“We found this,” said the guard, handing the keycard to Mr. Black. Mr. Black looked it over, pondering what to do for a few seconds before passing it to Mr. Blond.
“Huh, what idiot let the prisoners get their hands on a key,” said Mr. Blond as he accepted the card from Mr. Black. Mr. Black remained silent as Mr. Blond looked at the card and saw his own face staring back at him. Mr. Blond’s eye bulged. He was the idiot he’d just castigated.
“How dare you steal from me,” Mr. Blond roared as he doubled his efforts at beating Bolevard. Bolevard spat a mouthful of blood as several ribs shattered and poked his internal organs.
Warning! Bleeding continues worsened. Are you going to do something about it or are you going to let me feel pointless?
“That’s enough of that,” said Mr. Black, pulling Mr. Blond away. “What about the other one?”
“In the forest. One of the guys is getting Winnie, she’s our best tracker. The one that escaped couldn’t have gotten far,” said the guard.
“Let’s make this quick. With any luck she’ll be caught and put back where she belongs before anyone in Washington is any the wiser,” said Mr. Black.
“Yeah,” Mr. Blond agreed. “I still have a few more things to teach that bitch.”
“Don’t you… touch her,” Bolevard coughed another mouthful of blood.
“I’ll do whatever I damn please,” said Mr. Blond as he unleashed another savage kick, this time to Bolevard’s face. There was a loud crunch as Bolevard’s nose caved in and blood started to pour from both nostrils.
“Dammit Blond, I told you that’s enough,” said Mr. Black as he stepped between them to ensure it didn’t go any further.
“But he started it,” said Mr. Blond to which Mr. Black shook his head. Mr. Black had no clue how his partner’s mind worked. One would think that would make you want to try to understand your partner better, but Mr. Black had no interest in that. In fact, the idea made the experienced agent quiver in fear.
“Wouldn’t you prefer going after the one running free than beating up a half-dead man already in our grasp,” said Mr. Black.
“Oh, yes, you’re absolutely correct. Now where’s that dog,” Mr. Blond spun his gaze around until it focused on a guard walking a basset hound from the base’s sleeping quarters. “Why are you walking? Hurry up. Let’s go.”
The guard and hound quickened their pace, but before they could finish crossing the blacktop, everything changed.
It started with the trees. Suddenly thousands of leaves in the surrounding trees all started to rustle. That in and of itself was nothing. In this region, windstorms were common. Still, the assembled people realized something was wrong right away, but their panic came from instinct not knowledge. It was a good thirty seconds before one of the guards said, “Why are the trees making so much noise when there is no wind?”
It took another couple seconds for everyone to realize the guard was correct and if they’d had a few more they might have moved into defensive positions, but the ground trembled causing everyone standing to lose their footing. The asphalt cracked open and dozens of roots shot up from the ground.
“What’s happening?”
“They’re coming at me.”
“It’s alive,” cried several of the guards as they pulled out their guns and fired at the invading roots, but no amount of bullets could stop the endless tide of plant matter.
Mostly the roots made large sweeping motions, swatting away all the guards until they were either knocked unconscious or running away in terror, but they took exception to a few individuals. A particularly thin root wrapped itself around Mr. Blond’s waist before slowly constricting itself, giving Mr. Blond a few agonizing moments of pain and terror before his body was severed in two. Meanwhile, another root wrapped around one of Mr. Black’s ankles before dragging him underground never to be seen again.
After watching this, Bolevard couldn’t help but be filled with terror as one of the roots wrapped around his own waist. Bolevard closed his eyes and waited for the end to come, for the root to tighten and crush him in two as it had Mr. Blond, but it never came.
Instead, the root gently carried Bolevard away. Another set of roots took down the fence as Bolevard was carried into the forest. A couple hundred yards in, the root slowed to a stop. It lowered Bolevard and released him before retreating into the ground.
A confused Bolevard propped himself up with some difficulty. The tree nearest to him was exceptionally large compared to the others around it, its trunk being twenty feet across, though that wasn’t what had drawn Bolevard’s gaze to it. In the center of the trunk, hovering just above the ground, was a large oval of glowing green light and within the light was Sylph. Only her face and hands were visible, the rest of her looked to be behind the green light and within the tree itself, like she was fused to it.
This was why the guards were attacked and he was rescued, Bolevard realized. The artificial concrete walls had kept Sylph separated from her source of strength, nature, and now that such obstacles were gone, she was easily able to make use of her powers to stomp all of their enemies. Within the prison, it had been Bolevard leading the charge in getting them out but moving forward it would be Sylph taking the lead in insuring their continued freedom.
It may seem a bit foolish that Bolevard would have not connected the strange attacking roots to the elf, but Bolevard had never seen elvish magic before and although he’d spent half a year in this world, he remained ignorant of it. For all he knew, sentient carnivorous plants that ate people were commonplace in this world.
Bolevard wasn’t in any condition to do anything so he simply sat and waited. After a few minutes, the last of the screams at the prison died out and Sylph’s eyes snapped back open.
“Are you alright?” Bolevard asked as Sylph stepped out of the tree.
