THE STRONGEST IN THE FOREST
By Jayde Holmes
Part 1: Black World, Green World
The New Strongest felt a sudden loss in her mind, like part of her brain had been sliced away. It was as if a massive gulf had appeared right where her tree grew, exposing her roots and leaving her leaning over an abyss so deep she couldn’t comprehend what her light-sensing mosses were seeing. She was numb, feeling stupid and lonely, but with each passing second it was harder to remember what it had been like to have an intact mind.
At first, she thought her own brain was under attack. She turned her attention to the light-sensitive moss that grew along the bark of her host-tree. She could see all around her little garden, but there was no attacking creature. Nothing moved save the family of pollinators mindlessly scurrying amongst her roots and the exotic flowers she had collected over the previous century. Even in her panic, seeing the pathetic small-headed pollinators looking so lost made her want to reach out her thoughts and control them.
As she took stock of the various connections she had to her tree and the organisms that grew on it she saw no damage. Besides the thought-transmitting synapse buds and the fleshy, flower-like reproduction organs that seeped through cracks in the grey bark, her entire real body was hidden deep within in her host-tree. She seemed safe. For now. She couldn’t help but think this attack was related to the threat she’d been tracking.
She focused harder on her mosses, blocking out every other sensory organism. Her view narrowed from the usual three-hundred-and-sixty-degree panorama around her tree as she ignored obvious non-threats. Her flower garden was not tall or crowded enough to hide a monster. The massive black fan-shaped leaves growing around the edges of her clearing were undisturbed, as were the leaves and hanging ornaments on the empty host-trees closest to her. Nothing had taken cover in the Forest within the last few seconds.
Against the north side of her trunk, she had built a long shack of black common-tree wood and animal hides. It served as a crafting and storage room, though as of late it had been home to more weapons than projects. A quick look through her moss told her that the hides covering the entrance hadn’t been moved, and by flicking her thoughts out through her synapse buds she could see that the pet biped she had lured inside was still there and still asleep. Nothing was hiding in her own room.
Now she looked to the south, where she had demolished the few trees before her for a clear view of the Disputed Valley. Fifty meters south of where her host-tree grew, Strongest’s black-leaved Forest stopped abruptly, held back by an invisible line level with the river filter. Her Forest thrived north of that line, with tall trees and fungi towers. To the south though, a green world of wild leaf blades poking out of the ground and scattered trees of brown and green stretched further than her people had ever been able to venture.
Over the past hundred years, her Forest had slowly crept forward with smaller shrubs and mossbulbs, but progress was slow. Every season strange clouds rolled in over the mountains with rain that stung black leaves and nourished green. If clouds from the south were that toxic, maybe bipeds from the south were deadly enough to reach out and hack away her mind from kilometers away.
As well as clearing enough trees to see the valley, Strongest had installed a series of magnifying glass walls at different intervals before her tree, cutting between Strange Hill and the un-rusted metal spikes so that even with the relatively poor sight of the moss, she could make out the river and the crumbling stone walls in the distance.
She saw shapes. Had the monsters from the south arrived? No, it was just the shaggy tetrapods that grazed on the green ground-blades.
She reached out her thoughts to possess her biped and take a closer look, but then snapped her synapse bud shut as she realized how far this panic spread. It wasn’t just her panic; it was panic in the group mind. In that web of hyphae that extended from every person’s true body and wound its way through the interconnected host-tree roots, connecting the entire Forest. Everyone was panicking. Everyone had felt the cut. It hadn’t happened to her personally; it had happened to the Forest.
Something had been ripped from the group mind. No; someone had been ripped from the group mind.
She tried to reach into the group mind to connect with her mentor but jerked her consciousness back. Something had changed. Something was wrong. It was a familiar wrong, but on an unbearable scale.
Despite this wrongness, another mind reached out to hers through the roots. She was sent a range of feelings and mental imagines that due to the panic took longer than usual to form meaning in her mind.
(My Ward, are you alright?) the thoughts told her. (Do you know what happened?)
It was her mentor. He was an ancient person with unusual mental strength. She wished she had been strong enough to dive into the damaged group mind as fast as he did.
