Dance Macabre: Tales from a Cursed Land

VI: The Crone of the Swamp (2/2)

"Saska, can you distract this thing for moment?" Raviel asked, trying to ignore the protests of his joints as he was slowly pulled to two opposite directions. "The summons I harbor are not meant to destroy life, but...I learned also other magic after my brother was banished."

Damn it all! He couldn't just leave Raviel to die to protect himself.

He took one throwing knife to each hand. As ranged weapons they would not do much against the thick bark. Hopefully the spells crafted on his body would have some kind of hidden protection he'd never had to test before. As ridiculous as the thought was, just maybe there was some fragment of the Viscount's power remaining in him even after being given away. If not, at the very least they'd die together. He wouldn't have to face the loss of anyone important again.

There was a sound like a primal cry of pain, resonating deep from the earth, as the boy nimbly dodged through the branches reaching out for him and plunged both his blades as deep as they would go into the tree's trunk. Then he pulled them out and struck again.

Attacking the branches would be useless. The heart of the treant was somewhere in the trunk. But although his magical knives reached deep, would they reach deep enough? He knew the branches were already forming a cage behind his back, intent on crushing him against the trunk, but there was no going back now.

With the treant distracted by Saska's assault, Raviel felt the pull of the branches stop momentarily. He'd need to end this with one blow. The creature might have enjoyed slowly killing its victims, but no doubt it would finish him quickly if sensing actual danger.

He felt the tree's shudder resonate through his own body. Saska must have hit something sensitive. This was his chance.

He grasped the branch holding his arm with his free hand. No matter how twisted, it was still a tree. A living being. He could follow its veins into its very core. And there...

A sudden blast of broken pieces of wood right in front of his face threw Saska against the branches at his back. He closed his eyes. This was it. The end.

Huh? The branches weren't moving at all.

"Are you unharmed?" Raviel asked, dropping down after freeing himself from the branches that had been holding him captive. The other treants had retreated as far as they could, rooted to the spot as they were.

Saska looked at the elf in stunned surprised. "Y-yeah. Just a little bruised."

Raviel quickly cut enough of the wood to free the boy. There were little scrapes on his face, but otherwise he didn't look any worse for the wear. "That's good. I owe my life to your bravery."

"Oh." Saska looked away. "That was nothing. Just supposed to protect my master."

Raviel smiled. "I don't think that's all, but if you say so. Still, thank you." Then he turned to the will o'wisp now darting back when the coast was clear. "As for you...what are you after?"

Sasha's color gained a slightly different, purplish hue, and he trembled on place.

"Sasha, are you...angry?" Saska asked.

"You lied about the ground being safe. You didn't mention these trees are predators. Did you want us to die?"

Saska couldn't believe it. His brother had been with him all his life, had protected him. "That's not true, right?"

Raviel cast a brief look at the boy. "Or was it...that you wanted –me- to die?"

"Sasha, please say something!"

The soft light spread from the tightly condensed ball into a humanoid shape. A child, perhaps what Saska had looked like ten years ago. "I did want him dead. Like I wanted dead everybody who got too close to you!" The words floated in the air, like spoken by non-existent wind. Sasha laughed, innocent like a little child. "And dead they were soon after!"