Shards of Old

That's when I noticed - the noise. At first it was some almost silent creaking of the wood - like somewhere a storm picked up and the old trees started bending under the force of the wind. But it was getting closer and closer, and as it got louder, it started reminding me more of someone walking on an old wooden floor, but times hundred. I poked my head outside, but there was no sign of anything that would explain the sound.

-What is going on? - I asked the guy in the black that came with me, but he silenced me with a gesture and pulled out a sword, looking somewhere into the forest. I followed his gaze, but at first I couldn't see anything. But as the noise got louder and louder, I started noticing shapes in the forest. Humanoid shapes. All around us.

-Ambush! - I heard someone yell up front, after which, from every direction, about a hundred of spikes shot towards us, like we got surrounded by an army of humongous hedgehogs.

I managed to duck back inside, but heard a lot of not very encouraging sounds of pain, animal and human alike that replaced the creaking from before.

Most spikes pierced through the weird green membrane of the wagon, but luckily for me, my wagon was packed so tightly that all of them hit the crates inside and stopped there. But just as I thought I might be relatively safe in there, all of the spikes sprung to life. They started growing rapidly and moving. It reminded me of the growth I encountered back on the island, but it was on a completely different scale. Judging by the volume of panic that exploded all around the caravan, it was not just one wagon that was in a similar predicament. Soon, in all of the panicked yelling I started hearing noises of a fight - weapons drawn and sound of chopping wood, the latter seemed slightly out of place in all this.

I don't know how long I stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do with myself. Whole cart was now tightly covered in those green roots, the only exit blocked, vines slithering around the place, like they were looking for something. Some started making their way towards me, but out of my shock I was broken out by another scream - this time a lot closer. I shuddered and noticed what was going on right next to me.

The kid started to be wrapped by the vines from feet up, but when they reached his arm he must have woken up and started screaming. Thanks to that the adrenaline finally hit me and I started thinking a bit more clearly.

I jumped to help the wrapped kid. He was struggling, but for some reason the vines were pretty slow and thin, so I didn't even have to use magic, I was able to just tear through them with my bare hand like it was grass. He was scared and shaking, but managed to stand up and look at me.

-What is happening? What is that? - he asked with a trembling voice.

-I have no idea, but nothing good.

As to confirm my words, the screams and noises outside intensified, but this time I could tell that there were not just voices of panicked people - they were screams of pain, accompanied with something that sounded like crushed wood.

At the same time, the vines that wrapped around our wagon started moving and, to my absolute horror, started crushing the wagon.

Luckily though, it looked like it had some difficulties with that, because the process was very slow. The floor was creaking and the boxes all around started to break, crushed between each other. The green membrane that was our roof started to distort. I sort of expected that it would have either been torn like a paper or would bend like a rubber, but no. It was… folding, almost like it was made out of metal. The vines were squishing the wagon like an oversized soda can. The kid, realizing what was happening, backed up towards the middle of the wagon, where the floor was still intact and just stood there, frozen in fear.

As I was about to unleash some fire magic to burn through all this, I realized that the squeezing stopped for some reason. For a second I thought the attack had stopped, but no, the noise around us was still going strong, although the screams seemed to fade away.

But even though the vines stopped for a second, the ceiling didn't stop collapsing - under the weight of all the vines it still was going down and I was already able to see the sky through the hole that was getting bigger and bigger. Without much of a thought I stepped on some of the boxes that were not destroyed by all this green mass yet and reached through the hole, trying to rip it further to get out.

With one hand on my disposal, I expected it to be a hard task but, to my surprise, the roof ripped like a paper bag and the vines that were on top slammed right onto the floor of the carriage. The noise startled the kid and he managed to shake off his initial panic. He noticed what I was trying to do and, still clutching the book, came to my aid.

As soon as he started helping, I could feel the vines weakening faster and faster, and not long after we managed to climb out on top of the, now covered in green roots, cart.

The sight we were greeted by was not very pleasant. Or let me rephrase - it was horrifying.

All the carts, or at least that's what was left of them, got covered with vines, similar to the one I was standing on. But the major difference was that the other vines were a lot thicker and stronger. While the ones we busted through you could compare to a human finger, others were at least like a whole arm.

And the wagons themselves…

Have you ever seen a knot tied by a sailor? One that looks too complicated for it to make any sense and untying it looks impossible? Imagine something like that being wrapped around a cardboard box, but a loot messier, and then pulled on as hard as humanly possible. That's what was left of the other wagons. And people inside.

Suddenly I was grateful that all those tangles were so tightly and thickly wrapped so I could not see the exact details of what was left inside.

