Chương 20: Old Roots

Hawthorn branches bowed toward the western field, then snapped upright behind whatever moved beneath them. Will caught the nearest hurdle and dragged it across the opening beside the stone yard. Metal scraped over paving stones while the sheep surged away from the noise, crushing together beneath the far wall.

"Two," he said.

"One at the western breach. The other is behind the feed store." Thomas reached through Mana Control and found both intruders pressing against the farm's boundary. Their mana felt dense and fibrous, running through them in tangled strands rather than blood-warm channels. Jenny had already moved toward the barn. She returned carrying a billhook beneath one arm and a long-handled fork in the other, then pushed the fork into Will's hands.

"The axes are behind the collapsed side of the shed. These were closer." Marcus glanced across the yard as the final daylight drained behind the fields.

"We hold the house, livestock, well, and stores. Anything outside the inner walls can wait." Will looked toward the north pasture, though his attention returned immediately to the western hedge.

"It crossed." Branches broke outward. Something shouldered through the gap where they had tied the hurdles against the old boundary wall. At first Thomas mistook it for a section of hedge torn loose by the expansion, because its limbs were knotted branches wrapped in moss and dead leaves. Then it straightened. The creature stood taller than Marcus, with broad shoulders composed of interlocked wood and a narrow head split vertically. Two amber lights burned deep within that opening.

Its arms reached below its knees, ending in rootlike fingers that gouged the ground as it stepped onto the farm. Thomas used Study. ┌────────────────────────────┐ Spriggan Rank E Threat: High State: Hostile └────────────────────────────┘ He knew the name from stories, though none of them had described the smell. Damp earth and rotting leaves rolled ahead of the creature as it crossed the lower pasture.

"Spriggan," Thomas said.

"Level seven." Sam raised the shotgun.

"That supposed to mean something helpful?"

"It is higher level than us, I believe." The creature placed one hand against the earth. Roots pushed from its fingers and entered the pasture. Its body expanded as the connection deepened, branches spreading across its shoulders while its torso thickened around a dark core of older wood. Will flinched. Thomas felt the same intrusion through the farm a heartbeat later. The roots did not merely enter the soil.

They pressed against the maintained boundaries beneath it, forcing themselves through land shaped by years of planting, grazing, repair, and ownership.

"It's trying to root through the field," Will said. Marcus pointed toward the stone yard.

"Stop it before it reaches the animals." Sam fired. The blast struck the creature high across the chest. Bark shattered from its torso, exposing pale wood beneath, but the beast barely rocked beneath the impact. It tore its hand from the ground and advanced. Will met it at the narrow track between the pasture and stone yard. He lowered the fork, setting the tines toward its centre, while Sam moved several steps to his right with the shotgun.

"Wait until it commits," Marcus said. The brute swung one arm. Will caught the blow across the fork shaft. The impact drove him backwards, yet his boots stopped as soon as they reached the worn stone beneath the gate. Mana tightened through the paving, climbed his legs, and settled across his shoulders. It struck again. Will turned the shaft and guided the branchlike arm past him, then drove the tines beneath a split in its chest. They entered only a few inches before the wood closed around them.

The creature pulled. Will refused to release the fork. His class spread through the gateposts and old wall, holding him against the force that should have dragged him into the field. The monster leaned backwards, roots pushing from its heels as it tried to tear the weapon away.

"Now," Will said. Sam fired into the exposed seam. The second blast opened a deeper cavity beneath its shoulder. Dark sap struck the stones, and the creature recoiled with a grinding sound that carried through its whole body. Thomas crossed the yard at a run. The beast saw the golden spear and abandoned its grip on Will's fork. One long arm swept toward Thomas before he entered striking distance. He dropped beneath it. Twigs scraped across his coat as the limb passed overhead.

Thomas planted one foot near the wall and thrust upward, driving the iron point through the cavity Sam had opened. The spear entered farther than the fork. Resistance travelled along the shaft in uneven layers as the point split green wood, crossed an empty pocket, then struck something harder near the centre. The creature twisted, trapping the echo inside its body. Thomas tried to pull free. Its other hand closed around the shaft. Gold flared between rootlike fingers.

Mana poured from Thomas as the monster tightened its grip, crushing the outer shape around the iron memory within. Marcus struck its wrist with the billhook. The blade caught between two wooden cords and dragged them apart. The beast released the spear, then turned toward Marcus with enough speed to make its size meaningless. Marcus stepped behind the wall. Its hand smashed into the upper stones, knocking loose dirt and fragments without breaking through the older structure.

