ShipTeaser

  “Right, start spraying!” I ordered Ixitt, who ointing the nozzle of the hose at the area of the tree I had just cleared the fungus from. ks of bark and wood were falling around us, fme energy bzing as we ied what we could. As the tree was quickly and savagely mutited, Asha was letting out moans of pain.

  “Is this necessary?” she gasped, writhing. “My tree, it suffers so!”

  “I’m afraid so, though this is just a hack-job.” I admitted. “The corruption is in way too deep, we only do surface-level maintenance, and we ’t spare the aether for any major healing. We just he tree to st until we get it somewhere safe.” Barrier cream was being sprayed over the tree, c the areas of new growth, as well as older bark we hadn’t touched.

  “Why the barrier solution?” Shaeu asked, still w. Grulgor was busy destroying some pnt-creatures that had been drawn in by our presence, which meant our time was down to the wire here before the Myids noticed. Sure, they were wary of this grove before thanks to the dryad managing to feed so many to the trees here, but when the Observers and Scouts get here, they’ll realise things have ged.

  “Well, it’s mostly to protect our Territory from the spores. I don’t want the tree spreading corruption until we fully heal it. We also o keep the tree from getting worse too.” I tio cmber up the trunk, doing as much work as quickly as I could. Removing the mushrooms, toadstools and visible fungal growths were easy enough, but anything more was beyond us with the extremely limited time we had left.

  “Grul sees puny mushrooms!” he roared, before charging at the Scouts. He threw some metal balls he had been resupplied with, blowing them apart effortlessly, but the spores were spreading, beyond our capacity to stop.

  “Shit, we o hurry this the hell up.” Shaeu and I finished by air-bsting the surface of the giant tree, stripping it bare, snapping off an awful lot of the remaining barren branches by mistake. Asha screamed at that, hunched over, babbling that death might have been preferable to this, but Hyath patted her back solingly, nature energy radiating out from her, strengthening the tree and starting to move the roots.

  “Dooo not wooorry.” Hyath reassured her. “Sadness now just means more joooy ter! Master and mistress are kind! Their hooome is warm. If you grooow there, I shall tend tooo the garden, sweep up all the leaves. Now stand and help Hyath, this tree is toooo heavy!”

  “Yes, it’s too soon to falter.” Ixitt agreed, more and more of the tree covered in the gloopy slime. “We itted quite the effort to this. The materials used here alone… well, you don’t care about that, I get it. But still… pull yourself together, dryad, no, Asha. Fight for the future!”

  “The puny fungi are massing!” Grulgor rumbled, dozens of ps flooding towards the grove from all angles. Arrows were starting to fly our way frers, f me to ter with fire, yellow bsts of fme turning the Myids into living torches. On seeing the fire Asha was even more panicked, naturally afraid of fme.

  “Shaeu, I’ll finish here. Hold them off with Grulgor!” I dropped down and grabbed Ixitt, pulling him and the extending hose up the tree, finishing off the coating. As we did this, Hyath and the terrified Asha were gradually pulling up the roots of the tree, ing them around the trunk. This was causing the tree to list to one side armingly, and Ixitt bit back a curse as I supported him, though he didn’t stop spraying.

  “This is madness, but not something one see every day!” he barked, as we fihe top. It was a rough job, but enough.

  “We ot-not hold for long!” Shaeu shouted, her pinwheels slig though many pnts and their Myid masters. The puppets were also throwing themselves at the endless attackers, achieving little but slowing the adva the cost of their existence.

  “Yeah.” I answered, dropping to the ground, where Ixitt finished spraying the now exposed roots. “We have to move this big bastard right now. At least there’s plenty of ether here…” I drew in the bounty Shaeu and Grulgor had created, elling it all to aether. I also gathered a great amount of earth energy, p it into the ground below us. Ixitt brought out the fan-shaped traption, as well as several rge ed bundles.

  “Grulget the hell over here! We need your strength!” I called out. “Shaeu, do whatever it takes to hold them off!” The fan-shape unfolded into a master-crafted circur pte, with varies inid below, detailed with a little bluesteel and some Dvergr crafts, the wind energy held within starting to awaken, the metal shivering and shaking.

  “Well, this is going to be a damn joy.” I cried. I pulled on a harness from the mysterious bundle, and the strong dwarven-steel wires attached to it were ed around the truck of the tree, the vicious harpoon-like spikes at the end biting deep.

