“I’ve never been more than a mile from home in my entire life. I haven’t been quite rooted to one spot, but not too far from that, either. It’s good to get out into the world!”
The area immediately surrounding the town was mostly farmland – rolling fields and orchards dotted with farmhouses clustered together behind low walls. For generations people had been re-seeding Quiet Vines in the outlying areas, so most of these walls and even barns and silos were overgrown with them.
“Never been more than a mile from home?” Ouran muttered, “I could not live like that. There’s too much to see.” His eyes narrowed. “Tree seed – how do you know that you’re moving? You don’t have eyes.”
**I speak without a mouth, without sound. I understand words without ever having heard them spoken or seen them written. Human language doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe my senses, but, it’s something like feeling the vibrations of things. I get some input from the minds of those around me, simple things like heat and cold, up and down, bright or dark, and as you speak with your minds I can feel the shape of things. That’s not exactly accurate, of course, but it’s as close as I’m able to explain. I’m not entirely sure of the particulars, any more than you are able to precisely describe the inner structure of your own eye.**
Ouran harrumphed. Daniil thought it was interesting – he’d often wondered about how the Tree perceived the world, but asking had seemed rude.
**I do not think it’s rude at all. No-one has ever asked before.**
“Ah!” Startled, Daniil let go of the seed. “How did you hear that? I didn’t say it out loud!”
**I am not sure. This is the first time I’ve put a sliver of my mind in anything, and it is my first seed. Perhaps being in physical contact with the seed bridges our minds together more closely than simply standing near my trunk.**
“Huh. Maybe so.”
Ouran cleared his throat and pointed towards a small rise with a stand of trees on it. “There. It’s getting dark. We will sleep there tonight.”
They made camp under the trees, Ouran expertly starting a fire, his massive clawed hands proving to be surprisingly dexterous. The sky turned vibrant shades of orange and purple as the sun set, little triangles of gray the only things marring the beauty. Daniil curled up in the cart on his bedroll and Ouran sprawled out on the ground. The bearoid stared up at the sky. “There’s more gray than there used to be, more than when I was a child.”
Daniil glanced upwards for a moment and shrugged. They’d been there for most of his life. “It’s just some trick of the weather. The sky gets little gray triangles sometimes.”
The giant bear-man continued grumbling. “.. I don’t think it’s supposed to.”
***
Daniil woke up stiff after the previous long day of walking, and a little chilled. The fire was cold and Ouran was nowhere to be seen. Assuming that the bear man had gone off to relieve himself, Daniil cleaned up the campsite and ate a piece of dried sausage as he waited for the bearoid to return. The seed seemed dormant. Daniil could feel the mind there, but he could sense that its attention was elsewhere.
Suddenly Ouran appeared. Startled, Daniil fumbled to grab his crossbow, dropping it. “You surprised me! I didn’t think someone as big as you could move so quietly!”
“Hmph. I’ve been looking around. Can you smell the smoke? There’s smoke in the air.”
“I can’t smell anything.”
“Hmph. You call the Tree sightless? Humans, nose-blind, the lot of you. And that crossbow wouldn’t do you any good without bolts for it.” He gestured towards the cart. “If you’re going to keep the bow within arm’s reach, you should keep the ammunition within arm’s reach, too.”
Sheepish, Daniil fetched the quiver and awkwardly fastened it to his belt.
He was taken aback at how quickly the landscape changed. Not even a full day’s walk from Fardock and the evidence of civilization seemed to vanish. The road narrowed to a cart track; there were no farms and little sign of habitation. Finally even Daniil could smell the smoke.
“What’s burning?”
Ouran shook his head in the negative. “I don’t know, but there is a homestead near here, two houses and barn. They are my friends. We will go there now.” The set of his jaw suggested he was concerned. With that, he pulled the cart off the track and disappeared into the brush at the side of the trail. Daniil gripped his crossbow tightly and plunged into the dark forest after him.