Will wrenched the fork free and drove it into the creature's hip.

"Back into the field!" Thomas pulled his spear from the chest wound and joined him. Together they forced the beast away from the gate one step at a time, while Sam moved along the wall searching for another clear shot. The sheep screamed behind them. Jenny had braced the lower rail with both hands, though the flock continued pressing toward the opposite side of the yard. Their movement travelled through the wall in heavy waves, shaking the hurdle Will had dragged across the opening.

"Something's behind the barn!" she called. The second creature struck the feed-store door. Wood cracked across the yard. Marcus turned immediately.

"Thomas, with me. Will holds this one." Thomas withdrew from the field before the larger beast could recover. Sam remained beside his father, shifting the shotgun against his injured hand.

"You have nine shells," Marcus told him.

"I can count."

"Keep proving it." They crossed between the barn and farmhouse while another impact shook the feed store. Owen stood near the grain-store entrance with a hammer in one hand and a length of timber in the other, looking between the damaged door and the route Marcus had ordered him to keep clear.

"Inside the passage," he said.

"It climbed over the rear wall." Thomas felt it before they rounded the barn. The second intruder was smaller than the first, though its body had been built from darker, tighter wood. Thin branches rose from its back and scraped across the corrugated roof as it drove both hands into the feed-store door. Roots had already entered the gap beneath the threshold. They spread across the interior floor toward the grain sacks.

"It knows what's stored there," Marcus said. The monster looked over one shoulder. Its face opened along the same vertical seam, revealing amber light surrounded by teeth of broken wood. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Then it pulled. The lower half of the door tore away from its hinges. Marcus charged before it could widen the opening. He swung the billhook into the side of its knee, catching the joint where several roots twisted together.

The creature folded, then struck him across the chest with the back of one hand. Marcus left the ground and hit the feed-store wall hard enough to drop the billhook. Thomas stepped between them and thrust for the open face. The monster caught the spear with both hands. Its fingers closed below the point, keeping the iron away from the narrow opening. Thomas drove forward while the beast pushed him back, their weapons locked between them. Owen came from the side and swung the timber like a club.

The end struck its elbow. Its grip loosened, allowing Thomas to twist the spear and tear the point across one palm. Dark sap spilt over the golden shaft. The creature recoiled, but one root remained beneath the door. Thomas felt mana moving through it toward its injured hand, carrying strength from the soil and stored grain inside.

"It's feeding through the floor," he said. Marcus recovered the billhook.

"Cut the root." Owen struck first. The hammer smashed the thinner fibres against the threshold, but the main root absorbed the blow without flinching, coiling violently around the steel head. Owen let go of the handle a fraction of a second before the recoil pulled him off his feet. Before the beast could draw anything else through the line, Thomas choked up on the spear and drove the iron point straight down, severing the root against the stone.

Marcus moved in immediately, hooked the billhook behind the damaged knee, and leaned back with his full weight. The joint buckled, sending the creature crashing sideways into the doorframe. Thomas stepped into the collapse, drove the spear upward beneath its raised arm, and buried the point deep into the dense, dark wood near its ribs. Wooden fingers clamped tight around the shaft again, trapping it fast. Thomas didn't fight the grip. He simply severed the connection.

Gold dissolved instantly, leaving the monster crushing empty air. With the bonded spearhead still resting safely in his palm, Thomas stepped past its reaching hands and willed the shaft back into existence. He caught the new grip and drove forward before it could turn. The point entered through its back and emerged from the split Marcus had opened near the ribs. The creature swung out blindly. Its elbow caught him across the temple, filling his vision with white light.

He staggered away while Marcus and Owen dragged it against the store wall. A shotgun blast sounded from the western field. Will shouted something Thomas could not distinguish. The second beast planted its undamaged hand against the ground. Roots burst between the paving stones. One wrapped Marcus's ankle and pulled his leg from beneath him. Another caught Owen around the calf. He struck at it with the recovered hammer, but each broken strand divided into thinner cords that climbed higher.

Thomas forced Mana Control through the pressure around them. The roots had entered modern concrete where expansion had already opened cracks. They avoided the older stone foundations, which held their mana too firmly to penetrate quickly.

"Get onto the old threshold," Thomas said.

