The Witch; Stronghold; Underworld

by Ky Tyrand

  “What do we aim for?” asked Ki’ara.

  “The vines,” said Je’nna. “They’re plenty strong and easy to grab hold of. It’s a mess in there, though. And they get thicker farther in. Try to skirt the trees as much as you can. It’s hard because they grow together and you won’t be able to tell which tree is which. Avoid the trunks, or it’ll slow us down. Stay close to me.”

  “Got it.”

  Je’nna leapt, and Ki’ara followed. They soared through the air before each catching hold of a vine, spinning around it, and then springing to the next.

  Not all of the vines were hard columns of wood. The newest ones were still soft and supple, like cords of rope dangling in the wind. With their weight drastically reduced by the tech on their backs, the girls were able to swing on these ones and pull themselves along at a terrific pace.

  It soon became an unspoken race between the two of them, to see who could move the fastest, and Ki’ara was elated to find herself pulling ahead. She wondered if Je’nna was letting her win, but didn’t think the other girl would ever do that. So she charged ahead, swinging from tree to tree, ducking under branches and slipping between woody columns of hardened vines, in a mad dash to beat Je’nna to the finish line – wherever that was.

  But, as Ki’ara pulled ahead and got deeper into the jungle, she noticed that things were beginning to change. It was denser here, the trees much closer together, making it impossible to tell where one ended and the next began. The nature of the vines also seemed different. They were clingier, somehow; hooking themselves around her ankles and legs as she swung. Ki’ara barely detected it at first, but soon found herself kicking the vines away between every swing. Not only was it slowing her down, it actually felt a little creepy. Okay, a LOT creepy.

  She tried to let go when she reached a solid branch, only to realize a vine had somehow coiled around her wrist.

  “Uh, Je’nna…?”

  Her communicator crackled – “Something tried to grab me!!!”

  Ki’ara looked back for the other girl, but couldn’t see her. “Je’nna, are you okay?”

  All Ki’ara could hear was her own breathing, which seemed so much louder inside the helmet. She fought the vine off her and kicked it away, but there was something about it…

  The vine was moving on its own, trying to come back to her.

  Ki’ara glanced about at the dozens of vines draping around her.

  They were all moving.

  “Holy crap! Je’nna…”

  Before Ki’ara could sputter out what was going on, Je’nna’s voice echoed through her helmet – “These trees are alive!”

  26

  It was as if she was surrounded by countless hungry snakes, slithering, probing forward, trying to catch hold of her wrists and ankles – even her neck. These were the very cords that had brought her here, luring her into the thickest part of the jungle. And now they were coming at her.

  No longer slow and calculated, the vines began whipping about, lashing at her from every angle. Ki’ara let out a squeak as one caught hold of her knee, another under her armpit. They were everywhere.

  Ki’ara’s Niksuru came to life, slicing them off her.

  It was no problem for her blades of pure Blue Energy to dice through the twiggy cords. But that didn’t seem to stop them. Any decapitated ends continued to thrash and try to coil around her. Ki’ara’s hands moved quickly – the plasma that extended past her knuckles chopped everything in its path. But the whips were fast and relentless, coming at her from all angles, even below.

  She swatted every which way as the vines lashed at her with frantic speed. It was as if she’d disturbed a nest of Redjackets, and needed to make her arms twist at the most awkward of angles. She couldn’t wave them off fast enough.

  Frightened and frustrated, Ki’ara flipped open one of her weapons, letting the six independent blades light up. The vines were upon her the moment she stopped swatting. Ki’ara let them take her in order to throw the weapon as hard as she could.

  Ropy vines coiled around her almost instantaneously, cinching their grip with unyielding pressure. Her arms and thighs were completely engulfed as more and more strands twisted around her. Breathing became difficult under the pressure crushing her waist, making it almost impossible to concentrate.

  So long as she could keep an eye on her Niksuru, Ki’ara could steer it with her mind and sever the ties from above. It was a great plan, right up until her visor was blocked by the tightening knot of vines.

