Wrathwood was swarming with Boggans of all different types. Big and small. There were hundreds of them and they were all headed towards the great dead tree that was their headquarters. Nodine shuddered a little as she peeked out from their hiding place. "That is a whole lot of ugly." She muttered, turning around and closing the mouth of the lizard skull helmet over her face.

She was already weird-ed out by the frog-skin cloak tied around her shoulders. She also had a wooden vambrace on her right arm. At least her clothing was dull-coloured enough to pass without further disguise. Of the three of them, she actually had the least Boggan armour on.

"Ugh! It smells like something died in here." BJ complained as Rona set a bird-skull on his head. The boy had a carved out chestnut shell around his shoulders and bits of dead leaves tied over his clothing, with a larger piece wrapped like a skirt around his waist. He had complained about that too.

Rona had used the carapace of a large beetle, complete with wings, to cover her Leafwoman armour, though she did discard her General's coat. The Boggan mask and wood vambraces completed her disguise. "Something did." she told him pointedly, pulling the mask over her face, and then lead the way out into the gathering crowd. Nodine and BJ fell into line behind the General.

"How do we know where to go?" the girl whispered to Rona. The older woman had led them into the Boggan throng with a confidence that was surprising.

Rona glanced at Nodine walking beside her through the holes in her mask. "I've been here before… with your mother." She was hesitant to mention Nodine's mother. Not only remembering the girl's reaction the last time she had done so, but also because of what had happened the last time she had been in Wrathwood.

Nodine was startled by that revelation. A sinking feeling started to grow. Her mother had always told her stories about her work as a Leafwoman. And yet in none of them had there been any mention of being in this place. "She never told me about this." She looked around at the dead and decaying surroundings before looking back at Rona.

"She never got the chance." Rona broke eye contact with the younger girl. She couldn't help the odd tone to her voice as she spoke. Though this was not the time to tell Nodine what had happened to her mother here, Rona decided that later, when this was all over, she would. Nodine deserved to know the truth.

Those simple five words made Nodine pause. It hit her then like a ton of rocks. If her mother never got the chance to tell her about coming to Wrathwood, that meant that it had been her last mission. The one she never returned from. And now Nodine was about to go into the same place. A very bad feeling filled her then, but as BJ came up beside her, she quickly followed Rona again.

BJ glanced at Nodine when the girl paused. He had only caught the tail end of their conversation and he would have said something to her, but she moved on before he could. Overhead a few bats fluttered around the top of the tree stump.


Maude and Grubby blinked and looked up as the cover on their hole was lifted. Mandra smirked down at the slug and snail. "How's my little Dark Princess?" the Boggan Queen called down to the pair.

Both rolled their eyes as they turned back to the pod they were tending in a rank pool of water. Mandra had 'checked in' on them several times already since they had been kidnapped. By now their fear had given way to irritation. "It's fine." Maude said, bouncing the pod in the water lightly.

"Good. Because if it dies, you die." Mandra's tone turned threatening. Since the slug and snail were the ones needed to take care of the pod, she was only putting up with them until it bloomed. Once they were no longer needed, well, she had plans for that too.

"We know." Grubby replied in complete irritation. The Boggan Queen had made that threat more than once. "You've said." Satisfied that she had made her point, Mandra began to close up the hole again. Just before it was shut, Maude got a rather wicked idea for a little prank to play on their captor.

"Ugly says 'what'?" the slug called out quickly.

Mandra yanked the cover up again, positive that she had heard one of the pair say something. "What?" she snapped.

Both slug and snail began to snicker to themselves, more than a little amused. "Nothing." Maude drawled. The Boggan Queen narrowed her eyes, still suspicious, and slowly dropped the cover again.


BJ couldn't help but stare all around him as he followed Rona and Nodine along a narrow ledge. This place was creepier than any haunted house he had ever been in. Or like the setting of a horror movie. He kept expecting something to jump out at them. He even walked backwards a few times just to keep watch. At one point, when he was doing that, he bumped into something.

