Salamede POV

I watched as Eli took off into the woods as the early morning sun beat back the fog. Standing there for a moment, I snapped out of it and walked over the hole between the bushes. Cell came up behind me, his single magical eye betraying no emotion but his light pat on my left shoulder let me know he was worried about me.

“All right.” I said as I straightened my back. “Time to get going. Eli is going to do all he can, and we should too.” Cell removed his hand and made his way over to the hole before dropping down into it. A faint rumbling and rhythmic stomping started as the ground shook. It stopped as a moment of pure silence hung over the woods, then with a thunderous crash, roots flew into the air as the dirt churned. Eventually, the wooden fingers of the golem lifted up through the dirt and into the air as the rest of the body came into view.

The legs were two long logs each with several roots around the base to provide balance. Around the joints of the arms and legs were thick layers of interwoven vines that all had bits of Cells doll body attached to it for him to use it. While the arms were long tree trunks with thick fingers of oak, the main body was shaped more like a reverse rainfrop, not unlike the dwarf’s golems. But the major differences were the head at the center that held the blank mask on the upper section while Cells actual head was on the lower section hidden amongst the joint vine structure for the legs, the metal core of his suit being hidden elsewhere in the body around the store of mana crystals used to power it when the ambient mana was absorbed. The other major difference was the sheer size of the thing as it lumbered over me.

Eli spent a long time feeding it the mana to make it mobile, the mana requirement for making vines move was apparently far less than making it purely from wooden joints. Even with that, we needed to only move it sparingly as it was more than three times the size of a man and would quickly burn through the surrounding mana unlike its more efficient, man sized cousins. Cell started maneuvering the big thing through the trees as I went up above it with a huge thump announcing each landing of its feet.

The patrols, both of soldiers and mages, had stopped but I wasn’t about to take the chance. Eventually, we ran into a group of orcs who were coming by to see what the constant slamming was. The new ‘body’ for cell was about the size of my two-story house and almost as wide. As such, Eli made no attempt to make it stealthy and let the racket of huge stomping go off uninhibited. Some of the orcs coming around the trees went pale when they saw it but stopped drawing their bows when I came below near the top of the golem.

A few quick nods and they scurried back.

Eventually we made it to the camp. We got some stares from the Frojan as we came into the clearing, but oddly the orcs would switch their stares between us and an orc in the middle of the crowd of green skin to the left. At the center, was a tall orc with red flowing robes, a white underdress and beautiful blond hair had been looking at us as we cleared the trees and came into the clearing. Her sharp cheek bones and golden eyes were almost royal looking as the surrounding orcs watched her with rapt attention.

“Ah, our new allies.” This new orc called as she moved through the crowd of reverent faces. None so reverent, I noted, as Gula’s. Her face was one of abject worship as she stood off to the left away from the group and promptly looked to the ground and scurried back as the blond orc came forward.

“If I may be so bold, you don’t match the descriptions I was given.” The blond orc said with a hesitant look towards the lumbering behemoth behind me.

“Other is gone. We bring finish to joberzz” I fumblingly said as I tried to imitate the Pandego tongue.

“Ah,” The blond orc said in return before turning around towards the cave. “Mor! How long until we can set out?”

The muscular orc came from the table under the slab of stone and bowed before this new orc.

“We need at least twenty minutes before the next rotation of Frojan come in, Lady Borba.” The general said servilely.

“Good.” Borba said before walking off back towards the cave with the general. I moved a little bit closer to Gula and started a spirit connection with her as the crowd of orcs moved off with the object of their adoration.

“Who is she?” I asked. Gula gave a slight start but didn’t react afterwards.

“Borba!” She said excitedly.

“That doesn’t tell me anything Gula.” I responded.

