by Teddy Jacobs
We will burn and blast them, and into the confusion you and your friends will drop. Be ready to draw your sword and shield, Anders Tomason.
We swooped down into flames and smoke, into cries of rage and evil laughter. Three keiler had cornered a treeman against one of the trees; his transparent skin was covered with red blood. Yesenia swooped down and bit one in half, raked the other with her paw, and blew fire on a group of approaching trolls.
Now, Anders!
I rolled off the dragon and tumbled onto the ground, coming up to a crouch with my hand on my sword. I pulled the sword free, and before I could pull out my shield, the sword swung me around and clanged against the pike of a troll.
The troll must have been as tall as Arboris, several feet taller than me. His weapon was long and huge. The shock of the weight of it ran though my hand and up my arm to my shoulder. I would not be able to take much of this kind of pounding. All around me the battle raged. I could smell woodsmoke and dragonsmoke; my ears were bombarded with the sound of dragons making screams that blew enemies off the ground, or blasted them apart where they stood.
I feinted to the left, and then my sword moved almost faster than my arm could wield it, and the troll’s arm lay on the ground, the pike beside it.
The troll roared in pain, and blood spurted from its shoulder.
It started to run, and I looked around, trying to make sense of the chaos around me. Something huge swooped down out of the sky, and the troll was gone, leaving only its arm and pike behind.
XI
To me, Kinsmen!
It was Eric, king of the treefolk, fighting off a hoard of almost ten keiler.
Yesenia! Give me an opening to help the king!
But Adalbjorn was faster; suddenly above them the light went out, and there was a great piercing cry; it shot out of the dragon’s mouth like a great spear; and blasted four of the keiler straight into the underworld.
With me now Anders!
It was Ulrike. Her sword glowing, she was swinging her way through a mass of kobolds to make it to her father. They seemed to be everywhere now, more and more kobolds, with tiny swords and no armor to speak of. I moved through them, slicing off heads and limbs all around me. The smell of blood was sickening. My shield was low to protect me, as I moved as fast as I could to protect my back. Then I was with Ulrike, and we were fighting back to back. Her father fought his way to us then. I could see his was wounded, bleeding profusely from his chest. Soon all three of us were fighting in a triangle, with keiler and kobolds on all sides.
Anders, we can’t attack; you’re too spread out among the enemy. Bring your friends to you, and let us attack the enemy from behind.
I reached out my mind to my companions and the folk of the tree, broadcasting only to them as I parried and cut and shielded myself.
To me, and to the king. Clear the field so that the dragons can attack.
And they came: Arboris, with a great cry of rage, swinging his great staff left and right and cleaving a path through his enemies, the others behind him. A great troll came in front of Arboris, almost as tall as him, blocking his way. He swung a great sword. Arboris ducked, parried with his staff, and then the troll was gone, picked up by a dragon.
I was busy with the keiler around me. They shied off from attacking me directly, and I heard little currents of thought from them with their squeals.
Herr.
I am not my uncle!
I swung my blade and killed two of them with one stroke.
So much blood. Arboris and the others were approaching in a V-shaped formation, Arboris in the lead. The dragons were already attacking in full force, now that my friends were out of the way. They were blasting with sound that shot kobolds and trolls and keiler flying up into the air to crash back into the ground, where they remained, motionless. And the fire-breathers shot out their flames, burning the enemy into submission.
As I chopped away at the keiler, I realized something was wrong. There were two missing from behind Arboris. Woltan and Elias.
Woltan?
Gerard. We found him on the other side of the tree. I’m with Elias. We need help. He has conjured a demon.
There was a great roar then, that knocked everyone askance.
It wasn’t a dragon, either.
It’s a djinn and he’s bigger than Adalbjorn.
I turned to Ulrike. We need to get your father back in the tree and help them.
The others had arrived. Arboris and Cullen and the twins put their backs to each other, and then we were fighting on all sides, the king standing between us.