(I’m alright) Strongest told him, finding it easier to brave the group mind knowing that this connection was still there and still safe. (I don’t know what happened, just that someone has gone and everyone feels it.)
(Someone died) Mentor told.
(Who could die and make this much of an impact?) Strongest asked. (Even if it was Highest… no, she’s still there. Who else? And why weren’t we prepared? Do you think that’s why the group mind is hurting? Because we didn’t have enough time to rewire from the lost person? But not even the old Highest-Eldest’s death felt like this.)
Another set of thoughts reached her through the roots. They were not Mentor’s. They originated from someone geographically far, but socially close to her. The unrestrained anger of this other person was so strong and the group mind so disorientated that for a split second she had the unfathomable sensation of not knowing who was thinking at her. By the time the thoughts made sense though, she had identified the sender.
(You killed my friend) The Former Strongest of the Forest told her. (You did this. This is all your fault!)
To the Northwest of Strongest’s Forest was the Empty Forest, and a larger Forest that surrounded most of it and kept it empty. The Empty Forest was a clonal colony of host-trees that these Empty Forest Keepers kept uninfected with people. A tiny brainless island in an ocean of sentient tropical rainforest. The small area where the Empty Forest brushed against Strongest’s own host-tree clonal colony didn’t look as drastic as the border with the Disputed Valley, but it was far more contentious.
With the Empty Forest being empty, it was the ideal place for Strongest’s Forest to expand. There had been countless attempts to fell the empty trees and extend the Forest’s roots, but the Keepers had always responded with excessive violence. Even unforgivable fire wasn’t unknown in this conflict. It wasn’t until the Former Strongest had given up on expanding into the Empty Forest that the Keepers had begun ignoring them.
(This is your fault) The Former Strongest told Strongest the day after the severing. (The Keepers did this because you provoked them.) His thoughts taunted her, reminding her of her dream of gardeners guiding the roots of their clonal colony into the newly cleared land. He had always thought she was foolish for taking aim at the Empty Forest.
Strongest was currently possessing her biped and making it tend her flower garden. There was something soothing about laying her pet down amongst the light-up petals of her flowers. As Former reminded Strongest what it had felt like for him when the Keepers had fenced off forty-three people and cut their roots, she shut the biped’s eyes and let out a sharp hiss.
Strongest’s host-tree grew on the opposite side of the Forest to the forty-three and she had not been friendly with any of them. Former however had known them well and had often walked to their sparse grove, which brushed up against the Keepers. Being closer to them both physically and socially, he had been hit harder by the severing than Strongest.
(You think we should have continued to do nothing?) Strongest asked.
(Let’s not have this debate again) Former told. (I could make the same arguments about your non-aggression deal with the Forest to the East.)
(What we gain by having access to the sky-dominators more than makes up for our lack of expansion. We never gained anything by ignoring the Empty Forest.)
Former sent Strongest a burst of rage, reminding her that he had lost a friend in the severing. She pulled her awareness away from him as she calmed herself. She often disagreed with Former, but she had no right to unleash her frustrations on him while he was grieving. Especially not when she would soon have to tell Former that his friend’s fate was worse than he suspected.
(I understand) Strongest told. (Our reoccurring argument gains us nothing but hurt. I do not wish to hurt you more. However, I need a visual on the forty-three now.)
(Why?) Former asked. (They are dead.)
Strongest held back her disagreement and assured Former that she was momentarily keeping him ignorant to avoid unnecessary pain. Former broke their connection to possess an animal, and Strongest made her biped get up and walk around her clearing.
Her room was open to the damp night air, with a simple flyscreen keeping the insects away from the unfinished painting she had started earlier. As she learnt more about the severing, she found it impossible to concentrate on anything for too long. She made the biped look up at the sky and felt relief that the stars and moons at least remained the same.
Former’s thoughts returned to her, showing her his running-claw’s view of the forty-three. They were spread around a small pond, with the steel-strong pond-vines gushing from the water and coating the ground. From Former’s position in a treehouse overlooking the pond, Strongest counted forty-four host trees that Former had noted. They were spread further apart than most host-trees, with no other plants able to brave the chokehold the pond-vines had on this land. All the trees had the shriveled, stunted look of an occupied host-tree, and all but one was surrounded by the crafts and possessions of the people they contained. The forty-fourth was a young healthy tree, which Strongest knew had recently been implanted with an embryonic person. In a few decades, the Forty-Fourth’s body would have extended far enough in the roots to connect with the group mind, exposing it to the information needed to become a thinking entity.
