The Ten Guardians: The Mother Tree©

Chapter Nineteen

              Jaya woke to the sense of a presence nearby and was trying to decide how to react. She held perfectly still on her bedroll, controlling her breathing and trying to mask her consciousness. The entire camp was asleep except for Myrum, seated by the fire, deep in her thoughts. Sparrow and Lone Wolf were still on the top of the hill, and Jaya assumed Myrum did not want to sleep until her newest love interest had returned to the camp.

Myrum was quite an attractive kanidian, tall and strong with rare white patches of fur, and she usually had a suitor or two wherever they traveled among their people. Jaya didn’t think much of their blossoming romance and assumed it would pass in time. Much like Grey and Jonathan’s exciting but predictably temporary relationship. Their scars brought them together, but their differences will drive them apart. At least, that was her opinion based on hundreds of years of experience. They needed one another at the moment, but eventually, it will end.

Whatever the presence was that she had felt, it had not made itself known intentionally. Jaya could sense it, observing the camp, and that it was close, but did not feel threatened. That didn’t mean she had time to react before it caused damage should it prove hostile, but it did help with her anxiety over the situation. She still needed to quickly evaluate what she was sensing and react accordingly.

Jaya made the softest noise in the back of her throat, in a pitch that only kanidians or guardians could hear, but she carefully controlled the sound so it was soft enough that only those within a few feet of her could hear it. Just in case the presence she felt could pick up the noise, she repeated it several times at intervals, mimicking a soft snore. She immediately felt Myrum shuffle in her seat by the fire, which she hid by stifling a yawn and stretching.

“Good girl, that was well done,” Jays thought. She now knew that Myrum was alerted that they were being observed, and since she was already awake, she could use her eyes to discretely scan the environment. Jaya continued to feel the area around them without altering her sleeping pattern, trying to remember where she had felt this particular entity before. She knew she had felt its likeness in the past, but the memory wouldn’t come to her.

After several minutes of Myrum discretely looking around, pretending to be deep in thought, she carefully moved some of the logs off the fire, pulling them away from the hot center as if she was dimming the light to go to sleep. She found the small container the camp used for drinking water and slowly ladled herself a drink, using the action to conceal a quick scan of the forest with the lower lighting. Her eyes were better than human eyes in the dark, but it was still hard to see past the shadows cast by the fire.

After her drink, Myrum came to her bedroll near her grandmother and removed her weapons as if preparing for sleep. She placed them away from her, far enough away that she wouldn’t appear to want them close, making sure the distance was observable to anyone watching her. Then she laid down on her side facing Jaya, which placed her in a position to see into the woods around that half of the camp. The other half of the camp faced the hill with the fallen Elder tree at its top. No woods were on that side of the camp, just sparse bushes and small trees. The likelihood of someone watching them from that direction was remote, although not impossible.

The camp had a ring of ward stones around it, like every night, and whoever was watching them was outside that ring. Jaya suspected that the wards themselves were what signaled that they were being watched. Lone Wolf had been the one to set the wards, but he was not within the circle currently. Jaya wasn’t sure why she could feel them, as typically, their creator was the one that sensed disturbances, but she wasn’t going to complain about the forewarning.

Grey and Jonathan had combined their bedrolls outside the camp, closest to the woods. Grey was asleep in Jonathan’s arms, and her protective runes glowed faintly as she unconsciously extended them to wrap around them both in their sleep. This comforted Jaya as she felt they were protected from any surprise attack so that she could put their safety aside.

Jareth and Izreea were on the other side of the camp, putting Jaya and Myrum in the center. Stein was still inactive at the head of their camp near the fire, looking like a stern and lifeless statue. Lone Wolf claimed he only needed three hours of sleep a night and always slept squatting down on his legs away from the camp, his weapon in his arms. His anatomy, training, and stamina were truly incredible, and they heavily relied on him for guard duty. Sparrow’s bedroll was near the fire as he seemed to prefer the heat.

