by Ben Hale
“Good point,” Marrow said. “She should make us visible again.”
“No!” Raiden cried, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Just follow me, will you?”
“I can’t see you.”
Raiden reached out, fumbling to catch her hand. Instead he poked her waist, eliciting a giggle. Then he found her hand and guided her out of the wagons. Threading through Empire soldiers, he worked his way towards the great tree.
He’d always wondered what being invisible would be like, and it turned out that it meant dodging people. Yanking Marrow after him, he swerved between soldiers and golems carrying crates, finally reaching the staircase that wound its way up the tree.
“Your feet are visible,” Marrow remarked.
One of the soldiers overheard and looked down at his boots. Then he frowned and looked around for the voice. Raiden had already stepped behind a bush, allowing the shrub to hide his boots from sight.
“How long is this spell going to last?” Raiden asked when the soldier walked away.
“Not long,” Marrow said, her tone annoyed. “Apparently it’s very hard to do and she thinks the elf over there is attractive.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Raiden asked, spotting the elf casting an air golem to lift supplies onto a wagon.
“He’s distracting her,” Marrow said.
“And you?” Raiden asked.
“I prefer human males,” Marrow said.
Raiden noticed Marrow’s disembodied head appear and then fade away. Realizing they didn’t have much time, he caught her hand and pulled her up the spiral staircase, sliding past a pair of dwarves carrying papers and books.
The tree was two hundred feet tall, likely enhanced by the Verinai after the Empire appropriated the village for its use. Platforms had been built at various points along the tree’s trunk, their placement allowing for an unbroken view of the surrounding countryside. Much like a stone tower, the enormous tree provided a vantage point in case of attack.
Raiden passed several platforms before he came to a halt and shivered. Like frigid water had been dumped on him, the sensation started at his head and coursed down his body, returning him to full visibility. Marrow cursed when the charm extinguished.
“Can you cast it again?” she demanded to herself. “Why not?”
He pulled her onto a ledge that was partially hidden from the primary staircase. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’re where we need to be and it doesn’t look like there are any more soldiers up here.”
“She’s being stubborn,” Marrow said, and scowled. “I told you, we are not going to go talk to him. He’s not going to favor you, he’s going to see me—now don’t take that tone with me.”
“Marrow,” Raiden hissed. “Can you please keep your voice down?”
“Oh,” she said, blinking in surprise. “Oh.”
Raiden caught her hand and pulled her up the stairs. Marrow tried to get his attention but they were near the top, and he spotted a trio of soldiers in the office at the top of the canopy. Motioning her to silence, he drew his sword and crept up the final stairs. She motioned frantically for his attention but he jerked his head.
The overlook at the top of the tree contained aquaglass windows on all sides and a slanted roof against weather. Tables and parchment littered the room while a captain and two lieutenants examined a central map. They spoke in urgent tones, obviously planning their departure. Raiden frowned as he noticed they did not seem in a hurry to depart.
The room was cluttered with scrolls, distance viewers, and light orbs, as if supplies had been brought to the office rather than taken away. But why would they leave so much behind when they were going to depart the village?
“Raiden!” Marrow whispered.
All three soldiers looked up at the sound, and Raiden cursed the girl. Leaping up the final steps, he burst into the room and charged a lieutenant. Caught by surprise, he scrambled backward but Raiden closed the gap. Plunging his sword into the man’s chest, he whirled and kicked a table into the captain. By then the second lieutenant was shouting for aid—but his voice turned into a whinny.
Startled, he clapped a hand over his mouth, just as his face began to elongate. His hands turned into hooves and his body swelled in size, ripping free of his armor and clothing. A tail sprouted and he stumbled backwards but the transformation caused him to fall. When he stood he was no longer human.
He was a horse.
“Ha!” Marrow said, stepping into the room. “I told you she could do it.”
“You turned me into a horse!” the horse bellowed.
