“I wish to speak with my spawn.”

A wave of dread washed over Sophia, her figure, nearly immobile from Arne’s flight spell, trembling under the intense gaze.

Arne stepped in between the two, “Alondra, you know what would happen if she were to be harmed?”

“Yes, your incessant needling in past meetings about your precious apprentices has made it abundantly clear. Now leave.” She replied snappishly.

“You can’t make me go,” Ursula announced, flexing her magic but Arne’s spell held strong.

The headmaster sighed, giving his taller apprentice an apologetic glance, “You may talk with her under sound nullification, but I will be nearby.”

The noblewoman huffed and with a twitch of her finger Sophia suddenly found the incessant thunderous slams of the alpha Ent completely silent. The finger twitched again, and a thick black oily film slithered up the walls of the bubble completely closing them off from view as a dim light flickered into existence above them.

Alondra looked upon her child with cool indifference, “You are an abomination.”

Sophia’s mouth went dry as dread pooled in her stomach like a lead weight. She stood there frozen until she felt Ursula’s soul begin to synchronise with hers, sharing concern but more importantly – support.

A weak smile pulled at the teen’s lips, “Well at least half of me is you.”

The woman’s face remained a consistent deadpan, “I was content with the thought that Asorlind had secreted you away to another city, never to be seen again. Yet here you are, still a parasite to this day.”

The enchanter remained quiet; eyes focused past the cold visage standing before her.

Alondra sighed tersely, the soothing lilt to her voice jarring for a moment like a string snapping on a violin.

“My complaints will not solve my problem of your continued existence, and with my usual, more definitive, methods unavailable I have to resort to a more… crude measure.” The woman continued, her face still a blank emotionless slate though her words chilled both listeners to their core.

As she was speaking, she shifted to stand taller meeting the blonde’s averted gaze with emerald eyes cast in a deep shadow from the light above as she released a deluge of oppressive mana.

“If you attempt to claim to be the heir to my family, I will kill Asorlind and the other filthy things that inhabit that gods forsaken building. Do you understand?”

Sophia nodded meekly but an intense rage began to seethe in her belly. Drawing deeply on her support she clenched her fists tight, a defiant gleam appearing in her eyes and a sarcastic obsequious smile spreading across her features, “You have my word mother. Will that be all?”

The barrier melted away allowing the rolling thunder like sounds of the thrashing Ent to enter their ears again. Without a glance she floated away.

“Well, she’s a bitch.” Ursula commented as she sidled up to her partner.

Sophia’s eyes were locked onto the slender form zipping away from them, “Ursy, I’m suddenly glad that we prodded Arne to bring in the school competition, because she’s going to regret she ever threw us away.”

“S-Sophia, your fellow students are not nearly at your lev-” Arne began with a trembling smile.  

The blonde’s glowing green eyes bored into her teachers as she cut him off, “-Then put us in with the oldest group and make sure she’s there. I want to watch her face as she realises that we’re above whatever she has.”

Matching smirks grew across the girls faces causing the old man to sigh.

“Sir, you don’t seem so happy.” Ursula said with a cheesy grin.

“It has been a tiring few days for me. First the broken vow and then the Ent. Now my apprentices wish to use their strength to humiliate my students.” The man grumbled.

At the mention of the vow Sophia shuffled on the spot, “The vow is probably our fault as well…” She trailed off, suddenly finding something in the distance interesting to look at.

With a twitch of his spindly fingers the Alpha Ent was engulfed in flames. The wood carbonized in an instant, but the charred mess quickly flaked off as it resumed its blows with a vengeance.

A dead smile plastered itself on the eagle animan’s face, “Shall I take you two home?”

They nodded meekly.

“You, uh, don’t want to ask about it?” The blacksmith gently probed.

“I am sure if it involves you two it is a convoluted situation that could have easily been avoided.” The headmaster surmised.

The girls heads drooped a little lower.

“Well, he certainly didn’t make things easy for us!” Sophia complained, heat creeping into her voice, “Telling us to bow before him and getting his stupid guard to harass us…”, a shimmer of guilt flashed across her eyes, “though he didn’t have to die for it.”  

The old man raised his hands placatingly, “I am sure you know that vows are not something to be lightly trifled with, so I need not continue. I must ask if either of you to tell me the wording of the vow that you swore.”

Sophia rubbed her chin thoughtfully, until her eyes lit up and she grimaced, “He swore that he would keep our identity to everyone in the group. So, when we showed off and everyone looked into us…”

Arne winced and inclined his head.

“But then what about his brother? He was the one that started all that nonsense in the first place, what’s to stop him from telling everyone right now that it’s our fault?” Ursula muttered.

As the giant living tree continued to mindlessly slam its limbs into the wall the headmaster’s expression tightened, “I am unsure you two realise the gravity of breaking a vow. Among nobles their word is their bond. That someone would distrust them to the extent of requiring a vow would severely damage their credibility. But to fail to uphold it? It is an indelible stain on the family’s honour. Therefore, that child will most likely be sent to a neighbouring city and forced to live out his days in relative obscurity.”

