The Sisters of the Woods Ch.10

One of the stronger memories Nic had of his childhood was the summer he’d put his foot through a stingwing nest. It had been the definition of bad luck. He and a friend had been poking around an old building, not for any specific reason, possibly just because they weren’t supposed to be. He remembered being kind of unimpressed, expecting more than the collection of dust and debris scattered about the empty rooms. They’d been just about to leave when they came across the rotting carcass of a couch, which they had thought to amuse themselves with for a few minutes.

When Nic had tried to climb it, his foot had gone straight through with a clatter, then a strangely wet sounding crunch. He hadn’t had to wait long to find out why as an angry buzzing sound filled the room. The pain had started not long after, followed by an explosion of stingwings pouring from the hole in force. Nic didn’t remember much of what had happened after that, but the feeling of it still stuck with him all these years later.

The same feeling leapt to the forefront of his mind as the pixies took to the skies. An ominous hum that tore through the clearing in a swirl of noise and fury. It was joined by jeers and shouts, the individual words lost in the wave of noise.

Those closest to the two techne were already attacking, hurling their spears and firing arrows from every direction. Before he could second guess himself, Nic raised his arm and manifested a Delver shield with a flick of his fingers. His foresight with the quick selects had paid off, the green ward shimmering to life an instant before it was peppered with projectiles.

Siezing the advantage, Nic took a cue from Adelaide and sent a blast of wind at the swarm. Not the center but off to its left, pulling the gust back in on itself at the last second. Caught off guard, the pixies were sent flying, thrown upwards in a whirlwind of panicked squeaking.

The victory was short lived, more pixies moving in to fill the gap. Nic wasn’t fast enough on the draw, failing to raise his shield in time to stop everything, several projectiles biting into his shoulder. Painful but thankfully not debilitating, though the memory of stingwings grew only stronger.

“Zephyr!” Nic cried out.

The word was barely out of his mouth before a blue streak cut across the clearing, dragging a hurricane in its wake. It wouldn’t be lethal, they weren’t in enough danger to get around Zephyr’s hardcoded restrictions, but the wind was orders of magnitude stronger than anything Nic could summon. Pixies were sent flying in every direction, each of them cursing and shrieking in surprise as their world was suddenly turned upside down.

Taking the opening, Nic turned to where Geniveve lay on the ground. Without thinking, he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her up, leaving her blinking at him in bewilderment.

“Move!” Nic barked, pushing her away from the tree.

“Wha-” she tried, blinking rapidly.

“Forest!” Nic interrupted. “Before they-”

He was cut off by a piercing cry, higher pitched than any they’d yet heard. They turned to find Pixie bearing down on them, a large club held aloft over her head. Nic just managed to raise his shield as it made contact, shocked by the force of the blow. Small as she was, Pixie had some muscle on her.

Snarling in fury, she swung her weapon at him again, hitting the shield with enough force to make his arm feel numb. Risking a glance over his shoulder, Nic saw that Geniveve was still standing there, expression unchanged and eyes wide with panic. Behind her, the pixies were gathering, forming the anvil to their leader’s hammer, clearly hoping to catch them both in the middle.

“Zephyr!” Nic cried. “Clear a path!”

“Aw but this is fun!” the little sprite called back.

“Zephyr!”

“Okay, okay.”

The sprite, despite his audible disappointment, did as he was told and pushed through the center of the swarm. Pixies went flying, spinning through the air as Zephyr’s wake caught them. In seconds an opening emerged, narrow and likely to close fast but still their best chance to escape.

Another blow struck his shield, somehow throwing off sparks. Gritting his teeth, Nic pushed back against Pixie’s onslaught, throwing her back.

“Slengar!” she barked. “Put down that iron and we’ll have a go at ye, eh, eh!?”

“I don’t know what that means!” Nic shouted back. Not the best battle cry but it did the job of distracting Pixie long enough for him to cast another spell.

A tremor shook the earth beneath them as the dirt began to roil like water. Pixie looked down to see the ground split open and a large hand shoot up to grab her out of the air. She tried to slip away but was too slow, the fingers wrapping around her torso and pulling her back into the mass of the summoned earth elemental. As she cursed and flailed in its grasp, Nic dropped his shield and whirled about on Geniveve.

“Go!” Nic hissed.

This time she seemed to get the message, turning under her own power to sprint for the trees. Nic followed, eyes focused on a gap in the undergrowth wide enough for them to escape through. What happened after that he had no idea but one problem at a time.

They made it halfway when Geniveve suddenly spun about, Nic nearly colliding with her. She looked at him in wide-eyed worry, pointing back the way they had come.

“Wait, my whistle!” she said.

“Leave it, keep moving!”

Nic tried to force her on but was pulled away by the shriek of a dozen overlapping war cries. He looked about, dismayed to discover their brief delay had allowed the pixies to rally. Half of them were busy with Zephyr, swarming him so thickly that not even his winds could easily overpower their number. The rest had rearranged themselves to block the way, the swarm thinner than before but with spears no less pointy.

Undeterred, Nic moved to charge, hoping to break through by sheer force, only to almost trip as his back foot refused to move. He whipped his head around to find brambles wrapped around his ankle, moving like snakes as they coiled tighter around the joint.

This too was lost as another snarl broke out, drawing Nic’s attention back to where they had left Pixie trapped in the earth. The elemental was still there but covered in even more brambles, completely ensnared by the woody thorns. Suddenly the vines contracted, squeezing until the creature burst apart in a small explosion as the elemental violently departed physicality.

