Chapter 22: Beast Wars
"I might have one," Timmy said as he scanned the cliffs around them. "They don't strike me as the climbing types. Flat feet and such. If we can get up on top of the cliffs, they won't be able to reach us".
"The problem is that we'll be exposed while climbing," Riven countered. "They've got quite the reach".
"Don't worry. I always come prepared," Timmy continued. "I got a couple of flashbangs with me. They may be under the Usurpers' control, but they still behave like animals".
"Alright, Timmy, distract them and start climbing as soon as possible," Brandon ordered. "The rest of you, follow me".
Most of the group ran for the cliffs as Timmy faced the approaching animals. With a quick movement of his hands, he withdrew the flashbangs from his backpack, pulled out the pins and hurled them at the approaching sauropods. With a series of loud noises and bright blinks of light, they detonated. The canyon echoed with the sound of the grenades, followed by the panicked roars of the animals, as they were blinded and deafened. They smashed into both one another and the cliffs, stumbling around as their senses failed them. Timmy quickly withdrew and began his own climb up the cliffs.
Above him, the others were struggling to ascend. The rocks and soil was loose and constantly gave way, sending clouds of dust and pebbles flying down the side, pelting whomever happened to be there.
"Why does..." Stella began, interrupting herself to cough as she swallowed some dirt. "Why does adventuring always have to ruin my hair?"
"Don't worry, Stella. I'm sure we'll find a life-or-death situation that doesn't give you split ends," Riven sarcastically commented.
"This is not funny, Riven," Stella angrily retorted.
"Well, excuse me, princess," the magenta-haired warrior mumbled.
The entire cliff shook as one of the massive lizards smashed into the cliff-side, loosening even more debris.
"Keep climbing. I have no idea how long they'll stay blinded," Timmy called.
"My arms... Are... Burning," Aisha gasped as she struggled to climb.
"Don't worry, you can do it," Timmy offered as he reached her side.
"I'll try," the brunette replied and firmly grasped a large rock jutting out of the cliff.
However, at that moment one of the furious but blinded sauropods smashed into the cliff. The entire thing shook once more as the muscular beast rammed its weight into it. Aisha clung to the rock for her life, praying that she wouldn't fall.
And then the rock shifted.
Nobody had time to react as the rock suddenly loosened from the earth. Aisha screamed as she began sliding down the earthen cliffs.
"AISHA!" several of the others yelled.
The princess of Tides tumbled past the shelf they had originally been on and continued her screaming descent into the woods below.
"Fuck! We have to do something!" Techna yelled.
"We can't!" Brandon yelled back. "The cliffs here are too loose! We have to get up and circle around!"
Techna bit her lip. The idea didn't sit well with her. But as the cliffs shook again and a rather large rock bounced by her head, she realised that they didn't have much choice. With a series of muttered curses, she continued her climb.
Soon after, the rest of the group managed to make it to the top of the cliff. Below them, the massive lizards-like beings had recovered and now tried to pursue. But the loose earth and rocks made climbing impossible for the heavy beasts. They could do nothing but stare angrily as the group ran away.
"So, what now?" Flora asked as they found another place to slowly descend. "There is no doubt that the area around our campsite will be swarming with their controlled animals".
"But we can't leave the area either," Riven said. "If we try, they'll hunt us down. We are pretty far away from Stranglethorn City".
"And we can't just leave Aisha here either," Mirta insisted. "She needs our help. She's probably hurt and she has no idea how to survive out in the wilds".
"So we really don't have any way to escape," Bloom surmised. "Great, then what options do we have?"
"I'm afraid we really only have one option left then," Sky said, looking to Brandon.
"Indeed," his squire confirmed, turning to face the others. "We'll have to take a stand and fight back".
...
"So, what exactly did our giant, stompy friends manage to accomplish?" Stormy asked Darcy as the sauropods returned to the glade.
"Well, they managed to chase them into the hills. And they did separate Aisha from the others," Darcy summarised.
Icy sighed as she rubbed her temples. "They are so annoyingly hard to get rid of".
Stormy pondered it for a moment, before saying: "I kinda suspect they feel the same way about us".
"Never mind that. They are tired and weakened," Darcy said. "And they are far away from any help. It is but a question of time. I have already sent the wargs out to locate them".
"Well, fat load of good that'll do," Stormy scoffed. "Last time the dogs went in, two of them got slaughtered".
