A Land of Flowers and Fae

Attack

Elina was getting pretty good at slinging spells. The fungi had gotten easy enough to handle. They were a bit dumb while under the control charm, so they stumbled into the various bramble patches one after the other.

The complicated part came when the dryads started to weave between the trees.

She had tried to trap them with her vines. But their plant magic was very strong and they could move straight through the cacti.

She'd had to sling sleep spells at them to get them to stop coming.

Since they didn't need the clouds overhead anymore, Larkspur and Anore helped Elina corral the dryads with gusts of wind while Caelus kept the fog up.

Elina watched as Larkspur gathered eight or nine dryads in a whirlwind. They couldn't get their wings under them because of the strength of it so they were tossed about helplessly.

Then, she dumped them all on the ground at Elina's feet. They were addled and easy targets for her to slap one big sleep spell on all of them.

Larkspur settled, gusting happily "I think we're getting to the end of them. They're coming in smaller groups"

Anore appeared beside them, whirling in concern.

"We've got the firebirds over head keeping a lookout for us. There's a big force leaving the castle. Mostly dryads with some fungi mixed in"

"How many?" Gusted Larkspur.

"About eighty or so"

"That's got to be the rest of Dahlia's forces" Larkspur whirled in a mix of excitement and trepidation.

Elina's heart kicked up. That was a lot.

"I don't know if I can put a sleep spell on that many. And it's hard to break the charms when the dryads are attacking at the same time.

"You have us my lady" Anore said in a low gust "Also, they don't know the firebirds have all turned against them. Maybe we can encourage them to split up?"

Elina thought for a moment.

"Have a few firebirds raise the alarm on the other side of the palace. Then Larkspur, kick up a whirlwind on this side. Make it as big and obvious as you can"

Larkspur whirled in excitement "They'll have to choose between the two. The firebirds can keep them distracted on one side while you take down whichever group is smaller"

"Tell the firebirds not to try to fight, just fly around and screech. I don't want them to get hurt. Also the ground here is so dry they're likely to set the whole forest on fire if they let a spark loose" Elina instructed. She had tried to throw an explosion spell earlier. It had worked too well. It managed to knock down a whole pack of fungi and stun them for long enough so she could break their charms. But the heat had started a smoldering fire that Anore had needed to blow out.

She wasn't going to try for another explosion when she could burn down Lavan's whole region on accident.

The sylphs gusted their assent and Elina sidled through a line of brush to find Pyrrah, crouched and waiting in case Elina needed help. She mounted the firebird and waited. Bibble zoomed up to her, cackling in glee. He was having an unfair amount of fun leading the fungi on a merry chase through the thorns so she could trap them.

"You're doing a great job Bibble" Elina chuckled, giving the puffball a pat. His fur was covered in burrs and thorns. She frowned in concern. She might have to give him a haircut to get all those out.

Then, she jerked as at least three firebirds screeched. Their calls echoing across the flat plane. She could just see them, reddish specks in the distance as they circled and squawked.