-1The Tree of Inifuss

Chyemme

Compared to the dim lighting of the Underground Passage, daylight was blinding. I strained my eyes, trying to become re-accustomed to the level of brilliance that the sun provided. I heard Piricus groan as well and saw him blink.

"Damn bright lights," he growled.

Laurella, whom had seemingly adjusted to the light instantly, signaled us to continue on the trail. Looking around for the first time, I noticed that there was a short gap between the exit of the underground passage, which lie embedded in a large stone outcrop of rock behind us, and the thick, dense tree line that extended across my line of vision. The canopy of every tree was thick with foliage so dense that only a few stray beams of sunlight broke completely through, unhindered to the ground. The whole timberline cast an unearthly shadow upon the terrain. We followed Laurella in silence into the Dark Wood, letting the sunshine give way to dark mists upon our skin as we entered under the canopy.

"This forest is not healthy," Cloudyous announced in concern.

"What do you mean? The trees look perfectly fine to me," Ryelass said as he looked around.

Cloudyous sighed in remorse. "It's not the way this forest looks, Ryelass, it's how it feels. Listen. What do you hear?" he responded.

Ryelass paused for a moment, then looked at Cloudyous with discernment. "Nothing. I hear nothing but our voices and footsteps, which is--"

"--unnatural for a forest?" Cloudyous finished for him. "Yes. No birds singing, no breeze blowing, not an animal in sight, and this odd mist?" Cloudyous informed with a nod. He was right, the silence of this forest was definitely out of place. "I daresay that even the trees are not quite right. The vibes they give off seem slightly tainted,"
Cloudyous assessed further.

Laurella stopped walking at a large maple tree stump a few yards off the path to the left. "The Tree of Inifuss is well hidden in a thicket of trees and very hard to find. Many of my sisters don't know of its whereabouts. On my way to that forsaken tomb, I was dragged close by to the sacred tree. I didn't see any demons guarding it, but I don't find any reason for their continued absence," she explained.

Turning off the path and into shin- deep forest underbrush, we began blazing a trail lead by Laurella, with Scorpious at her side. About part way through the mist, I heard a loud, shrill screech and I saw a red blur diving at Alminus.

In reflex, Alminus took the flat side of his axe and batted the thing away. The force of Alminus' blow caused his would-be assailant to soar backwards into a small nearby pine tree. I was only able to catch a glimpse of the creature briefly, before a flock of them attacked us. These new monstrosities appeared to be some type of bird . . . They had wings and sharp, gleaming talons accompanied by vibrant green plumage on the tops of their heads. Strangely, the whole of the creatures consisted of glossy, blood-red feathers and they were about half as large as Belthem.

There was a flock of about ten bird-creatures in all. One swooped downward with its talons raked, aiming for my head. I did a quick dive roll to avoid the screeching menace. The bird-ish animal circled back gracefully and swiftly as it readied for another offensive. I ducked in the nick of time as razor-sharp talons severed a few strands of my sandy blonde hair. I prepared my short spear and threw it with accuracy into the creature's breast. The spear spiraled with the impaled creature attached to it into a thick tree trunk. I ran over, checking first to ensure that the creature was lifeless, then removed my short spear.

I was just in time to catch a glimpse of Scorpious severing a monster's wing from its body as it swooped at him. With black blood splurging, the bird-like monster fluttered helplessly to the ground. Scorpious proceeded to behead the creature without mercy. I heard a sonic screech as a sword of pure, white bone snapped through a harpie-bird's spine. One of Piricus' skeletons had killed the last of the bunch. Looking around, the only wound I noticed was a deep, bloody scratch in Sovellis' arm.

"What were those things? They sure were speedy little devils!" Ryelass growled.

"Blood Hawks," Laurella answered.

Cloudyous frowned. "Hawks? The demonic energies in the air must have overcome them. Dark energies do strange things to the creatures of nature. This is sad," he said surveying the fallen creatures.

"Well what would you like us to do druid? Sit around and let them rip us to pieces?" Piricus asked in frustration.

I expected Cloudyous to protest, but instead he shook his head. "No. I expected no less than what happened. It is a tragic thing that Andariel's powers have done this to such an ancient, magical land and it's inhabitants. Birds are the most susceptible to environmental energies, so as disturbing as this is, it's not entirely unexpected. The good news is that the corruption doesn't seem to be that far. These creatures still resemble the hawks they once were. Perhaps this forest's defenses are still strong enough to keep the demonic at least partially at bay," Cloudyous said with optimism.

"Or perhaps the corruption simply hasn't spread that far into this forest and all hell is going to break loose when it does," Piricus said, mocking Cloudyous' hope.

