by Faith Naff
Shimmer still stood to the west of them clutching the small pouch given to her by the forest spirit, Wyndelle. In the darkness that surrounded them, the glow from the seeds inside shone through the lacing along the seams. She was trembling, her skin freezing from the rain and lack of sunlight, but also because of the announcement she now had to make in a very short period of time.
“If you’ve got something to say, you’d better get on with it,” Cricket said. His tiny voice was almost impossible to hear in the driving rain.
Shimmer opened the top of the pouch in her hand and tilted it forward, letting her companions see what it contained. The golden light from the glowing seeds cut through the darkness brighter than the torches had before the storm put them out. The glimmer and radiance forced everyone’s attention away from the approaching army of balisekts.
“What is that?” Snowflake asked. Her wide eyes reflected the golden glow of the seeds she gazed upon.
“Did the dryad give that to you?” Valdin asked.
Shimmer nodded. “She did,” she replied, trying to speak loudly enough to be heard over the rain. “They are a gift from the Lady to aid in her errand.”
“You don’t sound too thrilled about it,” Cricket said.
“You mentioned a price,” Rosewood chimed in as the tip of her staff began to emit a brilliant, green light. The glowing emerald acted as a torch, illuminating the area around them and allowing them all to see. The sheets of rain falling from the sky still obscured much of their vision though.
Shimmer nodded. “These gifts are for anyone willing to aid in our journey to save the forest, even those that weren’t chosen, but taking this gift binds you to the journey until its completion.”
“What does that mean?” Snowflake asked.
Shimmer let out a sigh while she looked deep into the elf maiden’s eyes. “If you take a seed, you are bound to the task by contract,” she said. “If you abandon the quest, you will have a curse upon your head from the Lady herself.”
“Oh, is that all?” Cricket said sarcastically.
“Snowflake, high priestess, the rest of us are already bound to this journey by fate, but you each still have a choice,” Shimmer said with assurance. “If choose to partake of the gift, you are bound to the quest until the end.”
A twinkling in the distance caught Valdin’s eyes, taking his attention away from Shimmer and her glowing bag. The glow from Rosewood’s staff had been reflecting off the raindrops as they fell, but now he could see several reflections holding still against the sheets of rain. These weren’t raindrops, but pairs of eyes. The balisekts were upon them. “Better make that decision fast,” he said as he raised his sword.
Rosewood quickly leaned towards Shimmer. Reaching her fingers into the bag she plucked a glowing seed from the pile. “I’m with you,” she said.
Shimmer nodded in gratitude before turning her attention towards Snowflake. Her young friend was shivering as the cold rain beat down upon her. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths from both cold and fright. It looked like she was crying, but the rain water covering her face made it difficult to tell. “Snowflake,” Shimmer said as gently as she could while still being heard over the storm. “It’s okay. You don’t have to…”
Before Shimmer could finish, Snowflake suddenly lunged out towards the bag. Her fingers plunged into the glowing pile of seeds and she quickly selected one. She acted with great haste, as if trying to move before her burst of courage left her.
Shimmer nodded in thanks, but silently she feared what this journey would mean for her young friend. Of course, those same fears were just as easily applied to herself. “Everyone, take one quickly,” she said as she selected her own seed from the bag.
Keeping their gazes on the multitudes of eyes popping up amongst the blackness, each of the frightened travelers reached over and selected a seed from the bag in Shimmer’s hands. Once everyone’s seed was selected, Shimmer closed the bag and tied it to her belt.
“So what exactly are we supposed to do with these things?” Cricket asked.
Shimmer lowered down to a crouching position and dug her fingers into the muddy ground at her feet. “The seed is a wish,” she said as she dropped hers into the tiny hole she’d made. Her hands raked the displaced mud back over the hole, hiding the glowing seed beneath the ground. “Give it unto the Lady, and watch it grow into reality.”
No one was quite sure what to think, but they did as instructed. Each crouched down and planted their seed in the mud at their feet. After quickly covering them back up, they rose to their feet and waited.