Pixie rose from the debris, her face twisted in a look of venomous rage. She raised her arms, the brambles moving obediently to circle around her like a halo. They began to ensnare her as well, wrapping around limbs and knitting together until she was coated in a suit of wooden armor. More and more brambles sprouted from the ground to join those already in place, layering over one another and rapidly growing to the proportions of a human toddler. By the time it was done, she wore what Nic could only call a natural exosuit, the top of her head coming level with his waist. The only part of her exposed was her face, her rage only growing with time.

“N’ver shoulda come ‘ere ya juke!” she snarled. “Now Pixie’s gonna gut ya!”

“Over potato chips!?” Nic shouted.

His protest fell on deaf ears, Pixie rearing back as she barreled towards him. Nic just managed to cast another shield in time, almost losing his breath at the sudden impact. His feet skidded across the forest floor, pushing him perilously close to the wall of spears before he was able to dig his heels in.

Pixie shrieked, reeling back as she began to pummel him with her enlarged fists. The blows were powerful, Nic able to feel them even through the shield. Worse, he was rapidly losing battery power, his remaining charge vanishing before his eyes with each successive blow.

As if that wasn’t enough, a cry from Geniveve pulled his attention, finding her being swarmed by some of the pixies. They dove like oversized mosquitos, jabbing at her with spears and calling jeering insults. She did her best to swat them away, but they had her outnumbered, slowly but surely driving her back towards the pink tree.

Before he could do or say anything about that, Pixie struck Nic’s shield again, hard enough that half his remaining charge vanished in a flash. Gritting his teeth, Nic pushed back, managing to get just enough leverage to tip her over. At least until the brambles got involved and caught her in a sling, neatly returning her to her feet.

“Ha!” she barked. “Nice try slenger!”

Nic cursed, mind and eyes casting around for any options. He had to think, thinking was the way, thinking was-

A glint caught his attention, drawing his gaze to the ground where a familiar whistle sat among the loam. Presumably it lay right where Geniveve had dropped it, sitting so neatly that it looked as if it were being presented to him. An idea bloomed at the sight of it, a mad idea that almost certainly wouldn’t work but it was the only one he had.

Before Pixie could charge again, Nic seized the initiative and charged himself, slamming into her shield first. The attack caught the fae off guard, buying Nic just the opening he needed. With a flick of the fingers, he summoned the wind again, not at Pixie but instead at the whistle lying on the ground between them. A long, sharp note rang out, the constant stream of air making it echo across the clearing.

Pixie was the first to recover, throwing her arms wide to drive Nic away. The young techne stumbled back into Geniveve, one catching the other, though Nic couldn’t say which was which. He also didn’t much care as Pixie squared up to finish the job.

“Dumb trick,” she snarled. “Whssat gonna-”

Her question was cut off by a roar, all eyes turning just in time to see the bear come charging into the clearing. It aimed straight for Pixie, who only just managed to turn as the shaggy beast slammed full force into her, throwing the fae clear off her feet. The brambles arrested her fall again, though many of them snapped in the process, leaving her looking a bit ragged as she squared up with the bear.

“Ye again!?” she snarled. “Wanna go ya overgrown teddy?”

The bear growled in reply, lumbering forward to swipe at Pixie with a massive paw. She was ready this time, dancing out of the way before darting back in to drive a fist into the creature’s snout.

“Ne-ne! Missed me ya big idjut!” She jeered.

Roaring, the bear redoubled its efforts, lashing out again and again at the fae. Pixie stayed light on her feet, dancing about the blows with supernatural grace as she led the bear on a merry chase around the clearing.

Recovering from his shock, Nic turned to take stock of the situation, remembering just a bit too late that the rest of the pixies were still behind them. They’d taken the cue from their leader and surged forward, the business end of their spears pointed and ready. Nic stepped between them and Geniveve, fumbling to reactivate his shield when a shadow rushed from the trees. The pegasus galloped into view, rearing up in front of them with a triumphant whinny, both wings unfurling to their full span. With a single flap she summoned a mighty gust, breaking the pixie’s formation in a stroke.

In the same motion, the lithe form of the razorback leapt from the trees, giving a strange, strangled cry as it fell upon the pixie’s surrounding Zephyr. It snapped and slashed at them with razor precision, slicing dozens of them out of the air like chaff. In seconds Zephyr was clear enough to free himself, blasting the few stragglers back before zipping away into the trees, pausing just long enough to exchange a hiss with the razorback.

In the brief calm that followed, the pegasus wheeled about to face the two humans. Making eye contact with Nic, she flicked her head, indicating to her back.

“Come on!” Nic called to Geniveve as he sprinted for the pegasus. He used a bit of magic to hop up onto its back before reaching out a hand towards Geniveve. She took it in a daze and Nic hauled her up, settling her into place behind him.

“Hang on!” He called, leaning forward to grip the pegasus’ mane. Geniveve wrapped her arms around his torso and, with a wordless call from Nic, they were off galloping at full speed across the clearing.

“Git back here ye gobslengers!” Pixie shrieked.

She moved to intercept them, but the bear wouldn’t allow it, jumping on Pixie’s exposed back and sinking its teeth into her armor. Nic heard the sharp crack of wood as Pixie was slammed into the ground, followed by a string of cursing as the bear tossed her away. This time the brambles didn’t catch her, leaving her to fall in a heap.

“Keep the chips!” Nic shouted back.

If Pixie said anything in reply, Nic didn’t hear it as they finally made it to the treeline and vanished into the forest. Probably for the best as it spared anyone seeing the wince of embarrassment crossing Nic’s face.

Why had he said that?

*

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