“Oh, yeah. She’s was a local legend. Sired from a fire mage from the phoenix empire whose mother was of such charm and temptation she got the child from him willingly.” A burst of flame to my right drew my gaze. Borba had sent a ball of fire over the boulder of the cave she was entering and hit a bird that fell to earth. Another orc scampered forward to retrieve her meal as I turned back towards my conversation. Gula’s gold irises in her black spheres shined with fresh devotion.

“Great.” I moaned as I resisted the urge to rub my head.

It took a while, but as I laid on top of the wooden golem, the group of Frojan finally arrived just before mid-day.

“Humans alpha.” I shouted as the group came into the clearing. “We get.”

Mor and Borba nodded in satisfaction.

Our preparations complete, our mini army headed out. I travelled through the trees, the noise of untold footsteps getting louder and louder as the bands of orcs came scurrying in from their patrols or previous positions. But through all that noise, it was overwhelmed with each concussive step of the wooden golem. The plodding mountain of wooden power was given a wide berth by the Frojan and orcs, either from fear of getting stepped on or because the sound became an almost physical blow when right next to it.

The Viper base came into view through the forest as I stopped on a tree with the main entrance directly ahead. The men at the top of the walls were preparing burning oil barrels and the archers all had their bows to hand, the stomping of the golem having long since warned them of our arrival. Still, the shouts and screams along the walls said they still weren’t prepared when the lumbering golem moved out into the small clearing. Even the immense size of the golem was dwarfed by the walls of grey brick work with only the simple tower in the middle peering out above the rest of what must have been a small towns worth of people. It rested on a slightly raised bit of land with a moat of spike running around the perimeter. The only way in was the drawbridge, now lifted up with its dark oak and thick iron bands having some dents and scratches from the orcs previous efforts.

The rest of our army now filtered out of the trees, but Cell waited for no one as the giant lumbering form gave a mighty step, then another until it built up a heavy run. It put out its hand as the arrows from the panicked defenders pelted it. On the section of the moat leading up to the gate, a faint rumbling and pulling of the earth was seen as the hard-packed dirt shifted from the familiar’s spell even as his pace increased. Earth folded and twisted like something between sludge and water as the land gradually shifted into a bridge that lead up to the gate.

The defenders screamed and yelled but their arrows did no good. These were the last of the bandit forces here and their lack of training became obvious as the cauldron on the left side tipped too early, pointlessly spilling onto the ground just as Cell came up to the gate. His momentum maintained, he kept up the sprint right into the gate and sailed through it with a deafening crack and wail as the iron bands twisted and buckled under his weight.

“Come on, let’s get going.” Mor yelled somewhere below on my left as the pounding and screaming beyond the ruined gate carried even this far.

‘Idiot!’ I scolded myself, having just idly sat in the treetops while Cell did all the work.

A wave of green skin, arrows, and water blades rushed over the field. I took aim at the men working the remaining cauldron, its top showing smoke from the heated tar within. I took the man working the winch to tip it in the shoulder. He fell down with a scream that didn’t carry over the loud clanging, whooping, and stomping as the orcs and Frojan approached the fort. Even that cacophony of noise was overruled by the loud crashing and thumps coming inside the fort from Cell fighting on in the golem.

I took a few more shots at the men trying to work the cauldron, which succeeded when they all dropped their tools and ran from the black iron bowl. Now relatively unopposed, the orcs and Frojan surged forward into the breach. Dropping down from my tree, I slammed into the ground as my leather boots deadened the impact and sprinted off towards the battle.

Eli’s high speed on the ground wasn’t something I had quite mastered, but I still came into the fray at the speed of a galloping horse amongst the orcs and Frojan who now surrounded me as I zipped past them. The maelstrom of noise blotted out all distinct sound as the endless screams, shouts, and clang of metal drowned out even my own thoughts when I came over the earthen bridge and into the fort proper. There were two warehouses in the middle by the tower and long rows of crude barracks buildings around the perimeter of the walls with a few bunkhouses in-between.

