Sondra was sitting on a stone bench with her eyes closed, her face tilted toward the sun. She looked peaceful. The fresh scent emitted by the foliage of the massive yew floated down to Sondra. The surrounding greenery seemed scarce in front of this tree’s invasion of the space.

Beau had found this nice place on their first day, and since then, Sondra had come every day. To rest. To remember. To pray. The imposing yew reminded her of her late husband. The scent, the sight, the noise of the wind through the leaves, the lives bustling in the branches and under its fold. Everything felt familiar to Sondra.

Sondra opened her eyes and, by reflex, wanted to use her magic to listen further. However, her sore meridians made her release her enhancement quickly. Rina’s potion had helped soothe her aches, but there was no cure for her old age. Sighing, Sondra took out her stone. It slowly began to blink in red.

Sondra looked around, taking note of the fresh tombs and the miscellaneous items she had scattered around the tree. She nodded in satisfaction. Her preparations were all done.

With a sleight of hand, Sondra took out a scroll. It was decorated heavily and emitted a slight white glow. Sondra activated it, and her whole body flashed in white.

“Ah, that feels better. Thanks for the assist, Janet.” Her meridians didn’t feel sore anymore. They were still shriveled, but Sondra would be able to use her magic without any hindrance for a limited time. She stood up and stretched. Her hip didn’t ache. She felt fresh and rested. “No wonder some dunces get addicted to this feeling.” It was a nice feeling, but only idiots would ignore the price such a powerful spell exacted on the body.

Tilting her head, Sondra activated her enhanced sense of hearing again. Cataloging the sounds, she counted her guests. “Well, this is going to be a big party. I’m glad I wasn’t stingy with the preparations. Let’s go all out today!”

Since it sounded like her guests were taking their time, Sondra decided she wouldn’t ignore their kindness and prepare more gifts for them. Sondra was walking toward her house when Beau came trotting over.

The hunting dog had recovered well enough, thanks to Rina’s potions. However, he now sported several new scars. Beau aligned himself with the old woman and woofed twice. Sondra could almost hear the rebuff in his tone.

She sternly eyed the dog. “Are you sure, Beau? You don’t have to do it. Dylan wouldn’t have approved.” The wolf woofed once. Sondra stopped and sighed again. “There’s no coming back from it. You know that, right?”

Beau sat down in front of Sondra. In his intelligent eyes, the old woman could read his determination. “What a sad pair we are!”

Sondra took out another scroll. This one was also finely ornamented but glowed in a soft green light. The scroll looked brighter than ever in this environment rich in nature magic. Sondra hid her reluctance and activated the scroll for Beau.

As the spell engulfed the dog, Sondra hurried toward her house. She wouldn’t let a dog – even one she loved dearly – get the better of her. Back to her house, she dug around in her bag. It was full of various items. Her late husband had often mocked her tenderly – as he knew why she had developed such a habit – calling her a squirrel because she hoarded everything she acquired. Well, her hoard had helped her a lot since she had gotten here. And it could still help. With a triumphant exclamation, she extracted from the depth of the bag the magical spatial ring her eldest son had gifted her with his first pay.

She had never used it. What was the use of such a ring when she already knew how to make items disappear from thin air? However, it would be the perfect way to bring out her whole hoard. “Thanks for the ring, Alan. I’ll make good use of it.”

Sondra checked her weapons, her armor, and her accessories. She then listened to her guests. She had several plans in place, so she needed to decide which one to go with.

***

Zroz admired Cunzer’s caution. The chief hadn’t barreled down the streets, announcing their presence to the weird woman. Cunzer had sent out Eelx to scout and told Frisz and Narxea to find good locations to shoot from. Zroz wondered if he should propose his service as a scout, but Cunzer interrogated him again about the weird woman. Zroz told everything he knew about her weapons, her armor, and her use of alchemy.

Eelx came back some time later, with a disgusting look. “That woman dug up some pits and placed several bear traps. They’re so obvious that it’s insulting! Does she think we’re as stupid as animals?”

Zroz did think that some goblins were worse than animals but kept quiet. Cunzer consulted with Lubzilx on the best course of action to take. Luimealsee tried to butt into the conversation. However, the chief ignored her gloomy advice to surrender to death.

Finally, Chief Cunzer had Eelx and Zroz leading the way. The other goblins followed, ready for a fight. The chief was bringing up the rear.

The path was clear and the march uneventful until they were two or three streets from the square where the weird woman lived. Eelx pointed out places to avoid. Zroz had to look carefully to see the traps mentioned by Eelx and begrudgingly admitted that the perverted goblin was a skilled scout.

