Treants are known for their wisdom and rage. Those who come to their forests with a clear heart and only take what they need to survive will gain their benevolence. Those with axes, greed, and hate will become nutrients for their saplings.

~Mother Danu, The Primordial Goddess of Nature

They brushed aside trees like annoying brush until their heads crested above the canopy. The ground shook as hundreds of them stepped out of the forest surrounding the city. Their legs were thicker than the pines they snapped, and their feet were like the root system of an unearthed tree. Each root writhed like a living tentacle before grasping the ground as they stepped forward.

Their skin lost the bark texture from the knee up and looked more like human flesh. Green, leafy vines covered their waists below their pale, pot bellies. Leaves created a pocket-like space that hid their genitalia, and their bramble-like beards covered most of their upper chest, including their breasts. Large, muscular arms turned from flesh to bark as they transitioned past the elbow toward wooden hands with thin, long branch-like fingers.

A sharp, knotty nose stuck out from its face, but its baleful green eyes shined brightly from within the shadows of its eye sockets. Fine moss cilia covered their heads, giving the appearance of hair, but they seemed sensitive to noise. The hair-like follicles moved and twitched, reacting to even the smallest of sounds. It wasn’t so thick that Crow couldn’t see their pale scalps.

The eyes betrayed their corrupted nature, and Crow recognized the same type of glow in dryads. These were no longer the benevolent forest gods but something much worse. Crow wasn’t sure if they were a new type of Rootless or if they were somehow infected by the Hunger Curse. Those were the type of eyes that would haunt his sleep because he’d met beings like them before, but they didn’t bear the malevolence he could see in these forest giants. They were supposed to be the forest’s protectors, and they always reminded him of wise old grandpas. Seeming them fall this way hurt him because there was no way the mindless dead could even harm those benevolent beings.

“Mugna…” Crow muttered, seeing beings he never thought he’d come across. While these weren’t from the Oak clan, he hadn’t expected to see such beings in this place. It hurt him to see their kind nature was twisted, and he didn’t hesitate to fire off five red flares, a call to arms. Everyone that saw that was supposed to drop everything and come to the wall.

“By the Seven Devils, what is that?” Garth, Drock’s person that was Crow’s liaison, asked while losing hope. He wasn’t the only one that felt like their chances had dropped to an all-time low.

“Watch your words,” Crow commanded sharply. “Those are the Forest Warriors known as Treants. They usually protect the heart of a forest, but… those things have been corrupted. Now, I need you to prepare fire. Prepare a lot of fire. If those bastards reach the walls, they’ll tear them down.”

Crow used his vision to see that Drock was ordering the same thing. Mara and Acco arrived near him at almost the same exact time, but he was busy commanding people to get their asses moving. Everyone currently in the field was called back, so Otto and Nin both arrived on the wall nearby, taking a moment to eat the food Mara gave them. Song Lin came shortly after and was escorted to her sister by Ahote and Aine.

The moment he was able to take a breather, he approached Mara, and the others circled him. Song Lin brought up an air barrier, preventing anyone from hearing them.

“Be ready to leave. These people aren’t an army, and these walls are coming down. Against those things, these defenses are a joke. We’ll fight as long as we can and then fall back to the manor, then fight a little more until it is no longer tenable. Understood?” Crow asked, his eyes bearing into Mara’s.

“Why are you asking just her?” Nin grumbled.

“So we are clear on the chain of command in the future. Mara is my tactician and general. Her orders are mine.”

“Then what are the rest of us? Your soldiers?” Song Xue asked.

“No. You are all my family, and you all have your own strengths. You are my scout, information network, and infiltrator. My little wolf is the ultimate spy. I rely on you to make sure every decision I make is as informed as I can be. Your sister is our doctor. Otto is a meat shield.”

That got a few chuckles, but Otto just harrumphed. However, no one seemed upset by the arrangement, which was good. Nin looked a little upset, so he rubbed her head, and she nuzzled against his hand.

“Drock wants to know what we are up against. I told him if anyone knew, it’d be you,” Acco spoke up during the lull.

Crow grunted and had Song Lin drop the barrier before explaining what they were up against. Then warned Acco to be prepared to move their people back to the manor if the walls fell.

“Once those walls drop, there was no stopping the dead, and the Hunger Curse would expand exponentially,” Crow wrapped up his explanation. “Warn Drock that there is no way this is an accident. I won’t say it is a betrayal, but Treants are naturally resistant to corruption and curses. There is no way the dead could have turned that many Treants. Even if they had the intelligence to do so, those things are tough. The undead wouldn’t even have been able to break their skin with a bite.”

Acco nodded, and seconds later, he was gone.

The monstrous Treants hadn’t moved since they appeared and stood there like sentinels at the edge of the forest. Lily arrived on Crow’s shoulder and leaned against his head as if she was trying to be casual, which caused Song Lin to burst out in giggles.

Nadia also made an appearance and approached Crow. They hadn’t seen her in weeks, not since they took over the Vana Syndicate and Madame Rouge disappeared. All of them eyed her suspiciously.

“Hello.”

Crow smirked at the greeting. She rarely adhered to expectations people had of her.

“Hi.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“What is the reasoning this time?” Crow asked because one thing he’d never do was doubt this woman’s intelligence.

“I feel that as long as I’m near you, Kafe will make an appearance eventually.”

“So you want to use me as bait to lure out your prey?” Crow chuckled because he had no real impression of Kafele. At least not enough to warrant all the attention she put on his connection with a man he barely said three words to.

Kafe tried to kill him once, and in return, he saved him. During their next encounter, the man backed down out of honor or a life debt—it didn’t matter why. The third encounter was when Crow claimed the Python’s Tongue. It wasn’t unreasonable to think there was no bond between the two, but the tongue seemed important to him and his people.

“You can think of it that way. Plus, since my body isn’t really human, things like the Hunger Curse won’t affect me. I can be of aid to you and yours.”

“Alright. But remember, I show no mercy to those that betray me. You should know what I am, so you know my threat isn’t empty words.”

Nadia’s laughter drew men’s envy and desire, and seeing her docilely bowing her head to Crow made more than a few of the warriors on the wall jealous.

“I enjoy dealing with you. You are decisive and directly state your stance. No pretty words that I need to decipher.”

“One question. I hope you answer it. Are you Madame Rouge’s person or your own?”

Nadia gave him a complex look and weighed her words. “I suppose you could say our arrangement is like what I have with you. An alliance of sorts, but I maintain my independence.”

“Good enough, but if you tell her that Acco doesn’t wipe, I view that as a betrayal. Understood?”

“Worry not. I have no obligation to be her spy. Our agreement has nothing to do with you or your people. I give you my word on it.”

“Then don’t wander off and stay close at hand. During conflicts, you obey Mara and my commands. Also, be sure you’ve packed everything because we are now mobile, which means all of us are ready to leave immediately. We will cut all ties if necessary. My priority is and will always be these people. Understand?”

“Got it, boss!” Nadia’s seductive nature made it hard to take her seriously most of the time. Still, Crow had been around her long enough to know when she was taking things lightly or not. She was no fool and definitely recognized the current situation wasn’t good.

The ground shook as one of the Treants finally charged out from the forest. It was further down the wall near Drock’s position. Nothing could stop it from barreling its way through the dead. Each stomp killed dozens, but it didn’t seem to care. Its baleful eyes had locked onto the central tower.

Somehow he knew that everything would be over one way or another before sunset.