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Around the downed tree's base, dark forms writhed.
Its roots moved. Wide and sluggish where they joined the huge knot at the tree's trunk, their tapering bulk bent and curled like earth-stained serpents upon the ground. Two wormed their way along the trunk and into the bulk to the birch's leaves.
Chap had so fully focused on the toppling birch that he had not seen its roots come alive. One of them must have struck him down. He squirmed on the ground, trying to get up.
Wy
Wy
Her left leg snapped straight, and her back flattened against the ground.
Something curled and twisted up Wy
Leaves dangling against her face turned blue-white as her mantic sight surged up.
Lily's howl pierced Wy
Abomination! Sick thing that spies on us. Your taint rises in your flesh.
The grip on her leg jerked hard, and Wy
Wy
Before Wy
It burned with a brilliance she had seen before, but only when she had looked upon Chap with her mantic sight.
Flowing blue-white wormed back and forth through the wood, as if alive and willful.
You hear us… listen to what is not for a mortal to know. Now you see us, yes? And you should not!
Leaves above Wy
One of the majay-hi snatched her tunic's shoulder with its teeth.
Chap heard Lily howl and then saw Wy
Three dogs dove into the tree's bulk as the dark elder spun out in the clearing. He wove back and forth before the thrashing roots. Chap called to his kin.
Stop! You are discovered, but harming a mortal will change nothing.
Clinging dirt scattered from the roots as they rose in the air. One came down hard, rolling along the ground toward Chap.
He scuttled aside as the root lashed the earth, and mulch sprayed across his body.
The dark elder rushed in. His jaws snapped sharply over the root's narrow end and severed through it.
Chap's panic washed away in growing rage. His kin would not listen to him, and they tried to take Wy
One root rose high into the night. It lashed over backward into the mass of the downed tree. Leaves exploded upward under a clatter of snapping branches and a screeching yelp.
The root gripping Wy
Three of the pack had gone in after Lily and Wy
Chap rushed toward Wy
Now you injure your own children who took flesh long ago? It is you who have lost your way!
Wy
He ripped hard, shredding it with his teeth. Another root arched upward from the tree's base, and he whirled to grip Wy
The root arced downward as Lily appeared beside him. She took hold of Wy
He rushed into the open clearing before the tree's exposed base. He ground his paws through the scattered leaves and rooted himself amid the whirling wind.
No more will suffer for your hidden schemes.
He felt the elemental surge of Earth and Air, the moisture of Water within them, and even Fire from the heat of his own flesh. They mingled with Spirit from his own body as he closed on his kin.
Wy
She cowered for an instant at the sight of the tree's roots writhing in the air. Beyond Chap, the pack elder and two more majay-hi made quick darting passes as they taunted the roots. Each dog was two overlaid images in Wy
The whiter essence of the Fay moved like shifting vapors within that dark-stained wood. And Chap was the only singular form Wy
One whole shape, glowing with brilliance.His fur glistened like luminous threads of white silk in the moonlight, and his eyes scintillated as if holding a light of their own.
And the light of him began to burn.
Wy
Trails of white mist rose from Chap like vapor in the shape of flames. Wy
The pack elder and his companions pulled up short. They backed away with their eyes on Chap. The roots in the air quivered in hesitation, and then one cracked downward.
Wy
In a burning blur, he leaped out of its path. The root hit the earth, and Wy
Through the white mist of his form, she thought she saw his jaws close upon the arching root.
And the light of his body flashed.
Wy
I will tear you… rend you… I will swallow down your severed pieces into nothing!
Wy
But Chap was the only thing moving.
If you come again for me or mine…I will come for you!
Slowly Wy
The gnarled ball of the birch's base towered before him, but its roots extended in stillness as if the tall tree had just toppled. No hint of wind stirred the stray leaves fluttering to the ground.
Chap stood rigid, as Wy
His kin were gone.
Chap felt the vibrancy slowly fade from his body. He had turned on his own kind. He could taste them like blood in his mouth.
No, not his kin.Not anymore.
He wanted no more of them. They cared nothing for the lives they toyed with in silent schemes for a world they claimed was theirs. They would sacrifice those he had come to care for-all for some purpose they would not share with him.