by P. G. Thomas
“I should never have left… Yes, we’ll stay.”
“It does not be your fault, as Mother guides you.”
“Mother doesn’t know that I’m here or my daughters.”
“Mother cares about you, and she shall help.”
Lauren picked up her mug, “Speaking of help. Is there anything I can do to make up for yesterday?”
“I need to go to Mother’s Forest. Plants special I need to treat Earth Mother, but my Earth Guard—”
Lauren never hesitated, “I’ll go with you, and my Granite Guardians will follow.”
“Are you sure?”
“Earth Mother, we have talked about this, and it is too dangerous!” One of the guests at the table was Birdel Softwind, the second in command of Gingaar’s original Earth Guard. While a bloody dressing on his face concealed a healing gash, both of his legs and one arm were bandaged
“I understand your concern, but I need to tend to Earth Mother. I need special plants to care for the others. Mother, she shall protect me.”
“No, it is too dangerous. You—” Then Birdel cast a quick look of distrust to Lauren, “Please, you need to reconsider.”
“No, I must go.”
“Can I go with you?” asked John.
“You are most welcome to join us, Earth Mother.”
“Can’t you call me Unchosen?”
“No, you are an Earth Mother.”
John sighed, “Fine. I’ll go see if the Ironhouse Trollmare Slayers will join us.”
“If Lauren is going,” Ryan added, “then so am I.”
Steve sighed, “I hope I don’t hate myself for this, but can I go?”
*******
When the gates opened, Gingaar holding her Nurture staff called to the Blood Thorns, and they answered, withdrawing to the sides of the road. Then the procession headed out to the forest. Gingaar, Lauren, and Ryan were in the front, surrounded by the six mounted Granite Guardians. Forming a larger perimeter, the two dozen Ironhouse Trollmare Slayers, and directly in the middle of the group, John and Steve. The last one out of the gate was Logan. They rode towards the forest, turned south down the well-traveled road, and then shortly arrived at it, which Lauren had told them about so long ago. All but the Granite Guardians and Ironhouse Slayers dismounted, and Gingaar started harvesting numerous plants and berries with Lauren, ensuring the Granite Guardians would stay close. The Ironhouse Slayers established a perimeter, but Steve and John absently wandered deeper into the forest.
“So, what’re we looking for again?” asked Steve.
“For the last time, I don’t know. Something that looks out of place. Yes, I know everything does. We’re looking for a smoking gun, but there’s no smoke or gun.”
“So how will—”
“Just keep looking. You’re the damn detective, detect.”
“Something that looks odd?”
John nodded his head, “I can talk slower and use smaller words if you want?”
“That was funny—thirty years ago. Get your butt over here.”
“What do you want me to do, spell it out for you?”
“No, I want your Vulcan-like mind to analyze and formulate a possible theory on this eccentricity that I’m currently observing, or should I use smaller words?”
John walked over, “What?”
Steve pointed to the ground to a mound of fresh dirt with a footprint on it.
“It’s dirt.”
“It’s at times like this that I’m thankful they have an exam you need to pass to become a detective. Look closer, genius.”
“It still looks like dirt. Maybe a squirrel buried some nuts.”
“You amaze me, Kid. Sometimes you’re like Einstein, other times like Captain Oblivious, and you wouldn’t recognize a train if you were standing on the tracks. When does a squirrel wear size ten boots? How many mounds of earth have you found? You wanted something out of place. Guess what,” Steve pointed to the ground, “Out of place, and the spider’s supper, he had fresh dirt under his fingernails and on his boots. Now for the bonus points, wait for it…those are his boot prints that I’m staring at.”
“Give me your sword.” Then John began to scrape away the dirt, which exposed an abnormal looking small yellow root. He started to dig around it, discovering the extents quickly and pushed the eight-inch root out of the hole. There was the central root, which measured two inches in diameter, having tapered ends, and three offshoots on each side, which measured one inch in diameter, also having similar ends. Small fibrous growths covered each, most likely the beginnings of new offshoots. As he bent forward to examine it closer, he became aware of a pungent foul smelling odor, which caused his eyes to water.