Since her back was facing the woods, the most likely source of their hidden observer, Jaya risked opening her eyes to look at Myrum. Myrum had her eyes open still, clouded, and distant, as if she was starting to zone out before falling asleep. Jaya was concerned for the slightest moment that Myrum had never actually received her warning and was just acting like her usual self. Then Myrum let her tongue loll out of her mouth for a second, panting heavily for the briefest of moments like a wild dog before pulling her tongue back into her mouth and blinking her eyes as if she was starting to fall asleep.

That was their hidden signal, to act in such a way that no respecting kanidian would ever act. Like an unenlightened, common canine. It was the greatest insult to compare a kanidian to a dog, regardless of the similarities. Within their tribes, the insult was used as a call to change and a reprimand, and acting in such a way was abhorrent to their people. Outside their tribes, the comparison was only used privately, and being called such by a human or dardwain was often a prelude to violence.

Myrum moved her hand slightly as if adjusting her position, but her longest finger ended up in a half-curl, pointing in a specific direction into the woods. They both knew to wait for ten heartbeats before acting, and Jaya started counting the beats in her mind. She got to six when they heard a sudden rustle in the woods from the exact direction Myrum had indicated, fleeing away from them.

Without a word, Jaya and Myrum acted in unison, bolting from their bedrolls towards the sound of the rustling leaves. Jaya made sure they were right next to each other when they reached the ward stones and quickly tunneled a hole in the barrier for them to exit through so the wards wouldn’t trigger with their exit and cause them any harm. Once past the barrier, they both ran a few more feet in the direction the first sound had come from, sniffing deeply to get the scent of their prey. Then they divided, both on all fours, Jaya banking left and Myrum right.

Jaya realized she had smelt nothing when they ran through the spot the observer was hiding in. That was very confusing as all creatures have a scent. That would make tracking a little more difficult. Yet she knew that if their target were a major threat, like a revenant or wild animal, it would have attacked long ago without observing them for so long. Additionally, such a creature would not have realized that Myrum had indicated where they were hiding from so far away with a bent finger. The fact that it reacted to her finger meant the observer was intelligent and could see in the dark better than a human. Also, the observer ran instead of attacking, indicating it knew it was outmatched. That, or they were unknowingly being led into a trap.

Splitting up allowed them to maneuver around the fleeing target so at least one of them could flank it. Kanidian were born and raised in the woods and were skilled hunters. They could move quickly on all fours, had excellent hearing and vision, and were silent when they wanted to be. They blended in with the dark foliage easily and could use their nose to ensure they were on the right track, at least whenever their prey had a scent to follow.

The lack of a scent was causing concern that they wouldn’t be able to hunt as effectively, so Jaya stopped and listened intently for the sound of the creature fleeing. She immediately picked up the sound of leaves crunching and branches bending from the direction she had been running and launched herself into the chase again. Because there wasn’t a smell to follow, Jaya decided to abandon the idea of flanking the creature and try and overtake it in a direct line. She estimated she would catch up quickly and prepared herself for a physical struggle.

She briefly considered using magic to speed herself up and subdue whatever she was pursuing, but she discarded the idea. She knew it was juvenile, but she felt she had something to prove now that everyone had seen her decrepit and old. She wanted to get physical with a foe and feel the raw struggle with her body and strength.

Suddenly the sounds she had been following disappeared, replaced by the sound of rushing air. It sounded similar to a bird taking flight from the ground but without the noise created by flapping wings. Jaya continued running towards the last location she had heard the sound and looked up. Above her in the air, quickly fading from view, was a dark-winged creature with a single red eye looking down at her. Jaya suddenly knew what she had been pursuing and realized that they would never be able to catch this creature. It was the shapeshifting darkness that they had encountered with the she-warlock. It had no scent as it had no body to secrete odors and could shapeshift into a featherless bird. In the darkness around them, without someone watching the sky, they would never catch the creature.

