Chapter 10 - Fire And Ice
Mike curiously watched Cole climbing up the stairs. He wasn't sure if the boys would come along or start arguing again. No screaming came from upstairs.
"You think he had his first time with Carolyn?" Bastian asked, grinning like a schoolboy at his friend.
"Definitely yes. I can smell sex. Have you seen him blushing? God, that was worth the trouble I had calming Daniel before. I hope the two can bury the hatchet. Next time, I may not be so lucky and Cole will throw a punch at me too. Man, the boy has a mean hook. I'm glad he didn't break Daniel's nose."
The two forgot about the maps and talked over their juvenility back then in Connecticut, soon laughing over good old memories.
Campbell just was about to check for the boys, for he hadn't heard a word for some time but was interrupted by Wade who pushed roughly the front door open in a rush. "Gentlemen, we have work to do." The Guardian was already heading for his room while telling his Triad what had happened. "A four-year-old girl got lost in the woods this morning, we have to find her as quickly as possible. Her sister was out with her, collecting berries. The girl came home alone pretty disturbed and told a story about a willow which had grabbed her sister. In fear, she ran back home."
"Something similar occurred once in Illinois. Sounds like a dryad. it would fit the loneliness of this country. They don't like human company."
"You might be right, Bastian. I need as many men as possible, get the boys, they will have their first hunt. When we don't find her before nightfall, there's not much of a chance that we find her alive. There are not only supernatural dangers outside." Wade vanished into his room, packing his things.
Mike ran up the stairs to get the boys. Soon all six sat gathered around the long table waiting for The Guardian to fill them up with more details.
"Ok, we think a dryad has caught one of the girls in the woods south from here." Wade pointed to a spot on the map Mike had studied earlier to get to know his new surroundings. The main target is to find the girl and get her back home as soon as possible. Then we take care of the thing. Sam, your ability will help us locate it if it is a dryad. Do you think you are ready?"
Sam looked a bit surprised first, with all eyes on him but soon nodded affirmatively. "Yes, Wade. I wanna help finding the girl."
The Guardian nodded. "Mike, Cole, and Sam are one team. We are the second team. I want no one to walk around alone. You got me?"
All hunters at the table nodded in agreement.
"How do we kill her?" Cole asked. Ready for a hunt, he pushed two knives into his belt holster.
"Well an ax is always a good choice against a tree," Mike joked.
"An ax will help you make her angry. We have to light her up if there is no other way. That part is a little bit tricky. First, we have to find her. That is where Samuel will be helpful, his ability to see ghosts is related to locating the spirit of all beings. You will be the only one to say if it is a tree or a dryad. Sam, you need to take off the crystals for this. We on the other hand have to rely on our other senses. When we are able to locate it, we have to sprinkle her with this powder. It's like itching powder for them." Wade handed each of them a small linen sack the size of a quarter gallon filled with what looked like red powdery sand. "And this powder is damn good flammable so be careful with it."
"And when it is something else?" Daniel asked for more information.
"Burning them up is often a good way for many monsters. Otherwise cut their head off. I suggest you take one of the bigger knives with you, buddy," Mike added.
*** The Wild West Triad - Prequel ***
The hunters were not the only search party. The family of the girl told them the girl's name was Missie and she was four years old. Some neighbors, as well as Jared and Aaron Kramer, had come to help as well. They couldn't forbid the family to search for her little girl, without good reason. So Wade had no other chance to influence the search than to claim the part of the wood where he assumed to find the dryad. They preferred water in their surroundings and Wade knew there were many muddy water holes from experience.
Soon the daylight was consumed by the thick forest. Daniel walked next to his father, holding his torch up to see the slippery muddy ground.
"What happened to your nose, son?" Wade asked nosy while they combed the area.
"Nothing. I ran into one of these pillars in the house. I still have to get used to having my own room." Daniel had accepted Cole's apology and he didn't want to bring the whole thing up again.