Besides that, the whole area was littered with other vines and quite a few bodies. From a brief look, all of them were wearing some kind of armor and were pierced by spikes or crushed by the roots. Some of them were wearing familiar-looking black hoods. And in the middle of this mess there were still two familiar people fighting the mass of vines on the floor, alongside a few mercenaries or guards.

The main part of the mass was on the opposite side of all this mess and from it, every once in a while emerged greenish-brown, humanoid-looking creatures that proceeded to attack the group. To be honest, the only part that made them look humanoid was their posture and amount of limbs, but from the back of each one of them sprouted small bushes of different kinds. I could recognize a few of them - a rose, laurel, even a blueberry. Although different, they had one thing in common - instead of leaves and branches, they consisted mostly of sharp spikes, about human arm's length, which made them look like some weird mixture of a plant, human and a hedgehog.

As I took in all this sight, the kid managed to climb out as well and froze again, shaken and scared. We did not have any time to think about what to do next though, because as soon as he came up to the roof, the floor of the cart started filling with more and more vines and the whole thing started creaking even more, under the weight of the plant. The vines on the roof looked even weaker. Under its weight, and most likely ours, the roof was slowly starting to collapse.

Without much of a choice I grabbed Felix by his fluttering robe and jumped on the ground beside the cart, aiming for the spot that was as far from the roots as possible. Good thing that we managed to get off the roof in time, because as soon as we landed, the vines covering the cart sprung with a new strength, covering all of it, and created a similar looking tangle that I saw everywhere around the caravan, although bigger. As I wondered why there was such a size difference between all others and the one we jumped from, the vines strained, and compressed with an unpleasant crunch, resizing the wagon to a green cocoon, even smaller than others.

The noise and sudden movement of the vines caught the attention of the people fighting the rest of this green mess. Bert noticed us jumping from the roof and looked at us with expression of pure shock and surprise.

Behind him, Goldie was fanatically fighting the plant monsters, chopping them like it was nothing. With his shield out, he was using a fancy longsword, with, you guessed it, a golden dragon head of a hilt, from which, instead of a tongue, was sticking a rune covered blade. Although he was easily chopping down the enemies, with the accompaniment of loud screeches every time he hit, there was no end to them. New ones constantly appeared out of the tangle, and even when he was able to cut them down faster than they appeared, the main growth then started sending its roots toward the group, forcing him to block the blows with his shield. The hooded figures were shooting using their bows, but few of them already ran out of arrows and pulled out daggers, trying to help him somehow, poking at some smaller roots, but without much of an effect.

Bert himself, like his men, was also using a set of daggers, with a bow on his back. In all this mess, he gestured towards us to come closer.

I didn't think that it would be easy, considering all the roots spread around the place, but surprisingly, they did not attack, they didn't even move. I assume that it was thanks to Goldie being a big shiny target in front of us that the plant didn't notice, or, more likely, didn't care about us.

-How the hell did you not get crushed? - he yelled over the screeching noise of the plant.

-No idea! - I yelled back, slowly making my way towards them, trying to avoid all the crap on the ground.

He stepped back a bit and grabbed two swords from the ground, near a pile of chopped down vines, all the time while still looking at Goldie massacring the incoming waves of vines and hedgehog monsters.

-You said you can handle yourself - he said while tossing the swords towards us - then help! You too, kid!

The weapons clattered on the ground, bouncing towards us.

-That's not what I had in mind when I said that… - I said, but picked one anyway. It was a bit chipped, but seemed usable. Not like that would matter to me.

-What? - he yelled back, now stabbing some vines by the side of Goldie.

I sighed and looked at the kid behind me. He also picked up the weapon, but just like me, he looked like he had no idea what to do with himself. We both came to the group and could admire their job from close up.

Exactly as I saw, they easily were able to dispatch enemy after enemy, but the roots that attacked in between were the problem. They were so thick and durable, that even the heaviest attacks of the golden sword were leaving just small scratches on the bark, or whatever else you would like to call the skin of this creature. I did notice though, that the corpses of fallen hedgehog-plants were nowhere to be seen, and after a next wave of vine attacks I noticed something.

Every time they attacked, some smaller vines were also grabbing the corpses and pulling them inside of the amalgamation in the back, I guess where the main part of this thing was.

-Stop standing there and help! - I heard Bert again.

-What did you try against this thing? - I asked, considering my options.

-What do you mean "what did you try"? - he answered, annoyed, still stabbing at some vines that crawled nearby. - We don't really have many options.

