“Stacy. Please stop,” Michael called out. This sudden cry pulled me out of the little world I had found myself in pondering over the cut on my hand. It seemed the whole world did not pause when I wanted it to. 

Michael was again on his feet trying to make his way over to his sister. But his fall earlier seemed to have done a number on his balance, in combination with the vines and weeds that had sprung up all over the yard. He was stumbling like a man returning from the bar. 

Michael was still making his way to his trudging sister when the ‘man’ that was in the same pseudo alive state as Stacy reached Tide’s bubble. Tide just continued to ignore him as she fiddled with the door to the cage while still in conversation with Faun. The man raised his hand and slowly started to push his way through the bubble. Tide, sparing only the briefest glance, gave a wave of her hand. The water in the bubble started to rush causing a spray of water to scatter on the man's outstretched arm. After a few seconds there was another thud as the arm was severed by the water. Thick dark blood seeped out of the stump of the arm. But this did not stop his progress. The scene was horrendous to look at, watching the man get sliced to pieces as he continued his relentless march forward, clearly unaware of the folly in his efforts. 

“No!” Michael cried rushing forward to Stacy who was now approaching the barrier. There was no color left in his face as the adrenaline corrected his balance allowing him to run. Just as she was about to touch the barrier Michael tackled her.

I pried my eyes off this quarrel between the siblings to focus back on my own matters as I felt a surge in Maximus’s disgusting power. I looked to see him flinging a black ball at me. The sphere seemed to radiate a dark malevolent aura. Without a doubt I knew this was not just another arrow that I could block with a layer or two of bark. Though I was still puzzled why I even needed bark to block an arrow. How was a flimsy metal point able to pierce my skin? With no time to ponder this more I pulled Leafia down as I twisted out of the way. The ball imploded the stones behind us causing them to crumble. 

Not wanting to feel outdone I picked a woody stem from one of the vines that had grown and tossed it at him. This throw was lacking my previous strength and he was able to side step it. But just after it passed him a snapping noise of the stem splintering apart sounded through the courtyard as Maximus was showered with fragments. The fragments did nothing more than superficially wound him but I still felt satisfied. 

Another volley of arrows from my friends distracted Maximus, giving me time to search the courtyard once again. Sadly there were no seeds left on the ground from my earlier attacks. With no quicker attacks available I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few of the acorns I gathered. I pushed my power into them, hardening their shell and accelerating their growth. 

As soon as they were ready I threw them at Maximus’s feet. Seeing the incoming seeds Maximus sent out his waves of death causing most of the acorns to just fizzle with a small pop. But two managed to hit the ground, exploding upward in a mess of branches. I tried focusing their growth toward Maximus but they were too far. I could not bring the level of control needed to work on something so quickly. 

There was no other way for it. I had to get closer. Closer to the one person in this place capable of really hurting me. Running at him would be the most foolhardy thing I could do. There was only one way to get nearer and still catch him by surprise. I bent down and tore up several more of the cobbles. Taking a large step forward I threw them at Maximus with my might. But this time I did not take a step back after my throw but once again stepped forward.

Finally I was only a dozen steps away from him. Now I would be able to control the acorns better. I threw my last rock and reached into my pocket to grab my last few acorns. I was grateful that my companions continued to assault Maximus with arrows because it gave me the time I needed to load the seeds with power and harden the shells. I gave the seeds one last look before I raised my hand to throw them at Maximus. This would be the end of him. 

“Arghhhh!” I screamed out. Tremendous pain shot up my legs. Far worse than being burnt by Fume. My mind went white with pain. I knew that I had fallen to the ground and now the pain was spreading further up my body but I had lost control. Some people called my name but it felt distant. Then almost as suddenly as the pain came it left, leaving behind a dull ache. 

As my vision cleared I saw my birch bark skin black and corroded with blight. The acorns that were in my hand had scattered around me and sprouted but were already rotting from the ground up. Just in front of me was Tide. She was repeatedly sending streams of water at Maximus. She soon overwhelmed him but instead of just blasting him with water, she covered his face stopping him from breathing. 

I then remembered that from Ivy’s story Mist had done something similar. A rush of dark power escaped from Maximus. It was not very effective at disrupting Tide’s water. It seemed his powers were just for killing but water was something that could not be killed. However, since Tide was much further from the water than Maximus, he managed to disrupt Tide’s power that was holding it to his face, causing the water to fall to the ground. Maximus took a coughing breath nearly doubled over. Even though Maximus was choking, this seemed much less effective than what Ivy had described. And despite how I felt about the two, there was no denying that Tide was thousands of times stronger than Mist. I could not help thinking that Maximus must have been working on a way to counter water spirits after nearly being defeated by a sprite. 

There was a loud patter of footsteps as Leafia rushed up and knelt behind me. “Don’t touch me!” I warned her. Maximus’s attack might have ended, but I could still feel some residual blight that had managed to take root. With a bright wave of power I cast off my birch bark clothing- it was just getting in the way- and forced out all the foreign energy that was trying to worm its way into my circulating powers. 

I looked at my skin once more and saw a healthy shade of green, though my legs which had been the most damaged were tinted the red of a young leaf just filling out to see the sun for the first time. 

“Laurel... are you alright?” Leafia tentatively asked from behind me. I could feel her blushing in the way she paused. I did not get what the issue was. She had seen me naked before. Then I saw Maximus’s eyes look over my body and for the first time in my life I felt uncomfortable about being looked at while naked. 

Tide, though, did not let Maximus’s distraction go to waste. His momentary pause ended with him once again unable to breath. He deserved to choke after looking at me with those eyes. 

I took a deep breath, relishing that Maximus could not, and answered Leafia’s question, “I am fine now. I just needed to purge the blight. I could not risk getting you infected if you touched me.”

Suddenly I felt Leafia’s weight resting on me as her arms encircled me. “I thought that I was going to lose you.”

“Laurel, I am glad you are fine but can you go open Faun’s cage? The bars were too thick for me to pry-GRRR- open.” Tide interrupted herself to growl when Maximus had once again managed to free himself from her mask. It seemed like this time he was able to get out even faster.  “This guy is too persistent.”

Katuwarrior

Thank you all for sticking with me even though I am a failure at holding to a schedule.