On my right and left were two wide stone staircases leading up to the wall. But they were both blocked off with a sea of green flesh as the Frojan mages stayed on the rough dirt floor, flinging spells at the men and the few grey cloaked mages dispersed throughout the battle. Looking away at the occasional bandit or orc who fell off the walls, near the center was the wide wooden golem with scorch marks and stone spears sprayed all over its back like hair. A large wooden hand crashed through the second story of a crude bunkhouse with the mangled corpse of a mage coming out of the flying wreckage.

Jolting out of my stupor, I ran past and over dying orcs, Frojan, and men towards a group of three mages who were attacking the golems backside with fire and stone blades. Before I could line up a shot, two large fireballs shot out to my left and crisped two of the mages into burnt husks without any chance to even scream. The third, a black haired woman who had been preparing a stone spear, took my bullet in the gut. Her pain ended when the keeled over woman was stepped on by the golem with a sickening crunch. Borba had a look of triumph on her almost royal features, with a few wisps of smoke flowing from her two hands. She stood there with the wind flowing over her red robes as a moment of silence cut through the madness. After a few seconds, the humans finally realized what they were looking at and went beserk. All the mages abandoned their positions on the walls and buildings to charge her at the center in blind fury at this blasphemy against their species.

The tide of angry mages sent a tendril of panic up my spine. My survival instincts kicking in, retreated to the safety of the mob of Frojan and orcs. The mass of grey cloaks pushed forward, with only a few staying behind to contend with the large wooden monster. A flight of arrows from the archers on the wall was blocked with walls of water as the contest reached a fever pitch. I hung back in the crowd being jostled as orcs and Frojan rushed forward to replace their fallen fellows. The surrounding sea of bloody faces and screams made the world whirl as I got in shots in between the water shields.

I was faintly aware of a loud crashing as the wooden mountain that was Cells golem crushed a mage underfoot and took a lance of flame in the side. It was pandemonium as the humans rushed headlong at Borba and Cell made it impossible for a solid battle line to form as he ran and stomped about. A storm of stone spikes, fireballs and water blades pummeled our position as orcs raised small shields and Frojan summoned more water barriers in front of us.

‘I’m a maid, I have no business being here!’ I thought to myself as I continued shooting into the mob of human mages, taking them wherever I could land the hit without shooting my own side. The smell of blood choked my nostrils as the sense of being squeezed on the crowd threatened to overwhelm my thoughts. It was only when I took a retreating mage in the back that some primal instinct told me victory was near. This feeling was also felt in those around me as the Frojan and orcs got looks of renewed confidence.

The crowd rushed forward in a messy melee, overrunning the human’s positions on the wall and chasing them to the back end of the fort. It was all a bloody mess as I tried to reorient myself. I was in the back near the gate entrance with the crowd thinning as my ‘allies’ surged forward. Leaning into the wall, I looked down to catch my breath.

‘The commander!’ I cursed to myself. The frenzied need to survive was wearing off as I remembered why I came here. Pushing through the crowd, I came up to the golem now laying face down as its body had chunks blown out of it with large scorch marks peppered everywhere. Down below its front, the vines started moving and shifting as Cells vine body detached itself from the spent wreckage. His movements seemed sluggish as his body reformed, like the body had no energy- the mana. The ambient mana must be just about gone.

“Stay here, I’m going to get with Mor” I told him. He offered no resistance and sat his vine butt down as he shifted the metal core into place beneath the green muscles. I started walking past him only to look down and see blood splattered along my vines. A quick moment passed before I pushed down my revulsion and moved forward again.

There were bodies of all three species scattered about, with the injured being tended too, or put down. I turned the corner on one of the Bunkhouses and to my left was the back end of the fort. There the humans made their last stand in a bunk house built up against the wall. Borba was launching fireballs at the building with a look of vicious blood lust on her face and in every swing of her arm.

“Stop!” I called. The orcs and Frojan all pulled back as I came forward and I saw a few bandit faces peering out from the bunk house windows.