Ulrike nodded. Now is the time. Connect with me kinsmen, and I will speak a word of power. She reached out and touched my hand. Her sword hand moved her blade, and she spoke a word, mid-stroke, and the word moved out of my mouth, and came from the twins and Arboris as well.
Zuruck!
A blast of force hit all around us, and the enemy fell ten paces back among themselves, in a shrieking jumble of keiler and kobold. Only one troll was left standing. My blade spun, and the Troll fell.
To the tree! The tree mother will heal him.
We ran then, Arboris carrying Ulrike’s father, his twin nephews Lars and Gustaf on either side, Cullen behind, me ahead with Ulrike.
We stopped short right at the entrance of the tree.
There were demons at the tree base, large and red and amorphous. To my two eyes they looked like large red blobs, but when I opened my third eye they were gigantic, and clearly focused. Almost as big as the dragons, taller than the lower tree branches, they were covered with teeth and claws. Their great arms reached up around the tree, keeping any energy from going in or out, while their great teeth gnawed at the tree trunk, and their clawed feet tore at the roots down in the ground. They smelled horribly strong of sulfur, of death and of decay.
That is why more of my kinsmen have not joined the fight. They are trapped in our tree, suffocating under this demon stench.
Lars and Gustaf uttered a cry of rage.
To Our KIN! To the TREE MOTHER!
They ran forward and hacked at the demons, their blades drawn.
But it was like blades running through smoke. Their blades hit nothing, did no damage. Then a mouth reached out from the demon, and bit one of the twins on the arm. He screamed, and his twin screamed, and then they were both down on the ground.
I drew my sword. There was a word of power, somewhere, that I needed. Carolina came into my mind. She was not smiling, and she did not block my vision.
These are upper level demons. I cannot destroy them, and neither can you. The best you can hope is to banish them to another plane, and to do that you will need the combined will of all of your sorcerers here and your dragons. There are the two you can see, and a third attacking Woltan and Elias on the other side of the tree. Your blood knows the song that will send them out of this plane, but they will only go if more voices sing it. You must bring everyone in with you, together.
Yesenia, Woltan, Dragons, Friends, join your minds with me!
I felt the dragons tune in, Woltan and Elias came in last, fighting their demon with all their strength, and then I opened my mouth, and I felt their mouths open too, and nothing came out…
The demon in front of me turned its eyes to me, and laughed. Your uncle sends his greetings, little one.
I felt rage, the rage of the wronged, as my blood moved within me. The connection was breaking up, but I held on and pulled it tight and opened my mouth a second time and this time song radiated out from my whole body. The land shook with it, the great voices of the dragons thundered my song so loud that the rock deep beneath the topsoil shook with it; the tree rocked with the song but did not break, and everyone in the field was frozen, friend and enemy, caught up in the music.
Then there was a great howl. One, then, two, then three, and then I felt what could only be a great rift in the planes. There was a tearing, and a pushing. The demons howled one last time, and then they were on their way out of this
plane. The song was healing the rift, pushing them all the way through, and keeping anything else out. Then they were gone — somehow I knew, or my blood knew, that there was no direct way back. The demons would have to be conjured again, with pentagrams, and incantations, and all manner of preparation, at a special time of day, particular for every place.
The moment was over then, and the tree folk were pouring out of the injured tree. I could hear her voice — she was in pain, but most of all she was in a rage. I felt her magic move out and fill all her people with power and anger. Her tree folk and my people now surrounded the tree, fighting the enemy on all sides. The dragons were burning the kobolds, and tearing into the trolls with their teeth. They picked up trolls and dropped them on the kobolds or on the few men who had not chosen to run already.
Anders! Gerard is still here; we need your help!
It was Elias.
I looked around. One of the twins was still on the ground, the other was helping Ulrike get the king up in the tree; there dozens of hands grabbed him and pulled him up. Then I was helping Ulrike with the twin.