"You know, Piricus, you just suck the joy right out of living," Vendra sighed from where she was wrapping Sovellis' arm.

Piricus managed a satirical smile. "It's what I live for."

Sovellis shook his head. A sudden thought occurred to me as I looked over a fallen Blood Hawk, or more of a question rather. Which was stronger, man or beast? Both were falling to evil at an alarming rates. Human or not, Andariel was turning everything she could against us. If so many people had fallen, and they were only human and exposed to the same amount of energy that we were, why had hadn't we? My guess was that somehow, maybe we were more resilient because of faith. No matter what religion we were, we all believed in the forces of light, even Piricus.

"That will suffice," Scorpious said to Vendra and Piricus before they could start arguing again. Piricus looked up scathingly at him and Vendra gave him a not-to-pleasant look as well. Scorpious knew when to bow out gracefully, and turned to Sovellis. "How's your arm?" he asked.

Sovellis flexed his bandaged forearm and winced only slightly. "Could be worse. It not to bad. I alright to move on," he assured.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

He gave me a friendly grin. "Only small bit, not enough to notice," he answered.

Scorpious shrugged. "Well, let me know if it starts to bother you, I can heal it if you'd like," he offered.

I gazed around and spotted Laurella alone amidst the group, looking carefully in each direction. During the battle we had gone all askew. "Lose your direction?" I asked casually.

Laurella shook her head. "No, I haven't, but I'm looking for the nest," she replied.

"Nest?" I asked uncertainly.

"Amazon, do you truly think these little demons are the only ones of their kind around?" Piricus asked as he walked over to join me.

"Where there's one, there's more, so we ought to attack the problem at the source," Ryelass affirmed.

I felt stupid for having not immediately placed that concept when it was obvious, however I did find some consolation in the fact that the rogue lands were foreign to me. Something familiar on Skovas may not have been the same here. Not to mention that these lands were also corrupted by the demonic. Other than my recent exploits, I'd never dealt with demons before.

"That does make sense," I said apologetically.

"That's because it is sense, amazon. Rogue," Piricus began, "can you not execute your Inner Sight that you're all so famous for?" Piricus asked impatiently.

Laurella sighed. "I'm trying," she answered, and it was then I noticed the weak trail of stars going off to the right, but it died a short ways off.

"Why don't it work?" Alminus asked as he finished searching the corpses.

Laurella blushed. "The demonic energies here corrupt and disturb normal energies and push them back against us. The normal signals of the forest are gone and evil energies are lingering in the air like a thick cloud," she began.

Piricus clicked his tongue. "So, basically you're not strong enough," he assessed impishly.

The redheaded rogue said nothing, she was obviously ashamed.

"No need to worry, my lady Laurella. Demonic energies cloud everything, even for paladins as well," Scorpious comforted.

"That's not saying much paladin, because you're all blind anyway," Piricus interjected.

"Nobody asked you, Piricus," Ryelass said in their defense.

Piricus laughed. "I suppose I should have known. I shouldn't have asked a girl to do a woman's job. How about it, amazon? Where is this nest, or are you also too weak to find it?" he asked, turning to me.

I closed my eyes and searched out with my senses for any trace of the monsters. There was a large mass of energy off to the left, I could feel many creatures, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly where, which was unusual for me. For the most part, I was having the same problem as Laurella. I was encountering quite a deal of resistance. I was determined not to let that stop me and a I pushed more strongly. I was only rewarded with a more unclear image than before and the beginnings of a headache.

"It's somewhere of to the right, about ninety degrees to be precise, but that's only the right direction, not the correct location. I don't know exactly where it is, but I do know that many creatures are moving about that way, but I couldn't get a good look at them. They might not even be Blood Hawks for all I know," I admitted.

Piricus snorted. "Hmm. I expected better from you," he said plainly.

"So did I," I said in earnest.

"If the nest's location is unclear and we are in no immediate danger from it, let us move on. It isn't wise to seek a battle that we don't have to fight," Cloudyous requested. "Besides, I'd prefer that we move soon because the trees are starting to show signs of an encroaching storm," he added.

"How can there be a storm when there isn't any wind?" Vendra asked as she straitened out her robes.

"Just because you can't see or immediately sense it doesn't mean it's not there," Maria said in irony. That was the summary of an assassin's life in those words.

"True. Trees to thick for wind to get through," Sovellis agreed as he looked around, especially at the thick forest canopy.

"Then let us be on our way, we've lingered here long enough to catch our breath," Scorpious finalized.

Laurella resumed the lead again and began guiding us into the western part of the forest. I was glad she knew where she was going, because looking around myself, everything appeared to be the same. Andariel was nobody's fool, this unnatural maze was most definitely made to trick and confuse travelers deep into the forest where her demons lie in wait. Nobody spoke above a whisper, for fear that the eerie silence was some kind of trap, that if breeched, the situation would turn deadly.