"I am well aware of that fact, Stormy," the dirty-blond sighed. "But in the meantime, I've had time to gather out forces. We just need the right tool for the job".
"Pshaw, I say we go all out and crush them," Icy argued. "Not even they can fight off all the animals we have at our disposal at once".
"I suppose that strategy does have certain merits," Darcy pondered. "But if they try to reach Stranglethorn City, then we'll need to send our fastest after them. If they go for the ship, we have our trolls to ambush them".
"And what if they decide to fight back?" Stormy asked. "I mean, it wouldn't be unlike them. They could find a cave or something and decide to hole up there until somebody comes looking for them. It's not like nobody knows they're out here".
Darcy snapped her fingers and into the glade stomped three massive beasts, with thick leathery hides, meter long horns jutting from the heads and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Then we've got these," Darcy said. "Dragadons. Tough, fierce and built like siege-engines. Plus we'll also use our other animals of course".
"But let me guess," the wild-haired witch said. "For now, we wait?"
"Yes, we wait," Darcy confirmed. "Until we know where they are there's no reason for us to waste our own or our troops' energy fruitlessly running around the woods. The wargs are excellent trackers and will find them shortly. Then we can decide how to handle it".
"And what about the one that got split up from the rest?" Icy asked. "Should we try to get to her?"
"Unnecessary. Aisha is not important to our mission," Darcy replied. "And there's little reason to fear she could do anything to jeopardize our plans. I'll have some leatherwings scout around the area just to be on the safe side, but that will be all. Our main objective is Bloom and as soon as we have her, we can get out".
"Right. That reminds me, does any of you have any fucking clue about what Darkar's ultimate goal really is?" Stormy brought up.
The two other witches looked at each other.
"No, not really. He has been very vague on that point," Darcy admitted. "All he ever told us is that there is a great power sealed in Relix, the dimension that the Codex ritual is supposed to open".
"Right. But what is this great power? What does it do?" Stormy asked. "It's been bugging me. What exactly are we helping him accomplish?"
"Why do you care so much?" came Icy's exasperated sigh. "He's given us everything we could ever want and promised us even more once he's got his hands on that power. Does it really matter?"
"Actually, Stormy does have a point. It would be nice to know more," Darcy continued. "If this undefined power is even half as powerful as Darkar thinks it'll be, then we've got no worries. But what if it isn't?"
"Well, we still have the castle and the forsaken," Icy replied with a shrug.
"Yes. Which is about to be invaded by Red Fountain and Underland, not to mention we risk both Zenith and Dolona throwing in reinforcements. And that's just from the nations on Magix. If other realms are sufficiently convinced of the threat Darkar poses, they will send reinforcements too, if not now then later".
"It'll be the Usurper Crisis all over again," Stormy said in realisation.
"Thus, I propose we start figuring out a potential exit strategy," Darcy suggested. "Just in case".
...
"Alright, this looks like a fine area to make our stand at," Brandon commented as they made their way to the top of the hill. "We can easily scout the area from the trees on the hill and the trail up here is narrow. That'll limit how many of the ground-bound creatures they can send at once".
"So what, we just wait for them to show up?" Bloom asked.
"No. While we could use the rest, we should do what we can to increase our odds of success," Timmy said. "Preferably by setting up traps, snares and the like".
"What about Her Mayonnaise? She's still out there, and let me tell ya, she ain't got much of a chance on her own," Techna interjected. "We need to find her, sooner rather than later".
"I volunteer to go look for her," Riven said. "Out of all of us, I think I am the best at surviving in the wilds".
"I will go with him. My training should make me an asset in locating Aisha," Flora said.
"That will have to do. We can't spare much more than that if we have to fend off a full-scale assault," Brandon said. "I'll suggest you leave now while things are quiet".
"Will do. Take care," Riven said as he and Flora turned to leave.
"Be careful, Flora," Mirta called.
"I will. Stay safe," Flora responded, before she and Riven disappeared behind the trees.
"Alright, Timmy, as our technical expert, what is your advice?" Brandon said, turning to the bespectacled warrior.