“What is it, Kid?”
“Beyond disgusting, I have no idea, but it was just planted here. Cut off a piece of your coat, so I can wrap it up since I really don’t want to touch it.”
As John was securing it in the fabric, he asked, “How did you find it?”
“While you might be able to turn bones into jelly, magic is interpreting subtle clues. There has been some recent foot traffic this way; twigs have fresh breaks, stones knocked out of place, and somebody urinated in the forest halfway back. I can’t guess how many, but I imagine that at least ten people have been in here recently. Plus, I think I may have told you that our deceased friend had yellow stains on his hands.”
John stood, “Where are the dwarves?”
“I was following the tracks on the ground. I thought you would be watching them.”
“I thought they would follow us.” John turned, “Let’s get back.”
When a branch snapped to their right, they began to back up, hoping it was a dwarf, but fearing the worst. The head of a giant wolf poked through the bushes, having a long spiraling horn that ended at a sharp point. Then a second head, similar to the first, appeared. Steve, withdrawing his sword, moved closer to John, and just as he was about to call for Ironhouse, one beast with two heads stepped forward. The muscular body of the wolf was a patchwork of fur and exposed skin, covered in large red boils, but it never advanced. Instead, sitting down, it scratched one of the throbbing wounds with such vigor that it burst, jettisoning puss and blood into the forest. Both heads sniffed the air, and then it turned, re-entered the forest.
Uncertain of what they had just witnessed, both quickly followed their path back until they found the dwarven perimeter. Before John could warn anybody, the Granite Guardians suddenly started banging their metal blades against their chests, and when they raised them in the air, all of the Ironhouse Trollmare Slayers saw the blue glow of the ancient runes. As the Granite Guardians forced the Earth Mothers back towards the forest edge, the mounted Slayers began to form into squads of four, and Steve with John headed over towards Gingaar, Lauren, and Ryan.
In the forest, the green bushes began to separate, and the unwelcomed guests appeared. Even though a dozen abnormal looking wolves stood ready to attack, twenty four heads with large sharp teeth stared at them. Some had one head, others two, and several had three. Their bodies varied in a dissimilar chaotic manner, and while the majority had fur or scales, two had thick plating. Half of the Slayers dismounted from their blood wolves, which began to circle around the beasts, lunging and then pulling back, so that another blood wolf could mock attack. Then the dwarves, with their metal blades or huge axes, began to taunt the foul beasts. When an opening presented itself, a dwarf would slam his weapon of choice into the neck of the misshapen creature, ending its cruel existence. Blood from the strange animals now made the ground slick, and when one stumbled, another Slayer would advance, gifting the beast that sought to birth chaos into the lands of Calicon its mithril reward of death.
The Granite Guardians with their blood wolves held their position in front of the five, continuing to form an impenetrable wall of dwarf determination, and trying to force them towards the forest edge. However, realizing they were in no danger, they closed their ranks to watch the Trollmare Slayers eliminate the strange
beasts with methodical attacks until only four remained. Now outnumbered, all expected them to flee, but the grotesque terrors held their ground, looking like they wanted to attack, but only defending themselves the best they could. When the Guardians forced the group that they protected to back up, the remaining multi-headed wolves made bold moves and advanced forward.
Gingaar, concerned that the horrific creatures may be waiting for reinforcements, stepped forward to stand in front of the Granite Guardians. Then commanded the green Nurture staff, “Grow old,” but the powerful magic had no effect on the strange beasts, and Lauren quickly pulled her back behind the irritated dwarves.
Hearing the attacks, Logan ran into the forest and saw the various battles taking place. His original thought had been fireballs, but when he saw the dwarves had the situation under control, he only remained behind in case more of the terrors arrived.