"Aha," was all Wade returned though Daniel knew his father hadn't bought that story.
They headed on searching for any hint of something unusual. Suddenly, Daniel whirled around holding his lamp higher. He had heard a slippering noise and a crack somewhere in the near distance. "Dad, have you heard that?" Staring into the depth of the forest, he searched for the source of the noise.
Wade and Bastian had stopped too. His father laid a finger on his lips and signed Daniel to be quiet. Daniel saw Bastian already opening the linen sack he had attached to his belt. Trying to make no noise he pushed a hand inside, ready to throw it at the tree next to him.
The Scholar threw a handful of the reddish sand at the tree. All waited for a reaction but it remained silent. They relaxed a little, but out of the blue, a long root raised from the mud lashing angrily at them. It swept Wade as well as Bastian from their feet. Daniel dived into the mud at the last second to escape from the swing of the root.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Samuel's senses were on alarm. Cole was close to him, ready to protect him. He felt safe with his friend next to him but still, his heart was pounding up to his throat. He wasn't used to so much attention. But he had become used to the Crystals Bastian had brought to keep the ghosts from appearing. Now without them, he felt vulnerable and naked.
"Do you see something?" Mike whispering asked for the tenth time.
"No, stop asking me this every minute." The clairvoyant countered slightly pissed.
"Hell, maybe you need a girl too. The pressure in this bunch of boys seems to be over every limit. How has Wade made it with you three for this long?
"Haha, very funny Mike. I don't need any advice from ..." Samuel tugged on Cole's sleeve finishing the sentence awkwardly. He'd spotted a greenish shine at one of the willows around. The figure of a woman melted with one of the trees got clearer every second. Her periderm body was covered with ivy which started to move. He didn't see her hands but long root-like branches where fingers had to be. Samuel already fumbled at his linen sack. Then he saw her dark green eyes, staring at them. His blood froze by the hatred the creature showed. He threw the powder at her. A long branch whipped through the air, missing him only an inch, and hit Mike directly in his face.
The powder had covered her anyway, which let her now turn and twitch around, screaming. In wild uncontrolled movements, she moved away from her willow tree.
"Ah, fucking bitch!" Mike swore, holding an instantly bleeding cut across his cheek and nose.
Sam saw roots shooting out of the ground wrapping around his legs and arms. Faster as he could react, he found himself caught and pushed up into the air. He ended up caught like a fly in a spider net of roots. Then he heard a voice inside his head. Angry, old, and commanding. "Get out of my forest. I'm older than all of the trees around you, how dare you harm my children? You must pay for it! You will nurture my roots, nothing more!"
Samuel felt the roots pull on his limbs. He had to do something, or she would tear him apart.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Cole dived away under another swing of the long root fingers and rolled on the wet ground coming to stop in front of the tree trunk where the dryad had hidden at before. He stared at the puffy terrified face of the little girl. Her body was fixed to the trunk with more branches and roots, even her mouth was wrapped up with it. She tried to scream but it came out muffled through her wooden gag.
"Hurry light her up, I found the girl!" Cole shouted over to Mike. He already drew his knife and started cutting the girl free. He'd cut the first four roots off, as a new shot up from the ground wrapping with a merciless force around his body and pushed him together with the girl deeper into the tree trunk which started to open. The wood bent and whirled around them like a living cage. Tanner found himself caught together with the girl inside the tree between thick bars of roots. The pressure of the thinner roots, still a finger thick, was hard to endure and Cole felt the air was pressed out of his lungs.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Mike witnessed helplessly and with horror how his boys were plucked from his side. He had to decide which one he would help first. Cole was only caught by the tree, the little girl with him, she had been still alive, so he assumed they were both caged but not in life-threatening danger yet. But Sam was threatened to be torn apart by the roots if he was not able to stop her.
