Chapter 5:

Sayuna stood beneath the great tree and gazed upwards at the body wedged high above. The fresh, green smell of the forest intermingled with the acrid tang of blood beneath her feet. Quiet and peaceful forest noises surrounded her and calmed her jangled nerves. A pair of squirrels chittered from inside a hole in a nearby tree, an owl hooted in the distance, and the branches above her creaked quietly in the breeze.

Somehow, the unhappy spirit of the person who had died here, guided her to this tree. It must have sensed that she had the power within her to help, but how could she get the body down from there?

The tree was gargantuan. The trunk was probably more than 20 feet wide and the lowest branch was roughly a hundred feet straight up.

She considered summoning a hammer to throw. Perhaps she might be able to dislodge it? But the thought of causing more damage was not appealing.

"What have you found there?" A female voice said from directly behind her.

Startled, Sayuna spun quickly and came face to face with a woman dressed all in black leather who was gazing idly up into the tree behind her.

"Honour!" Sayuna cried out with relief and gave her a hug. "Where did you come from?"

"I happened to see you walk off the path in a daze and decided to follow you." Honour replied and smiled. "You started running around in a crazed panic for a while. I was just about to club you with my blackjack and drag you back to the church, but then you stopped here."

"Ah" Sayuna replied and nodded her head sagely. "What I was seeing must have been an illusion, or perhaps a phantasm."

Honour looked puzzled.

"Mmm, nevermind." Sayuna waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "It's not important how I got here but I seem to have been lead here to this victim high above.

Sayuna pointed up into the tree. "If we can just get the body down, I can perform a resurrection."

"I'm on it." Honour replied briskly as she reached behind her back and dug into one of her many small belt pouches. She produced a pair of blackened climbing spurs and a matching pair of climbing claws. Honour hung the claws from her mouth by their straps and affixed one of the spurs to her right boot. The point of the spur extended down from the middle of her shoe on the inner side and protruded about 2 inches. She had to stand on her toes to affix the other side so that the spur didn't dig into the ground.

With perfect balance she attached the other spur and then set about strapping the claws to her hands. In a few moments she was ready and padded over to the base of the tree on her toes. As swift and as surely as a squirrel, she ascended up the sheer face towards the victim.

"Oh my god!" Honour called from above.

"What is it?!" Sayuna called back to her.

"It's Dianna!" Honour replied. "Firien's neice! She looks like she hit every branch she could on the way down." Sayuna could see Honour looking the body up and down and covered her mouth with the back of her hand. "Severe trauma to the head, clear fluid coming from her ears, open fracture on her left thigh, broken neck, dislocated shoulder, severe swelling on her left side."

"The swelling is probably a burst organ." Sayuna called up to Honour with a reassuring tone. "But can you get her down?"

"Aye… Aye I'm on it." Honour replied and shook off the shock that she was feeling. With stupendous strength she lifted Dianna's body out of the notch in the tree with one hand and positioned it over her shoulder. Carefully she climbed down the tree with her burden.

Sayuna undid her cloak and laid it upon the ground while Honour descended from above. She cast a spell and summoned four flasks of fresh cool water and placed them within easy reach nearby.

"Lay her here so I can prepare her." Sayuna said and pointed towards the cloak. Honour carefully laid the body down.

With practiced care, Sayuna washed the blood from Dianna's face and hair and gently examined her scalp for injures with her fingers. She repositioned a few teeth in her mouth, reset the neck's alignment, and straightened the broken nose. Moving further down the body, she found that realigning Dianna's shoulder was difficult because it had gone so far out of place. She managed to right it after some effort and then began to pull and push on the broken bones in Dianna's arms until they were in the correct places once more.

"Honour, let me use one of your daggers please?" Sayuna asked.

"Why Say?" Honour unsheathed one of her throwing daggers and flipped it in her hand so she could pass it to Sayuna, handle first.

"This swelling here…" Sayuna pressed gently against the firm black and blue bulge on Dianna's side. "This is a pool of blood from an internal injury." She explained. "I need to clear it from her body or the spell will heal around it."

"Oh…" Honour replied. "I Um… I think I'll go see how things are going on the other side of the tree."

Sayuna's forehead was damp with perspiration and her hair was in her eyes. She brushed it out of her face with her wrist and smiled an understanding smile at Honour. "Go ahead, this is not going to be pleasant."

After Honour was safely around the tree, Sayuna placed the blade against Dianna's side and pressed down. As she pierced the skin, a stream of dark red blood spurted fourth and drenched the front of her Tunic but she ignored it and made the incision a little larger.

The dark and semi-coagulated liquid spilled out and soaked into Sayuna's cloak and the ground beneath it. She brushed the larger clumps away and washed Dianna clean with more water.

Finally, Sayuna raised the badly damaged left leg and used a whole flask of water to wash the gaping wound thoroughly. She removed pieces of bark and twigs that had gotten imbedded in the flesh and fatty globules of her thigh and then re-aligned the bone and repositioned the nerves as best she could.

