Far away from Moonhaven, in the rankest swampiest part of the forest, a single crow flew. This was the most desolate part of the forest where very few ever ventured. This place of rot and dead trees and bones was the home of the Boggans. Wrathwood.
The crow swooped in and landed on the largest of the dead tree stumps. On its back was a rat-like figure. It leapt off the bird and scurried deep into the stump, scampering along the twisting passages within the rotting wood. Once the figure reached the inner sections of the dead tree, it paused, lifting its head to reveal it was a young thick-set female. The reason for the first impression of rat was because of the rat-skin cloak she wore. The skull of the rat fitted close over Darla's own head, the front incisors coming down over her rather fleshy nose.
Darla rose to her feet and made her way to the entrance to hall deep inside Wrathwood where she would make her report. On either side of the entrance was a pair of Boggan guards. One was a Mosquito type and the other a larger Toad type. As she walked passed them Darla elbowed the smaller one hard enough to send it stumbling.
"I don't think I saw a salute, Boggan!" She told it, snickering.
As she disappeared into the chamber beyond the larger of the pair laughed at its companion's misfortune. This enraged the Mosquito Boggan enough that the wacked the Toad Boggan over the head with its spear, knocking its bark faceplate askew. The Toad growled angrily and lunged at the smaller creature, tackling it.
Darla smirked at the chaos she had caused and resettled her new rat-skin cloak. Finally she stood before an older, very tall, and statuesque female Boggan standing at the edge of a vat of bubbling Rot. This one had a slightly blue hue to her grey skin and was wearing a cloak made from the skin of a bat complete with head and ears.
"We had a little skirmish with some Leafmen this morning. A rat got caught in the cross-fire, so I got a new coat." Darla said. She turned to show it off then laughed nervously as the older Boggan showed no sign of interest. "It's, uh, just like yours!"
Mandra, Queen of the Boggans, rolled her yellow eyes. She lifted the end of the staff she had been stirring in the Rot and examined what had gathered on the end. "Did you find the location of their ceremony?" she asked in irritated tone.
"Uh… Yes, Ma'am!" Darla immediately came to attention. It was never a good idea to make Mandra angry. "It's way outside our borders."
"You mean their borders?" Mandra interrupted, snarling a little. She turned her head sharply in the younger Boggan's direction. Slowly she made her way around the vat of Rot. "The Leafmen think they can keep us contained. Surround our beautiful island of Rot with their hideous green Forest."
Darla clinched her fists. "So arrogant!" she agreed.
"All in the name of Balance. I'm sick of Balance." Mandra stopped just in front of Darla. "No matter how much of the forest we destroy, the King re-grows it with one wave of his hand" She made a wave gesture with one hand to prove her point.
A scowl formed on Darla's face at that. "He needs to be cut down! At the root!" she declared, jabbing a forceful finger. Mandra smiled, very pleased by this.
"Exactly."
The two of them suddenly looked down to see a tiny green leaf at their feet. In such a dark dismal place, that bit of growth was completely unusual. Mandra's smirk deepened as she lowered her Rot-staff and touched the end to the leaf.
"Today we'll show them you just can't stop the Rot. If the King dies without an heir, the Leafmen can't re-grow anything. The Balance swings in our favour forever." The leaf wilted and turned black. Rot spread along the thin tendril the leaf had grown from, racing back along it. It reached a second large leaf which turned instantly to dust. All that was left behind were three sharp spines, the veins of the leaf. Mandra walked over and pulled them loose. These were what Boggans used for arrows. "Leaving you and me rulers of a desperate, desiccated kingdom."
She turned back to Darla and held out the arrows. The younger Boggan took hold of them and said, "I won't let you down… Mom." For that was the true nature of the pair's relationship. Darla was not only the general of Mandra's army, but her own flesh and blood daughter.
"I know you won't." Mandra replied calmly. She turned to walk away then said over her shoulder, "You look beautiful in rat. It's… slimming."
A wide smile broke out on Darla's face and she giggled happily at her mother's complement.
In Moonhaven, crowds of Jinn were beginning to gather. Jinn children were running about laughing. All were excited about the Grand Procession. Above the crowds, at the landing area for Leafmen hummingbirds, all the available warriors had received their final orders and were preparing to take their places. Rona was reviewing the assembled warriors with her second in command, Fione, when the other woman looked up at the sound of a commotion going on above them.