The scene looked similar to other bogs in the Forest, with the exception of the deep scar of a ditch dug around the pond-vines, cutting the grove off from the rest of the Forest. In some places, even the pond-vines had been cut.
(Is the trench really that clean?) Strongest asked. (Such a consistent width, with no dirt piled outside?)
(I went to great effort to show it to you exactly) Former told. (They must have used a Strange Powerful Object.)
(Agreed) Strongest told. (Does the trench go all the way around? Does it divide them from the Keeper’s Forest?)
Former sent confusion, along with a vision of the second pond in the area, which was so overgrown with vines that barely any water was left. Beyond this bundle the vine-lands continued in a similar scene, with only a few host-trees and their belongings scattered around. Like on their side, the terrain changed drastically from barren bog to thick tree cover right where the vines ended. It could have been a scene from their Forest, save for the differences in leaf shape and bark pattern that marked those trees as part of the Keeper clonal colony. In Former’s mind, the differences were greatly exaggerated.
There was no trench dividing the two ponds.
(Maybe they couldn’t cut through those vines) Former told.
(I’d like to think so) Strongest told. (But I got a message today from the Smartest of the Keeper Forest. She has plans for the severed.)
(Show me) Former told.
(You won’t like it.)
(Show me anyway.)
Strongest sent her thoughts about Smartest’s plans to Former. She tried to pretend she was Smartest, imagining how excited she would be by this experiment. It was a futile attempt. Growing in different Forests, they didn’t share a root connection. Only shallow droplets of their thoughts could be exchanged over the wind. Even worse, Strongest didn’t have the skills needed to add information onto the thoughts she sent out on the wind, nor was she good at receiving such thoughts. She had received Smartest’s plan from one of her far-thinker friends, who herself had needed to imagine Smartest’s feelings and hopes for the experiment.
She explained to Former that The Keepers planned to connect the severed host-trees to their own root system. Smartest wanted to know what would happen if people from one Forest were connected to a new one.
(She wants to graft dead people onto their Forest?) Former asked.
(The severed aren’t dead) Strongest reminded him. (Nothing was done to their bodies, and their trees are still fine. They just aren’t connected to the group mind, so they are currently their own Forest. A Forest of forty-three people and an embryo.)
(Forty-three bodies isn’t enough for intelligent thought) Former told.
(But they are alive.)
(They are dead) Former insisted. (Without the group mind, they have no memory, no accumulated learning, no way to look back on themselves. That’s death.)
(But their bodies are still intact) Strongest told. (They still draw nutrients from their host-tree and can still make instinctual telepathic connections with other organisms.)
(You are thinking of forty-three blobs of interconnected fungi spread across connected trees) Former told. (The forty-three people embedded in those trees are dead.)
(They are no more dead than the dozens of embryos within our own Forest, who have grown down the roots and connected to the group mind but not yet absorbed enough thoughts for consciousness.)
(But they’ve ceased to be) Former protested. (You can’t just terminate a person’s consciousness and expect them to come back.)
(Can’t we?) Strongest asked, emphasizing that the question, and the excitement about the question had been Smartest’s. She felt Former sever their connection. She waited. She sat her biped down in its chair to look at the painting, pretending that she might be calm enough to work on it tonight. Two minutes later, Former’s thoughts returned, cold and with no anger directed at her.
(My friend asked me questions like that all the time) Former told. (Philosopher at the Edge of the Forest always thought about what made us people. He wanted to know where we as individuals ended, and the group consciousness began.)
(I sense bad feelings behind this idea) Strongest told.
(I’ve been wondering how they dug the trench without arousing suspicion) Former told. (The people surrounding the area said there were bipeds with tools right there when it happened, but they had been told the vinelanders were attempting to clear vines. At first, I thought the Keepers had just used the opportunity to sneak their diggers in. But there were people in that grove who were good at imagining fantasies.)