  Well this is not good.

  Her vision was lost. The girl could no longer see what her spinning blades were cutting. And the struggle to breath made her fear she might black out. Ki’ara knew that if the sinewy cords found their way to her neck, it would be over.

  She had to act fast.

  Despite not being able to see her weapon, she could still feel its every movement. Ki’ara knew exactly where her Niksuru was, she just couldn’t tell what was in its path.

  It didn’t matter. When in doubt, cut it all!

  She couldn’t risk having the device lose its momentum again, so she sped up the particles of Blue Energy and hoped that Je’nna kept her distance.

  Ki’ara tightened the strands of energy that connected it to her, reeling it in, closer and closer. The spinning weapon responded better than it ever had. It was as if her loss of vision strengthened the link she had with the device. Like a blind person developing keener hearing.

  Right now, all Ki’ara could hear were the sounds of cordage snaking around her, mixed with her own heavy breathing. She wished she'd hear Je’nna in her ear, telling her that everything was going to be okay. Instead, a new sound began to take over.

  Her Niksuru.

  The sound of the wind that it created; and of falling branches and vines as she whipped the device around in tighter and tighter circles. And not just over her head. Ki’ara now had room to steer it right underneath her, and let the glowing disc orbit her in a spherical pattern, forming a protective bubble around her body.

  It cut through everything.

  The spinning blades didn’t differentiate between hard vines or soft ones – if they were within Ki’ara’s protected perimeter, sooner or later they would be severed.

  It was working.

  The vines were loosening their hold.

  When the girl felt her perch suddenly drop out from under her, she realized the Niksuru had sliced clean through the thick branch that held her. Were it not for the G.R., Ki’ara would have plummeted along with the heavy limb. She was still going down, just not as fast.

  The Princess heard a loud crash below as she floated down, fighting the tangle of vines off her as she dropped. She hit the ground with a mild thud, but felt no pain through the suit.

  The foliage was thick around her, but Ki’ara was on solid ground.

  “Je’nna?” she said, scrambling to her feet and kicking the tangle off her. “Je’nna, are you okay?”

  Silence

  Leaves rustled around her. Branches creaked above. Roots crawled below.

  The jungle was alive.

  Ki’ara dematerialized her helmet. The light from her Niksuru was messing with the Night Vision.

  She drew back her flying weapon, closed it, and fastened it back to her wrist. But her blades remained extended and bright.

  The girl crouched, and leapt.

  27

  Flying through the air, Ki’ara slashed all vines that wiggled anywhere near her. She aimed herself at the woody columns that connected the heavy branches to the ground, avoiding the softer vines that were quick to attack and difficult to keep at bay. Other than the Blue Energy blades, Ki’ara was convinced that her best defense was to keep moving. She hopped from tree to tree, desperately searching for any signs of her friend.

  “Je’nna!” she called. Since the girl wasn’t responding through the communicator, Ki’ara left her helmet off thinking there was a better chance of hearing.

  She jumped to the last place she had
seen the girl, hoping to find her there. But there were no signs of Je’nna.

  Even with the intense blue light from her blades, things were sure spooky out here. “Je’nna!”

  Sheewk!!!

  Ki’ara recognized the muffled sound immediately. Though quiet, Je’nna’s pistols made a very distinct noise. Ki’ara closed her helmet and jumped in the direction she thought the blast came from. She retracted her plasma blades and activated the Night Vision in her visor – something that was easy to do now that she knew how.

  She scanned the area; spotted movement.

  Not in the trees but on the ground.

  Ki’ara caught hold of the nearest limb and pushed off, altering course. Below her, surrounded by a ring of rustling bushes, she saw a dark knot of wood that seemed to be thrashing from side to side. Ki’ara couldn’t fully understand what she was witnessing, but a faint green outline blinked on her visor screen – the contorted form of a person under the mass of wood, above the word ‘HARDWARE’.