He turned and squinted to see what he had run into. It was a huge sleeping bat. BJ's eyes went wide and he would have yelped if Nodine hadn't appeared right next to him and clapped a hand over his mouth. She had seen him stop out of the corner of her eye. "Shhh!" she hissed softly, holding a finger to her own lips. The girl then pointed up with the same finger before turning to continue on.

The boy's eyes followed her finger up. Overhead was a huge colony of bats. They covered the ceiling and most of the walls of the great inner chamber of the tree stump. Each was wrapped tight in its leathery wings. There was an ever present chittering coming from all sides. BJ slowly walked along in Rona's and Nodine's wake across the chamber unable to take his eyes off all the bats.

Rona lead the way deeper into the dead tree, along more ledges, across thin bridges, and through tunnels. Finally she slipped through a crevice and knelt at the edge of a high ledge overlooking the huge open cavern at the center of the tree stump. The area below was criss-crossed by more arched bridges and cobwebs and lined with ledges. Boggan soldiers patrolled everywhere. As the two teens knelt on either side of the General, she scanned both below then up above their position.

"There's our exit." She told the younger pair, pointing with two fingers. "Meet me back here when you've got the Pod and the slugs."

Nodine looked at the vast area below. That was all very well and good, but where were they even going to start looking. "How are we supposed to find them?" she asked, lifting a hand.

The older woman pointed down to a ledge a little ways down from theirs. Twin shiny glistening trails lead the way into another tunnel. "Just follow the slime." She said as the trio watched a large Boggan slip in said slime and grunt in anger.

Something suddenly came to BJ. It sounded like Rona was sending him and Nodine on their own to get Maude and Grubby. "Aren't you coming with us?" he asked as Rona stood up and pulled off the mask. Rona began stripping off the beetle carapace and the Boggan vambraces.

"I'm gonna make sure nobody follows you. Don't worry; you get the easy part…" There was a wicked grin on the usually serious General's face as she winked at them. "I get the fun part." With that, she turned and jumped down to a bridge below. She landed in a crouch between two Boggan patrols, neither of which noticed her. She was about to fix that.

"Hey, look! It's a Leafwoman!" Rona called out, spreading her arms as she stood up. The Boggans around her started looking everywhere but where she was, trying to locate the Leafwoman in their presence. As usual Boggans weren't the most observant creatures in the forest. Sometimes Rona thought they were even worse than BJ's Stomper mother. Time to give them a little hint. "I'll keep this simple. I run… you try to catch me."

At that moment, the Boggans did finally see her standing right among them. Now that she had their attention, Rona darted to her left and started running. The huge Boggan in her way swung its large bone club at her. The General jumped over the swing and onto another ledge. A trio of Boggans were hot on her trail now. She ran along the ledge and into a very short tunnel. The three Boggans followed and came out on the other side without noticing the Leafwoman wasn't in front of them. Rona came out of a lower tunnel and smirked as she looked back over her shoulder at the mistaken Boggans.

Nodine almost smacked herself in the face to watch all this. Oh, great. Apparently she was becoming a bad influence on the General. Either that or Rona had been a lot like her in her youth. More and more Boggans joined in the chase, jumping from ledges and bridges and climbing down the walls. As soon as they cleared off the slimed ledge, Nodine looked at BJ and said, "Let's go."

Both teens jumped down and with looks behind them to see if they had been noticed, they made their way into the tunnel. They only got a short way into the tunnel when they spotted a small mob of Boggans rushing down towards them. Nodine and BJ both gasped and froze as the monsters swirled around them and out to main cavern after Rona.

"When I get big again, I am so coming back here with a can of bug spray." BJ muttered to the girl as they moved on once the Boggans were past them. In fact, he made a mental vow that that would be one of the first things he did when he got home again. She gave him an odd look, but didn't say anything.

The slime trail led them down the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, it opened into a rank inner chamber. There were ribs, vertebrae, and parts of the skull of some larger animal scattered about. This was where the trail ended as well, yet there was no sign of the slug and snail. BJ pushed back his bird-skull helmet and looked around, calling out softly, "Maude. Grubby."

