by J. A. Marlow
A field of dim blue light emerged around the crashed shuttle. Kate almost shouted out in victory. Her mother had activated the shuttle force field. With one of the engines gone, it probably wouldn't last long, but Uncle Henry used it to his full advantage. He stayed behind the field, swinging his axe in and out of the field to take out any Shadow Creature venturing too close.
A round of fire from the Newcomer ship hit the center of the forest. The trees around them shivered as the spores hit. The tree under her hands shuddered.
Great, now even the sacred trees were infected with spores.
Kate ducked back to the other side of the tree, swinging the axe at a close shadow. Tears poured down her face. There were too many Shadow Creatures and Newcomers to fight off. And now her mother's life was in danger, too.
Where were the Ancients? She had to find the Ancients! Only they could stop all this.
The Watcher swooped out of the trees, hitting one of the flying Shadow Creatures in the back. The two spiraled out of the air into a group of bushes, ripping at each other.
Nearby, tree shot up out of the ground, growing with amazing speed. Several surrounding trees around it fired small bolts of energy to it. The top of the central tree glowed brilliantly before firing off a bolt at the Newcomer ship. It shattered against an energy barrier surrounding the ship. Bolts from other trees hit the same part of the ship's field, but none of them penetrated to the hull.
She looked at Ayden. His face had turned pale again, with his jaw set. The new dose of spores no doubt was making it worse for him.
A group of Shadow Creatures circled the tree, pinning the two against it.
The Watcher and one of the flying wolves flew through, their aerial battle continuing. Kate swung the blade, finding it swishing through empty air.
A deep boom sounded out from the Newcomer ship. Kate felt the spores in her react violently. Pushing at her mind.
Obey. Submit.
The spores roiled up, infusing her body.
Oh no, she wouldn't go down so easily. She focused on the Shadow Creatures. She would not die easily, much less submit to the power of the spores.
The trees around her twisted and screeched. Ribbons of white appeared on the bark. Some of the sleeping trees came awake in agony. Others started fading into oblivious.
Kate took a shuddering breath. They were losing. And losing badly.
"We can't win this," Ayden shouted at Kate. "Head into the forest and find the Ancients. I'll cover you."
Kate looked out into the forest. The Shadow Creatures grinned at her. The variety of teeth had one thing in common: They were teeth for hunting. A familiar form moved among them.
Diasis grinned at her. "You aren't going anywhere. Today you die, no matter what the Newcomer wants."
The other Shadow Creatures hung back in deference, moving to attack Ayden. So, she was Diasis's special prize?
Kate steadied herself against the sacred tree behind her, silently apologizing to it for what was happening. Her right hand gripped the axe tighter.
There were too many Shadow Creatures around her to escape into the forest. She'd failed both Grandma and the Ancients. At least she'd tried to help.
She focused on Diasis. She could use her last remaining breaths to get even with the egotist. He would not profit from the horrors he'd inflicted on others.
She pushed away from the tree, fully facing Diasis. "It was only a matter of time before we faced off."
"It will be no contest," Diasis growled. He crouched down, gathering himself to pounce.
A light illuminated the heads of the Shadow Creatures. They froze, looking to the right. Diasis glanced in the direction, and then fully diverted his attention from her.
The light grew brighter. Kate took the risk to turn her head.
And then she turned right around.
Two trees had wrapped themselves together. Two other nearby trees also wrapped around each other. They arched towards each other with their limbs, boughs and branches weaving together.
The middle of the arch shimmered with light. The light grew, dancing along the bark of the intertwined trees. The center grew opaque as energy started snapping back and forth.
Kate squinted, trying to make out the shape emerging from the middle of the arch. A Shadow Creature growled deep in his throat. Kate remembered her vulnerable position, bringing up the axe as she turned back to face her attackers. Only, most of the Shadow Creatures were slinking away.
Diasis snarled at them, "Cowards! One lone Ancient can do nothing against all of us! Stand your ground!"
Kate's head snapped back towards the shape, her eyes wide. An Ancient?
A tall form of brown bark with a red mark on the front glided forward on nimble roots. Boughs moved like multiple arms, swinging along as it moved out of the light.
The mark, the texture of the bark. The same type of tree she'd seen other trees move out of the way of in the visions of summer. The ones the planet really belonged to. And if an awake Ancient was in the forest again it would surely mean the end of human habitation.
The light diminished as the Ancient emerged.
And right into a cloud of spores.
The Ancient twisted, its branches reaching up into the sky. It howled with a ferocity echoed by the trees around it. White appeared on its bark.
Diasis shouted, "The Ancients have fallen! Long live all those in the shadows!"
A series of howls answered his proclamation. Kate turned back at them, finding the Shadow Creatures advancing again.
"Do what you have to!" Ayden shouted.
He let loose with a cry, raised his axe and ran straight at them. A few jumped out of the way, but quickly rebounded. They swarmed towards him, with eyes wide and excited to fight. Kate swung at one nipping at her ankles. She swallowed her doubts.
