Ratface woke up in bed. She felt empty, slow. She remembered helping Halmir but that was it.

The little rat was by her side when she woke up. She gave him a pat. He seemed alert and well, if a little tired.

“You’re awake,” she said.

“I could say the same about you,” he said. Ratface was delighted to find that his voice was high and musical.

“The ritual worked then; I expected you to be bigger.” He’d returned to his original rat size which while cute, didn’t suggest a big change.

“Ah, right.” He squeezed his eyes shut and there was a faint pop as a small rat noble suddenly stood next to her. She blinked in surprise. He was shorter than her and dressed in soft fabrics against his fur. The fur itself was sleek and well kept. So far Ratface’s only experience with rat nobles had been the ones in the sewer, they had looked haggard, and hate filled, which had made them ugly to look at. Halmir in comparison looked like someone had taken the best features of a rat and added them to his form.

“It’s easier to wait for you in here when I’m a rat but now that you’re awake I suppose that doesn’t matter.” He paused to look at her. “You are properly awake, right?”

To answer him, Ratface pulled herself out of bed and walked around. She gave him a pat on the head. She felt weak but nothing too bad. There was an emptiness to her she wasn’t used to though.

“I’m okay, where is everyone?”

Halmir leaned into the pat. He turned grim at her question.

“It’s better if you see for yourself.”

The town was hard at work when they finally found them at the edge of the forest. They looked exhausted. Most of the goblins had shovels, a few of the demon ones were holding flames in their hands instead. Ratface noted that the walk to get to the edge of the forest had been much shorter than she’d expected.

The cause of it was the sea of green surrounding them. It was a strange plant that was growing as far as the eye could see. The plant latched itself onto the demon plants and spread its vines over the demon plants until they were smothered in green. Ratface watched as one plant was freed from underneath the green and crumbled into rot. She grimaced. That wasn’t good.

In the centre, Tiffany and Claudette were hard at work. The demon was burning vast swaths of the green while Tiffany desperately coaxed the plants underneath back to life. The two of them were managing to make some small headway into the green.

“What’s happening?” Ratface asked.

“It seems like your little elf friend has become impatient,” said Claudette.

“They’re using kudzu,” Tiffany said. She pulled at the green and chucked it into a pile that some of the goblins were throwing into a bonfire further way. “It’s a plant more aggressive than mint that they’re using to overwhelm the forest. It just kills anything that gets too close.”

“Ingenious really,” said Claudette, “my main defence is the forest, and they’ve found a way around that. I’d be impressed if it wasn’t so damn aggravating.”

It seemed bad. If they had so much of the town dedicated to just this part of the forest, then Ratface could only imagine how it was pushing in elsewhere. Still, something about it didn’t make sense.

“She’s still only one elf,” said Ratface.

“True, but I’m sure the call has already gone out to my enemies and they’ll be on their way.”

“With the way this is going, she’ll break your defences too quickly.”

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“Hardly, you’ve been asleep for a month and a half,” said Claudette. She finished a sweep of flame and turned to Ratface.

“Let’s have a look at you,” she said. She grabbed Ratface and peered into her mind. There was a sharp pain as something pulled itself tight around her. Claudette released her.

“Not good. Tell me anything about Lurian.”

Ratface frowned, she knew she was from Lurian but when she tried to search her memory, there was just… nothing. Claudette saw it in her face and nodded.

“I was blind to the danger of Halmir’s procedure. The two glamours in your mind were like two weeds fighting against each other. Without the other glamour to fight, the one inside you is growing unheeded. You’re like these demon plants getting covered in kudzu. It’s a miracle you’re even awake. Keep that pendant on, I think it’s the only thing keeping you alert.”

Ratface looked down at the pendant on her in surprise, she hadn’t even noticed it. Already she could feel the glamour taking effect, removing her knowledge there was anything in her brain. Her eyes shifted away from the… thing that was around her neck.

“I’d work on you but I’m a little busy I’m afraid,” said Claudette. She turned to Ratface with an indulgent smile. “Go rest Ratface, you’ve only just woken up from quite the ordeal.”

She turned back to her burning.

Ratface did not, in fact, go rest. Instead, she and Halmir went searching out for their own part to help away from the eyes of the demon.

Halmir sat on her shoulder, as per usual. It was comforting, like old times. At this point, he was her oldest memory, a thing that confused her any time she thought too hard about it.

They found a small patch out of the way and went at it with a vengeance. It had been growing in from a breach that no one had noticed yet. If they hadn’t found it, it might have cut off Claudette’s group that was working further forward.

When the two of them went to cut the weed back, the weed struck back. It lashed out at them and tried to cover them. Halmir transformed and shoved Ratface back. The kudzu surrounded him and Ratface let out a yell. She’d only just got him back.

With a much louder pop than before he disappeared from where he’d been and reappeared next to her. He was panting as she looked at him in surprise.

“A short blink,” he explained, “so far I can only do it to people I’m familiar with.”

Intense jealousy flooded Ratface. She wanted a cool power like that. She didn’t have time to think too much on that though as the plant was steadily growing towards them. It was far more aggressive than the one they’d seen Claudette dealing with.

It lashed out at Ratface. She grabbed the kudzu with her hand and pulled it tight, using its own momentum against it. In one smooth motion, she drew her knife and cut through the vines. Stepping back before they could gather up again.

The vines curled around, readying their next strike. They reminded Ratface of how the plants would act when Tiffany was controlled them. She was lucky she’d got to know the druid, or she would have been surprised by the vines attack. There was something important in that thought and a part of her mind worked away at it while the rest dealt with the attacking plants.

She hacked away at them with her knife, wishing she had something better to deal with them. Halmir was next to her and fought with a combination of teeth and claws. She was about to suggest a knife until she saw how easily his claws sheathed through the vines.

Their fight must have been noisy because eventually they were joined by two other people. Albert and Abigail came to their side. The spearman unleashed a blade of wind into the kudzu, cutting a line through it to separate it from the sea of kudzu outside the breach. Abigail stepped into the weeds and began pulling them out. The vines wrapped around her and her armour flashed red.

The vines let go of her with a screech. They burned around her as she continued to pull them out.

With the other two joining them they made quick work of it and were left panting in a pile of torn up weeds. Abigail pulled out a small flash and poured it on the weeds. Her gauntlet flashed red, and the pile started to burn.

“I’d heard you’d gone back to rest,” said the older woman. The smile on her face giving away she wasn’t too angry.

“Well, a little light gardening isn’t too much effort,” said Ratface.

Abigail snorted.

“You’re lucky we were back from a monster incursion, or you might’ve been overrun.”

“Monsters are rushing in?”

“Small groups controlled by the elf. They’re careful not to lose too many. Looks like they haven’t fully recovered.

Ratface frowned, that last comment the last piece of the puzzle her brain needed to work it out. If the elf was controlling the monsters, then she couldn’t be controlling the plants as well. She might be talented, sure, but that was just too much for one brain.

“There’s two of them,” Ratface said. The rest looked at her in confusion. “Two elves, or two enemies at least. She can’t do this much on her own.”

“It might be even better than that,” said Abigail, “if she’s not controlling the plants at all then it may be that she couldn’t even if she wanted to. Why didn’t she slow us down with them on the run otherwise.”

“So, if we take out the other elf-” Ratface began.

“We win the siege,” Abigail finished.

Their eyes glittered in a combination of hope and violence. Albert came over and clapped Ratface on the shoulder.

“Awake for half a day and already scheming,” he said with a smile.

Ratface let a nasty grin settle on her face. Nothing like a desperate plan to wake her up.