The Battle of Gravine

They were marched through the streets by the few remaining villagers not under Cucuboros’s spell. The villagers pointed pitchforks and saws and axes at them, holding their weapons with weak, malnourished arms, shaking due to their disgust at what they were doing, and also at the thought of what would come if they didn’t.

“I’m liking this less by the second…” Kraelin muttered, keeping his eyes open for any sign of Alex.

“I never asked you to like it,” Silver said, looking straight ahead as she walked. They could see Cucuboros up ahead, giggling in delight at the four new friends he was about to have for dinner.

“Oh, look at this! Four happy little playmates come to sing songs and stories!” Cucuboros wailed. “And Silver! Come to play another round of capture the Twisted, eh? What a grand, glorious time it is!”

“I see being beaten once didn’t humble you any, vine vegetable,” Silver said.

“And I see you being bested by those roadside bandits didn’t cow you any, meat puppet,” Cucuboros sneered. “It was so easy to sing them my praises, get them to get me into the right hands. Someone looking for a little protection. I can keep your village safe and sound and impenetrable, I sang. It’s too bad for these villagers they never asked the important question. Impenetrable to whom?”

“You bastard,” Elysia said. “You made these people believe you could help them, and then you…you used them!” Her hands balled in rage. “It’s not bad enough you Twisted kill people! You have to betray them too! You have to take their dreams and…and…”

“And what, little girl?” Cucuboros mocked. “I’m guessing you have some history with my kind. Tell me, who died? Mommy and daddy? Brother and sister? All the above? Let me tell you a secret about us Twisted and your trauma. We. Don’t. Care.”

“Hey! How about you talk to me! One on one!” Jake shouted. Cucuboros laughed.

“Your weapons are right there,” the plant creatures taunted, a vine gesturing towards the swords on the ground. “Make a run for them. Go ahead. It will be fun for me.”

Nobody made a move. They knew they couldn’t risk it. Still…

“Why doesn’t anybody else stop you?” Jake asked. “An entire town full of people. No matter how many vines you have, somebody should have been able to get to you and smash you to pieces. Huh? Why don’t any of you people turn those weapons on him?!” Jake looked to the villagers who were surrounding him. He looked them all in the eyes. They all looked away. All but a fat man, his face betraying his loss.

“He doesn’t hurt only us. He hurts our families…”

“News flash! He’s already hurting your families! All it takes to stop him is to stand up to him!” Jake yelled.

“Maybe they need a push,” Silver said. She nodded at Elysia, who raised her hands. A green energy dome surrounded them and suddenly expanded, pushing everyone away.

“Now!” Elysia cried out. Jake and Kraelin ran for their weapons as Silver ran for Cucuboros. They dodged the vines, desperately scrambling for their swords, but as they were within their grasp, they were snatched away. Elysia blasted vine after vine as they slashed at her, eventually getting surrounded by them. Silver, ignoring the problems of the group, got mere feet away from Cucuboros, raising her right arm as it transformed, a needle ejecting from it filled with a strange fluid. She leapt up his vines, using them as steps to gain height as she prepared to strike. Unfortunately, Cucuboros grabbed her feet in the last moment, dangling her in the air.

“Please! Did you think I would be beaten so easily?” Cucuboros mocked. “I have enslaved an entire village! You think you four have any chance of stopping me?!”

“Open to suggestions!” Jake shouted, watching his sword dangle above him. He looked to Elysia, her arms tied, to Silver, dangling uselessly above Cucuboros.

“I suggest you die,” Cucuboros said, cruelly turning his eye to Elysia. “You first, magic girl.”

“No!” Silver cried out in terror. Elysia began to scream as the vines squeezed her. Jake and Kraelin struggled against theirs, desperate to save their friend. But it was hopeless, useless…

A dagger flew threw the air, whistling past all four of them as it plunged into Cucuboros’s bulging eye. He roared in pain, blinded, his vines thrashing in anger. They slipped off of the four heroes, allowing them to move freely again.

“Where the hell did…” Jake asked, looking around. He then saw his and Kraelin’s swords start levitating in the air.

“What the…” Kraelin said in amazement as, before them, Alex suddenly materialized from nothing, his cloak glowing with energy. Even he looked surprised as he stared back at them.

“Okay, I’m glad I hit the pumpkin bastard in the eye, because it would have been embarrassing if I missed,” Alex said, throwing Jake and Kraelin their swords.

“Dude! You were invisible!” Jake shouted out. “How did you…”

“Kill you all! Miserable meat puppets!” Cucuboros screamed as his vines flailed.

“Don’t have time for an in depth explanation, Jake!” Alex said, leaping away from a vine which crashed into the ground in front of him.

“You think I only have one eye?!” Cucuboros screeched. “I have countless! Infinite!”

“You’re thinking of potatoes, gourd boy!” Alex taunted. Kraelin grabbed Alex’s head and pointed it to the zombie villagers wrapped in their vines. All of their eyes were open now, gazing intently at them.

“This is bad, right?” Jake asked as the group huddled together.

“Don’t freak out! It could be worse!” Elysia said.

The vines wrapping the people started shifting, entangling them further, encircling various limbs, building up until there stood a small army of plant golems, their corpse like human faces staring at them dead eyed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you worse!” Alex said.

“Silver! Do you have the poison ready?!” Elysia asked desperately.

“Yeah…about the poison…” Silver said, holding up her right arm where the smashed vial of poison leaked down it uselessly.

“Oh damn, the poison!” Alex exclaimed. “By the way, who are you and what poison?”

“Don’t bother with introductions! You’ll all be dead soon anyways!” Cucuboros taunted. “Get them my meat slaves!”

The vine zombies charged, their hands raised, ready to rip and tear and kill. “Don’t hurt them! They’re innocent!” Elysia yelled.

Alex was sent flying by a swift backhand from a zombified old woman. “Not a problem,” he complained.

The group kept deflecting blows from the plant people, doing what they could to defend themselves while not hurting the innocents within their enemies. Chopping at the vines themselves did shockingly little. “The plant is too strong!” Kraelin said. “Without the poison to weaken it we’re screwed!”

“There’s a root under Cucuboros!” Alex said, leaping over a charging vine zombie. “I saw it while he was dancing, if you can call it dancing! Maybe it’s important!”

“It’s what he used to draw all his power initially!” Silver said. “It’s possible he’s still using it to power himself!”

“And you didn’t think to offer this possibility?!” Kraelin shouted as he kicked away two zombies.

“Yeah, sure, I thought you’d love trying to dive into the dark well underneath the monster!” Silver screamed, bashing away more enemies.

“Argue later!” Elysia cried out. “Alex, carry me! I can move Cucuboros long enough to get under him! Run our butts into the well and we’ll end this!”

Alex and Jake were back to back, fighting off more monsters. Nodding, Alex was about to leave, when suddenly he turned to Jake. “Whatever I did…I think you can do it too. I believe in you, buddy.” Alex then picked Elysia up, cradling her and using his speed to charge forward as she fired green blasts at their enemies, clearing their way to Cucuboros. Elysia created a great green energy plow as they approached the well, pushing the roaring Cucuboros back enough for them to leap underneath him before he crashed back onto the well again, sealing them in darkness.