Lesson from Hamadryad Sorbus to the SilverMaple Dryad children - Plattsurg Forest, year 352 PLN
Children, the Tree of Life is the most sacred tree in any Dryad forest. Mightier than every other tree, it soars high above the oaks and birches and even taller than the towering sequoias of the northern forests. Have you seen the sequoias? No? Well, someday, you’ll marvel at their height and realize they are but a small sibling to the magnificent Tree of Life. But the real value of the Tree is not in its height but in its roots. Stretching out in all directions, the roots burrow through the soil of Phoenix for hundreds of miles, touching every living plant in its path. They reach to the next dryad forest, the roots of our Tree becoming entangled with those of their Tree of Life.
As the Hamadryad, I’m bonded to the Tree of Life, just like the previous Hamadryads before me. It’s been done like this for hundreds of years. This bond allows me to listen through the Tree of Life to other Hamadryads in distant dryad forests. Our thoughts flow through the roots, moving instantly across Phoenix. This is what binds us together into a single community of Dryads. The Oak Dryads and the Maple Dryads and even the stout TimberPine Dryads, though slightly different in appearance and attitude, are all part of one community, the DryadNation.
This is our strength and our secret. We are one people without clan rivalries or territorial disputes, for the DryadNation is one nation. And in our unity is strength, so that we may serve Phoenix and all living things.
Year 374, PLN
They entered the WasteLands just before daybreak, the smell of the Great SaltOcean growing stronger with every step. Brianna had read about the ocean. Some said it stretched for thousands of miles, but that seemed ridiculous to her. How can an ocean be that big? She looked forward to seeing it herself.
In the darkness of night, the plant life of the Wastelands lay hidden, but now, with the sun’s yellow face shining down on them, their dismal surroundings became all too visible. The grass was a pale green, almost gray, and brittle to the touch. Bushes, with their leaves rustling in the breeze, bore long, pointy thorns, encouraging the leafeaters to stay far away. SufferingTrees seemed thornier, their crooked branches bending inward, toward the trunk as if the tree was trying to clench its spiny fingers. Thick TwoStepTrees stood intermixed with the Sufferings and the Danglers, their assortment of deadly, bright red fruits perched on the end of the low-hanging branches. Around the large trees, an array of dead animals lay on the ground, half-eaten fruits lying next to their open mouths. Brianna stared down in horror at the carcasses. It seemed as if they were slowly sinking into the dark soil around the base, the pungent odor of decay invading her senses with every breath. Rayel carefully stepped up to the tree and grabbed one of the crimson fruits.
“What are those?” Brianna asked.
The dryad held the fruit out. “These are extremely poisonous. After one bite, you’ll only make it as far as two steps before you’re dead.” She pointed at the ground. “You see the decomposing animal carcasses.”
The giant nodded.
“The ground will eventually absorb the animals and digest them, allowing the roots to pull in nutrients so that the tree can survive.”
“That’s terrible.” Brianna glared at the tree, the stationary plant now her enemy.
“True, but dryads use the poison in these fruits to tip our arrows.” She pulled out a handful of throwing darts and dipped each deep into the fruit, then put the darts back into her vest and tossed the fruit away.
“Quit gawking at the trees and get over here.” Davyd’s voice boomed across the desolate landscape.
The three kids ran to the SecondMaester, the giant hiding behind a huge, granite boulder. Brianna stood next to the giant and peered around the massive stone. A long bridge made of steel stood before them, a tall arcing curve of metal extending high over the structure. A strange, pale stone covered the surface of the bridge, painted lines barely visible in places. The bridge stretched across a body of water and ended at a scavenger city. Over the bridge’s entrance hung a green sign. Much of the sign was rusted and cracked, but the city’s name was barely visible in large white letters: NeyYok.
Off to the right, a towering statue stood in the middle of the bay—a woman standing upon a pedestal, a book in her left hand, her other arm raised into the air, the right hand missing. Most of the buildings in NeyYok looked either partially crumbled or melted, their twisted steel skeletons still grasping up at the sky as if struggling for life, but there was little life in this city, only pain and despair.
“That’s where we’re going, to the scavenger city of NeyYok.” Davyd moved behind the boulder and turned to the three kids. “Here’s what I know: scavengers mostly come out at night, so there will be hardly any of them on the streets in daylight. But if we do see any, we can just hide amongst all the empty buildings and debris; they’ll never see us.” He glanced around the boulder again. “You see that really tall building in the distance.”
Brianna glanced around the boulder, Stannis, and Rayel doing the same.
“Yeah, I saw it.” Brianna nodded. “What about it?”