Drawing his ax he started slaying and cutting every branch that got in his way to torch the bitch. The dryad tried to get to the nearby waterhole to wash off the powder. Mike had to be fast now. Though he saw his chances were on the wane to reach her before she was in the water.
The Knight spotted the still-burning torch Samuel had dropped to the ground when the roots had lifted him. He ran toward the dryad, bending down to pick up the torch while running. Her feet already reached the edge of the water as he got a hold on the torch. Samuel screamed from the pain. Mike felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins, giving him a push of energy.
He saw the dryad was about to dive under the surface, her root hands were already touching the surface too. The only chance to kill her would be over in less than a second. Then something totally unexpected happened.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Samuel felt the roots crushing the bones of his leg, The pain was horrible, hot, and overwhelming. He screamed under the torture. Samuel tried to concentrate on Mike to not fall unconscious from the pain.
Mike had been on his way to torch the dryad but she had fled to the water. He had to help - it had to work this time.
He had practiced a little here and there. Mostly the others let him work alone and undisturbed in the barn on his workbench. At first, it had been an accident or coincidence. His tea had gotten cold and he thought about the structure of the tea in his cup, how it would be if the liquid would move fast enough to warm up again. He had hardly believed his eyes as the tea started moving soon, dampening and cooking the next moment. He had experimented with other elements and finally mastered to let water cook, iron glow, and relight blown out candles. But he never had been able to freeze water or turn out a fire. But it had to work the other way around.
Now was the time it had to work.
Sam concentrated on the water, trying to separate his thoughts from the pain that radiated through his leg, sending warning signs with chills over his spine. He felt coldness running through his body. He would use it as a catalyst for his purpose. He imagined the water to flow slower, getting firm and building crystals. Then he forced his eyes open, staring at the water where the dryad was already with her feet in the element pushing her root hands inside the liquid.
All of a sudden the water froze to a solid ice block. The dryad stuck in the middle of it with her feet and hands. Mike was running with a still-burning torch towards her and came close enough to throw it at the creature's still powder-covered body.
Bastian had been right, the powder burned damn well. The dryad's body lightened up in a blast like a gunpowder explosion. She hadn't even time to scream before she was only a surreal burning flame on ice.
With her death, her magic vanished and Sam felt the roots loosen around him. Before he forcefully hit the ground from six-foot height. The impact with solid ground pushed the air out of his lungs for a second. Then the heat of his crushed bone began to radiate through his ice-cold body. His leg hurt like on fire and he didn't dare to move an inch anymore. All strength he had felt while influencing the element was gone in an instant, leaving a feeling of total exhaustion.
Mike's hand touched his cheek. "Sam, you alright?"
Sam would come over this pain. He would heal. Right now Mike had to care for Cole. The fear for his friend's lives was the only thing that kept him conscious. Mike had to find him quickly. Samuel had practically seen the tree eating him alive. "Find Cole, hurry!"
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Cole felt the pressure loosen around him seconds after he had heard Sam's painful scream. The roots which had constricted them pulled back into the earth. He breathed a moment released from the pressure to his lungs. The little girl next to him started crying. He pulled her closer in his embrace trying to calm her. "Shh, sweetie, don't cry, we're out of here in no time. My friends are out there and will save us. Just hold on." The wood around them started to crack and break. Concerned Cole tried to inspect their prison. He sensed that no wood seemed to be above them. It had to be something like a hollow tree they were caged in.
"I'm scared, please not leave me alone!"
"We're gonna make it out of here, you'll see. I'm not going anywhere," Cole tried to calm her further. He felt her little heart pounding fast and strong next to his own. "My name is Cole, you must be Missie, right?"
The little red-haired curly girl in his arms nodded, still sniffing. Then she lifted her face to him, bravely. "I know who you are. I saw you with Carolyn."
Cole smiled amused. She was a clever kid. "Yeah, that is right, she is my girlfriend."
