Oops! I think I made this available to the wrong tiers when I first published. Hope it's fixed now! Sorry.

Here we go with today's chapter! Hope you enjoy :)

-Plum

17 – Out of the Frying Pan

Andy, cloaked in his Deepsmoke Shroud, crouched behind a mushroom the size of a small tree, watching the tunnel mouth. Omar would be coming out of it any minute; he’d make a scene, wait for some of the bogwarts to attack him, and then retreat to the others. They were hoping that most of the bogwarts would notice the fight and go help, basically putting them all in the tunnel. Andy was waiting to attack their flank—a strategy they’d used many times before.

Bella’s idea for the kerosene would help the party hold out longer, even if Andy took a while to bring his smoke into the fray; Omar would be able to ignite it with his “Consecrating Flames” spell. Andy gripped his spear, twisting it in his fists, wondering if they were being foolish. The bogwarts were tough, but he’d had an easy time of them once he’d gotten them inside his smoke. He hoped that hadn’t been a fluke.

As for the others, Andy knew Omar could stand against the giant toad-men. Bella was tough, too, and Trevor didn’t seem like a slouch. Besides, they had magic backing them up. With all of those considerations, Andy decided he’d try to be patient—try to give the bogwarts time to gather in the tunnel so he could effectively trap them all in his Cinderstorm Blast.

The gate in the tunnel hadn’t been easy to open, so Andy wasn’t surprised the bogwarts weren’t expecting anyone from that direction. They’d used big nails, lots of rope and even chains to bind the two halves together, and it had taken Andy and the others nearly half an hour to clear the opening. Then, they’d piled extra stones from their barricade against the gates, jamming them up and fixing them open, so the toad-people couldn’t shut them or use them for defensive measures.

Movement near the tunnel caught Andy’s attention, and he put aside his strategizing, watching as Omar crept out of the darkness. The Paladin crouched in the shadows near the cavern wall for a moment, then he set his gaze on a pack of bogwarts who were busily hacking at the stem of a giant mushroom much like the one Andy was using for cover. He straightened and started striding down the stony slope, banging his mace on his shield.

Andy chuckled nervously, watching as the nearby bogwarts noticed the sound and reacted with loud, echoing croaks when they saw Omar striding confidently toward them.

“Hey there, boggers!” Omar yelled, and the croaks escalated, echoing through the cavern as the bogwarts picked up the alarm.

“Come on, Omar, that’s good. They saw you…” Andy hissed, watching as the first trio of bogwarts started toward the other man. As they closed the distance, leaping half a dozen yards at a time, they waved their axes and knives. Omar lifted his shield and stood his ground, still half a football field from the tunnel mouth.

When the trio of toad-men reached Omar and he began to spar with them, blocking their blows with his shield and swiping at them with his mace, Andy saw the first wave of bogwarts erupt from the fungi forest—twenty or more croaking and bellowing toad-men. Omar saw them too and began to backpedal. He’d already dropped one of the bogwarts, and it lay twitching on the stone with a tremendous gash above its eye—evidence of Omar’s effectiveness with his star-shaped mace.

“Come on,” Andy hissed, watching as the second wave of bogwarts rapidly gained on the man. He began to fear he’d have to intervene, but then Omar shouted something, and he felt a surge of mana. A line of brilliant white-blue flame erupted from the stone before charging bogwarts. It was the biggest wall of fire Andy had seen Omar create—easily twenty-five yards long—and it caught a handful of the bogwarts in its flames. They screamed and leaped back, though the damage was done; they charged down toward the river, trailing smoke and croaking in agony.

Meanwhile, Omar had stemmed the tide of his pursuers, and he turned to run for the tunnel. He’d just cleared the opening when some of the braver bogwarts leaped the flames, sailing a dozen feet into the air. When the others saw it could be done, it wasn’t long before thirty bogwarts were hopping into the tunnel after Omar.

Andy watched the forest and, sure enough, another, even bigger wave of pursuers emerged. He lost count after twenty-five and was sure it was nearly a hundred before the crowd thinned out. He watched them hopping and scampering up the slope to the tunnel, bracing himself for what was to come.

How long would Omar and the others hold out? He hadn’t seen any smoke or flames coming out of the tunnel, so he figured they weren’t desperate yet. The fortifications they’d built were sturdy; combined with the gates and the giant toad statue, it would make it hard for the bogwarts to overwhelm the defenders. Everyone had their limits, though; Omar and the others could only battle against such odds for so long…

A tremendous croak echoed through the cavern, and Andy whirled to see the big shape he’d glimpsed earlier emerging from the river. He’d thought it was another giant toad, but he’d been mistaken; it was a gigantic bogwart.