The brush trembled in the biped’s hands as Strongest pulled away from Former. She tried not to think about the other thing Smartest had said. The claim that she needed to confirm with Former, but that had seemed so horrible that she’d never wanted to repeat it in the group mind. Her far-thinker friend had been offended enough by the notion.
(He would have done this) Former told. (He would have given up everything to answer those questions. And he was a very good far-thinker, who shared questions and fantasies with outsiders. But you already know that don’t you?)
(Smartest claimed they were all volunteers) Strongest told. (I don’t know if that is truth or pretend. I didn’t want to disturb you, but I need to know confirm her claim somehow. Do you think the forty-three would have volunteered for this?)
(Why does it matter?) Former asked.
(I’m deciding if I should destroy their bodies to end the isolation or if I should let them continue the experiment) Strongest told. (I don’t want to go against their wishes.)
(Their wishes are irrelevant) Former told. (If they become part of the Keeper Forest, they are our enemies. If the procedure works and the severed are resurrected, we could have people choosing to be grafted onto the Keeper Forest. Their Forest is the largest in the area; who wouldn’t want more brain power or a healthier tree system?)
(I don’t think many people would want to be reborn into a different Forest) Strongest told.
(People can have strange ideas) Former told. (Especially in a Forest that has recently lost its Eldest and changed its mind about both its Strongest and Highest. Our group mind has been confused for a long time.)
In his thoughts, Former’s accusations seeped back, more hurtful now since they were the product of a calm, controlled mind.
(Are you implying that you’d do a better job at making these decisions?) Strongest asked.
(I don’t doubt you are the stronger strategist) Former told. (You have beaten me in that regard, and I don’t deny that your sky-dominator plan was genius. I’m simply implying that strategic and tactical brilliance may not be enough in this situation. You’ll need to be ruthless.)
(I’ll take that into consideration) Strongest told. (Before then, I need to know if the Keepers have any idea about our tunnels.)
She had been worried that Former wouldn’t understand the connection. She showed him a fourth-hand memory of the Forest’s First Expander leading a team of gardeners to train the Forest’s roots through the concrete tunnels that lay beneath the river. She needn’t have worried; he realized how knowledge of their work could have influenced the Keepers.
(I never bought it up) Former told. (But the Keepers are smart. They must know that the river cuts right through us and have some idea how we stay together. For all we know, they watched us set it all up back at the start.)
(None of the forty-three would have known the history?) Strongest asked.
(No) Former told.
Relieved, Strongest cut the connection and took her biped for a walk. She watched her pet through the light covered moss on her tree for a while. It was a tall, upright beast without a tail. It had a mane of wiry black hair covering the back of its head, neck and shoulders that trailed down in contrast to the mottled grey and white skin. Biped skin was great for camouflage against the grey bark of the host-trees, but as the only four-limbed creatures in the Forest they always looked out of place to Strongest.
And they reminded her so much of the other threat her Forest was facing.
Through her moss, she saw her biped push aside a fanfern leaf and gaze up at the stars. At the same time, she saw the sky through the biped’s eyes. The moons were both crescent and the sky clear, allowing both hazy bands of light to be seen amongst the scattering of stars. Strongest wasn’t fluent in the movement of the stars, and her favorite Unknowable Theory about them was that they were pieces of the moons that followed them through the sky. This explained the two trails of stars but did not provide a satisfactory explanation to the individual stars with their predictable movement.
The sky wouldn’t stay clear for long. Clouds were coming. Clouds from downriver, beyond the mountains. Unnatural clouds that would feed the green plants. As disastrous as the Keeper’s attack had been, it would be decades before they could try resurrecting the severed. There was plenty of time to think about her response and there would be multiple opportunities to act. As traumatic as the severing was, it wasn’t urgent.
(I sense you are building the resolve to act) Former’s thoughts returned, intruding on her contemplation.
(I have reached a conclusion on our priorities) Strongest told. (I’ll wait to confront Smartest, and Shepherd and I will move our sky-dominator expedition forward.)
(This isn’t the time for exploration) Former told.
(We know what the Keepers are doing) Strongest told. (We don’t know what’s coming from the south. I will not let us be so shocked again.)