Raiden and the captain stared at the animal in shock, but the soldier-turned-steed whinnied and charged Marrow, who instinctively shifted to the side. Too late to turn, the horse passed through the door and fell down the stairs, its large body tumbling amid a mixture of human and animal cries.
Raiden recovered first and darted to the captain, who’d been knocked sprawling to the floor. Placing his sword against the man’s chest, he pointed to the scattered piles of parchment. Marrow nodded and set to searching.
“Raiden,” she said urgently. “We need to—”
“Not now,” he said. He knelt to look the captain in the eye. “What is Teriah’s plan?”
The captain, an elven Verinai with the knots for three talents, examined Raiden. Then a flicker of recognition passed through his eyes and they narrowed.
“The Soldier,” he spat.
“The one and only,” Raiden replied.
The captain’s hand twitched and fire sparked on his fingers. Raiden noticed the motion and pressed harder on the blade, shaking his head to indicate such an action would be foolish. The captain sneered and extinguished the charm.
“What are you doing here?” he snapped, his eyes flicking to Marrow.
“Raiden,” she said, more urgently than before.
“Where is Teriah’s army?” Raiden demanded, ignoring her.
The captain hesitated and then shrugged. “Herosian.”
Unprepared for an easy answer, Raiden frowned. “Why tell me the truth?”
“Because it will not matter,” the captain said.
Abruptly the captain reached up to a table and pressed a rune. Threads of red light pulsed to life, coursing through the walls of the office and streaking down the tree. Cries of alarm were heard from the soldiers below and a clattering of wheels indicated they were rushing out of the village. A moment of stillness followed, and then fires ignited.
Raiden grabbed the captain by the tunic and lifted him up to slam him against the wall. Leaning against the aquaglass, Raiden peered down, his eyes widening as fires appeared throughout the village. The enchanted flames exploded the buildings and flooded the walls, igniting the base of the great tree.
“Raiden,” Marrow said urgently. “They don’t mean to abandon the outpost. They mean to burn it.”
Raiden sighed as he watched the inferno swell in the village below, engulfing everything in sight. “I know, Marrow.”
“What?” she looked up from the papers and stepped to a window. “Oh,” she said. “Then we’re too late.”
Chapter 11: Burned
“She tried to tell you,” Marrow said sternly.
“Stop the fire,” Raiden said to the captain.
The man jerked his head. “Even if I wanted too, there’s no way to stop it.”
“You’ve just killed yourself too,” Raiden said.
“To kill you?” the captain said. “Gladly.”
“Can I turn him into a horse?” Marrow asked. “The other one didn’t seem to like it.”
“No!” the captain shouted, abruptly showing fear. Then he swallowed and jerked his head.
Keeping his blade on the captain, Raiden looked out the window and watched the billowing flames lick their way through a roof. Then he noticed that the flames had jaws, and it devoured the blacksmith shop like a starving man a loaf of bread. The heat even melted the steel tools.
He looked to
Marrow. “Can you stop the fire?”
She twitched in fear. “I can do my own fire—not someone else’s.”
“So you can’t get us out?”
“You’ll be incinerated,” the captain growled.
Out of the corner of his eye Raiden saw the captain jerk his hand, summoning a fire sword. Raiden ducked the blade meant to take his head and slashed the captain across the chest, dropping him to the floor. Even as he died, the man’s grimace reflected triumph.
Raiden growled and leaned against the window, attempting to locate a break in the fire. But the fire charms had been placed throughout the outpost and everything was burning, even the stone ground. Half the great tree was on fire and flames licked their way higher, consuming the staircase on their way to the overlook. Some of the Empire had been caught in the blast, and he hoped Jester and Red had survived. Smoke and cinders billowed up, obscuring the view and warming the aquaglass. Raiden stepped to the door, shutting it against the smoke.
“Search the room,” he said. “Maybe he was lying. Maybe there’s a counter charm.”
They overturned tables and threw papers aside, desperately searching for another hidden rune. The ambient heat continued to mount, causing sweat to bead on Raiden’s forehead as he shoved papers aside.
