this is a long one. shit happens...

im getting ahead of myself. but i have one more full week of school. one more SPG test. one more AP exam. four more finals to bs my way through...and then its a boring ass ceremony when i can finally lay hands on my high school diploma...its still a rough road to freedom guys.

but hey, through all this crap in my schedule, i still typed this really long, eventful chapter so your welcome. comments and reviews are food for thy soul so please feed me! and i hope you guys enjoy this update. on with the story...

They spent the remainder of the week at the pine tree, not that they had anywhere else to go. Everyday was passed with training, the young soldiers honing their skills while they taught M.K. and Jason basic defense. Both pupils were excellent and were showing the potential to become formidable fighters. M.K. was not strong but she was fast and light on her feet, and showed an affinity with the bow when Lex let her borrow her's to test herself on targets. They were not perfect bull-eyes but they got pretty damn close, all in successive order.

Jason, with the help of Thryn, learned to keep his balance and was soon dancing circles around his gray-eyed teacher in their sparring matches, ducking in and out of reach in an almost teasing sort of way. He became very hard to land a blow on when he got into his rhythm and his stamina from soccer training was an advantage. Of course, Thryn quickly learned to read his movements and still beat him in the end but Jason didn't mind. It kept him on his toes and taught him to avoid predictability.

Every few days, a sylph would report to Wanikiy of the Boggans' movements and the Jinns' whereabouts. The news became grimmer with each report. The land was becoming more ravaged with Rot and humans had begun to notice, for they sent men and women in white coats carrying strange equipment to study the problem. In a way, this was a blessing, because now the Boggans would have to be more careful and maybe their leader would exercise some control over them. The Jinn were keeping hidden, although Boggans were still managing to find them with the help of the spider gypsies.

Soon after this, another sylph reported that he found out about the Leafmen. Wanikiy gathered the teenagers and the Queen in the common room to listen to the account first-hand. Unfortunately, their was still no sign of Ronin, and this only increased their anxiety. To their disgust, the sylph told them that the Boggans were using the surviving men and women as slaves to clear up the forest debris around Moonhaven. This included moving rocks and breaking down fallen logs that were too big to move.

The teens were outraged to hear this. Ross broke the cup he was drinking from with his too-tight grip, Mason and Nod were cursing the Boggan leader, even Lex looked furious as she paced the room with clenched fists.

"How awful..." Ariel murmured, her hands firmly clasped as she fought back tears.

"The worst part is that the work is completely pointless," Thyrn spoke for the first time. In place of her usual mask was barely controlled fury. "This lord wants to break their spirits, remove any resistance that they might be harboring."

Wanikiy dismissed them to continue training and even let Nod go with them to exercise his anger out (with warnings from both the tree dragon and M.K. to not push himself too hard). The following training session was completely silent, only broken by grunts and pants as the angry teenagers took their frustration out on the practice dummies set up for them. Ariel joined them later and practiced moving and bending vines to her will. She surprised them all when she snapped a dummy into pieces just be flicking her hand.

These reconnaissance reports were never good to hear but were necessary. It was by an unspoken agreement that Ross should organize a strategy of attack. He was the best strategist out all of them only closely rivaled by Thryn, though she excused herself to spar with Jason every time. Nod didn't confront either of them about her and Ross's prickly relationship, he had too many other things on his mind to worry about that. Ross preferred to work alone anyway and they often had to send Lex up to his room because he was skipping meals.

The days went slowly by and with all their progress, their spirits were boisterous and hope rose in their hearts. Nod mostly left Wanikiy alone to scan the pages of the the journal, hoping that he'll walk in one day and find that the tree dragon had desperately need answers. Despite the memory setback and the situation Moonhaven was in, they were all confident that they would find a way to drive back the Boggans and save the forest.

They believed in this. They believed in themselves and in each other.

That is until somebody, somewhere, made a careless and easily preventable mistake.

A crack echoed through the night as another log in the fire snapped, sending orange sparks flying into the dark night sky. One of the many teenagers that sat around the campfire threw another empty beer can into the flames to watch the aluminum melt and sizzle.