“That’s our goal,” ShieldBreaker continued. “The scavenger government meets there. We’ll go into the building and find proof that there’s a conspiracy underway at Harmony. In the underground passages, we’ll be able to hear what they’re saying. Maybe we’ll capture one of the scavs and take them back with us to Harmony.” He smiled, his crooked teeth peeking through all his whiskers. “I’m sure we’ll be able to encourage a scavenger to talk.”
Brianna nodded.
“Once we have proof, we can stop the conspiracy, and all of you will have cleared your names.” SecondMaester ShieldBreaker looked at each of the kids. “Well . . . are you with me, or does one of you have a better idea?”
“Nope, we like your plan.” Brianna glanced at Stannis and Rayel, each nodding reluctantly.
Stannis laughed. “You make it sound easy.”
Davyd ShieldBreaker leaned toward Stannis and glared. Stannis lowered his eyes to the ground and stepped back.
“There’s nothing easy about this, but if we’re quick and quiet and careful, we’ll be okay.” The SecondMaester leaned out and glanced at the bridge again, then pulled his warhammer out of its pouch and faced the three kids.
For the first time, Brianna noticed Davyd had tied the ShadowBeast’s fang to a leather cord and was now wearing it around his neck.
“Come on . . . follow me.” The SecondMaester dashed around the boulder and charged down the gentle slope, running from tree to mound of rubble to crumbling stone wall, trying to remain unseen.
Brianna followed the huge giant with Rayel at her side, Bailey loping along, occasionally leaping high in the air, her long, spotted body stretched out like a furry missile, then landing noiselessly on the ground.
“Rayel, you never said how you ended up at Harmony,” Brianna said. “What did you do?”
“Well,” the dryad laughed. “I come from one of the most powerful families in the Plattsurg Forest. We lived in one of the tallest trees, right next to the Tree of Life.”
“So, you must have been important?” Stannis asked from behind.
Rayel glanced over her shoulder and shook her head, her colorful locks dancing about. “My family is important in Plattsurg Forest, but not me; I’m a disappointment to them. I seem to have trouble keeping my mouth shut about a lot of things in our forest.” She laughed, but then became very serious. “I’m sure you noticed my freckles.”
“Of course.” Brianna nodded.
“They’re hard to miss,” Stannis said. “They’re beautiful.”
Rayel curved around the trunk of a dead tree, her companions following. “Well, dryads don’t think so. Many kids have them when they’re younger; it’s a mark of shame for their family. To get rid of them, parents force their kids to go through a procedure, burning the freckles off their skin with chemicals. It’s an excruciating and expensive process; parents save money for years so that they can force their children through this terrible experience. They foolishly think erasing the freckles will erase the shame these spots put upon their family by DryadSociety.”
“I take it you refused to do it?” Stannis asked.
Rayel nodded. “Of course. In fact, when my parents told me I had to go through the SkinCleaning, not only did I refuse, but I spoke out publicly about the stupidity of the process while showing off my newly colored hair.” She ran her long fingers through her dreadlocks, smiling as if pleased with herself.
Something moved through a bush, making noise. They all froze in place, Rayel pulling a poison dart from a pocket on her vest. Brianna approached the shrub, warhammer at the ready, ShieldBreaker at her side. But then, Bailey emerged from the foliage, a red berry in his mouth, stains of crimson around his snout. With a sigh of relief, Brianna tossed her warhammer over her shoulder, the weapon landing in its pouch.
Stannis reached down and picked up the tree ferret, stroking her furry head. He glanced at Rayel. “So, I’m guessing your parents were upset with your hair and your public statements?”
The dryad nodded. “The next day, I was in a wagon heading for Harmony.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “My parents didn’t even see me off. It was just me, the driver, and a couple of dryad warriors to make sure I left our forest.” She sighed, her gaze focused on the ground, colorful locks of hair hiding her face.
Yip, Bailey said softly, then leaped out of Stannis’ grasp and landed on Rayel’s shoulder. The tiny animal stuck her snout through the dreadlocks and licked the dryad’s cheeks.
Raising her head, Rayel stroked Bailey’s back, the ferret purring, then wrapped her long tail around the dryad’s arm and barked again.
“You must hate your parents,” Brianna said.
Raley shook her head. “No . . . I understand why they sent me away. I’m sure I was an embarrassment to them, but I think they wanted what’s best for me as well.”
“What’s best?” Brianna gazed at Rayel with sympathy in her eyes. “What could be good about being exiled to Harmony.”
“I think they wanted me to learn how to do things without always butting heads with people.” Rayel looked up at Brianna. “Maybe they wanted me to learn how to cause change without causing chaos at the same time. I had hoped Harmony could give me that kind of wisdom, but since we’re about to go into the most dangerous city on Phoenix, I’m thinking that’s not an option anymore. So much for ever returning to Plattsurg.” She sighed.
