Chapter Five

“So you are saying he has not moved since then?” elder Noah asked elder Trent and Rumor, elders Cane and Casio stood behind the as they gathered around the great black tree. Elder Sabil had died in combat pretty early on during the bombardment as he had attempted to make his way to the garrison to lead his men. The fighting had lasted nearly a day and a half and since then another day had gone by. “Tell me what happened.”

The black tree had taken root moments after securing the new refuge in the inner courtyard used for precisely that. The soil there was still rich and wet from recent rain.

“He collapsed in the middle of combat when we were digging out my company,” Trent retold the events. “He was teetering and losing balance before then, but he continued to fight before he just fell. It was strange and for a moment I thought we were going to lose him to the saplings that crowded him. Before they ripped him apart he just got back up like nothing had happened and he was a totally different monster than from before. He used skills and telekinetic strength I have never seen before. His hand quickly morphed into a smaller version of the gravitational railgun. It was...I can’t describe the carnage.”

“Indeed,” Rumor nodded. “He became a one man army, I could see the saplings retreat from him even as they forced themselves to attack.”

With the black tree at the lead they had made a path from the inner city to further inland into the hills beyond where a military outpost of old now acted as their refuge. The black tree had remained at the rear during the last mile marking the city’s edge acting as vanguard so that the civilians that managed to follow them could escape. What remained of all military forces had remained with him to provide the civilians more precious time.

The vanguard battle had been the most brutal of the battles because by the time they had managed to make it to the edge of the city the main army had finally managed to make it ashore and into the unprotected city. They were hit hard both by air forces and land armies.

The other elders had left to help guide the people, there were tens of thousands and the outpost had hardly enough space to accommodate so many, but elder Noah remained perplexed by the tree. Many survivors were camping in the valley just beyond the walls close enough to rush inside incase of an attack. There were thousands more taking refuge in villages further inland and in other cities or making their way to them.

“Just what and who are you?” he asked no one in particular.

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“What news do you bring?” the question was a congregated voice of all the Great Spires, they knew well of Blood Chains and the death he had sowed among their fellow Great Spires.

“He is as strong as ever,” Scar said keeping his emotions in check. Every tree tapped into this conversation through the great network could feel the rage Scar felt, the disappointment and bitterness he felt for himself and for the price he had paid. In the battle against Blood Chains Boulder had been lost and Wing had lost his canopy and would soon follow. Scar himself had lost his right arm all the way to the shoulder and his left leg had been gouged, it would heal but instead of the strong grey wood and sinew it would be replaced with fragile green. Effectively Scar would never see the field of battle again without forfeiting his own life in the process. “There is something else, I felt a mind that was much like our own as we fought him. When last I fought him he was strong but this mind was not his, it was someone else’s and the skill he displayed was even beyond what Blood Chains had displayed in our fight before.”

“We all know that you only fought him after you hounded and wounded him,” the congregated voice said as one. “As for the other mind, it is probably the outcome of another of their heinous experiment with our consciousness cores.”

As one the network shivered. They would never forget the first bonding, Blood Chains, the first of the bonded. The loss of the first had been spirit breaking, the horror they had felt as a consciousness had been stripped of self was felt across the galaxy itself. There was not a tree that had not been horrified in the Milky Way by the act and since the first many more had followed and many more continue to follow.

There was a moment of silence.

“Retreat,” the voice said again. “Bring back our forces. The humans will surely soon unite and now you do not have the strength to kill Blood Chains.”

“He is weakened,” Scar protested. “There are enough of us to take their new refuge and kill him and everyone with him.”

“And who will fight him?” the voice asked. “More of our young? With the loss of Boulder, Wing, and your injuries there is none with you capable of getting within range to deliver the killing blow. No, return now. Killing him at the cost of so many more is not worth it.”

Scar’s rage flooded the network.

“So be it,” he held himself attempting to contain his rage, his frustration. It was not right, it was unfair. Why did Blood Chains have to be so strong? He was just as old or even older than Blood Chains and even then he had not stood a chance. He sighed as he remembered that even a young Great Spire had reformed himself into an Ancient Tree and fought Blood Chains and still lost.

He tore himself from the network and looked at the ruined city around him and at the forces that were his to command. The great division of trees had taken root in the hills just outside the city a little over fifty miles from Blood Chain’s refuge. Night was descending on them.