"Quit doing that, Colin!" A auburn-haired girl with a beanie hat snapped at him. "Your making the air smell funny. Just throw the cans in the trash bag."

"I'm way... too wasted... Tess," the boy slurred, grinning stupidly as everybody roared with laughter even though he had not said anything humorous. Most were wasted from the amount of beer they had, the cans strewn around them. Two had already stumbled into the forest to vomit and had came back and collapsed in front of their tents, too dizzy and drunk to open the zippers. Tess and her adopted brother were the only ones who had refrained from drinking.

"Let them have their fun," her brother, Grayson, told her. "They had too many beers anyway so they're bound to faint anytime now."

"I wish they would hurry up," she replied, prodding the embers with a stick. "I just want everything to be quiet now." Frankly, she was regretting ever agreeing to join this camping party. None them seem to no what they were doing, that had become apparent when she asked for help setting up the tent. All they wanted to do was drink and lie around. The only reason she came was because she wanted to get away from her foster mom for spring break. At least Grayson had accompanied her...after she had begged and promised to do laundry for a week.

True to Grayson's words, the teenagers tottered to the trees to puke up the excessive alchoal then made dizzy, uncoordinated walks to their sleeping bags, some managing to open the zippers to get inside. Grayson turned in soon after but Tess stayed by the fire and took out her flashlight to read her book, finally having enough peace and quiet to do so.

She didn't know when it happened and didn't realize how it happened, but she must have been more tired than she thought. She fell asleep by the fire. It wasn't long before Tess woke up to someone shaking her shoulder and the sound of Grayson's frantic shouting. Half conscious, she dragged herself to her feet and her eyes widened when she saw what was so troubling.

Hungry orange flames were eating at the dry grass and licking the branches of the trees. Fear and guilt consumed Tess; she had fallen asleep without putting out the fire. The wind must have swept the embers onto the grass and it escalated from there.

It was only Grayson shouting at her that shook her out of her frozen state. The fire was already too big and widespread to stamp out, none of them had thought to bring a fire extinguisher, there was no water nearby to use; the only option was to run. Tess and Grayson slapped their friends awake, dragging them out of their sleeping bags, caring less about their hangovers. Together, they helped (or threw) each of them into the truck. Tess took out her phone to call 911 but was met by no signal. Grayson grabbed as much of the camping gear as possible. He then started the car, Tess jumping into the passenger's. They were escaping down a beaten dirt road just as the fire swallowed their campsite.

Shaken and frightened, they silently agreed to try and invent a story, hoping against reason that someone would see the wildfire and call the fire department. They were too scared for themselves to take responsibility, too scared of the consequences it would mean for them- foster kids; they just wanted to go home and forget it ever happened.

It was eagle cries that alerted the sleeping occupants of the pine tree that something was very wrong. Nod's sleepy mind kicked into overdrive when he heard the high-pitched shrieks. Eagles are day birds, they sleep at the night, so why am I hearing them now? And why do I smell smoke?

He kicked off his blanket and dressed, slipping on his pants, shirt, and boots. Unconsciously, his hand searched for his short sword but then he remembered he lost it to that cat; Nod missed its familiar weight on his back. In its place, the bloomed rose rested heavily against his arm.

Nod hurried out to the hallway, meeting M.K. and Thyrn there. Both girls had also dressed. Thyrn was clenching her fists so hard her knuckles were white, her tanned face even seemed a little paler. Nod had never seen the calm, collected girl so tense but he didn't bring it up, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it and it wasn't the right time.

"Thryn, can you wake up the others?" he asked, not bothering with greetings. The scent of smoke was stronger out here. "M.K. and I will check out the danger."

She nodded without reply and turned on her heel to run down the hall. Silently, Nod and M.K. ran down the staircase and across the common room to the outside adjoining branch. Usually, their birds would be resting here but the branch was abandoned and the night outside glowed orange.

When they stepped outside, the heat hit their exposed skin even though the wildfire had yet to reach them. The entire surrounding forest was burning, the flames dancing on blackened trees, crackling and roaring hungrily. Several fell over with giant snaps, crashing down with finality.