"Look out! Look out!" Nodine cried out as she came in for a landing.
There was a tiny smile on the redheaded Leafwoman's lips as she said, off-handily, "Here comes your star pupil." Rona turned to see and felt a wave of irritation wash over her.
The young teenager had finally made it back and was about to make a spectacular entrance for herself, on the back a ragged and ancient looking sparrow. The bird barely managed to reach the landing field and ended up skidding head first into the ground. Nodine went flying right of the head of the bird, but miraculously kept on her feet. She turned to check on the sparrow and sighed in relief as she looked around.
Rona stalked right over and demanded, "Where have you been?"
Nodine blinked. "Wait, you're mad? You told me to get back and I'm back. On this!" She gestured back at the bird which, as if to prove just how difficult it had been to get there, gave a wheezing hacking cough. The type of cough that one would expect to see a vital organ appearing at the end of. The teen set her hands on her hips as she stood in front of the General.
"And you want credit for that?" Rona was no amused in the least. "You're late. Find a real bird and get back to your group."
The girl didn't bother to hide her eye-roll. Yes, she was late getting there and the bird was not the sort of mount most warriors would want to be seen on, still she had actually made it here, just as Rona had told her to. And completely on her own. Nodine had had enough. "You know what? No."
The older woman stared in surprise as Nodine brushed past her. "What did you say?" she asked, hoping she had not just heard those words come out of the younger girl's mouth.
"I'm not doing it. I'm not a little girl anymore and I'm tired of you treating me like one." Nodine turned back towards Rona and set her hands on her hips again.
Rona stepped closer and lowered her voice. She did not want the other to over-hear this. Due to certain things, she and the girl had a slightly different relationship than Rona had with any of the other recruits. "I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to look out for you."
Nodine was in no mood to keep this argument quiet. At the moment she didn't care who might be listening in, so her voice was just as loud as before. "I never asked you to do that!"
"Your mother did." Rona retorted.
Nodine flinched and narrowed her hazel eyes. She hated it when that was brought it. Absolutely hated it. And worse, Rona knew she hated it. Nodine had avoided talking about her mother for the most part almost since her death years ago. That was it. She was out of there. "Well you can stop." She said snidely, brushing by Rona again and headed for her new mount. "I absolve you of all further responsibility in the raising of Young Nodine."
This turn of events took Rona completely by surprise. So surprised that she stuttered her next words. "Don't walk away from me! I-I'm your commanding officer!" Nodine neither noticed the stutter nor cared about it.
"Not anymore!" she declared as she hauled herself back into the sparrow's saddle. "I quit! Hyah!" With that she snapped the reins and gave the bird a sharp kick to send it into the air again. They flew by over Rona's head and veered off into the forest. The sparrow began listing to one side and Nodine cried out to correct it. "Whoa! Thatta boy. Easy easy!"
Rona stared after them for a second and then looked down, frowning trying to figure out where the conversation had gone wrong. She wasn't quite sure how to take this defection from Nodine. She didn't get more than a second to think about it, however, for she immediately notice the amazed grin on Fione's face. The redhead had obviously been watching the whole fiasco.
"What are you looking at?" Rona demanded, glaring at her second in command. Seeing the dark look on her senior officer's face, Fione quickly cleared her expression.
"Nothing. I have no opinion on this." She said, shaking her head for emphasis. Oh, she did have opinions, but Fione was not about to make them known to Rona. She turned away and raised a hand to the gathered troops, calling out, "Everyone, mount up!" The redhead walked away to get into the saddle with the others, leaving Rona to her thoughts. The General took a few seconds to look back in the direction that Nodine had flown away in, but she still had no time to waste on the girl. The Procession was about to begin.
The flag-bearers started off first, raising the leaf banners decorated with the crests of Moonhaven. These were followed by the Royal Barge, a collection of lily-pads interwoven by the King's power. The Barge flew, towed by two dozen dragonflies. King Tarn stood on top of a large white water-lily surrounded by six specially trained bodyguards in bright white armour. An escort of more Leafmen and woman surrounded the Barge with Rona flying on the immediate left of it.
