World Tree Chronicles Pt. 1

Chapter 4

"Hmm, they should be getting up there by now." Ulysses mumbled to himself as he stood, watching above him. Almost on queue he heard shouts and screams from above. "Ah, looks like they found them." He smiled. Minutes later, the first body plummeted to the ground, bouncing between the branches roughly as it fell before slamming into the unforgiving ground at the base of the tree with a crunch. Several large chunks had been torn from the poor boys body. "Hmm, he stayed too close to the trunk. He must have put his hand into the wrong hole." He pondered to himself. Moments later another body fell at the edge of the glade. She had no visible injuries except those from the fall that had killed her. "Must have slipped and fallen. I guess that's a danger up there too." He mused to himself. He waited for several more minutes, and as he had expected Ishmael was the first to return. Going down the tree was much harder than going up, for several reasons. Ishmael was employing his same tactic going down, barely managing to avoid falling the rest of the distance. As he got to the lowest branch, Ishmael sat there panting, weighing his options for a minute or two. He looked to Ulysses only once, though whether he was looking for some guidance or simply wanted to make sure he was still there Ulysses couldn't quite tell. Eventually, he heard the boy swear and he slung himself down, holding onto the branch and letting himself dangle from it. It was then that Ulysses saw the boys pocket had a noticeable bulge in it. He couldn't help but smile. "Looks like he found one after all."

Ishmael kicked his feet, trying to gain some forwards momentum as he let go and fell the remaining fifteen feet or so. He landed heavily and rolled to try and reduce the impact. Ishmael lay there panting on his back for a moment. Ulysses sauntered over to congratulate him. "well done boy." He said, letting his approval beam down on the boy. As he got closer he realized that Ishmael had no serious injuries. He had a few shallow scrapes, but his knife was coated in blood and he was relatively unharmed. "You never cease to amaze me." He said. Ishmael did not respond but reached into his pocket and took out the fruit he had stashed there. He sat up and tossed it to Ulysses who caught it easily and inspected it with an appraising eye. It was small and a deep shade of purple. Slightly oblong with a red stem. Ulysses beamed down at the boy. "Here, eat this." He tossed it back. "You've earned it." Ishmael eyed the fruit with some apprehension, but did as he was told after only a moment's hesitation. He put the entire fruit in his mouth and bit down. The second he did he began coughing, but didn't spit it out. Ulysses smiled mischievously. "Tastes pretty nasty, doesn't it. Don't worry, just finish the whole thing." He chided. Ishmael chewed, his face screwed up from the taste, swallowing in an exaggerated and forceful reaction to the horrific taste. He looked at the rest of the fruit he still had to eat with an almost fearful gaze but steeled himself and shoved the rest in his mouth. Ulysses smiled as he watched the boy struggle to finish the rest without throwing it up.

