23. The Arrows

"Don't you think that's asking for a little too much?" Alanna asked Torhte dubiously.

"Considering that the lives of those who are here hang in the balance, no, I don't." Torhte said complacently.

Thorn hadn't been really paying attention to Torhte's demands, but she did know that it was about increasing Torhte's wealth. Gold, diamonds, the works. No, one couldn't say that Torhte was a very original bandit.

"I have a question to ask you." Alanna said after a moment.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"The day back at the village, where you were trying to sell Thorn," her purple eyes turned to gaze at her for a moment, "those arrows that seemingly fell from the forest…they came from your mage, didn't they?"

Asianna and Torhte exchanged sly glances. "Yes, they did. Our mage controlled them, released them at the right moment to send them flying into the village so that we could escape." Torhte seemed to be purring again.

But there were something about his words that disturbed Thorn. Those arrows, those wooden--

Wooden.

The arrows were wooden.

::Well, of course they are. What did you think they were made out of? String?:: her staff questioned.

::But things that are wooden, from plants…they respond to me!:: she exclaimed excitedly, for the moment ignoring her staff's sarcasm.

::Of course they do, Thorn.:: her staff replied patiently.

And then, from a memory that seemed so far away, she heard:

Every time Thorn asks a plant to do something that is unnatural, she has to offer the plant some of her own…energy so that it could fulfill her request…when she wants a plant to move unnaturally, like bending over or turning a certain way, she has to offer much more energy since movement like that is not natural to the way a plant grows and is…

::That's it!:: All she had to do was…somehow ask the arrows to bend in such a way to make them harmless.

::Of course it is.::

She stared at her staff. ::What is that supposed to mean?:: she demanded. She paused. ::You mean, you already had the idea yourself?:: She didn't give her staff the chance to reply. ::Why didn't you tell me this before?::

Her staff sighed. ::You have to think of it yourself. I'm not going to be around forever, you know. I won't always be there to help you. You must learn to be more independent.::

::But mother gave you to me so that you could protect me!:: she protested.

::That doesn't mean I'll be around forever…:: Her staff refused to say anymore.

This time she was the one who sighed. ::All right then. Pretend to ignore me.:: She instead focused on the arrow in front of her.

She reached out to it with her mind. ::…Hello?::

Silence.

::Hello?:: she tried again. ::Arrow?::

Silence.

She tried repeatedly; she failed repeatedly.

It's not working. She realized. The wood of the arrow is dead. She couldn't communicate with dead plants, plants that were not attached to the ground.

But what about her staff? It wasn't attached to the ground, and yet, it was still alive.

She clenched her fists and tried it again. But this time, she first reached into herself and pulled out some of that…energy stuff that her staff had referred to. And she offered her energy to the arrow.

And the arrow awakened.

She felt it quiver to her response, immediately alert and curious. If the situation hadn't been so dire at the moment, she would have laughed aloud at her success.

She felt a sense of approval radiate from her staff, which only added on to her excitement.

She quickly reached into herself again, pulling out her precious energy and then offering it to the rest of the floating arrows. And then some more to the arrows which lay in piles.

::You shouldn't use so much at once!:: her staff immediately scolded her. ::The arrows aren't the only ones that need that energy! Your body needs it too!::

::I'm fine.:: she immediately scoffed at the staff's concern. But she felt it. The ache of tiredness settling itself onto her bones.

No. Stay awake. She dug her fingers into her palms, feeling her own nails pressing painfully into her skin.

She glanced around, noting that none of the bandits realized that anything was amiss. All the arrows were now alive and ready for her. But were the knights and Riders?

She glanced toward them, hoping to somehow catch Alanna's gaze, but only finding Evin's. They stared at each other: she, already exhausted, and he, eager for justice. Then he suddenly nodded.

I hope that was a signal that he understood me. But there wasn't anymore time to worry about that. Torhte had already started to pick several men whom he would let return to the king so that the king would know about his ransom. Now was the perfect time.

::Curl!:: She somehow felt her mental voice reverberate through the clearing.

And the arrows started to curl.

::Into harmless little balls, with your points hidden in the center. Curl.:: And as she spoke, she fed the arrows more of her energy, giving them the strength to do as she asked.

Asianna was the first to realize what was going on. "Thorn! No!" Her voice was filled with anger.

The arrows started darting around the clearing, but it was too late. They weren't able to pierce anyone. But at the speed in which the arrow-balls were moving, it still hurt to have one crash into you.

Thorn herself was knocked to the ground, wheezing for breath, when the arrow that had stood in front of her hurtled into her chest.

And for some reason, most of the arrow-balls seemed to be racing toward her.

::Get up! Get up!:: her staff urged her anxiously.

But she was too tired. So she just sat, wrapped up in her own little ball, arms covering her face, and tried to ignore the pain that increased with each arrow-ball.

::As soon as you touch the ground,:: she told the arrows, ::catch hold and grow roots.:: And so she continued to feed them more of her energy.

There were sounds of metal clashing, armor denting, men who were struck down one by one.

But after awhile, she realized that she was no longer getting bombarded by balls, and so she lifted her head and glanced around. About two dozen little saplings grew around her in a tight circle where the arrow-balls had landed. She glanced at the little saplings fondly, for they had in their own strange way, protected her bent form.

She pushed herself up to her feet, almost falling over on top of the saplings, but catching herself at the last moment with her staff.

::You shouldn't have wasted so much energy!:: her staff rebuked.

::I didn't waste any energy.:: she said dazedly. ::Look::

The bandits were outnumbered and steadily losing the battle against Tortall's own.

Good thing all the bandits are busy fighting for their own life. Elsewise, they would have probably turned on me and mashed her into pulp with their anger, she thought absentmindedly to herself.

"Thorn!" One of the Riders seemed to pull himself away from the battle and come toward her.

She was immediately pulled into Evin's arms. "Gods. Are you all right? I would have come sooner, but these bandits really know how to struggle when they're upset."

Was he the one trembling? Or was it her?

"I'm fine." She murmured.

"Thorn?" The alarm in Evin's voice made her jerk up-right. She suddenly realized that she had somehow closed her eyes without realizing, and had been leaning against Evin's body. "What's wrong with you?"

Thorn kept her eyes open, but was too tired to glance up. "Nothing. Good. Fine. I'm fine."

Over Evin's shoulder, she suddenly saw a familiar shadow move within the edge of the clearing by the trees. And as she watched, the person snuck deeper into the forest, one exhausted hand on her back, and the other on her rounded stomach.

A.N.- I have good news! I have just finished writing this fic (it goes until chapter 26), and as a result, I will be able to post a chapter daily again. I know for some people that the updating once every other day was a total drag, and so now I'm going back to updating daily for the last couple chapters that are left. I hope everyone's happy. :)

~Krizsta