“Well, we’re all going to die, but at least we took the time to do some gardening first,” Cricket remarked.
“Hush!” Rosewood insisted. As she looked up from the ground where she’d planted her seed, the green glow radiating from her staff reflected off the scaly snouts of the nearest balisekts. They were in striking position. She could hear their hisses and clicks as they spoke to one another, coordinating their movements into one swift, perfect attack.
Valdin raised his weapon. “Everyone, be ready,” he said.
Before the battle could commence, the ground below their feet began to glow a brilliant gold. The earth rumbled beneath them as it began to split, emitting beams of light from below. It was as if the sun itself had been buried beneath the muddy earth they tread upon. The balisekts stepped back, holding their formation but spreading out in response to this very unforeseeable development.
Before Shimmer and her friends could question anything, golden vines shot forcefully from the fissures in the soil and seized each of the Lady’s travelers by their legs. Instinctively, each fought against the restraints, tugging with all their strength to free themselves, but it made no difference.
“This is supposed to be helping?!” Cricket asked as he tried to fly away from the vine tethering him to the ground.
“It’s okay,” Shimmer said, trying to convince herself as much as her friends. “Just trust in the Lady.”
The glowing vines began to slither up and across their bodies, mummifying them as they grew. Though covering their bodies, they were not constrictive; each was only held just tightly enough to keep their prisoner from escaping. Shimmer’s wide eyes darted from point to point all over her body as she watched the vines consuming her grow larger and larger. Then something started to change. Strangely, the vines began to flatten out against her skin, separating into hard plates. As the plates formed around their bodies, the vines connecting them withered and fell away.
The glow from the ground subsided as the Lady’s chosen were lowered back down to their feet, though it didn’t extinguish entirely. As their feet met the muddy soil once again, each of the travelers found themselves adorned from head to toe in armor. The plates looked like polished wood but were as hard as the strongest iron.
Shimmer and the others looked at their new adornments in awe. The seeds had each grown a full set of armor over their bodies. Not only that, but it was by far the finest and strongest looking armor any of them had ever seen.
“This is incredible!” Snowflake shouted. The amazing experience had pushed the impending attack from the balisekts out of her mind, at least temporarily.
As Valdin studied the new armor covering his body, the soft glow still emitting from the ground caught his eye. At his feet, a short stump jutted from the ground where he had planted his seed. The stump was the width of the vine that it had borne, but had become rigid, hard, and perfectly straight. The vine had broken off too cleanly, leaving an unnatural knot at the end that looked rather ornate. “I don’t think that’s all,” he said.
Valdin reached down and took hold of the hardened stem with both hands. Giving a mighty tug, he pulled the stem up towards him. As if uprooting an enormous carrot, up from the ground came a long, silver blade. The stem formed the hilt of an amazing broadsword that Valdin now grasped firmly in his hands. As the blade left the soil, the glowing ground under Valdin’s feet faded away.
The
others quickly looked down at the withered stumps at their own feet. With great haste and anticipation, each reached down and gave a mighty tug. Shimmer and Rosewood each revealed another sword, much slimmer than Valdin’s but with a razor-sharp edge on each side. Snowflake pulled two small stumps from the ground, revealing a matched pair of long, curved daggers. Cricket found no stump in the ground beneath him, but on the armor plate covering his back he found a bow with a satchel of tiny arrows, their wooden tips already saturated with deadly poison. As the last weapon was pulled from the muddy soil, the glow completely faded away. Soon, the bright green glow emitting from Rosewood’s staff served as the only light in the dark woods.
Everyone studied the new weapons they’d acquired, marveling at both their sturdiness and fine details. Each was a weapon fit for the greatest of generals.
“Remarkable,” Rosewood said.
Valdin glared into the darkness as he noticed the glowing eyes of the balisekts once again multiplying against the veil of driving rain. A bolt of lightning quickly illuminated the forest. In that instant, the terrifying faces of their mysterious visitors were clearly visible. The balisekts stood roughly six feet tall with green, scaly, humanoid faces like an enormous iguana.
