Treason

At first, it seemed that the dark was complete and the gentle curing slope would go on forever, but steadily a dim distant light reminiscent of the diffused glow of the Deep Woods grew in strength.

Suddenly a raucous chorus voiced by a vast flock of birds rose in protest as one, then died down to silence as quick as it had begun as Shiro and his group came round the final spiral to see the first group hastily backtrack into the tunnel from an open space ahead.

In front of them the Commander, Leopold work quickly tend the sliced up arms and head of Harold. Shiro has just enough time to wonder where the other man from the group is when Lily gasps softly and he turns to find the missing Francis holding a knife to her throat. 

Apparently there were alcoves scattered around the corridor which the knife man had taken advantage of to set a watch.

The Commander looks at the party and sighs "Of course you would be here" he says and gestures to Francis to return to his post. "Take over here.' the Commander orders Lily over to Harold before pointing Shiro to a spot next to him at the end of the tunnel.

Shiro takes position and peers cautiously out into the chamber beyond.

The chamber stretches from the floor, which must be somewhere close to the waterline of the lake, up through the entire height of the tree for many, many, many stories straight up.

The source of the noise earlier is revealed to be the many hundred, if not thousands, of flying creatures, in every size and shape, now perched on balconies that must have been the normal locations to play respects to the champion, restlessly watching for any intruder upon their territory.

In the center of the chamber stood a lightly glowing crystal of jagged edges and a purple sheen. Faint pulses of blue light illuminate outline of an elf maiden inside like distant heat lighting. Tendrils of crystal growth spread in a crude circle out from the central Epidote shaped structure, hemmed in on three sides by lecterns and other public speaking articles. On the fourth side the crystal dipped into an inky blackness that Shiro thought was a really deep shadow until a deep boom echos through the tree and causes ripples that reveal the darkness to be some sort of large water feature on the level of the floor.

The boom is followed by angry squawks as a thickly woven net is hauled across the ceiling opening just under the lowest balcony.

"Well that solves that problem then,' the Commander says relieved 'Lets go do what we are here for" and marches into the sanctuary, the now bandaged Harold watching the net warily as the group follows including Francis.

Leopold beeline's straight for the crystal structure, scrapping samples of wood and crystal alike before starting to set up a complicated array of arcane implements. 

Lily kneels in prayer reflexively upon realizing that she stands in the very heart of evil, while Francis and Harold attempt to close off as many entrances to the room as they can.

Shiro approaches where the Commander stares deeply into the crystal in time to hear him mutter "Finally, we can break this evil forever and claim this world as the Saint promised us we would." 

Shiro frown at that and asks "so we vanquish this evil and what happens next?"

Ecstasy starts to build on what of the Commander's face is not hidden by a cloth around it "We finish this war! we return heroes as the vile magics the very existence of yonder demon crumble allowing us to finally take this land for our people!" Dreams of glory and accolades dance so vividly behind the Commander's eyes that Shiro would not have been surprised if they were suddenly projected onto a nearby wall.

"But what about the noncombatants Commander?' Shiro continues 'surely they wil-" 

The Commander cuts him off "There are no noncombatants, Demon blood is demon blood no matter how you slice it and if any one of them is left alive a new demoness will rise eventually to tempt and destroy the holy.' a look of suspicion crosses the Commander's eyes 'tell me Shiro the Hero, where exactly have you been this whole time?"

Shiro meets the Commander's gaze, knowing the time to chose is upon him and thinks 'I am sorry' towards Lily "I was on the forest floor walking this way.. sir.' 

He responds 'so not imprisoned or brainwashed if that is what you are thinking. However, I have seen the women and children of this land and do not think-" 

The Commander scoffs "You are a soldier, and a bad one at that, you do not think, you do not reason, your betters tell you to hop and you do it. Your god asks you to burn a forest to cleanse evil you do it." All the contempt that the Commander had been hiding shines clearly out to Shiro 

"No sir, I am the summoned hero' Shiro stands a bit straighter and summons his shield and spear for emphasis 'And I will chose to who I help, and I never swore fealty to your god."

The Commander whips a stick from under his cloak and it magically expands into his naginata and with a snarl launches into an attack.

As blade meets shield the Commander yells "PLAN B!"

Leopold looks up and quickly returns to his work around the crystal.

Harold and Francis charge to join the Commander against Shiro, only to be intercepted by Lily and Ezma.

The birds above scream in frustration as beak and claw struggle futilely to breach the net between them and the intruders.

Then Shiro has to block it all out.

So many times on the road had this man, this Commander of holy armies, beat him as bruised as he could dare knowing every action was going to be reported to the capital.
Shiro's skills had been improving as he had sought to protect Lily and Ezma from the Deep Wood beasts, and the Commander had never fought anyone without the Kingdom's signature pole-arm, but the Commander had been training since childhood.

Shiro deflected another hit with his shield and lunged in with his spear, forcing the Commander back.

The Naginata being excellent and sweeping cuts and the Commander having not idea how much damage Shiro's spear of magic would do if it made contact with his armor made for a cautious fight.

The commander sweeps his blade towards Shiro
Up comes Shiro's hopolite shield, catching the blade and batting it aside to create an opening.
Shiro lunges with his spear, aiming for a disabling blow.
The Commander steps backwards toward the pool in the floor.

Low sweep goes the Commander's weapon this time
Shiro drops his shield into a block so low the shield thuds against the floor, almost trapping the Commander's Naginata. 
Shiro lunges again, losing his balance as the Commander steps back again and Shiro over commits.

The Commander swings the blade over his head and down around aiming for Shiro's left ribs. Forcing him to swing his shield around in an awkward block 

Expecting Shiro to take a moment to recover and adjust the shield The commander steps forward, right into Shiro's lunge.

 The spear shatters the hardened leather along the Commander's right rib cage as he breaks the pattern and charges forward, dropping his pole arm and drawing a wicked knife from his belt. 

Shiro is forced to the ground under this berserk onslaught and cowers under his shield as it is pummeled by fist and blade.

With a mighty heavy he shoves the Commander back. 

A seasoned fighter may have pushed the advantage, but Shiro was no such and was quickly driven behind his shield again as the Commander took up his pole-arm again quick as a flash, only this time it was with such a speed and fury that it was all Shiro could do to keep the shield between him and the deadly steel. Let alone retrieve his own spear.

The Commander's shattered leather armor flexes weird and a strike Shiro had no idea if he would have been able to hold off misses radically.

With a curse the Commander rips off his shirt, cloak and ruined armor in one swift motion, revealing underneath a white stripe of cloth around his chest.

As the significance of the chest binding cuts through Shiro like a lightning bolt an ominous sound issues from the pool of water that is now behind the commander as Leopold holds up his hands in triumph holding a chalice coated in spikes of crystal.

A massive claw the size of two men rises from the pool and crashes down on the wooden floor as a crab hauls itself out of the depths of the pool, shattering much of the floor and causing the Commander to fall backwards and be lost in the water.

Leopold hurls an ambiguous blast of magic at the beast as he turns to run, clutching his prize to his chest.

A whip of crackling purple lances through his chest, time seems to pause as he looks down in shock at the weapon piercing him, before it yanks him into the waiting jaws of the crab.

An elf of terrible fury and glowing purple energy stands on a pedestal of shattered crystal fragments.

Her eyes lock with Shiro as she raises her hand towards him and says one sharp Elvish word.

The Crab launches itself at him.