I glanced over my shoulder to occasionally check on the other group members. Cloudyous was in the rear, he had tied his necklace around Bibo's throat. I knew this was to protect the creature, seeing as we'd just learned that birds would be easiest to corrupt. Undoubtedly, he had been unnerved by what the hawks had become. His wolf, Belthem, was walking casually, though cautiously at his side. The wolf seemed to be considering carefully where to place each paw at all times. Ryelass was in front of Cloudyous and Alminus was next to him, whispering about the comparison of this forest to the ones in the Northlands, while his shorter companion simply stared off into the distance, probably not paying attention to a word the barbarian said. I was impressed and glad at the same time that Ryelass seemingly had taken the news of his homeland well enough to function normally thus far, quiet though he was for the most part. Maybe he was doing so well because he wasn't really thinking about it, or maybe it hadn't really hit home yet. Either way, the real test was yet to come, and I wished him all the strength in Sanctuary. He would have my unyielding support, and everyone else's too I was sure, save maybe Piricus, but I honestly didn't think even he would attempt to stop Ryelass or discourage him in the least.

Vendra and Sovellis were walking side by side in front of them silently looking at each other. Piricus was behind me, but I didn't want to turn and look at him, guessing that he'd probably say something snide. My Inner Sight told me that he was actually looking into the distance to the right, watching the mists intently at the moment. Maria, whom was in front of me, was down-casting her eyes. Scorpious in front of Maria, was almost painstakingly scanning the treetops. Laurella, directly in front, was still walking, but going at a much slower pace and had drawn an arrow. She was holding it to her bowstring, at the ready.

I looked down as soon as my foot hit something not quite level. Underneath my foot was an imprint of a human shoe, etched deep into a patch of dried mud. It couldn't have been Scorpious, Maria, or Laurella's tracks, the print was at least a few days old. I stopped walking and squatted down to examine it. Evidentally, Piricus wasn't paying much attention to what was in front of him, because he ran into me and was quite irritable about stopping.

"What now? Are we having trouble deciding the way again? Rogue, you call yourself a guide? And paladin, If you insist on walking in front of everyone else, do attempt a sense of direction," he growled, managing to blame Scorpious and Laurella instead of me, which shocked me a little bit.

"No trouble deciding. I just stopped to examine these tracks," I answered.

Piricus raised a white eyebrow. "And what tracks would those be, amazon?" he asked skeptically.

I sighed. "These tracks, the one's I've got my hand on," I replied, brushing my fingers slightly across the earth's dry surface.

Alminus came over for a look. "Tracks ya say?" he asked. I nodded, and then became confused when he looked at me quizzically. "Where are they, Chyemme?" he replied giving me a questionable look.

I pointed again and Piricus shook his head. "Amazon perhaps you tied your hair up too tight this morning, or it could be that you as well suffer from a lack of normal vision. Either way, there's nothing here and your wasting my precious time," he snapped in annoyance, and cast a contemptuous glance at Scorpious, as if this was all his fault.

"You're wrong. There IS something here. Maria, can you see them as well?" I protested. Maria's skills were largely psychic from my understanding so she should have been able to see them. Maria knelt down from where she stood ahead of me, She raised an eyebrow, but then nodded.

"She's right. I see them too, and they seem to go all over the place," she remarked and traced the circular path until it ended a few yards away.

"This don' make sense," Alminus said in bewilderment. "Why n' Sanctuary can't we seem 'em too?" he asked, clearly puzzled.

Maria opened her mouth to answer, but she called the shot just as I was about to. "Arrows!" she hissed and everyone immediately sought cover.

Out of the forest mists came gleaming red eyes, followed by more green rogues, some of which were wielding lances, while others wielded bows. I took the opportunity while one of the demons was reloading her bow to launch one of my silver javelins in response. I was right on the mark, and we had one less archer to worry about.

"Nice one," I heard Ryelass say from beside me. "We really need to start stocking up on long range weaponry," he continued as he pulled a knife from his boot and flung it at an approaching lancer. Alminus too had reverted to a ranged attack, I saw him grab a throwing axe from his belt and hurl it into the forehead of another oncoming Vile Lancer.

Laurella had wasted no time in firing at our assailants, and she managed to take out three of the archers in the time it took them to restring their weapons. Piricus, to my surprise, didn't order his skeletons to advance, but rather ordered them to form a barricade around his position. He was the least guarded out of all of us, and his command was executed just in time for one of his skeletons to take a decapitating arrow in his stead.