(Highest wouldn’t let this abomination go unanswered) Former told. (She’d do what was best for the Forest; she’d compel you to make a stand against Smartest.)
(Highest is my friend as much as she is yours) Strongest told. (Don’t you dare try to invoke her like this. The fact that we are so opposed in our ideas is proof you are lying.)
Strongest cut the connection, keeping her displeasure strong enough that Former wouldn’t bother her again. Then she reached out to Shepherd, telling him that they needed to go tomorrow.
_________________________________________________________________
At sunrise the next day, Strongest cast her thoughts out through her synapse buds. They were drawn towards each animal and plant capable of sensing telepathy, and she used those minds to drag her consciousness through the air, towards the caves where her friend Shepherd of the Sky-Dominators had settled a pair of animals for the breeding season.
It was a long journey made harder by the early rain. She ended up following rock-baskers up a stony, pockmarked hill. In a high-up cave the minds of the sky-dominators were massive beacons burning brighter than even the most intelligent biped. The mind of the female repelled her; Shepherd was already possessing it. She took over the male. There was a moment of confusion as her thoughts displaced the sky-dominator’s, and when the world came back to Strongest she was aware of both the surroundings of her host-tree, and of everything the sky-dominator could sense.
(I have the sky-dominator) Strongest told. (Are we ready to go?)
(I still need to secure the box) Shepherd told, thinking of the box Strongest’s mentor had prepared for them and left in the cave. As much as Strongest loved her mentor, she found his ideas of using diplomacy on the invaders annoying. He was important enough to both her and the Forest though for his quaint motions were respected.
(You still want to carry it?) Strongest asked, walking her sky-dominator into the cave to gaze at the box with the predator’s acute eyesight. It was a plain box of black wood, with two poles at the side for lifting it in the air, and a handle on the lid to hook it to a sky-dominator chest spike. It contained a stone tablet engraved with symbols Mentor insisted would tell the monsters they were unwelcome.
She placed the sky-dominator’s scaly foreclaw onto the box and knew her question was moot; she did not have the sky-dominator dexterity to carry it. Sky-dominators had four limbs that acted as normal legs, whilst the middle pair formed support struts for wing membranes stretched between the limbs and tail. Every flying reptile followed this basic body plan, and Strongest was proficient in most of them, but Sky-dominator size changed everything. Keeping their massive bodies airborne required years to master. She was practiced enough with this set of body, senses, and instincts to fly, but balancing a load was beyond her.
(I’ll be able to carry it) Shepherd told. His thoughts made it clear he knew he had to, but they held neither contempt for her shortcomings nor annoyance at her for asking. He was aware of how much she expected of herself.
They dragged the box to the edge of the hill, then inspected each other’s sky-dominators. Their orange-tipped snouts sniffed black scales hard as rocks for any sign of parasites or stuck twigs. Shepherd then flicked the sky-dominator’s tongue onto the softer skin at the base of Strongest’s sky-dominator’s wing membrane. She hadn’t expected it to be so sensitive. The telepathy tendrils on the back of her sky-dominator’s head flicked in response.
Once ready, Shepherd ran at the box, picking it up and taking off in an effortless motion. Strongest followed, straining with the effort of getting airborne. Once in the air, things became easier as she let the sky-dominator’s instincts handle the gliding. She almost let her more complex thoughts drift away as she savored the exhilaration of flying. She loved the feeling of the wind against wings and the raindrops falling on scales. As the rain eased, she felt as if she could smell and see the entire valley.
(You didn’t tell me that your female was in heat again already) Strongest told as she flew closer to Shepherd.
(You didn’t smell it before?) Shepherd asked.
(I didn’t know what to make of it) Strongest told. (But this body is reacting.)
(Did you want to act on that later?) Shepherd asked.
(Is that your way of bringing up our own breeding attempts again?) Strongest told.
(I’m open to both) Shepherd told.
Strongest sent him a memory of the severing, as well as their chosen mentor’s location in proximity to the Keepers.
(You told me you wanted offspring near the borders) Shepherd told.
(I don’t want them to become a Keeper experiment.)
(They’ll have a good mentor) Shepherd told. (In a tight-knit grove.)