###

Madi delicately, gingerly, touched the beautiful flower with her fingertips, ever so carefully tracing the brilliant, glass-like surface as she sent out a tiny thread of her mana; it was the same way she communed with the trees and plants back on the mesa, and she hoped it might give her a clue as to why the flowers were struggling to thrive.

She could hear the others whispering around her. The strangers—the Dondalli—were mostly friendly. In fact, the cousins who’d guided them to the village were almost sweet! Things had changed a bit when they arrived, though. Some of the beautiful, winged people had been standoffish, and when they’d entered the greenhouse building—the nursery—some of the caretakers had looked openly hostile as Madi approached the flowers.

Of course, she’d asked if it would harm them if she touched them, and that was when one of Lucy’s friendly Dondalli, Ria, had insisted she try it with her flower. She’d explained that the Dondalli often handled their flowers, but they didn’t know how the beautiful, alien plants would react to a human’s touch.

Madi felt a slight tingle in her fingertips and then her awareness spread into the plant; she felt its mana veins and, as with her trees, she felt a distinct connection. She became aware of the flower’s physical well-being—its desire for richer nutrients and its well-watered state—and as the connection deepened, she felt its deeper needs. Even more startling, she felt how the flower was connected to Ria—a thread of delicate, invisible mana that was so pure it made her eyes water to witness it.

She touched the translation charm around her neck—Lucy had let her borrow it. “It has to connect to the mana flows of our world,” she whispered.

“Yes, naturally!” Ganessa said, also whispering.

Madi continued to explain what she’d learned from her connection, “Its roots are too shallow; in its native soil, it has a symbiotic relationship with tiny helpers—microscopic organisms. They draw the mana flows to the flowers. There are some of those organisms here, in the soil you brought from home, but they die when you mix the soil with the rocky, sandy soil of the desert.”

“Can we move?”

Madi thought about it and slowly nodded. “I’m sure the microorganisms could thrive in other climates or even here, if we carefully tend the soil and add plenty of irrigation, but it will take them a long time to grow and spread deeply enough to draw the world’s mana up to the flowers. I don’t think there’s time.”

“How can you know so much?” Lucy whispered, leaning close, peering past Madi to the flower she still touched.

Madi smiled, shrugging. “I don’t know. I feel a lot of it, and the knowledge I gained from my class skills is just…there.”

“So we are doomed, then?” the tall warrior asked. Madi had forgotten his name—something with a T.

She turned to him, and her smile broadened. “No, I have a way to help.”

Ria clasped her hands together and fell to her knees. “Oh, please! Will you?”

Madi pulled her hand away from the flower and turned to regard the girl—she seemed very young—looking into her ruby eyes. “Of course, I will.”

“Ahem. Mind explaining what you’re agreeing to?” Vince asked, only able to hear her half of the conversation.

Madi ignored him, looking at Lucy. “I want to tell them how I can help, but I have to explain the price.”

Lucy nodded. “Your trees?”

“Yes. Can I explain it to them?”

The tall warrior stepped closer to Ria and said, “Ria, you shame us.”

“No, she doesn’t!” Ganessa cried. “We are desperate, and posturing with these people, friendly as they are, will do us no good!”

Lucy cleared her throat. “Madi, tell her she doesn’t have to kneel. Tell her we want to help.” Lucy glanced at Denise and, maybe a little reluctantly, at Vince. “Do either of you object?”

Vince frowned, but didn’t say anything. Denise looked at the tall warrior, then turned to Madi. “Ask him to swear that what he said to Lucy is true—that all of them will die if these flowers die, even their children.”

Madi turned to the tall, helmeted man and repeated the question. He frowned and folded his arms, looking more than a little uncomfortable, but after a few moments of hesitation, he said, “I swear it.”

“He swears it, Denise,” Madi repeated.

“Then tell him about your plan.”

When no one else objected, Madi held her hand out to Ria and helped her stand. “I’m a Druid,” she said, including them all in her words, even the caretakers gathered in a ring, observing. “As a Druid, I have a close connection to the natural plants and even the creatures of this world. Most of my power is concentrated in my grove, near my Mother Tree, but I have a way to expand my grove’s influence.” She reached into her pocket and took out the mesquite seed pods. “These are seeds from the trees in my grove. If I plant some of them here, I can extend my domain to this village of yours.”

“And then you could help our flowers?”

Madi smiled. “Easily. My trees will grow quickly, and their roots will dive deep into the world. They’ll pull the mana up closer to the surface and your flowers will find the connections they seek.”

Ria turned to hug Ganessa, but the warrior was the first to see the potential problem. “You will have influence here?”