Their snouts protruded outward and their mouths opened wide like a snake. Their teeth were short but sharp, with a long, forked tongue that darted in and out between them rapidly. Their scaly bodies were covered in crude armor down to the tips of their long tails.
Many were carrying weapons of either iron or wood, but their long claws and sharp teeth proved formidable enough on their own. The flash of light lasted just long enough for them to see that the creatures had them completely surrounded before the world went dark once again.
Valdin plunged the blade of his old sword into the mud as he took up his new weapon. “Time to test the Lady’s craftsmanship.”
With a series of loud shrieks and hisses, the circle of balisekts moved as one, collapsing their large circle around Shimmer and her friends.
Rosewood thrust her staff into the wet mud as the light emitting from the emerald intensified, lighting the area brighter than any torch ever could. Taking up her new weapon, she was able to shed the blood of the first balisekt to cross her path. Her blade ran across its midsection as it charged. The beast doubled over, folding up on itself as it moved, and finally falling into the mud.
Another balisekt leaped from the dark curtain of rain with its claws out wide, ready to land atop Valdin and pin him to the ground. Fortunately, Valdin’s reflexes were quicker than the lizard-man expected. Widening his stance he thrust the tip of his sword upward. With no way to change course, the balisekt impaled itself through the chest on Valdin’s blade. A mouthful of blood was slung from the balisekt’s mouth, striking and covering Valdin’s rain-soaked face. Pulling his blade free, Valdin managed to swing as his body pivoted, lobbing off the hands of a balisekt behind him just before the deadly claws could reach his flesh.
Shimmer and Snowflake stood back to back at the base of Rosewood’s staff. Their newly acquired weapons shook violently in their hands as they held them out in front of their bodies. The battle was going on before them in a dark, green, hazy blur. They were cold as the pouring rain froze their skin, and their hearts beat like the drums at a harvest festival. Shimmer gasped as a balisekt emerged from the darkness in front of her. The rain rolled down its snout as it snarled at her menacingly. She shrieked and took a step back as the creature lunged at her. Its claws sailed right in front of her face. She lifted her sword as it came again, but its strength was able to knock it away with ease.
“No!” she shouted as she stumbled backward. In falling, she caught a lucky break. Her sword tip pointed skyward as she landed on her back, skewering the balisekt as it tried to pounce on top of her. With a small scream, she quickly let the sword, and the balisekt stuck upon it, fall to her right side. She quickly scrambled to her feet.
“Help!” Snowflake cried out as a nearby balisekt took a swipe at her with its crudely made sword. She crossed her daggers in front of her in a defensive position, hoping to catch the blade between them before it split her skull in half. As she prepared for impact, the balisekt suddenly froze in place. Paralyzed completed, it fell to its side like a toppled statue. As the balisekt crashed into the mud, Cricket appeared out of thin air, hovering amongst the falling raindrops. In his hand he clutched the tiny bow bestowed upon him by the Lady. No doubt a poison-tipped bolt was what brought down the vile creature.
“Thank you,” Snowflake said with a shaky voice.
Cricket just smirked. “Won’t help you again, elf,” he said. “Either get brave or die in the mud.”
As Cricket disappeared again, Shimmer reached out a hand and pulled her friend back to her feet. Snowflake regained her balance again just in time to see another balisekt emerging from behind Shimmer. “Behind you!” she shouted.
Shimmer quickly spun around and tossed up her right arm. A wild swing from the balisekt’s blade landed against the armored plate on her arm and was deflected back off into the air. The force, however, was enough to knock Shimmer off balance a little. As her body was forced to her right, Snowflake moved around her with her daggers outstretched. With a yell she plunged them both into the creature’s abdomen. The balisekt cried out in pain as it fell to its death.
Shimmer regained her footing before falling over. With a cautious smile she turned to Snowflake. “We make a pretty good team,” she said.