A pair of eyestalks popped up from under a large piece of a jawbone. "We're down here!" Seeing that, both BJ and Nodine rushed over. Nodine went to her knees and pushed aside the cover to the two's prison. Maude grinned, turning to Grubby. "I told you he'd come for me. This boy is smitten." The slug giggled as a pair of hands grabbed onto her eyestalks. To Maude's great disappointment, BJ wasn't the one hauling her out of the hole. It was Nodine. She groaned when she realised that.

"Hand me the Pod!" BJ urged, holding out his hands to take the pod from the slug. He was on the other side of the hole from where Nodine was.

"Oh, come on, you should work on your grip, my girl." Maude complained, looking up at the girl pulling her out. She passed the pod to BJ and added. "It's a bit manly."

Nodine didn't bother to make a comment on that. The slug could have tried to sound a little more grateful to be rescued, even if it was by her. The girl very briefly considered just leaving Maude there, but only briefly. Honestly, even with how she and the slug regarded each other as rivals, she wouldn't leave even her among the Boggans. So, she just continued to haul on Maude's eyestalks. It took about three tries to get her up over the lip.

"No, no, no!" Maude yelped.

Nodine fell backwards as the slug came up. "Whoa! Whoa!" she cried as the slug landed right on top of her. Suddenly she was very grateful for the lizard-skull helmet since it kept her from being smothered by Maude's bulk. With a grunt the girl shoved her off as the slug giggled.

As this was going on, BJ pulled Grubby up out of the hole. "Hurry, before the guards come back." he urged the two. They needed to get out of there before they got caught. He looked towards the tunnel they had come down and saw a two shadows move along the tunnel wall. They obviously were a pair of Boggan guards.

"Too late!" Grubby said. "I have a plan! Quick! Everyone hide in their shells!" The snail immediately sucked herself deep inside the spiral shell on her back. BJ, Nodine, and Maude just looked at her with varying looked of are you kidding? Grubby poked her eyestalks out from under the rim of her shell. The snail realised that particular plan wouldn't work since she was the only one with a shell. "Oh. I have another plan!"

The large Toad and skinny Mosquito guards came around the corner to find discarded Boggan armour on the floor and the open cover to the hole. Both rushed forward and the Mosquito started looking around. Something caught the smaller Boggan's attention upward and it quickly shoved its larger companion's head up as well.

Maude and Grubby were crawling along the ceiling of the chamber. BJ, with the pod on his back was hanging from the snail's eyestalks and Nodine was hanging from the slug's. The four were headed for a different tunnel high on the chamber's wall. The girl saw that they had been seen. "Go! Go!"

"Ow! That hurts! Those are my eyes!" Maude started complaining as the larger Boggan started after them.

"Can you go any faster?" Nodine asked the slug. At that moment the Toad Boggan jumped and thrust its spear up at the girl. Nodine had to swing her legs out of the way, which caused her to pull harder on Maude's eyestalks. It jumped again and again.

The slug answered through gritted teeth. "It's kinda hard when you are pulling on my brain!" Nodine didn't answer as she was too busy with avoiding the Boggan's spear so that she didn't end up jabbed in the backside.


As Rona ran through the passages and tunnels of the dead tree, she kept her pace to just fast enough to stay frustratingly out of reach of the Boggans. The longer she kept them after her, the better change BJ and Nodine had to get the pod, Maude, and Grubby safely out. She was having a surprising amount of fun doing this. In fact, she hadn't done anything this crazy since she had been a recruit of Nodine's age. The General glanced over her shoulder as she rounded a bend to make sure her pursuers were still hot on her trail.

"Rona!" At the sound of her name in Mandra's drawled voice, Rona came to a stop and looked up. Above her on thin spire was the Boggan Queen. With her right hand holding her Rot-staff, Mandra flung out her left to emphasize her words. "What a surprise. I get so few guests." Mandra had her customary nasty smirk as she called down to the Leafwoman.

The General smirked back as she drew her sword. She held it up in a two-handed guard position. "Could be the stench of Death. Some people don't care for it." she retorted. She was not at all displeased to run into Mandra. She did have a debt to collect from the Boggan Queen after all. Mandra still had to pay for killing Tarn. Rona heard movement behind her and glanced back over her shoulder to see the mob of Boggan minions advancing on her.

