~*~ Author's Notes ~*~
The last chapter was pretty much my promise to find an exuse to flex my knowledge of the lore. Time to kill + historical ruins. Couldn't help it
On the other hand: poor little Druids All turned into soul shards for an ounce of Moonwell water.
I'm still not satisfied with the exact how of the 'seed' scene up to and including the end of the chapter but I got the important details down on paper. It'll sit in the back of my mind till it works itself out and so then I can polish it up.
~*~ Chapter 13 ~*~
Corrosa was coaxing, "A trade then, yes?"
The Priest left, face emotionless once again: he was not a happy man.
Kayas spit the seedpod out. The Warlock could have the clothes off her back if she'd hand over that vial of water!
Corrosa frowned at the seedpod. What used to be a very pretty face scrunched up as if she had just paid a fortune for a deck of cards without aces. Several glances, from the pod back to the Druid and to the pod again, were met with the Druid waiting expectantly for the vial.
Flinging the vial at her, the Warlock ground her teeth and left to find her companion. Catching the precious gift in the air, the Druid laid it reverently on the grass. It felt like home; a slice of Auberdine in these blight-ridden wasteland.
Her solace was interrupted by the sound of arguing, loud and angry. Not in the Blood Elf language, but in the Highbourn language. Taking up the vial in her mouth once more, she crept around the edge of the guard towers. The scene waiting on the other side shocked her.
The Priest and Warlock were attacking each other!
The Priest, in all his upset, flung conjured up a Holy spell designed to bind the Warlock where she stood. The Warlock, in a move that shocked the Druid to her core, caught the Priests spells around her wrists. The golden chains of energy were at once tainted and transformed with her demonic powers. Then sent back to their maker.
The Warlock said something utterly nasty. Not that the Druid could understand, but it upset the Priest greatly. He caught her bolt of tainted energy, purified it even as he redirected it and sent it back. This time with OOMPH behind it. The energy hit the Warlock like a stampede, knocking her back. The blow didn't faze her nearly as much as the Priest's scathing reply.
He's not suppose to be angry, the Druid though. It's not in him to be so upset; it's not his nature. Whatever had started this conflict, she had no idea. But the Priest was out of his element. Upset as he was, screaming about frustration in some long-unused Elven tongue, there wasn't a fighter in him.
Each time the surge of energy was purified and re-tainted and sent back to the other there was an additional bit of energy. At first the strikes had been directed – and the head or the feet – but as the energy they created between them began to blur and become unwieldy they each gave up directing it and shot it instead in the general direction of the other.
Hair swirling in the wind, caught up in ribbons of dancing Shadow and Holy energy, the Priest twisted as the bolt came back at him. This time when he caught it, he kept it. Righteousness was so much more than whatever fueled the Warlocks anger.
This time when the bolt came back at her, powerfully searing with Holy energy, the Druid was sure the Warlock would be destroyed. There was nothing she could do to avoid it; dodge, redirect, dispel. Surely it was too powerful!
What happen shocked the Druid: the Warlock absorbed it.
Golden flames crackled over the Warlocks skin, shot to her toes and into her fingertips. For a brief instant she was lit up like a candle. For a brief instant the soul inside her showed threw. A woman with blonde hair and soft blue eyes stood for a second where the Warlock had.
The Priest gasped, staggered sideways – and jerked the energy back to him. For a second the young woman seemed to float towards him, going to him. Seeing this, he dropped to his knees, too weak to stand. He let the energy go.
"No you don't!" The Warlock hissed. The soul was sucked back inside her body. "And stay in there!"
Between them floated the ball of perfectly balanced Holy and Shadow energy. Fel-damnation and Light-blessed salvation.
The Druid stared, wondering what had happened to cause such stalwart allies to suddenly turn no each other like that. Never mind the soul trapped inside the Warlock, or the Priests reaction to seeing it, the floating sphere of swirling energy was more important right now.
How did they do this? How did they not destroy each other? How could pure and Holy energy NOT hurt someone who was Undead? How had her fel-taint not burn him alive?
But then she understood. It was the balance. They balance each other perfectly. Not just balance, but they fed off each other! Not just Shadow and Holy, but Life and Death.
Inside the ball images flashed. At least that the Druid could see. She crept closer and closer till she was just feet away. Tendrils of the energy crept towards her swirling with a Holy- Shadow glow. One touched her softly. And she felt it, she felt them: she understood.
Lunging away from the energy, she rooted around the ground looking for another seed. Where there was one then there was more! Finding several in a small space, she scooped them all up in her mouth. The dust was disgusting but a necessary evil.
Rushing back to the ball of energy, she spat the seeds out to pass threw. Instead of passing threw the tendrils came out and snatched them up and pulled them inside. The Priest didn't notice, too busy being consoled by the Warlock in a hushed tone.
They finally noticed what was going on when the ball of light blinked out. The five seeds rained to the ground, pulsating slightly with the Shadow magic inside a glowing Holy energy field.