Edrock smiled, “There are too many of us, too few of them, so this is not fair. Practice we still need. Teams two, three, five, and six. Your skills sharpen now, your blades you will dull.” In the center of the clearing, the strange, deadly creatures glanced in all directions, knowing they were outnumbered, and surrounding them, calm dwarves smiled. Edrock sitting on his blood wolf called out orders while he watched his men train, observing their attacks on the beasts that once killed dwarves with the same ease. Dwarf pride filled his heart, but fear filled the hearts of the terrorized animals, and when he knew the lessons had been taught, he gave his final command to vanquish both the fear from their hearts and the last breath from their lungs. As they left, they dragged the dozen headless bodies from Mother’s peaceful forest, so the rotting flesh was unable to taint the sacred ground. Behind Edrock, he dragged a rope that pulled twenty-four severed heads through the dirt, which they would offer to Sister’s black birds: the vultures. However, he was uncertain if they would be able to stomach the foul taste of the horrific beasts.
Logan saw the trail of a red flare in the sky, raced to the forest edge, and saw three large flying trollmares in the distant west. “Sister, the Bastards can’t defend against those, and I can’t stay here. There are other innocents that I need to help save, part of my family. They’re as important to me as these people are to you, but I can’t be in two places at once. Alron needs a guardian, something to protect them.” Then he turned to Gingaar, his eyes two large dark orbs, “This Iron Wood tree, does make it grow, as its magic I need to borrow.”
“As you request, Sister,” and as she looked at the short Iron Wood tree, concentrated, willing the magic in her staff to answer the call.
When it was a hundred feet tall, Logan nodded, “That is sufficient. All need to move back.” He walked up to the green giant, placed his hands on it, “Burn,” but no flames appeared. Instead, it appeared to glow with the bark turning red, and the leaves turned to a fiery orange color. Then he walked over to his horse, “Let’s get back to town, fast, as I really don’t want to be here when it takes flight.”
Being uncertain of the warning, they quickly took to their saddles and raced back to town. As they did, they watched over their shoulders, looking at both the approaching sky terrors and the strange red and orange glowing tree. They were almost at the garden of suffering when Logan stopped and turned. The tree erupted into a tower of flames, and from the sides, blazes spread out, arching up from the bottom until they were level with the top, looking like wings. The image of the fire began to change, transformed, altering into the shape of a large burning bird, and when the wings moved, it took flight. Flying straight up, a trail of smoke flowed from its tail, and below it, the blackened silhouette of a giant Iron Wood tree. High in the air, it hovered for a few seconds and then swooped towards the flying creatures, catching one of them in its fiery talons, burning it to a crisp instantly. The second, unable to dodge the large angry burning bird, flew straight into it, causing ashes to rain down. The last had turned, tried to find a spot to hide, when the talons of fire released Sister’s wrath. Heading back to the blackened tree, the great fire bird’s apparition swirled around it, and when the fire died out, the bark was once again red and the leaves orange.
“The air is her domain,” advised Logan, “and she didn’t like it being corrupted by those things.”
“Seriously,” Lauren started, “what did you do?”
“Sister’s magic is always moving, so it needed a home, something to keep it in place. The magic in the Iron Wood tree will keep it here for a while.”
“You made a phoenix tree?” asked John.
“What’s a Kleenex tree?”
Chapter 16
After they returned to town, they briefly visited Nur, allowing Gingaar to administer the new gifts from Mother. Heading to Pintar’s, they needed a large room for all those who had either questions or answers, but Lauren feared there would be more of the first, few of the second. They pushed three round tables together to form a triangle. Around the first sat Lauren, Ryan, Logan, Eric, and John. At the next sat Zack, Gingaar, Birdel, Mirtza, and Gayne. At the last, Pintar, Ramy, Horac, Edrock, and Steve. As in the past, once again, all eyes focused on Lauren. She first asked Gingaar to provide an update on Nur for everyone, and then had Logan explain his phoenix tree.
Then Ramy asked about the fight in the forest.
Edrock explained about the warning from the Granite Guardians, the glorious Slayer battle, and the practice session afterwards. Then he set down his drink, “Attack they did not, and that was strange. Never before have I seen the beasts act this way. They defended and advanced, but did not attack.”
