dozen people blinking and asking “what?” before the stone and soil under our feet began to shift. I saw the roots and branches of the Woadfathers all twist to reach each other, linking together until the trees themselves formed one giant wooden web. The mist all around us thickened, to the point where I couldn’t even see my hand if I held it in front of my face. Rumbling sounded all around me, but when the mist vanished I found we were all still in front of the massive Monarch.
Everything else, though, had moved.
The other Woadfathers were all much farther away, making the clearing around the giant tree to be quintuple the size it previously was. The other difference was that my entire settlement was now inside the clearing.
“Translocation,” Karim breathed in wonder, too overwhelmed to even complain. “And on a scale this immense. Incredible.”
My manor was only a few dozen yards away, looking horribly dwarfed by the size of the immense tree a long stone throw away. The thatch and straw huts looked like tiny yellow pill bugs in comparison. I began to wonder if we should
just scrap everything and build a tree fort, or tree citadel, out of our massive new neighbor. But then the giant groaned, and I was reminded that it was at the end of its life.
Avalon, I asked with my mind. Is that thing going to fall on my village?
Negative, the planetary intelligence sent back. The Woadfather Monarch plant has adapted to ending its life cycle in a way that will not damage the environment it once oversaw. The tree will use its roots to determine the least inhabited direction, and break itself so that it may collapse towards that direction. Caution is still advised. Do not move to be directly under the location it chooses to fall.
Thanks, I replied dryly. Wasn’t planning on it.
The Gaelguard finally broke their circle and vigil as one of the tree’s roots pulled upward, forming a large spike. Other roots unearthed themselves in that direction as well, making a series of short pillars and crude arrows, as if it were trying to both indicate the direction it would collapse as well as help brace the environment for when the trunk finally fell. The branches and leaves had been long gone, stripped earlier by the smaller Woadfathers as they collapsed.
I had Avalon broadcast one final, unnecessary order to avoid standing near the area that the giant plant would collapse at, and then we all moved to the opposite side to watch a forgotten wonder pass from this world. I did my best to adopt a respectful demeanor, but I couldn’t help glancing at the pool where Breena was supposed to be. I really hoped nothing would go wrong with all of this.
Slowly, the entire tree began to crack and shift on its side, falling towards the direction of the roots lined up to brace it. It somehow tore right at the base, leaving the woad pool and treasure chamber thankfully untouched. I expected the massive structure to fall with an earth-shattering roar, but as I watched the giant tree simply crumbled into a cloud of dust, save for a few medium-sized chunks that landed with dull booms.
The dust itself began floating upward, merging into the lingering mist.
Absorbing new material, Avalon sent me. Incorporating new resources into Protocol In Case of Trouble. Stand by for further transformation.
“Sure, whatever,” I said numbly, stepping toward the pool still containing my bonded friend. But when I reached it, the pool was empty. Just an empty hole of dirt with wood lining.
Avalon, I sent urgently, where is Breena? Locate her right now.
I reached for her through the mindlink, and felt nothing.
Stand by, Avalon messaged me. Seed restoration was successful. Assigning optimal location for newly born Monarch. Incorporating Monarch into Shelter improvements.
That was cool. Probably. I just wanted to make sure my friend was okay.
The mist finished merging with the Monarch’s dust and condensed into a cloud. It rushed over my head, heading straight for the wooden manor. It spread out along the walls and lawn, shimmering as it did so. When the glowing dust faded away, I could see that the timber used for the large house had somehow been replaced by another kind of wood.
But I didn’t care about that at all, because a plant suddenly poked out the middle of my backyard.
I rushed over to it. It was clearly some kind of sapling, rising to about half my height. At its very top though, was a pink bulb the size of both my fists. The stem of the bulb bent to face me, and it opened up to reveal a kaleidoscope of colors—pink, red, orange, and white. A tiny woman suddenly fell into my arms, curled into the fetal position. I caught her, then sucked in a gasp as I looked at her.
Her hair was still pink, but now it was longer and curlier, and dotted with tiny flowers of red, white, and orange. Her torso and waist were covered with larger petals of the same three colors, and her normally pale skin practically glowed with health, giving her a golden tan that strangely did not reach her still-ivory face. As she sank into my chest and began to stretch out her legs, I realized that she had once again grown in size, to where she was over four feet tall. Close to Val’s size, in fact.
Only more womanly, Teeth said unhelpfully in my mind. A lot more womanly. Can we talk about that?
No, I answered firmly, clamping down just as hard on all my ‘don’t touch small women’ triggers.
“Wes?” Breena said as she opened her eyes. Those had changed to a much darker pupil, with an iris that slowly transitioned from green to blue the closer it got to the pupil.
“Yeah, Breena, I’m here,” I answered, snapping my gaze away from her exotically beautiful orbs.
“Hi,” she said with a giggle, seemingly in a bit of a daze herself.