Borba was breathing heavily and her golden irises seethed with blood lust but she took a deep breath and crossed her two arms into her sleeves as I came up to her.

“Where is the commander?” I demanded.

Her blond eyebrows shot up.

“Damn, I forgot about the curse. Mor! Find the commander.” She barked off behind her. The Frojan launched water balls at the burning building as Mor sent out people to interrogate survivors. It took a few minutes, but eventually Mor’s people came back with an answer.

“Dead! How- was humans alpha killed?” I demanded, remembering the grammar I was supposed to be using at the last second.

“Got caught up in the melee when the giant Pandego crashed through the gate.” Mor said placatingly.

Shit. I stood there for a moment trying to think of something. Eli was doing his part and I needed to deliver on mine, even if it was his familiar who delivered the killing blow.

“Where is humans alpha’s den?” I asked Mor.

The brawny orc with short black hair looked up at the tower.

“The prisoners told me her office was at the top. It’s been cleared but I’ll send someone with you just in case.” Mor said scanning over the crowd.

“I will go with them” A voice to my far left said. I recognized Gula standing in the field amongst some other bloody orcs and Frojan. She was bloody but how much of it was hers and how much was her enemies was hard to tell.

“Excellent.” Borba said as she strode towards Gula. The orc in black leather armor bowed her head and kept her face down as Borba approached.

“You did well, shamed. Or should I say, former shamed.” Borba lifted Gula’s head up with a single finger around the choker and summoned a small bar of flame through it. Gula’s golden eyes went wide, her vertical scar across the left eye and horizontal scar across the nose stretching as the black leather band fell to the churned mud. Her jaw trembled as her golden eyes held back tears.

“I..uh thank… um” Gula stammered.

“You know Borba” Mor said as the muscular orc strode forward. “There was a procedure for doing that.”

“Bah!” Borba waved away the objection like a fly “You’d think the world turned on their papers with how the old coots go on and on about procedure. So, what should we do now, Pandego?”

“Finish the rest of the bandit holdouts while den izz searched. Then leave so I can get rid of ritual sight.” I said as I turned towards the tower. Gula was star struck but she did her duty and left the object of her worship to accompany me. Moving towards the central tower, two orcs were guarding the wooden door with iron bands but to their left was Cell, the ambient mana apparently recovered enough to allow him to move, even if his movements were a little janky.

Going through the door, I came into a welcoming area with plain wooden floors and bare grey stone walls. To my left was the staircase, which I walked up. Coming through various floors that stored arrows, food, armors, and towards the upper floors, tables with various reports and papers strewn about. On every floor was bodies, orc or human, typically in small piles at the choke points of the stair entrances or in places where the occupants had tried to hide.

Finally reaching the top floor, the staircase ended with the splintered remains of what had been a door. The room was actually well furnished with a plush red carpet, a comfy looking couch to the left, a good oak desk directly ahead that was facing the stairs. Looking around, there was no trace of blood or struggle and as I turned to the right, I saw another door that was smashed in that lead to what looked like a bedroom.

“Wait.” Gula called behind me. She moved forward and drew her sword.

“What is it?” I asked, my ears perking up in the mask.

“There’s a very small chord in front of the do-“ The hard twang of a cross bow going off to my left interrupted her. I felt a sharp cut in my side as I turned towards the desk. A bandit was throwing away the cross bow and pulled out a sword as he came from behind the desk. He ran up to me as I staggered back but Gula got in between us. I started the healing function as I tried working the bolt out of my side. Fortunately, the bolt head wasn’t barbed and came out with little effort as my flesh reformed over the wound.

Cell was trying to move through the door frame, but the bandit took a wild swing at Gula, who responded with a quick jab through the chest. When he pulled back and clutched at the wound, Gula took off his head with a clean swipe of her blade.

We all stood there breathing heavily for a moment as Cell moved up to the desk.