“They were not natural,” added Gingaar. “With my staff, I tried to age them, but it had not affect. Plant and assassin both does grow, but the trollmares rejected Mother’s magic.”
“Same thing happened to us,” all eyes focused on Steve, “When John and I wandered too far away, one stepped out of the woods. Ugly thing, two heads, covered with sores, but it didn’t attack.”
“As well, they didn’t attack when we were standing beside the Earth Mothers.” They could all see John thinking, “Since they’ve attacked the Granite Guardians before, their presence would have little influence on their behavior. With Logan at the forest edge, even if they could sense Sister, he was most likely too far away. If Mother’s magic had no effect on them, then I doubt if Earth Mother frightened them. However, when Steve and I were alone, the one that found us never even snarled. Since I didn’t have my cloak, there was no magic to sense on me, and they’ve attacked Steve before. Why would their behavior change?” He looked over at Steve, “You’re the detective, good at noticing things that are out of place. What was different?”
As all of the eyes shifted to Steve, Mirtza advised, “You must have ripped your coat. Something is going to fall out of your pocket.”
Reaching just above the section he had cut off for John, he pulled out one of the pieces of branded skin, looked at it, and then threw it on the table. “I wanted to show it to Pintar today, seeing if he recognized it.” Edrock picked it up, looked at it, passing it to the next person as Steve continued. “That has to be how the assassins traveled through the country, and he even said it was for protection, but those things couldn’t see it, so it isn’t a visual signal.”
Zack picked it up, “It doesn’t have any scent at all, just like the assassins.”
“I thought everything had a smell?” asked Mirtza.
“Until I sniffed those guys, yes, not even body odor. I couldn’t track them even if I wanted to. I could smell Vink and Ecoz on one of them, but those two didn’t have any scent.”
Logan sat up, “Where is he?” Fire was wicking off of his fingertips.
“Dude, calm down, they belong to me. I told Ramy when he was done I wanted to introduce them to my zoo. So where are they?”
“We may have a slight problem here boys,” and then Ramy turned to face John and Steve.
“The first one,” John started, “barely survived the amputation. I needed a test subject for a new spell that t
urns bones to ash. He was…sort of convenient.”
Ramy nodded, “Most horrible thing I have ever seen. We dug a hole out back, putting him beside it, and he just slid right into it.”
“I told John the last one wouldn’t talk,” advised Steve, “so I introduced him to Earth Mother and one of her pet spiders.”
A visible chill ran up Zack’s back, “A deer spider?” Then he smiled, “You bastard.”
“No, I forbid anybody from using that word anymore. Please, stop,” pleaded Logan. “What could a deer spider do? He needed to feel real pain for what he did to Vink and Ecoz!”
Gingaar tried to conceal her smile, “My deer spiders are large as this table. Even though their image pleases myself, others it scares. Their venom is deadly, which it delivers with fangs huge.”
“He talked, begged us to kill him quicker,” Steve said, “but we didn’t. Trust me, Kid. I’ve never seen somebody suffer so terribly.”
Logan’s fingertips extinguished, “As long as it was painful.”
“No scent?” asked John, “That’s strange because one of the assassins was from Darkpaye.”
That single word opened up a floodgate of forgotten memories in each. Even though all at the table may have celebrated the defeat of Darkpaye, the price paid in blood and pain was as monumental as the defeated army was.
“How do you know that?” asked Eric.
“Steve requests that I issue an Earth Bond to the foul man,” Gingaar explained, “and he did not react.”
“Wait a second.” Lauren interrupted, “Why would her staff affect the assassins, making them grow old, but when I issued my Earth Bond, it had no effect on them?”
“My best guess is the Earth Bond requires a conscious connection with the magic,” began John. “If instead of trying to compel Hoyle to talk, you made him grow old with the magic, it would most likely have affected his body the same way. Even though he might be able to mentally reject the Earth Bond, his body would be unable to defend against the magic.”
