The Ten Guardians: The Mother Tree©

Chapter Six

              Grey woke to the sound of Jareth and Izreea whispering fiercely to one another. Something was clearly happening, so Grey bounced to her feet, looking like a glowing ball of energy as her runes flared into life.

“What’s wrong,” she asked as she looked around the campfire, her eyes blazing with electricity.

Jareth and Izreea were dressed for the day, and it looked as if one of them had been putting their bedrolls away and the other had started breakfast for everyone. Both tasks were partially finished and abandoned. They stood by the campfire and stopped whispering as they turned towards Grey. They both had gotten used to her runes flaring with her mood swings, and their appearance didn’t surprise them. Drock was standing as if he had been told to stop the ground from moving in one specific spot, his head bouncing between staring at Izreea and the magical fire at its center.

“Jonathan is gone, and it looks like he didn’t sleep here last night,” Izreea explained.

“Yes, and for some reason, he took my staff but left his here,” Jareth said as he held up the dark red staff with dark blue runes along its side.

Grey was undoubtedly not as mature and collected as Colson, the only other human guardian. However, she still possessed the ability and knowledge of a demi-god, even if she didn’t realize all that she knew. She couldn’t explain why, but with the information she had been given, she knew that Jonathan was at the Elder Tree.

She looked up at the Elder tree, beautiful and majestic in the light of dawn. Without a word, she started walking in that direction, her runes alive as she harnessed its powers, thrilled at the feel of it. As she reached Jonathan’s ring of wards, she didn’t bother slipping past them, which would have involved a diversion in her attention. She continued walking through the barrier, and a ring of lightning exploded through every stone in a bright circle around the camp, destroying the runes and starting small brush fires around the campsite. Grey didn’t feel anything and kept walking, her eyes fixed on the tree.

Jareth muttered angrily as he activated the runes of ice on the staff, a deep blue, almost black power, and slammed the staff into the ground. Cold air flowed outward like a ring from Jareth, suffocating the fires, before returning to the staff. Jareth shook his head in frustration as he and Izreea set off at a trot to catch up to Grey, who was moving quickly with her inhuman stamina. Jareth was surprised she even needed sleep.

The couple caught up to Grey at the base of the Elder tree, where she was staring at Jonathan. He was kneeling with one hand placed on the tree and the other sticking directly into the air, holding the staff empowered with green life runes. His eyes were closed, and he breathed like he was sleeping. The active green runes of the staff in his hand glowed brightly, clearly working to do something. There were roots from the Elder tree bulging from the ground all around Jonathan, encircling him protectively. Smaller roots were sticking out of the larger ones to support his body, cradling him so he was not uncomfortable from his awkward sleeping position.

Although the roots were supporting Jonathan’s arm, holding the staff in the air, there was a mound of dirt with a clump of grass pushed into the air to touch the bottom of the staff. This connection to the earth, and a living plant, was probably renewing the energy of the staff’s runes, but the party thought it was odd that the roots were not touching the staff itself.

“He’s alive and looks healthy enough, leave him for a moment,” Izreea said softly, her mouth hanging open as she craned her neck back to look up at the marvel before her.

The tree was even taller now than it had been the night before. Its leaves were easily as large as a person, and its canopy felt as large as the entire castle of Dule Van. The trunk was so large it looked almost flat from the side they were facing, its curve barely visible. Its bark looked like strips of twine had been flattened and layered on its surface, crisscrossing until the softer wood beneath was completely covered and protected.

Grey approached Jonathan with an outstretched hand, perhaps to shake him awake, but Izreea’s voice stopped her.

“I know he can be annoying, but there’s no need to cook him in his sleep.”

Grey turned back to Izreea with a confused look, then looked down at her hands, covered in runes of power. She knew she should be able to control if they shocked Jonathan, even when activated, but she didn’t trust herself yet. She closed her eyes for a moment, mentally resetting herself and calming her heart and nerves. The runes faded away as she continued to Jonathan’s side.

The larger roots shifted aside for Grey as she approached Jonathan’s side, but the smaller ones continued to hold up his body. She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him, gently trying to wake him by calling his name, but he didn’t stir. She looked back at Jareth and Izreea and held her hands wide to indicate it wasn’t working.

