Chapter Twelve

Nearly four months into the campaign and now the family had a grand total of eight Great Spires, the concert tactic had proven effective against the trees though many Great Spires were lost. At this point and time all of the Great Spires had either committed suicide or had been captured, what remained left to do was the retaking of the small continent.

The battle was not over, not by a longshot, there were still thousands of trees left on the continent and many of them were battle frenzied. The rapid strikes on the Great Spires had effectively left the remaining trees in disorder but considering that the continent was still a continent and all three of the legions were all below seventy percent full scouring all the land was taking time. Without the great leadership of the massive trees fearing actual organized combat became less and less of a worry. Centuries were sent out alone to scout out areas no longer needing to stay in Decades or Legion formations.

Santiago, himself took to the field solo. No one really knew what he was up to most of the time except that many times he’d arrive at camps with several captured trees stunned by telepathic techniques the legions were unfamiliar with.

Command of the legions was left to Caesar, Gustavo, and Santiago’s replacement, Dorian, a true blood of the Fortino Bloodline fresh out of the academy who had proven himself well as a commander in the field of battle.

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“So this is a Great Spire…” Alexis looked on in awe. The first of the captured Great Spires had arrived several weeks ago, but she had been mostly busy with her school work and the tasks the headmaster would leave her with to actually visit the rooting site of the Great Spires. They produced a great number of seeds which had actually bolstered the academy’s student population.

The academy was now the size of a small town reaching the two hundred thousand mark already. The architects of the Architect’s Guild could barely keep up with the demand of the building construction rate. More and more members were always being recruited, their recruitment campaigns had actually begun to spread out into the Alocartan colonies offworld. Which in turn brought in students from places far and wide, though only members of the family were accepted meaning that humans from other worlds were also finding out about the academy but had no way in.

By the influence of the academy the worlds were slowly placing some level of attention towards Alocarta.

Looking up from the base of the roots she felt rather insignificant, the Great Spires were around two hundred to four hundred feet tall, their canopies casted shadows far and wide. The pilots of these Great Spires were placed in hibernation, in a form of suspended animation, that would ensure the survival of the massive trees for eons to come. Each Great Spire has a throne upon which another pilot may take a seat and move and command the tree.

The footsteps of these giant trees had been felt by everyone for miles when they had first arrived. Alexis wondered what it must be like to command so much power and how much effort it must have taken to conquer each one of the massive trees.

As she stared at the great wonders during her small reprieve from work she felt a familiar force approach her.

Mother...A new package has arrived for you…

She turned to find her tree standing behind her with packages in its hand. One of them was separated from the rest, it was an envelope which as usual contained letters handwritten by the headmaster.

When her tree started to become vocal Alexis had thought she’d started going insane hearing voices in her head. As the weeks went by, though, she became accustomed to her tree’s unique mental fingerprint. It’s mental voice is completely distinct from that of a human, it’s like hearing the voice of the wind in your head, a very elemental voice.

“Ok,” she grabbed the envelope and ripped it open to pour out its contents and began sifting through the letters. “Hmm...basic stuff...ok...did that already...ah forgot about that...sent that...ugh I don’t want to do that...hmmm….mmmm…uh...boring stuff...ok. Seems like...uhm...wait a minute…”

What is it mother?

“You make me feel old Trella,” Alexis signed looking at her tree. It was now sixteen feet in height and still growing. It amazed her what she could do with little time, the tree was already at the stage where it could be used as a war suit. “Seems like the headmaster won’t be returning as scheduled, he’s being summoned by the patriarchs.”

Patriarchs?...Is he…?

“No...no he’s not in trouble,” Alexis said. They both shared an emotional connection and a similar nature since after all they shared a soul, her worries were projected by the tree. Talking to one’s bondmate was in essence talking to oneself, so her hollow attempt to reassure the tree that the letter wasn’t anything serious was actually an attempt to make her own self feel secure. “This just means we are still in charge of the academy until he decides to return.”

Lately she’d been getting harassed by the new student soldiers, mostly those with uniforms that made them stand out as officers. From all of the family branches she received letters and e-mails expressing their interest in getting to know her better. She knew well that all they wanted was to get closer to the headmaster. Many of the times, these actions by the family, made her feel alone and scared, she liked being left alone but she did not like feeling alone. It started to get harder and harder for her to follow the headmaster but his letters always had one personal letter from him, they always provided encouragement. That letter that came with every package would tell her of his adventures and misadventures making her feel closer to him.