Something slammed into Jaya’s right flank. She hit the ground hard as massive, strong arms encircled her, trying to pin her to the ground. Jaya instinctively fought back by thrusting the back of her head behind her and was rewarded with a whimper of pain, but the arms didn’t give way. Her adrenaline kicked in, and she broke the hold on her arms with a quick thrust outward with her elbows. She immediately whirled to face her opponent, dug her left hand into the neck of her assailant, and lifted them bodily off the ground until they could barely stand on their own feet.

She felt long fur in her hand, and judging by the other creature’s strength and height, she knew she was fighting another kanidian. Jaya had an enhanced body which gave her additional strength and speed, even if she didn’t intend to use it in her desire for a raw, physical fight. She slammed her right palm into the assailant’s chest to decompress the air from their lungs, then blocked the airway with her left hand. This would render them unconscious in seconds and dead in minutes. She had no intention of killing her assailant but certainly wanted them captured to find out who they were. With that goal in mind, she slammed her foot into the assailant’s kneecap with a satisfying snap.

Myrum tried to scream, but her grandmother’s hand was gripping her throat, preventing any sound from escaping. Myrum knew now who her opponent was and the mistake she had made, and her only recourse was for the heat of the battle to lessen, which would calm Jaya down so her senses could register who she was fighting.

Myrum went limp. Jaya felt her opponent go slack but knew it was too soon for them to pass out. She put her forehead against theirs to gloat, to let them know she knew they were pretending. She breathed in their scent, expecting their fear, but dread filled her as Myrum’s scent broke through her adrenaline rush. She immediately dropped her granddaughter in shock, who began making a sickening noise as she tried gasping to inflate her collapsed lungs. Jaya was at her side, tears on her face, her hands shaking, trying to coax her into breathing.

“Come on, baby girl, you can do it. Breathe now! Breathe in slowly with purpose, don’t gasp!”

Myrum was making suffocating sounds and starting to fall over from lack of oxygen. In desperation, Jaya grabbed her face and used her hands to create a funnel with her elongated snout and plug her nose. Myrum was barely resisting now. Jaya used magic to blow a strong, short gust of air down Myrum’s throat, and her belly and lungs filled with lifesaving air.

Myrum immediately began vomiting and choking on the vomit. She tried to resume breathing to gain oxygen, but the chewed food kept getting in her way as the air forced into her stomach was expelled. There was a moment when it looked like she would faint and possibly die choking on her vomit, but she managed to figure out how to breathe between heaves. In a few minutes, she was breathing steadily again. She tried to stand but had forgotten about her shattered knee and howled in pain like a wild wolf howling at the moon. The pain was so intense that she passed out from the shock.

Jaya, still crying and with shaking hands, grabbed Myrum in her powerful arms and started sprinting back towards the camp. As she approached the campsite, she found her companions running towards her, reacting to Myrum’s howl of pain. They had deactivated the ward stones, so Jaya barreled through them toward the fire. All her companions knew was Myrum was severely injured, and they didn’t know what had caused it. So as Jaya ran past them, Jareth and Jonathan immediately began casting protection spells around the camp, fusing them with the reactivated ward stones. The air shimmered with multiple layers of power, overlapping colors to protect against physical and magical attacks.

Sparrow appeared in the camp by the fire, using a technique of folding visible space to travel instantly. The ward stones and barriers around the camp were apparently pointless against a guardian. Stein was activated and staring at the commotion impassively. Lone Wolf appeared moments later and was let into the circle by Jonathan and Jareth. Everyone had weapons in hand, and Grey’s runes were flared in preparation for an attack. Lone Wolf helped lay Myrum on Sparrow’s bedroll near the fire while Izreea approached with her scythes. She spun the marble in the handles until they were white and went to press her scythes to Myrum to heal her injuries.

“No, Izreea. Leave her be. She can heal naturally,” Jaya said with a wave of her hand.

Her comment was greeted with stunned silence from everyone. Izreea paused momentarily, then assessing the illogical nature of the command, began to approach Myrum again.

“I said NO!” Jaya shouted as she bound to her feet, looking down at the shorter dardwain.