They stopped however when their Queen held up her hands. "It's all right. Rona's an old…" Mandra planted the butt of her staff on the ground and pretended to think. "Hmm, what do you call someone you've known a long time and always wanted to DESTORY?!" Mandra screamed the last word as she jumped down at Rona, slamming the Rot-staff into the wood bridge between them. Rot caused the wood to splinter and break.

As the bridge collapsed under her feet, Rona jumped and landed on another ledge below. Mandra followed right behind her. The Boggan Queen made a strike at the General's left side, which Rona immediately blocked, hilt of her sword held high while the point was down. She slid her blade up and around, making the Rot-staff pass over her head.

"I expected you to come. But I didn't think you'd come alone." Mandra commented as she swung her weapon around and over her own head, making a downward sweep with it. Rona dodged it as the staff hit the ground, jumping to the side to cling to wall. The Boggan struck again, jabbing the end towards her new position. The General flipped over Mandra's head and made an overhead strike of her own only to have Mandra catch her sword with the middle of the Rot-staff.

The taller Boggan Queen pressed down on their locked weapons. Rona dropped onto her back and helped send Mandra flying over her head with one foot. She then flipped onto her feet again and looked down to see where Mandra had landed.

The amused nasty smirk was gone from the Boggan's face as she landed on her feet on another bridge. The Leafwoman jumped down after her, landing on one knee. Mandra swung the staff down on Rona before she could get to her feet. "Who said I'm alone?" she mocked as she blocked the blow from Mandra, bracing the end of her blade with her free hand.


Maude and Grubby had finally brought them out of that tunnel to crawl along the underside of one of the many bridges crossing the main central cavern. BJ inhaled sharply as he looked down to see just how high they were and muttered, "Whoa." Far below he thought he could make out Rona fighting a tall Boggan in a bat cape, which he guessed was Mandra.

Behind the four came the two Boggan guards. The Toad Type was hanging from the Mosquito Type's ankles much like Nodine and BJ were hanging from Maude and Grubby. The Mosquito was forced to strain its wings as hard as it could to lift its larger companion. With a snarling effort, it swung the Toad enough for it to kick Nodine in the back.

Nodine instantly swung around on Maude's eyestalks to see what had hit her. Seeing the Boggans behind them, she lifted her legs and kicked back. Soon she and the Boggan were both trying to kick at each other, since both of them had their hands busy with hanging onto their respective carriers.

BJ heard the commotion and looked back over his shoulder. At that moment the Mosquito Boggan got close enough to Maude to smack the slug in the head. "Ow!" Maude cried and glared at the Boggan. She immediately slapped it back which led to the two of them getting into it as well. During none of this did, Maude or Grubby stop crawling along.


The General let out a grunt as she was flung backwards into a wall. She managed to stay on her feet and raise her sword as Mandra lunged at her. Rona somersaulted under the Boggan Queen to avoid the next blow. The wood under her feet started to split apart. As Mandra spun around and made another downward strike, Rona made one of her own at Mandra's gut. The Boggan Queen blocked again.

"Ooh! So, what's the plan here?" the Boggan asked. Now it was her turn to mock the General. She swung her staff again and missed as Rona leapt over her head. Rona tried a strike at Mandra's back only to have her whirl around to block it again. "A hundred Leafmen? A thousand?" Mandra turned the block into a blow, throwing Rona back into a spider's web.

The Leafwoman struggled against the sticky strands of the web. "Don't flatter yourself." she snapped.

High above at that exact moment, Nodine managed a solid kick right into the Toad Boggan's jaw and knocked it senseless. The Boggan's grip on its smaller companion's ankles came loose and slipped off. The Mosquito Boggan, still straining its wings to support the other Boggan, wasn't able to compensate for the sudden loss of the weight. It slammed up into the underside of the bridge, knocking itself out.

Both spiralled down and bounced off the bridge on either side of Mandra as the Boggan Queen advanced on the trapped General. Mandra paused for a second then looked up in confusion to see the four escapees. She turned back to Rona and nearly laughed. This was what her enemy had meant? Two teenagers as back-up?