The crowd below cheered and waved at the Procession passed by overhead. Many called out to the King, who was more than happy to wave back. Tarn was a very popular king. At one point in the proceedings, Tarn turned to look up at where Rona was. He couldn't help but chuckle at his General.
"Parade!" He called out to her when Rona glanced at him. "Fun! Smiling!" He pointed at the grin on his own face to emphasize the last part.
Rona merely looked away again as the Procession left the city and started on its way out into the forest. The flowers below glowed softly and each slowly turned so that the open blossoms continued to face the Royal Barge like it was the sun.
"Mom!" BJ called, looking around as he stepped out of the house. "Mom! Is this a good time to…" He trailed off for a moment as he caught sight of his mother. His eyebrows shot up as he took in the scene before him. "… talk?"
Rachel was currently high in a birch tree, clinging to a branch that was probably far too weak to support even her weight. She was using one foot to try to adjust the angle of the camera she placed there. "Ow! Hold on. I'll be right down. Ow!... Ahh!"
At that moment, the Professor lost her balance and her grip on the tree. The branch she was on bent further at an alarming amount before she slipped. As she hit the ground with a thud the tree sprang straight again, launching the camera far into the woods like a catapult. The sound of glass shattering could be heard in the direction it had landed. When he saw his mother fall, BJ ran over to make sure she was all right. Mollie, who had come outside with him ran over as well and proceeded to wash Rachel's face.
"Mollie! Mollie, stop!" Rachel said, laughing and pushing the little pug away. She gestured towards the forest. "Fetch the camera!"
Mollie started running in the direction for the fallen camera, but was almost immediately side-tracked by an itch. Being a dog, she stopped to scratch it. Unfortunately for Mollie, it was on the same side as her missing leg so when she did so, the pug fell over and ended up stuck on her side.
BJ leaned over his mother, a look of confusion on his face. Obviously falling out of trees was normal for her since she didn't seem fazed, or hurt, at all by it. "Why do you have security cameras anyway? Do people around here steal old newspapers?" he asked, looking around the overgrown yard.
"Oh, no no. They're not security cameras." She answered. Rachel took off her glasses for a moment to make sure they weren't damaged in the fall. She grinned up her son then pulled herself to her feet, brushing bits of dirt and grass from her clothes. "No, I have an extensive network all through the forest, yeah. I-I don't know how much your father told you about my work." She started back to the house. Mollie managed to wiggle back onto her feet and ran after the Professor.
"Um… he… nothing." BJ told her as he followed behind. He brushed back a bit of his bangs behind one ear. "Just that you have a delusional belief in an advanced society of tiny people living in the woods and it, well, it ruined your career not to mention your marriage…" BJ hesitated when he saw his mom stop and look back him with a rather wounded expression. "Or something?"
Rachel rubbed the back of her neck and tried to laugh off the awkward moment. She went up the front steps of the house then paused to drop a tiny handful of birdseed on a little table she had set up with one of her cameras focused on it. "Well, your father had a wonderful sense of humour. But I'm not delusional. I know they're out there. It's intuition. Like scientists intuited the atom."
She opened the front door as she continued speaking. BJ paused as well before going inside to look down at the strange sight of the table with birdseed. That sort of thing did not help him to believe his father wasn't right.
Rachel took out her iPod as she walked into one of the rooms off the front hallway. "These little guys are a big part of the ecosystem, the engine if you will, and I will prove it. Here." She plugged the device into a set of speakers she had mounted on her equipment vest. The sounds of screeching bats began to play.
"You have bat sounds on your iPod? Why?" BJ asked, not all together sure about his mother's sanity at this point.
"To study them. They don't really fly in your hair, you see. That-that's a myth. Uh…" Rachel explained, absently waving her hands at her own hair, which was starting to fall out of its messy bun, to emphasize her point about the myth. She gestured back at the speakers again. "But I was trying to identify the frequencies that draw bats to gather with their own kind. So I slowed the sounds down and put them through some proprietary filters…" She turned on several more strange machines, hitting one a couple of times to get it working. The professor then held a bulky set of headphones to one ear. The recording began playing at a much slower speed. BJ tried not to flinch at the way the bat calls were sounding now. "And guess what I heard?" Rachel finished a big grin crossing her face.