She felt their bond continuing a steady closeness and trust because they, the personal letters, always contained the words “do not tell anyone about this...or...keep this between us”. Some of the times her mind would tell her that their bond was borne of necessity, that the headmaster was only using her because she owed him, that he didn’t feel anything for her and used her as a tool, but her heart continued to beat to the rhythm of his demands. The headmaster had given her so much, her sight, her life, her future...giving herself to him was only natural and as long as he continued to need her she felt fulfilled.

“Let’s head back to the library,” Alexis said leading her tree. “I’m sure we have many tasks left to fulfill.”

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I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!...

“GRAH! Take it if you can!” Santiago roared. He received the request from the patriarchs to appear before them but he was busy searching for and capturing the strongest of the remaining trees. He had chosen to ignore the request and headed for the most hard fought zones leaving a trail of dead trees in his wake. The enemy was far too disorganized to properly counter his war path, that is until just a few moments ago.

The strongest among them had appeared before him just an hour ago escorted by six others of similar strength. Being by himself, Santiago doubted he had the strength to survive but he fought on nonetheless. His left leg had been shattered by the spear of the one who commanded the other six and even though he rooted the limb he lost he knew well that he would not survive if he did not fight with total seriousness. The Great Spires had been hard to take down and conquer because they as a general whole can withstand the force of a regular army. The Legions under the command of Santiago are all but ordinary, they learned or are continuing to learn skills that place them above all individuals in the family aside from fellow legionnaires. Besides their conquest had mostly been a matter of proximity, mobile tree against mobile tree combat was a whole different matter.

Scar...you will find your end in my hands…

Santiago was surprised by the voice, it was one he knew all too well but was unaccustomed to hearing make threats. His tree spoke out and as it did he felt himself relinquish control, it was a transfer that was smooth.

In an instant he felt his power, his strength of mind, surge drastically, as he released his tails to act upon his will independent of his body. The elite force that confronted him with the intent to kill him found themselves drawing back as two of their own were slowly shredded by the tails. The tails moved far too quickly for them to react and as they were sentient on their own they dodged and weaved to avoid whatever blockade the enemy tried to enforce between them.

The remaining five bypassed the tails and headed straight for Santiago.

With his last tail Santiago formed a spiral barrier that began to spin faster and faster until it became a spinning wheel of death. Of the five one could not stop his momentum and was caught in the whirlwind of the tail and started being shredded. Three of the remaining four circled around the blades of death and continued their rush, Scar charged straight over his fallen comrade taking glancing blows from the tail.

Feinting a retreat the black tree took a spear on his last remaining leg that pinned him in place but gave him a pivotal point.

These trees he was facing were all between thirty to forty five feet tall so the spears were between fifty to sixty feet long and very durable. Sacrificing the leg he twisted around and thrust out his hands grabbing onto two of his attackers and reinforced his grip with psionic energy and crushed their centers shattering their cores.

The hyper aggressive counter strike made the last two back off instinctively.

You cannot end me in your state...I...Scar will deliver you your end instead…

The fight had drained Santiago, his infantile mind was again strained just as it had been during the fight for Gran Domingo. He started to lose consciousness again, just as he wondered if this time his brain might suffer permanent damage, he felt psionic tendrils enter his mind. The forces felt familiar, it was as if his own power was poking around in his head, it surprised him how little he desired to resist the tendrils as they robbed him of his consciousness.

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My father sleeps now…

Scar looked on confused by the words of the tree he faced and the strange entrance to dormancy of the pilot inside of it.

How have you retained yourself...all conquered minds are lost…

The black tree stood using his arms as support as his legs were now wrecked stumps.

We do not lose ourselves...bonding is rebirth....

The black tree tapped into the old mind of his master, the brain of his father’s old body that still resided inside of him and through it accessed the telekinetic abilities that made humans such a danger. With it he poured great forced into Scar and the last of his escorts using it to pin them down in place. The psionic energy began playing havoc with their nerve roots that controlled their bodies and froze them in place as the tails, now finished with killing their target, latched onto their bodies and began vining around them.

How...you are a tree!

The blades of the tails turned away from the trees as they curled around them and turned again and began to saw into them.

I am a symbiote…

These were the last words Scar heard as the tails penetrated his central trunk and cut into his core effectively killing him.

seeing his enemies die the black tree started making his way to his legs hoping that the damage was not so severe that he couldn’t reattach them.