"Well, now I'm just embarrassed." She told Rona before making a great leap to a pinnacle in the center of the great cavern. "I completely over-prepared." She gave a loud howling screech. It echoed in the vast chamber. Suddenly thousands of Boggans came pouring out of every nook and crevice of the tree stump. They boiled out and up every wall like a swarm of cockroaches.

Rona finally managed to cut herself free of the spider-web. She sheathed her sword and leapt after Mandra. A trio of Boggans tried to catch her at one of the higher bridges, but Rona made the next jump before they could reach her. She had to keep the Boggan Queen from reaching the others. If she could delay her enough that might give Nodine and BJ time to get themselves, the slugs, and the pod away.

The four had made it to one of the ledges. Seeing the Boggans swarm up the walls towards them, Nodine gave BJ a little shove, "Go, go, go!" The girl then turned to help Grubby pull free of the bridge.

Mandra leapt with practiced ease from bridge to ledge to spire, each jump bringing her higher and closer to the teen boy carrying the pod. BJ spotted the Boggan Queen land on the wall below him and stopped, tightening his hold on the pod. Though he wasn't sure how, he was not going to let Mandra take the pod back.

"I'm afraid you'll find getting out is a lot harder than getting in." Mandra called up to the boy as she climbed the wall. She bared her sharp teeth in an evil grin. The Boggan Queen was so focused on him that she never noticed Rona until the General leapt onto her back.

Rona planted one foot against the wall and used it as leverage to pull both Mandra and herself off the wall. They fell back together until they hit one of the many bridges. The Boggan Queen tumbled off and fell the rest of the way to the bottom with a scream. Rona managed to keep from following her by grabbing onto the very edge with her right hand. She looked down, watching Mandra fall and land among her minions far below. Such a fall was not enough to stop the Boggan Queen though. Within seconds Mandra was up and standing on the shoulders of a couple of Boggans.

"Rona! Hang on!" Nodine yelled, coming up beside BJ to see the older woman pull herself up onto the bridge below. Maude and Grubby joined the pair. The girl started to look for the fastest way down to reach her.

As Rona got to her feet, Boggans began swarming her from either end of the bridge. One grabbed the General around the shoulders as another rushed her. Rona punched the second and elbowed herself free of the first. "Go! Take the Pod to Moonhaven!" she ordered, kicking a third Boggan and sending a fourth flying with a right hook.

Nodine dropped to her knees and grabbed onto the edge of the ledge with both hands. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Couldn't believe that Rona was ordering them on. "I'm not leaving without you!" the girl cried. She didn't want to do that, leave the General here.

"Now you're starting to sound…" Rona grunted as another Boggan wrapped its arms around her neck from behind. They were starting to come too fast for her to fight off singly. Still Rona was not giving up the fight. "… like a Leafwoman!" She couldn't keep her pride in Nodine at the girl's willingness to help her out of her voice. More Boggans piled in on top of her until not even a speck of her green armour was visible.

"RONA!" Nodine screamed, reaching out a futile hand. She suddenly felt just how Rona must have when Tarn was killed. Helpless. She wanted to jump down to help the older woman. She wanted to attack the Boggans with everything she had. But she could do neither. There was no time. Movement below caught her eye and Nodine saw that there were still Boggans climbing the walls towards her and the others.

"Come on!" BJ grabbed Nodine's shoulder to pull her back from the edge. He then turned and began climbing up the last wall to the top. Maude and Grubby climbed up on either side of the boy. Nodine made to follow when a large Boggan grabbed her from behind. The girl jammed her elbow back into the creature's gut which made it loosen its hold on her. When it lunged again at her, Nodine grabbed onto its wrists to keep it back as it slammed her back into the wall. Just then, one of BJ's combat boot clad feet came down over her left shoulder.

BJ had seen Nodine struggling with the Boggan and did the only thing he could do at that moment. He kicked the Boggan in the head, stunning it so that the girl was able to shove it back over the edge. That gave her enough time to make the last climb herself as more Boggans made it to the ledge. Once they had reached to top of the tree stump, Nodine put thumb and forefinger to her lips and whistled twice. Her ragged old sparrow answered the call, flying into perch at the end of a long dead branch. The four ran as fast as they could towards the bird.