(I don’t feel the risk is worth it right now) Strongest told. She waited for Shepherd to challenge her like Former or Highest would have, but instead he sent her only warmth.
(Not everyone needs to reproduce) Shepherd told. (And if you feel so worried, it’s pointless to have offspring. I just thought it was what you wanted.)
(I did want to make another person) Strongest told. (Not now though.)
They kept flying and kept thinking about the state of their Forest. Below them, the Disputed Valley turned green. The river below them swelled, the hardy leaf blades gave way to a carpet of small plants of green leaves and brown wood smashing through a maze of ruined metal walls. Brown furry animals darted through the ruins, nibbling at the plants.
Just an hour south of the invisible border, and the green forest was as vibrant and full of life as their own. The alien trees got bigger and surrounded the river. They grew straight-trunked with high buttress roots. Feathered creatures flew between them and tiny bipeds climbed amongst the highest branches, looking up and screeching as they flew over. Every slap of the sky-dominator’s wings bought Strongest deeper into a world of toxic soil and strange creatures.
Strongest knew there was a massive green rainforest another hour ahead, right at the limit of how far she could fly a sky-dominator before having to turn back. It was there that Shepherd had first seen the invaders three luna-cycles ago. They had been battling another group of monsters in the rainforest, setting a large fire in their wake.
Even with all the rain her Forest produced, the thought of animals starting fire terrified her. She couldn’t calculate such a factor into any of her plans for the Forest.
They kept flying, following the river and the rolling hills. Strongest flew high, whilst Shepherd kept low, ready to drop the box as soon as he saw the invaders. Strongest saw all manner of alien beast scatter at the approach of their shadow, but the invaders were yet to appear.
In another half hour they found the invaders. closer than Strongest had thought. They looked like colorful bipeds with rusty hair, scattering in panic as Shepherd circled over them. There were at least two hundred of them, leading large quadruped beasts burdened with baskets and sacks or pulling wooden wagons. The bravest of the aliens stayed and calmed their panicked pets, while the stupidest readied javelins and chased after Shepherd.
(Just drop it and get out of there) Strongest told.
(I don’t want to crush any of them) Shepherd told.
Strongest circled higher, watching the alien’s futile attempts to bring down the sky-dominators with their tiny weapons. Three aliens bought out large bows and fired at Shepherd. One got lodged between his scales, and she felt his surprise through both her host-tree’s roots and the sky-dominator’s tendril.
He dropped the box right next to the archers and flapped his wings as hard as he could. As he climbed, Strongest felt his fear grow.
(I didn’t think they could reach that high) Shepherd told. (If one had hit the wings, I’d have a very sore sky-dominator. If they’d all hit, I may not have been able to fly her home. Her mate wouldn’t be able to care for their brood alone.)
(Are you still willing to continue the expedition?)
(Yes. But we’ll take no more chances.)
The two of them roared their sky-dominators as they flew away from the invaders, further into the Green World. They passed over alien villages, but the monsters they saw here sensibly dove into their shelters at their approach. As glad as Strongest was that these aliens weren’t migrating towards her Forest, she was shocked to see so many so close.
The river below them cut the land deeper, and soon they were flying between two massive rock walls with countless alien faces carved into them. Some of the faces appeared to have sharp fangs or pointed ears, making them look like bipeds. The rain appeared to roll down the cheeks of the largest faces, making the cliff face come alive.
They came to the Green Rainforest just after noon. A canopy of tall green trees blocked the ground and much of the river from their view. They flew higher, gazing upon the endless sea of toxic leaves that stretched out before them. Dominating the landscape were two towers in the center of the Forest, made with the same incorruptible metal as the river filter that divided the Green and Black worlds. Rainclouds were pouring out of the towers, and as Strongest flew towards them she could feel the water droplets cling to the sky-dominator’s skin, causing an uncomfortable itch. By the time they landed in an alcove halfway down the tower, the sky-dominator’s wings were burning.
Shepherd bought Strongest’s attention to the leather pouches wrapped around his sky-dominators legs. He ripped one open with the creature’s claws and covered it in the ointment he and his friends had prepared for the journey. Together, the two of them opened the sacks and smeared the gel all over each sky-dominator’s wings. Strongest relished the instant relief from the sting of the green microbes.