“Thanks.” I told Gula.

“Well I guess we’re even now.” Gula said casually.

“How do we test this trap? I assume he reset it after the orcs left but I don’t know what it will do.” I asked my two companions. After a moment, Cell went over to the window and stuck his head out for a moment. Then he disappeared as I heard him move along the wall outside, this continued in a constant beat until I faintly heard him along the outside wall of the room and then louder when he went through what I guessed was a window on the rooms right.

After another long moment, there was a crunching sound after which Cell stepped through the door frame and over the now slack string. In his vine hands was a board and a hinge that would have made it fall on the intruder.

“Not the deadliest trap.” Gula remarked as she walked beside the rooms frame to peer inside.

Cell held the board out the window and pressed on a small indent that would have touched the hinge. A whirl wind of stone blades and flame shout out along the board for a solid second before the enchantment spent all of its mana.

“Damn.” Was Gula’s reply, her green face now a bit paler.

‘All right’ I told my two companions in a spirit connection. ‘I need… something. Some piece of paper, a report, or a map. Just anything that might give us an idea of who ordered a raid on the academy town several weeks back.’

Gula raised an eyebrow at the instructions but dutifully went to her task.

We spent what felt like hours browsing the drawers of the desk, the stacks of reports in the main room and all of their contents for any trace of what I was looking for, having had to stop for a lunch sometime during the mad search. Eventually I felt that I was running out of places to inspect so I sent Cell and Gula to look over the secretary rooms below. After another hour or two, I checked the last few papers in the last drawer in the desk and was going to head down the staircase to look for any reports on the order to kidnap Eli that I needed when one last desperate thought occurred to me. Walking over to the plush green bed against the far wall of the bedroom, I looked under it and nearly pulled away after a brief look.

But while the various shoes were the only thing I registered at first, my eyes made out a small chest near the middle. Pulling it out and onto the bed, I opened it and was greeted with letters and things that had the clean precision of official documents. I read over some but then I got to one with Eli’s name near the top. Excited I read over the order, but a stone dropped into my stomach as I read further. Bile came into my throat as the words washed over me, but I pushed on, forcing myself to take in the deluge of information.

A sense of fury over came me, not at the Coalition, not at the orcs, but at Eli. I slammed the chest shut and picked it up as I tucked it into my vines.

Coming down the stairs, I saw Cell and Gula looking through some desks.

“I found it.” I announced.

Their heads perked up.

“Good.” Gula said. She walked up to me and over the papers scattered around the floor. “So, is this goodbye?” She asked, a note of trepidation.

I took a moment to make sure none of the anger came out into my voice.

“Yes. I hope we’ve left your life better than when we met.” I said.

“Better? I got my collar off. That loathsome piece of leather is gone. And it was Borba who removed it.” Gula said with an affectionate rubbing of her neck. Her eyes glazed over, clearly reliving that moment again before she snapped out of it.

“Yes, you’ve made my life so much better” Gula said, her voice cracking at the end.

“Good, good. I’m glad we made someone’s life better. Tell Mor to wait an hour and the ‘curse’ should be gone.” I said as I motioned Cell to follow. We made our way down and out the door. Without another word, we sprinted out of the ruins as teams of Frojan had started taking down the left side wall. The sun had now nearly fully set and there was no way I was going to risk moving all of our stuff in the pitch black of the night.

After a while, we arrived back at our little corner of the world and settled down for the night, a fitful, uneasy thing as my stomach churned with images of dead soldiers and oceans of blood. Come morning with a quick breakfast of granola, we gathered up all our things, both from the vine mini house and the wooden platform and headed home. Cell seemed to sense my anger and meekly followed me along as we moved through the woods with several bags of holding and the regular bag holding the copper sphere in tow. As the sun reached its mid-day height, we came up to the stone troll nest and moved the boulder out of the way to allow us into the tunnel. Back in familiar territory, I got into in my green dress and had Cell keep himself hidden under my dress after he unsealed the hatch leading into the main floor.

