Friedrich turned into a minotaur as Marina raised her staff and Teleri nocked an arrow. Before any of the trio could make a further move to help Pheston, who remained dangling above the underground pond with a fifty-foot-long tree root coiled around his ankle, a green glow appeared from the ceiling.
“Don’t just stand there!” cried Pheston, struggling to escape from the clutches of the tree, unaware of what was going on above him.
Five green phantoms—one for each of the trees visible outside—emerged and slid down on the roots effortlessly and landed in the water, all except for one. The phantom that slid down on Pheston’s root and stood on top of him.
The ethereal creatures were humanoid in shape and feminine in their proportions, but with branchlike appendages erupting from their heads and backs, and smaller twigs jutting out from their limbs. They looked as though they had been carved from wood, but their forms were translucent, as though they were caught somewhere between the material and immaterial world.
Before being given the chance to address the group, Teleri unleashed one of her fiery arrows at the one standing atop Pheston. It shrieked in a most-inhuman, yet somewhat feminine voice that echoed around the cavern. Flames burned brightly from within her, but she dove into the water to douse them, joining her kin down below.
“Wood nymphs,” called Teleri, drawing another arrow.
Marina summoned Shockwave to her side and the lightning elemental joined its mistress in unleashing crackling bolts of electricity that shot above the surface of the water towards the spirits. Before they were struck, however, a whirlwind of thick leaves spawned in the air and the lightning spread throughout them, frying them to a crisp, but sapping all of the energy and leaving nothing left to strike the spirits with.
Friedrich burst into the water, splashing and sloshing as he made for the nymphs, who all stood with their hands raised. From their wooden palms, shot strings of vines that curled around him and pulled him underwater and held him down.
In the distraction, Teleri struck another of the spectral creatures with an arrow, piercing it in the head. Desperate to cease the agony of its burning head, it submerged itself. With fewer spirits to hold him down, Friedrich tugged on the vines and pulled all of his foes into the water before standing up again.
He dove forwards towards Pheston, fading from view once again as the spirits arose. A lucky shot from Marina struck one of the spirits, but the glowing touch from one of its kin mended the wound before Marina had channelled enough arcane power for a follow-up strike.
Friedrich surfaced once more and leapt up, shoving Vigr into Pheston’s hand with a grunt.
“That’s more like it,” said the smith, swinging the hammer up and breaking the root that held him. He plummeted into the water, only to be helped back up by Friedrich and the two darted for the spirits as Teleri continued to fire arrows
Marina sent Shockwave into the water and the swirling pile of lightning-infused dust skimmed the surface, careful to control himself and not electrocute Friedrich and Pheston who were swinging fist and hammer at the spirits, only to be blocked by walls of thick bark that were erected from nothingness.
Out of the corner of Marina’s eyes, she spotted the trees above. “There!” she called to Teleri.
“Of course,” muttered the elf, readying an arrow and then shooting the tree.
One of the spirits in the pond shrieked and spasmed as its true body suffered. With a heavy punch, Friedrich knocked the ethereal creature across the pond. Another arrow and a lightning strike later and the tree was engulfed in flame, lightning the cavern with its warm light as its spirit disintegrated into the air, its green glow fading before vanishing entirely.
The remaining roots suddenly sprang to life as the movement of the spirits slowed, signalling to Marina that the nymphs could not control their spectral and physical forms with full focus. As the roots reached for the two, the Mercian and the Alaurian were forced to switch targets, but the roots were too many and they were both seized. Even Shockwave was quickly crushed by the thick roots, scattering his energy back into the lightning plane.
Friedrich spied his two friends being raised into the sky and left the phantoms to Pheston. He turned back into a human and threw his blade high into the sky before placing the goblin mask upon his face. The blade spun as it fell and was clenched by the spindly fingers of the goblin.
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Pheston fended off the spirits, who were more focused now that Marina and Teleri were too restrained to fight back, leaving Friedrich free to leap up and grab onto the roots, sinking his sharp nails inside and swinging his sword, cleaving them apart one by one. Before long, Marina sent a pulse of lightning that made the roots flinch, forcing them to release her. She fell a few to the ground, landing on her bottom with a thud.
Ignoring the pain in her rear, she raised her staff and cast out a powerful lightning bolt from her crystal, shattering the roots binding Teleri and freeing one of her arms. Friedrich reached out and grabbed oner of the elf’s arrows, jamming it into the roots which was suddenly aflame. As it released Teleri, Friedrich reached for her hand and swung her back onto the ground to join Marina.