She slung Grubby onto her bird's back then scrambled into the saddle. Maude climbed up behind the snail and Nodine pulled BJ up behind her. The girl took one last look behind them, hoping beyond hope that Rona would appear then, but only seeing the wave of Boggans charging after them. With time now running out she snapped the reins and shouted, "Hyah!" The sparrow launched into the air just as a Boggan jumped at them. The monster missed and fell. Other Boggans spilled over the edges of the tree stump.

The little bird flew off, carrying its four passengers and the precious pod out of Wrathwood. Rona's hummingbird chirruped as it watched them go, remaining behind to wait for its mistress to return.


BJ looked quietly at the back of Nodine's head. Silence had fallen among them as the girl's sparrow flew the long way back to Moonhaven. Maude and Grubby had fallen asleep after telling them about what Mandra had planned for the pod in Wrathwood. He could hear their soft snores behind him. Nodine hadn't spoken a word since they had left the Boggan's home-base. He could only imagine what she was going through at that moment. Having to leave Rona behind had left him feeling guilty; it had to be a hundred times worse for Nodine. Silently he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she didn't even acknowledge it.

Nodine was completely numb. She sat slumped in the saddle, reins held loosely in her hands. Her sparrow was flying pretty much on his own, without any direction from her. Her mind was in a welter of different emotions. Anger. Hate. Grief. Guilt. She blamed herself for everything. If only she had been faster, stronger, she could have gone to rescue Rona. If only she had insisted that she be the one to distract the Boggans. If only she had insisted that Rona come with them or that she go with Rona. If only she hadn't come up with the idea to sneak in in disguise in the first place. If only she hadn't left the pod unattended. If only, if only, if only. She hated those words.

This was all her fault and now Rona was gone. Left behind in the exact same place that had killed her mother. It was only now that Nodine realized just how much the General had meant to her. Rona really had looked out for her in the years since her mother's death. And all she had done to repay the woman had been to act like a spoiled brat. Nodine wanted to scream, cry, hit something, but she was still too numb. She didn't even feel it when BJ put that comforting hand on her shoulder.

A light glow came into view through the trees at the top of a hill ahead of them and BJ stared over Nodine's shoulder at it. He guessed that it could only be coming from Moonhaven and that meant they were nearly there. Just then, as they followed a stream far below, there was the sound of hummingbird wings around them. Maude and Grubby woke at the sound as he looked around to see a platoon of Leafmen and woman fly up on all sides of them. Their arrival broke Nodine out of her numb trance.

Fione brought her bird up alongside the sparrow. "We've been waiting for you." She called to the teens and then looked back for a second. "Where's Rona?"

"She… gave us a head start." Nodine hesitated on answering. She couldn't bring herself to tell Rona's second-in-command what had actually happened. BJ glanced at the girl, but didn't contradict her.

Fione stiffened at Nodine's tone. She could tell just by it that something had gone terribly wrong. Nodine sounded just like Rona had when the General had returned after the mission that had killed the girl's mother. The redheaded Leafwoman suddenly had the sinking feeling that they may never see the General again.

Nodine wasn't finished though. She knew that the danger hadn't passed. "But the Boggans aren't far behind." She warned. Fione gave a firm nod and turned to the others, giving them the signal to spread out and be on alert. They would escort the group the rest of the way into Moonhaven.

As they entered the clearing that was Moonhaven, BJ's eyes widened at his first sight of the place. It was beautiful; a word he didn't often use to describe things. The light of the full moon over head shone off the great crag and reflected in the water surrounding it. Below he could see more warriors in their green armour as well as other Jinn come out. A great cheer started as they passed.

The sound of that cheer put heart into the boy and the sight of these people's grateful faces actually made him feel strange. Like he truly was a part of something important. Like a hero. The pod in his hands started to take on a glow.

Nodine didn't feel quite the same way as BJ did. For her the cheers just reminded her of all that she was not. She didn't feel like a hero. More like the returning prodigal daughter. The screw-up that nearly ruined everything. Even so, she decided to put on a good face. She would do this. She would see the pod returned and watch it bloom. She would do it for Rona.

