Chapter 18

"A what?" Haledon cried out. His eyes darted in horror towards the ghouls that stalked from across the room.

With pinpoint precision, two obsidian daggers sank into the core of one of the wendigos. It stumbled back against the first tier of terraced seating and let out a guttural yowl.

Spark raced across the rock platform in silent steps. Rebounding off the stone and stumps, she landed against the beast's chest, where she freed the daggers with a vicious slash. Flipping back onto the stage, she readied a defensive posture.

"It's a fight!" Spark said excitedly, looking to Witch-Hazel. "I've got this one. You get the other."

Haledon looked back to the wendigo that stood ahead of the guild. The creature's stance had changed as it sprang forward on all fours in a terrifying gallop. The front limbs lunged out as the hind pushed forward, splashing its sickly sap across the platform with each step.

Tripping over his feet, Haledon stumbled to the stone. He held up his arms defensively as the bodies of Gazeas and Witch-Hazel tumbled over him. In an instant, his world was consumed by darkness. He felt his stomach lift into his chest as the sensation of falling through a canopy of trees rushed over him. It flooded his senses, and as quickly as it had started, it stopped, as he emerged back into the light of the Hilum.

"You two stay here. Can’t have you dying.” Witch-Hazel ordered the Druids before decomposing back into the floor.

Haledon quickly stood to find that he and Gazeas had been relocated to the Hilum's top terrace. Below, Witch-Hazel emerged from a pile of humus resting where the three had previously stood. Beyond them, the charging wendigo had stopped, looking around confusedly. Its antlered head twitched and twisted as it sniffed at the air.

Haledon found himself remembering the pale tree's erratic movements from his waking dreams and instinctively grabbed his stomach. He shook his head and focused on the fight below.

He watched as, with a flourish of Witch-Hazel's hand, vines reached out and gripped the leg of the wendigo. They ripped the cord taut, sending the beast stumbling forward.

Pulling it to the ground, Witch-Hazel tapped their staff to the stone with a thunderous clap. Thorny vines grabbed from between the shattered rock, up and over the monster, restraining it.

"We should help them," Gazeas remarked.

Haledon looked over to see her huddled beside him, observing the scene in terror.

"Witch-Hazel said to stay here, so we should do that." He replied quickly.

"They're in danger!"

"They're Earth Druids. They're going to be fine."

Haledon turned his head back to witness Spark limply flying into Witch-Hazel. As the two tumbled to the ground, the vines around the second wendigo went slack and, with a thick ripping sound, the creature broke free.

He looked to Gazeas with an anxious expression. Her face had contorted into worry as she stared at the platform.

“Gaz—” Haledon pleaded and reached out, but she began to run before he could grab her.

"Gazeas!" He yelled as he chased after her. A furious scream from below caused him to stop and look back at the fight.

Spark had jumped to her feet and was rushing back to engage the wendigo. She met the creature directly, stabbing towards its chest but coming up short. The tar-soaked claws swiped at her in riposte, cutting the air around her but never making contact.

After one failed counterstrike, Spark took advantage of her momentum and rolled behind the creature. She drove both of her daggers high into its back, causing it to cry out in pain. With wild swipes of the wendigo’s long arms around, Spark swung to evade.

Spark dodged the first strike, ripping one of her blades out with a swift swipe. But as she swung to remove the other dagger, she found herself caught in the grasp of the second wendigo.

It lifted her as she fought against its grip. Pulling her shoulder up to its mouth, the beast buried its face into a feral bite.

"Spark!" Mek-Tek cried out from somewhere in the room.

With a blood-chilling scream, Spark cried out before the creature threw her towards Gazeas. Their bodies collided and tumbled down the Hilum steps to the stage.

Haledon raced down the stairs, skipping multiple steps as he flew to his companions. Beyond his own sprint, he watched as Witch-Hazel stood firmly, their arms outstretched. As they did, vines lashed from the ceiling and bound the limbs of one of the beasts.

Witch-Hazel looked over their shoulder anxiously as the second wendigo continued its slow walk towards Gazeas and Spark.

"Hey, tar-head, over here." They tried to antagonize the beast but failed to gather its attention. "Vastum, umm—hey, you cankered excuse for a pine, I pollinated your mother tree last season."