"I suspect that the animals are being controlled by puppet elixir," Timmy said while adjusting his glasses. "I should be able to use a combination of my own supplies and the local flora to create an antidote. We should also look into possible ways to utilize the terrain". He started looking around. "We have lots of wood, but few tools to work it with. We'll have to improvise and work fast. Soil is relatively loose, so digging won't be much of an issue. I also noticed that a river crossed the trail that leads to this hill. I suspect we can use that to our advantage". He paused for a moment. "There is also one other thing I can try. I can attempt to send an SOS from here and have the signal bounce off the owl. I doubt it will get far and it will probably be a bit garbled, but if anyone catches it, they might come to investigate what's going on".
"If the security from Stranglethorn figures out what has happened to their animals, they'll probably come running to recapture them," Musa said. "They are probably well equipped to do just that".
"Right. Okay, so we need to get set up into teams," Brandon ordered. "We'll divide the tasks between us. If any one team completes their task, then they'll split up and join the rest. Hopefully, this way we can prepare the area. If we are lucky, we might also get some rest before they find us. Timmy, you go try to send a signal. Now, does anyone here have any experience with alchemy? Alright, Techna and Mirta, you two will assist Timmy in brewing antidotes once he has sent the signal".
Down by the foot of the hill, the wargs growled as they observed the people. Part of them wanted to close in on what they considered prey, but Darcy's commands overrode their wills and they slinked off to find their mistress.
Back on top of the hill, everyone split up to begin preparations. Supplies and what few tools they had were divided, orders were given and the people began working. Long hours passed as they worked hard through the night, digging, building, chopping and moving things to prepare themselves.
And as they did, the three witches learnt of their location. The animals were gathered and the horde began moving towards the hill, ready to fight for the Usurpers.
...
Aisha groaned. She briefly tried to move, but stopped when pain flared through her body. She could feel a trickle of warm blood slowly flow from her scalp and down the side of her face. The brunette grimaced and forced her eyes open. She could feel that one side of her face had swollen, making opening her right eye hard and painful. She was lying in a pile of dirt and rocks, surrounded by the darkness of the night. Slowly, she tried to force herself up again. Every movement sent a jolt of jagged agony through her body. Gasping, she retracted her leg, and the rock that had landed on it tipped into the dust with a muted sound. She slowly pressed her hands against the dirt, forcing herself up. Her breath was ragged as she forced her body to stand. Her entire body pulsated with pain.
She took a step forward and fell to her knees with a cry. The leg the rock had landed on burned with white-hot agony. Sobbing, she crawled over to a nearby tree and used it to support herself as she got up again. Tears trickled down her chins, her every muscle protesting the action. But she knew that if she just laid down in dust, she would be found by the wild animals in no time. She had to move, had to find the others.
Slowly, step by step, she stumbled through the dark forest. She kept an eye on her surroundings, wary of potential attacks by, well, just about anything. Her steps caused her to gasp and she had to frequently stop at random trees to rest.
She wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else. Home in Tides, on Alfea, heck, she'd take that stupid tent with the lumpy ground over being lost out in the wilds. She wasn't even sure if the others could find her. Even if they had gotten away from the crazed animals, how would they go about looking for her? After all, the Usurpers were still out there, with even more wild animals.
She swallowed hard and stumbled on. Her clothes were torn from her tumble and dirtied with dust and blood from her numerous scrapes.
Suddenly, she stepped into a hole in the grass. With a cry, she stumbled as the dull throbbing in her leg turned into another surge of pain. She barged head first into a tree and collapsed onto a pile of moss. She tried to grab the tree to force herself up again, but her body refused. Her every fibre screamed for rest, for recovery. Finally, she gave up, collapsing onto the soft moss, giving in to her body's demand for rest. Slowly, she dozed off, sobbing herself to sleep.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes. The night was gone and the sun was high in the blue sky. Around her, she could hear birds. For a second, she dared hope the whole animal thing had been a bad dream, but the agonising soreness that throbbed as she moved her body reminded her of the realness of the situation. Her stomach growled in protest over the lack of food and her mouth felt like sandpaper.
With a grunt of exertion, she forced herself up once more, using the tree for support. Her body protested, but sleeping had given her enough energy to force herself to stand. Picking a random direction, she stumbled off again. She had no idea where she was or where she was going. But she was convinced it was better than staying still.
She had no idea how for long she stumbled through the woods. The combination of pain, hunger and exhaustion robbed her of all sense of time. It felt like an eternity, but it could have been either hours or minutes as far as the princess of Tides knew. Occasionally, she would see something out of the corner of her eyes, flashes of colours or weird shapes, but it was never more than birds or other harmless forest things, temporarily warped by her tired mind.