"How could have this happened?!" M.K. had to shout over the roar of the fire. "Do you think the Boggans started this?"

Nod wouldn't put it past the new leader to try something as drastic as this just to flush out some fugitive teenagers but he shook his head. "Boggans hate fire, even if it can lay waste to an entire forest. Their skin is too sensitive to take the heat." He screwed up his eyes against the brightness of the fire light. The wildfire wouldn't take long to reach them. The pine may be the tallest tree around but if its base was weakened by the flames, a mere breeze would make it topple. "We need to find the birds and Wanikiy!"

A gust of wind from behind them, and both young people had stayed long enough at the pine to know the difference between a normal breeze and a sylph. Patamon had found them and his wings were as stormy as ever, betraying his agitated feelings.

"Come at once to the eagles' nest! Wanikiy has gathered all the sylphs there. Your friends, the Queen, and her mother are already on their way!"

They followed him back through the common room and up the stairs, stopping only at Nod's room so he could fetch the Tablet Master's journal; it was too precious to leave behind. Patamon continued to lead them to the top, his winds churning faster. "Hurry! We must leave the pine tree before they arrive!"

"Who?" M.K. huffed. "Is it the Boggans? Did they start the fire?"

"No," Patamon replied, not slowing his pace. "The fire may have been started by some careless humans, but this does not matter! That wildfire is hosting salamanders!"

M.K. and Nod stopped dead in their tracks, dumbfounded beyond belief. "Salamanders?" They asked in unison. Patamon had to be joking; he was talking about slimy amphibians, right?

"The fire spirits!" Patamon snapped. His bird form split as his winds slipped behind them and began pushing at their backs with surprising strength, forcing them to keep running. "There's no time for this!"

They pounded up the stairs and pushed their way through the trap door. The midnight blue sky was orange with sparks and gray with smoke, so dense it blocked out the moon and stars. They could even feel the heat from this height. All around, the forest was being consumed by gold and orange flames...and yet the fire had not reached their pine tree. In fact, it had halted its progress entirely, a couple of yards away from the base of the pine. A normal wildfire did not stop on command.

Standing on the edge of the nest, Wanikiy waited, still as a statue and not taking his glowing green eyes off the wildfire. Behind him were the others, holding the reins of their birds in futile attempts to keep them calm. To Nod's horror, the nest was empty, save for three of the largest eggs he had ever seen. All week, he had been hoping to catch a glimpse of them but the mother had never left her post, until now. The mates were circling above, crying out to each other but neither coming near their eggs.

"Wanikiy!" M.K. shouted, pulling the tree dragon's eyes away from the fire. "Why would the fire spirits want to burn down the tree? Don't they know that you guys live here?"

The tree dragon turned back to the flames. "They know we live here. They know that I'm connected to this tree. But it doesn't matter to them, the tree is just fuel for their fire."

"That's moronic!" Ross retorted. "We haven't done anything to them!"

"Salamanders, like all of the elemental spirits, can only take form in their element. Fire is not present everywhere all the time like earth, air, and water. Thus, they must remain invisible or underneath the earth's surface. They can sense a fire as soon as it's lit and they rush to it to bathe within it. This frenzy can usually get out of hand."

Mason snorted as he looked at the fire. "No kidding!" Nod squinted into the flames and that's when he saw strange shapes and forms darting around in the glowing embers. Those must be the salamanders.

"There's no stopping them and the fire is too large to reason with them. We must flee to a river not far from here. If they choose to pursue us, the undines will stop them. Mount up!" Wanikiy ordered. The others began to climb onto their birds and Thryn held out Flit's reins to Nod but he didn't raise a hand to take them.

"Wait!" he shouted. "What about the eggs? We can't leave them here!"

"Really Nod, this is no time to worry about some stupid eggs!" Thryn snapped. The boy stared back at her, completely surprised. He expected her to back him up. She was glaring at him but her hands were shaking and her face was paler than before.

"The sylphs are strong but I don't have enough to carry such enormous charges," Wanikiy replied calmly. "And none of your birds are big enough. It is sad but we must leave them behind..."