The wendigo stopped and slowly turned its head to look back at Witch-Hazel.

"Forswyn," They muttered. "Okay, Druids, let's...uh—let's wrap this up."

"Spark. Spark. Are you okay?" Gazeas asked as she pulled the Druid close.

Spark squirmed in her grasp as both blood and a thick black sap poured from her wound.

"Cou—count—count—tox—" She gasped helplessly. "Tox..."

Without warning, Spark sprang up and began to strangle Gazeas.

"Sp—sp—sp—" Gazeas choked against the grip. She grabbed at the Druid's hands, slapping at them helplessly in an attempt to pry herself away.

"Spark, what are you doing?" Haledon approached. He tried to pull them apart, but her grasp was too firm.

"Your flesh will fuel my strength," Spark growled through the tar that flowed from her mouth.

"What the forswyn?" Haledon yelled out in horror, looking to Witch-Hazel and then to Spark. "I'm really sorry, Spark!"

Haledon winced as he punched her in the face. Spark's smile grew and twisted as tar and blood flowed from her nose and mouth, her hands still firmly gripped around Gazeas' neck. Haledon struck again, sending a wave of pain through his own hand, but connecting hard enough to loosen the deadly grip. He pushed Spark away and watched as she stumbled back, holding her face in shock.

"Wendigo psychosis—" Witch-Hazel grunted as they tried to maintain a hold on the other ghoul. "You need—phytoextract—vastum!

Witch-Hazel cursed and dodged to the side as the second wendigo charged and swiped for their limbs.

Looking to Spark and then Haledon, Gazeas' eyes focused on the floral crowns.

"Seral Dr—forswyn, Haledon! Restrain, Spark." Gazeas screamed, pulling his attention back. "I know what I need to do."

Haledon looked over to see Spark had recovered from the strike and was already charging them, her daggers drawn. He rushed forward to meet her and watched as she swung the blade towards his foliage. The obsidian edge cut deep into the thick roots of his SOIL, becoming lodged in place. He could feel Spark trying to free the blade as she raised her other hand.

In a panicked dive, he pulled Spark to the stone, landing hard on top of her.

Gazeas rushed beside them, holding down the suffering Druid. Placing a hand on Spark’s shoulder, she focused, sending spindly tendrils reaching into the black tar that concealed the wound. The bright yellow florets of sunflowers grew from the toxic SOIL and began to absorb the putrid sap.

Spark's flailing quickly began to subside, eventually stopping as the sunflowers wilted and died. The flowers detached and fell to the stone floor, where they decomposed.

"Spark? How are you doing?" Gazeas probed.

"Fine." She replied with a hostile seriousness in her voice. Haledon stood and helped her up. Pulling the blade from his armour, he handed it back to her. She looked between him and Gazeas.

"Sorry," Spark said softly.

"Are you okay?" Haledon asked.

"Is she okay!? What about Witch-Hazel?" Their panicked voice cut in. Haledon looked over to see them struggling to maintain a thick bark wall against the furious strikes of two wendigos. "I've given you time, now—help—me—"

Spark stepped in front of Haledon and Gazeas, gripping her bloodied shoulder. Taking the fresh blood, she painted it across her chest.

"Fuh oo'kee quag'lah Ak'zi'key'my ze'el hig'ki'mur ex'duh'yu cek'y'eye." Spark began to recite as she drew her blades up and stepped away from the group.

Dragging the obsidian edges together, they sparked and ignited in flames.

"Fuh bif'ee ex'duh'yu'huh'yeo ze'el ze'vhy oek'ex'ee, ze'el guh'qim'bee ze'v'eye qa'juh'eye'em'be'meltz'vee." She continued as she slashed her blades against her thighs, causing the fire to begin to spread from the wounds along her body.

Cutting at her forearms, the flames licked up her torso as vines curled over her head. A fiery mohawk and beak-like mask made up most of her helmet, leaving only black orbs for eyes.

Sparks' body was consumed with flames as she charged again into the chaos like a fiery cardinal flipping beyond Witch-Hazel's barrier.