She stumbled into a glade and looked up. In front of her was a large cliff. She briefly speculated on whether it was the same cliff she had fallen down, but truth was she was not capable of knowing nor caring. Instead, she looked around for anything that could aid her.
She noticed an opening in the cliff. A cave stretched out before her.
Figuring it was safer than staying out in the open, she stumbled into it, using the rough walls for support.
As the light behind her slowly faded and darkness enveloped her, she allowed herself to sit down again. Her stomach protested loudly feeling more like a painful hole in her body that anything else. She could feel her tongue swelling from the dehydration and blood trickled from some of the wounds her exertions had reopened.
The princess leaned up against the wall and allowed herself to drift off to sleep again.
...
Brandon sat in the trees, constantly scouting around for any sign of an approaching enemy. His body was sore from working all night, but he knew how to ignore such minor discomfort. After having done what they could to prepare, the girls had gone to sleep while Sky, Timmy and Brandon took turns keeping an eye on things. The more rest they could get, the better the odds of success.
He perked up as he heard a rumbling. In the distance, he could see the trees shake and a few of them tipped over. Something big was coming.
He stood up on the branch he had sat on while scouting, formed his hands and blew into them, making a birdcall.
In the shade of the great tree where they had made camp, Timmy and Sky jumped up as they heard the sound.
"Wake up. Brandon has seen something," Sky instructed the girls.
"I'll get to position," Timmy said, grabbing his rifle as he ran off.
"Oh, my back," Stella groaned as Techna helped her up. "Why can't any of these trips ever just stay nice?"
"You could always complain to those three witches," Techna suggested. "They're the ones who spoiled our vacation after all".
"Alright, so all the antidotes we made are in this bag," Sky instructed them. "We have a limited supply, so only use them if absolutely necessary".
"But don't we risk that the animals will still attack us even if they're not being controlled by one of the witches?" Bloom asked.
"Pumpkin here actually thought of that," Techna said with a grin.
"Actually, I just remembered what Flora told me about wild animals," the redhead said. "We've added sedatives to the drinks, so hopefully, the animals will go to sleep once you've administered the antidote. But remember, you have to get it into the animal's mouth. We didn't have any needles or anything".
"Alright, does anyone need any last minute reminders of the trap locations or anything like that?" Sky asked.
"No. Let's go watch the show," Musa said and the group headed off to Brandon's location.
Timmy stood on a rock, rifle in hands while he was aiming at something. He had lifted his glasses so they wouldn't get in the way of his aim.
"They're coming out of the woods," Brandon said quietly, still watching from his position in the tree. "Yeah, that's them. You ready, Timmy?"
"Target is sighted," the sharpshooter confirmed.
"Alright. Wait for my signal," the brunette instructed.
The others took a deep breath and waited.
Down the hill, the three witches, each riding a dragadon, led their animal army out of the woods.
"So, think they're still on the hill?" Stormy asked.
"According to the wargs, they were hard at work up there," Darcy replied. "Probably setting up defences and the like. Keep your eyes and ears open. There are probably traps in the area".
The trail in front of them briefly dipped into a muddy trench. Slowly, the animals, a mix of wargs, sauropods, trolls and dragadons, marched across, while leatherwings circled around in the air over them.
"That's quite the trench they've dug," Stormy commented.
Darcy looked to both sides as they crossed, trying to figure out what the point was. Initially, she had suspected traps of some sort would have been hidden in the mud, but nothing happened. She stood up on her dragadon, carefully keeping her balance as she noticed just how long the trench was. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. "This isn't a trench. It's a dried out river".
Suddenly, a bang echoed through the crisp air, followed shortly by an even louder one as something detonated.
Darcy didn't need much time to figure out what would come next. "MOVE!" she yelled, both to her companions and to their troops.
Down the muddy trench, a wall of water rushed towards them.
Stormy and Darcy barely managed to ride their mounts to the other side when the water reached them. With a yell, Icy leapt from her dragadon as the wave hit, carrying the roaring animal with it. Several wargs and trolls went tumbling down the river as the rushing waters engulfed them, and even more were cut off by it.
Stormy and Darcy helped Icy up and looked around. Several of their troops were gone and even more were temporarily cut off.
"Shit, when you said traps, I thought stuff like snares and tripwires," Stormy said as she surveyed the situation. "Not getting a fucking river hurled at us".