Apparently Piricus had become very peeved over the loss of a member of his security detail, for he retaliated by sending a fanged ball of pure mana that ate a hole through the last Vile Archer's chest, dropping the demon instantly. With no more archers to worry about, we were free to advance on the oncoming spear-women. Scorpious was the first to do so, and he sprang out from behind his covering tree and began ferociously slicing his nearest attacker.

I threw another javelin into the chest of one corrupted rogue that had strayed to close for comfort. I was just in time to see flames issue forth from Sovellis and Vendra's hands. The flames char-grilled their enemies and kept them safe. I saw Cloudyous club a demonic assailant hard in the face, which knocked the monster's head unnaturally backwards on its spine. Belthem and Bibo worked in unison to defeat another rogue; Bibo clawed at its eyes and dove wildly into its face, while Belthem drove his mouth full of teeth into the demon's abdomen, eviscerating it.

Maria, to my left was being swarmed by a crowd of three vile lancers. One jabbed at her. She quickly yielded aside and grabbed the outstretched object of war, jerking it hard and causing the demon that held it to go flying face first into the ground. With the weapon she had grabbed in hand, Maria swiftly stabbed downward, driving the point into the middle of the demon's back killing it. Quickly, she executed a powerful back kick into the gut of another demon behind her before it could strike. She turned, and threw the spear not unlike what I would have done, and it impaled the demon right in the throat. To finish off, she twirled, having brought her katars back over her hands, and sliced off the third demon's head.

Once all the demon lay dead, we collected our bounty and salvaged what we could. I was given an actual full length spear; although it was cracked it had a promising look of repair. I had no doubt that with her skills, Charsi would be able to make it look completely new. Once that matter was settled and we regrouped back together, Maria explained what she had been about to say.

"The tracks were human, mostly likely they belonged to uncorrupted rogue sisters. You couldn't see them because they had been covered with demonic magic. My guess was that this was an ambush spot, and we weren't the test run," Maria said grimly.

"So you're saying that there might be a couple of dead rogues lying about?" Ryelass asked in concern, eyeing Laurella, whom noticed his gaze and looked away.

"Don't worry about me," she said almost sadly, "I can handle it. You forget that when I was strapped down in the mausoleum the only thing I had to look at were the rotting corpses of my sisters."

"I'm sorry," Ryelass apologized sincerely, "I shouldn't have asked."

"You asked because you were concerned, and that means a lot to me," she responded gently.

Vendra shivered. "I can't imagine . . . .it's a miracle you're still sane. I hate corpses myself, I hope we don't run into any," she said with a cringe.

" Too bad, sorceress. With me here it's a guarantee, Piricus said with an amused laugh.

"One of the many things I love to hate about you," she snapped.

"Can you raises zombies?" I asked in interest turning to Piricus.

He grinned. "I can if I want to. The problem with zombies is that they're already falling apart. Skeletons are much more sturdy. And zombies have a one track mind. They'll kill whoever I tell them to, as long as the creature's got flesh. Usually has to be human though, but I daresay they are an excellent tool for ridding myself of paladins," He said with a glare at Scorpious.

"You won't get the chance. Skeletons are bad enough, but if you have the nerve to conjure up one of those, I'll put it down immediately and you along with it," Maria scowled.

"Scared, assassin? If not you should be," Piricus said darkly, letting his eyes flash their green hue. That was something I would ask him later. If he did that on purpose or if his eyes naturally flashed like that of their own accord.

"That's enough. It won't come down to that. That would be an unwise move for him and he knows it," I said giving him a glare of my own.

"And how is it that you know what I will or won't do? I'm full of surprises," he said with a sly smile.

"Because you're smart," I retorted, "with the way you're running your mouth all the time to come up with insults, you're mind must be racing a mile a minute."

Vendra choked on her own breath. "Him? Smart? Chyemme, I thought you knew better than that! Did you just compliment him?" she coughed.

"Yes she did," Piricus said with a grin.

"She not in her right mind," Sovellis said with a laugh.

"Don't say things like that to him," Ryelass griped, "it will go strait to his head!"

"I doubt that, Ryelass. Things tend to go strait over it rather than through it sometimes," I laughed, turning a compliment into an insult, just the way he did. Piricus' lip twitched.

"See that? To good ter be true," Alminus said with a chuckle. "That was funny, Chyemme."

"Watch it, amazon," Piricus growled.

I looked over to Scorpious whom was wearing a good-natured smile. "Lady Laurella, are we alright to continue?"

"Yes we are. This way," she announced and resumed guiding us as she stepped over a demon's bloody corpse, "we're almost there."