Coming out of the tower, I jogged towards my home and saw the front of the building taken off with a few makeshift boards taking the place of the sturdier thick oak beams that had been there previously. Knocking on the door, I eventually heard footsteps behind the dark oak door. The sound of a latch being pulled back and the door opened to reveal my mother in a plain brown dress

“Sal-“

I rushed forward and hugged the small Kelton woman.

We stood in the doorway for a moment just taking in each other’s presence. Finally, she pulled back and looked me up and down.

‘Been a long time, stranger.’ She said in a spirit connection as I moved through the doorway.

‘Has Eli been here?’ I asked as I took in the old place with newfound appreciation.

‘Yeah, but he’s at the academy hospital right now.’ She said casually as she made her way towards the kitchen table and sat down in a chair.

‘What?!’ I squeaked.

I sat down across from her as she proceeded to explain Eli’s arrival, him running off to get the original fort commander john who was apparently here now, and how she saw that he had been rushed into the hospital late last night.

‘What about his suit?’ I asked her, feeling like I wanted to throw up as I dreaded the coming answer.

‘Suit? He had a few burned rags on, nothing more.’ she responded.

If he didn’t have the deer skull on, then he must have stashed it somewhere to get into the jail.

‘Can I see Eli?’ I asked mother desperately.

‘Yes. You should be able to, if what the receptionist told me was true.‘ Mother responded while she leaned against the table.

I started a connection with Cell.

‘You need to get into the vine suit again and look around the forest between here and Holstead. We cannot, under any circumstances, let them find that suit. If you’re found out they’ll think the pandegos are here, but if they find that suit it’ll be too easy to put together Eli’s arrival with its appearance. To say nothing of any number of other problems it could cause. I’ll talk to Eli then come find you.’ I half mind screamed at the familiar.

‘Mother, I need to go. I’ll be right back.’ I said as I practically jumped up from the chair and ran out the door. Once I was back in the rough stone room of the tower basement, Cell took off down my dress. The sound of rustling vines behind me said he was getting the vine body ready to go. Not wasting any time, I rummaged through the bags of holding around the central pillar with the mana lamp re-installed. Eventually, I found the small chest and took out the choice pieces of paper. The anger I got from the contents of these pieces of paper felt like a physical heat against my body as I put them in my dresses pocket.

Cell went off down the darkened tunnel as I made my way up the steps. Closing the hatch behind me, I went over to the academy. I took the path leading along the sheer face of the white wall of seamless stone and came through the front entrance, only faintly registering the fine embroidery of leafy gold and fine white textures that could only be of dwarven craft. Going through the crowd of white and blue striped student robes and scurrying workers tending to horses or packages of goods, I went to the left towards the hospital with the stair entrance by the stable of carriages. It was similar to the dorms in that it was a sturdy wooden structure put up right against the wall. The long line of windows on the second and third floors were filled with concerned families, little children peering out, or open to the air.

As I went up the grey stone of the stairs and through the oak doors, several nurses raised an eyebrow at me but made no comment. Walking across the smooth oak floor, I came up to the wide reception desk and bothered one of the unoccupied receptionists. She directed me down the hall to the left and up a staircase to the second story with guards in front of the room. Following her directions, often times jostling between doctors and visiting loved ones in the crowded hall, I turned right and stopped when I saw the room with two guards in front of it.

Walking up to the guards, I made sure to keep an even tone when I spoke.

“I’m Salamede, here to visit Eli.”

“Do you know a Salamede?” The guard to the right called into the room.

“Yes, let her in.” Eli’s voice called from inside. The guard fully opened the door and ushered me in. The window directly across from the entrance was open but my gaze immediately went to the man on the bed to my right. He was a mess of bandages that had the occasional bit of burned skin exposed around the restraints that kept him perfectly still on the bed. The mix of anger and concern the image prompted left me still long enough for Eli to react first. His head lifted up, and his purple eyes looked at me with a question but I was determined to start the conversation.

