The Dryad 116 Invasion

Laurel had just left a few days ago to try once again and deal with the fire spirit. Mist was still 'sleeping' most of the time. The few times she was awake she was trying hard to fill up her new reserve as much as she could. Rine was also gone running some errand for Laurel. It was really awkward sitting in someone else's 'home' with no one there. I was hesitant to practice on the plants here without guidance because I did not know if any of them were special to Laurel.

I spent most of my time that I was not looking over Mist messing with a new snare vine plant I made with Laurel before the fire. I was trying to find a way to trap a human but not harm the animals that live here. Needless to say I was not having any luck.

After an exhausting day of trying to figure out what to do with the vine, I let my mind go and rested, or tried to. The feeling of having elves near was unnerving. They were so similar to the humans that have caused me so much pain over the years.

I had seen first hand that elves treated spirits differently than humans did. I just needed to get used to them. Part of me wished that they could come here and give me company. I had enjoyed my time with Leafy. But from the limited interactions with them and hearing from Laurel, most of them were more on the Istan side of the spectrum. I was afraid if I invited them into the pond, they might never be able to get themselves to leave.

I tried my best to ignore the pain the patrolling elves caused as they crushed a plant under their feet with a careless tread. It was not any different from the deer and bears but… I don't know, it just seemed to hurt more.

Even through the night the elves continued to move around the woods a few hundred steps from where I was trying to rest. I really did not know how Laurel put up with it. My mind kept following them whether I wanted it to or not. I thought mortals needed sleep?

As my mind reluctantly traced their footsteps I saw that two of them crossed paths. They even had the nerve to argue at this time of night. But the results were that one of them sat down for a rest. I guess it was not a bad thing. One less distraction pulling at my mind.

It seemed that even these elves needed to take breaks. As the night went on I noted more of the elves were resting. It seemed like they even complained about it most of the time. Did they really have to force each other to rest? I will never get mortals. Now there were only two left. Part of me was wondering which one would convince the other to sleep. But part of me really did not care. I did not know any of them and finally things were still enough for me to get some rest myself. I let out a deep sigh and tried to cast the last two humans…. Elves, I mean, out of my head as I let my mind go.

"INTRUDER!" I was instantly woken up from my rest by a shout. The last two guards had met. Suddenly there was a flare up of magic power. A power I knew well but never wanted to feel again. I shook myself out of the undergrowth. What was he doing here? I was supposed to be safe here. He would never dare coming directly into Laurel's home. "There are dozens of elves, everything will be fine here," I said, trying to calm my heart as I gripped my arm, remembering how he had paralyzed it before.

Why were the other elves not acting? Even the closest one had not responded. Was that shout not loud enough? I knew human ears were bad but how could they be this bad? I stretched my senses to see what was happening. I needed to wake up the guards. Why did I ever wish that they would sleep? They were sleeping much too soundly. Grasping onto the plant's energy I felt that they were trying to cope with too much iron in the soil. Why was there too much iron? I quickly cast the question out of my mind and focused on growing a branch into one of the elves' back. I had to concentrate just to move a plant that far from me. Even after I managed to move the stick a finger length into his back he still did not move. How could someone sleep with a stick in their back? Dryads did not even sleep like that. I tried to push the plant farther to shake him awake but it was resisting wanting to save its energy. But why was there so much more iron than normal? It was almost like a predator...

Realization flooded me with terror. Not asleep. Every one of the elf guards was...

The final guard fell to the ground with a cry as death spread out around where he landed. I quickly splashed into the pond and sent a wave of energy waking Mist up. "We need to hide."

"Huh? What is going on?" Mist said, still half asleep.

"Maximum is here. He is attacking the pond. He's killed…!" I choked on the words in my panic.

"We need to tell Laurel," Mist said, her voice terse, now fully awake.

I stretched out my power to see if I could find her. No matter how hard I searched she was just too far away. "I can't reach that far," I despaired, calling out for help mentally. If there was even just a chance that Laurel could still feel me...

"Let's run for it. The bowl is right there," Mist said as she flopped into it.

"It's useless,'' I cried. "I can't outrun him. Why do I have to be a little girl??"

"Let's hide," Mist offered. "No human should be able to find us when we don't want to be found."

Mist was right, just because we could not run did not mean we could not escape him. Mist sank into the depths of the pond as her energy faded. I should not be standing around, I thought and rushed out of the pond into the woods on the far side from Maximus. As I ran I cut off my powers as much as I could. Just outside the clearing I formed myself into a small vine of what the humans call poison Ivy climbing up a tree. I always felt that this name was not fair. No other animals seemed to mind the plant. But now I was hoping to use their overreaction to poison ivy to my advantage. I was hoping that like all the other humans Maximus would keep his distance.

Not wanting to leave any trace for Maximus to follow, I cut off my powers from all the surrounding plants. I should now appear as nothing but a noxious plant to anyone but a full spirit. I was not sure I would be able to hide from Laurel, but I was pushing myself as far as I could.