All around us the battle raged, but the tree folk were pushing back the enemy into the dragon fire, and the tree was raining down dead branches at them, knocking over trolls and kobolds.
I looked at Ulrike. They need us, Gerard is over there. Will he live?
If anyone can help him, the tree Mother will.
I felt the call again.
Anders heed our call! Esmerelda! Renata! Your riders are in peril! We need your strength! Tree mother!
I was moving then. But was it already too late? As I moved images flashed through my mind… Gerard conjuring the demons, in a pentacle, Gerard bringing them to the tree mother, riding on the winds between the planes…. Woltan sending up spell after spell to have them blocked by the demons, then bitten by one of the demons on a surprise attack. Woltan lying on the ground inside a sphere of protection, with Elias beside him, frantically trying to keep him alive, and Gerard breaking the wall of his sphere, methodically, with a smile on his face.
Then Ulrike and I were there and there was a great blast of sound — it was dragon sound and dragon magic, and it shook everyone, knocked Gerard to the ground. Then I was upon him, and I swung my sword and smote Gerard’s arm, and his arm came off, and Gerard fell to the ground. I was sickened, and Gerard’s face turned white with pain and rage.
He opened his mouth to speak a spell but I was quicker: Still.
Gerard’s mouth was sealed.
He was bleeding profusely but I knew he remained dangerous, arm or no arm. A wizard like Gerard would not let a word of silencing stop him for long. This man was responsible for killing all these dead on the field, all these dead trees as well. I should have killed him, but I hesitated, and later I would relive this moment in my dreams, every one almost the same yet subtly different.
Gerard smiled.
You are weak and stupid. Your Uncle would have trained you better. He calls me now. Farewell.
And he was gone.
Woltan is badly hurt, Anders! We must get him to the tree mother.
I nodded absently.
With Gerard gone the kobolds and trolls scattered, running from the dragons and from Arboris and the tree folk. I turned back and ran to where Woltan lay, Elias standing beside him. I am keeping him alive with my spell but there is poison within him. That was a powerful demon. We never would have been able to send it back to its abyss without the dragons. Such power!
Can’t the dragons help you heal him?
His dragon is suffering itself from the link between them. The other dragons cannot help without feeling their pain. We must get him to the tree mother as soon as possible. Only she can help him.
I reached out and felt her mind. A series of images of what had happened to us flashed through me to her. And from her to me flashed images of the attack, of the demons who had come with the sorcerer, Gerard, and of the soldiers that had come after the demons had immobilized her. Bring him to me at once. I will do what I can.
Elias and I picked Woltan up gently. His skin was burning hot, and I could feel his pain just touching his skin. I was afraid to touch his mind. Woltan’s aura glowed red with pain, and he groaned feebly as we hurried to the tree. There tree folk lay waiting, to help us up into the upper branches of the tree.
We brought him to the same landing where I had entered the tree mother. Bring him to me, quickly! I can do nothing until I touch him! Hurry!
We hurried him to her, and her bark opened up and pulled him in.
The tree groaned, and then shook. Far worse than Gustaf, which was bad enough! What a noble creature, that watches my every move with its mind as it circles in the air high above us, sharing in Woltan’s pain. Just as I do, now! Cursed be all demons and their demon spit! I will suck out the poison and spit it out at our enemies!
The tree groaned and shook, as the leaves around us turned brown on the edges.
Elias touched my shoulder in alarm. It’s poisoning her, too.
The tree shuddered again, and the leaves turned brown and fell.
For a moment I forgot the battle and felt only the tree, dying next to me. I reached out and felt her strength, gave her mine and felt all those around me, all the tree people, doing the same thing. We would all live or die together now… Still I felt weaker, and the pain was overwhelming, like my blood itself burned in my veins.
Dragons! The tree mother needs our help! Reach her through me!