"There's got to be a way!" But even as he said it, he realized they were right. A loud crack sounded as another tree fell victim to the flames, a reminder that they couldn't stay for much longer. Nod's mind raced to think of a way to save the eggs. Looking up, the eagle mates were still caterwauling to each other and circling the nest, sometimes flying daring close to the flames and screaming in fury and frustration. These weren't the bloodthirsty hunters that he was told about as a kid. They were just worried parents afraid for their children.

"No."

"Ariel?" Fara queried.

"No!" the young girl shouted loudly. "I'm supposed to be a Queen of the forest that protects her people but I abandoned them before the battle had even begun! I don't want to leave anyone behind ever again!"

With that, Ariel marched down to the bottom of the nest, ignoring her mother's shouts for her to come back. The fire, as if sensing her urgency, roared louder than before. Nod was distracted by the crackling as the wildfire leaped forward along the ground in a most horrifying way; like it had sprouted legs as it raced to the base of the towering pine and began to consume its roots and climb the trunk. Nod could have sworn he saw the figures of horses and wolves dancing in the flames.

"We don't have a lot of time!" Ariel shouted, her white petal dress turned red orange by the light. "Give me a minute and don't distract me!"

The hardness in her tone halted any efforts in stopping her. The others stood still and watched, even Wanikiy did not move, though they were all too aware of the hellish heat below. Through the din of the forest burning, Nod's ears caught the sound of heavy, labored breathing. Careful not to turn his head, he gave a sidelong glance and saw that it was coming from Thryn. Her gray eyes kept darting between Ariel and the fire below. I've never seen her like this, he thought. Is she sick or something?

Before he could ponder it further, Ariel began to glow with her own golden light. Out from the broken dead branches, a green stem began to grow. It expanded into a large, wide leaf and it only became larger as it grew to cradle the first eagle egg. Another wave of her hand and thick vines encompassed the egg, wrapping the leaf firmly around it. She repeated the action twice more until all three eggs were secured within their own leaf wrap with trailing vines.

"That should do it!" Ariel exclaimed; she did not appear to be out of breath despite the smoke in the air. "Tie a vine to a bird and we'll carry them to safety!"

Before any one could make a move, the salamanders, who had been steadily climbing the trunk and blackening the bark, swarmed over the top branches and the edge of the expansive nest. The fire roared with glee as it licked the sticks and moss to crisps. The heat scorched the young warriors faces so much it felt like they were actually burning. The birds screamed in terror and nearly took off. Mason, Jason, Lex, Ross, Thryn, and M.K.'s combined efforts only barely holding them steady.

"BEGONE!" Wanikiy's deep roar shook the nest. Green magic began to flow through the floor as the dead branches came to life and hurtled at the salamanders like javelins. The fire spirits laughed as they ate greedily at the feeble assault. Wanikiy seem to grow in size as he spread his massive pine wings, shielding them. "I am too far from the ground to summon earth! This will only distract them for a minute, take the eggs and flee!"

The tree dragon launched more branches. Ariel manipulated the vines to tie them tight to each birds' feet but this proved difficult as the animals were beyond being calmed down. Nod reached out with the rose, aiming to communicate with Flitterbite so he could stay still long enough for the vines to be secured. To his surprise, Skeeter and Catcall began to still as well. It must be because of the growth spurt. Its powers have doubled too!

Through his concentration and over the noise of the flames, Nod picked up the sound of screaming...a scream so terrified that it made him shiver in the heat...to his utter astonishment, it was coming from Thryn.

Though she was not on fire, her scream could have said otherwise. Her knees were trembling so bad it was miracle she was still standing and tears ran down her cheeks like a waterfall. Gray eyes were wide with undiluted terror. He took a step toward her, to find out what was wrong when she turned on her heel, bolting like a rabbit.

"Thryn!" She was either too scared or couldn't hear him and she vaulted onto her cardinal's saddle, tearing the reins out of Lex's hands. The bird flew up in a second and the pair disappeared into the orange sky.

"What the hell's gotten into her?!" Ross yelled.