The bearoid’s movements were fluid and sure in the thick undergrowth. Here he’d push over a sapling as if it was a blade of grass, there he’d carefully step around a patch of ochre fungus on the ground. It was obvious that this was his element. His posture lost all pretense of humanity, and once he dropped to all fours to run up a slope. Daniil was completely lost, but as near as he could tell they were walking in a broad arc, circling around the direction that the trail had been headed in. Ouran extended his arm in a ‘stop’ gesture, nearly clotheslining Daniil in the process.
“What is it?”
“That is a grabber willow. Dangerous.” Ouran hissed the words out quietly between gritted teeth, his eyes surveying the area.
It looked like a normal willow tree to Daniil… until he noticed the bones at the foot of it. He hefted his crossbow and took aim.
Ouran intervened. “What the hell are you doing?”
Daniil gestured towards the tree with his weapon. “I was going to, you know, shoot it.”
The giant bear-man pushed the crossbow aside. “It’s a tree. We walk around. Stupid.”
Another five minutes of cautiously walking through the brush led them to the homestead. Not quite a village, it looked as though three or four families shared the cabins clustered around a well. Had shared, that is, for the cabins were no more. Burned shells were all that remained of what looked to have been good sized buildings, and strange scorch marks were on the ground and surrounding trees.
Ouran growled, almost inaudibly, but with such ferocity that Daniil could feel the rumble as much as hear it. “Stay hidden in the brush unless I tell you to come.” He stood fully erect, squared his shoulders, and stepped out of the woods, roaring a thunderous challenge with such force that Daniil took a step backwards.
The seed suddenly felt warm against his chest, and the voice of the Circuit Tree spoke into Daniil’s mind.
“Hey! Where have you been? I think we may have found those raiders.”
**Fardock was attacked. Twoscore or more of the creatures, hideous mutants armed with fire and mechanical weapons. The townsfolk were able to drive them off, but there were casualties. I have been helping to organize the recovery and convincing the Quiet Vines to spread farther out. The vines definitely disrupt the energy weapons of the mutants. I do not think that these mutants were expecting that, and I do not think that they were expecting organized resistance, but many of them fled. I fear that they will return in greater numbers.**
“Oh, no!” He ran out into the clearing. “OURAN! FARDOCK WAS —“
The bearoid had been pacing the clearing, searching through the burned out ruins, but at the sound of his name, he turned his attention to Daniil. That’s when they struck.
A beam of light lanced out of the woods at the far side of the clearing, made crimson and brightly visible in the smoke. A buzzing sound accompanied it, loud even over the sound of Daniil’s yells and Ouran’s roar. The beam struck Ouran in the shoulder blade, and the bearoid spun around, roaring, to face his attacker. A javelin followed the beam of light, and then another and another. The first missed and the second glanced off of Ouran’s thick fur, but the third lodged itself squarely in his stomach, and he stumbled forward, falling to the ground.
“NO! No no no no no no no!” Daniil skidded to a halt, dropping to one knee and readying his crossbow. With a whoop and a chorus of gibbering laughter, the raiders finally showed themselves, running pell-mell from behind the burning ruins towards the unfortunate travelers. Twenty or more mutant vermin, descen
ded from rats and cats and insects, displaying a riot of hideous features - extra eyes, extra limbs, a tentacle where a hand should be, crab-like claws. One had blue skin, another looked like an upright dog with scales. They all, however, did have a few things in common. They were all gaunt and ragged, and they all looked desperately ill. Most of them had burns or boils on their bodies, and many of them wore old bandages, or displayed evidence of poorly-healed injuries. And they all had a vacant, mad expression on their faces.
The three leading mutants ignored Ouran’s prostrate body, rushing past him to charge Daniil. He was no hunter or soldier, but Daniil had of course practiced with a crossbow as all boys did, and an enemy charging straight at you is an excellent target – growing larger as it approaches. Breathing quickly, Daniil sighted and pulled the trigger. With a twang and a thwack the bolt leapt from the bow, suddenly sprouting from the chest of the lead mutant. The creature fell to the ground, and, behind him, Ouran sprung to his feet with an ear-shattering roar.