“She doesn’t want to burn,” Marrow said, her voice small.
“It’s okay,” he said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Everyone has something they don’t like.”
“When I was little I tried to alter the fire in the hearth. Toron’s entire leg is scarred.”
“Can you fly us down?”
“She can’t do a dragon charm,” Marrow said, her voice stricken as she wiped sweat from her brow.
Raiden shook his head, surprised that they’d reached the limit of Marrow’s magic. The girl had always seemed to do anything she wanted, but it appeared that even she had limitations. It shouldn’t have surprised him but it did, and he realized he’d come to rely on the girl’s ability too much.
“I don’t want to die by fire,” Marrow said, her voice full of fear.
Raiden noticed her trembling and pulled her into a hug. “I’m not going to let you die like this,” he murmured, wondering how such a powerful being could be so frail.
“Do you have magic?” she asked, looking up at him.
“No,” he replied. “But I have my mind.”
“Is that magic?” she asked, confused.
“It’s power,” he replied.
He noticed the orange glow on the steps and stepped to the window, thinking aloud. “Didn’t we pass a lake on our way here? A mile back?”
“Yes,” she said. “But it’s too far for me to call on the water.”
“You disappeared and reappeared to get Elenyr,” Raiden said. “Can you use that magic to get us to escape?”
Marrow brightened and then shook her head. “She can’t remember how to do that.”
Raiden grimaced and cast about, struggling for an idea. The water was too far away, the inferno was too great for them to escape, and they couldn’t put the fire out . . . unless they could get to the lake.
“How’s your ability with plant magic?” he asked.
“Great!” she said brightly. “But how will that help us?”
“How about the treewalker charm?” he asked.
She stared at him, and then flashed a radiant smile. “She likes your idea.”
She knelt on the floor and placed her palms on the wood, green light filling her fingers and pouring into the tree. Raiden held his breath as the roar of the fire drew close, the glow on the stairs brightening. A faint groaning echoed, and then faded.
“She can’t,” Marrow gasped. “It’s too big.”
“I know you can do this,” Raiden said, dropping to his knees to meet her gaze. “I know how smart you are, and I know how smart she is.”
“You really think she’s smart?”
“And courageous,” Raiden said, his eyes flicking to a crack in the window. Other cracks appeared, spiderwebbing across the glass as it succumbed to the heat.
Marrow grinned and reached into the wood. She snapped one of the limbs that shaped the floor and several limbs burst upward, coiling around Raiden. He cried out in surprise and pain as they gripped his legs and arms, lifting him off the floor. Then she knelt again and pulsed magic into the tree.
“Marrow . . .?” he asked, struggling in the wooden bonds.
“You’re going to have to steer,” she said.
Raiden wanted to shout but the limbs holding him aloft trembled . . . and the tree shuddered as well. Wood groaned and splintered as the tree came to life, answering Marrow’s call. Raiden winced as the groaning gained a pained whine, as if the tree knew it was burning. He twisted—and the tree twisted as well.
The tree lurched as it pulled its roots free of the ground, sending plumes of smoke and cinders into the sky. The outpost tipped violently, nearly launching Raiden through the window. Aquaglass shattered as limbs bent and twisted, the tree rising to stand tall.
Raiden coughed in the sudden smoke and instinctively stepped backward, causing the giant treewalker to stumble through the village. A great root caught on the blazing blacksmith shop and ripped through the roof. It crushed the outer wall, sending shocked Empire soldiers scrambling away. Raiden spun his arms for balance and the tree’s limbs did the same, his vision swimming as the outpost tipped at an impossible angle.
“Can you try to keep us upright?” Marrow asked.
“You want to steer?” Raiden asked, fighting the pull of gravity.
She growled at him. “Would you like to fill the tree with enough magic to make you vomit?”
“I’ll leave that to you,” he replied.