Then the first pieces of wood fell on them. Though they were only small ones, he tried his best to shield Missie's small body from falling parts. The only source of light inside of here were the thin spaces between the roots at the bottom of the trunk. It was too small to crawl out.
There was movement outside, Mike seemed to have started to dig the earth out to enlarge the space. "Cole! Can you hear me?" Mike shouted out for him.
"Mike we're inside the tree. It's collapsing! Hurry!"
More parts came cracking down onto them. The opening was still small, though Missie would fit through, he had at least to save her. "Ok, honey, this tree is going to break down on us every moment. You listen to me now! You're gonna crawl out of this opening as fast as you can and Mike will bring you home to your mama, do you get me?"
Missie was only four years old, her father had told them earlier. But she nodded bravely, clinging to Cole's arms looking up wide-eyed and innocently into Cole's eyes. Then he gave her a slight push toward the opening. "Hurry now, don't look back, you'll make it."
Cole watched the little girl crawling out of the small crack. She was safe. Now he could search for a way out of this collapsing tree himself. The space inside here was only enough to move thirty inches to the side and back. The walls cracked and crumbled further like the whole trunk was pressed together by an invisible force.
A bigger part crashed down on Cole's arm. He huffed from the pain of the impact. desperately trying to shield his head from further falling parts he tucked his knees close to his body. The one that had hit him had left an opening through which now a ray of light shone high above him into his little prison.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Mike pulled the little girl out of the opening. With a last deafening noise of cracking wood, the top of the tree broke to the side and fell crashing to the undergrowth next to them. Mike shielded her little body. Luckily the log had missed them. But what had happened to Cole. Mike's heart missed a beat. "Cole!"
The Knight gave her a quick check up. She seemed not hurt, only completely anxious. "Are you alright?" Mike asked her.
The little girl nodded. "Cole, he is still in there."
"Don't worry, honey. I'm not gonna let him die. Go over to Sam, it's safe there." He gave her a little shove in Sam's direction.
Mike got up approaching the broken rest of the tree. The breaking point was about eight feet high and out of direct reach.
"Cole! Can you hear me? Cole?" Mike shouted out for Cole. Mike started climbing up the tree trunk hacking his ax into the wood of the even, greyish willow bark.
On the edge, he looked inside and spotted him at the bottom of the hollow trunk, where he sat crouched and unmoving, covered with pieces of splintered wood and bark. "Cole, buddy are you alright?" There was movement on the bottom. The boy's blue eyes looked up to him. Thank God, he was alive.
"Mike, is Missie safe?"
"Yes she is, hold on buddy, we're gonna get you out in no time."
Mike looked around, searching for something he could use as a rope. He saw their second team running through the undergrowth. Missie was with Sam. Wade, Bastian, and Daniel came running closer, dripping from mud.
"Mike, are you alright? What happened?" Wade shouted concerned to his Knight.
"Check on Sam! His leg is hurt, I hope it's not broken. I need a rope or something. Cole is caught inside the tree trunk. The bitch is lit up. Girl is safe."
Bastian dug out a long rope from his backpack. He bound a sling and threw it up to Mike to get Cole out. Both Mike and Bastian pulled at the rope to lift Cole from the bottom of the destroyed tree to the edge where Mike helped him climb up to freedom.
Finally on the ground again Mike checked on Cole, "You alright, buddy? Nothing broken?"
"I'm alright, only a few bruises, I will survive. Is everyone else ok?"
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Wade quickly realized that Sam's leg was broken. Dark bruises had formed around his lower leg, the young man tried to be strong but hissed with the slightest touch and Wade saw how hard he tried to keep himself from crying. Sam would go nowhere on his own feet.
To carry Sam out was a difficult undertaking. But they had made it out of the woods before nightfall. Little Missie didn't leave Cole's side for the whole way, even took his hand. Wade smiled at the view, whispering to Bastian and Mike. "Our boy seems to be a woman magnet. Hope Carolyn won't get jealous."