We followed Laurella for about five minutes with weapons at the ready, until we entered an odd, circular clearing in the woods. The sky overhead was visible for the first time since we entered this land, and it seemed Cloudyous' prediction for a storm was right on the mark. The clouds overhead were thick and gray.

In the middle of the clearing was a lone, leafless tree. Though leafless, the tree was far from lifeless. As I gazed at it, I began to get an odd feeling, a feeling of power. This tree was magical. The others noticed it too, for Alminus squinted his eyes and blinked before remarking,

"This tree is one of a kind."

Scorpious nodded in agreement. "Indeed. This tree bristles with magic. It must be the Tree of Inifuss, it fits Lady Akara's description flawlessly."

Piricus scoffed sarcastically and ordered his skeletons to be ready with a snap of his fingers. "Flawlessly you say, paladin? So I suppose the old rogue also described what she expects to be guarding that tree?" he asked cynically.

Scorpious turned to him. "She said that the tree has no official guardian," he replied

Piricus smirked and pointed off to the right. "Oh thank Trag 'Oul. So those things up in the trees are just bystanders? What a relief."

I turned to glance in the direction Piricus had pointed out. Sure enough, there were several hulking shadows high in the trees on the far side of the clearing.

"What are they?" Vendra asked to no one in particular.

Maria was the first to respond. "I don't know, but I don't like the looks of things. Let's get this scroll and be quick about it. We have someone's life to think about, I can't stress this enough, time is off the essence here." she reminded.

"I agree, but we of no use to anyone if we die here," he argued, "and all because we in too much haste."

Cloudyous gave a low whistle and called his raven to him. Using a means of communication that none of us would probably ever completely understand he talked with his feathery friend. Moments later he looked to us. "Those things are actually very shy and gentle creatures called Wendigos They're not very common and are rarely seen by humans. They have very peaceful nature and don't usually attack unless threatened. This particular group must be just passing by. They're watching us, yes, but as long as we don't bother them, they'll probably just leave us alone," he announced.

"Then let's go," Scorpious decided and our group approached the tree cautiously. The tree loomed taller and taller the closer we got and so did the feeling of magic. As we neared out goal, I saw deep etchings of odd shapes cut into the tree's bark. I knew these to be the runes Akara spoke of.

With Scorpious in the lead, we arrived at the base of the tree, meanwhile I kept a watchful eye on the Wendigos. Glancing around I observed that both Sovellis and Piricus were casting them leery glances as well. Something didn't feel right and I suddenly knew why.

A strange object, small at first came speeding toward us and became progressively larger until I realized what it was clearly. A tree trunk! And of a decently sized tree!

"OH MY GODDESS!" I gasped in shock and had just enough time to do a summersault backwards and avoid being crushed. Sovellis, whom had been watching, suddenly fired a bolt of lightening into the air that splintered another incoming object. Piricus too, ended up muttering a quick spell that summoned a bone spear into his hand, which he then threw with extra mana behind it into and splitting another tree trunk.

The group turned to us as pieces of wood from Piricus' target came raining down.

"What in hell!?" Vendra gasped as weapons were readied.

Piricus' fists flared with green arcane energy and he yelled at Cloudyous. "Oh druid, we have a little problem! Those oh so peaceful animals of your are ripping up full-seasoned trees and chucking them at us!" he shouted with a hiss.

I didn't see Cloudyous' face as I had my back turned to him, watching for more projectiles, but he sounded confused when he answered.

"Why would they attack us? They have no grounds," he called in confusion.

"Well maybe ya can ask 'em because they're comin' this way!" Alminus remarked nonchalantly. Sure enough, the creatures were now jumping from the trees and lumbering towards us at an alarming rate like gorillas, with their massive arms as support.

Cloudyous walked out in front of me toward them.

"I wasn't serious!" Alminus cried out in alarm.

" But I am! I'm going to talk to them and find out what's going on!" Cloudyous insisted firmly. "Stay here!" he warned all of us.

"Druid, like we're actually going to run up and greet something that can tear our heads off!" Piricus shouted, shocked that Cloudyous actually assumed he needed to tell us to stay put.

Scorpious knelt down and placed his sword in a praying position. This made Piricus roll his eyes.

"Here of all places, paladin? What, forget to say thanks for your morning meal?"

What I heard made me grin. In-between his utterances of Latin prayer, Scorpious still found the breath to fend off Piricus' scrutiny. "Be quiet Piricus!" he said in one breath.

Piricus was about to add to his last comment when Scorpious finished his prayer and a strange new aura engulfed us. It was a bright, flashing gold and it started circling around us like a flawless, balanced knife. I felt the odd sense once more that something more was defending me other than Scorpious himself, as his prayer gained full strength. Nobody was surprised when Piricus' startled voice took another go at Scorpious.