(This is the last chance to turn the sky-dominators back) She told Shepherd. (Are you sure you want to risk them?)
(The cream should keep them from panicking) Shepherd reminded her. (How long do you want to rest here?)
(As little as needed) Strongest told, watching the feathered creatures fly over the sea of green. (This place is eerie.)
They stayed until Shepherd declared the sky-dominators rested. He plunged off the tower, waiting so long to catch a thermal that Strongest suspected he was teasing her. She hid her fear and followed. They flew south, venturing where none of their kind had ever gone before.
They discovered that the green rainforest wasn’t endless. They came to a confluence where their river was joined by another tributary in rocky land covered by alien shelters. The buildings were made of brick or stone, with none of the metal – rusted or incorruptible – that Strongest associated with the Green World. Despite the simpler building material, the centerpiece of the settlement was as magnificent as any of the monoliths back in the Disputed Valley. It was a round white stone tower overlooking the meeting of the rivers. It was made of five circular buildings of shrinking width stacked on top of each other to form a multi-tier behemoth. Exposed walkways were covered in red cloth awnings that redirected the rainwater into a maze of waterways. Bells that clang like landslides sounded from dainty towers perched along a wall surrounding the settlement.
Strongest circled the structure. She loved seeing other people’s treehouses, and this was the most complicated, beautiful structure she had ever seen. She wanted to make sure she remembered every tiny detail well enough to show all her friends.
(Don’t go so low) Shepherd told her. (Archers are coming out. A lot of them.)
His thoughts showed her aliens draped in copper assembling along the terraces of the building and drawing large bows. Until Shepherd had pointed them out, Strongest hadn’t noticed how many monsters were in the settlement. Now she saw them everywhere. Running, hiding, and some climbing the towers to turn their little weapons on her.
(So many invaders) Strongest told as she flapped her wings harder.
(Not invaders) Shepherd told. (This is their habitat. We’re the invaders.)
Strongest was indigent at being compared to the approaching hoard but had to admit that Shepherd’s logic was sound. She felt herself soften to this group of monsters, with their amazing buildings and lack of intent to march on her Forest. Then horns blared and a flaming rock was flung from the settlement wall. Sky-dominators were powerful fliers, but they were not agile and Strongest barely dodged it.
(They are dangerous even to sky-dominators) Shepherd told.
(That is such a powerful weapon) Strongest told. (And so simple.)
(I want to go back) Shepherd told. (I’d worry about the sky-dominators flying over this place without us.)
(Agreed) Strongest told, turning her sky-dominator back towards the rainforest. Shepherd followed, and the two of them escaped the alien settlement as more rocks went flying towards them.
As they flew, Strongest reached out for Former through the roots, and showed him her memory of the flaming rock almost killing her sky-dominator. Like her, he was fascinated by the weapon, but he didn’t share her apprehension.
(I want one) he told her. (I want to learn how to throw a flaming rock into the Keepers.)
(It is more likely that one of them will strike our Forest) She told him.
(If your Mentor is correct and we can communicate with the strange bipeds, maybe we can use their skills against the Keepers.)
(Don’t be so reckless) Strongest told. (These are monstrous alien invaders. Animals as intelligent as people.) She showed him the threats she had seen on the flight; the burnt villages, the arrow lodging itself into Shepherd’s sky-dominator, and the creepy mountainside defaced by alien hands. Then she remembered the hundreds of alien archers swarming the tower within seconds.
In doing so, she also showed him the white tower and her awe at its construction. She didn’t mean to, but she couldn’t drive the magnificent building from her mind.
(You were right to fly south today) Former admitted. (These smart animals could change everything. Maybe Your Mentor’s deterrent was the wrong move. If we can control them, they could be useful against the Keepers.)
Strongest noticed that Shepherd’s sky-dominator was swaying. Had the arrow hurt more than he had implied? With how far they had flown, they would be forced out of the sky-dominator’s minds before they passed the band of invaders. She never thought she’d encounter a creature that could pose a danger to sky-dominators.
(You accuse me of taking too many risks) Strongest told Former (but that is the most dangerous idea I have ever encountered.)
Jayde Holmes 