"Relax. It is but a temporary setback," Darcy said as she got off her mount. "The river has already started to calm and when it does, our troops will be able to cross. We will just have to stop here until then".
Back on the hill, Brandon looked down on Timmy and said: "Good shot".
"Nah, not really," the sharpshooter said as he put his glasses back down again. "We had marked the explosive cache with easy to see colours".
"Turn down the humbleness a bit, Databoy," Techna chuckled. "You make the rest of us look bad".
"Plus, it was quite far away and you still managed to hit it," Brandon said approvingly as he began scouting again. "Looks like we didn't get any of the witches though. Would have been too much to hope for I guess. Still, this will delay them".
...
Aisha woke rather suddenly as the echo of something loud reached her cave. She forced herself up and backed away from the entrance, afraid that there might be something after her out in the open. While staring at the opening of the cave, she warily took another step backward.
But the sloped rocks she set foot on gave nothing to stand on.
She screamed as she slid down, tumbling into the darkness and further away from the cave entrance. For a second, she hung in the air as the slope ended, before she crashed to the rocky ground.
Her head pulsated with pain and she could taste blood in her mouth. She lay there in the darkness, desperately trying to regain her breath. She looked up and noticed a light in the distance. Weakly, she crawled to a nearby wall and used it for support as she got up on her feet again. Her foot was pure agony. As she forced herself to walk, she could feel the bones in it scraping against each other. With much effort, she managed to get to the source of the light.
A great underground lake spread out before her, illuminated by a pillar of sunlight streaming in through a great hole in the cavern roof. She fell on her hands and knees, and crawled to the water, before greedily shoving it in her face, slacking her thirst. It tasted awful, but Aisha could not care less at the moment. The cold trickle of water down her throat was the first relief she had for a while. She continued pouring handful after handful of cold water into her mouth until her stomach began bulging. Finally sated, she sat down at the shore and stared around. A realization suddenly dawned upon her.
She had no idea how to get out.
If she had still had her magic, she could probably have used the reservoir somehow. Maybe pushing herself up through the hole or following the water out of the caves. But she couldn't. And even had her body not been broken and battered, she still had no skills that could help her. She could not imagine any way out of the cave. And now that she was down here, could her friends even find her? She didn't think so.
Aisha began crying. Hot tears streamed from her face and dripped into the water along with strings of snot as all the pain and frustration finally got to her. She was beyond caring about her dignity, her appearance or any of that. She just wanted to be out of her current nightmare. Her sobs echoed in the empty cave, doing little to mitigate her sorrow.
But in the midst of her despair, she suddenly heard a familiar voice from above calling: "Aisha! AISHA, IS THAT YOU?!"
The brunette looked up, rubbing the tears from her eyes. Peering down through the hole in the roof was Flora.
"Flo..." Aisha tried, but had to stop herself as she began coughing. Her throat was still quite sore from the dehydration.
"Riven, I have found her. Unpack a rope and first aid, she needs our help," the brunette told her Red Fountain companion. She returned her attention to Aisha and called: "GIVE US A MOMENT! WE NEED TO SET THINGS UP SO WE CAN GET YOU OUT OF THERE!"
Aisha happily nodded.
After some time, Flora was slowly lowered into the cave. She swam over to Aisha and gently carried her over to the rope. The princess of Tides was carefully tied so as to minimize discomfort and then she was hoisted into the air.
Never had the wind felt so great on her face as when a red-faced Riven managed to haul her out of the cave. As soon as she was over the edge, the Red Fountain warrior hurried over and helped her into a restful place in the shades. Then he returned to the hole and helped Flora back up.
Once the brunette had also been hauled out, the two of them began treating Aisha's wounds, cleaning and bandaging them. Her ankle, which Flora determined was broken, was realigned as much as possible and packed in gauze, after she was given an improvised crutch for support.
Finally feeling somewhat good again, she defied her sore throat and said: "Thank you... For finding... Me".
"It's what we do," Riven assured her. "Now let's get back to the others. You just follow. Me and Flora will do the scouting".
"Would you like some food?" Flora asked her as they moved on. "I do not have anything special, but it will probably still help".
"Many... Thanks," Aisha hoarsely accepted.
...
Another shot echoed and a troll howled as its knee exploded. Unbalanced it fell over and rolled down the hill, knocking over a dragadon as it went.
"We have to advance. The longer we stay here, the more time they have to shoot us," Icy declared while peeking out from behind her tree.