  “I am pierced deep, it hurts!” Asha cried, but I ignored her. Grulgor lumbered back, and I had to use some of my earth energy I was elling uhe tree and towards the ke to jure a thicket of jagged stone spears to fend off the horde, though it only bought us mere moments. Putting on his even more massive harness, Grulgor pierced the tree as well, before rushing back to engage Myid warriors and thorn-bears swarming past the obstru.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck! The entire grove was being surrounded now, the Myids seemingly tired of all the cat-and-mouse we had been pying over the st few days. Their response had been several minutes faster than I had anticipated. Do we retreat? I know we get out alive, though I’d have to abandoree and Asha… Sure this was risky as hell, but I wasn’t suicidal, I was fident that we could break their lines and flee. It was then Ixitt and Hyath, having secured themselves to the tree with metal spikes and wires, began to attack the oning hordes. Ixitt’s heavy shotgun boomed, and several warriors and some pitcher-pnts burst apart, the exploding shells scattering explosive chemicals into the wind that ignited.

  Hyath weas exhausted from p energy into the tree and moving the roots, but even so, she squeezed out all her might and a few tentacles made from vines ripped out of the dead ground, grabbing sers and twisting them. She then bzed with a deep blue darkness, and suddenly the enemies faltered, the ps turning ba the Myids around them, ripping into the Shepherds who died uhorny fangs, cws and tendrils, even as they frantically tried tain trol.

  Ether spilled and I greedily drank it in. I hurled out a wall of Foehn just as Shaeu raced past me, and it caught the onrushing hordes ft-footed, dozens more burning. As she pulled on her harness and looped her wires around the tree, I ighe level-up message I received and exploded the ground uhe Foehn, sending burning stones falling across the battlefront like bzieors. Luckily that side is away from the other dying trees, though I ’t say for sure the fmes won’t spread that way. Anyway…

  I grabbed Asha and linked her to one more set of footholds with binding wires of dwarven steel. The surging tide of earth energy I had worked into the most plicated thing I had ever tried was ready, seeking to escape my trol, so as we started ing under fire from a group of Aquamancers and Terramancers, sers of water gouging the tree and the ground around it, volleys of stone missiles only being deflected by Shaeu, I drew on my aether, as much of it as I could, and worked a miracle I had done several times before, but never on such a scale.

  Okay, so, I worked out five separate things that could g here, but the most likely two are that I ’t lighteree enough, and the sed is that it just topples over and crushes us… Sure, I’d takeions, and the Dvergr entments were supposed to help keep the disk and the great tree upon it banced, but even so, it would e down to us…

  Wele to ten minutes of hell… “Bee lighter! You weigh nothing!” Aether poured from me, the Territory battlirying to deny my authority, and I felt aether draining from me endlessly. Muscles flexing, Grulgor, Shaeu and I all heaved, every ounce of energy poured into our strength. Even so, the tree was too heavy, and I felt pain as impacts started hitting me, a k of stone breaking several of my ribs, even through the mail armour. Fine. I need more. I had brought all my sged Etherites, and the red ones shattered, pumpiher into me. It still wasn’t enough, and the e ones followed. Then the yellow. Just as the green ones were about to crack, the tree lifted, and we smmed it down onto the disk, the fre of wind energy from the rune-enhanced bluesteel sparking into life, Shaeu turning from her efforts to hold back the innumerable foes to p her wind into the disk. Weasel-snakes grew out of it, biting into the trunk, anch it upright, and as I raced to the front, Shaeu and Grulgor beside me, I released my hold on the furiously buildih energies.

  “Run!” I cried, through my voice was drowned out by the explosion as the very earth under us colpsed, washed away by a bination of earth energies and the water I had stolen from the ke, undermining and weakening this se of the hillside. Mudslides were a stant problem in the mountains. I’ve seeermath, lorries and trucks weighing many tons tossed about like toys. So why not replicate that when we o move something colossal?

  Behind us dozens of Myids and their creatures disappeared into the rapidly colpsing ground. The Rank 3 Rhyming Tree lurched, roots ripping free from the ground, though it was at the edge of the chaos so wasn’t washed away. However, as we picked up our pace, running down the slope, the surging tide of mud behind us and uhe tree, the disk surfing on it, using the reduced fri, I had no time to rejoice. Ether was everywhere, fallen trees smming into packed ranks of our enemies, yet in front of us the Myids had formed a battleline, Rangers and ‘Mancers numerous and ready to strike.

  “Foehn!” I cried, and unleashed the hungry bze ahead of us, careful to avoid our direct path. Even so, many foes burned, and I unleashed a sed wave, turning the hillside into a burning hell as we careened down at top speed, far faster than a car on an expressway. Wind was hurled towards us by the Aeromancers, but Shaeu’s Wiing Breath ed it and redirected it, the jured gale hurling many enemies into the fmes. My own wind was rgely being used to keep the disk moving, but I did spare some to feed the Foehn, once more exploding the ground with my dwindlih energies as we passed the fmes, turning them into fiery shotgun-bsts that pierced through the enemies like fming knives. Seriously, since my chakra work was enhanced and all my chakras dealing with the elements went up by a rank, I’ve been many times stronger. I'd have run dry long ago before.

