Chapter 7: Plantera

Bryn lifted her bow and shot a barrage of arrows at Bianca with a roar. Bianca didn't even flinch and retaliated with a blast of icy air, sending all the arrows back at Bryn. She hardly had time to duck as they whistled over her head.

Bianca smiled gently. "I didn't know you played tennis. Here! My serve!" she snarled she swept another wave of freezing wind out from her arm. It blasted against them, blowing back Amber's and Bryn's hair. By the time it passed, they were shivering.

Bianca giggled. "Not so tough now, are we?"

"Tougher than you think," James grunted, shooting his own bow. "DIE!"

"I'd rather not, thank you," Bianca replied, lazily flicking the arrow away on a breeze. "Dying is supposed to hurt!"

"Why are you doing this?" Amber pleaded. "We thought you were cool! Both literally and figuratively!"

"I'm doing this because I want to," the ice queen snarled, turning away. "Deal with it. The world's a cold place."

"I refuse to let you make it so," said Bryn, lighting one of her arrowheads on fire and launching the arrow at Bianca. This time, instead of sending it away, Bianca gasped and ducked as the flaming arrow shrieked over her head.

"Hah! Afraid to play with fire?" James shouted, nocking three flaming arrows on his bow and shooting all three at once. Bianca dropped to the ground and rolled to avoid them. When she got up, she was covered with mud. She looked down at her dirty clothes, then back at James. There was murder in her eyes.

"Did you have to do that? This outfit cost me two hundred platinum coins! And it costs so much to dry-clean!" Bianca spat petulantly, desperately trying to scrape the mud off her satin dress.

"I didn't know that ice elementals even had to wear clothes," Bryn muttered. "Let alone dry-clean them."

"I heard that, you little twit," Bianca snarled. "For that, you get the slowest, most agonizing death."

"OH GOODIE," Bryn said sarcastically, dodging as another subarctic gust howled over her head. "I get to watch my friends die and then get killed by a mad psychopathic ice elemental just because there's a little mud on her dress. I'm such a privileged girl."

"Feel lucky," Bianca retorted. "So far, you three are the only individuals I have let survive for more than ninety seconds."

"Let's keep it that way," thundered a voice from behind them.

Bianca barely had time to scream as something gigantic leaped with incredible speed out of a patch of dead bushes and started firing a barrage of thorns. She had no choice but to make good her escape, shouting "You haven't seen the last of me!" over her shoulder as she flew away.

Bryn, James, and Amber turned around to investigate the massive object behind them. It seemed to be made of organic materials, with three feet that could put a boa constrictor in a death grip leading back to the main body by way of thick, ropy vines. The body itself resembled a huge flower, with vines and stamen waving from the bottom and an impressive crown of enormous pink petals folding up into a bud shape. This gave the thing the appearance of a jungle rose just about to open in spring. An extremely large jungle rose, but a jungle rose nonetheless.

A sudden movement caught their eyes immediately, Bryn and James readying their bows. The petals rustled, then moved, just enough for a slender hand to appear. Then another joined it. Slowly they spread apart, flattening downwards to reveal the inside of the flower.

There was a woman standing inside it.

She was nearly as tall as Bianca, but she was her polar opposite in looks. Instead of tied up in a bun, her vibrant pink hair drifted loose and fell to her waist. She wore a dress sewn out of leaves that hugged her thighs and stopped just above her knees, and her eyes were emerald green rather than ice blue. The most striking differences were the absence of wings and the complexion; while Bianca's skin was white as milk, the woman in front of them was covered with a healthy golden tan.

She smiled, revealing brilliant white teeth, and stepped out of the flower. "I believe the expression is thank you for saving our lives."

"Um," said Amber.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" the woman asked, looking them up and down.

"I think the better question is who are you," James said, gesturing to her.

The woman gave a soft laugh. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I'm Plantera, Goddess of the Spring and queen of the jungle. It's a pleasure to meet you."