"Are you fucking nuts?" Stormy asked from her hiding place inside a bush. "I'm not going out there as long as they've got a fucking sniper ready to blow my brains out. That's pure suicide".
"Don't worry. I have an idea," Darcy stated, having taken cover behind a boulder. Another shot rang out and a warg howled in pain. "We send in the leatherwings. That should keep them occupied until we can reach them".
"Why didn't you do that before then?" Icy asked.
"The leatherwings are not the most durable of animals," came the dirty-blonde's reply. "I wanted to make sure all of our forces were ready to charge before sending them in".
"Well, they here now, so what the fuck are you waiting for, a written invitation?" Stormy asked. "Just send them up there before he gets a chance to shoot us".
Darcy whistled and above them, the great leatherwings shrieked as they began flying towards the hilltop.
"Damn it. Incoming air support," Brandon loudly stated. "Timmy, start picking them off. Everyone else, prepare to defend yourselves".
Timmy answered by firing his rifle, sending one of the flying creatures into a shrieking spiral towards the ground. With veteran proficiency, he reloaded his weapon, aimed and fired, detonating the top half of one of the leatherwings' skull.
Despite losing a couple of their numbers, the flying animals began circling the hilltop and started dive-bombing the people below.
Sky grunted as one crashed into him, his shield bearing the brunt of the attack. The great flying predator started pecking at him, going for his head.
"Dammit, this is why I need a new pipe," Techna grumbled as she rushed to Sky's aid, wielding a thick branch. "LET HIM GO, YOU WANNABE KITE!" Fiercely she swung the heavy branch and bashed the creature's skull. It flapped off with a furious shriek.
"Thanks," Sky said as Techna helped him up.
"No prob'," came the reply.
Timmy raised his rifle and aimed again. However, his attempted shot was interrupted by one of the leatherwings blindsiding him, kicking him to the ground. He rolled over on his back in an attempt to get a shot his attacker, but the great beast wasn't done and grabbed at him with its clawed feet. The bespectacled sniper winced as two of the attacking beast's claws dug into his shoulder, releasing a stream of blood, and twisted his rifle around, firing point blank into its stomach. The combination of shock and pain caused the beast to let go and back off.
Down at the foot of the hill, Darcy scouted the situation. "Alright, their attention is elsewhere. CHARGE!" With a rumble, the various animals began their charge uphill.
"Don't you think they'll have more traps prepared?" Stormy asked as her dragadon rode up beside Darcy's.
"Of course they will. But time spent flushing them out is time they can get back to shooting at us," Darcy responded. "We'll accept a few loses and close the distance. I doubt they have a lot of weapons, so once we reach them, they'll be in a much weaker position".
A troll to the left howled as the ground under it collapsed and it fell into a pit. To the right, a dragadon tripped over some barely visible wire, causing it to roll over, piercing the leg of a sauropod with its horns, causing said massive beast to tip over and squash a warg.
"Question is how many of us will reach the top," Stormy commented as a weighted net fell out of the trees, ensnaring a couple of wargs.
Back on top of the hill, the group was fighting wildly to fend off the airborne predators. Brandon swung his great blade, the edge carving through his attacker like butter and spilling its guts all over the grass. The great beast fell to the ground with a pained whimpering and the brunette finished it off with a swing, both out of mercy and pragmatism.
He suddenly heard a scream and turned around. In the midst of the carnage, one of the leatherwings had grabbed Stella by her shoulder and was now basking its wings to carry off the squirming blonde.
"Oh no you don't" Brandon growled as the leatherwing began carrying her off. He grabbed one of the antidotes while dropping his sword, and jumped up a couple of branches of a nearby tree. With a grunt of exertion and a great leap, he flew through the air for a few seconds before crashing into the leatherwing that was carrying his girlfriend off. The beast squirmed as it attempted to get its unwanted passenger off, but being used to deal with dragons, Brandon easily made his way onto its back. He grabbed its head and forced its mouth open, before pouring the combined antidote and sedative down the beast's throat. The enchanted chemicals rushed to its head and the great beast started losing altitude. It gently floated to the ground before tipping over, now completely asleep.
"I don't mind flying," Stella gasped as Brandon helped her out from under the sleeping leatherwing. "But not like that".
"I know. Now let's get back to the battle," Brandon stated and the two of them rushed back up the hill.