She turned and ran. She could hear the paws of something running behind her. It only incited her to run faster. She only hoped the Ancient would let her near enough to talk to it. Or didn't hit at her in its violent convulsions.
Something bright tore at the fabric of her cape and shirt, pieces flying into the air. She found herself falling to the ground.
She came to a rolling stop facing away from the Ancient. Captain Straos stood in a small clearing away from any trees, his weapon still aimed at her. An excruciating pain ripped through her body. She curled around it, holding her side tight, feeling a sticky wetness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mary switched the power draw to the secondary battery packs, doing all she could to keep the shields going. They were the only thing keeping Henry safe from the Shadow Creatures.
Two dark shapes zipped by the window, a large dark bird chasing a winged lizard through the trees.
The Alien ship above them fired at another group of trees. The trees exploded in a blossom of bark and wood. Other trees rose up from the ground to replace those destroyed.
She coughed, the white stuff attacking her lungs. Attacking all of her. She could feel it inside, moving and numbing her mind. Making her forget the most basics of the flight controls.
She shook her head.
A flash of red. She looked out the cockpit window. What was Kate doing? Good lord, one of the Shadow Creatures was chasing her down.
A light cut through Kate's back and side, ripping her beautiful cape. Kate went down, rolling on the ground.
Mary heard herself scream Kate's name. The tears rolled down her face. No, not her little girl! Not after finding her!
Kate came to a rest on the ground, curled in a fetal position. And then she stopped moving.
Out of the midst of the battle Mary's eyes latched on the one who had done it. The short rotund alien with the fancy armor with a head that looked like a bowl of bad green jello. The Newcomers Kate spoke of.
A rage built a fire within her stomach. Her hands shook with the intensity. And with the rage a clarity of mind reappeared.
She turned back to the controls with fresh eyes. The Newco
mer had just taken her one joy in the universe. She would take something from him.
The two remaining engines remained functional, although severely low on power. Control would be a problem, but the Newcomer ship was right above her. The engines of the shuttle had one little flaw, something she'd learned from her shuttle teacher who'd loved telling war stories.
She climbed into the back of the shuttle and opened two access panels. The removal of a board and a direct power connect should do it. On the way back to the cockpit she grabbed a weapon from an emergency kit.
She programmed in the new autopilot controls. With a final flick of her wrist she set the program into action.
The two functional engines hummed as they quickly powered up to full power. They would only stay that way for a few seconds, but it should be enough.
She jumped out the door as the shuttle began shuddering in its cradle of dirt and mud. Henry leaned against the side of the shuttle, his eyes starting to glaze over, the axe almost limp in his hand.
The Shadow Creatures threw themselves against the shuttle shield in an attempt to get past it. They paused, watching the shuttle nervously as the engines began to whine loudly. A few stepped back.
Mary tugged at Henry's arm. He looked at her, dazed. "Snap out of it! We have to run!"
Henry blinked at her. Then he blinked again, his eyes clearing slightly. "What's happening?"
"We're about to lose the protection of the shuttle. See that log over there, the one the alien ship shot down? Run for it." Mary said. She took the safety off her weapon.
"How good of a shot are you with that?"
"We'll soon find out." Mary looked back up. "On the count of three."
The nose of the shuttle lifted up, flinging dirt into the air. The Shadow Creatures turned and ran. Mary didn't bother counting. She yelled "Three!" and took off running.
Henry ran next to her, bringing his axe around for a swing at a creature that decided to come after them. The engines of the shuttle screamed, the changing tone telling Mary that it was rising up into the sky.
They made it to the fallen tree, moving around to the other side as a barrier. Mary turned, seeing the nose of the shuttle pointing up into the sky as if a missile. A bluish haze around it showed that the shields were still at a decent level.
With a sharp whine of the engines, the small shuttle shot away from the ground. Straight up it rose, towards the underbelly of the larger ship.
The two shields sparked brightly against each other, for a few moments becoming as bright as a second sun. A bright flare against the bottom of the larger ship and the scream of the shuttle engines disappeared, as did the shuttle itself.
And then nothing.
Didn't she sabotage the engines correctly?
A low snarl told her a Shadow Creature lurked somewhere nearby. Mary turned away from the Newcomer ship, bringing up the weapon with both hands, searching for the source of the sound. She could take a few of them out with her, maybe work her way to Kate.
An explosion ripped through the air, the concussion bending the tops of the trees.
The large ship listed to one side, smoke and fire billowing out from a tear on its port side, losing altitude. With the shields down the weapon fire from the forest impacted the hull, pushing the ship away from the mesa.
In the bright light accompanying the explosions Mary found the Shadow Creature approaching from the top of the downed tree. She lifted up her gun and fired. The shot found its mark, but she spotted other shapes moving quickly towards them.
"There's more!" Henry yelled, pointing.
Mary turned to look at the area where her shuttle once sat. A swarm of shapes, both on the ground and in the air, flowed through the break in the wall of trees.
No way could they fight all of them.
#
Ayden saw Kate fall in front of the writhing Ancient. The fear in him turned to rage. With it the effects of the spores diminished even more. He turned back to his fight with renewed strength.