Madi shrugged, nodding. “I will, but only over the plants and animals. I will have more power here, like when I’m in my home grove.” She smiled up at the tall man. “That could be a good thing. I’ll want to protect this place because my trees are connected to me. It will strengthen our alliance”—she turned to include Lucy with her words—“if we have one.”

Lucy nodded, reaching out a hand that Ria was quick to grasp. “Tell them we’d like to be allies.” As she spoke, she turned to look at Denise and Vince, and neither objected. Madi didn’t think they would—even Vince. He liked to be argumentative, but he’d been talking to Madi about “peace with the other settlers” for days, fearful that Lucy or the others would actually try to undermine a cooperative agreement.

“What do you think, sir?” Madi asked the tall warrior, covering for the fact that she’d forgotten his name. “Would that work for your people? Being allies with us?”

He looked at the two younger Dondalli, his gaze settling on how Ria’s fingers entwined with Lucy’s. “It’s not for me to say alone, but I don’t see how we could refuse—as Ganessa said, there’s no hiding the fact that we are desperate.”

###

Andy stalked through the giant fungi, trying to circle behind the gigantic bogwart. The monster—for it looked more like an overgrown, mutated brute than a person—loomed ten feet tall, with most of its mass centered around its massive shoulders, bulbous neck, and gigantic head. It could easily have reached the tunnel by then, but it seemed content to bring up the rear of the bogwart army, croaking and slapping the ground with a lengthy staff.

“Hurry up,” Andy hissed, watching from just behind the giant bogwart—their leader, he hoped. The battle had been going for a couple of minutes by then, and the crowd of bogwarts in the tunnel was so thick that they were spilling out into the cavern. Andy really wanted to block them in with some smoke, but he also wanted to include the big boss in his spell.

As the monster slowed and croaked at the smaller bogwarts, though, Andy decided he couldn’t wait any longer; Omar was surely trying to stall using his fire, but every second they waited made the whole fight riskier. He broke free of the fungi forest and charged up the slope. He was still obscured by his magic, but when he ran close to the bogwarts, some of them noticed the way his spell bent the light, or maybe they saw through the magic because he was moving too quickly.

As those bogwarts croaked and tried to give chase, Andy sprinted for the tunnel opening. He closed the final distance with a leaping stab, driving Scirocco into the back of one of the bogwarts there. As he pushed the toad-man to the ground, Andy cast Smoke Cloud, and black, billowing gouts of smoke poured out of his body.

He didn’t want to burn the bogwarts—not yet. He wanted to confuse them, though, and make their progress into and out of the tunnel more difficult. More importantly, inside his cloud, Andy could breathe and see with ease, but the amphibious monsters were out of their element. They croaked and gasped, flailing in a panic, and he moved among them, letting Scirocco do his bloody work.

He was pushing his way into the tunnel, working his way deeper so that he could help reduce the pressure on his companions, but Omar must have decided the time was right. Light from his bright Consecrating Flames illuminated the stony tunnel in the distance and then, with a great whoosh, the kerosene caught fire, bathing twenty yards of tunnel floor in good old-fashioned fire. Maybe the ignition would have been more violent before mana came to Earth, but it didn’t matter; just the flickering, knee-high flames were plenty.

The bogwarts screamed and croaked, jumping like frogs thrown into a skillet, and as they tried to flee, Andy cast Cinderstorm Blast, filling his end of the tunnel with hot, fiery clouds of black smoke. As he coughed out the last of his scalding breath, putting the bulk of the bogwarts between one fire and another, worse one, the gigantic boss let out a bellowing croak that shook the walls of the cavern.

Andy spun, looking through his slowly fading smoke cloud to see the big boss, arms raised, dancing on bowed legs, as yellow-green mana swirled around him. Andy hefted Scirocco, meaning to use his Thunderous Flight to interrupt whatever the boss was doing, but it was too late; the spell completed and a green-tinted wind rushed toward Andy, blowing away his smoke, and extinguishing his flames as it went. Worse, as soon as it passed over Andy, his eyes began to sting, and each breath became agony.

Coughing, he sprinted to the tunnel mouth and out, angling to the side to get out of the caustic gas. He knew that the poison wind would probably reach his friends, and though they had wounded or killed a huge number of the bogwarts with their fiery trap, he didn’t think they’d be able to defend themselves in the green gas. In the best-case scenario, they’d have to flee.

Of course, that was all true only if Andy couldn’t do something about it. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve as he broke free of the poison wind, then he turned his attention on the bogwart boss. “Okay,” he said, grimacing as he gasped clean air into his lungs. “Let’s do this, Scirocco.”