The Dryad 94 Numb

The three of us just sat there in silence until the evening was setting on. It was a little unusual for Mist to stay quiet but I knew that she had been feeling low on energy. Or maybe she was just being courteous to Ivy resting. I enjoyed the chance to calm my heart some more after I nearly got eaten by a trout.

The sun was just about to dip behind the horizon when Ivy stirred. I quickly hopped out of the crook of her arm where I had settled myself as she started to pull herself out of the tangle of plants that had grown around her. "The show should be starting soon," she said while standing up and moving a little closer to the edge of the pond and letting her feet enter the water. She caused a large lily pad to form more of a cup shape and dipped it into the water. "I can help give you a better view if you want?"

A normal mortal probably would not be able to notice any change, but we could tell when Mist moved inside the leaf. Ivy started to pull the leaf out of the water when it began to give way under the added weight of Mist. So she quickly reinforced it before she straightened up.

"So what are we supposed to be looking at?" Mist said in a much more quiet voice than when she was in the pond.

"Just wait a little and you will figure it out," Ivy said, still not willing to spoil whatever the surprise was. I was feeling a little vulnerable in the fading light so I flew up to Ivy's shoulder. It would give me a better few than down on the ground anyway.

It did not take long to figure out something was different. "Is it s.h.i.+ning?" I asked in confusion. It was a mesmerizing sight and hard to take my eyes off of.

"It is so beautiful at night. I was trying to spread these trees around my woods when I was attacked by a creepy human." I felt Ivy shudder under me.

"Wait? You were attacked by a human?" Mist asked.

"Yes, that's why I came here," Ivy said slowly while watching the tree. "Laurel told me that if I ever came across him I should seek shelter in her woods."

"What happened?" I asked. I knew she was in trouble, but humans attacking spirits was not a new thing and would usually not be considered as trouble for a greater spirit.

Ivy seemed more than happy to tell her story and said, "I was at the southern end of my woods trying to expand my domain as Laurel taught me. After planting one of Laurel's golden maple-"

"-is that really what she called it?" Mist said. Her voice sounded incredulous, but it did not really come across that way since her voice was so small in the lily pad cup.

"Um, well no. But that was the best name that I could think of," Ivy bashfully said. "I am still working on a name. But anyways after a lot of complications and some peril, I planted one of the trees and grew it to about a year old. I rested for the night watching that tree, but the next day I woke up and felt something was wrong. I found that my woods were sick. I snuck up on the man that was causing this disease and lashed out with my vines and captured him," Ivy said shooting her arms forward like they were vines.

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"Hey watch it!" Mist called out. Her bowl was shaken by Ivy's demonstration.

"Sadly his corruption was stronger than I thought and the vines binding him began to decay. Seeing this, I caught hold of him with even more vines. It was a great struggle but finally I was able to overpower him. Or at least I thought I did. Thinking about it, I think he realized that he could not face me directly but played a cruel trick on me. He had stopped struggling and I thought I had him caught but soon after I relaxed the vines fell off him.

"I knew then that even if I caught him I would not be able to hold him. So as quick as I could, I made my way to Laurel's woods. She said that I would be safer here. But just chasing me off did not seem to be enough. He chased after me. I threw all sorts of thistles and brambles in his path, but they barely made up for his much longer strides than mine. I was just about out of my woods when he managed to trip me up. Before I could get back up he was over me and tried to cover my face in some sort of black tar. I managed to kick the container out of his hand into the trunk of a nearby tree, shattering its contents all over the grove.

"He seemed furious and tried to grab after the jar as it went flying. In his distraction I scrambled to my feet and made a break for it. But I soon found myself on the ground again this time with him on top of me. I fought him fiercely trying to escape but I realized too late that he was not trying to over power me but to steer me into that tar that was now scattered. I shoved hard and got him off me, but somehow by doing that he managed to get one of my arms into the tar. That vile stuff made my arm quickly lose feeling and the fight became much harder. He was soon on top of me again looking at me with his disgusting eyes and forcing my arm deeper into the tar. I thought I was done for as he was getting the rest of me closer and closer to that tar. I was losing control of more and more of my arm. I have never been so horrified in my life.

"It was then in desperation I tried something that Laurel taught me. I caused a large branch that was over the man's head to be cast off, knocking him unconscious. Sadly I could not move my numb arm and part of the branch pierced into it." Ivy said showing us a scab that was still healing on her arm. "I struggled out from underneath him, freed my arm from the branch and rushed out of the woods, not trusting anything I could come up with to bind him."

"What about your arm being numb?" I asked looking at her arm that seemed to be functioning just fine now.

"Once I washed the tar off in a stream the feeling came back," Ivy explained raising her hand and flexing her fingers.

"I have to think this is the same person that attacked these woods," Mist said from within the leaf.

"I would agree with you," I said

"Rine, did you send the seed to Laurel yet?" Mist questioned.

"I just heard this story now."

"Then what were we doing all this time?" Mist's tone was getting sharper.

"I didn't want to make Ivy tell her story twice and I really wanted to see the new tree," I said, barely processing what was asked of me. "I guess I got a little distracted," I admitted sheepishly.

A sudden cold splash of water from Mist jumping back into the pond caused me and Ivy to start. "I really hope that when I get to be as old as you, I am not so oblivious," Mist said as she bobbed out of the water and back into the pond. "Rine, go send the message to Laurel. It is more important than a glowing tree." Her voice was noticeably louder now.

I can't believe that I got distracted by half a day. I really had wanted to save Ivy the ha.s.sle of having to say it twice. But now it was night. I did not like the idea of flying up above the tree line even in the day time. Night made it much more scary. But it was my own fault at this point. Mist was right, it should not wait till morning.

"I will go now," I said flying over to the hollow in a tree where I left the seed. Once I retrieved it I cautiously flew up to the top of the tree and looked around to see if there were any predators. All I was able to find was a few bats hunting, but I did not need to worry about them. Once I was sure the coast was clear I began to fly as high as I could. The higher I got the more uncomfortable I became. I was not used to being this exposed. Part of the reason why I was the oldest fairy was because I took few risks. This was one of the most dangerous things that I had ever done.

I was several hundred feet above the tops of the trees when I could not take it any more and released the seed. I watched for a moment and I saw it begin to spin and make its way out of sight to the west. I used some of my spiritual energy to give the seed what speed and luck I could.

Suddenly I felt the presence of something behind me. A large owl was bearing down on me. My body froze in horror as I saw the talons open wide to grasp me. But gravity began to take its hold on me. It felt like everything had slowed down, for the second time in one day. The talons reached out to clutch at me while I started to plummet.

I twisted my body as best as I could but I was not able to completely escape. The claw caught on my s.h.i.+rt and gashed my side. However its talons were too sharp and, after a pause, tore the rest of the way through my s.h.i.+rt.

Free from the owl's grasp I did not dare slow down, and instead let myself free fall until I reached the tree line.

Back at ground level, I squeaked out, "It's done!" And perhaps I was a coward, but I flew right up to Ivy and hid behind her hair for the rest of the night.