“So, in one fell swoop I’ve killed a child and sent another to live out his days as a hermit?” Sophia asked, staring blankly at the floor as her hands wrinkled her clothes.

“No!” both her companions were quick to say, the eagle animan gesturing for the tall elf to continue.

“Soph,” Ursula said wrapping her arms around the girl, “You know that it was his choices that led them to this point. It is absolutely terrible that what has happened has come to pass but we did the right thing in protecting us.”

The Ent’s battering picked up speed, the devastating blows drowning out any possible further conversation.

The eagle animan placed a comforting hand on Sophia’s shoulder and then lifted them all up with flight magic.

Only a few minutes later the orphanage loomed through the darkness of night, its patchwork state of broken and boarded up windows, holey walls and leaky roof readily visible.

“You know if I hadn’t lived in that building for nearly a decade, I wouldn’t enter that if my life depended on it.” The blonde enchanter commented wryly, shivering for effect.

“Thanks Arne, I guess we’ll stay on watch for the rest of the night.” Ursula said.

“I must get back to the walls, stay safe and do not provoke an attack from the leftover Ents. The Alpha may have stopped throwing the cores, but many will still litter the area.” The wizened man suggested, flying off as soon as he finished.

Left alone, the duo looked around for a place to settle in for the night.

“After what happened earlier, I think the roof might be the best option.”  Ursula said as she wrapped her arms around her lover and leapt up onto the roof. A few of the tiles shattered when they landed, the stress of countless days of sun turning them brittle.

With a few seconds thought they magically were pulled back together into the shape of a small seat which Ursula promptly sat on letting out a satisfied exhale.

“Holy shit that was intense.”  The blacksmith murmured.

Sophia, who was staring into the red hued night, nodded blankly, “The Ent was bad but… even though I haven’t even met her until now it still feels personal. It’s still weird to think that someone could gather that much hatred for something outside of my control.”

“I love you, Sophia.” Ursula uttered with vehemence, pulling the girl in close, “We’ll show her, and the stupid father, just how much she’s missing out on.”  

“Thanks, Ursy.” The blonde said with a small smile, hugging those strong arms a touch tighter, “I love you too.”

They stayed there for several minutes, letting the night air wash over them – bright flashes of magic briefly illuminating the sky every so often.

“I think I’ve got a good idea.” Ursula muttered with a smirk.

When she didn’t continue, Sophia spoke up, “Are you going to tell me?”

“Nope.”

With a small flare of magic, they leapt from the roof, Sophia opened her mouth to protest but Ursula began to vigorously make out with the girl’s neck turning the words into a short moan.

“W-What are y-you doing?” Sophia hissed, her voice hitching with each strong lick, “They’ll come!”

“Precisely.” Ursula smugly replied, quickly resuming her work.

The small elf brought her hands up to her mouth to muffle her moans, but it did not stop fluid from seeping out of her clothes down below, filling the air with her scent.

Ursula’s tongue trailed down the slender neck to the clavicle lavishing the sensitive skin there with strong licks and small nips.

Small squeaks escaped the hand blockade, encouraging the wandering tongue even further, dipping down between -

-The earth began to rumble.

Ursula sprung away, her partner still in her grasp, just before several wooden appendages snaked out of the ground. Amidst their short tryst, dozens of small saplings had pulled themselves over, their bright green slim limbs a stark contrast to the nearly arid land the city had become.

The tall girl placed one last tender kiss on Sophia’s neck and let her back down, “That worked well!” She said victoriously. Her necklace flashed, and her sword and shield appeared in her hands. “Wait – where’s my armour?”

“It doesn’t appear if there are any… obstructions.” Sophia called out from behind her, her voice hitching slightly as her enflamed body rubbed against her clothes.

The large blacksmith looked down to see her pant leg bulged out obscenely halfway to her knee.

“Oh.”

Ursula’s face went red as she could feel Sophia rolling her eyes behind her. As an arrow whisked past her turning one of the trees to ash, she jumped into the fray bifurcating a sapling with a single swipe of her sword.

Several times she was whipped with a flailing limb, but the blows were weak, allowing her to shrug them off with reinforcement magic.

But just as the last few were being finished off more joined in, their roots tangling with each other in their fervour to grasp at their mana infused flesh. Luckily, at this point their erections had subsided to the point that they were able to summon their armour.

Sophia’s arrows were making quick work of most of them, their magical resistance and protective aura not nearly up to the same level as their more grown compatriots as they were consumed by flames. But every time they thought they had a handle on them, more would show up, the ground now littered with ash and glittering red gems.

“They just keep coming!” Ursula gasped.

“Great idea Ursy.” Sophia shouted, “Call all the stupid Ents in the entire fucking city!”

“How would I know that would happen?!”

“Oh, I don’t know – the hundreds of times we were told not to do it!?”

