Shades

The next day came after a long night of keeping those lights active. If the brightness got too dim, then the shades came dangerously close. They burned through much of their supplies quickly. That was only the tip of what alarmed Bard about this situation.

The shades seemed to be getting stronger, and the trees that were surrounded by the shades had their song warped and changed to a screeching or haunted melody. Did they have this capability before? Those that had their song changed lashed out at other trees and then shrunk to the darker parts of the woods, near the rocks and crags.

Elwood warned that those trees would become blackened by nightfall, like the others.

This worried Bard and Sen. It was the first time he had encountered such a situation. He would definitely need to explore it a bit more, but if they really had become shades, then this would be far more dangerous than he had thought.

Defender’s comments about the shades roaming his woods for a while bothered Bard. Why hadn’t he told him before he left? Then again, he hadn’t asked. He had been too focused on just surviving and living. Bard was starting to see all the problems that arose from not communicating, or at least, not communicating everything and doing it well.

Amir and Keith stirred at different times, and he and Sen administered to them both, making sure their injuries were healing well. When they explained what had happened while these two slept, Amir was angry, but calmed when he learned that no one was injured. Keith’s expression was more guarded.

As the day wore on, shades would appear as the clouds came. A storm would hit here soon, and that would be a terrifying time. Bard focused on forest craft with the materials they had, and some trees offered some of their limbs for fires. Most gathered what dead wood they could find. Bard gritted his teeth. They didn’t have the sunstones to back them up. This would be more reactionary and active than when they were with the humans.

Sen stayed by Amir and explained things to him. He shook his head a lot until something sparked and he rose. He hastily walked over to Bard.

“Glad you are doing well,” Bard paused and greeted him.

“You had her stay in a teka village and then exposed her!” Amir said. Bard resumed his work to shrug off some of the intense energy coming from Amir.

“We did. And over three hundred of them were forced from their homes because they stood up for her instead of succumbing to their hatred and bitterness,” Bard retorted. “They are seeking tokens from Elder perspective right now.”

“That’s-,” Amir stopped and bit his tongue in silence.

“Father!” Sen shouted as she caught up. “Now is not the time to get hung up over that. We have other concerns.”

While Sen and her father argued, Bard noted that the Dryads were watching with earnest curiosity. He put his head down and focused on mixing the herbs and stirring the pot.

“Bard,” Keith said as he sat down next to him. “Thanks. You keep Sen safe.” Bard dropped his tools. Keith was speaking in very broken human.

“Th. Thank you,” Bard said back. Keith smiled and helped to stir. Bard instructed him. Keith mostly forced himself to talk in human tongue, which Bard found to be endearing in some way. He was amazed Sen had learned it, but that others were learning his language here, it helped him have a bit of hope that more of the dryads would be willing to work with the humans.

Kai howled once again and Bard felt the winds gust against them. The dryads near the fires protected them as best as they could, but many were blown down to nearly dying. Sen managed to make her way over to Bard, battling the gusts.

“What a storm,” Elwood chimed as he came closer. “Those shades will be back as soon as the sun is covered, right?”

“Yes,” Sen shouted above a particularly gusty wind.

Elwood began to direct the others, and that’s when Bard noticed Keith and Amir working their way towards some weapons. He strode after them.

“Oh no you don’t,” He said, snatching the weapons before them. “You both need to rest.” Sen came and took the weapons from him, heading off. Amir gritted his teeth while Keith looked relieved. Kai howled once more, and Bard looked in the general direction. His things were there, was there some way he could help?

He could hear Defender’s voice struggling. His song was far too weak, worse than last time. Bard strode over to his things and fought the biting chill of the wind. He located his flute, but the moving air made it impossible to play. He reached for his other instruments and found they were all out of tune with this weather and the travel they had been through. He groaned and then heard screams as the Dryads fled from a dead fire. Shades began to pour in. Sen led out, grabbing lightsticks and reclaiming their space from the shades until the fire could be restored. Other Dryads armed themselves with the light sticks as the sun became fully covered. It didn’t take long before he saw the trees start to move. These seemed inordinately hostile to them, their bark more gray than silver. He could sense the growing incongruence, and then he shifted further away.

“Bard! Watch out! They’re out of control again!” Amir shouted. Bard looked back at him and then at the trees before him. They moved without song and became black. Bard instinctually reached for his tokens and swung them around, backing away quickly. The trees shuddered and froze for a bit.

“Bard!” Sen shouted. She came up besides him. A plan began to form.

“Sen, keep these tokens moving, use yours too. I need time to tune my violin,” Bard said.

“You want to play music now?”

“Just trust me,” he growled out. Sen paused for a second, but then grabbed his tokens and moved them about. The sound wasn’t perfect, but it did seem to work. Bard hastily moved to his gear and pulled out the instrument. It definitely was not enjoying this weather. He plucked a few strings, focusing on the sound instead of the winds and noises around him. Bard quietly focused. Kai came over and helped distract while he finished. Kai and Sen were joined by Sparring Tree, which made it easier to fight the elements.

Just as he was about to tighten the last string, he heard a foul noise. The stretching of the string, what occurred before it snapped. He loosened it. At least it was the higher string, so he could use a lower string and move his hand further towards the bridge to replicate the sounds, it would just make this harder. He tightened his bowstring and then moved towards Defender.

He closed his eyes and recalled the song he played before, and found the pace within Defender’s dying song. It was too slow. He shifted, bringing the violin to his cheek and playing a few notes. Defender paused and then sang. Bard quickly joined. The shades screamed and the trees that had blackened howled and creaked. Bit by bit, they began to retreat. A few of the less black trees reverted to their silver hues and joined in the song. Bard could sense the eyes on him, but he concentrated on the song as best he could. Other trees shielded them from the winds and incoming storm.

Bard played through the storm until his fingers couldn’t keep going. Sen came and helped him warm them, and the fight to keep them surrounded with light continued till he could play once again. More and more trees began to sing when he played, and the distance the shades had to travel to get at them became more troublesome for them.

Eventually the storm abated, and the forest sang harmoniously. Bard sat down in relief. Some of the Dryads cheered, and Bard was surprised to see them coming to greet him and thank him. Sen came over first and gave him a big hug.

“Thank you!” she exclaimed. Amir came over with Keith and Elwood.

“Well done. That was masterful,” Elwood praised him. Bard bowed respectfully.

“It seems Defender will be able to carry on the song for a few days. Thank you.”

“If the song can change the trees back, then I want to go see those that you mentioned before,” Bard said firmly. Keith looked at Amir and the two sighed.

“Let us rest, then we go,” Keith said.

“Agreed. Thank you,” Bard answered. The leaders dispersed the crowd and had people rest for the night. Their journey would happen in the morning.