“Let me see what I can find out by scanning him,” Izreea said while resisting the urge to walk around the tree, intent on exploring every inch of it.

She crossed her arms and removed the scythes from her hips. Izreea’s scythes held the power of several major runes, except for lightning, as it was destroyed in the battle with the previous Guardian of Lightning. She kept it on the white runes for healing emergencies, only switching them when the situation called for it. The runes glowed as she connected with them. She had been trying to avoid magic use in general, but the situation warranted its use.

She let out a long sigh of frustration at her brother-in-law before she placed the scythes against his back. She thought of using the points of the scythes instead of the blunt back of the curve but changed her mind at the last second. Even though she could have healed him with the runes after, she didn’t want to poke the bear just yet. She would first see what he had gotten himself into, then dig her claws into him.

The moment she touched his body, she had to stumble to catch herself and would have fallen if Jonathan hadn’t caught her. He helped her regain her balance, then quickly stood aside, knowing she was probably angry at him and wanting her to let her look around before she went on a tirade against his ineptitude. She intended to give him a good tongue lashing, but his plan worked, and she found herself staring around the featureless expanse of green-tinged nothingness instead. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked around, recognizing where she was from and the legends and prophecies of her people.

“Jonathan … this is the Great Road … this isn’t possible.”

“That which was lost has been found. Rejoice tree-speaker!” a voice declared from all around them.

Her joy was almost overwhelming as she felt the voice of the Elder tree in the air around her. She was witnessing prophecy fulfilled, only …

“Wait, wait, wait! The reopening of the Great Road, the restoration of the Elder trees, the prophecy marked to connect all the people of the earth … it’s about YOU?!”

Jonathan stared at her like an animal frozen in terror, eyes wide, unsure how to respond.

“Well, I didn’t know about any prophecy! I just followed … my … heart,” Jonathan said softly, his voice trailing off as he realized what was coming out of his mouth.

“Jonathan, that may have been the sincerest moment we have ever shared,” Izreea said with mixed emotions.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” he retorted halfheartedly.

The voice of the Elder tree laughed around them before speaking again. “Ah, how I have missed talking to mortals. I wish we could converse longer, tree-speaker, but your friends are growing restless with your absence. Do not worry. We shall meet again soon.”

Instantly, Izreea and Jonathan returned to their bodies. There was an enclosure of massive roots encircling them, blocking out the sun and Jareth and Grey, but after a moment, the earth started to shift as the roots withdrew into the ground. As the edge dipped down low enough for them to see over them, they saw Jareth and Grey looking as if they were about to battle another guardian. Grey was glowing, and the air around her was popping from the static. Jareth had the dark red staff in his hands, their deep blue ice runes alive with power. The air between them was starting to glow as they combined powers, somehow mixing lightning and ice in an attack that would have certainly caused damage to the elder tree.

As soon as they saw the two emerging from the roots, they released their magic, causing the energy and runes to fade. Static and cool air flowed past everyone as the ball of energy dissolved. Grey crossed her arms and gave Jonathan a scathing look, but he ignored it as he ran up to her excitedly and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to the side of the tree.

“I need your help, all of your help,” he said with excitement as he dragged Grey to the side of the tree and motioned for Jareth and Izreea to follow.

Grey seemed agitated at his grip and would typically have thrown him away from her, but there was something familiar about the excitement in his voice. They had many classes together in their youth in Bree, and his mannerisms were that of a scientist making an important discovery. She let go of her inhibitions and let herself be dragged, smiling slightly at the reminder of her past. The tree’s roots were buried again, and an aura of excitement hung around the tree. The tree’s leaves rattled, reminding them that it was aware of what was happening.

“Jonathan, what’s going on?” Izreea asked as Jonathan put his hands on her shoulders and moved her into position next to Grey.

Jonathan ignored her as he grabbed his brother’s shoulders and moved him into place, then took up his own position. They were standing in a circle next to the tree, with Jonathan closest to the trunk. Jareth was to his left, Izreea to his right, and Grey across from him.

“Jonathan! What is-” Izreea began to ask again loudly, but Jonathan loudly cut her off.

“Please, Izreea!” He paused for a moment before proceeding with a softer but passionate tone. “I have been talking about it all night long. I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to do it and move on. I don’t like how different this place makes me feel … like I’m happy and soft and … not me.”

