True Justice

The sky had greyed since the morning, and Ariana stood surrounded by a dozen armed guards. This would not be like her fight against Albert’s men. In that battle, she was fighting to protect the town, and she had learned that the men with Albert that day were all in training.

Now, she was in the crosshairs of several trained zealot warriors, and the people were more than likely against her. 

The first guard rushed her from the left. She pulled her arm out to the side and summoned a wall of pumpkin shell to catch his sword. She forced the wall away with a spring of vines. 

A second and third came to her from opposite directions. She swung the wall to the side to stop the second, and a mass of vines rose to tangle the first. She forced several vines and roots through the ground around her, followed by a great flush of water. Though it felt exhausting, she had muddied and swamped the area around her. Several vines and pumpkins spread out like a pumpkin patch.

The first guard released his sword and brandished a club. A fourth, fifth, and sixth guard came at her from the right as the third chopped at the vines entangling him. As she hoped, they were slowed by the swampy terrain. She swept an arm across at them, and a vine pulled tight to trip them. Another arm motion downward entangled them in more vines. 

The second guard managed to cut himself free and threw his sword at Ellie. Ellie let out a crowing sound and swirled into her crow form. Ariana swung the shell around behind her to block the throw. A seventh guard saw this as an opportunity and rushed her from the front again. An eighth guard attempted to cut the fourth, fifth, and sixth loose. 

In response, Ariana brought the shell overhead and slammed it down hard in front of her. The seventh guard stumbled back to avoid the slam. With her other hand, she pulled more vines up to grip tightly to the hands and arms of the eighth. The first guard came back with a swing against her arm. She swung up with that arm and launched him into the air on a waterspout. 

She pulled a hand up and rose on a large leafy stalk. Settled atop it was an upside-down pumpkin as large as the one she had conjured at the fork in the road. 

A ninth guard readied a bow, and the tenth next to him started to chant. 

She pulled her arms up to summon a muddy wave and roll it over, then followed by riding the tall pumpkin down at them. They screamed and crawled out of the way as she slammed the orange behemoth into the ground, smashing it open and leaving a muddy crater. All the while, Ellie’s crow form squawked atop her head. 

She pulled another seed free from her satchel and poured magic into it as the first guard freed his sword. The other guards managed to free themselves from her bindings. 

The pumpkins she had been using broke too easily. Perhaps she should try something harder. No, that would cause too much damage. Softer, then. 

She unleashed an arm-length vine with a ripened pumpkin at the end, about the size of her head. Fearing it might still break, she let more magic flow through the vine into the pumpkin. 

The first and fifth guards charged at her again. She swung the pumpkin sling wide and smacked the first in the stomach, then another pumpkin sprang up into the fifth’s gut. They both stumbled back. She was getting the hang of this. 

The second, fourth, third, and then sixth guards rushed her again. She tossed the sling forward at the third’s face, then stepped back with a pull, and tossed it forward again at the fourth. She stomped down, and two clods of swampy muck smacked the second and sixth. 

As she fended off that group, the ninth and tenth had regrouped with the eleventh and twelfth; they were chanting something together. She’d never experienced magic like this. She didn’t need to chant anything. If they needed to, that meant they might not be able to cast if they can’t speak. 

While considering her options, the seventh came back up and swung his sword at her. She sprang another pumpkin up to smash on his hand and disarmed him. 

She turned her attention back to the chanting guards. Her arms twirled into a swift underhanded scooping motion with her free hand, and several mud clumps splattered into their mouths and faces. They coughed and spluttered; the chant was interrupted. 

In that time, the first and fifth guards had recovered and readied their bows. Two arrows caught in her back while she was distracted. She yelped. 

Ariana pumped a large amount of magic into the ground beneath her. She transformed the entire swampy patch into a tangle of roots and vines that ensnared most of the guards, but the four who were chanting had recovered and were attempting to chant again. She pushed even more magic out to entangle them and stuff their mouths full of pumpkin. 

She could feel the exhaustion setting in. While that swamp trick felt like it was about the same as the attempt to grow the cotton field in terms of magic, she had just made four or five such magic maneuvers and was only now feeling winded. 

The guards struggled with her bindings, and she felt a drop against her face. She looked up, and it had begun to rain. She breathed a sigh of relief that it seemed to be over. Ellie hopped off Ariana's head and returned to her standard shape. Ariana moved to approach the men restraining Koichi

Then from the church came the priest. 

He wielded an ornate staff. "Heathen of the First's Flock," he announced, "your trespass shall not go unpunished." 

The nice healer guard stepped out of the church as well. "This is all getting a bit too rowdy, Father. They attacked her unprovoked, and nobody died. Y'all should probably just let this slide."

The priest readied the staff. It glowed brightly. "Quiet, Outworlder... unless you'd like to be counted as one of them."

The guard sighed and stepped over to Ariana. "All due respect, Father..." He placed a healing hand on Ariana's shoulder. The arrows vanished, as did the pain. "In case y'all didn't hear the boy, I am one of them." He patted her shoulder and thumbed at himself. "The name's Hayden. Don't forget it."