[Wood magic, heed my command.

All that lives by nature’s gift shall become my very hands.

Become unbound by form you have and achieve new heights.

Greater control wood!]

As Eirlathion fled from his attackers and hid behind a tree, he chanted and used up the second of his three available third tier spells to once again cast greater control wood on his arm. He had to get away from his pursuers, and with his shoulder injured and the attackers tracking him he would not be able to move very well. So, instead, he enchanted his arm to become his means of movement.

With his arm enhanced with this spell, he extended his reach all the way to a high branch on the tree in front of him and pulled himself up. He could likely have just as easily ducked inside the tree by requesting it open, but then the assassins targeting him might follow him inside. He had no way of knowing whether or not some innocent non-combatant who couldn’t make it to the nursery tree might be hiding inside, but he did not want to take the risk of leading his pursuers straight to such a person.

He would have a temporary rest at this point, but he had just used one of his few precious third tier spells and he couldn’t afford to waste it’s effects. He quickly moved to the other end of the tree top and extended his arm again while he still had the ability to do so. This time, he did not grab a branch directly inline with the trunk. That would be a mistake of a young man, but he was far too experienced to do such a thing. Rather, he grabbed one of the lower branches off to the side of the tree and swung down. Impacting the hard trunk directly would only be a good way to damage his legs, potentially even breaking some bones.

His feet skimmed a bush as he swung through the air on his extended arm. As he neared the end of his swing and his grip on the branch began to slow a little of his forward momentum, Eirlathion let go and sent himself flying forward the last little bit before he finally landed back on the ground. He could likely have swung for a while and pulled himself up to the tree top instead, but that would be inefficient and slow him down. He had to cover a lot of distance fast before his pursuers caught up to him.

He felt a sharp pain through his shoulder when he impacted the ground from the arrow still lodged inside and the remaining wound. He ran several steps, and then felt a sharp pain and impact against his buttox. Eirlathion knew instantly what had happened, and he wasted no time in extending his hand again to pull himself up to safety.

He dragged himself up onto his next safe haven and had to crawl on his belly to drape himself over the upper branches. He reached behind himself and pulled the arrow from his shoulder, and then down to his wounded buttox where he found the other more recent arrow. This one had berried itself a lot deeper than the first. He took a firm grip and grunted in pain as he pulled it out.

He had to make a choice now. If he healed his injuries, the duration on his spell would likely run out and it would also give his pursuer more time to close the gap. However, with his leg injured like this, he could not run effectively. No, really, there was no choice at all. He could cover more ground if he used the last little bit of remaining time to swing through the trees again, but he would most likely die for what little ground he managed to cover in such a way. He had no choice, he had to heal.

He reached into his belt again and pulled out the last of the prepared healing berries. He always kept 30 of them on hand, and had used more than half of them to heal his burns. He looked down at what he had remaining. There were only eight. He sure was greedy with that first batch, wasn’t he? That was definitely more than was necessary to heal those wounds. But, he did not regret it. If he had taken the time to count out a more moderate amount, he might have been filled with arrows before he even managed to start healing his burns in the first place.

He stuffed them in his mouth. This would not be enough to completely heal his current injuries, but it still ought to be enough to let him run again. He felt the hot and uncomfortable sensation of his flesh twisting and weaving together. An advantage the healing berries had over the healing potions or spells that other disciplines used was that you could count out and only use exactly the amount of healing power you needed to perfectly heal an injury. However, the disadvantage that both other methods had over it was that if the amount you have is insufficient, you cannot choose which wound gets healed. All injuries will recover evenly. If he had a more traditional healing spell, he would have directed all of it onto just his leg. However, he did not have that option with these. Instead, both the wound in his leg and the wound on his shoulder only got half healed.

This was far from an ideal situation, but really, what choice did he have?

Now, it was time for another decision. He had just enough time left on his greater control wood spell to swing down from here. The area where the nursery tree’s nymph should have influence was only about 30 yards away. There were three more trees between himself and that area. He couldn’t be considered safe just from entering that area though, his enemy was using a bow. He would likely need to reach the far side of the nursery tree, a range that would force the enemy to enter the area in order to pursue him, before he could be considered safe. That meant more than doubling the distance he had to run, but he could likely count on some assistance once he got past the half-way point.

Eirlathion did not think he could make it on foot while being pursued like this. Well, it’s his last third tier spell. He will be far less able to help in the fight after this. However, he will be unable to help at all if he’s dead.

[Wood magic, heed my command.