  That was all she needed.

  Ki’ara’s helmet disappeared as the blades on her wrists came to life. Under the glow of her Niksuru, she could now recognize what she was about to land on…

  Tanglewood trees were notorious for taking over the jungle with roots that meandered over the surface of the ground, spreading from the base of the tree at an alarming rate. They could grow just about anywhere, even on solid stone. Vines that dropped from the branches soon formed their own roots, creeping along the surface of the ground to spread even farther from the base.

  And right now, those roots had hold of Je’nna.

  These were not the soft, ropy cords that had tied themselves around Ki’ara. This was solid wood – thick and strong – and had knotted itself around Je’nna in a twisted mass of limbs that hid her small body almost entirely.

  “I’m here, Je’nna,” Ki’ara called out. “Hang on!”

  The Princess didn’t hesitate to start slashing. Her blades cut through the thickest of roots in a single swipe. The only thing that slowed her down was not knowing where the tree limbs ended, and Je’nna’s limbs began. One wrong move and her friend would end up in more pieces that she began with.

  Ki’ara had learned from the vines that once they were cut, the severed ends seemed to die while the attached ends did not. She quickly fought her way around the perimeter of the woody knot so that she could cut the main roots first – theoretically killing the tangle that held Je’nna before it could tighten any more.

  She diced wood and foliage alike, carving her way down to the feeder roots so she could butcher them. With her blades too short to be effective in the thick vegetation, Ki’ara pulled the handles from her wrists and clicked them together into a single, double-length handle. It was something she’d learned to do while fighting the Demonheads at the Abnukadin – a mindboggling discovery that proved the Niksuru to be even more versatile than she had first thought.

  The Blue Energy pooled together in the long handle, and Ki’ara drew it all out from one end. Growing to twice the length it would while separated, the dazzling plasma blade sliced a wide swath around the girl as she charged about, swinging madly at the jungle. The smell of smoke filled the air as she seared her way through the wet wood, one swipe at a time.

  Satisfied that the aggressive roots had ended their constricting attack, Ki’ara went to work frantically removing the misshapen wood.

  Though she still couldn’t see her, Ki’ara tried to reassure Je’nna with her voice, telling the girl that she was going to get her out. When Ki’ara finally reached the limbs that had coiled around her friend’s face, she carefully pulled them away, uncovering the girl’s helmet. Even through Je’nna’s visor, Ki’ara could see that her eyes were wide with terror. But they blinked. Je’nna was alive.

  Her helmet retracted, and she took a deep breath. “Get this crap off me!” she demanded, clearly shaken.

  Relieved that her friend was okay, Ki’ara went back to work, carving the wood away as quickly as she could, while taking care not to cut into the trapped girl. She found one of Je’nna’s pistols still clutched in her friend’s fist. The other had been stripped away, now probably buried somewhere in the pile of wood.

  Je’nna was nearly freed when her eyes suddenly went wide. “Behind you!” she shouted.

  28

  Ki’ara spun and batted, lopping the end off of a large, snaking root, before rolling under and cutting it a second time, farther up. “We’ve got to get out of here!” she called to Je’nna.

  The other girl tried to fight her wrist and ankles free, even switching hands with her pistol so she could blast herself loose. It wasn’t an ideal tool for the job, considering the intricacy of the task, but she’d already shot her way free before Ki’ara returned to her. After pushing a heap of gnarled roots aside to find her other gun, Je’nna got to her feet and began shooting her pistols at anything moving that wasn’t wearing a Battle Harness – which was everything surrounding the pair. “Let’s go,” she said, before adding, “My communicator’s out. How about we stay together this time?”

  Ki’ara cringed at the suggestion. She knew that if she hadn’t tried to race ahead, this might not have happened.

  Je’nna took a step to do her running leap, but something had hold of her ankle, nearly tripping her to the ground. Another vine. Or root. Or something. But this didn’t come from a tree – it came straight out of the dirt. Je’nna’s blaster took care of it. “Okay, now let’s go.”