"Now, wait a minute!" The Warlock begins, cloak swinging as she came after the Druid. "I don't recall giving you permission-"
Kayas scooped up the seeds and darted away, running headlong into the woods. She understood! She knew what they had been missing! All this time and no one had figured it out. But she had. Oh, yes. She knew how to make it better again!
The Priest and the Warlock were hot on her heals; trying to keep up with her threw the thickets. They passed a myriad of mutated wildlife, which the Warlock dispatched with mere hot glances. Finally Kayas found what she was looking for.
They caught up with her as she knocked the first Scourge skeleton to the ground. It lunged forward, mouth open, trying to biter her. It got a mouth full of the seed instead. The reanimated elf was pathetically weak. It tried to bite her but wasn't strong enough to move the Druid's paw off its forehead. The arms clawed at her back, attempting to drag her into its bite and infect her. Admittedly it was strong, but she had certainly fought worse in her time.
The Pries spoke first, "What in the name of all that's sacred are you doing with my-"
"And mine!" The Warlock cut in.
It was happening. Just as she had though it would. All it needed was the right kind of balance!
Inside the head of the skeleton little tendrils of green were growing, coated in a glowing golden shield of Holy energy. Kayas jumped away. The wretched being tried to rise but its head was rooted to the ground. The tree grew ferociously fast. First consuming the head, which broke away as the stump expanded. Down the neck bones the vines twined, sending up shoots along the spine and rooting the rest of the thrashing being to the ground. Vines curled up around the bones and sucked the very essence out.
"What did you do!" Jetadiah was upset. Very upset. "I specifically told you-"
The Warlock reach out and stroked the collar, freeing the Druid from her feline form. Immediately she became upright gain. The Druid spit the seeds into her palm. "The Horde are full of idiots!"
Both of them became rooted to the ground. They certainly didn't think she was going to call their entire factions intelligence into question. Jetadiah opened his mouth to speak but the Warlock snapped out of her surprised stupor.
"You dare question my intelligence? At least I know what I'm good for! I have half a mind to plant one of those in you, you arrogant little whelp and watch it grow while you scream. Lets see how much you like being a tree."
"It won't. I'm not dead. It'll work on you though." There was more than a little heat in the Druids soft voice. However little she used either her voice or threats.
The Priest interrupted the Warlock's next action. He firmly took Kayas' shoulders in his hands and turned her square to face him, "What do you mean?"
"It's what the two of you did."
"Explain!" The barked order, from both of them, was harsh and made her jump and cower. Now she wished she had stayed in her feline form where she was most comfortable.
"Shadow," She pointed to the Warlock, "Holy. Light and Darkness." She pointed to the seeds in her palm. "Alive." She pointed to what used to be a Scourge skeleton and was now a beautiful sapling taller than all of them, "Dead."
The Priest blinked, face impassive then reverent. His stiff and anxious body melted, sinking into the blight-ridden ground. Softly he spoke, "The seeds feed off the taint of the skeletons and balance it. It converts and excess of Shadow energy into Holy energy." The Druid blushed when his eyes swept her up and down in a swift reappraisal.
"What's that mean?" Corrosa asked.
"The tree will grow untained as long as there is a taint to feed it. And when there isn't a taint to feed it will be when there is no more taint here to feed it!"
Kayas gave a toothy grin, her canines indenting her lower lip slightly, "Yes."
Now the Warlock took her turn starting at the sapling. It was still growing. By the end of the day it would be a full sized tree, purifying its corner of the world.
The Priest held out his hand. "Give." He meant the seeds.
Kayas frowned, popped them back into her mouth, dropped into her feline form and ran off to find another skeleton.
"I did not expect that." The Warlock said watching the Druid bound away.
Jetadiah scowled, "I killed the first tree she grew;" He started off after her, "she doesn't trust me now."
"Can I hurt her?" There was a little too much hope in the Warlock's voice for the joke she had made. It was a joke, right?
"No. Just don't let her plant them all! Lor'thamra will want one-"
"The Dark Lady will want one!"
Stopping a second they stared at each other, a battle of wills that lost them precious time keeping up with the Druid. In the end Corrosa won, only because her companion was more desperate that one should remain at all. Lor'thamar would understand that he hadn't been given a seed because of Corrosa… Everyone knew Corrosa got what she wanted.
They caught up with the Druid as she was about to plant the last seed. The Warlock turned the skeleton to ash before the first shoot bloomed. Jetadiah snatched up the seed.
"Mrow!" The druid pawed at his hands, throwing her body weight against him to try and knock him over. When all he did was turn his body away from her and cradle the seed she felt embarrassed. Now she knew why dogs got frustrated with people who knew how not to be jumped on.
"You know what this means, Jet."
Sighting, he resigned himself to fate: "Of course, Corrosa."
Turning to the Druid the Warlcok gave her as close to a happy smile as Kayas had ever seen her give. She began backing up, knowing whatever the Warlock was happy about would be her undoing, "You're going to Undercity, Meatsack. The Dark Lady will want to meet the whelp who found a way to save Qual'thalas from the Scourge!"