Day 10 – Part 2

On returning from the deadwood, I plopped down by the fire and thought up excuses for how this all wasn’t really my fault. Obviously, the miners who nailed the dryad to the sacred circle were really to blame. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be here. At home, I’d be waiting to hear back on my applications to Cornell and Syracuse. You know, planning my entire future adult life. But no! Bad luck dictated that I couldn’t just live like a normal person.

Thankfully, I was roused from such counterproductive musing by a rustle in the woods. A doe bounded from the underbrush and bolted across the meadow. That should have tipped me off but at the time my thoughts were more like, “I’m hungry. I wonder what venison tastes like.” A few minutes later a trio of deer followed the same path. Then more came. After the fiftieth dashed away from the forest accompanied by countless birds, rodents, and other woodland critters a sinking thought finally formed in my gut. I left camp and entered the forest to see what the animals knew that I didn’t.

Surprise doofus! The Deadwood was spreading.

Jet-black horned ants, each as big as a housecat, streamed out from the direction of the sinkhole. The ants latched their mandibles on a bush or a tree where the insect dissolved away into smoke. Best I can describe it; the attacked tree would then explosively die. In a split-second it’s leaves changed from green and healthy to dead and withered. The enervated foliage fell en masse and emptied the branches. The roots of the dead tree passed the curse into the ground and all the smaller plants on the floor also died. The purple and yellow spiders followed and led a new wave of shadow ants to extend the attack.

I think it’s written somewhere in the book of Job to “Let no good deed go unpunished.” I unleashed something truly awful, but it’s funny how I blindly assumed it couldn’t get any worse. Boy, ain’t I smart.

Day 10 – Part 3

Things that will kill me (by imminence)

Old age. [(3 * 20) + 10] – 18 years 7 to 9 months assuming the new world has a similar seasonal structure to Earth 5 to 8 weeks Something from the sinkhole. Hours… If I’m lucky.

I leveled my spear towards the nearest ant and charged. My aim was true and the blow evaporated the ant into smoke. I struck out at a second and a third and destroyed them both. They were weak and the slightest bit of damage was more than enough to kill these creatures, but then I looked around. Dead trees and cursed ground extended past me on both sides. I scrambled back to avoid getting surrounded and new ants overran the little patch of forest I struggled to defend.

That cycle was repeated many times over the course of the afternoon with the same degree of success. Most of the ground between the deadwood and the Dogkin lair was lost. Still, I felt responsible for this mess so I fought on despite how futile things seemed.

Off to one side, an Oak shuddered and died in an explosion of dead leaves. An uncontrollable Rage flared within me. In front, the ants stumbled and wandered as if drunk. Confused, they attacked each other or walked the wrong way. The raw fury and hatred boiled inside me. My jaw clenched and my blood ran hot. How dare those interlopers come here and harm the beautiful trees. They all had to die. Die quick; Die now!

With the ants’ progress unexpectedly stalled, I took time to calm myself. The strong emotions I’d been feeling couldn’t possibly be genuine. Sure, adrenaline coursed through me, but why had I been so I utterly enraged?

I looked behind. Teeth bared, the injured dryad teetered on unsteady legs. She grasped onto a tree trunk for support and stretched out a free hand. Motes of light danced over her palm and fingertips. Ahead, all the shadow ants staggered over the boundary between the forest and the cursed ground. They’d promptly turned around and either ripped into whatever was behind them, or fled back into the deadwood.

The dryad’s fight or flight spell thingy felt like the just the kind of break I needed to save my home until a wailing shriek pierced the chaos of the ant on ant massacre.

The cursed soil by the border split apart. Earth and dead flora compacted and formed a gaping mouth with lips and teeth. Its jaws spread wide and an arm reached out between the lips and brandished a globe of fire. I stabbed the arm, but my spear passed harmlessly through as if I were attacking a mirage. The hand flung the fireball at my companion.

The tree supporting her took the brunt of the missile’s impact. The oak shattered into splinters and the force propelled her backwards where she collapsed in a heap.

The spell broken, the shadow ants returned to their senses. They swarmed and renewed their work with a vengeance. I was completely powerless to prevent more ground from being lost and only had enough time to scoop up my fallen ally and carried her back.

Day 10 – Part 4

Barks and howls in the distance signaled the Dogkin entering the fight. Before I left to join them, I tried to leave the dryad at camp, but she held onto my back and refused to let me leave without her. Blistering anger still radiated from her tiny form.

We hurried to the Dogkin den. The curse had come within sight of it and the pack had come out ready for war. The Alpha and Stripes, the big male that was second in charge, were at the front both wearing elaborate bone armor. I noted their chest pieces were made from the segments of Dracopede I’d been trading. Neat.

A new figure I’d never seen before stood just behind the front line. He wore a mask fashioned from a bull’s skull and a cape of clinking bones. Two more bone-caped Dogkin stood beside him and handed flaming pine cones which he threw like shamanistic grenades. As they landed, they flared up in columns of fire that engulfed everything around them. I misjudged the Dogkin. In the past, I’d never seen them utilize fire so I assumed they didn’t know how. I should give them more credit in the future.

With my spear I joined them and stabbed as many of the ants as I could. Together we fought them to a standstill. The familiar scream came and the demonic mouth opened up and prepared another fireball.

This time I was ready. Well, It was an educated guess that turned out brilliantly. My spear was ineffective, but what about cold iron. I unwound a braided cord from around my waist. I had tied a horseshoe at each end and whirled the makeshift flail over my head. It was a neat little weapon inspired from a “historical document” called Shanghai Noon.

Turns out fireballs can get interrupted with explosive consequences. I threw a horseshoe at the conjuring hand and its spell detonated leaving only a smoldering crater. A second mouth and hand emerged on the other side of the battlefield and I dispatched it the same way. The shadow ants started wigging out again as the dryad worked her magic.

That’s when things utterly fell apart.

The earth rumbled and a great fissure rent the forest floor apart. An armored figure mounted atop a spider the size of an elephant emerged. The creature brandished a heavy javelin, which it raised over its head and threw.

The javelin morphed into lightning as it left the gauntleted fingers. It slammed into the Dogkin Alpha’s chest and ricocheted into three others. All four collapsed and lay still.

Stripes, now the new Alpha, gave a meaningful look to the shaman. The fighting line disintegrated as the two led the pack away. Only myself, the dryad and four younger Dogkin remained.

And that is how we lost the battle.

The deadwood spread over the rest of the forest. It continued through the meadow until it reached Adam’s creek where it halted. I’m not sure if it was simply content with the territory seized or had trouble crossing the running water.

I suppose surviving without further casualties is kind of like a victory, but it’s a bitter one and I’m too weary to think anymore.