It was evening when I found the same spot just inside the southwest edge of my forest that I had originally planned to plant the tree. It was the unnatural pile of seeds that gave it away. I did notice that a few were missing. I just hoped that the squirrels would forget them and do my work for me. It had already turned out much harder than I expected to grow my woods. 

I wasted no time making a small hole, placing Laurel’s seed inside and starting to grow the seed. I could not use all the energy I had available to me here to make it a mature sized tree. I still had many other trees to get started, and I had already learned that it was not a good idea to drain too much of the energy from the forest. You might need that energy to adapt to changes, and the forest was healthier with free energy available.

Once the tree was just a little bigger than what you would expect for the first year, I stopped pouring energy into it. I thought about going the few hundred steps to the edge of my woods to start planting the other seeds I brought with me, but night had set in. I wanted a break, it had been a hard few days. Also, I did not really want to try working with the lower energy of the night. But really, I wanted to enjoy the light from this little sapling more than anything.

After a time, I found my mind wandering over the advice I had gotten from Laurel ….

“I think the most important thing for you to learn is how to strengthen your reserve. You will need it if that magician comes to your woods….”

Laurel sure seemed freaked out by this magician. But how bad could one human be? Aside from the ones with axes. Those ones were terrifying. Arrows were scary too. I shivered again thinking about that ordeal. Besides, I had already become much stronger with her help. Though I did want to visit Laurel’s woods some day, I was fairly sure I would be able to choose when I left. Maybe I could make the trip in the spring.... My own words rang in my ears.

“How will I be able to find it? I don’t know the way.”

“Remember that I said my woods are much larger than yours. If you head west, you will find it.”

I sat near the tree resting, letting my mind wander through memories and escape into the woods around me just a little. I could feel the energy of the forest around me, strengthening me. I kept my eye focused on the shimmering tree that lulled me into a trance-like state as most of my mind wandered through the forest. I continued in this state until a few hours before dawn when I started to notice something discordant. 

Something near the southeast corner of my woods felt sick. It was not odd to have sick plants. But this sickness must have been spreading at an alarming rate and through multiple species. That just should not happen. I had not noticed it a few days ago when I had last inspected my woods. I was just starting to grow my woods and if I did not do something about it my whole forest might suffer. There was no way that I was going to let that happen. More importantly, it was not that far away from Laurel’s golden maple that I had just planted. Was that a better name for it?... If I did nothing this tree would soon die and there was no way I could let that happen, either. Especially after all the work that I just put into it. It took me two whole days to get a one-year-old tree!

I hurried off as quickly as I could to find the cause of this illness. It would do no good to try and heal it until I understood what was going on. It did not take long until I started to see black splotches appearing on the leaves of the faster growing plants. I was not at all good at working with fungus. In fact, I did not know that was even possible until Laurel showed me. But that was the only thing that I could think of that would spread so fast, so I probed into the leaf as hard as I could. All I found was death. This was unsettling. I knew I shouldn’t mess too much with things I didn’t understand. But seeing my home hurting, I could not leave this be. It would encroach on the Violet Maple soon. No that was not a good name either, the tree was golden. I spread out my power, restoring those leaves nearby as I started to walk deeper into this illness, trying to find any clues to the source of this death. 

I soon had to slow my pace. The illness was getting worse and I was no longer able to heal it as fast as I could walk. It was taking most of my concentration to keep healing the plants without wasting power. I would not be able to cure this if I did not keep the waste down, and since I wasn’t used to being conservative, it took all my focus to keep that waste low. I wanted to say that the little attention I spared for walking was enough to keep me from stumbling, but it was already too late for that. I was lucky to keep myself from completely falling on my face. I was walking a little like those ‘tree cutters’, I could not help cursing the name, after they had a little too much of what I heard them call ale. Why could they not just leave us plants alone? They were even worse when they were drunk. Half the time they would start on a tree and then think that it was too hard and just switch to another, repeating this over and over again, harming so many more trees than needed. 

I was starting to feel like I might be finally making headway. The tide of the illness was starting to ebb. I was able to put a little more consciousness into not stumbling like a newborn faun. That was when I noticed something that should not be there. Just a few dozen steps away was a person. As soon as my awareness glanced upon him nausea overcame me. He just reeked of death. I did not hesitate and quickly lashed out at him with all the vines I could, binding him tightly. 

“When you meet him,” I could almost hear Laurel in my memory from one of our nights of practice, “don’t try to fight. Just run.” It was too late for that now.

I let out a brief sigh of relief when I felt that he was securely caught in my vines. But the sickening power seeping out of him increased to match mine and all the vines binding him started to wither. I could not allow this. It was already clear that this was the man that Laurel had warned me to stay away from and run to her woods if I met him. But I managed to get the first strike on him. I was sure I could overpower him. The words of Laurel echoed in my head, “If the time comes and you need to run, just head west.” Laurel was just afraid I would be tricked by him when she warned me. But I caught him unaware, so I did not have to be concerned about being tricked. I would capture him and help Laurel find her friend. Using all the strength I could muster I wrapped more and more vines around him and caused them to squeeze tighter and tighter. I could see the light from my power causing a flow in all the undergrowth. As I continued to push more energy into the vines around him he continued to resist the bindings. 

Death was trying to eat away and the vines but I was constantly feeding life into them. For several long minutes we were at a standstill. Neither of us was able to make headway. Finally I felt his strength slacken and then disappear. I was able to outlast him! I wanted to dance but I was too drained and all I could do was collapse to my knees. I had never pushed that hard. I had taken up more than half the strength of my forest, as far as I could reach. I had never been the conduit for that much power. I felt empty. I could feel the  power starting to flow in from the surrounding areas to balance out what I had spent. I guess I would have to adjust my plan for how many trees I would grow this fall. Maybe when Laurel came back she would help me more as a reward for catching this monster. If not, I might have to wait till spring when I would only have to make them grow the smallest amount and they could do the rest. 

Just as I was working on my plans, I felt something was off. I walked over to the ball of ivy and saw darkness oozing out of it. The vines were all withering and turning black. Soon through the cracks in the ivy I could see his eyes. There was no pain or fear in them. All I could see was a smile. 

Katuwarrior

I am your Santa today for delivering my best cliff hanger yet. I hope you enjoy it. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!