Westward Bound
The flight back to friendly airs was not easy. Night seemed to be the worst time to be caught in the Eastern Wilds; all sorts of creatures were awake... and hungry. The small group was attacked often by monsters both common and bizarre, weak and powerful. A couple of times they were even driven north or south by foes too strong to best.
It took almost all night to reach the border. They were fleeing from a winged, three-headed monstrosity at the time, and didn't realise they were crossing over before bolts of lightning flashed from ground to sky from the sentient trees.
Morghus screeched, the tip of one wing scored. Rynn saw his whole left wing go limp all of a sudden, and the dragon dropped as he vainly tried to stay aloft.
"Hold on, Rynn," Arokh shouted. "I'll try and draw the trees' fire." He streaked towards the ground, darting between the bolts that headed his way. "Hopefully Morghus will recover soon eno-"
Three simultaneous screams cut the air and a gigantic form, wings and multiple heads outlined by the stars, started down after the falling black dragon and his rider.
"Uh oh," Rynn whispered.
Another bolt of stunning light struck Morghus and his limbs ceased their struggling. He fell, lacking even the strength to shout for help.
"Burn the trees under him!" Rynn shouted desperately. "He'll be all right so long as none of the trees get him. Burn them!"
"No," Arokh said. "Ice! When they crash the trees will shatter." He beat his wings powerfully and flew low. A torrent of freezing water hissed from his jaws, completely covering all it touched. Everything beneath Morghus was frozen solid, glittering ice in the starlight. Arokh got out of the way just as the black dragon smashed into the ground. Shards went flying everywhere, but it didn't look like any trees were trying to eat dragon or rider.
Arokh craned his head upward and breathed out an immense barrage of boiling magma at the malignant shadow that had been chasing them then flew aside, gaining height to draw the creature away.
It worked. The monster darted after them with all three heads snarling, but it didn't look like it had a breath weapon of its own. Its speed and three pairs of razor claws more than made up for that. It was faster than Arokh, who had to swerve and evade as often as he could to keep out of range. His smaller size meant manoeuvrability, and he'd use that to its full extent.
The creature wasn't the only thing to evade, however.
Lightning struck Arokh in the head. Rynn's vision was abruptly gone, lost in a swirl of brightness. Then it was back again. With an odd feeling of disconnection, she watched the ocean of leaves rush up to embrace them. Unconscious the second Arokh hit the ground, she never felt herself thrown from his back and against a broad trunk of a tree...
* * *
Why do I feel like I'm hanging upside-down..?
Rynn shook the vague thought from her mind and tried to move. She couldn't. Something was wrapped around her like a snake, pinning her arms to her sides and trapping her legs. She opened her eyes, but something was covering them, too. Taking a deep breath, she struggled a bit harder and felt herself swing with the motion.
She was upside-down, and hanging from her legs.
"Arokh?" she tried to say, but something was in her mouth. Tentatively, she pushed at it with her tongue. Rough, cool and thick. Like... a vine?
The trees.
She struggled harder, trying to break the living cords twined around her, but only swung like a piece of fruit. In frustration, she clamped her jaw down hard on the vine in her mouth and only succeeded in hurting her teeth. It was too tough; she had barely made a mark on it.
"Arokh!" She tried shouting, then froze.
Was it her imagination, or had she felt herself rise fractionally?
The feeling came again.
"AROKH!"
She didn't hear a reply. Panic started to set in, and she twisted even more, tried to bend her body, free a hand... anything but this feeling of deep helplessness.
Helplessness and fear.
The bit around her eyes slipped a little. Breathing as much as the tight binding around her chest would allow, she peered through the tiny crack. It was light, and there were only tree branches to be seen. She tried to cant her head back, to see the ground. There... far below her. And a massive, vine-wrapped shape was only just beginning to be dragged into the air by thick green cords.
Arokh.
He wouldn't even be able to open his mouth to breathe fire, she thought in despair. Was he strong enough to break free? Was he even awake?
The green shape jerked suddenly. Rynn watched, hardly daring to hope as Arokh's talons sliced their way free. The tree screamed and the vines wrapping Arokh tightened. Rynn felt the dragon's pain, the terrible pressure on his trapped wings. If not for the vine in her mouth, she'd have cried out in agony.
It stopped after a few seconds and she was left breathless, strengthless. She felt herself rise a few more inches closer to... to what? Did trees have mouths? Bracing herself, she looked up into a writhing nest of snakelike vines surrounding a circular hollow in the trunk. Row upon row of pointed teeth lined the inside of that hole, and a translucent slime oozed down from it like sap. Rynn saw that her feet were almost within reach of that mouth before she couldn't hold herself up like that any longer, and let her upper body swing down again with a choked gasp.
The blood rushing to her head was starting to make her feel dizzy. "Don't stop struggling, Arokh," she pleaded silently. "Keep fighting..." She jerked with pain as Arokh began fighting again, his talons tearing through more vines. A foreleg was free... it clawed at the bonds around his neck and head, his movements weak with the agony it was costing him, but his talons efficient anyway. More vines fell to the ground in great coils, then he stopped.
Rynn's silent prayer of thanks at the surcease of pain was cut short as she felt something iron-hard grasp her ankles and drag her up further. She bowed her body and looked up again.
Her feet were in its mouth and it was chewing at the dragon armour protecting her legs.
"AROKH, HELP!"
Panicking, she tried to kick but the fangs held her as securely as the vines had. Below, Arokh renewed the struggle to free himself. He breathed fire across his bonds and they started to wither away, the tree shrieking in pain and fury.
"Rynn! Where are you?"
Struggling weakly, Rynn attacked the vine in her mouth to no avail. Tears sprang to her eyes and she cursed herself. They blinded her almost as well as the vines. She tried to swing, but by now her back was against the trunk. She was too high for him to notice... another bundle of green in the canopy. The pressure on her ankles increased to the point of pain
Desperate, she writhed her hands instead of trying to call out... and a funny thing happened. At first, her hands just started to get warm. Then they got hot, almost as if they were burning.
Magic... Ebontyne's fire magic!
Fresh determination swept through her and she focussed every thought on her hands. Fire blazed from her fingertips with a roar. The vines wrapping her from waist to head crisped and fell away, the pressure on her ankles vanishing as the tree's mouth widened in a unearthly scream. Quickly, Rynn wrenched open the scabbard tab holding her sword in its sheath and drew Runeblade with a rasp of glittering steel. She swung once, aware that her spell had alerted Arokh to where she was, and cut the remaining vines holding her up in the air.
Arokh caught her in his foreclaws as she fell, then landed back on the forest floor to let her down. "I feared for you," the dragon said in concern. "That was too close."
Rynn sheathed her blade and stretched, relishing the freedom of movement. "Way too close," she agreed. "Did you see my magic?" she added, pride chasing away the terror of the past moments.
A relieved smile curved his jaws. "Of course. I was wondering when you'd figure out how to use your powers. Couldn't have come at a better time."
Stunned, the young woman gaped at him. "You knew I had them?"
He laughed, absently clawing at an ambitious vine. "When you were taking your test in the Belltower, it was all Rimril talked to me about. If you hadn't passed, he was going to offer to train you as an Archmage."