"That's the last one!" Ariel reported. "All eggs are secure!"

"Let's scram!" M.K. added.

Nod and M.K. hopped on Flit, Lex and Ariel on Airsnap, and Mason took Fara with him on Catcall. Ross was about to mount Skeeter after Jason when a salamander slipped under Wanikiy's guard and made a beeline for the young soldier before anyone could shout a warning.

Ross screamed in agony as the fiery form engulfed his arm and shoulder, rapidly eating away at his clothes and skin. Patamon came to his rescue in the form of a tornado, whizzing around Ross until the fire spirit was forced to retreat due to the lack of oxygen.

"Ross!" Lex cried.

"Go!" he barked through gritted teeth as he pulled himself with his uninjured arm into the saddle, Jason assisting him. At last, the birds were allowed to escape to the sky. Even though they were burdened by three large eggs, their fear gave them the initial speed and strength to hightail it out of there. The eagle parents, with their keen eyes, spotted the eggs being carried off and followed them from above.

Nod looked back as the fire completely consumed the nest, lighting it up like a funeral pyre. Just before the flames took over, he saw Wanikiy's dragon form collapse into a pile of bark and twigs.

"He'll meet us at the river," Patamon murmured in Nod's ear. "They can burn his form but not his spirit."

"I'm not sure if the birds can make it," Nod replied. Through his legs, he felt Flit drawing in labored breaths as the blue jay wobbled in the air and began to sink in altitude, the other birds behaving in a similar fashion.

"Well, someone had to be the hero and insist on saving the eggs. We could have been out of there in no time if you hadn't let something so silly get in the way. Your friend might not have been so badly burned."

Seriously, now I'm getting beef from this guy? Nod thought, irritated.

"How about you help us instead of criticize?" M.K. snapped back waspishly. "You're air spirits so give the birds a boost or something." Nod tried to hide his grin. He knew that look in her eyes all to well and he almost felt sorry for the sylph on the receiving end.

They heard Patamon grumble but both felt the wind that pooled underneath Flit's wings, lifting him up and easing some of the workload. Other sylphs followed Patamon's lead and soon the flock was flying faster and higher to safety. The heat and light of the wildfire fell away into the distance until they heard the soothing sound of rushing water.

The river was wide and dark. The banks were sandy strips they could make out just enough to land safely. They touched down on the far side, the young warriors guiding their mounts to lay the eggs gently on the sand. Ariel waved her hand and the vines receded from the birds' legs. The small songbirds got out of the way in time for the eagle mates to descend. The gigantic mother rested on her clutch carefully, mantling her wings like a tent while the father nestled close beside her, golden eyes scanning the dark surroundings.

The teenagers allowed their mounts to retreat to the tree branches, for the birds were supposed to be sleeping and did not feel safe on the ground. Even the eagles were nervous of predators taking advantage of their vulnerable position. Jason helped Ross down, the latter hissing through his teeth as he tried to conceal the obvious pain.

"We need treat his wound," Lex's voice sounded through the near pitch blackness. "But we can't do it in the dark..."

"Hold on, I think I have something in my bag..." Mason muttered somewhere to Nod's left. After a minute of soft scuffling, Mason pulled out a glowing ball of green light. It illuminated the area softly and lit up everyone's face with its eerie color.

"What is that?" Jason asked, fascinated.

"Fluorescent moss," Mason replied. "It's actually kind of hard to get a hold of so I only use what I have in emergencies. Your welcome Ross."

"Shut up..."

The moss was enough to light up the wound and Ross had no need to remove his clothes. The fabric of his sleeve had been completely incinerated. The sight was not pretty and was met with gasps and swears. Nearly the entire arm was red and bleeding and singed black on the edges. White spots of forming blisters dotted the flesh. Luckily, Ross's hand had been spared that amount of damage.

"Third degree burns," Jason whispered, his voice higher than usual and looking like he was going to be sick.

"Shit," Mason exclaimed. "Ross, how are you still conscious?"

"Just hurry up and do something about it, dammit!"