-Any magic? - I asked again, fully expecting him to snap at me, but I got surprised yet again.

-I tried. Ice doesn't work on this thing - he replied. - Look.

He pulled out his bow.

It looked a bit plain, but sturdy. It did not have any visible decorations or runes.

-Visinqo lyp hmedou.

As he spoke, the blow started glowing blue.

A frost spell. I didn't expect him to show off his magic like this in the open, considering his threats earlier, but I guess it was a serious situation so I decided I better be quiet.

-Tehu.

As he pulled back the bow's string, which was glowing even more than the wood itself, he conjured a purplish-blue looking arrow. It was steaming a little, thanks to the cold that it was imbued with.

He first shot at one of the vines that was now slamming its weight onto Goldie’s shield.

As he hit the target, the place where the arrow impacted got covered with ice, which quickly spread about one meter in each direction and stopped it's movement for a second. As I was gonna say that he's talking bullshit and ice is clearly working, the vine shuddered, broke through the ice and continued its attack like nothing ever happened.

He then continued his attack, this time at one of the hedgehog-plants that again was coming at us, and then even shot quite a volley at the main plant itself. All of those had a similar effect, maybe even less. Both of those didn't even stop their movement, they broke the ice instantly.

-That is the most I can do - he said, putting the bow back on his back.

-Anyone else with magic? - I asked, hoping to not have to deal with this thing myself. - Fire, preferably.

-No, I am the only person that can cast magic here. If we did, we would've dealt with this thing already?

-Yeah, I was hoping not to…

-I do - we heard from the front.

Both of us stopped talking and turned. It was Goldie. He was apparently listening to us talk while still defending from the monster.

-Can you repeat that one, Caleb?

-I can use fire magic. My sword has some fire runes embedded into it.

He looked completely lost for words. He just stood there, opening and closing his mouth like a fish taken out of the water. After a good while he finally asked:

-So why aren't you using it?

-Why should I? The regular attacks seemed to work and your magic didn't. Weren’t you complaining about that just now? Why would I use something that doesn't work?

-Are you stupid?

That silenced everyone. I know, magic can be difficult at times, but aren’t elemental weaknesses like this just sort of logical? Why didn’t he just try?

-Boy, are you sure that this is the knight you were telling me those stories about? Didn't this guy hire some kind of impostor?

The kid just looked at me, confused.

-Stop insulting me! - Said Bert, slightly offended. - But I don't blame you for this one, I am at a loss for words myself - he added a lot quieter, so only I could hear.

-In any case - he raised his voice back again - use that damn magic then!

-Why? It didn't…

-That is an order.

That shut him up immediately.

-Oletram!

As soon as he spoke, the dragon's mouth on his blade erupted in flames. The strength of the spell caught all of us off guard, especially the sheer size of the flame. It was almost twice the length of the actual blade.

-Happy? - he asked, waving the blade around, spreading flames everywhere.

-Attack the monster, you moron! - said Bert angrily, trying to duck down to not get burned in the process.

Unnecessarily. His control over the magic was impressive. Although he was swinging his blade wildly, he did not set anyone ablaze, not even the grass or trees nearby.

Following his command, Goldie swung at the vines and the hedgehog-monsters in front of us, setting them briefly on fire. Just as they got hit, the humanoid looking thing screeched even louder, but after a second, the flames disappeared without a trace. The monster just stopped for a moment, looking confused, after which, it screamed again, but this time not in pain. This time it sounded like it was angry, and with new vigor it started barreling towards us again.

-Told you, it's useless. - Goldie yelled back to us, trying to stop it again, swinging his blade wildly.

-What are those… - I didn't hear the rest of Bert’s sentence, because it got drowned in an unholy scream.

As we were busy figuring out Goldie’s magic and why it didn't work, the plant didn't wait. All the vines that were around us sprung into action at once and shot towards us all.

After the failure of the other two, I was about to use magic myself, but I was rudely interrupted by some heavy object slamming into me, knocking me down and a few meters away from all the action.

I had to black out for a moment, because the next thing I remember was me being dragged further away by someone. I shook off the impact and managed to stand up, although I still felt the blow in my bones. From what I gathered, all of us were slammed away by a massive root. Goldie was in the heaviest armor, so although he took a brunt of the hit, he was the only one left standing. He absorbed most of the impact, so Bert, me and the kid were left relatively unharmed. He was a few steps behind me, helping the kid to pick himself up from the ground. They all looked battered, but okay.

Sadly you couldn't say that about the rest of the group. They didn't have anyone to take the slap for them, nor the required armor to survive the hit. The remaining people in black were now scattered around the place, limp and unmoving.