“Maybe it brings out the best in you, Jon,” Jareth said supportively.

Jonathan gave his brother a slight glare and a noncommittal shrug in response.

“Alright. Action now, talk later. What do you need our help with?” Grey asked bluntly. She was excited about something new and wanted them to get on with it.

Jonathan did not wait for anyone else to delay what had to be done. “We have to make every element with only our runes from the weapons Life gave us and what we have within us. Then we link them in a chain, then touch the tree for a while. That’s it.”

“But wha-“ Izreea tried to say something.

“No ‘buts’! No word! Just listen! Izreea, switch the scythe in your right hand, the one pointing at Grey, to the green life runes. Make the runes summon water, but just enough to cover the scythe. It will use a lot of energy to summon a different element, but we only need it for a few moments, and life runes can summon water runes far easier than any of the others on your weapons. Make your left scythe show fire runes and point it at me. Jareth, make ice form on both ends of your staff and point one end at me and the other at Grey. Grey, all you have to do is activate your runes and flow as little lightning as you can into their weapons. Now the tricky part is that Grey must touch her energy to Izreea’s water-covered scythe after all the rest of us touch our elements. NO BUTS OR WHYS! Do you understand?” he asked the group collectively while scanning each in turn. They all nodded that they understood.

A grim look came on Izreea’s face as she began to suspect why she had to touch Grey’s scythe last. If there were a bad interaction, lighting would funnel into her body. As a precaution, she quickly created lightning wards around her abdomen and was ready to remove herself from the circle the moment something appeared to go wrong.

“Okay. One at a time, starting with Izreea and me, then in a circle to my left. Go!” Jonathan shouted as he activated the green runed staff and touched one side of it to Izreea’s fire runed scythe.

There was an instant reaction as the energy of fire and life began to push against one another. The smell of burnt wood drifted with smoke on the end of the staff, but Jonathan ignored it. He touched the other end of the staff to Jareth’s staff, causing the power of life and ice to push against each other as well. Sickly blackness began to bubble like sap on that end of the staff in Jonathan’s hand as part of his body began to flicker. Half of his body closest to Jareth transformed into the half/lich he had been when taking control over Jareth’s body, representing the power of death.

Jareth was surprised by Jonathan’s partial transformation but knew they couldn’t stop now. He swallowed his questions and touched the other end of the ice staff to Grey’s outstretched hand, and the same adverse reaction happened between the two energies. The heat of the lightning began to melt the ice and boil it, creating a wall of steam between the two of them, representing the power of wind. Grey then reached her other hand out and gingerly touched Izreea’s scythe with as little energy as she could summon. Instead of an adverse reaction, there was a positive one. The lightning raced along the water-covered scythe, but Jonathan was ready. He let go of the staff with one hand and touched the tree behind him at the exact moment Grey had touched Izreea’s scythe.

The circle was complete, the link formed, and harmony achieved. All of the elements stopped resisting one another and began to form links as if they were the same element, swirling in unison around one another like braids in a rope. The smoke and blackness on Jonathan’s staff receded, and the staff was unharmed. Where Jareth and Grey touched, the steam was pulled into the interaction and intertwined with the other elements in the braid.

The energy then began to flow in a circle through them, interlacing their arms and weapons and mixing like ingredients in a bowl. They all noticed a dark thread of energy being pulled from Jonathan as his half-lich persona faded. A similar thread of orange flowed from Grey, representing time, catching everyone except Jonathan off-guard. White and purple threads flowed from the sunlight and shadows around them, and last of all, a brown thread came from the tree through Jonathan’s arm to join in the circle. Then the energy left the spinning circle and funneled into the tree behind them.

Everyone began to relax, but Jonathan shouted suddenly. “Don’t break the circle!” He continued holding onto the tree and his staff.

The energy returned from the tree and spun through their joined circle once again, but it seemed amplified somehow. Jonathan let go of the tree behind him but held the circle as the energy moved from their arms into the center of their circle. It grew in size, and the air whipped around them in torrents. When they thought they would be blown away, the energy formed into a streak of brilliant white light, and the wind faded.

Standing among them was the soul of a guardian in its true form as a being of light.

“Say hello … to Stein … the Guardian of Stone,” Jonathan managed to get out haltingly, panting from the exertion.

---