Ariel shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. "I don't know how to treat this...I only know how to extract Rot...I- I'm sorry-"

"It's alright, your Highness," Ross interrupted her, his voice surprisingly soft. He must have felt bad about losing his temper in front of her.

"Let me try something," Nod said as he knelt down beside his comrade. Ross watched him suspiciously, his blue eyes glazed over with agony. Nod figured that plant life was within the vicinity and that was all the rose needed for what it had to do. Okay um...rosie. If you can hear my thoughts, do you think you can heal Ross...please? You do owe me for all the water you've been hogging from my body.

Not sure if it would work, Nod placed his arm next to Ross's and the rose uncoiled from its rest. Ross flinched slightly as the bud brushed the burned flesh slightly but he didn't make a sound. At first nothing happened and Nod wondered if his assumption was wrong. Then a gold light began to flow slowly from the red petals, spreading onto Ross's arm like cool water. The injured warrior gave an audible sigh of relief. The pain was washed away at once, followed by new skin reforming over the festered flesh.

Nod could actually feel the connection between the rose and a clump of cattail reeds on the water's edge. He literally felt the rose draw the energy and life out of the plants as it utilized it to make new skin for Ross, could sense the cattails die and wither in the process.

The light faded as the last bit of the wound was healed. All that was left was a faint red burn scar that went all the way up to Ross's shoulder.

"Whoa..." was Ross's only response. He flexed his biceps and fingers, making sure everything was in perfect working order.

"No fair," Mason muttered to himself. "Cute girls always go for the guy with a wicked scar."

"How did you do that?" Ariel cried, wide-eyed with wonder and admiration.

"The rose did it by itself before, when Thryn was shot through the leg by a Boggan arrow," Nod explained. "I figured that since it got bigger, its powers of healing have increased to. Thankfully, it doesn't use any of my energy when it does it. Look..."

Mason extended his glowing moss in the direction Nod was pointing. The light showed a clump of dead, gray stalks that were once fully-grown, healthy cattails.

The praise was short-lived however when Lex gasped in realization. "Oh God, Thryn! What happened to her, did anybody see which direction she flew off to?"

Nod shook his head. "No, there was too much fire and smoke. I never seen her like that...she was absolutely terrified."

"She left us," Ross growled. "We could have used her help and she abandoned us! What kind of Leafwoman leaves her friends in that kind of danger?!"

"She was scared!" Lex defended her friend. "She must have gone through something horrible that had to do with fire and she was reliving it."

"Still though," Mason added sounding very grave, which was not like him. "Abandoning your comrades isn't far from deserting."

Lex rounded on him furiously. "Since when did you care about rules?!"

"Okay, everyone calm down, you're all wasting your breath," M.K. interjected, voice stern and strong. "We'll have to go look for Thryn when morning comes. I'm sure she's fine wherever she went."

"Sensible as always, my dear." The voice that came out of nowhere had stopped scaring the teens a week ago; now Wanikiy's sudden appearances were more reassuring than startling, like a guardian angel's. This time, a mound of sand from the river bank rose up and took shape of the usual dragon form, though it was much smaller than the original mighty tree creature.

"The salamanders cannot cross the river, in fact they won't dare to go near it, not if they want to risk a fight with the undines," he reported, calmly as ever. As he walked toward them, sand slid off his form only to defy gravity and return back up to it. Wanikiy seem to be struggling to pull himself together- literally. "It's been long since I last took on a sand body...I'm remembering why I don't use it often."

"Did you happen to see where Thryn went?" Nod asked.

"Unfortunately, no, but I wouldn't be worried. From what I've seen of the training sessions, she is capable enough to take care of herself."

Nod shook his sadly. "That's not what we're worried about..."

The earth spirit dipped his head in understanding. "I know. I think you should wait for her to return when she is ready but if you still want to look for her tomorrow, then I won't stop you. I will remain awake for the rest of the night and keep watch. You young ones need your sleep."

Nod knew he wouldn't sleep a wink more tonight. Not with one of their number in an unstable state and alone out there. Not with their refuge burning, lost in the fire that he could still see and feel on his skin.