Their escort of Leafmen and woman stayed with them all the way to the landing area, though only Fione and a couple of others landed their Hummingbirds alongside Nodine's larger sparrow. Neem appeared in the entrance and rushed out to greet them. "You guys made it! I knew you would."

BJ had to grin a little at the caterpillar's enthusiastic greeting. It was good to know that someone had faith in them. "You got that from the scrolls?" he asked as he came up beside her.

"Some things you just know." Neem answered as she led the way inside. Nodine gave an amused half-smile at that as she walked up the few shallow steps after BJ. The rest of the Jinn and warriors crowded in behind them. No one wanted to miss out on this most important event. The great hall was filled with curious bystanders.

Even though he used to live in a big city and had seen many impressive man-made sights, BJ was still a little awed by this vast hall with its great pillars of lilies. There was a reverence here much like what you would expect in a cathedral. Moonlight shone in through a skylight high above them in the center of the room. Just outside the shaft of moonlight stood a pedestal holding a small pool of water.

Grubby, walking behind the two teens with Maude, noticed all the Leafmen and Leafwomen watching the pod's procession. The snail couldn't help but walk a little straighter and prouder in their presence.

As they reached the center of the great room, Neem turned to them. The caterpillar was determined to make this event a Grand Production. She took the pod from BJ and began her speech. "Let's see. Moonlight comes in here, moves along here, reaches the Pod here." She gestured up at the shaft of light and then acted out her words by moving three hands along the floor to the pedestal before finally gently placing the pod into the water. Neem gestured up at the skylight again to finish with a flourish. "At the moon's highest peak. Only time it can bloom."

"Do you know what this means?" Grubby asked in an awed tone to Maude as the pair moved up close to the pod. The slug nodded as a grin spread across her face.

"We single-handedly saved the forest! Eye-five!" The slug turned to the snail, stretching out one eyestalk. Grubby completed the 'eye-five' and Maude turned and stuck out her eyestalk again in a low position. "Down low. Too slow." She yanked away just as the snail went for the low 'eye-five'. Grubby glared at her friend as Maude giggled.

Something occurred to Nodine just then. This was the end of the adventure for BJ. She held out her right hand towards the pod then turned to him to ask, "So, when the Pod opens, what happens to you?" Even though she suspected what the answer to be, she also kind of hoped it was something else.

BJ had started to lean towards Nodine, not taking his eyes off the pod, as she asked her question. Then her words hit him. This would be the end. "I think I go home." He couldn't keep the tiny bit of disappointment from his voice as he answered her.

"Well, I - I guess this is…" Nodine trailed off. She felt the same disappointment that BJ did and she could not bring herself to actually say the word goodbye. It was like if she said it, it would make it all the more final. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it is." BJ nodded slightly, also looking down. He was as reluctant as Nodine to say that word too. The two teens stood facing each other in silence, both unsure and unwilling to make the first move. Finally, at the same moment, they lifted their heads to look at each other.

Nodine knew then that one of them had to say or do something. She took a deep breath, intending to tell him how much she would miss him. But the words caught in her throat so instead she glanced down at her hand for a second before holding it out to BJ, giving him a smile. BJ stared at it for a second and then shook it, smiling as well. Whatever else happened, or might have happened, or could possibly have happened between the two of them, they would part as friends.

Both broke the handshake at the same time, turning away from each other. Nodine glanced away to the side, but BJ actually took a second to glance back at the girl before looking back at the pod.

Slowly the shaft of moonlight crept up the side of the pedestal towards the pod, which reached out a tiny thin root to the light. The crowd of Jinn and warriors held its collective breath in anticipation. Every one of them was determined not to miss even the briefest moment of the pod's blooming. The very tips of the first petals began to spread as the pod leaned towards the moonlight.

Suddenly the shaft of light began to flicker and the pod drew back in on itself. A gasp and soft murmur spread through the watching crowd. Something was going wrong, but what? Nodine frowned and looked up at the skylight to see what the problem was. She wasn't the only one either. Nearly all the warriors and no few of the rest of the Jinn were as well. Visible through the opening were many dark, flittering forms against the full moon.