Mike smiled amused. "Well, I think Carolyn should not be worried. Her place is safe, trust me, Brother."
Wade wondered what Mike tried to tell him. He felt like he had missed something today.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Cole felt Missie's small hand trustfully resting in his. He had to smile over her trust. She should be more careful, not all people were protective and good. But he enjoyed it. He couldn't explain the feeling he had but it felt good to hold her hand and watch over her. The girl even smiled again while walking with him. She seemed in no way scared anymore though she had been through a nightmare from her point of view.
He felt a slight tug on his hand while he watched her and thought about all this. He bent down to his little charge where she started whispering. "Will you marry Carolyn and have babies with her?"
Cole was dumbstruck for a moment but soon started to smile. How in the world had she come to this thought? But Cole's curiosity was challenged. He whispered back, "Well that is a very personal question, sweety. Why do you wanna know this?"
"'Cause if you and Carolyn have babies, I could watch out for them from time to time. And to have babies you have to marry, my mama told me. I would love to have babies. They are so cute!"
Cole grinned. To marry Carolyn … well that was a thought. "I tell you something, Missie. When I marry Carolyn and we have babies, you are the first one whom I would entrust with sitting them. Deal?"
Missie nodded, smiling. They had made a good way north and he spotted another search party. Suddenly she took her hand away and shouted. "Look there is Daddy - Daddy!"
Cole watched her running to her father who took the girl in a warm embrace laughing relieved to have his little baby back. He wished his father had ever done something like this. It was totally unthinkable that Marcus Tanner would have ever hugged him or had been glad to see him. He felt a sting in his heart, though he was happy for Missie.
When they reached her parents home, Missie's mother was crying with joy that her girl was safely back home. The story she told sounded pretty weird with tales of moving trees. Wade assured the parents that it was no unusual reaction to get over a shock like this, to come up with such a fairy tale, and told the parents they had found her gotten stuck in a rather old hollow trunk hole. Cole had always admired how Wade was able to wrap the truth into a nice little story package to not have to lie by leaving things out. Daniel had this ability too.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
The other men had luckily helped them bring Sam home. Wade could take better care of Samuel's leg there. Carefully, he put a splint around the broken bone. There was no open break and the leg looked straight. It would heal in time. Now Wade had to know what had happened in the forest. Mike had no explanation why the water suddenly had turned to ice, though he was sure if this magic had not happened the dryad would have killed them all - one by one.
Wade wanted Samuel's report to complete the picture. "Mike and Cole already told me what they know about the circumstances of the hunt. Can you please give me your report, maybe it will help me understand what happened there?"
"The dryad controlled the roots of all trees around. She lifted me into the air and I heard her voice inside my head. She wanted to kill us all." Sam searched for the right words. "It was me who turned the water to ice." Wade saw Samuel looking up unsure.
"Really? Tell me how," Wade asked.
Samuel tried to explain how he envisioned the structure of things and was able to speed them up or to slow them down. Wade was not surprised that his future Scholar had more abilities. They should work on them. This was a strong gift that could give them the upper hand on hunts like today.
"You are full of surprises Samuel Colt. I can assure you, your place is in the Brotherhood. To bring you to me was the best choice your father could have made. Have no fear, this is a gift and we will find out how to control it. You know, astral projection is not the only ability I have, but keep it a secret. We will talk about it when you're feeling better. Now you should rest and be proud of yourself. You've proven yourself of being able to use your gift in the worst situation to protect your Brothers and fight evil. And in the end you've saved the little girl's life. You are a hero and for heroes, there is a special decoration within our ranks." Wade turned to the water basin at the wash table, wetting his hands. The drops flowed together in the palm of his hand to a bigger drop, began to shine silvery, and flowed together to a ring, manifesting itself. He turned smiling at Samuel who hadn't seen the trick, handing him the hunter's ring. "I welcome you as a member to The Brotherhood, Samuel Colt."
TBC
