After watching Hemlock duck into the hollow interior of the spherical leaf shuttle, Licht sealed up the opening and extended his arms around it, willing the surrounding roots to wrap around and carry them both rapidly through the forest.
Licht had put the recent discovery of the Ironlight bulb’s potential out of his mind for now, instead thinking about how nice it was that Hemlock’s way of formal speech had left him.
‘I’m glad that he’s stopped calling me ‘sire’. Even if he still looks at me like I’m some archduke, if I close my eyes it nearly sounds like we’re having a normal conversation.’
During the week of working together, Licht had finally succeeded in beating the honorifics out of Hemlock’s way of addressing him, but he still couldn’t help that the man looked like a nervous puppy every time he met his eyeless gaze, Licht thought in amusement as he dodged a tree with the leaf ball.
The shell was created by Licht to act as a vehicle for transporting others, as it was less dangerous this way than being grabbed by the roots he was manipulating directly. In this way, if he made a mistake there would be a buffer.
The idea was based off of the egg-shape he had assumed during the first parasite’s attack.
‘But I suppose his nervous reactions are something that only more time together can fix. After all, the kids don’t look at me like that, do they?’
Well, he knew for sure Muan didn’t have those kinds of considerations, being a plant lifeform gave him pretty much complete immunity to most social conventions.
But now that he thought about it, he didn’t interact with Siya and Arjun enough to be sure.
Licht groaned internally at the realization.
‘What am I, an absent father? How can I plan these gifts for them when I hardly ever see them?’
Licht chided himself, but he knew the reason. His work for the past two years had been what allowed the Grove to maintain its security. Sure, the recent creation of the new tree species had the most profound implications, but there had been minor project successes along the way that had contributed vitaly. This most recent project of producing equipment for Siya and Arjun would be no different.
Licht slowed the roots around them, finally setting the leaf sphere down as they came to a stop before the mouth of a cave. He tapped on the top of the sphere a few times.
“Are you ready to go?”
“I’m ready.”
Hemlock’s muffled voice resounded from inside.
Licht nodded and looked toward the mouth of the cave.
“Alright, then I’ll keep watch over you while you just focus on deflecting with the shield. It’s just our routine test of the equipment, as always. Nothing should deviate from how we’ve done it for the past few days.”
Licht waited a moment before he heard a response.
“...Understood.”
“Great. Good luck.”
Licht sprung off the ground and away from the surroundings. His wooden body camouflaged into the background of the forest.
In front of the cave’s mouth was a small clearing that was devoid of any trees. Only rain-slick forest floor along with some weeds occupied this space, allowing the sun to bear down in all its glory.
That was where the leaf shuttle had been set down.
Licht looked while stock-still from beyond the tree line, hidden and silent, so that any occupants of the clearing wouldn’t be able to detect him. A mental signal from him allowed the leaf sphere around Hemlock to dissolve, revealing the man, and more importantly the sounds that he naturally made.
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CRRRRRRRREEEEEEE
All of a sudden, a thrum of screeching came out from the mouth of the cave, shaking the mud puddles in the clearing and the leaves of the trees along its edge.
Hemlock, holding an elliptical wooden plate attached to a handle out in front of him, steeled himself as the vibration passed over him.
Along with a healthy dose of adrenaline.
SCRAH!
“Hoh!”
All of a sudden a dark blur shot out of the cave’s mouth, pouncing at Hemlock and his shield, sending him flying backward. He skidded across the ground, shield in hand.
Licht, from beyond the tree line, caught a glimpse of the priest’s surprised expression before his hair matted to his face and was covered in mud as he tumbled over himself.
‘Eeeehhh. Yikes.’
Licht cringed. His medical knowledge was in any measure up to snuff, but he could’ve sworn he heard the sounds of something dislocating.
Hemlock got back on his feet quick enough however. By the time the figure across from him came into focus, his eyes recognized the familiar shape of the beast.
It was a Serpenti, the very same that had chased him from his campsite and had led to his arrival at the Grove. Hemlock gripped onto the shield as he saw the muscles of the serpent-like beast tense again.
SCREEEEE!
WHOOOOM
Once again, the serpenti shot forth like a bullet, this time only grazing the surface of the shield. Hemlock had shifted himself in time to not bear the full brunt of the beast’s weight.
The impact from the minor abrasion still nearly sent him to his knees, however, as the beast was more than twice his height in length and as wide around as a tree trunk.
Licht’s vision focused in as Hemlock steadied himself again. His focus dialed in exclusively on the performance of the object in the priest’s hands as he continued to deflect more attacks from the beast.
‘It’s holding up a lot better than yesterday, so that proves that this new material is more effective in sustaining hits. Like I thought, better to be flexible and resistant than incredibly durable but rigid.’
Licht observed. Otherwise with no flexibility in the shield, the bearer of the item would be forced to absorb the impact of their opponent’s attacks right into their arms and shoulders, which could lead to a devastating effect in a prolonged fight.
Not to mention he wasn’t keen on giving Arjun a case of arthritis later in life.
That was right, the shield was a gift for Arjun, the meek elf boy who couldn’t help but stutter in his speech. Licht was no Ollivander, so he could hardly recommend a weapon or tool so specialized to a person, but he thought that the idea of a shield fit the boy more than anything else he could think of.
For Siya, who compared to her brother, was a bit of a hot-headed young lady, really a little aggressive even, by Licht’s standards, he had an equally fitting implement for her picked out based on those qualities. Though whether or not they would go the distance with the items that Licht and Hemlock were making for them remained to be seen.
‘Elves are supposed to live a long time after all. So I bet they’ll get tired of them eventually.’
Licht guessed.
‘Though hopefully not too soon.’
Licht thought as a bead of sweat rolled down Hemlock’s face. The man jumped backward to catch his breath after another lunge from the Serpenti grazed across his shield.
‘The guy’s pretty damn nimble for a priest.’
Licht thought.
All of a sudden both of their faces expressed confusion as the Serpenti stopped in its tracks.
Hemlock, who had been raising his shield in preparation to deflect another blow tilted his head. His eyes peaked over the rim of the wooden plate to see the beast’s behavior.
The serpent beast reeled back. In a broad motion it aimed its fanged mouth toward the sky, shaking back and forth like it was attempting to shed a slick of water from its scales. The scales on the bottom of its neck pulsed in a fashion unlike anything Licht or Hemlock had witnessed before.
HRAAH! HRAAH! HRAAH!
The guttural thrums coming from the beast’s throat made Licht frown. They had kept up the routine of testing the shield like this at various serpenti den’s around the forest, ones that Licht hadn’t cleared out yet himself, but this was the first time that something like this had happened during a test.
‘Is it evolving? Shedding its scales? No, it doesn’t seem like it.’
Licht only had to wait a moment before his questions were answered.
“Oh shit!”
Hemlock cursed, echoing the sentiments of Licht. Both of their eyes locked on to the mouth of the cave as a second serpenti emerged.