Tremendous energy from the dragons channeled through and almost consumed me, but I let it through. I had no choice. I couldn’t let Woltan die, let all of us die now with him. I opened my mind further to the tree mother and the dragons. I felt the poison inside her, saw her concentrating it together, as she absorbed all the energy we sent her.
Then there was a retching sound, and a great mouth opened from the trunk of the great tree, and the tree spat out the poison on the enemy.
I watched it go. There where it hit, was a troll. But only for a moment. Then there was great crater there. The troll, and the kobolds around it, were gone.
The tree slowly began to heal itself. I could feel green life returning to its branches, see it sprouting new leaves all around me.
Then the trunk opened again, and Woltan slumped onto the landing. His skin was no longer hot to the touch. He coughed once, and then he was breathing. His eyes were closed.
I touched his arm. Woltan.
I am… weary. But I survived, didn’t I? I’m alive, somehow. What happened? I thought the art of conjuring demons such as that one had been lost long ago.
Open your eyes and come back to us.
Woltan opened his eyes. “Thank you.”
“Thank the tree mother,” I said. “Without her, you would have died.”
You and your friends, human, tree and dragon, have saved me twice, now. I have saved you once. I remain in your debt.
Woltan shook his head. And Gustaf?
I could almost see the tree mother smile. I saved him too, but he is one of mine.
One of ours, now, too, though.
Let it be a half-debt then.
Around the tree the dragons circled, burning and blasting the last of the enemy. Before we could go down and help, it was all over. Where once young trees and tender saplings had stood around the mother tree, now were dead bodies, broken and scorched wood.
I feel your despair, Anders, and the pain is mine. But once you and your friends leave, the land around me will grow again, and the bodies will sink into the ground, food for the worms and the plants and the trees.
Still, so much blood.
And so much sap and heartwood. They must have cut down more than a hundred of my kin before they found me. They were not all very smart, my kin, but some of them had intelligence. I will hear their screams ringing in my ears for a long time.
The dragons landed then. They had barely enough space among the fallen trees and bodies.
Woltan stood up. “We must be going
. This time, our trip will be much faster.”
I noticed Gustaf standing behind him, with his twin. Are you alright?
Gustaf nodded, and then he did a strange thing, in such an evil time. He smiled. I never thought I would think in such a way, but I am fit to fly.
XII
In the end it was stuffed with food, covered with the warmest clothes of the tree people, our faces and hands covered with protective sap, and after a mandatory twenty minute nap that we found ourselves in the air again, high above the forest, approaching the Stone Mountain. I squeezed Yesenia’s neck and although her scales were cold and stony, the warmth of her consciousness flowed into me.
Approaching the Stone Mountain, I wondered about Kara. Had she reached her people, and delivered the Book of Id? Had she rallied them to the aid of the old city? Had Cullen the smith reforged the broken sword of the Kriek king?
How were we going to find them? I reached out with my mind as we reached the peaks of the Stone Mountain, as the dragons stopped in their roosts, all except Adalbjorn, whose nest was deep beneath the mountain.
I reached out my mind, and felt something, some kind of network, a whole web of connected minds, that opened to me, but where was Kara?
Kara?
We are in full council, Anders; that is why you feel us all. Where are you?
At the summit of the Stone Mountain. Show me the way and we will be there soon.
And the Tree Mother?
I sent a series of images of the battle to her — the demons, the poison, the great old magic that sent them back to another plane, the healing of the Tree Mother.
Those demons give us food for thought. We must be prepared should the Dark Lord or his minions conjure any more.
We wouldn’t have been able to remove them without the help of the dragons. Even the tree mother couldn’t have saved Woltan without their help.
The dragons are a great aid to our shared cause. My dragon is eager to fight the evil that threatens and enslaves the peoples of our lands. Listen, now, Anders: My people will watch the rest of your flight through your eyes, and guide you. We have a space ready for the dragons to land. I will try to be with you, but when I cannot, my sisters and brothers will be your guides.