“Um, are you okay?” I asked, wondering if I should check her temperature or something. Then I realized that I couldn’t, because I was holding her, and then I wondered if I should let her go, and then I realized I was making myself awkward and that I needed to get a grip.
“Yes, Wes, I’m fine,” Breena said, grinning wide. “Better than ever, in fact.”
It hit me right then, as her smile washed over me. But it wasn’t just her smile.
It was the same smile Stell had made. That cheerful one, when she got really excited about something.
That smile always slew me. So much that I didn’t even realize until now.
“You look different,” I said dumbly. But I couldn’t help it. I just kept staring at the exotic woman in my arms like a brain-dead idiot.
“Do you like it?” she asked, reaching up and grabbing one of her curls.
“Yeah,” I said, a little more enthusiastically than I meant to. I heard someone groan behind me, and finally realized I was still outside, in a public setting. “I mean um… sorry. I should probably set you down now.”
“Oh.” She blinked, looking around herself. “Right. Good call.”
I set her down as casually as possible, trying to ignore the soft snickering from some asshole in the back. Probably Weylin, I decided. Whatever.
Breena took a careful step on the ground, trying out her new weight.
“Huh, well that doesn’t feel too different,” she decided, pressing down on the soft grass. “Still, never been this big or heavy before. So it still counts as a new thing. Plus,” she added with a fierce new exuberance, “I am finally tall now! People are no longer giants! Ha! See, Wes, I don’t have to look up to yo—” She whipped her head around and realized she was staring right at my chest. “Spit,” she fairy-swore. “Spit and sherbert. Nothing changed at all.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded. “You’re over four times the size you were when I first met you!”
“Yes, but that only brings me eye level with your kid sister,” Breena harrumphed, crossing her arms. “And now it’s harder to fly.”
I finally noticed that her wings were gone. But before I could freak out about it, she nodded and snapped her fingers.
“Yup. Gonna go ahead and wait until I’m a little taller. Sorry, Wes.”
“Sorry?” I asked, confused. “Why are you…”
My voice trailed off as she leaped into the air and shrank down to about two feet in size. Then she stretched her torso out as light suddenly exploded out from behind her back.
Her gossamer wings had expanded in size, almost twice as wide as they were before. Mixed in with their pink color were red, orange, and white lights that danced inside the film. Tiny beams flashed out from her wings, and I was struck with a sight that reminded me of the sun peeking over the horizon.
“Wow,” I breathed. “Those are amazing.”
“Thanks,” she said with another dazzling smile. “They’re my new race’s namesake. I’m a Dawn Fairy now. Or a Sunrise Sprite. Depends on which legends you read.”
“Legends?” I asked, tilting my head.
“They’ve mostly vanished,” she answered. “The few I know of are either Icons now or the direct servants to the Icon Titania.” She smiled at me, and began zipping around experimentally. “I’m so much faster now. It’s so much easier to think, and do magic. My natural Sprite magic has grown stronger, and I think I may be close to learning some new Ideals
again.” She did a backflip in midair, still giggling. “Thank you, Wes. This might be my favorite miracle so far.”
The Testifiers all groaned as they realized they had yet another historical event to recreate with their respective arts. Serves them right, I thought smugly.
The little sprite zipped around for a few moments longer, giggling in joy.
“There,” she came to a stop and announced. “Got it all out of my system now. Back to thinkin’ tactical.” She dimmed her glow experimentally, nodding in satisfaction as her wings shrunk and she resembled her original glow. “Good, good. Stealth mode is still a go. Gotta make a few other changes though,” my fairy companion said, glancing up at her hair. “Yeah, this is way too formal for field work. I’d better save the look for other stuff.”
“Do you have to?” I blurted out.
Yeah, does she have to?
“Aww, you really do like it.” She beamed at me. “Thanks for being a sweetheart.” She tugged at the curly locks dangling in front of her face. “This can really get in a girl’s way during aerial combat though. So I’m going to have to save the look for special events.” She performed gestures for an Air spell, and a tiny spinning disk appeared over her finger. The disk buzzed as she swept it through her long locks, trimming her hair back to her original length. Then she snapped the fingers on her other hand to create a Lightning spell. Another moment later and she had zapped her hair into resembling her old spiky pixie cut. Somehow the new flowers all remained undisturbed. “Alright, back to Breena 1.0. Now we should talk about all the other stuff.”
“Right,” I said suddenly. “The kids.”
Everyone gave me an odd look.
“I mean the Keeper eggs,” I clarified. “Did they make it, too?”
“Right, those.” Breena snapped her fingers. “They’re fine. They’re in a small hole in the tree. See?”
She pointed to a tiny opening on the other side of the sapling, one webbed off with red silk.
“They haven’t hatched yet, but Avalon and the Monarch were able to do this for them. Thanks to the energy of the tree, this is probably the most ideal place for them to incubate.”
Woad Children (Challenger's Call Book 3) Page 22