The plant itself backed up though, stopped flailing around and started pulling back all of its roots. But as it did, it also was grabbing all the bodies and rubble and dragging them into itself.

If that was not unsettling enough, it also started pulling in the wagon-cocoons.

-That cannot be good - I mumbled, swaying a bit, still wobbly. I almost fell down again, but managed to grab onto Goldie who was standing besides me, still with a flaming sword in his hand. His armor took a beating though, the chestplate was dented and the dragon pauldrons were a bit deformed. His shield no longer reminded a dragon head, it was more like a deformed pug.

-You alright? - he asked me, stabbing the sword into the ground and helping me stand straight again.

-Yeah, I'll manage… - I responded, cursing myself in my thoughts for my indecision and trying to think of a spell that would work at this, apparently fire resistant monstrosity. I thought about using the similar spell I used on the growth back on the island, but I wasn't sure if it would be good enough to bust through its defense.

As I was thinking, I gazed towards Goldie, who now pulled out the blade from the ground and was getting ready for another attempt on the monster. Still burning, the blade easily came out of the grassy ground, leaving almost no trace…

Wait.

No trace? That makes no sense… Even a torch would've made at least a scorch mark on the grass. For a second, a horrifying thought came to me. What if this whole patch of grass we were on was the monster? Resistant to fire and maybe even magic? What can we do then? But that didn't make sense, if that was true, it wouldn't have to attack from the main tangle, it could've just sprouted somewhere under us…

Or…

-Can I see your blade for a second?

Confused, he looked back at me.

-Why?

-I might have figured out how we can kill this thing.

-Oh? Do you have an idea? - asked Bert, interested about my sudden initiative.

-Maybe. That depends on the blade…

-Give it to him.

Goldie, still not very keen on giving up his weapon to someone he knows nothing about, hesitated.

-Come on.

-Fine…

He extinguished the blade and handed it to me. It was a bit lighter than expected, but still a hefty piece of metal. And completely cold.

-What was that spell you used on it?

-Does it really matter right now?

-Yes. A lot, actually.

-I don't think...

-Come on, answer him. I am curious as well, although we don't have much time I am afraid… - interrupted Bert, looking at the monster plant that was still gathering bodies and rubble from all over the place.

He grumbled something under his breath.

-It was not a spell. The blade is enchanted with fire, you just have to recite its name to activate or dismiss the flames - he finally answered. - It also is enchanted that way so it never hurts its user.

-Really… And the name is…?

-You heard it already, didn't you? Oletram. Just don't…

-Oletram!

-Careful! - both of them yelled in unison.

All three, even the kid, jumped back to avoid the flames that sprouted again from the blade.

I waved the blade a bit to see their reaction.

Both Bert and Goldie took a step back, looking annoyed, and the kid hid behind them even.

-When I said it can't hurt the wielder it doesn't mean you can swing it like it's a stick! We are still here, you know?! - shouted Goldie, but did not approach, afraid of the fire probably.

I just looked at all three of them, considering what I should do. Their annoyance seemed genuine, although Bert started looking a bit suspicious about all this farce.

Nevertheless, I decided to play along for a while.

I stopped waving the blade and turned my back to them for a second, hiding the blade. I quickly cut my finger open on it and cast a certain spell on it.

-Geksu, vsinqo do voy lmophu, oletram itvet tmutomu, muyfis itvet izqmufu lek mocisohu, nus.

As expected, the blade heated up and the grass nearby lit on fire. I turned back to face them and stomped the flames with my foot. First step was done.

-See what you've done? - yelled Goldie again, still angry. - Give it back, this instance!

-Right, but before that, I think I know how to kill this thing.

-Then tell us already!

-And it will solely depend on you, Mr. Caleb.

-Of course. "Can take care of myself" my ass! - he exclaimed, annoyed, but changed his tone almost instantly as I handed him the weapon back. - What do I have to do?

-Looks like this thing's skin is resistant to whatever we throw at it, but I'm not so sure about the insides and the core.

-Core?

-Look - I pointed towards the main tangle. - it keeps gathering everything around it and bringing it there. Why? Most likely to use it as a “fertilizer”.

-Disgusting. But if it's fertilizer, why doesn't it drag us in as well? It seems like it lost its interest in us.

-That I am not so sure about. Maybe we are too far? But that's besides the point. Where do you think it's dragging all this to? It's maw or something like that. What would have happened, if it "ate" something like, for example, a corpse with a burning blade wedged into it?