Ursula stayed quiet, the tips of her ears glowing red.

“Come on Ursy, we need to get to higher ground.” Sophia said as she began to back up along the small hill nearby to the orphanage clearing out a few that got in her way.

When they reached the top of the small hill, Sophia stopped to concentrate for a moment as litres of dark brown fluid suddenly appeared around them in a very large circle, dousing some of the fastest Ents stumbling up the slope.

“Diesel – light it up!”

With a grin that would put most pyromaniacs to shame a bright white spark zipped away from Ursula’s fingers and homed in on the fuel. The moment it hit the area was bathed in a fiery orange light and intense heat, evaporating the sweat that had collected on their bodies. She snapped her fingers again to form a small bubble, stopping the fumes from reaching them.

Dozens of Ents stopped at the fire line, their branches and roots thrashing impatiently.

Now with a little breathing room, they could finally survey their surroundings.

“It’s like a zombie apocalypse of trees.” Sophia commented.

As far as they could see the land was dotted with thin trees pulling themselves through the earth, their canopies swaying ominously in the windless night, and their passages marked by the shift in soil colour from light brown to sandy white.

“Got any more great plans?” The blonde asked dryly.

“Shut up.” Ursula whined, “It did work-”

“-A little too well…”

Ignoring Sophia’s jab Ursula continued, “They’re pretty weak – we could just continue to kill them.”  

“I’m at about sixty percent, we’ll be able to do this for a little while longer but what happens if they continue to come?” Sophia asked but then her eyes brightened as an idea flittered into her mind, “What about training them?”

“I don’t think we have time to teach them tricks…” Ursula’s face narrowed in confusion.

“No,” Sophia drew out the word exasperatedly, “They’re slow moving so we basically keep running around in a circle to group them together. Then we just use a fireball or something to take out the whole group.”

The ring of fire began to sputter out as the fuel burned away, the fading flickering of firelight gradually plunging the area back into darkness.

“That’ll have to do! Let’s go.” Ursula shouted hoisting the girl up onto her back and running down the hill to leap over the dying fire. Her sword mincing a tree in her path as she sprinted past them. A few limbs shot towards the pair, but they had already moved by the time they got there.

What followed was nearly half-an-hour of arduous cardio, the tall blacksmith forced to take out one or two but for the most part her slow loping strides managed to completely outpace the small trees, gradually bringing them all into an odd rendition of a moving forest over a hundred meters in diameter.

“That will do. Do it.” Ursula gasped, desperately heaving in oxygen.

Sophia’s eyes closed and their souls synchronized. Pulling deeply on both their reserves the small blonde conjured a centimeter thick disk of diesel in the air above the tree’s heads. As the dirty looking fluid fell all it took was a single spark.

Woosh!

The small forest was set alight, their roots were incinerated instantly stopping them from moving and forcing the young trees to wait patiently as the fire consumed them. It took a minute before the diesel finally finished burning, the flames dying down to reveal charred husks, ashen earth and red gems glittering in the light cast by the last few embers.

“Ursula,” Sophia began, her body drenched in sweat, gluing the ash to her body, “the next time you think of an idea tell me before you do it.”

The blacksmith huffed, and slumped onto the ground, “You’re not the one who ran for like an hour!”

“It was thirty minutes and whose fault is that?”

Ursula’s mouth closed with an audible clop.

“Come on master planner, lets grab the gems and head home… and no sex!” Sophia grumbled.

After making sure the manamals were dead, they collected their gems into one of their cloaks, and slowly walked to their home, arriving back to the sight of several stacks of stone and wood laying haphazardly around the area.

“They mustn’t have been able to finish,” Ursula commented, Sophia grunting in affirmation.

Closing the front door behind them they undressed and left their clothes in a sodden ashy heap on the floor. A cleaning spell cleaned up most of the ash on their bodies before they conjured some warm water in the bathtub, letting out loud groans of contentment as they sunk into the warm embrace of the water.

Sophia let her mind wander as the events of the last few hours washed over her, pausing when she felt the rough hands of her partner glide up her legs a few minutes later.

“No sex.”

“I know, I know. Just cleaning you up.” Ursula softly replied, “I’m sorry about tonight.”

“We got lucky.” Sophia sighed, “If they had been slightly more matured, or faster or stronger or more resistant to fire… Arne was gone, Axia’s still asleep or unconscious, Rosalind couldn’t have helped and Eyvor was still recovering. Again, we got really lucky.” She finished opening her emerald eyes to see Ursula’s head hung low.

The small enchanter brought her hand up to gently stroke her lover’s cheek, “I know you worry about my safety, but you need to worry about yourself as well. Now hop up, it’s only been a few hours since we woke up, but I need a nap and I think I know the perfect person to keep me warm.”

Drying their bodies with magic, they flopped onto the bed curling up together with Sophia’s head engulfed in boob as she clung to Ursula’s larger body.

“I love you, Ursy.”

“I love you too, Soph.”