It felt like he was clad in three suits of steel armor. The limbs holding him moved with each step, keeping him in place and making the tree move instead. He gasped, fighting the sluggish pull, straining to keep his body and the tree aloft.
He managed to right the tree and took a huge step, swallowing fifty feet with a single stride. The limbs holding his legs moved with him, holding him in the center of the overlook. Distantly aware of Empire soldiers shouting in alarm, he fought to keep the tree upright as fire consumed the limbs—the magic causing him to feel the heat in his flesh. Smoke filled the outpost and he covered his mouth with his tunic, the motion causing an enormous limb to raise a hand to block his vision.
Another step, and then another. The huge roots plunged into the earth, leaving gaping holes as the tree began to accelerate. Raiden prayed he had the direction right and pushed the treewalker to the limit.
Flames appeared outside the door and devoured the leaves and limbs, the fire turning the giant tree into an enormous torch. Raiden caught a glimpse of the moon reflecting off the lake and turned towards it, fighting to breath, to think, to stay conscious.
The treewalker reached the bank of the lake and stepped into the water. The raging inferno hissed as it was extinguished, sending steam billowing into the sky. Raiden pushed the treewalker deeper, driving the tree into the lake.
The roots slipped underwater and they tilted forward. Marrow cried out in both pain and fatigue as the tree tipped violently, sending her crashing against his back. Raiden clung to his grip, forcing the tree deeper into the lake. But the water couldn’t move fast enough and the tree tipped further, beginning to fall.
The treewalker careened into the water, the fire bursting to steam as the trunk and limbs plunged into the water. But the water sucked at the treewalkers feet, causing it to careen forward, taking Raiden and Marrow with it.
Marrow squeaked in fear and surprise as she fell past Raiden and he caught her tunic, preventing her falling fifty feet into the water. Then the fall accelerated and he could hold on no longer.
Absent Marrow’s magic the tree began turning rigid, the wood holding his feet failing. He legs slipped free and he expected to fall, but the fall of the tree kept them in the outpost. He instinctively sought to brace himself
and the tree responded in kind, limbs extending like arms trying to stop its fall. The burning limbs plunged into the lake, the sheer volume of branches slowing them.
The roof of the outpost was torn free, and a moment later the walls disappeared in a crunch of wood. The surface of the lake approached at astonishing speed and he wrapped his arms around Marrow, holding the trembling girl as they tumbled free of the tree and into the lake.
The impact was like striking stone, knocking the air from his lungs as they plunged deep. He fought to swim, to drag Marrow out of the maze of branches. Then water surged beneath them and they sped away, narrowly escaping the labyrinth of sinking branches.
They burst onto the surface and Raiden sucked in a breath. The water spell slowed as they approached the edge of the lake and died as they reached the shore. Stumbling onto the soil, they sank onto their backs with matching groans.
“You did good,” Raiden breathed, massaging his ribs where the water had struck them, hoping they were not broken.
“I didn’t know I could be magesick,” she said, her tone marveling. Then she rolled over and retched.
Raiden patted her on the shoulder. “It will pass,” he said, his tone colored with relief and sympathy.
The huge tree floated on the surface of the lake, much of its limbs and trunk still burning. It was so large it reached all the way to the middle of the lake, its bulk hardly visible beneath the fire, smoke, and steam.
“We need to move,” Raiden said, sucking in his breath as he stood. “That tree would have been visible for miles, and it will draw the Empire.”
A galloping of horses caused him to turn. He palmed the hilt of his sword but the two riders proved to be Jester and Red, both of which appeared relieved as they caught sight of Raiden and Marrow on the bank of the lake.
“Glad you made it out,” Raiden said.
“We thought the fire had you,” Jester said, dismounting.
“Nearly did,” Jester said. “Turns out Marrow isn’t too fond of fire.”
“He’s right,” Marrow said with a smile, and then vomited again.
“She’s magesick?” Red asked, stepping to the girl and helping her to her mount.