"What have you done paladin? Did it not occur to you that some of us neither want nor need your prayers? I, for one, detest the thought of glowing like a torch when those things are coming after us. Why don't you just paint targets on us?" he complained.

Scorpious sighed heavily. "Prayers are just requests, Piricus, to God. The auras are his answer, and his choice. You are under the protection of God, Piricus. It was his choice, although I have no idea why he continues to watch over you along with the rest of us," he replied.

" Oh good, so God is behind all of this? Thank you conscience for the update, however haven't you--"

"SHH!" Maria interjected suddenly and all eyes turned to Cloudyous, whom carried the same aura as we did and was now less than four feet from the lead Wendigo.

The lead beast was of a slightly greenish color, while I noticed the rest of the group of twelve were dark brown. The creatures were large with bulky bodies and massive hands and feet. They reminded me of the Gargantuan Beasts we had encountered in the Den of Evil. I held my breath as the creature lumbered to a halt just shy of colliding with Cloudyous. As it stopped, so did the rest and for a few moments we stood in silence as Cloudyous conversed with the creature.

I was at such an angle that I could make out some of Cloudyous' facial features. From what I saw, he appeared fine, then suddenly confused, and then shocked as he hastily backed away, drawing his club as the lead monster let loose a roar that rumbled the earth around us.

"It don' appear ter be workin'!" Alminus said stating the obvious and starting to the rescue as the beast suddenly swung a gigantic, clawed hand at Cloudyous, whom quickly yielded aside to avoid being hit.

The wendigo shrieked in pain, for as he reached for Cloudyous a second time, Scorpious' aura shot little, pin-like needles of golden light deep into its fur. This caused it to roar again in anguish and starting grasping madly for Cloudyous. As more thorns of light pierced into the beast the rest of us charged.

"Be ready!" Ryelass called in warning.

Piricus growled in apparent frustration. "It's official. The druid doesn't get act as peacekeeper anymore."

An angered beast at least twice my size thundered toward me and swung a massive fist at me with surprising speed, given its size. I barely had enough time to duck before its next attack. The wendigo swung at me with the other hand down low, which I jumped over and then returned with a jab of my short spear. Pin-needles of light flew off my aura almost instantly and accompanied my weapon into the beast's chest. The thorns of my aura sank deep into my attacker, however my spear barely sliced its fur. To my unpleasant surprise, I was roughly seized from behind by the Wendigo's left hand and hoisted into the air with enormous pressure all along my body as the beast squeezed. It was trying to crush me to death.

I wouldn't die here. As the creature was bringing me overhead, probably trying to smash me into the ground, I kicked it in the face, just across the nose as I reached its eyelevel. That, couple with still more thorns made the creature relinquish its hold one me immediately. It covered its face with its hands and I fell to the ground. As I landed, I quickly refolded to attack and thrust my short spear through the creature's exposed throat. Blood began to gush forth and without air to fill its lungs the creature suffocated to death, choking on its own blood.

With one down, I turned to help Vendra and Sovellis, who were attempting various spells, none of which seemed to be working. I came from behind the one in front of Vendra and pierced its airway as well, and aided with the holy missiles that stabbed at the creature from my aura and Vendra's it died swiftly. Vendra nodded in thanks, she was too out of breath to thank me in words, and then we turned to help Sovellis whom was casting fire spells that couldn't seem to burn the beast's fur.

Vendra raced to his side but was swatted away by a backhand from the beast. She flew through the air and landed roughly on her back, but other than that she appeared to be okay. She sat up and coughed up a slight bit of blood, but then got back to her feet. She said a few words that conjured an ice spire, which she then threw into the middle of the Wendigo's back, impaling it just as it was about to strike Sovellis. It went stiff for a moment, then fell limply away to reveal Sovellis' grinning face.

"Thank you, feisty one," he smiled.

"You're racking up quite a payback tab," she said, although not without a smile of her own.

With that out of the way, we turned to survey the situation. Laurella and Ryelass were working together to defeat another Wendigo to our left; Laurella was shooting it in the face, while Ryelass was slashing away at its midriff while it was preoccupied. To the right, Maria was expertly dodging while slashing at two wendigos. Scorpious was mirroring Ryelass by powerfully slashing at the abdomen of his own attacker. To the front, Alminus was now wrestling one of the creatures on the ground, as it had knocked away his axe, which lay on the ground about five feet from them. Alminus appeared to be winning, he had the creature's arm chicken-winged behind its back and he was using his free hand to punch the animal in the face. Alminus was easily the strongest of us all, so this didn't worry me too much.

