file 323

Ambush

Darkness, that's what he saw as he opened his eyes. JV peered into the blackness, but his eyes found no purchase. He struggled, but found his arms and legs were numb to all sensation save a steady pressure. He willed his arms to move, forced his nerves to feel.

Pain, as if hot irons had been forced beneath his skin. He ceased immediately and the pain followed suit. He took a breath, but found his throat closed off.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." I said, happy to see him moving. For a while I hadn't been sure. Those ghouls, everywhere they walked resonance died. "Take it easy, you're ok." I hope.

His lips moved, but no words came out. He felt roots twist and constrict, pulling him out of the earth. Immediately he spit up a layer of topsoil. "Red, what did you do?"

"The ghouls were more interested in the elemental than you, probably because it was a greater source of resonance. I buried you, feeding you with oxygen via the roots."

"Nice trick. Does that only work with your trees?" He looked up at the many trees around him. Immediately they burst into flames for a few moments, before going out. "Nice, but you know that's going to scare someone."

"Let it. The more those things chase that fire elemental the more of this forest I control."

"Almost doesn't seem fair. Can you burn them out?"

...

"Red?"

Before JV a little girl appeared. She was small, maybe a meter tall or a little shorter, and buried in a flowing red dress cut for a grown woman twice her size. She had an undershirt and skirt for modesty, but it was clear the gown was not for her. In her hand was a scepter crafted from pure white bone and topped with a bioluminescent sphere, but in her underdeveloped hands it was unwieldy, a burden that should have been a symbol of authority.

"I'm, sorry." The girl bowed her head. "Their leader, the one with the banjo, is too strong. As she plays the trees around her die a little. Were she to remain in one place for long they would be gone beyond repair. Even still, wherever she goes the trees disobey me." I tried to keep the warble out of my voice, I really did.

"Are you crying?"

"No." Maybe. I checked. Since the body was just a hallucination it wasn't actually crying. Still, I couldn't keep the emotion out of my voice. "I can twist genetics like twine, grow impossible plants in moments, and command these trees as if they were a bulb on a switch. I should be able to burn these things like twigs in a furnace, but I can't."

"You'll get there." JV replied, ruffling my hair as he did. "For now let's focus on keeping the rest of the town safe, then we'll focus on killing these things." He looked up at the sun and made a few gestures, thinking. "The town is this way, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, let's get back there and contact Josh. Maybe the bean counter is busy counting beans, and won't notice a missing chopper or two."

The walk back was short. The trees seemed to clear the way for JV, though the actual reason was a combination of resonance and shared senses. As JV walked he found he could trigger the flames himself.

During the walk JV froze. He jumped, landing in the branch of a tree just moments before a black bear trudged out from its cave, a cave neither of us had noticed. It let out a low growl and sniffed the air.

"I hate to kill the thing, especially since those ghouls have probably been using this place as their personal larder." JV paused, and made a gesture. Immediately half a dozen trees triggered and burst into flames. The bear, faced with the sudden emerald glow, beat feet. "Can the trees back home do this?"