A Forest of Secrets

Chapter 15

"What in the name of Ontur's hairy ass was that," Jo whispered. She grabbed Wyn by the shoulder and held her close. The girl squirmed, trying to break free. Jo knew she was perfectly capable of defending herself, but she still felt the need to protect her.

"It could've been the wind," Alaric whispered back. "But something tells me it wasn't," he pointed at Laurentius. "Whatever it is... it's not particularly afraid of griffons. That's definitely not good."

The branches started to move more violently, shedding leaves and small twigs all over their heads-- suddenly, the ground started to shake. A big gap was making its way to them, the ground cracked in every direction. Jo, Alaric and Wyn jumped over every crevice to avoid falling inside or tripping. Laurentius turned back into his human form in a cloud of thick purple smoke; he was holding his staff high, likely getting ready to cast an offensive spell.

"Hamadryads!" the mage yelled. His staff spewed a large ball of fire, then another. Something told Jo it wouldn't be enough.

"What?" Jo yelled back as she kept struggling to stay on her feet.

"Look up! The trees are walking!" Wyn screeched. Jo almost fell on her ass when she saw those ancient giant trees towering above them, standing on thick legs made of tangled roots. Some of them had small fires in the spots Laurentius' staff managed to hit bullseye, but... they were too many, and they were way too big. Jo gave Alaric a panicked look: what in the creators' names were they going to do?

Wyn launched a couple of flasks, they managed to cause a bunch of minor fires, but not enough to keep the trees at bay. The girl was out of powerful concoctions, it seemed: the last one she threw only made a sticky mess where it landed... a sticky mess that managed to slow the trees down a little. They had a chance to, at least, escape-- that was, assuming no more of those walking angry plants would spawn on their way to anywhere-but-there. Which of course they did: all the trees in the area, even the small ones, were doing their best to stand on their feet as Jo and the rest did their best to run and not trip over their roots.

"We're never going to make it," Alaric yelled as he ran. He was using his shield to protect himself from falling debris. "They're way..." he panted "Too many!"

"What? They're but a few, what are you talking about?" Jo managed to joke between breaths.

"We need to get to the forest. With luck, the Hamadryads won't follow us inside," the mage replied. Jo noticed Laurentius was trying to cast a protective barrier...and failing miserably.

"Just a little longer," Jo grunted, her lungs were on fire, every breath felt like a thousand metal shards. "We're going to make it-- for Gerard. Let's survive... for him!" Jo sprinted. The effort took the last bit of strength she had left in her body. All that mattered was to outrun the living foliage without looking back.

Wyn was running faster than all of them, jumping and zigzagging like a tiny squirrel. Jo felt a bout of relief, which ended completely as the little girl tripped on a moving root. She did her best to run faster and help her get up, but failed. Thankfully, Alaric had had the same idea: he managed to sprint and get to the girl, putting her on his shoulder seconds before a massive branch fell on the spot Wyn had fallen. They were a team, they were stronger together: they were definitely going to make it. She smiled, then laughed like a crazy woman, perhaps burning too much of her precious oxygen. Laurentius finally managed to put up a barrier-- a weak one, which only prevented small branches from falling on their heads, but it was enough to help them keep going at least for a while longer. She could feel her legs were giving up, a few more steps and she'd be compost.

"Here, a cave!" Jo shouted as loud as she could. She could see a narrow opening by the side of an ivy ridden hill. She didn't wait for her companions to answer: she ran, using energy she didn't know she had left, and lunged herself into the narrow slit. The cave was big on the inside, she didn't expect that. Anyways, all that mattered was that, for the moment, that cave was their salvation. She sat on the damp floor, leaning on the mossy wall; she was panting and gasping, feeling like her heart was going to explode. Laurentius, Alaric, and Wyn dropped themselves next to her. The mage was flat on the floor, belly up.