His axe flew through the air, taking down anything in its way. More Shadow Creatures joined in the fight, but he kept his focus. Keep moving, don't stop, keep the tree at his back, take out as many as he could.
The movement of the sudden rising of the shuttle and the strange strained howl of the engines distracted his attackers. He took full advantage of their lack of attention. A few turned and ran from him, but they were replaced with two-fold more.
A bright light flashed over the forest, followed by a ground shaking explosion. For a moment Ayden thought he saw Diasis, but he was too far for him to take care of the traitor.
Kate.
The image of her fallen body filled his head as he struck out again and again. He needed to get to her, but the mob of Shadow Creatures around him prevented it.
Then he saw the new arrivals. Shadow Creatures spilled into the city through the break in the barrier trees. Only, some didn't look like Shadow Creatures at all.
The Shadow Creatures around him howled with victory. A pack of razor wolves brought their heads down from their howl, their eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Ayden renewed his grip on his axe. Here it came, and nothing would stop it.
The first of the wolves sprung into the air. Ayden ducked, the wolf hitting the tree behind him and bounding away. Ayden didn't want to make the mistake of hitting the sacred tree with his blade, so he brought up the axe as the second wolf attacked.
He slid to the side of the tree, using the momentum of the axe to swing along the ground up into the chest of the first wolf as it turned sharply and came at him from the side.
A dark shape flew through the air, hitting the third wolf in the side as it pounced. Another dark shape launched himself into the tangle in front of Ayden, going after the throat of one of the Shadow Creatures.
Ayden flattened himself up against the tree as a wall of bodies hit the Shadow Creatures from the side, pleased to find himself forgotten in the ferocious battle.
Shadow Creature attacking Shadow Creature? How could this be happening? It must be a hallucination from the spores. What else could it be?
A form with wide paws jumped up from a kill, landing in front of Ayden. Vistus grinned at him, "Join your kind at the other tree. We will protect your way."
Vistus bounded away, aiming for the nearest Shadow Creature. Ayden looked in the direction Vistus indicated, seeing Uncle Henry with Kate's mom.
No, they were being protected by the new arrivals. But Kate wasn't. And if she were dead, then someone had to explain to the Ancient what was happening. That meant him.
Ayden turned away, battling his way from the tree.
Only Kate was no longer where she'd fallen. He couldn't find her anywhere.
#
The pain. It made it hard to breathe, much less move. Kate guessed what she felt from her side was her own blood. A lot of it. So close only to die now.
No, she was still alive. She could still do this.
Kate forced her head up. The Ancient crouched low on its roots, still moving in agony. It was quieter, but she could sense the pain radiating from it.
She forced herself to let go of her side. She pushed herself to her hands and knees. She could hear the sounds of battle all around her.
And an explosion? Had she heard an explosion?
Light filtered through the trees once again, the gaps in the canopy wider than ever before. Good, the trees were still fighting. As long as they did they had a chance.
Shards of bark and rock bit into her hands as she crawled forward. She waited for the bite of a Shadow Creature. Or the bite of Captain Straos's weapon.
A white root thrashed on the ground in front of her. Kate reached out to grab it. The root froze at the touch.
Through the touch came the overwhelming pain as well as the numbing effects of the spores. The Ancient fought the spores, but she could sense it losing the battle.
"Please, I know of a way! My grandmother created a cure!" Kate called up to it
.
The Ancient didn't stop its movements. It shuddered, some of its limbs going rigid.
"You need to take the information in my head!" Kate pleaded, crawling closer.
She reached the trunk, pulling herself up with the help of the bark. It probably didn't even understand her. Where was a bunt when she needed it?
Probably smart and hiding in their holes. Or overcome by the spores.
She hugged the tree with all her might, it being the only reason she didn't collapse back to the ground. Through her tears she whispered, "Please understand. You need what's in me."
The bark shifted. Her hand submerged into the trunk. The absorption increased, her entire arm disappearing into the warm interior.
Just like Grandma.
Kate closed her eyes. Yes, just like Grandma. Well, at least they would both have the same fate. And maybe, just maybe, the Ancient would understand the information Grandma had left in her head and her body.
The sounds of the battle disappeared. Darkness replaced the sunlight of the forest.
Her body didn't feel right. Her body and mind disconnected. She had the strange sensation of her body being ripped apart. Unlike what was surely happening to Ayden, though, it didn't hurt.
It only felt... curious.
The hidden memories raced through her head as if replayed. The parts about the spores repeated. And the tea. Didn't she still have tea in her pocket?
Energy flowed across her senses. In the darkness she could see the spores inside here as isolated spots of color. Grandma's cure had been working. The spores were already being disposed of.
The Ancient reached in, ripping the remaining spores away in a thousand painful pinpricks. With it the pressure in her head eased.
If the Ancient could do that for her, why didn't it do it for itself?
"I have done it for myself, little one," a deep voice said so loud that Kate flinched.
She asked into the darkness surrounding her, "You have? Who are you?"
"I am one of whom you call the Ancients."