“I’m the one who should be asking that,” said Sylph as she walked over to check on Bolevard’s wounds.
“As you can see, I’ve been better. But, we can worry about my injuries later. What you did will only stall them for so long. We need to get out of here before they come after us. Help me up,” said Bolevard as he tried to get to his feet.
“Wait,” said Sylph, pushing Bolevard back to the ground. “This will just take a second.”
One of Sylph’s hands glowed green and she placed it on Bolevard’s chest. The same light spread across Bolevard’s body. Normally the use of magic on something as personal as his person would have worried him. His country’s magic users were all rich nobles who’d only wield their power on a commoner like Bolevard as a punishment, but Sylph glowing light had an innate calming effect so Bolevard didn’t panic when brown root-like tubes sprouted from the ground around him. The roots penetrated Bolevard’s skin, feeding nutrients throughout his body and accelerating his healing.
You have fallen under the effects of: †High Elf’s Tree of Life Blessing†
† High Elf’s Tree of Life Blessing†
All negative status conditions are removed and while under the effects of this blessing, your natural regenerative abilities are increased by 10000%.
Bleeding has stopped.
After a couple minutes, Sylph pulled back and Bolevard regained his senses. Bolevard slowly got to his feet, both feet. His ankle was restored.
“That was amazing,” said Bolevard as he checked himself over. Parts of him were covered in dirt and blood but underneath he was in perfect shape.
“Thanks,” said Sylph her voice a faint whisper as she struggled to remain upright, as if she’d nearly fainted on her feet.
“Are you alright? You shouldn’t have spent so much of your energy on me,” said Bolevard as he rushed to Sylph’s side and held her to make sure she didn’t fall over.
“I’ll be fine in a minute. This place’s mana is a lot thinner than what I’m used to. It’s not replenishing as fast as I expected,” Sylph explained.
Bolevard and Sylph heard shouts from the prison they’d escaped. The people t
here were reorganizing and could soon return to the pursuit.
“It’s fine. Rest,” said Bolevard as he picked Sylph up into his arms. “I’ll get us out of here.”
Bolevard ran deeper into the woods, believing distance was best for now. After fifteen minutes, Sylph recovered her strength. She could have told Bolevard right away, he’d let her down so she could carry herself, but she waited, wanting to remain in Bolevard’s arms a bit longer.
“You were amazing,” said Rose, feeling warmth spread all across her face.
“Well I told you all that the tricks would work,” the Isaac doppelganger said proudly. “How many do you think we took out with the superMICs? Two, three thousand then there were the firebombs? That was like another ten.”
“No, I wasn’t talking about those,” said Rose. “I meant the part at the end where you were slashing and stabbing people with impunity, dodging everything the enemy threw at you. The traps and stuff were still quite amazing. I think I was just more amazed by your acrobatic performance because I wasn’t expecting it. We’ve known for weeks about the traps you were setting up, but your physical performance towards the end went beyond anything I could have…” Rose blushed again.
The doppelganger suddenly stood up out of his hospital bed and walked over to the window.
“No, not now, you can’t go, it’s too soon,” said Rose. She rushed towards the clone, desperate to turn him around and see that face once again, but it was too late. Time seemed to slow down and no matter how hard she tried, she never reached Isaac. The world seemed to collapse and fade away, first at the edges before advancing until everything was gone.
When Rose awoke, her heart was racing. It made her angry that she’d just had that dream again, the one that repeated one of the last moments she’d spent with ‘that weird guy.’ It wasn’t as if she had anything against ‘that weird guy.’ In fact, even she would admit that she might have harbored a bit of a crush, but she still didn’t like the dreams. It felt as if her subconscious was trying to foist something more against her will.
Rose could tell from the dim light in the corner of her blurry vision that the sun would soon rise so rather than try to get a bit more sleep and risk returning to the same dream Rose tossed aside the blankets and got up.
“Good morning,” said Zelus, flashing Rose his biggest smile. He was standing directly over her as if he had been waiting. “If you’re amenable I was wondering if you’d like to go on a nice morning stroll before the day’s journey.”
“You want to go on a walk given how much of it we do every day?” Rose sighed.
“Well we don’t have to go so far… Maybe just over that ridge,” Zelus nodded to the east.
“Where everyone else can’t see,” said Rose.
“Or hear,” said Zelus.
“I’ve told you before, I’m not interested,” said Rose, shaking her head.
“I know that. I was just hoping that you might have changed your mind considering we don’t have that much time left. Pity, for a dead man?” said Zelus.
“Stop being so melodramatic. None of us are going to die,” said Rose. Rose wasn’t sure exactly how far it was, Titania had been the one navigating, but she knew that they were getting close to their destination, Doraga. “Besides, I’m not the only pair of legs around here.”
“I’m afraid Titania is… too preoccupied,” Zelus struggled for an excuse as he glanced up nervously. Titania had climbed a tree to see if she could scout out the land ahead. Titania had been doing a lot of the heavy lifting these days. Not only was she the one navigating them through this seemingly endless sea of hills and trees, but she’d also been the one finding all their food. They’d taken a fair amount with them when they left Crystalpeak, but the numerous packs and Albert’s space defying storage couldn’t supply nearly enough for the length this journey had become. They would have starved long ago if not for Titania’s knowledge of scavenging from local plants.