Piricus was a sight to behold as well. He was busy jumping around to avoid a flattening blow from the creature he was battling. I saw him duck, as I had done, to avoid a strike, however the skeleton behind him wasn't as bright and it took the hit full force and crumbled into a dozen or more pieces. Piricus cursed and ordered his remaining three skeletons to attack. I cringed as the Wendigo picked up one of them and used it as an undead bone club upon the other two until all three fell apart. The creature grabbed for Piricus, whom stabbed it in the hand as the barbs of his aura bit through flesh. The creature tottered dangerously back and forth waving its hand around before its muscles visibly locked up and it fell dead to the ground spasming. Piricus must have coated his dagger with a pretty virulent venom for his poison to work on such a big creature and so quickly.

My attention then turned to Cloudyous, who seemed in the most danger. He was surrounded by the three remaining wendigos and the lead one was still attacking him. I called for Vendra and Sovellis and together we launched a ranged attack. My javelin hit a monster in the face, which killed it instantly. Vendra and Sovellis had both used the telekinesis spell at the same time upon one, and the force crushed the creature literally flat. By this time, Maria had finished with her battle and hastily joined us. She grabbed a throwing knife out of her belt and threw it accurately right into the eye of a wendigo. It roared in pain, and doing what Vendra and Sovellis had done, she blasted the creature backwards with psychic force, knocking it into a tree which then cracked and fell on it, squashing the animal.

That left Cloudyous with only the lead monster to contend with. I was about to throw another javelin when Alminus came flying out in front of me and tackled the creature around the waist, pushing it away from Cloudyous. The creature fell to the ground with Alminus on top of him, but it retaliated fiercely. It easily broke free and threw Alminus through the air like a pebble in a tornado. He soared overhead turning circles and landed roughly on his butt. He winced in pain and Ryelass and Laurella ran to him. He waved them off and tried to stand, but staggered to a knee. His leg was obviously broken. Ryelass pulled a healing potion from his belt and handed it to his friend, as the barbarian snapped his own leg back into place before drinking it. I grimaced. For this monster to toss a man as strong as Alminus aside that easily it had to be extra strong.

Cloudyous shook with a fury I had never seen in him before. His whole body glowed with a brownish-green aura and the wind began to pick up as it had when he summoned the tornado in the cemetery against Blood Raven. Even Belthem whined and backed slightly away from him. Cloudyous looked from Alminus, who was being held up by his friends back to the demonic Wendigo with rage and prepared to attack.

"Cloudyous be careful!" Maria yelled as she watched.

"Something's wrong! This creature is not natural anymore!" Cloudyous' answer came as loud and strong as thunder. "IT'S THE LEATHDHIABHALA! IT'S COVERED EVERYHTING! THIS ENTIRE FOREST REEKS OF IT! NOTHING HERE IS NATURAL ANYMORE! " He growled, literally.

Before my very eyes he began to change form. Dark brown hair began to sprout all over his flesh and his already existing hair melded to match. His body enlarged and his muscles grew to an enormous size. His face flattened and his eyes became wild. His mouth stretched into a long muzzle and his ears shifted to the top of his head and became fuzzy and round. His hands became paw-like and donned bear's claws, which he then began slashing at the extra strong Wendigo with. When his transformation was complete, the once human man resembled a grizzly bear that walked on two legs.

"A werebear!" I heard Alminus remark in surprise.

The anthro-human paid no heed to anything as he set about his attack. The Wendigo swung, and instead of ducking, the bear-Cloudyous blocked as I would have done to a normal human punch. I feared for a moment that Cloudyous, similar to Alminus, would not have strength enough to match the creature's. I was sorely mistaken.

Cloudyous not only had ample strength to block, but to overpower the creature as well. His blow caught the Wendigo in the midriff and his claws tore through its tough hide like a hot knife through butter along with the thorns from his aura. Cloudyous had the strength of a bear and still maintained the magic of a druid. His paw-fist burst into flame upon his next strike and set the Wendigo's fur ablaze before Cloudyous savagely ripped the being apart. I almost felt sorry for the thing. The skirmish was over in moments and a human Cloudyous remerged from underneath the fur. He shrank back to normal size and all of his animalistic features faded except for the feral rage in his normally tranquil eyes.

I was shocked speechless, I had never seen something like that before and especially from someone so peaceful! However the shock soon dissipated, I was becoming more and more inured to strange magic every day. What did surprise me was Piricus. He seemed to have almost a tone of admiration in his voice for the carnage he had just witnessed.

"Bears AND wolves? Okay then, I will definitely think twice before cutting down a tree in your presence."

Cloudyous wasn't paying attention to him, he merely walked over and removed a few objects off the creature's corpse before turning back to us.