  I was still putting most of my tration into keeping the tree light (though even with all my will I had only mao keep it at about a third of what it actually weighed), the aether I ulling in barely keeping up with the strain. Grulgor was able to attack, his mace cleaving through all in his path, his armoured body hammering through anything that tried to block him as he pounded down the slope at full tilt. Shaeu was using her pioo, though she had already actally caught the Rhyming Tree a few times, putting fairly savage gouges irunk, but even so, I was very gd we went with the harness idea, keeping our hands free for battle. Hyath was using what remaining darkness energy she had to fuse reinforts that were ing, her dregs of nature energy poured into the tree to keep it as healthy as possible, while Ixitt tio empty all his ammunition, as well as throwing out explosive potions, blowing holes in the enemy ranks.

  And Asha? Well, she screamed a lot, writhed around and fainted. It’s a good job we anchored her to the tree, but she’s going to have one hell of a set of bruises whe out of this. I found myself grinning, w if maybe this was how Tyr got started, doing seemingly impossible tasks. After all, in some mythologies, the gods were mortals once, heroes usually. I don’t think hology is like that, but who is to say what we know is true? Pulling out my pistols I began to shoot, emptying the ammunition, sniping various ‘Mancers, prioritising the earth ones, who were starting to grow forests of earthen spikes in our path. Increasing my pace, as I was holding my speed to the slowest of us, which was Grulgor, (though when Grulgor put his mind to it he could still outrun a car, especially while his earthen energy was strong), I holstered my pistols and used my Twin Fangs to sweep through, slig the spikes. I was running so fast that I ierced in several pces, my mail failing, broken links scattering, and even the rubber protective suit tore.

  Blood scattered, and I felt the burn of the spores entering my body. The pain was bad, but as long as I had aether I’d be fine. Oh wait, I’m using my aether lightening the tree. Greeherites shattered, and now all I had left was my precious blue one. Even so, the influx was enough to keep my Ether Healing tig.

  This is crazy! Ign the pain, I tio charge, the tree boung behind us on the mudslide, corpses of many enemies washed down behind us. Turning, I looked behind us to see a strange Myid that I hadn’t seen before. It was rger thahers, tall, wiry limbs making it almost as rge as Grulgor, and it had a vivid purple head, with tendrils dangling down like jellyfish fronds.

  Myid Sporecaster [Noble Dark Fae] huh? The first noble Myid I’ve seen. And it deals with spores? That one has to go down. Seeing Ixitt and his exploding shotgun rounds, I put into py my version of it, using what dregs of power I could spare. I formed several rge stone bullets, but they were hollow. Within I poured a trickle of Foehn, before ung the shells with wind. The Sporecaster saw them ing and made to dodge, but the Foehhrough the thin rod sprayed down like a burning drizzle. The Sporecaster caught fire, the thick spores around it igniting, and soon it toppled, joining the ndslip in boung down the slope.

  The sed the Sporecaster fell, the nearby Myids stopped their assault, seemingly fused. I filed away that information for ter, as we had nearly reached the ft part of the trip, where we would be relying on momentum and the work Bjarki had done on the disk-sled device. The metal was already starting to smoke, stressed beyond reasonable limits. “Ixitt, send up the fre!” I ordered, and he pulled out a device that sent a brilliant ball of crimson light above the rotting treeline and into the sky. We could see the border clearly now, but as we hit the ge from a slope to a ft gradient, the disk tipped, the tree lurg, tilting armingly.

  Asha took that moment to wake up, finding herself staring at the ground, the tree still flying forwards. She promptly fainted again. “Damn, I thought this might happen. To be ho I’m amazed we made it this far without i.”

  Dropping back behind the tree, I activated my Crude Body Enha, magnifying my strength. Shaeu helped, pulling at the straining wind-weasels with further olivine energy, their fangs tearing into the wood as the iable force of gravity worked, even here. Still, it slowed the fall enough that I could wrench the tree back upright, the strain and my skill ravaging inside my body, blood trig from my ears and mouth. Yeah, why the hell don’t I have a gravity element? That would make this damn easy!