The teen sighed and answered unenthusiastically, "Voices?"
Rachel was not even put off by that, she was so excited about her discovery. "Yes!"
BJ leaned down next to his mother to listen closely to the sounds. He did have to admit there was something like distant indistinct chattering to be heard. He wasn't convinced it was real though, since you could get the same result just from random white noise. He glanced at his mother's amazed expression as Mollie stood up on her hind legs between them and started growling at the speakers.
"Isn't that cool?" Rachel asked in whisper, almost giddy with excitement.
"Okay…" BJ said, standing up again. He had to do something rein in his mother's delusions. Surely if he spelled out exactly how crazy she sounded, she might see reason. "If tiny people are flying around in the forest, how come I've never seen them?"
"No, that's easy." She laughed as she answered him. "It's-it's the same reason we can't hear them. They-they just move too fast," A fly began buzzing around their heads and Rachel pointed at it as a way to explain her point, "like insects! Did you ever wonder why it was so hard to swat a fly? My theory is they're actually living faster. Like in a different dimension."
BJ gave her a strange look as she waved her hands about over the different dimension part of her theory. Seriously this was getting far out of hand. The fly that Rachel had been trying to brush away finally landed on the back of her right hand. Seeing that Rachel lifted her left, preparing to swat it, as she continued talking.
"So, no matter how fast we think we are, to them we're just big and dumb and sloooow." She drew out the last word as she attempted to swat the bug. Unfortunately it had managed to fly away before the blow could connect.
"Have you ever seen one?" the teen asked.
Rachel peeked under her hand and frowned a little seeing that she had missed the insect. Her son's question caught her attention and she made a slight face. "Well, you know, uh… I haven't uh… You know what? Just because you haven't seen something, doesn't mean it's not there. Uh… I, you know, that's…Come on…" She trailed off.
The fly buzzed passed Mollie who snapped at it. Thinking she had gotten it, the little pug puffed out her chest proudly. That is until it landed on her smushed-in nose. Offended at that, she growled.
"Okay, we need to talk." BJ said, closing his green eyes for a second. He was beginning to get frustrated by all this.
"I know. It's a lot to take in." Rachel replied, totally misunderstanding her son's comment.
"I mean about us." He pointed out.
His mother was still not getting it. "Oh, no! No, we'll do it together. Yeah, both of us." She turned away for a moment to pick up a bike helmet with the same goggles and camera set up that was on her own headset. She grinned and handed it over to BJ. "Here. I made this for you."
He took the strange thing and sighed. "Mom, look, I'm almost old enough to be on my own anyway, so I think it would be better if I just…" BJ trailed off as he handed the helmet back to his mother.
Rachel took it and the happy expression she had faded. "Um… You don't want to live here? That what you want?" she asked, disappointment in her voice.
"No," BJ exclaimed, the frustration he had tried to contain jumping out. "That's not what I want. I want you to stop! All this!" He swung his arm around to indicate the cluttered room with bits and boxes and books strewn everywhere. "And be normal. I just - I want a mom who's not…"
The beeping of Rachel's GPS unit interrupted BJ at that moment. Both looked down at where is sat on the table and BJ could immediately see how antsy his mother became with wanting to see what was setting it off. He gave her a very pointed look, trying to keep her focused on what they were talking about instead of more of her delusions. Then more alarms started going off in the computer room behind Rachel. It was too late for BJ to keep her attention now.
"Oh, um… okay. This is big. This is a big thing going on right now. Let me just find, uh…" She snatched up the unit and turned into the room behind her. BJ's mouth dropped open for a second as his mother walked away.
"Where are you going?" he demanded.
Rachel was busy checking the various monitors as she answered absently, "I'm just going to investigate, you know, rather… Okay, somethi - something must be happening." She spun a dial and peered closely at one screen. Then she ran a hand through her messy hair and spun in a circle, already distracted by what she was doing. "Ooh! Uh… Let's see. Where's my camera?"
She turned and headed back into the other room, handing off the helmet to BJ as she passed him. He looked down at it then back at his mother. "Are you serious?" he asked, but Rachel didn't even hear his question. It was more important to her to get outside and find the cause of all the alarms. She hurried around the room gathering up various things. Her equipment vest, a can of bug repellent, her notebook, and head set.