‘Where is your vine suit? I sent Cell to look for it. And what happened to you?’ I asked him in a spirit connection.

‘Mages saw me breaking into the jail and we had a disagreement. What about you? Did you get the commander?’ He asked eagerly.

‘No.’ I said bitterly as I took the letters out of my dress pocket and shoved the contents in his face. ‘But I found this.’

His eyes scanned the pages, his eyebrows beneath the bandages furrowing further and further as he read the order detailing the Coalitions efforts to hand him off in a raid to Maw, and the other showing further efforts to conscript him to hand him over to the gang leader. The final paper was a rough note saying the censure was a scheme to help along this plan.

‘They sold me out.’ Eli said with a surprisingly calm whisper. ‘Those fuckers sold me out for some quick and easy deal with a drug lord.’

‘They… What about those soldiers, Eli! What… what did we kill all of those people for?’ I demanded.

‘Fuck them!’ He snarled back before adopting a more reserved tone. ‘I had every reason to fear for my life. The fact that their little scheme came back to bite them is no one’s fault but their own.’

‘Oh, is that what we’ll tell their widows and orphans?’ I snapped at him. ‘How very touching! That will help me sleep better tonight.’ Tears that I didn’t realize were there started rolling down my eyes as the horror of the past few days came back, made all the sharper by the complete pointlessness of it all.

‘What did you make me do?!’ I screamed at him through the connection before I turned and stormed off towards the door. But when I turned, I saw three grey cloaked mages in front of the guards staring at them with equal parts contempt and menace.

“Move, mundanes! We have business with that man.” The brunette said, her rough squat face showing clear irritation in her green eyes as she rubbed her right arm done up in bandages.

“Ma-Ma’m we have orders from the academy head. No one besides friends and the academy head or his personal assistant.” The guard to the left said, with sweat running down his face and brown mustache.

“We aren’t asking.” A red head to the right said, looking nonchalant as she fingered the dagger at her hip.

Coming through the door, I pushed past the three women.

“Watch it, goat.” The brunette snarled as I moved between her and the guard to leave.

“Watch it yourself, ugly crone!” I retorted, instantly regretting the words as they left my mouth. Maybe it was my emotional exhaustion or maybe it was the fact I had killed so many of her kind that left me less cautious than I should have been.

The brunette’s green eyes went wide for a moment before I saw something snap in her. As I tried to back off down the hall, she tripped me up and drew her dagger up to my neck.

“Bell!” The blond snapped.

“Enough!” The brunette screamed as she turned us around towards her companions in front of the doorway with the surrounding crowd pulling back. “First that crafter takes off my arm now a goat woman shits on me. I didn’t go through all that training just so-“ A shadow fell over us as I felt her hand pull away. I scurried forward and looked back to see the bandaged Eli standing over the woman, his skin now fully healed. He held her arms in place as the mid-day sun faintly shined through the window over them. Eli looked her in the eyes with an expression not unlike a snake meeting a chick in its nest as he held her in place. But before anyone could say anything, a red glow engulfed the woman where she touched Eli.

Her eyes went wide as she struggled against him, but she seemed weaker now as her tan skin grew taught and her muscles seemed to wane. The surrounding crowd yelped in panic while the two guards tightened their grips on their swords even as they also scooted back.

“Stop. Please.” She pleaded as her knees wobbled, and her skin began to get bloody cracks.

The blond drew her dagger and threw it at Eli. It stopped midair and wobbled around before it turned back towards its owner.

“Eli!” I pleaded. He turned to me with a sense of… something in his eyes. I couldn’t make out what his exact emotions were but the fact he stopped meant he was still open to listening to me.