"Mandra's bats!" Grubby cried out, leaning against the pedestal and stretching herself as tall as she could.

Outside, a huge swarm of bats circled Moonhaven. Mandra grinned and gave her familiar screeching howl to her minions. Like a great black cloud, she and her bats swirled up to cover the sky. At every entrance to the crag warriors drew back their bows, sighting on the bats and ready to fire at the first sign of attack.

BJ couldn't figure it out. The Boggans were here, but they were only flying overhead. "They're not attacking, they're just…" Realization hit then and he remember what Maude and Grubby had learned. Of course the Boggans didn't need to attack. His eyes widened as he looked back at the pod. "…blocking out the moon!"

The pod had started to change. No longer was it glowing softly. In fact it was starting to take on a rather sinister grey colour. The half-opened petals were wilting and shrivelling in on themselves. The worried murmur of the crowd got louder. Nodine wasted no time after that. She ran for the barracks to change into armour, leaving BJ to explain to Fione what they had learned about Mandra's plan. She was not the only one to get suited and armed up. Every available warrior, on-duty or not, was doing the same.

Methodically, Nodine checked the fit of each piece of that once hated armour. Boots, greaves, breastplate, spaulders, vambraces. She made sure of the fit of each. It was only when she picked up a sword that she paused. Just that morning she had been more than ready to leave the life of a Leafwoman behind her. She had repeatedly told Rona that she was never coming back yet here she was. Rona…

Now you're starting to sound like a Leafwoman. Those words echoed in her mind and Nodine tightened her lips. Rona had been right. This was what she was meant to do. She slammed the sword into the sheath at her waist and headed out to where the hummingbirds were being readied. She climbed into the saddle of one of the spare birds and was gathering up the reins when Fione came up beside her on her own bird.

"Are you ready for this?" the redheaded Leafwoman asked. She didn't want to turn any fighter away, but Nodine had quit that morning. Fione could only hope that the girl knew what she was getting herself into now. They couldn't afford anything less than full dedication.

Nodine glanced at the second-in-command and laughed, some of her normal humour coming back. "Are you kidding? We're outnumbered, out of time, and the fate of the world is at stake." She quipped and grinned. "Why'd I quit again?"

Fione gave a short laugh. "See you up there." She said and took off.

"As soon as I can find my…" Nodine looked around for a second; she was still missing one thing. At that moment Grubby came up on her other side. The snail had a helmet on her head and a determined look on her face. "…helmet. Thank you." Nodine snatched the helmet off the snail's head, setting it on her own as she sent her hummingbird into the air after the others.

"Hey, guys!" Grubby called after the departing warriors. "I'm going to need a uniform! And a bird! Oh, that's… You…" the snail trailed off as she was ignored by everyone. Finally she turned around to head back inside. "That's all right. I'll find them myself. A Leafwoman makes do."

The flock of hundreds of hummingbirds swirled around the great rock as the last fighters joined in. With the hum of the many many wings sounding like angry bees, the army rose up to meet the huge swarm of thousands of bats high over Moonhaven.

Nodine had made her way to the forefront of the charge, but at the sight of just how many of the enemy she was faced with made her hazel eyes widen. Even though she didn't want to, despite her brave words to Fione, she felt a tiny tinge of fear form in her heart. There were just so many Boggans and she was only one girl. How could she even begin to think she could face this?

Just at that moment, she heard a loud cry off to her left. When she looked she saw Leafmen and woman brandishing their swords and giving voice to a great battle-cry. The roar rose in volume as those to her right added theirs to it. Nodine suddenly realized that, no, she wasn't facing this alone. The rest of the warriors were there right alongside her. They were all facing this together. Many Leaves, One Tree just like she had always heard. The tinge of fear vanished. The girl drew her sword and held it high as she gave voice to her own ringing roar, adding it to the din.

With the Leafmen battle-cry reverbing in the air, the hummingbirds plunged into the mass of bats. Swords clashed and the arrows zinged through the air as the warriors and Boggans clashed.