Feigning injury, he had been waiting for the raiders to come in close. Pulling the javelin out of his stomach, the giant launched himself into the crowd of mutants. A few of them managed wild shots with their fire weapons, but then the bear-man was among them, slashing with his giant claws, tossing mutants about like leaves in a storm. Daniil hurriedly wound and loaded his crossbow again, but the two mindless creatures who had been charging him had paused when the bearoid roared. Daniil took careful aim and downed another of the raiders. The third one, seeing his companion fall, turned and snarled at Daniil out of a ratlike mouth containing far too many teeth. Now panicky, Daniil fell back to reload again, but there wasn’t enough time. The creature leapt upon him.
Ouran was faring well against the horde. Most of the creatures were smaller than a man, and the bearoid was throwing them around, picking one up with his teeth and throwing it into the still-burning embers of a ruin. Another attempted to bite Ouran, earning itself a mouth full of sharp quills. The raiders gave way before him, a few of them regaining the presence of mind to bring their energy weapons around again. Knowing that the mechanical weapons were a far more dangerous threat than these sickly mutants, Ouran bent at the waist and wrestled a still-flaming log from the ruins of one of the cabin walls. Swinging it like a scythe, he swept it through the crowd, knocking a dozen off their feet with enough force that many would never rise again.
Daniil, on his back, kept the unloaded crossbow between himself and the mutant. Its attempted tackle had knocked him off his feet, but despite its frantic hissing and scrabbling, it was unable to reach Daniil. For all its mad ferocity the creature was surprisingly weak, hunger and illness apparently having taken their toll. Nearly gagging at the mutant’s foul odor, Daniil heaved himself up and clubbed the creature aside just as Ouran roared again and threw the flaming log at the massed raiders, scattering them.
The bearoid yelled at Daniil, “BACK THE WAY WE CAME! RUN!”, and together they turned and ran off into the woods. The mutants, still reeling in shock from the unexpected power of the enraged bearoid’s attack, took a few moments to regroup before pursuing, giving Daniil and Ouran a crucial head start.
Panting for breath, the bearoid gasped in between strides. “Head towards the grabber willow, maybe we can lure them into it.”
**I think I may be able to assist there. The willow is by no means sentient, but I think I have convinced it that you are not food. Food follows you.**
“You think?” asked Daniil, skeptically.
**I am uncertain. It is… not very smart.**
“Worth a try” growled the bear-man as they reached the copse of the willow. “No time to waste.” Without pausing, he ran directly under the tree and into the forest beyond.
Daniil did pause for a moment, but, he adjusted his grip on his crossbow and followed the bear-man. The tree had a dozen or more long tendrils hanging down from its canopy. The tips of them twitched and curled up slightly, tracking the movements of the pair, but Daniil could feel the calming presence of the Circuit Tree’s mind filling the glade, and they passed through safely.
They continued on, heading deeper into the forest. Behind them, perhaps a minute later, a chorus of yips and screeches and yells rang out. The sound of energy weapons being discharged accompanied a sharp metallic ozone smell, then, silence. Ouran, gasping for breath, holding one giant paw tightly over his wounded abdomen, slowed his pace.
“The tree will have gotten some of them, and the others won’t dare to follow any further. They have no woods-wisdom.”
**The willow was damaged some by the laser weapons, but its larder is now fully stocked. It seems content and looks forward to our return.**
Daniil, out of breath, sat. “So, where do we go from here? Do we camp for the night? Go back to the trail?”
“I am injured; I think we need to find somewhere safe to bed down for the night.”
**I may be able to assist with that as well.** The seed’s voice was eager, excited. **This splitting of my mind has broadened my perspective greatly. For years, my roots have been growing into the electric brains of the metal monsters. A great deal of information was stored there, but I lacked the reference points to properly translate it. Now, by mentally drawing a line from my trunk to the sliver of my mind here in this seed, I think I can compare those two points against the data in the electric brains to triangulate where the metal monsters are from. Or at least, from whence their minds originate. It is near here, perhaps half a day’s travel.**
“Very well,” as the adrenaline of the chase wore off, the bearoid’s pain became more apparent. “We will go there in the morning”
***
Ouran found a suitable place to camp for the night, a thicket with a gap in the center, and a canopy low enough that one had to crawl under to get into. Daniil pulled some thorny brush in behind them to disguise their site. After helping to bind Ouran’s wounds, he collapsed into a deep, dreamless sleep born of exhaustion. The Seed promised to awaken them should any intruders come near.