  Smming aside ehe weight of the tree shattering the intervening obstacles, we left the forest, speeding across the grassnds. The ndslip petered out, leaving us relying on the rapidly disiing disk for the st few metres. As we passed the Fae Stohe Territory barrier allowed us passage, which was ahing I worried about, sihe tree was tainted, and in front of us the trench lurked, surrounded by the four Kamaitachi.

  “Wind, now!” I gasped, f my tortured body forwards. Still, my stats were higher than ever, so my body was slowly healing even without Ether Healing. Mud spttered as we ran faster, pushing our limits, now free to trate just on moving the tree as my aether depleted, the tree starting tain its weight. Emerald and jade winds surged, Shaeu, me and the Kamaitachi p all of our remaining esseo the disk, boosting it far beyond its structure could handle. Bluesteel sparked away in puffs of green light, but the sudden lift from the wind, coupled with our rapid forward motiohe great tree surfing along the el of carefully prepared mud, with just the right viscosity to have minimal fri. Yeah, a water element to create ice would have been eveer…

  We could see the mansion in the distanow, as well as our destination, the elemental energies that powered the Faerie Ring Gate rising into the sky. At the pace we were running, it would only be a minute or so, but could we hold on that long? We were slowing as the tree fought my dwindliher, as without Myids to top up with, I was just about dry. It was then that Asha opened her eyes again, blinking blearily as though everything was but a bad dream. For a moment she was fused, before she realised she was outside the tainted forest, beautiful, living trees oher side of the el.

  “I’m… I’m free?” She whispered, watg the greenery whip past. “So many living trees. So muature!”

  “Not yet.” I grated, coughing up more blood, my body overtaxed. “We have to get you rooted, theaminated, lest you affect the surrounding nd. So hang on tight, as this is going to be a bumpy nding!” the disk was melting, even the Dwarven steel enhanced by Bjarki uo hahe strain. Five hundred metres. Four huhree. Two. One… “Here we go!” I cried, as we smmed into one of the giant mushrooms that made up the Ring Gate, before careening ihe ruby curtain swallowing us up…

  ********

  Oher side we tumbled out, the disk catg the ground and shattering, the metal finally giving way. Still, I was baow, so I pulled in a signifit amount of ether from my silo, momentarily arresting the flight of the tree, sending it smming into the ground amidst the ruby flows of earth energy that stantly exhaled from the grounds of the shrihe moment it tilted armingly once more, but Grulgor, Shaeu and I all smmed into it, holding it steady, our feet slowly being pushed back, digging furrows in the ground.

  “Root it, get the roots in!” I cried. Hyath was already w, the roots ing free from the trunk, burrowing into the ground, and at my cry Asha responded, closing her waterlogged eyes and maniputing the Rhyming Tree that was her other body. A crowd was gathering at our rather dramatitrance, a massive fifty-metre tall tree surging through the gate. Ulfuric was there, and when he saw Shaeu unhurt, he showed an expression of relief. “Stay back, it may well not be safe!” he rumbled, the white so use their earth element to pile up rod mud, keeping the tree upright while it was sunk into the hill and the rich wellspring of elemental earth, and having the weaselkin mages maintain a dome of air around the gateway and us, preventing ination.

  Desperately exhausted, I crashed to the ground, Shaeu beside me. Even Grulgor, with his seemingly inexhaustible stamina was defeated, dropping his heavy mace with a meaty thud. Ixitt undid his restraints and hopped down, followed by Hyath. We then released Asha. As she reached the ground she bent down, reag for the growing grasses, wanting to touature, but her hands were covered in rubber. She went to take them off, but I staggered to my weary feet aed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Sorry, we have to remove all the tainted spores and seeds first, the corruption, from you and your tree. But that’ll have to wait. I think we are about done for now, I’m exhausted…" We o go back for those other two trees too, if we . Although if not… well, we did good anyway.

  I colpsed again, starting to work Ether Healing. Shaeu joined me, healing my injuries, and I smiled. “Anyway, I believe I’ve kept my promise, right? Soon we’ll purify both you and your tree. It’s only a matter of time.” Feeling the burn of satisfa at an impusible act of heroism pleted, I grinned. It wasn’t as reckless as it seemed, as we have nullified the Myids’ most potent on, so if we were prepared to abandon Asha I’m certain I could have got everyo safely, Shaeu at the least, even in the worst-case sario. But even so, I’m living up to the kanji that makes up my oday!

  My Eye fred and I trated on my Territory. The tree was now listed. It was a Corrupted Earth Rhyming Tree Rank 5 Special, so when we purified it… damn, the ether. So much ether will be ours, to say nothing of the strengthening of the earth elements aher around here… Suddenly my many internal injuries didn’t seem to hurt so much, and I pulled Shaeu down for a hug, not g atg…