"Quite a show Cloudyous," Maria said with unease. I could tell she was debating on some inner topic about what she had just witnessed. She was an assassin, a mage slayer, whom was supposed to keep any eye on them in case the good suddenly went bad. What she had just seen from Cloudyous had undoubtedly disturbed her. She fiddled with her katars uncomfortably.

"Don't you dare," Vendra snapped in a voice barely above a whisper.

"The creature was tainted. This whole forest is! That creature was the last of free will in this entire forest! It had to be destroyed, for nothing good can come from tainted primal energy. The wild become feral and lose their honor and dignity when forced to serve the darkness! It's not in their nature to serve anyone, darkness or light! And yet, Andariel disrupts this sacred rule, this sacred trust and uses them as pawns! It is the ultimate sacrilege when a druid is forced to fight against the very creatures he has sworn to protect! That creature was innocent and one of a kind! I vow that I will not rest until I have righted this wrong! This sin! I now know why I was summoned to this place. This world is in chaos!" Cloudyous spoke out passionately with an angered tremble in his voice.

"He's fine," Maria said, relaxing a little upon hearing this, "there was grounds for what he just did." she said to Vendra. "I'm sorry Cloudyous. But the forces of hell spare no one and nothing, not even nature. They manipulate whatever card they can play," she remarked truthfully.

Cloudyous gave a curt nod. "Be that as it may, I will uphold the vows of druidism. I will champion nature even against the prime evils if it comes down to that," he vowed.

"Serious words," Sovellis remarked.

"And true, I assure you, every one," Cloudyous responded. "It is my duty."

"Speaking of duty, we should get the scroll. I have a duty to Deckard Cain, for he is one of my people and may also be the last of them," Ryelass interjected somberly.

Cloudyous nodded. "I believe Andariel has thrown all she can against us for the moment," he assured as we all turned to the Tree of Inifuss.

Ryelass took the edge of his sword and cut out the chunk of wood with the symbols engraved there, leaving a chip in the tree. "We have what we need, now let's get back to Lady Akara," he announced and tucked the runes safely into his belt.

Laurella nodded. "I know of a waypoint nearby we can use," she assured and took the lead.

As we walked to the waypoint, Scorpious insisted that we maintain our thorn auras. By now it was obvious what they did. Nobody complained, even Piricus, so we kept them. I saw Cloudyous to my side and took the opportunity to talk with him. He scratched Belthem's ears affectionately, as if trying to distract himself.

"Are you alright? I know you didn't want to fight those animals back there," I offered empathetically.

Cloudyous, whom I expected to be bitter about it, merely looked to me and sighed softly. "No, I didn't, but what's done is done. I will hold true to my vows and defend nature from the demonic to the best of my abilities. Do you remember the night that we all met and I said I came here because the wind echoed a disturbance in the west?" He asked and I nodded. "Well, now I know why I am here to say the least. This whole land is demonic, in fact, I'm positive that things are going to get worse the closer to Andariel we get. I just became so angry back there because I suppose up until now I've harbored some artificial hope that something would have remained untouched by evil, even after everything we'd seen already. I feel as if I have failed the creatures of this land and that I have been fooling myself. Treehead Woodfist was the last untainted creature here, and he was also the oldest," my druid friend said tragically.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Hope, no matter how small or how out of place, is never wrong. So that Wendigo had a name? How'd you know?" I asked curiously.

"All animals have a name Chyemme," he reminded gently. "Just like we do. I asked him his name and why he was attacking us. I told them that we meant no harm to them or the tree," Cloudyous replied.

"Obviously he didn't believe you," I remarked.

Cloudyous shook his head. "He believed me, however something was wrong. The conversation was hurried and making no sense. He seemed wrought with inner turmoil. He kept trying to say that he needed help, and that he didn't mean to attack us, he didn't understand why he did it himself, but that was about as far as we got before he told me to get away from him and the evil overtook him. I couldn't speak to him anymore and well, you know the rest. I can't speak to demons, even the ones that use to be animals. The darkness blinds them to all reason, it engulfs their being and makes them frenzied servants to a black master," he explained.

I could only imagine how hard it must have been for Cloudyous to hear all of this and not been able to do anything to help. I suddenly understood his righteous anger for the beings he protected. As we reached the blue flame circle of the waypoint I asked another question.

"Wow. That must be awful. You have my full support. Piricus said something about wolves and bears. What did he mean?" I asked.

Cloudyous grinned, which made me smile too to help ease his troubles. "Oh, that. In addition to being a werebear I can also shift forms into a werewolf. Piricus and I had a little bout on that first night at camp where he summoned a clay golem and sent it after me. I transformed and tore it to pieces," he laughed.

"That sounds like him," I agreed as I stepped on the waypoint circle.