Zelus’ resistance to continuing advances towards Titania had nothing to do with that fact that he now knew she came from this land or that she’d given him two black eyes the last time he’d tried something, Zelus had plenty of experience with women who required a bit of persistence. As much as he was loathe to admit it, he was nervous because he was a bit intimidated. Zelus was used to being able to flaunt his wealth and power as a mage, he was used to being the dominant individual, but the last couple of months had proved that at least in this setting his abilities were limited.
“Oh, I wasn’t referring to Titania,” Rose snickered. “There’s another set of legs around here and I feel you stand a fair chance… Oh, look. Perfect timing.”
Albert walked over to them, with him he carried the delicious scent of whatever he’d been working on.
“Breakfast is ready. Come guickly,” Albert announced. Albert always wanted his food eaten as soon as possible after cooking. This insistence grew stronger as their journey continued because as time passed they ran out of supplies and harvesting good replacements became more and more scarce.
Rose quickly got up, leaving Zelus and Albert as she headed towards the food. “Hey Albert. You should take advantage of this opportunity. Zelus seems to be getting desperate.”
“Vat?” Albert exclaimed, utterly clueless. When Rose didn’t respond, he turned to Zelus. “Vat did she mean? She zaid zomething about you being dezperate.”
“I have no idea,” Zelus growled as he sauntered off after Rose.
Titania jumped down from her perch in the tree, sinking deep into the slushy melting snow before coming to a stop.
“Do you haffe any idea vat’s going on?” Albert asked her. From the treetop, she’d probably been a bit further away than Albert had been, but she still might have heard something Albert missed between his cooking and the crackle of the fire.
“Just Zelus being zealous,” Titania replied as she followed Rose and Zelus.
Albert followed shortly afterward and they all enjoyed Albert’s food as limited as it might be from its constituents.
†Grass Porridge†
Durability: 20/20
Freshness: 100/100
Effect: Double stamina regeneration for four hours
Description: Simple porridge made of boiled grass. Seasoned to perfection with salt and pepper by someone with exceptional cooking skill, the porridge is excellent in both taste and effect despite its lackluster constituents. It’s good enough for someone to join a cult over.
After breakfast, the group set off again. As they moved, Titania reminded them all to be silent and vigilant. Most of their journey they had kept along the borders between the various clans that made up the Othal Confederation. This allowed them to avoid being spotted but now that they’d made it to the lands of Doraga, they had no choice but to delve deeper as they headed for the clan’s center.
They spent most of the day walking. Titania took the lead to scout ahead a bit while the other three moved together. The day was boring and uneventful until Titania crested a hill and suddenly ducked back down. Rose, Zelus, and Albert, who had been boringly following a hundred feet behind, noticed Titania’s reaction immediately.
“What’s going on?” Zelus yelled.
“Shhh, keep quiet and keep low. You’ll see it when you get up here,” said Titania in the higher register of a whisper and with a volume that Rose, Zelus, and Albert could just barely make out what she said.
Rose, Zelus, and Albert kept their heads low and knees half bent as they approached Titania.
“So what is it?” Rose asked in a bare whisper when they all clustered up.
“We’re here,” said Titania. “Doraga is just over that hill.”
Rose, Zelus, and Albert all interestedly dashed a few feet ahead to see over the bluff. They got a brief glimpse of Doraga, another city like Dewpoint though seemingly more sleepy. There were no smokestacks from forges in operation.
But, all that they got was that glimpse because Titania quickly caught up to the three of them and
pulled them to the ground.
“Get down you fools. Some Othans have exceptional sight and could see us,” said Titania.
“But we didn’t have to worry so much when we snuck into Dewpoint,” said Zelus.
“Dewpoint was the staging point of the war. It was used to strange people passing through, even human ones,” Titania explained. “It won’t be so easy here. Doraga is a small, almost reclusive clan on the northern edge of the Confederation. They probably don’t receive many visitors. A group of four visiting would be rare and they definitely never see any humans. If we all go in, someone’s bound to notice and question us.”
“Then what do we do?” asked Albert.
“I’ll go alone,” said Titania. “None of you can pass as Othan, your bodies don’t look right. Hopefully, no one will question why I don’t enter in my beastform.”
Titania adjusted the armor she was wearing, making sure to remove the extra patches of cloth she’d used to fill in the gaps. Beastmen armor was designed to adapt to rearrange itself with an individual beastman’s transformation. The armor she was wearing was meant for a desert fox, which was good because it’d match her planned excuse of being a foreign messenger and would explain why she was coming in human form, a desert fox didn’t fare well in snow.
“How do I look?” asked Titania after she finished tying her hair into a tight braid. “Do you think this looks good enough to pass as one of them?”
“I think it looks quite good,” said a strange voice from above. They all jerked their heads around in response, looking for the source. A beastman sat nonchalantly on the branch of a nearby tree, naked due to a recent transformation from a bird form.
The Ice Lands Page 22