"You have to catch these things in the moment, while they're happening," she explained, "otherwise you could miss a chance that could be gone forever."
BJ followed along behind her. His expression was going from shock to frustrated anger at his mother's stubborn refusal to see reason. "You're missing a chance right now. Are you even listening?"
She slung the vest on and settled the headset over her hair. Rachel then turned and put a hand on her son's shoulder. "Look, you've got to believe me. I am so close. All I need is one little break-through. This could be it! I will clear this all up when I get back!" She did a final check of her things and rushed out the door. Two seconds later she stuck her head back inside. "I promise!"
With that she was gone, running off into the forest. BJ heaved a sigh and let the arm still holding the helmet drop to his side. "Sure, Mom. I'll be here. In reality."
He knew now this was never going to work out, no matter what he had promised his father. He could not keep staying here if his mother continued with her stupid delusions. This had been a bad idea from the start. He could now feel what it had must have been like for his father in the days leading up to his parents' divorce.
A few minutes later he was coming back down the stairs with his roller suitcase thudding down each step. BJ was going to go back to the city. The teen went into his mother's computer room and taped a note to one of the monitors where she would likely find it if she ever came back to the house. Mollie jumped up onto the old office chair, panting. He gave the dog a sad smile and a scratch behind the ears.
"Bye, Mollie. It's not you." He told her as he headed for the door. As he opened the door he was already on his cell, calling the cab company. "Uh, Lorna? I need that get-away cab. I said; pick me up by the - Hello?" He pulled the phone away from his ear as the call went silent and growled in frustration again. "Ugh! No bars!"
What he didn't realize was that, when his suitcase had caught on the door jam and he pulled it free, the front door didn't close properly behind him. This left an opportunity for Mollie to make her great escape. The little rambunctious pug darted by BJ's feet, barking loudly and knocking his suitcase off the steps. The teen didn't pay any attention to that, however. He was more concerned about the dog's escape.
"Mollie! Heel! Stop! Play dead!" he cried out, running after the amazingly fast three-legged animal. He could help but wonder out loud, "How are you so fast on three legs?" He thought he saw her run off into the forest, so he chased after her, repeatedly calling her name and hoping that the mostly deaf dog would actually hear it.
The Royal Barge flew regally through the trees, finally reaching the end of its journey. With grace it touched down lightly on a pond nearly covered in duckweed and lily-pads. Once the Barge reached the water, King Tarn released his power on the lily-pads that made up it. They relaxed onto the water, spreading out a little.
Now that the Procession was at the Pond of Royal Pods, its escort of Leafmen and women disbursed to take up positions in the surrounding trees. Rona circled her bird around to check that each group was where it was supposed to be. The leader of each group signaled back by waving his or her bow.
Below, on the pond, King Tarn walked out to the edge of the pads that had created the Barge. He paused for a moment as the duckweed gathered before him to create a path across the water's surface. Once the path was there, he stepped onto it. His bodyguards remained behind. More duckweed gathered in front of him as he walked and behind him it shifted back into its loose random patterns again. The various large water-lilies opened into bloom as he passed them, like the flowers back in Moonhaven.
At the edge of the water, the Daisy father stood with his Marigold son. "Isn't he cool?" he asked the boy.
The Marigold boy grinned excitedly. He, like many of the Jinn children, idolized the King. "He's awesome! He moved those trees with his mind! Dad, can I be King when I grow up?" The boy's green eyes shone brightly as he asked that question.
His father chuckled sadly and ruffled his son's head petals. "Sorry, champ, it doesn't work that way. Today, King Tarn gives his power to a special pod so that the Life of the Forest will continue." He looked out at where the King was crouched next to some of the small lily pods floating in the pond. After a few seconds he turned back to the boy again. "It's all very mysterious and - Buddy? What are you doing?"
The boy was no longer paying attention to what his father was telling him. Instead he had the fingers of both hands pressed to his temples and his face all screwed up like he was concentrating really hard on something. The thing he was focusing his mind moved ever so slightly and huge grin broke out on his face as he turned back to his father.
"Dad! I did it!" he said excitedly, pointed back behind him. Unfortunately, the 'thing' he had been trying to control was not the stick that it appeared to be, but a female Stick Jinn. She turned to the boy and spread her arms, giving him a weird confused look.