“You have to move around their attacks, not away from them,” Valdin shouted as he lobbed off the head of an approaching balisekt. “Stop backing up like cowards and fight them!”
Shimmer swallowed hard and raised her weapon back up. Valdin was right. Being timid and fleeing was only going to get her killed. The Lady had blessed her with these gifts and she wasn’t going to waste them by dying. Another balisekt emerged from the darkness, charging at full speed with a spear outstretched and its tongue flapping wildly in the rain. Standing strong, Shimmer waited until the tip of the spear was almost upon her, and then she acted. She quickly swung her sword to the right, striking it against the side of the spear and knocking its trajectory away from her body.
The balisekt was also knocked to the side, unintentionally charging by her instead of into her. Seeing an opening, Shimmer raised her sword and brought it down hard on the creature’s neck just as it passed. The divinely blessed weapon cut clean though the balisekts neck. The body stumbled as it tripped over its own severed head and crashed into the mud.
“That’s the way!” Valdin cried out
Shimmer felt a rush of pride and confidence. She could do this. She wouldn’t be helpless anymore. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Spinning to face it, she saw another balisekt preparing to pounce on Snowflake. “Duck!” she shouted.
Heeding her friend’s advice, Snowflake crouched down. The balisekt’s claws came together but not finding the young elven throat they had intended to wrap around. With the creature stunned, Shimmer gave a swing of her blade. She sliced the balisekt across its chest from arm to arm, spilling more of its blood than it could afford to lose. Its look of confusion and pain became permanently etched into its face as it died on the wet ground.
Seeing their own numbers dwindling as their opponent’s stayed the same, the balisekts began to back away. One by one they crept slowly back through the curtain of rain into the darkness of the night forest. Soon, they were gone, leaving Shimmer and her companions alone in the storm.
Shimmer dropped to her knees as her sword fell into the mud at her side. Her body was trembling and she could barely control her own breathing, something she was thankful to still be doing. She was alive. She had gone into battle and emerged with a heart still beating. Holding her head back, Shimmer allowed the pounding rain to cascade across her face. Her shoulders dropped as she heaved a sigh of relief.
“Not bad, elf,” Cricket said with a smirk as he hovered down next to her face. “Not bad.”<
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“Thank you,” Shimmer said with a loud exhale. She was smiling now, practically euphoric after surviving such an ordeal.
“Balisekts in the Lands of Order,” Rosewood said drearily as she took up her staff once again. “Lady’s grace, I thought I’d never see the day.”
“Not going to be any shortage of ugly coming up the trails,” Cricket replied.
“He’s right,” Valdin said. “With the blight reaching elven territory, who knows how much of the Savage Lands it has covered. I fear the blight may actually be the least of our worries, high priestess. These creatures in the territories may send all the forest into chaos.”
“Do you think they’re gone now?” Snowflake asked as her eyes darted around from one dark corner of the forest to another.
“They won’t dare attack us again after the losses they sustained,” Rosewood said with surety. The rain began to taper off to a drizzle as the thunder became a distant echo over the eastern mountains. The high priestess tilted her head back and shook the water out of her long, silver hair.
“So, what do we do now?” Snowflake asked timidly.
“Now we sit tight until dawn,” Valdin replied. “And pray the other chosen ones make it here safely.”
“You expect any of us to sleep after that?” Shimmer asked, finally coming down off of her emotional high.
“No way I could fall asleep now,” Snowflake chimed in. Her voice was still shaky.
“It’s just as well,” Rosewood said. “Dawn is but a few hours away and I’m not convinced the balisekts won’t just wait for us to fall asleep and attack again.”
“So are we going to all just sit around and share stories?” Cricket asked sarcastically. “At least fighting balisekts was interesting.”
“I have an idea,” Valdin said as he turned towards Shimmer and Snowflake. “Pick up your weapons.”
The two female elves were rather puzzled. “Why?” they asked in unison.