  “Which way?” asked Ki’ara.

  Je’nna pointed. “Over there. Sirona’s cottage is near the base of the mountain. This is her doing. A subtle security system. We get past it, and we get to her…”

  With a blast of dirt, woody whips exploded from the ground, coiling around Je’nna’s waist before she could react. They latched on and pulled her down. The girl crumpled, landing on her bottom in the same spot where she’d been trapped only a moment ago.

  But Je’nna didn’t stop when she hit the ground. The tension of her bonds refused to ease, dragging her down to wherever they came from. Before her stunned eyes could even blink, she was folded in half, butt-first into the soil, with her arms clawing and flailing above her.

  Ki’ara dove, trying to catch hold of her friend. She was aiming for Je’nna’s wrist but wasn’t fast enough, latching onto her gun instead. She held a firm grip on it, hoping Je’nna would do the same.

  Her friend’s body had already been pulled into the reddish dirt.

  All that was left of her was her feet.

  Ki’ara dropped her Niksuru and caught hold of an ankle.

  Her face pushed into the dirt. For a moment Ki’ara thought she would be dragged into the ground along with Je’nna. But the soil resisted her. Je’nna was pulling away.

  Ki’ara squeezed with all her might.

  The gun snapped back.

  Je’nna had let go.

  Ki’ara tossed it aside in hopes of getting a second hand on her friend’s ankle.

  Already far into the dirt, she had to dig down…

  Je’nna’s ankle was slipping away.

  Ki’ara frantically squeezed. Dug. Stretched.

  Her fingers popped free before she could get her other hand far enough.

  Je’nna was gone.

  29

  The girl spit dirt from her mouth as she screamed her friend’s name, desperately digging into the soil like a burrowing animal.

  She was down a foot. A foot and a half. There was no sign of Je’nna, but Ki’ara would dig as far as she had to.

  Her head pulsed. Her fingers bled. Reality set in and Ki’ara could suddenly hear the jungle closing in around her. She felt something reaching around her waist.

  She knelt up. Didn’t fight it.

  “Fine, take me!” Ki’ara resigned herself to the fate of the others, as whips of roots and vines came at her from every angle, coiling around her before she had a chance to argue with herself.

  It wasn’t until she was fully engu
lfed that the girl realized there had still been hope.

  Je’nna had thought CST-1 might be alive, possibly somewhere in the mountain. Maybe Je’nna was, too.

  What have I done?

  A wave of guilt washed over Ki’ara as she realized that she had no right to give up. Je’nna needed her. Sir Grue’gan needed her. Even CST-1 needed her.

  They’re all in trouble because of me!

  There was only one option for her.

  Ki’ara needed to fight.

  Taking a deep breath before the woody tentacles tangled around her face, Ki’ara pulled on the connection to her Niksuru. The paired handle snapped into her hand, the long blade blasting out of the end.

  Despite being wrapped tight, the girl was able to spin her wrist this way and that, carving herself free in a flurry of blue haze. She exploded off the ground in a leap that sent smoldering wood flying in every direction.

  Ki’ara landed on the first solid branch that came her way, slicing three slithering vines aside in the process. There was no question that she needed to keep moving, and was about to spring off when she remembered Je’nna’s gun. She’ll want it back when I find her.

  Locating the weapon wasn’t a problem. Ki’ara had formed a connection to Je’nna’s blasters during her fight with the Keeper. At that time, she’d surrendered the link to her own weapons in order to bond with them. That wouldn’t be necessary now. She could already sense the tendrils of energy bridging the gap between herself and the pistol. The instant they connected, she pulled, retracting the strands into her waiting hand. Ki’ara caught the weapon and used her Mu’turi to holster it on her thigh, just like Je’nna would have.

  “I’ll get it back to you,” the girl whispered as she bounded from the tree, intent on slicing a path all the way to Sirona’s doorstep.