"Did what?" she asked. This cause to Marigold boy to groan in disappointment.
Out at the center of the pond, awaiting the King's arrival on a large lily-pad was a slender female snail and shorter heavier female slug. Just before Tarn reached them the snail turned the slug and said, "He's coming! Don't do anything to embarrass me, or it could ruin my chances of being a Leafwoman."
As she straightened to stand at attention for the King, the slug scoffed at her. "Why do you want to be a Leafwoman? They gotta wear uniforms. Me? I like to let it all hang free." With that she lifted her stomach a little then set it bouncing, giving it a reverbing smack. "You see this, you see that?"
A completely disgusted look crossed the snail's face as she watched this. "Yeah, don't – don't do that. That – that's vile…"
"Come on, I know you've got a little belly too." The slug replied poking at her companion's stomach as well. The snail was quite ticklish there and even that little poke caused her to start giggling, which she desperately tried to supress.
King Tarn, having reached their pad, gave a polite but amused cough and said, "Ladies." The snail gasped and looked embarrassed while the slug merely grinned.
"Hey…" the snail replied weakly and then batted the slug away from her as she took a step forward. "Your Majesty. Hello."
"It's all right. Relax, it's just me." Tarn assured them. He turned to look around at the pods floating all around them. "Maude, Grubby, it's a very nice looking group of Pods. I might have a hard time picking one. Do you have a favourite?" He turned back to the pair and crossed his arms.
"Well, Your Majesty, we have had quite the debate." Grubby the snail replied.
"Really gone back and forth." Maude put in, nodding.
Grubby waved at the surrounding pods as she continued. "You'll note the carefully curated selection of sizes, densities, colours. With so many variables, you can't be too hasty." Grubby had absolutely no problem with drawing out the selection process for as long as possible. Maude, on the other hand, had already picked out what she thought was the best choice. Barely even waiting for her companion to finish she pulled out a huge deep red pod and practically slammed it down in front of the King.
"Boo-yeah! Right here. Biggest in the bunch." She said proudly. Grubby stared in horror at her friend's audacity.
"Hmm." King Tarn mused as he bent over the large pod. There was a slight unbelieving look on his dark face as he looked it over. This pod was all very nice, but, like he had mentioned to Rona back in Moonhaven, it just didn't have the right feel to it. "Well, that's one way to go. How about…" He glanced around again and spotted just the right one. He pointed to his choice. "… that one."
The King's selection was a much smaller pod, nearly twice as small as the other pods and almost a quarter of the size of Maude's choice. Maude went over to it, looking like she couldn't believe that King Tarn would choose such a puny looking thing over her much healthier one. "What? That one? For real? But it's so…"
Perfect!" Grubby interrupted before the slug could finish what was probably going to be an insulting comment. She rushed over and pushed Maude away from the little pod. "It's perfect. Excellent choice, Your Majesty. Sometimes the biggest one isn't the best." She smacked Maude's touch away from it before gently lifting it out of the water. She glared back at the slug as she started back towards the King. "I told you Maude. He doesn't like gaudy. Unlike you, he's got class!" she whispered fiercely.
Tarn had to hide a grin at the pair's antics. He gave the snail a little bow as he took the little white pod from her. He lifted it up and smiled as one of its tiny green roots twined around his fingers. "This is it. This is the one." He said. Maude and Grubby sighed in happy awe as the King turned and held the pod high above his head so that all could see it.
High in one of the oak trees, Rona remained mounted on her hummingbird as she watched her King start to make his way back across the pond. She had her bow in her hand and one arrow just resting on the string. So far, so good. Soon this ceremony would be over and King Tarn would be back safe in Moonhaven. She scanned the area again and caught Fione's eye for a moment just as she could hear some very distant cawing. The General was about to dismiss it as being too far away to worry about when something else caught her attention.
Next to her, one leaf was slowly withering and turning to dust. She leaned to examine it closely and then whispered, "Boggans." She sat up again and suddenly turned in the saddle. She drew back her bow and fired. The arrow hit the trunk of the tree, instantly alerting the other Leafmen and women. Nearly all spun around and drew their bows, arrows trained on the place where Rona's arrow was sticking out. Rona drew back a second arrow, her blue eyes sharp on that same place.