With the preparation complete, Sayuna washed her hands with the last of the water and rose to her feet to stretch her aching back and neck.

She looked over the clean and comfortably positioned body of Dianna one final time and then began the prayer of life.

The immense power of the goddess channeled through her in a rush of tingling energy. Her vision was overtaken by a blindingly bright image of Tunare and her ears were deafened by the roar of pure power. Dianna's body was bathed in blue flames as bones mended and wounds healed in the blink of an eye. Color returned to Dianna's face as new blood welled up within her body and her strong heart began it's endless rhythm once more.

"GASP!"

...

Firien was still too weak to move but his mind had cleared enough that he was now able to observe what was happening around him.

Alsymaya had broken away from the fight she had been sharing with Pricella and somehow managed to get both of Firien's attackers away from him. She fought valiantly as blow upon blow struck her small frame. Despite the intense pain she must be feeling, she continued to taunt them relentlessly.

The frog that was nearest to her stepped in under her guard and landed a solid uppercut to her midsection. Alsymaya collapsed to her knees and coughed up bright red blood on the wooden planks of the platform.

The skull shaped helmet that she wore over her exotically beautiful face had lost a section from it's jaw line. Through the gap, beneath the helm, Firien could see her teeth tightly clenched and her jaw set firm.

"You see this sword frog?" She hissed at the Froglock that stood above her and raised her sword weakly with her right hand. A slight gurgling sound was coming from her lungs and her left hand pressed tightly at her side. "This sword is going right up your…

"ALIVE?!"

Firien's attention snapped over to the other Frog who was now staring directly at him.

"HOW … CAN … YOU … LIVE!?" The frog leaped ferociously towards him but he was still to weak to stand. As it approached it howled and puffed itself up into a berserk frenzy. Firien watched as it's eyes turned from pale yellow to bloodshot scarlet red.

"No!" Rebeka sprung to her feet and stood between them with hands outstretched. The frog did not even look at her as he slapped her away with a vicious backhanded blow. She crumpled into a heap a few feet away.

"DIE OLD MAN!" The frog bellowed as it raised it's meaty fist into the air.

Firien glared balefully up at his attacker and watched the blow fall unflinching. If he was to die today at least it would be with dignity.

Suddenly the fist's motion was halted as a huge earth elemental appeared from nowhere and held fast to the frog's wrist.

Livid with fury the frog turned and attacked ferociously.

"Froaak!" The frog screamed as it punched a large chunk out of the elemental's midsection.

Oblivious to pain, the elemental hammered it back.

"Kastell, front and center!" Cried a Dark elf spellcaster in a blood red robe. In the next instant a High elf enchantress stood before him.

Beaumont and Koba were both visibly worn, the entirety of their spell casting power almost spent.

Kastell seemed to look everywhere at once. She absorbed the situation and made countless mental calculations in the space of a heartbeat.

In the next instant she was casting at the frog that was fighting with the elemental. The frogs eyes rolled up in it's head just as the elemental started a wide round house punch with it's right hand.

"GOBABER BACK OFF!" The man in the blood red robe screamed!

The elemental's fist stopped scant inches from the unwitting frog's face, it peacefully slumbered on. The elemental dropped it's hand to it's side and shuffled over to the Dark elf spell caster like an overgrown obedient puppy.

Firien looked back again to Kastell but she had moved. Craning his neck, he saw that she was stomping right up to the three frogs in the middle of the platform with her hands spread wide. The wizard watched her approach with a wary eye.

Beaumont began to cast a spell.

Koba began to cast a spell.

The three frogs moved to attack Kastell as she came into melee range but before they could touch her she slammed her hands together and a massive shock wave of force erupted outwards, stunning all three of the frogs at the same time.

Beaumont's spell hit the frog on the left and it went unconscious.

Koba's spell hit the frog on the right and it went unconscious.

Koba and Beaumont both began to cast a spell.

The wizard in the middle started to come around but the heel of Kastell's hand flew into it's forehead and a shaped force wave blasted him backwards 5 feet, stunning him senseless once more.

Both Beaumont's and Koba's spells hit the wizard and it fell into a deep slumber from which it would never awake.

Both Beaumont and Koba collapsed into a heap, their energies completely spent. Kastell took up a position between all the frogs and kept them safely unconscious with subsequent spells while Rebeka healed herself, and then healed Alsymaya.

"Riptie front and center!"

"Equin front and center!"

On and on it went until all of the mighty DragonWatch were there. Soon all of the frogs had been dispatched and Firien was able to relate to them the horrible truth that he had discovered within his dream.

The battle was over but the war was far from won.

The DragonWatch laid siege to the Ork encampment of Crushbone, determined to correct the balance of power within the Elven homelands. Much too late did they discover that their Guildhall had been attacked while all of the senior members were away.

But then that was another story entirely…

End