The goblins were near the square entrance, going up the street one after the other to avoid triggering the traps when the vines hanging from the roofs whipped the nearest goblins. Zroz whelped and scurried away. Irritated more than hurt, Fulx furiously cut off the plants.

Zroz warily watched the surrounding plants. He was caught unaware when Chief Cunzer backhanded him. “What’s the meaning of this magic?”

Lubzilx approached to observe the vines. “That’s nature magic. My necrotic chants can easily counter it if it’s required, but a warrior must protect me during the chant.”

Fulx was now hacking at all the vines in view. Cunzer pierced the shaman with his glare. Aware of the tension, the goblins stayed silent. Zroz tried to keep an eye on every goblin.

Meanwhile, Eelx examined the site. “Could be that the bear traps were the bait to push us to the magical vines. I don’t see the trigger though.” How bold of him to talk when Chief Cunzer was angry!

“Fulx, enough! Giormozz, you protect Lubzilx. Narxea and Frisz should be in place. Luimealsee, once we have that cursed woman in view, I want you to drown her in despair.”

The goblette smiled eerily at the chief’s order. When Cunzer mounted his wolf again, Zroz warily stood up. The weird woman kept on using new tricks. He wasn’t feeling so hopeful anymore.

The goblins cautiously enter the square, Eelx and Zroz at the front. Zroz’s eyes darted everywhere as Eelx warned his tribe mates about the traps he detected. Zroz didn’t want to be there. He hated this square.

Suddenly, the birches glowed green and bent quickly to wrap around the goblins. Eelx and Zroz narrowly escaped while their tribe mates fought off the trees. Eelx surveyed his surroundings, trying to pinpoint the source of the magic. A throwing dagger pierced his shoulder blades. Eelx twirled around. Zroz flattened himself down. The weird woman was out there, attacking them.

“Welcome back, little friend! Meet the tree-huggers from the family!”

The voice came from all around the square, making it impossible to pinpoint its origin. Zroz hated that the weird woman made it sound like they knew each other. What was she playing at? And where was she? He needed to get out of here. Zroz looked for an escape route.

However, Fulx was raging through the branches and thin trunks. They were more arduous to cut than the vines, which infuriated Fulx even more. Giormozz had let himself be trapped to protect Lubzilx, who was chanting. The fat goblin was biting the tree binding him. Was he hungry?

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Bliarzuq had escaped the trap and was waiting in the rear with Luimealsee. Cunzer hadn’t ordered it, but Zroz thought Bliarzuq was protecting Luimealsee. Cunzer dismounted to order his wolf to scent out the weird woman.

“Withering hand!” Lubzilx’s hand emitted necrotic energy by the end of his chant. When the shaman touched a tree with his hand, it shriveled, making it easy for the goblins to free themselves.

Zroz felt that he had missed his chance to leave. Chief Cunzer took control of the scattered goblins, shouting orders at everyone. Even Luimealsee obeyed, though she sighed a lot.

***

Sondra snorted when she saw the shaman using necrotic magic. That magic was effective, but the shaman’s chant made it slow to use. Moreover, even if the shaman could control the birches, her eldest son’s nature magic had numerous applications. “Alright, Alan. Let’s show them what you can do.”

Sondra didn’t fear that the goblins could hear her, shrouded as she was in a bubble of silence. Moreover, her enchanted armor masked her scent. She sneaked to another corner of the square. From there, she activated a magical gemstone that contained paralyzing spores. She smiled nastily as she used her wind magic to guide the spores to the goblins.

Her Alan had been a gifted druid who liked researching all kinds of fungi and spores. She would like to see how the shaman could counter it with his necrotic magic or what the mad goblin biting the trees would do. Eat the spores?

Sondra sneakily left her hiding place. The spores were only meant to slow down the goblins. The old woman needed to kill at least one of them now.

An arrow suddenly pierced her back. Ignoring the pain, Sondra cursed her old age. She knew some goblins were missing from the group in the square, but she hadn’t managed to pinpoint their positions yet.

One of the burly goblins in the rear pointed at her. Sondra was silent and scentless but not invisible.

As the warriors charged her, Sondra made a scroll appear in her hand. Her eldest daughter-in-law was a worrywart, so Janet had given Sondra a lot of healing scrolls over the years. Janet’s light magic was potent with healing spells because she had worked as a cleric.

Sondra dodged another arrow. She eyed the roofs around the square but couldn’t see the archer. Sondra activated the scroll without ripping the arrow off. She didn’t have the time and she wasn’t as agile as in her youth.