-That's nice and all, but won't it just ignore the body if it's on fire?

-Yes, but that's why we will give it your weapon. You said you just have to call it's name and it will burst in flames.

-I am not sure I can do that…

-Well it's either that or hoping that after it finishes "eating" it will just let us leave, which I find unlikely.

He looked torn, but after a while he made up his mind.

-I will do it. - He extinguished his blade. - But if that does not work…

-I don't think that's how…

-Do you have any better ideas? - I interrupted him. - If not, please just watch. I am sure Mr. Caleb’s blade will kill it with ease. And if you’d be so kind, can you take care of the aftermath?

He just stood there in silence.

As Goldie walked away, he started again with his doubts.

-Look, I don't know how much you know but I am pretty sure enchantments do not work that way. You sent him to his death, didn't you? - he added, lowering his voice, so the kid wouldn't hear me.

-Why didn't you stop me then, if you are worried this much? - I asked, sucking my bleeding thumb.

-I…

-But don't worry he will be fine. Maybe burned a little, but fine.

-I thought he can't be hurt by his own weapon?

-I wonder about that. But for now let's see what happens.

We moved a few steps forward and looked towards the plant.

As Goldie was nearing the center of all this mess, the plant noticed his presence, and sent a bunch of vines his way. Like before, he easily knocked away all its advances with the shield, but this time he didn't retaliate with his sword. Instead he was walking towards one of the roots that was dragging a corpse of one of the horses that were in our caravan. Without any hesitation he stabbed the dead animal right in the neck burying about half of the blade in, and instantly started to back away. The plant didn't care at all and continued doing its thing.

Funnily enough, as he was walking backwards, he extended his hand towards the corpse and the weapon and started chanting something.

Nothing happened, of course.

Noticing that it didn't work, he started chanting again, now louder. And again, now with added arm flailing. Then, even louder, so we could clearly hear him yelling the sword’s name.

-I told you it won't work.

-Muyfis.

-What the…?

-OLETRAM! - just as the sword disappeared inside the tangle of the roots, alongside the cocoons, corpses and other rubble, Goldie screamed one last time on top of his lungs, drowning my voice and the spell.

The blade finally caught on fire. This time though the plant actually lit up, alongside with the surrounding roots. At first the monster didn't react, still pounding on Goldie's shield, but after it started spreading more and more, the plant froze for a moment. Using the opportunity it gave him, he turned around and started running back towards us as fast as his armor let him.

-What the hell was…

-Ask me later. Now we have another problem.

The plant still did not surrender. As the flames spread, it started screeching and flailing wildly. While it wasn't aiming for anything in particular it looked like, the flames that spread onto all of its roots already, started spreading even further to the surrounding trees.

Bert noticed that as well and pulled out his bow again.

-Visinqo lyp hmedou. Vijy.

His bow started glowing again and he shot three frozen arrows, one behind the creature and two in front of it, on both sides.

-Tehuk, lsitlo,lupilvo, moho…

As he chanted, the arrows that landed suddenly grew in size to about two meters long and started glowing with pure white. A white streak, almost like a curtain, shot from each one of them connecting all three, forming a large triangular shape, around the fiery creature.

It was big enough to enclose the whole fire, it was not tall enough. Although the flailing started getting a bit weaker and the vines were turning to ash, the fire spread to some of the canopies anyway.

Goldie, who just reached us, was panting heavily.

-Good job, now keep running and take the kid with you! Bert said he will manage it alone from here.

Luckily, he was too preoccupied with the spell and the toll it took on him to protest.

-Right! - he wheezed and he continued to run along.

As he disappeared behind some trees, now dragging the kid by the hand, Bert finally finished the spell.

-..qsotnu.

What used to be a fence surrounding the fire now collapsed on itself, forming a big, almost see-through prism, with a dull blue shimmer. Inside, the fire still raged, although it slowly started getting smaller, trapped without access to anything new to burn.

-That is a powerful spell - I said as he collapsed to the ground, exhausted. - It's not even starting to melt.

He didn't reply, he was just breathing heavily, slumped on the ground.

-Can you do something to stop the other fire or are you tapped out?

-I am fine. - he stood up, gritting his teeth. - Those are small, it should not be a problem.

-Mhm…

He raised his bow again.

-Visinqo lyp hmedou. Tehu.

Same spell as earlier. He shot a volley of arrows, one towards each canopy that was still on fire that was outside his piramid. The spell was weak, as presented against the creature before, but the frost arrows were enough to stop the fires at their cores.

-Fine shooting - I complimented his work.

-Shut up.