Izreea’s eyes turned black as she connected to the wick, something she had not done since she knew she was pregnant. That is, if you didn’t count the memory of helping fuel Jonathan’s time spell, which was no longer part of her history. Even while fighting Mantorine, she had only used her scythes. But connecting to the wick for stronger magic was something she had not been willing to do to prevent any accident from harming her unborn child. The risk was almost nonexistent, but it still gnawed at her.

Her voice held no fear or doubt as Izreea addressed Jaya directly.

“You are better than this. You are indeed strong, Mother Seeker. The greatest of your people, or so I’ve been told. But if you bar the way from me healing this poor child, forsaking the namesake of ‘mother’ in your title … I will revoke your stewardship.”

Jaya felt the magic emanating from Izreea and was astonished at what she felt. Izreea had connected to the wick around her several times, but Jaya had never felt such power from her before. Something had changed the dardwain woman since she last felt her power. Maybe it was Lebine in the void or some side effect of Lebine’s blessing. Maybe it was her pregnancy or simply maturation.

Jaya instinctively reached for her lich powers, intent on giving a show of force to let the others know she wouldn’t back down. She had no intention of fighting Izreea but wanted to save face in this awkward situation. As her body began to transform, Izreea threw a ball of light into the air, lighting up the camp as if it were midday. She pointed a single scythe at Myrum and shouted, “Jaya! Look at her!”

Jaya paused her transformation and turned to see her granddaughter in the light of day. To see the damage which she had wrought upon her last remaining kin.

Myrum was unconscious, still from the pain and trauma. She had vomit all over her face, chest, and arms. It was matted into her fur wherever it touched, and Jaya could smell the acrid of it. Her nose was bleeding from Jaya’s headbutt, and one eyelid was held partially open with the matted vomit. The blood vessels in her eye had burst from the heavy heaving. Her knee was not only broken, but the bone was protruding out the back of the leg, and her kneecap had rotated to the rear of her leg. Blood was pooling under her body, but not enough for her to bleed out. The artery was probably nicked slightly, which could tear open at any moment.

Jaya realized her granddaughter would die without magical intervention. Setting that bone naturally without severing the nicked artery would be impossible. Even if they did manage it by some miracle through amputation, her recovery would take half a year or more. She would be severely handicapped and never run on all fours again. Jaya released her lich powers as she realized she had lost her way. She was no longer the revered and wise motherly figure to her party. She was losing her reality and temper, seeking fights, comparing herself to guardians, and acting like a wounded animal.

It was then and there, at that moment, that she realized how much Colson’s loss had impacted her. She sank to her knees, placed her head on Myrum’s vomit-coated chest, and sobbed. Lone Wolf looked as if he wanted to comfort her, his arms halfway towards her, but physically expressing comfort was so foreign to him that he let his arms drop back to his side.

Izreea held onto the wick as she placed the scythes on Myrum’s body. She knew the scythes could handle the healing process, but Myrum’s wounds were complicated and severe, and she wanted every tool at her disposal. She had previously healed Myrum during the battle with the dragons and warlocks. That healing was quick without scrutiny, aimed to get her on her feet as fast as possible, and only took a few seconds. This time Izreea would take a good look at all of the damage and make sure her healing was done perfectly. She refused to let such a beautiful young kanidian woman be handicapped for the rest of her life by a botched repair.

Izreea used her critical eye to examine Myrum’s entire body, moving her vision from bone to muscle, cartilage, arteries, and skin. She looked at her throat, inspecting the damage to her esophagus and trachea. She inspected her organs, specifically her lungs. The damage was minor, with some vomit pieces that would need to be removed from her lungs, but nothing too concerning. Then she moved to Myrum’s heart and realized something was … off. It wasn’t uncommon for the heart to be damaged in episodes involving the lungs, but her heart was coated in something magical.

“Jaya … you have some explaining to do. And I’m not talking about Myrum’s injuries,” Izreea said as she moved back to Myrum’s knee and began repairing the nicked artery.

“I know,” was all Jaya sadly said into her granddaughter’s chest.

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