Back on top of the hill, the battle raged back and forth. Most of the leatherwings were either dead or sedated, but their constant attacks had taken their toll on the barely armed defenders.
Bloom leapt back and swung her club again, warding off another leatherwing. A close encounter with one of the flying beast's claws had left a notable gash in her side. She swung again, smacking its leg and forcing the beast to back off. Then she heard a rumble and saw several other animals barge up the hill. The numerous traps had taken their toll on the charging forces, but they still had quite the presence.
"Well, well," Icy stated as her dragadon stepped forward. "There you all are. It's been a while since..." The rest of her taunting was cut off as the ground collapsed and both rider and mount fell into a concealed pit.
"And that would be why I said let the expendable troops go first," Darcy noted.
"YOU!" Bloom yelled as she noticed the witches. She stomped forward and yelled: "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?! WE DON'T HAVE YOUR FRICKIN' CODEX, SO JUST LEAVE US ALONE ALREADY!"
"Ah, Bloom. Good to see you're here," Darcy noted as she eyed the furious redhead. "Funny story, actually".
"That's not the word I'd use," Stormy grumbled.
"See, we have already gathered the Codex," Darcy explained. "And what we now need is a new dragonflame. Like the one you possess. So, we are here to bring you to lord Darkar. As you might imagine, surrendering will make this a lot less painful for everybody involved".
Bloom blinked. Then she blinked again. Then she snapped. "WHAT!" she yelled, the grass beneath her feet turning to ash. "SERIOUSLY?! YOU'RE AFTER ME AGAIN?! WHY CAN'T YOU THREE CRAZY BITCHES JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?! I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY YOU! I CAME OUT HERE TO STOP GETTING INVOLVED! BUT OH NO, YOU THREE JUST HAD TO CHASE ME DOWN ANYWAY! YOU'RE ALL SICK IN THE HEAD, YOU KNOW THAT?! YOU'RE FUCKING TWISTED! DO I REALLY HAVE TO BURN YOU ALL TO ASHES BEFORE YOU JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE?" Despite the limited magic of the area, the air around the infuriated redhead was waving from the immense heat and nearby plants started smouldering. With a roar, she swung her hand and a searing lance of white-hot flames shot forth. Icy, who had tried to crawl out of the pit, immediately allowed herself to fall back into it for cover as the flaming beam soared through the air. Darcy leapt from her mount as the beam hit it, the great beast immediately dying from the searing flames tunnelling through its skull and roasting its organs.
Bloom gasped as she watched the corpse of the great beast tumble over. Her hand was red and beginning to blister, the tips of the fingers scorched black. She briefly considered that she really needed to learn how to aim the empowered flame, before fatigue hit her and she fell to the ground.
"She's weakened. GET HER!" Darcy yelled as she got back on her feet.
Trolls and wargs rushed forward to capture the redhead.
Techna and Mirta hurried in to drag Bloom away, while Sky and Musa took to the front to protect them.
One warg stumbled as a shot was fired, its leg ripped open. Another leapt at Musa, but the musician danced to the side, smashing her metallic fans against its legs. The warg landed hard and rolled a couple of times, before Musa leapt on top of it with a flask of antidote and began messily pouring the alchemical substance into its mouth.
Meanwhile, Sky dodged backwards as a forest troll swung one of its gargantuan fists at him. He was pretty sure that even with a shield, such a blow would pulverise his bones. He kept provoking it with yells and swings of his sword, more intent on occupying its attention until Timmy could blast it than anything else. A shot rang out and the troll grunted as the bullet dug into its arm. "I THINK YOU JUST PISSED IT OFF!" Sky yelled as he dove out of the way of another one of its swings.
"SORRY!" Timmy yelled back. His wounded shoulder made it hard for him to reload and aim, but he was determined to assist his friends as much as he could. He heard a growl and looked to the side to see a warg approaching him. He grabbed his rifle and swung it like a club. The lupine grabbed it in its mouth and began trying to jerk it out of the sharpshooter's hands. Timmy's shoulder ached as he fought the beast, but it refused to let go of his weapon.
Meanwhile, Techna and Mirta were backed into a corner with the comatose Bloom, as Darcy and several beasts surrounded them.
"Hand her over. Nobody else has to get hurt," Darcy offered.
"You're not getting your hands on Bloom," Mirta told her defiantly.
One of the wargs growled and stepped closer, but backed away when Techna swung her club at it and warned: "Any funny business with you, doggy, and you'll be hunting with your gums from now on".