Stannis put a hand on Rayel’s shoulder and spoke in a soft voice. “My grandpa always says, ‘If what you want seems beyond your grasp, then maybe you need to reach for it from a different angle.’ Together, we could—”
“You kids, be quiet, and get over here.” Even hushed, Davyd’s voice sounded like distant, rumbling thunder.
Brianna moved toward SecondMaester ShieldBreaker, the giant crouching behind the remains of a large green sign, much of it rusted and crumbling apart.
“Here’s the entrance to the bridge.” The SecondMaester pointed with a thick meaty finger.
Brianna leaned forward and peeked around the sign. Sure enough, the entrance was right in front of them, the bent and crumbling structure stretching across black, polluted water to NeyYok.
A trio of scavengers suddenly stepped out from behind the ruinous remains of a brick building. Each wore tattered and ripped clothing, the dirt and stains being the only thing holding the garments together. Mechanical devices grafted to their skin blinked with tiny red and green lights while other technology lay strapped to arms and necks. Unhealed sores and jagged scars covered much of their bodies.
“I thought you said the scavs would be hidden away during the day?” Brianna whispered.
“These three must be desperate to risk exposure to the sun.” Davyd shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll move on in a minute. Let’s just watch and wait.”
The tallest of the scavengers held a device that beeped, a bright red light on top. He walked through the rubble, waving the thing at the debris, his eyes, one of them mechanical, focused on the light. Suddenly, the light changed from red to green.
The scavenger pointed to a pile of metal. “Koulomb . . . check it out.”
A shorter female stepped onto the pile. The scavenger pulled chunks of metal off the pile and tossed them aside, digging through the debris. Lying on her stomach, she reached into a hole, feeling around until she withdrew some piece of technology. Holding it up, she glanced back at her companion and smiled. “Weber, is this it?” Koulomb asked.
Swinging the beeping device away, the light turned from green to red, but when Weber pointed it at the thing in Koulomb’s hand, the light returned to a bright green. He turned to look at Koulomb, the light turning red momentarily, but when the device was pointing directly at the scavenger, the indicator glowed green again.
Weber smiled. “Its power cells are still working.”
“Excellent, let’s get back and see if we can sell this for some food.” Koulomb stepped out of the pile of rubble and headed for the bridge, her two companions following, one of them rubbing at their eyes with a dirty hand.
Brianna turned to Davyd. “What were they doing?” she whispered.
“That thing in their hands is called a PowerSniffer.” He glanced around the edge of the sign, making sure the scavengers were leaving, then leaned back. “They use those things to find pieces of functioning technology in the ruins of this city. You heard what they said; they’ll trade that thing for food . . . it’s how they stay alive. The ColdHeat causes continuous damage to their fragile bodies. They need to gather any tech possible to stay alive.”
“Will we be okay?” Stannis asked, his voice edged with fear.
Davyd shrugged. “It depends on how long we stay in NeyYok. Giant exiles who come here and stay too long end up like those three scavengers, dependent on machines.” He smiled. “But I’m not planning on being here for long. We get in and get out.”
“You seem to know a lot about scavengers,” Brianna said.
“Of course, I do, I’m the SecondMaester of Harmony. It’s my job to know things so that I can teach younglings like yourselves.”
Brianna nodded, but something nagged at her from deep within the recesses of her mind. Something didn’t quite fit, but she couldn’t tell what.
“Okay, they’re gone. Let’s cross the bridge and get into NeyYok.” He glanced up at the sun; it was approaching its zenith. “I don’t think we want to be walking around in that city after dark if we can avoid it. Come on.”
Pulling his warhammer from its pouch, the giant moved cautiously from behind the sign and approached the bridge. Rayel flashed Brianna a smile then followed. Bailey loped along next to her, her bushy tail kicking up clouds of dust with every swish. Stannis unwound his metallic rope and hung it over his shoulder, making it easy to wield and followed the dryad, leaving Brianna standing there, alone.
The young giant watched her three comrades move from stone to pile of debris to fallen sign, trying to remain unseen, though that was difficult for Davyd—he was almost ten-feet-tall and big as a house. As she took a step and followed her companions, Brianna felt as if something significant was happening. When she crossed that bridge, she’d be changed—forever.
Will I end up like those three scavengers, with tubes and mechanisms sticking out of my body? The thought terrified her, but for some reason, that wasn’t the change she feared. It was something else. A voice deep within her was screaming a warning, but Brianna just couldn’t quite hear it; it made her shiver. Something was wrong here, something dangerous, but it was just beyond her vision. Brianna wanted to stop and yell at the others, tell them her suspicions, but she didn’t even know what she was suspicious about, it was just . . . wrong, something was wrong. But Brianna had no choice. She had to continue—for her family who had discarded her, for the TreeAgate clan that had forgotten her, and for Harmony that had exiled her.
With a shudder, she followed her companions as a cold, empty feeling of dread wrapped its icy fingers around her soul.