All that lives by nature’s gift shall become my very hands.

Become unbound by the form you have and achieve new heights.

Greater control wood!]

He renewed his spell. Just as he was about to get on the move again though, he got a bad premonition. He raised his wooden arm over his face and turned to the side, just in time to hear the sound of an arrow zipping through the air and a dull thunk as that arrow berried itself in his wooden arm.

‘Caught up to me already, huh?’ Eirlathion thought with a new sense of urgency as he reached and swung from a tree once again. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground this time and put the tree he just swung from between himself and his pursuer as fast as possible. Meanwhile, he extended his arm again, this time toward a side branch of a tree. Instead of wasting time moving up to the tree-tops once again, he merely used the branch to propel himself forward, getting some momentum.

He repeated this one more time and managed to enter the nymph’s territory. He felt it the moment he crossed the boarder, that every tree and vine in this area was brimming with mana, ready to be moved at a moment’s notice by the consciousness of the nymph who dwelt in the nursery tree.

Just a little more… he knew he couldn’t rest yet. He reached out his enshelled arm again. At that moment, he heard the arrow, and then the pain was in his side. Eirlathion grunted in agony, but he managed to grip the branch anyway and start swinging forward. While he was in mid-flight though, he was shot again. This time in his calf. As Eirlathion impacted the ground, he immediately felt the pain shoot through his leg which immediately refused to help him up.

He looked around desperately for help, and he saw his salvation come in the form of a vine slithering it’s way across the ground like a snake. The nymph’s aid had arrived indeed. It was just out of reach, but fortunately he still had some time left on is arm. He extended his wooden hand one more time in order to grip that vine and began pulling himself toward it, dragging himself through the dirt and leaves in order to flee his pursuer. This time, the vine pulled as well. As soon as he grabbed it, the vine had wrapped itself around his wrist, and now he was being dragged at a rather high speed.

He was pulled all the way to the trunk of the nursery tree in this way. However, he was dealing with a skilled assassin. One who had been grown and trained in the darkness and was quite home at hunting in the woods. And, unfortunately, he was moving in a straight line right now. The next arrow fired impacted him right in the ribs, puncturing a lung. Eirlathion gasped and looked up. That vine had pulled him as far as it could go. He touched the trunk of the nursery tree and desperately poured his mana into it. His mind was in a half state of panic at this point, he did not know what exactly he wanted the nymph to do to save him. He just… he had to have something! Something to save him. Almost anything would do.

He saw his assassin at this point. A dark silhouette with a bow. He had already knocked his next arrow and was aiming, taking the extra time as though to taunt his target. He was standing just outside of the nymph’s influence. Of course, the dark elves were once creatures of the forest as well. They could also sense the abundant mana in this area, and he wasn’t about to cross into an area where every tree and vine was out to kill him.

Eirlathion saw his impending death coming as the arrow was loosed. However, just at that exact moment, something white came flying down from above.

He was too stunned to realize what had just happened. His brain simply refused to process what this white piece of cloth that had just fallen at such a speed was. It had landed in a heap on the ground, making a very hard sounding impact.

Then, the thing began to move, and it made a sound like a frustrated grunt of a small child. A pair of elbows came up from it’s sides, and a pair of knees propped it up. At this point, Eirlathion realized what the white thing was. It was a crudely made dress for very young children, and it was being worn by a child who had somehow just fallen out of the tree.

Eirlathion felt what remained of the blood in his face drain out as he came to this realization, especially after he saw the head of silvery grey hair on the child’s head. This was one of the twins! He did not know how they got out and on top of the tree. Could the nymph have brought them outside because the girls were too afraid of all the other children suddenly invading their space? That made sense, but now this had happened as a result.

Her injuries should be really bad after falling from that high up, but somehow she was standing. Could she… actually be Ok? He was hoping, but this was no place for an infant like her. He immediately changed the demand he was putting into the nursery tree. He told the nymph to rescue the girl in front of him. But, nothing happened. He understood, somehow the nymph was resisting his will and refusing his order. What… what’s wrong? Why would the nymph do that! Didn’t they seem unusually attached to those girls? Why is this happening?

Before he could process that thought, another arrow was fired by the assassin. It struck the child right in the head and shattered against her skull. Eirlathion couldn’t believe his eyes, and from the look of the assassin’s body language, neither could he. Then, the child in front of him started giggling. It didn’t really sound any different from a typical toddler’s giggle, but given this situation, there was something incredibly unsettling about that laugh.