Tomorrow we leave...tonight we rest..

With that thought in mind he took root and began to heal allowing the fertile earth to sooth his hurting spirit.

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Elder Noah…

The voice came to him as a whisper waking him, he had dozed off exhausted from the last two days, at first he didn’t think anything of it though he did look around to see who if anyone had called him. He shrugged it off without much thought until it happened again.

Elder Noah…

The voice was definitely there. He looked around but couldn’t see anyone.

Elder Noah...my master grows weak…

“Who speaks?” he asked looking around wide eyed as he stood up from the rock he was using as a chair.

It is I...the tree moved its arm slightly enough to let the elder know it was he who was speaking to him.

“How? What?” the elder was confused. He had spoken with the man inside before but the voice that spoke to him now was distinctly different, for one, the mind that touched his own to speak directly through telepathy was not entirely human.

I cannot maintain his body any further...I require a pregnant female...one who is lactating…

“I don’t understand,” Noah looked on in confusion.

The tree began to mold itself into the form it had taken in the fleet carrier using its chains to create a curtain of willow like branches to cover the inner part surrounded by its four limbs.

I require your aid...enter and see my master...he does not wish to be revealed to the world but he is in great need...attempt to harm him and you WILL die…

“I see,” he could feel a chill go down his spine. He slowly stepped forward and the branches parted to give him access to the center.

Once inside he found the enclosed canopy lighted by the internal nerves of the great tree, they glowed dimly barely lighting the darkness inside. The elder looked up and into the insides of the hollow where the pilot of such a great tree should have been but all he saw was a bundle of nerves and roots. He was confused, where was the pilot? Where was the human inside? Was this a wild tree?

At first he thought of running outside but he realized quickly enough that the branches that hung down were after all the tree’s main weapon. He would not make it outside if the tree decided to kill him. Instead he steeled his nerves and waited.

What you will see...is my father…

“What?” he asked continuing to look up and as if to answer him the great bundle began to lower until it was at waist height. It uncurled slowly and as it did psionic energy began to bleed from the bundle, it was powerful, untamed and pure. It was unlike any force he had ever felt before and his stomach began to twist as his mind began to conjure up horrifying images of what might be inside.

The ball uncurled further and the energy was now permeating the very depths of his own body. It was almost too much for him to handle until he saw the first signs of what was inside, a small hand floated up followed by another and then he saw it. A small infant child with long light brown hair and soft pinkish flesh floated above the bundle of nerves. He recognized the field that contained the child, it was a stasis bubble but it did not explain the forces he continued to feel emanating from the child.

“This child…” the elder was lost for words.

Is my father…

“What…” again he found himself unable to say anything further. The pilot that had carved a bloody path through the harbor and then through the city was this child? What about the voice he had heard before? The one he knew belonged to a human being? Was it this child?

I have not the strength to produce his nourishment any further...I have not the energy...he needs to feed soon or it will have an negative impact on his health…

“So the pregnant female…” the elder said now understanding the strange request.

Yes…

“Hold on,” he said. “I will be back with what he needs.”

With that the tree allowed him to exit the canopy under the promise that he would never reveal who his master was or what purpose the woman was to serve. To ensure his cooperation the tree had wrapped a small piece of one of its tails around the man’s head like a crown. It was programmed to kill him and anyone who might have heard him if he ever attempted to reveal who his master was. The elder couldn’t fully understand the need for the secrecy but had accepted it nonetheless.

Minutes later he returned with a woman whose belly was swollen, she was nearing the end of her term. He asked her to step inside the canopy but as she approached a tail whipped forward and gently tapped her head, there was a release of psionic energy and the woman fell unconscious. Before she struck the ground the tails that composed the canopy wrapped themselves around her and dragged her inside.

Noah couldn’t help but pace outside and wait, he was worried and scared that he had just lead a pregnant woman to her death.

Several minutes went by before the chains moved again setting up the woman as she had been before she had fallen unconscious. The tail again released psionic energy and the woman opened her eyes confused.

“What do you want me to do now?” she asked. “Should I enter?”

“Wha…,” Noah quickly realized what had happened. “No nevermind. We are done here.”

She will remember nothing…

The voice rang in his head giving him chills.