Ishmael sat there for several more minutes, holding his hand to his mouth, trying to keep the fruit down in spite of his own desire to expel whatever that thing was. The next to return was Erin. She was almost as talented as Ishmael, but quite a bit colder. Ulysses remembered how even while the others cowered in fear during their younger years, she had always masked her fear and buried it away. She was not as broken as Cara, but broken she had. She had received a long scar from her forehead, down the side of her face and across her lip to end in a jagged end at her chin. The bear she had fought to gain that scar had been what broke her. She abandoned the mask that had made her seem so cheerful and taken on a new one. Ulysses had always been impressed she had survived the injury, and been intrigued by her personality shift afterwards. Almost immediately she became distant, not only burying her fear but her other emotions as well and hiding them behind the blank, disfigured mask she had gained. Her reaction to eating the fruit was just as violent as Ishmaels. She held herself steady, trying to keep from cringing, but sweat beaded her forehead and her eyes were held shut by the grimace that inevitably came. Cara arrived next, and after her they began to quickly stream down from the tree, sometimes arriving in pairs as the twins Aidah and Edward did. Ulysses enjoyed seeing the kids eat the fruit, and though several tried to warn the others about how gross it was, their warnings did not fully prepare them. This almost made it more amusing for Ulysses. He waited for quite a while to be sure that all those who were still alive had returned. He then led the eleven surviving back through the forest. This time, the few times they were attacked Ulysses handled them by himself, handily dispatching the wild animals without involving the children. Along the path, they occasionally stumbled upon bodies of wolves or savage monkeys. Ulysses guessed they had attacked Dirk and Rea on their trek back, and he almost couldn't believe how many bodies there were. They must have been attacked three different times by small groups of beasts. As they got closer and closer to the base, Ulysses grin widened. Neither body could be seen along the path, nor any bloody pools indicating either of them had died and been dragged away. The forest broke revealing a small patch of clear grass before the entrance to his underground facility. It was set into a hill, with massive stone doors, and a stretch of flagstones and protective walls built up along the sides creating a small protected path. To Ulysses amazement, both Dirk and Rea were alive, huddled between these walls. Rea lay on her back, barely breathing with a sleuth of new injuries. Dirk was still on his feet, though he was in a far from decent shape. His left arm hung limply at his side. Ulysses could see it was dislocated, and he had two deep cuts across his bicep. His shirt was gone, tied around one of Rea's more serious wounds. He had suffered multiple lacerations across his chest and stomach, one long scratch across his cheek and dozens of scrapes and bruises. Despite that, he stood with Rea's sword in his right hand, defiantly standing his ground as he faced three of those grey wolves. Four more lay dead around him.

Ulysses grinned widely, his eyes thinned into evil slits. He hadn't expected the boy to actually survive through this. He had hoped to be rid of him, but perhaps this was the perfect opportunity. Dirk looked past the wolves and made eye contact with Ulysses, glancing at the disbelieving gazes of his friends behind the man. Dirk flashed his own annoyingly prideful grin, and with quite a bit of effort, raised his dislocated arm just enough to point his fist in Ulysses direction, his middle finger up. The gesture both infuriated and amused Ulysses. His smile faded, but his eyes continued to reflect an evil grin. He shot forwards, diving across the distance before any of them really saw him move, and almost seamed to reappear in front of Dirk, glaring down at the boy. The earth flowed and spikes appeared from the ground impaling the remaining wolves and ending the fight for good. "I would put that away." Ulysses leaned down to put his face right in Dirks. This time, whether because of exhaustion, adrenaline, or confidence Dirk did not recoil this time, but returned Ulysses piercing stare with his own cool, uncaring eyes. "You are in no condition to be making challenges of someone beyond your capabilities."

"What's it matter, ain't you gonna kill me anyway?" Dirk responded quietly. Ulysses smiled again, this one was different from his normal malicious grin. This one was mischievous, and it only brought bad news. Fear showed in Dirks eyes when he saw it. One never knew what that gaze meant, and Dirk worried Ulysses might have somehow discovered an appropriate punishment worse than simply dying. Dirks indomitable wall caving only fueled Ulysses madness more.

"I could kill you, but I don't think I will yet. I have something a little more interesting in store for you." Almost as if on queue, the doors that had refused to open for Dirk scraped inward behind him. Several of Ulysses men rushed out, carrying Rea inside and going to usher the children in behind Ulysses. He reached down and wrapped his massive hand around the back of Dirks neck, locking him into a vice grip as he dragged the boy away. Dirk struggled a little, but he was too weak to resist in any meaningful fashion. "You," Ulysses singled out one of his men who was carrying Rea inside. "Go find Koran and get his group down to the Cavern. Our timetable just got moved up a bit." The man nodded and let his comrades take care of the girl while he rushed off down some dark hallway. Ulysses placed his other hand on the back of Dirks head and knocked him unconscious with a simple spell, reset his shoulder and hunf the still bleeding boy under his arm. He disappeared behind the shadow of a doorway, leaving the children behind to worry and wonder. They knew there was nothing they could do, and Ulysses found great pleasure in the fact that that knowledge was ingrained enough in them that they didn't even try.