There was silence and nothing moved for the longest time. Finally a chunk of bark right next to Rona's arrow shifted and fell away, revealing the shot Boggan that had been hidden there. It fell away with a groan. In that instant it was like the entire tree exploded as hundreds of Boggans threw off their bark camouflage.
"Your Majesty! Get to the Barge!" Rona yelled down to Tarn. The King looked up to see the mass of Boggans swarming on the Oak tree. He tucked the pod under one arm and took off running across the surface of the pond, his white petal cape flaring out behind him.
A group of warriors leapt into action. The front ranks raised their bows and fired. Once they had, a second rank leapfrogged over them and fired, followed by a third. Many of the first Boggans fell to these attacks.
Rona sent her humming bird diving out of the tree, swooping down to the pond. A double handful of other mounted Leafmen and women joined her as they encircled Tarn. All had their bows set and ready to fire on any attacking Boggans
A screech caught the King's attention as he ran. He glanced to his right to see a Boggan chasing two of his subjects. It was the Daisy/Marigold father and son pair. His mouth firmed and he stretched out his right arm. At just the right moment, he made a beckoning motion and part of a root that the Boggan was about to pass snapped up. It knocked the creature aside and gave the pair a chance to make their escape.
The Marigold boy grinned and jumped in front of his father. "I told you he was awesome!" he cried, thrilled that his hero had saved them.
The commotion caught Rona's attention and she looked back at the King. Tarn just gave her a grin that said what? The General frowned and faced forward again. Ahead was the Royal Barge with the King's bodyguards. The dragonflies took to the air, towing it towards the group hurrying to meet it. Rona could hear one of the guards give the order, "Hold the formation!" to the others.
A large group of Boggans charged across the pond. Grubby snatched up a tiny twig and brandished it. "This is it, Maude! My chance to be a Leaf –" she cried as the Boggans rushed them. Unfortunately for Grubby, she was completely ignored and was, in fact, sent spinning into the water.
"What?" Maude asked, having been even more ignored by the Boggans than the snail, as Grubby poked her eye stalks out of the pond. "Your chance to be a what?"
Out of the tree branches overhead, more Boggans dropped down, aiming for the herd of dragonflies. Rona and the others surrounding the King reacted instantly, taking aim. Some Boggans managed to avoid being hit by the arrows and their sudden impacts with the dragonflies knocked the insects from the air. A few of the Boggans jumped down on the mounted warriors as well, pulling them from their saddles one by one.
"Rona!" King Tarn yelled as even the General was knocked off into the pond. The silver haired woman struggled with her attacker as they sank through the water. Below, even more Boggans, Toad types, emerged from their underwater hiding places. These swam up and started yanking down the other pods.
Tarn held his chosen pod close as he looked around at the other disappearing pods. He knew at any moment, the Boggans would emerge to come after him. Seconds later five of them pulled themselves up out of the water and onto the large Lily-pad the King had stopped on. Surrounded and knowing he couldn't take on so many at this close range, Tarn jumped into the air. He used his magic so that the effect of his landing would be increased and the bounce caused by it was more than enough to send all five Boggans flying back into the water.
The King knew that he was not safe yet so he called on his magic again. Even though he was worried about Rona, there were two very important factors against remaining there. One, he knew quite well that she could take care of herself. Two, she would not thank him at all for risking his life to help her. A green vine answered his call, curling around his upraised hand. Once he had a firm grip on it, the vine pulled Tarn up away from the pond and in among the trees.
He let go of the vine and slide down a broad leaf to the ground. There he continued running, drawing the leaves overhead together to form a protective shield. Unfortunately the Boggans had a way to deal with that. Using Rot-spears, they created holes in the leaves to jump through. One Boggan had managed to keep hold of its spear long enough to hurl it towards the fleeing King. It hit the ground ahead of Tarn, the ground swelling up with Rot. Tarn bent as he ran passed it. Instantly a tiny green plant started growing, curing the Rot.
As the wind whipped the trees high above, Leafmen and women dropped from the branches. They were not falling, but using their shields as parasails to glide to the ground. They came in to land as the Tarn ran past, on his back-trail. With shouted war-cries, the warriors charged the mob of Boggans chasing their King.