Together, the pair used a cascade of fire and lightning to strike the next tree, which made one of the spirits falter. With an upswing from the mighty Vigr, the spirit flew into the air before dissipating, leaving Pheston fighting with the three remaining nymph spirits.
Marina’s magical energy was almost exhausted by the time the third tree was destroyed, leaving Teleri to move onto the fourth one solo. As it burned, leaving a single nymph left, the phantom dropped to its knees and clutched its hands together as though begging for mercy while emitting a warbling call that was distinguishable as a plea.
“Now you ask to be spared?” asked Pheston.
“I warned you that we should have left this place alone,” said Teleri. “You struck first and got us into the battle. You say that there are many oddities in the world, yet you were still foolhardy enough to attack the roots. Had you left them alone, the nymphs would no doubt have let us pass unharmed.”
“Was it not you who shot the spirit that dared standing on me?” growled the blacksmith. “Was it not you who participated in the burning of the trees?”
“Do not shift the blame,” scolded Teleri. “We should have left you in Keldracht where you couldn’t cause trouble.”
“One mishap and I am to be thrown to the demons? Is that it, elf?”
Friedrich walked between the pair and started screeching while waving his arms, trying to get the pair to calm down.
“I will see you all on the other side, Friedrich” said Teleri, slinging her bow over her shoulder and storming off down the far tunnel. “I cannot be around this fool any longer.”
As Teleri left, Pheston shook his head furiously. “What have I done to earn her ire?” he asked Marina, knowing Friedrich could not answer.
“She…doesn’t trust easily,” replied Marina awkwardly. “It is not my place to share her past with you, but she was cold to Friedrich and I when we first met.”
“You two saved her from a demon’s toxin, I’m aware,” said Pheston, snappily. “A few hours ago, I saved her skull from being crushed by a falling stone. Yet still, that doesn’t earn me as much as a friendly smile.”
“I know, but…”
“She thinks she has hardships? Try having your life ripped away on account of immature foolhardiness. I lost everything and even if I’m lucky enough to survive another couple of decades, I’ll have spent half of my lifetime in a foreign plane devoid of any meaning other than continued existence for existence’s sake.”
“Tell her that, not me,” said Marina. “I sympathise with everything that happened to you, Pheston, I truly do, but you’re directing your anger at the wrong person.”
Pheston and Marina stood in silence, Friedrich walked over the last of the nymphs and shook his head before pointing to the ceiling. He tried to tell it to return to its tree, but the words came out in a jumbled mess of unpleasant-to-the-ear syllables.
“He’s telling you that you’re free to go,” said Marina quietly. “We are sorry that we invaded your territory.”
The glowing green spirit faded into a small sphere of glittering green dust and then streamed back through the ceiling, passing inside its tree body. Now just the three of them in the cavern, Marina, Pheston and goblin-Friedrich weren’t sure how to proceed. After another minute had passed, Friedrich turned back to normal.
“Much better,” he said, twisting his neck and stretching his arms. “Alright, let’s go find Teleri and we can sort this whole ordeal out.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be sorted out, Friedrich,” said Pheston. “She does not care for me one bit, and frankly, I care not for her after the way I have been so disrespected. Once we’re out into the wild of Corobath, I will take my leave and make my own way.”
“Pheston, I don’t think—”
“No, lad,” said Pheston, holding up a hand. “It’s for the best. The last thing I want is to come between you and your friends. I’m sorry we won’t make it to the Forge of Ages, but perhaps we’ll cross paths again and I can repay you another way.”
“There’s no repayment needed.”
“Be that as it may, I appreciate everything you have done for me. Whether the elf realises it or not, I appreciate her role in saving me too. Same goes for you, Marina, but I am better off alone.”
Marina was heartbroken upon seeing the old man’s crushed expression. “Pheston…”
His despair passed and he smiled at her. “Let’s go catch up to your friend and we can say our goodbyes.”
The trio hurried into the tunnel, forgetting their tiredness and trying to catch up to Teleri, but she was nowhere to be found. Even two hours later as the moonlight from outside shone against the grass, there was no sign of her.
Friedrich stepped outside and looked around, hoping to see a black-clad figure with her golden hair hanging down, but there was nothing. He glanced behind the rocks and between the trees, yet still, he didn’t see as much as a strand of Teleri’s hair.
“Does she hate me that much?” asked Pheston, trying not to laugh. Upon seeing the Friedrich and Marina’s faces, he cleared his throat and remained silent.
“Where could she be?” asked Marina faintly, looking worried. “She wouldn’t simply run off and leave us behind, would she?”
“No, she wouldn’t,” replied Friedrich in a low voice. “But we’ll find her.”