The Songbeetle started to play a tune with a heavy beat, mini drums of war.

Battle music.

The hairs on Mrs. Strawberry’s neck stood up.

“You lot are tough to find.”

Behind the group, standing atop an odd-shaped lance was a four-armed female. She wore a white, skin-tight outfit with a single line running down one side. Beneath her hood there was a feral grin that was accentuated by her needle-sharp fangs.

“Get back. Mrs. Strawberry and Onion.” Devourer was serious. “This is a Coulro.”

Mrs. Strawberry wasn’t sure who this female was but if the Auris wasn’t being light-hearted…she pulled out her frying pan. Onion lowered himself in an aggressive crouch, the bark like skin of his legs moving upwards as more roots grew out all around them, his tail growing more leaves and stems, branching outwards protectively above the group. His head swiveled towards the trees around them. “We’re surrounded.”

The female peered at the cyan creature “Oh, never thought I would see a Silken here. There were rumors one of you was here.”

The Onion ignored the Coulro atop the lance, he spoke in a hushed tone to his companions “They have a lot in the trees with bows and arrows, even more on the ground with nets and spears.”

“How many other Coulro?” the Auris asked from the side of his mouth.

Onion had his eyes closed for a moment, communicating with all the plants in the area “She’s the only one. Everyone else is manageable by me and Strawberry.”

The Derkaz sniffed the air, she started salivating slightly “I can smell poison, strong stuff.” she licked her lips in anticipation of the meal ahead “Be careful of their blades.”

The lancer snarled in frustration “Don’t ignore me! I’m a freaking Coulro elite!”

Devourer shook his head back and forth, the ear armor making a soft clinking noise as they jostled together “You only have one stripe. And you are missing the normal gear of a true elite Coulro. Which means you are a novice that we can handle.”

Descendre’s fur was as black as night, tiny ripples of blue light on the very tips cascaded across her entire body. She was crouched with her poisoned tail flicking back and forth.

Waiting.

Devourer took a step forward, pivoted on one foot and moved in a spinning attack towards the Coulro. She nimbly hopped into the air striking at the Auris with her lance. He used his two daggers to redirect the attack downwards at the same time using the motion to make a somersault in the air and using his cane land a strike to her jaw.

Before he could follow up his attack the Coulro vanished. leaving only the odd lance planted in the ground.

“What?” the ranger asked raising her pan in case the Coulro was about to reappear beside her.

Onion had his eyes closed trying to listen to the forest plants “Coulro teleport from place to place using that lance you see planted in the ground. Stay away from them and you will be fine.” He turned his head towards the trees. “They’re attacking! Stay still for a moment!” Arrows hissed through the air, the Silken’s branches whipping around in spirals above plant and cook deflecting all the projectiles. “Be ready, they are gonna charge with lances.”

Mrs. Strawberry shook her arms slightly “Not my first rodeo, just call out when I need to freeze for arrows.” She didn’t have time to look back to see his nod, her attention focused on the enemy charging her (in striped armor) with a long spear. The cook deepened her crouch, changing her center of gravity. She took a measured step to the side while moving her pan down in a crescent arc. A simple movement, but perfectly executed to send the spear deep into the ground, the pole splintered in his hands from the jarring impact. He fell forward arms akimbo as he slammed helmet first into the ground. The cook took a measured swing to his ribs, cracking a few, ensuring he wouldn’t be getting up to re-attempt another attack. The movement of the blow gave her time to let the next attacker’s spear pass above her shoulder harmlessly, she lifted her hand to catch her next assailant at the elbow and then shifted her weight to shove him sideways, his leg catching against her hip and sending him crashing on top of his felled comrade.

“Freeze” the Silken hissed in warning of arrows. She froze, one leg bent at hip level, heel tightly pressed against her inner thigh, arrows tore through the air aimed on a deadly path to the cook. The branches and leaves of the Silken darted out around her, whimsical twirls and flicks turning deadly poisoned metal into harmless pieces of wood and feather jutting out of the ground. “Good to move.”

The ranger continued her motion bringing the raised foot, pivoting again to move out of the path of the next lance and have it pass behind her, using the pivot to bash the opponent in the helmet and drop him to the ground. She circled the rooted Onion, keeping the enemy army’s attention on her while her companion played defense. It was during one of her ‘freeze’ moments that she got a chance to see how Devourer and Descendre were handling the hooded Coulro.

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“Left!” the Auris hissed to Descendre, his coattails snapping behind him as he vaulted into the air, narrowly evading a spear that pierced a tree instead of his chest.

As the lance made impact the Coulro appeared atop it. “Stay still!” she snarled, throwing a short javelin at the retreating suited gentleman.

Descendre (now a thing of shadows) sliced through air with her curved claws, missing the Coulro by only centimeters, slices of white fabric floating down as the hooded enemy teleported away.

“Good to move!” Onion shouted.

Mrs. Strawberry stepped lightly among the arrows to knock down two more lancers “How many left?”

The Silken listened to the vegetation “That was the last of them, there were some new recruits that ran a while ago. The archers above us are out of arrows too… Well almost… freeze.” There were a few quick swishes of leaves and a few arrows thunked into the ground “Now they are out of arrows. You lot stay up there til we leave and we won’t have to resort to any drastic measure. Deal?!” There were a few barbed remarks about the plant’s genealogy and mating habits with cactus. It ended with a statement about that indicated until the Coulro was defeated they still like their chances of winning.