"Please be reasonable. You're not exactly winning," Darcy said, gesturing to the rest of the area. Indeed, the others were scattered, wounded and increasingly pressed into corners. "I'll admit you've put up a spirited defence, but it's over".
"Tell you what, Shady. It's over once I've played a drum solo on your head with my little friend here," Techna said, shaking her club for good measure.
Darcy sighed and with a roll of her eyes said: "Have it your way then".
The beasts began inching closer.
Suddenly, several treetops exploded into clouds of splinters as a Red Fountain owl smashed through them and proceeded to crash straight through the battlefield, flinging various animals and clouds of dirt all over the place.
"And there's our little trump card. Reinforcements," Techna said with a grin. "Still feel like your victory is assured?"
Darcy bit her lip as she analysed the situation. The traps, antidotes and subsequent battles had taken quite a toll on their new forces. They would still be enough to handle the group, but with fresh supplies and reinforcements now coming in, victory was no longer a guarantee. Quite the opposite actually. She cursed under her breath and yelled. "FALL BACK!"
Immediately, what animals remained standing began scattering. Icy, who had only just managed to get out of her pit, barely managed to jump up on Darcy's dragadon as it rode by. Seconds later, the clearing was empty.
"You knew we were getting reinforcement?" Mirta asked surprised.
"Me? Nah, I was just bullshitting her," Techna said with a grin. "But I do wonder who it is that has shown up to help".
"So do I," Brandon stated as he and Stella made their way up to the battlefield. He went up to the side of the great machine and knocked on it while calling: "Hello! Can we come in?!" The back end silently slid open and the group went inside.
Sitting in the pilot chair, clinging to the steering wheel like letting go would kill him, was Helia. He was exceedingly pale, his hair was standing on ends and his face was a frozen grimace of shock and fear.
"You okay, dude?" Sky asked concernedly.
"I got you-your message," he said, his head slowly turning to face them. "Came quickly. Suddenly crashed into a clo-cloud of leatherwings and then..."
"And then you crashed," Brandon guessed. "Well, your timing couldn't have been better. Can I borrow the radio? I need to tell the sanctuary about what happened".
"Be-be my guest," Helia said with a shaking gesture of his hand.
...
"Here, this should help," Flora said as she handed the still shocked Helia a cup of tea.
"Much appreciated," the artist replied.
In the couple of hours since he had arrived, Flora, Riven and Aisha had rejoined the group, they had picked their stuff up from their camp and contacted the wardens who were now initiating actions to capture and cure the loose animals. While they were saddened by the news that a lot of the animals had died, they had been quite understanding of why it had been necessary.
"So why were you coming out here anyway?" Brandon asked.
"There's big trouble back home," Helia answered.
"Because Darkar have collected all the Codex pieces?" Bloom asked, one of her hands wrapped in gauze.
"Not just that," Helia continued. "When Icy attacked Pixie Village, she killed a dozen of them, including the guardian pixie. This has severely weakened the Tree of Life".
"Tree of Life?" Bloom asked.
"That is what the pixies of Pixie Village call their mana tree. A very rare and very potent plant. Vital for the life cycle of pixies," Flora explained.
"Indeed," Helia confirmed. "The death of Ninfea has weakened it. It is dying and if it does die, it will have dire consequences for the pixies. Several magi with plant related knacks have been called in. We tried to call you, but we got no response, so my grandfa-I mean, warlock Saladin requested that I go pick you up. Most of the others from Red Fountain have already joined the troglodytes of Underland, so I was one of the few available".
"In that case, I will accept this task," Flora said confidently. She turned to the others and said: "I hope none of you mind that I cut this vacation short".
"Mind? I'm coming with you," Aisha quickly said. "I'm done being out here".
"I gotta agree. We need a vacation after this vacation," a tired Stella added.
"Yeah, probably best if all of us call it quits and get back to the schools," Brandon commented.
"Very well. That is your prerogative," Flora said.
"What, I thought you wanted to see the animals," Riven joked.
"We did. Up close and everything," Timmy commented. "Only regret is that I had to shoot them with my rifle instead of my camera".
As they entered the owls, Brandon said to Bloom: "So, Darkar is interested in you personally now?"
"Apparently," Bloom sighed. She looked up and with determination said: "I need to speak with Faragonda. We need to get me as far away from him, and those three, as possible".