“Please. Enough.” I said with a tremble in my voice. He took a deep breath then released it as the dagger fell to the ground while the red glow of what must have been a malicious healing spell dissipated. Everyone in the hallway, the doctors who had stopped dead in the middle of their visits, the nurses holding bloody blankets and medicinal supplies, and the visiting families all stopped in mid motion to look at Eli.

“Please, let her go. Have we not done enough?” I said in a low tone.

He nodded and released her, throwing the weakened woman into the arms of her two companions.

“Bother me again, and I will not be so forgiving.” He said coldly before turning to me. He did a light bow before he spun around and went back into the room with a slam of the door. There was no audible noise for a long moment until the red headed mage spoke up again, her green eyes wide as saucers and skin going paler by the second.

“Metal… and healing? That… that all four. Wha-“

“Come on,” The blond mage said as she started moving her friend and supported her weakened comrade along the hallway. “We need to get out of here.”

A chorus of whispers rose up as I turned back and went down the hallway to leave. Going out the front of the academy, I went back to Eli’s tower and went through the door. I was faintly aware that it was a darker oak than before, but I paid no attention to that niggling thought as I went back into the basement. I got my vine suit back on and, after some effort wiggling the boulder out of place, I was back up in the trees as the mid-day sun still hung high in the sky.

Looking back and forth between Holstead and the academy. I eventually heard a cracking sound off to my left as I leapt through the trees. Some branches were curling now as Necrosis began to set in, but the branches were all still thick and protruding enough to support my weight as I immediately changed direction towards what sounded like carnage. Coming through the trees, it took only a few minutes before I heard the cracking of tree and what sounded like thunder.

I came upon a path of toppled, burnt, and cut trees. The ground around them was twisted like the earth thought it was water at some point but resumed its natural hardness. Just ahead was the source of the carnage, a pile of vines shaped into muscles as it frantically hit the now empty ground around it. Cell’s vine body was getting ripped apart as waves of stone blades emanated from every blow in the earth from his hunched over form. There were alternating waves of embers and mists coming from his actual body that got blasted out further from gusts of wind.

I got closer and noticed the iron core was now mishappen and had badly distorted into bits of metal along the mid-section of the body. Sending out a spirit connection, I connected with the familiar. A wave of pure rage surged through the connection. Taken aback by the sudden surge of emotions, I pushed through the tide of fury even as it sent the fur on the back of my neck raised straight up and tried to consul him.

‘Cell! Calm down! This racket is going to draw attention!’ I yelled through the connection, hoping to pierce through this bramble of emotions. I felt a change in the emotions as it drew down to a simmer while the vine body stood up

‘Cell. We can’t take any risks at this point. We’ll just have to trust that Eli hid the vine suit well enough. I-‘ Cell sent me some images through the connection. A splinted deer skull beneath him with the vines of Eli suit around it. Nestled in the dirt was the mechanical portion of the suit with some distortions in the copper sphere and air gun. An involuntary sigh of relief escaped my lips as I looked down from my perch to the ground below.

‘All right, take it and go through the river and back towards the tower.’ I said encouragingly, like he was a small child. A moment passed as the vine mass started moving off further ahead towards the river. I did the same, going over the river at a point where two large trees touched. Coming back into the tower through the troll’s nest, I waited until Cell came back through the grotto entrance in the river. After just a few minutes, the boulder amongst the sharp jutting slabs of stone shifted and I came forward into the stone passage.

As I arrived at the basement pillar, I put my regular dress back on and laid my vine suit across the cold stone floor. It occurred to me that I may not ever come back down here. The anger at Eli was still there, but that was no reason to take it out on Cell. I looked over towards the small pile of vines that was Cell as he finished pulling Eli’s ruined vine suit out of the grotto and looked over my way. I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“We’re safe now, Cell. I’m not sure where we will stand after today but know that I care for you. No matter what happens between me and your partner.” I said.

Cell gave a sad nod as I turned to leave the tower.