Mrs. Strawberry wiped the sweat from her brow with a cloth “That was a good workout, definitely gonna feel it in the morning. Do we help them?” she asked, indicating the pan towards the cat and three-ear.

“Nah, we’d only get in their way, those two have been working together for so long that they move like dance partners. Just enjoy the show.” His tail reverted to cyan skin with only a few leaves and branches still flicking around the length. He climbed atop a fallen tree and patted the place beside himself for the cook to join him “Don’t worry, I’m keeping some leaves open to ensure nobody sneaks up on us.”

“You’re the groups mage, aren’t you?” she asked as she settled beside him.

“Got it in one,” he said with a wink. “Plant magic and support.”

The two watched as the spinning Auris and shadowy Derkaz fought the teleporting Coulro. The strikes and movements of the duo was synced perfectly, there was a cadence to their attacks, one that was clearly tiring out their novice enemy. The only thing that had been keeping her in the game was her ability to teleport away.

Devourer did a spinning cartwheel, his daggers and ear blades hitting at her in such a flurry that when she teleported away she missed seeing the cat’s tell-tale glimmer of blue. The cat’s tail struck faster than sound slicing into the Coulro’s shoulder. She hissed in pain, grabbed her lance and teleported to her next lance, grabbed it and teleported til all the red lances were in her arms, she made another hissing noise and teleported away.

Onion loudly announced, “She’s long gone!”

The cat and three-ear visibly relaxed, walking over to take the thermoses from the cook, they sipped cool refreshing water, letting it wet their parched lips.

Devourer sighed with relief “Much obliged, we’re lucky we were battling a novice, otherwise I would have had to use three knives.”

The Derkaz made a rumbling chuckle “Yes, you did well.”

The Silken stretched “All praises and wonders, on another awesome note, I got a new type of leaf.” He pointed at his right shoulder where several tiny leaves had grown, they were as white as cream, with a single red stripe running along each.

The group in the trees finally spoke “Walk away and we won’t follow.”

“Very generous of you.” Devourer said dryly, he stood up “Righty-o let’s head out.”

-

They descended further, traversing over rolling hills, leaving the blue leafed trees behind and now travelling through trees that were more angular with their light covered branches, the leaves being a pleasant magenta hue. Mrs. Strawberry started to reach for one before she was stopped by Devourer “Those will mess with your stomach awful, trust me.”

The cook stopped her hand mere inches away “Thank you for that Devourer, I appreciate it so very much. I’m a little surprised though, that seems like the perfect prank for you to pull. Letting me eat something that would upset my stomach.”

The Auris looked scandalized, pressing his cane against his chest as if he was in shock “A gentleman would never allow such a thing to occur to a lady.”

Descendre looked up at this “So, why’d you let me eat before?”

The Auris tapped his hat. “You’re not a lady.”

The Derkaz pounced on him, growling “That’s it!”

They rolled down the hill in a hissing, shouting ball of fury.

Onion chuckled as he watched “I think you might be the first being that he ever stopped from eating those leaves. He’s been traversing all over this continent with different companions joining and leaving once they got fed up with his antics. The ones of us that have stayed is me, Gus and Descendre.” He swiveled around towards a group of trees, his eyes squinting. “Run!” The Silken’s voice was a screech of loud booming noise as he leapt forward, his tail growing branches and leaves in an instant, whipping out to deflect three long, oddly shaped red spears.

“Coulro.” The cook uttered, turning and running in the opposite direction, her eyes darting around for possible danger as the fight between Onion and the Coulro could be heard behind her.

The Auris and Derkaz were looking up towards her, a question on their lips, she answered “Coulro!”

The two moved in unison, Devourer running past the cook with a fierce gleam in his eye, Descendre became black as the night “Run towards those mountains, I will find you there. Don’t look back, don’t be heroic.”

Mrs. Strawberry kept running, keeping a steady ground eating pace, moving over roots and around bushes, she was vaulting over a fallen tree when she saw a soldier rushing towards her with a rope on a pole.

She unclipped her pan and redirected the stick with the flat side, then swung the metal culinary tool to knock the assailant onto her butt. She used the same motion on the next soldier that tried to charge. More soldiers appeared but they kept their distance creating a ring around her. She pulled out her butcher cleaver “Don’t think you can just truss me up like a rabid dog.” She slashed the ropes with her knife, making them into ribbons, the soldiers backing away as she moved towards one side of the ring.

“You might want to slow down.” The voice was smooth and silky, a woman stepped into view with a spear. At the point where spear met pole there was a crossed guard with a stone serpent slithering. The woman lifted her hand and shouted a spell.

The cook felt tired, a silvery energy curling up around, filling her lungs with drowsiness, she started to wobble. Two of the soldiers moved in. She growled, dropped the knife and using both hands swung the pan, giving one soldier a bloody nose and the other a black eye “You’re gonna remember me.”

The world started to fade, her muscles going lax and the metal slipping between her fingers. The last thing she remembered was that she was going to lose her balance.