Tree of Harmony

Chapter One:

The coming storm.

Our home, the smoke rose from the distant tree village far from the high castle walls. Leaf Mender, my love from our youngest of sproutling days, fell to ground, weeping. Her armor clad body shook with the loss that each tear cascaded; the pain crying out as each droplet rolled gently down her cheeks.

“Monsters”, she sobbed bitterly into emerald hands.

“Mendy”, placing my petrinite gauntlet on her shoulder, I knelt down to the visor over her and stared into her wet azure eyes. “We must stand, Mendy.” Cupping my armored limb under her slender yet powerful arm, we stood up, together. Looking past my own visor, she saw the tears flow from within the depths of the usually carefree eyes behind it. “Our trees”, I paused as the images of our family and friends welled into my thoughts. “The Dragons have burned them and everything we loved with them.” Her eyes hardened as the last vestiges of tears dried. I turned back to the cold ebonwood ballista between us and pulled back the loading rod. “We stop them, here and now.” Mendy lifted a heavy petrinite barbed bolt from the stack and slammed it down into the readied groove.

“For our King”, she spoke with renewed strength.

“For our Queen”, I answered.

“For Celestia and Luna”, we spoke in unison as the ballista cried out with its locking pin. The teams around us nodded, smiling sadly, and readied their own turrets as we waited. Below the castle ramparts the royal honor guard, all that remained of our people, stood in formation. Captain Ironwood towered in front of the small band, watching the skies as tiny black pinpricks began to mare the pure innocent blue. He turned hard and faced the ranks of his readied guard.

“We stand together”, magic resonated his words into an echoing boom that cut the air. “For the honor of our fallen, for the honor of Aura, and for the prophecy of her daughters”, rising a fist into the air at the slowly enlarging specks; his words flowed into each us. “Envy and pride, something so petty, has driven the once proud Dragon King mad; for, he seeks to not be ruled nor let his sky be ruled by the prophecies foretelling.” Lowering his fist, the specks had become large blots against the empty blue. “He seeks to murder our beloved princesses, to keep them from their destiny.” Ironwood withdrew his sword; the magical wood gleamed in the sun, as if blessing his words. “We stand for what is right, what is just, what will come to pass, and we stand”, beams of sunlight echoed the words off his blade, “together!”

Cheering erupted all around my ears and played against the helmet that sat over them. Mendy stood by her post, no sign of fear remaining in her or anyone that I could see. Let them come, we would be ready. The horizon darkened as the blackness grew on the roar of wing beats. An army of dragons filled the sky, numbering in the thousands. They approached all that remained which stood against them; last of the Dryads, no more than a hundred.

“Ballista”, Green Warden, the rampart lieutenant, bellowed. The noise of the ebonwood scrapping against the stone below resounded as we positioned our first volley. “Ready”, Green raised his hand as the black forms filled our sights. “Fire”, the order shot out from his lips as our bolts screamed into the sky. The hailstorm of petrinite struck true; piercing the thick scales of our enemies, biting deeply into their rotten cores, and bringing the first wave crashing from the sky in thunderous roars. “Fire at will”, Greens picked up two bolts, in each arm, from the stacks between him and slammed them down into nearby turrets.

Drawing the red eyes of the nearest dragon into my sights I let go Green’s bolt. Mendy lifted the next volley and placed it down before the bolt had even struck. Smiling I watched it impale into the dragons eye and protrude out the back of its skull.

“That’s for my home, you monster.”

“This one is for my mother and father”, Mendy kissed the cold ebonwood shaft, “May they rest in peace.”

Turning my smile from her I aimed at my next target and released.

The swarm began its battle dive into our defense.

Our castle would not fall.

Shooting into the blackened sky, her family’s memory found its target.

Our beloved princesses would not be lost.

Howling in agony, the beast plummeted by the weight of its wickedness.

The forest, my last home, would not burn.

Colliding with a deafening crash into the ground, the dragon lay still.

My brethren charged into battle.

These woods, like my Dryad soul, would be forever free.

Fire exploded around us as the onslaught sought to end our deadly bolts. Green managed to cut down the first two that latched their talons unto the ramparts but it wasn’t only his armor that now sizzled. My ballista, despite two direct hits, was still functioning even as it burned. Mendy lay next to it, breathing raggedly as she watched from her remaining good eye.

“We’re losing, my love”, her words muffled on the thin stream of green sap that dripped from her lips. Grabbing another bolt, stepping over my fallen beloved, I made ready another shot.

“Until the last of us stops moving”, firing, a dragon on the ground slumped to its stomach. I turned back to her but only the cold empty eyes of what was once my wife greeted me. Kneeling down, I closed them. “We are not yet truly lost.” Kissing her lips gently, I stood up and grabbed for another bolt. Fire exploded around me, the last direct hit shattered what remained of the ballista and sent me flying back against the blackened stonewall. Coughing up a small pool of sap, I forced my body back to its feet.

“Don’t know when to quit, do you”, Green smiled and coughed out a rough chuckle. “Good.”

Green removed his sword belt and threw it up at me from his position on the blackened stone floor. Catching it in a charred hand, small pieces of my bark skin crumbled off below; I questioned him.

“Don’t give me that-“, sap dripped from his mouth in grimace,”-look.” Hoisting himself up as much as he could, Greenies steely gaze cut into my soul. “I’m staying here as long as one of these damned, burning, pieces of wood still sees fit to let loose one more bolt into those monsters.” Pointing at me, he continued, “Look around you sapling, the outer wall has fallen.”
The scene below attested to Greenie. Countless dragons lay fallen on the cold dirt but few of my kin still stood to oppose their endless numbers.

“Get to the fallback point”, Lieutenant Green Warden ordered as he extended up a shaky limb.
I returned the honor, fashioned his enchanted blade into place, and turned back to my fallen love.

“Mendy”, pleasant memories from the past filled my thoughts, “I won’t let us, I promise.” Turning to the smoldering doorway, I descended down the stone steps and into the palace halls.