Sondra summoned two talismans from her spatial ring but didn’t need to use them. Beau flanked the warriors to attack them. The hunting dog had doubled in size. His hair had a green shine, and his claws had elongated. This was the result of a nameless spell Alan had created to buff his brother’s hunting dogs. It mixed up the spells ‘bark skin’, ‘life breath’, ‘primal claws’, and ‘thorny ferocity’. Alan had considered it a failure, but Sondra had kept it. She always kept everything.

Sondra wanted to go back into hiding, but the archer shot at her again. Then, while she was focusing on dodging the arrows, she fell to the ground.

Sondra’s mind filled with screams. No, they would not make her relive that again. With an iron will, the old woman shakily reached for one of the white ornaments on her armor. It activated the light spell ‘calm mind’.

Out of the nightmare, Sondra summoned her protective talismans and activated them just in time to block two more arrows. The old woman stood up, feeling weak. She surveyed the square and saw the female shaman rudely gesturing at her. Sondra responded in kind. The shaman smiled smugly and chanted again.

Sondra pursed her lips and surveyed the battle. Beau was locked in combat with two warriors. The riding goblin was charging her, and the last warrior was standing protectively in front of the goblette. One scout was injured – the poison on her blade would make sure he was incapacitated – and the little one was hiding somewhere in the square.

The dangerous ones were the shamans. The old shaman was also chanting. Sondra couldn’t wait anymore. “You got me at a disadvantage. Let me call some friends over.”

Sondra triggered the magical gemstones she had placed beforehand in the square. Her wind magic invisibly touched the gems simultaneously. The three sycamores towering above the ruined houses in the square awoke. Uprooting themselves, they slowly walked toward the goblins, creating a panic.

However, the female shaman finished her spell and threw another nightmare at Sondra. Forewarned of her enemy’s magic now, Sondra immediately countered the spell with her son’s scroll ‘nature equilibrium’. It was less efficient than Janet’s magic, but it was impossible to use the same spell in quick succession.

The riding goblin shouted at the shamans and turned back to offer them his support. The old shaman couldn’t change his chant, so he had to finish the attack he was preparing for Sondra first. Meanwhile, the three sycamores attacked the warriors who had rushed at them to protect the shamans. The trees were clumsy but so powerful that the goblins couldn’t ignore them.

Beau took the opportunity to intercept the rider and his wolf. Sondra wanted to support her hunting dog but had to defend against the archers. Had she been fast enough, she could have thrown a dagger at the back of the riding goblin. However, one of the archers was attacking relentlessly, revealing his position while the other archer was still hiding.

Sondra bit back a scream as the old shaman’s magic hit her. Numerous cuts appeared on her body. Sondra hurriedly drank one of Rina’s potions while defending herself. However, the archers used the opening to get her again. It was only the luck brought by one of her enchantments that allowed her to avoid a fatal wound to the head.

Sondra used everything she had: her armor enchantments, talismans, magical gemstones, and scrolls. The female goblette was the most troublesome to counter, and once the old shaman began to use his necrotic magic on the trees, Sondra and Beau were at a disadvantage again.

Sondra was prepared and well-equipped, but it was still a two-on-ten fight. Bit by bit, the goblins overwhelmed Beau and her. Then, her attention lessening with her fatigue, Sondra took an arrow to the chest. She knew it was from the still-hidden archer. She was really getting old.

As the last sycamore fell down to rot, the goblins herded the hunting dog toward Sondra. Beau came to stand in front of her, dripping blood from his numerous injuries everywhere on his way. None of the goblins were dead. Nevertheless, most of them were bleeding, even the shamans.

Spitting the blood invading her mouth, Sondra spoke to her late husband. “I think that’s as far as I can go in my old age, dear. It’s time to join you.”

Her admission had the riding goblin throwing insults at her in the common tongue. Sondra didn’t care about him. She had one last task to do. Covering her hands in her blood, Sondra closed her eyes to concentrate on the ritual. She felt the items spread around the giant yew respond to her magic thanks to the blood she had dripped on them. Then, the magic went into the massive tree. Sondra felt the link snap into place.

The goblins tried to stop her, but Beau protected her ferociously without any care for his life. Sondra only had to complete the last step. She didn’t react when two more arrows pierced her. Janet’s spell was still invigorating her. She was dying, but she wasn’t dead yet.

Before the warrior goblins got to her to cut her down, the ‘return to earth’ curse exploded into the town.

The goblins screamed as the branches pierced them to suck them dry of blood and nutrients.

As the yew drained life out of her too, Sondra smiled in contentment.