“Treants.”
Jaeger said the word with finality in his voice. He'd only fought one, but that had been more than enough to show him the strength of the tree people. As if summoned by his voice, a treetop crested the hill, swaying slowly as it grew taller. With each passing moment, more of the creature was revealed, and the first of the Swords treant’s made itself known.
A dark, sickly green tree with withered leaves and twisted, gnarled limbs. The treant had a face-like feature near the center of its trunk, a thing of rage that showed nothing but blind hatred for the world. A split in its trunk formed legs, each ending in twisted, spiky roots, and long, splintered branches served as arms. Jaeger could imagine that it had once been a strong old tree, but now it seemed like a dead thing.
“That is a corrupted treant. I cannot fathom how the Swords have managed this.” Emilia said.
They watched the lumbering steps of the corrupted treant, slowly moving toward the group. Its unseeing eyes were fixed on the group, its plodding pace seemingly inevitable and unstoppable. They had time to prepare for what was to come, and Jaeger hoped that with more people, this fight wouldn't be like his last one. That’s when two more had appeared treants appeared behind it.
“Does it matter that they are corrupt?” Jaeger asked.
“Yes, they are now creatures of death and their magic will reflect that. Be careful not to get hit, if an attack breaks your skin, it could be fatal.” Troy said. “An old forest elf mentor told me about corrupted treants, called them an affront to nature. He said that they are stronger in death. But they are no longer fully sentient, now guided by dark impulses and instincts. Corruption drains them of their vitality, so they're also dried up, he said fire would cleanse them.”
Emilia nodded in agreement.
“He is correct; I would add that the leader of the Swords most likely has some method of controlling them. That would explain most of what happened here.”
Jaeger turned to her with a questioning look.
“I have had time to think about our first encounter with these bandits, combining it with the information you provided about your interaction with the Guardian. I believe that the corruption of the Treants is either the reason the Swords were denied further access to Greenwood, or it was done in retaliation.” She looked around before grabbing a torch from a pile near the fire. “But it does not matter. What matters is to clean up these treants and kill the bandit leader. Grab a torch and follow me.”
Torch in hand, she moves toward the approaching treants. The adventurers each grab a torch, Brad grabbing two and passing one to Jaeger, then follow her. Jaeger puts the torch in his storage bag and hurries to catch up to Emilia.
“What’s the plan?”
“Simple, we will burn and turn. Sivly and Troy will be the main torchbearers, as Sivly's magic is ineffective against the treants and Troy's tricks are the same. While they burn the treants, Brad and I will keep them safe, diverting the enemy's focus away from them and attacking any wounded treants.”
“And me?”
“Your part is simple, kill the bandit leader. If he falls first, the treants will lose all cohesion and be much easier to defeat. I would do this myself, but this is your contract, so I wanted to give you the first shot.”
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Emilia showed the first bit of emotion since he'd met her, and it was anger. She was angry that she wouldn't be the one to take a shot at the leader, but professional enough to give up the chance. Jaeger found himself respecting the stoic woman.
Any questions Jaeger had would have to wait, because as they'd moved forward, so had the Treants, and now the great, corrupted arboreal assault force stood a good charge away from them. As Brad moved forward beside Emilia, Jaeger dropped back to a better position, keeping an eye out for the Swords leader.
The treants stood across from them, motionless as a ghostly grove, until an unseen sign came and they howled. It was an eerie sound, the dry crackling of wet wood that seemed to become the death howl of something primal and foresty; it paralyzed bounty hunter to hear it. That must have been their plan, for as they howled, the treants charged. Where their earlier walk had been plodding and steady, their charge was swift and tumultuous, like a landslide. It was met by something equally swift, but many times steadier.
“Lion’s Pride!”
A jovial and fierce shout rang out, accompanied by an almost physical sensation. Something ran through Jaeger, shaking him from his paralysis and filling him with a sense of power and courage. He clenched his axe and searched for the source of this power. Brad stood in front of the group, his torch blazing with a golden flame and his shield firmly in place. Somehow he'd gotten ahead of the others and used a skill to strengthen them, standing before them as a bulwark against their enemies.
Whether inspired by the man's skill or simply his size, Jaeger moves to stand at Brad's side. Once there, he pulls out his torch and uses his magic to ignite it. Jaeger's flame is a brilliant mix of purple and silver, each color vying for supremacy. He is soon joined by Emilia, Troy, and Sivly, each holding a torch that burns a different color. Emilia's burned a bright green that seemed calm, but jagged edges popped out every now and then. Troy's burned white, like a star fallen from the sky, and Sivly's was a frozen flame, pale blue with an icy white core.
“I am glad you have all recovered, now we fight!” Brad shouted before he rushed out to meet up with the nearest Treant.
The treant, seeing his charge, turned to meet him, never slowing its landslide run. Its body was clearly not made for such a move, but even as it weebled and wobbled, it did not fall down. As they came within range, the treant lowered its hands, forming a wooden, jagged ram, in response Brad positioned his shield to meet it, and with a ground-shaking crack, they struck.
The force behind their encounter was so great that both Brad and the treant were thrown back. As he flew back, Brad slammed the edge of his shield down to slow himself. When he regained his footing, he turned back to the treant, which had taken the worst of their exchange, toppling over thanks to its unbalanced weight. He struck the flame of his torch against his shield twice before charging the fallen treant. His speed wasn't half as fast this time, but there was a momentum building as each step brought him closer and closer.
“Imperial Advance!”
As he moved, he seemed to become not one, but ten, then twenty, then thirty, soon he seemed to move not as a man, but as an army. When he reached the tree, he struck it.
His golden torch slammed down, smashing the trunk, and his face filled with hatred, the golden flame strike mirrored by the army around him. As he struck the treant, so did the army, and the effect was instantaneous; flames ran across the treant's bark, coating its entire body. It howled, this time without the foul magic that gave it power, and flailed wildly.
Its blows fell impotently against Brad's shield. Each blow was met and countered by the Imperial Warrior. He was single-handedly dealing with one of the treants, and as Jaeger watched, he felt the earlier inspiration flow through him. He was not normally a man given to battlefield heroics, but something in him was. He was not the only one. Emilia had a look of determination on her face. She took a deep breath, pulled out a metal flask from deep inside her coat, popped the lid and swallowed the contents. She shook her whole body a few times, bounced twice, and then spoke.
“The plan has changed, we will split up and handle one treant each. Brad will handle this one, Troy with me, Sivly with Jaeger.”
Emilia charged the left-most treant, Troy hot on her heels. Jaeger locked eyes with Sivly, exchanged a nod, and they ran for the rightmost treant. Unable to match Brad's display of power, their methods of attack were quite different.