The morning found them cold, stiff and sore – Daniil from the unaccustomed sleeping on the ground, Ouran from his injuries. They ate a sparse breakfast of jerky and water that being all that Daniil had in his pack. Most of their supplies had been left behind in the bearoid’s cart.
Ouran winced as he yawned and stretched. “How many bolts do you have left for that little bow of your?”
“Nine. I only remember firing two yesterday, I must have dropped one.”
“Was that your first real fight?”
“Well, uh, I’ve been in town when the metal creatures have attacked, I’ve seen battles from a distance… but, yeah, that was the first time I’ve been in a fight. I’ve never even hunted before. I’ve never killed anything.”
“Hmph.” The bear-man grunted acknowledgement. With rough friendliness, he cuffed Daniil on the shoulder. “You did well. They were going to kill us, they had already killed those cabin folk. I didn’t see any bodies, so you will have to let your imagination tell you what they would have done with us had they killed us. You did well.”
Daniil nodded and gathered his things. They left the thicket and walked deeper into the forest.
**We must continue in this direction, I will guide you.**
They walked all morning. It was another beautiful sunny day, although the gray patches in the sky seemed particularly dense and low overhead. While walking through a clearing Daniil looked up and could almost see details in one, little geometric design, but it was too far up to be sure, and they had to keep moving. Ouran had a pronounced limp, and had spent most of the morning walking on all fours. Standing upright pained him.
As they walked, the character of the forest changed. The trees were older, thicker, taller, and Quiet Vines seemed more common. Suddenly Daniil stopped and looked around in wonder.
The trees were arranged in straight rows, evenly spaced, perfectly aligned like a garden. Ancient and somber.
Ouran answered the unspoken question. “This
is the old forest – you can always tell when you’re in an old part of the land, everything is always arranged just so, according to some ancient plan.”
**Come, this way,** The Circuit Tree’s voice mentally pulled them forward, taut with excitement.
Around noon they reached an impenetrable wall of trees, a wall of tree trunks that went up and up, their tops obscured by a mist. Quiet vines were fairly thick on the ground, but a few hundred yards off to the left the vines climbed the wall and went straight up along the wall of wood. Above it was a huge patch of gray in the otherwise blue sky. Squinting, Daniil again thought that he could see arrangements of lines and texture floating in the gray, but the wall-hugging mist obscured it.
“This way, THIS WAY!** The seed almost leapt off of the cord around Daniil’s neck, it sounded so eager to continue.
They approached a particularly thick area of underbrush jutting out from the base of the wall.
**It is in there that we must go! Ouran, if you please!**
The bearoid grunted assent and proceeded to easily rip the brush out of the ground, clearing a path. As it was brushed aside, the thin layer of leaf litter revealed that the ground here had been paved long ago. Behind the brush was a knot of Quiet Vines pressed up against the wall, the thickest growth that any of them had ever seen. It reminded Daniil of a swarm of snakes, desperately trying to get at a rat in its burrow.
**It is behind the vines.**
Daniil addressed the vines. “Hey, move aside, we need to get behind you.” He sensed that they’d heard him but they weren’t listening. “I think you’ll have to tell them, Tree.”
**I have been telling them to move, they are not obeying.**
Ouran grinned. “Well, they just haven’t gotten to know you yet.” And with that, he dug his claws into the knot and ripped it off of the wall.
Immediately the tenor of the air changed. It had been a calm and beautiful day, but suddenly an ominous foreboding seemed to shadow over everything. Daniil had to resist the urge to run.
Metamorphosis Alpha 2 Page 4