"Whoa." Gazeas and Haledon remarked as the wildfire slid between the legs of a wendigo.

Her fiery blades sliced into the beast's calves, igniting its black sap and spreading the fire up the twisted body. With a horrifying wail, the wendigo fell to its knees, where Spark spun around and began to hack away at the ghoul's chest.

"Haledon—help—agh!" Witch-Hazel groaned as the last of their wall began to crumble. The claws of the wendigo reached through the barrier and grabbed for the juggernaut. The sharp talons slowly peeled away curls of wood shavings across Witch-Hazel’s bark face as they yelled out in pain.

"Witch-Hazel!" Haledon screamed and extended his hand.

He felt a familiar coolness in the back of his mind as his hands mimicked what he had learned from Sparrow. Haledon blinked, and the wendigo's form had transformed into the shadowed wolf. His heart began to race as he blinked again, and the beast returned.

With a final twist of Haledon’s wrist, the rock at his feet quickly softened, greened and grew into a thick mat of moss. It raced over the stone and split around Witch-Hazel as it made its way to the target. The moss grew up the wendigo's legs, transforming the polluted ghoul as it stepped back in surprise. It swiped at its limbs, ripping the plants off, but failing to stop the green assault.

Bashing through Witch-Hazel’s barrier, the greening wendigo stomped towards the Haledon with its hand reaching to him. The Druid continued to press, willing the moss to grow faster as the extended claws inched closer.

Closing his eyes and wincing in preparation for the pain, Haledon looked away as the last of the moss consumed the tips of the monster's body. The world was quiet for a moment before he opened his eyes again to see the creature now locked into place within his reach.

He exhaled nervously and looked to Witch-Hazel with a panicked smile. The bramble knight, having witnessed the event, nodded and looked over to Spark, who had not disengaged with the second creature. Haledon followed his gaze and watched as Spark continued to dance around the now ignited wendigo.

The world came alive again as grunts and screeches cut through the air. Haledon watched as Spark swung her blades left and right, sending embers drifting in every direction and quickly catching parts of the Hilum on fire. Eventually, with a final slash at the beast’s chest, it fell to the ground in a smouldering heap.

The smoke and heat had begun to excite the room's fire flowers enough to release their pollen, causing moisture to lock to the loose particulates and rain down from the ceiling.

The hiss of water evaporating over the flames filled the air, and the fires immediately began to die down. That was when Haledon saw it. The pale figure stared at him through the white clouds of steam, its face still and unmoving. But as he shook his head, it disappeared, leaving the guild alone.

"Great job, everyone." Mek-Tek squeaked as he rushed up to Haledon and looked at the moss-covered wendigo. "Oh, this one is still alive. We should kill it."

"No," Spark ordered as she approached.

The flames of her suit had died down, revealing the burnt bark of her SOIL. Between the cracks of her plated armour, new life had already begun to grow and restore the suit.

"No?" Haledon asked. "Spark, this thing attacked us… nearly killed you—"

"But it didn't. Wendigos are bred and trained to defend a nest. They're not monsters or predators." She approached and placed a hand on the moss-frozen creature. "They didn't kill any of us, and, though badly burnt and petrified beneath the moss, we didn't kill either of them. Let us take our fly and go. These precious beasts will not pursue."

"I think strategically, that's a poor decision."

"Strategically?" Gazeas snapped. "Where were you during the fight?"

"Look at me," Mek-Tek waved at his body, then to the wendigos. "Those things threw Spark across the room like she was a pebble. There was nothing I could do against that. But my inactivity doesn't change the fact that leaving them alive is probably a poor choice."

"Your strategic opinion is noted," Spark replied, looking to Witch-Hazel.

"Yeah, sure, let's leave them for the other Druids to clean up at least." Witch-Hazel felt the claw marks across their face and sighed. "There go my sapling good looks."

The group chuckled for a moment in the rain before looking around the room. It became quiet again as they stood there, listening to the droplets splashing onto the stone floor.

“Should we go?” Haledon asked.

An eruption of agreement echoed among the Earth Druids.

“Let’s set roots with Sparrow and talk about this.” Witch-Hazel finished and looked at the group before leading them back out into the hall.