"It can't root through that." Marcus cut himself free and rolled onto the worn stone beneath the store entrance. Owen followed, dragging a loop of roots until Thomas severed it with the spearpoint. The creature tried to withdraw, but its roots held it for half a heartbeat too long. Marcus rose inside its reach and buried the billhook in the opening beneath its jaw. He pulled downward while Thomas drove the spear into the same wound, and amber light vanished from its face.

Its limbs collapsed at once, dropping the body across the store entrance while the remaining roots writhed between the stones. Thomas withdrew his spear and stepped away before the dead weight could trap it. Marcus looked toward the western yard.

"Move." They left Owen to pull the severed roots from the feed store and ran back around the barn. The first beast had grown. Its roots crossed the lower field in raised lines, drawing enough mana from the land to add several feet to its height. Branches spread from its shoulders like antlers, and one arm had thickened until the hand resembled a bundle of wooden clubs. Will stood between it and the stone yard. His fork had broken below the tines.

He held the remaining shaft across his body while blood ran from a cut above one eyebrow. Sam fired. The shot tore bark from its neck. It turned toward him, then swept the thickened arm across the field. Sam ducked behind the wall. The blow struck the gatepost instead. Old stones held, though the newer hurdle tore loose and fell inward against the sheep. Jenny threw her weight against it. Several animals forced their heads through the widening gap.

She caught one rail and pulled, but the monster's next step shook the wall hard enough to drag the hurdle from her hands.

"Sam!" she shouted. He dropped the shotgun and ran toward the gate. Will drove the broken fork shaft into the creature's knee, buying Sam enough time to reach Jenny. Together they forced the hurdle upright while the sheep crushed against the other side. The brute looked past Will, its amber gaze settling on the livestock.

"It's going through him," Thomas said. Marcus veered toward the field entrance.

"Take its right side." Thomas followed, though the hollow beneath his sternum deepened with every step. The fight at the feed store had consumed more mana than he realised, leaving his arms strangely distant from his shoulders. Will felt them approaching through the farm.

"Roots," he said.

"Cut the roots first." Thomas looked down. Thick cords had pushed from the beast's feet and buried themselves across the pasture. They spread toward the wall, drinking from soil churned by generations of livestock. Marcus attacked one with the billhook. The blade entered halfway and stopped. Thomas drove the spear through beside it. The iron point split the root completely. The brute lurched as one side of its body lost support. Will struck the weakened knee with the broken shaft, forcing it lower.

Sam and Jenny had nearly secured the hurdle when another root emerged beside the gate. It wrapped around the lower rail and pulled. The metal frame folded inward. Jenny lost her footing and fell among the front rank of sheep. Sam caught her by the wrist before the animals could drag her beneath them. The monster swept Will aside. He struck the wall shoulder-first and dropped the broken fork.

"Dad!" Sam hauled Jenny through the gap, then shoved her toward the barn as the creature crossed the final stretch of pasture. She reached for him.

"Come with me."

"The gate won't hold."

"Neither will you." Sam grabbed the maul lying beside the wall and turned back toward the opening. Thomas severed another root. Its body contracted slightly, branches tightening across its shoulders, but it remained large enough to look over the stone yard. Marcus attacked from the opposite side. His billhook tore open the back of one leg. The brute twisted and drove an elbow into his chest, throwing him across the field. Thomas thrust toward the central seam.

The creature caught the spear beneath one arm and yanked. Thomas released too late. The shaft dragged him forward until he struck its hip. A rootlike hand closed around his coat and lifted him from the ground. He dismissed the spear before the monster could crush it against him. Gold vanished from its grip. Thomas dropped, landed badly on one ankle, and rolled beneath a reaching arm. He summoned the echo again as he rose, though the returning drain narrowed his vision. Across the wall, Sam lifted the maul.

The monster struck first. Its hand hit the gate and tore the folded hurdle away. Sam pushed Jenny behind the barn corner before the metal frame crashed across the paving. The movement left him exposed. A branch descended from its wrist, sharpening as it extended. Sam swung the maul at the forearm, but the blow glanced from the hardened bark. Tangled wooden fingers closed around him. The creature trapped Sam's arms against his ribs and lifted him until his boots left the ground. The maul fell beneath him.

Jenny seized the billhook and struck its wrist. The blade entered a shallow split, though the beast barely noticed. Its sharpened branch drew back toward Sam's chest. Will tried to rise beside the wall. Marcus remained down in the field. Thomas stood beyond its rooted body, too far away to reach Sam before the branch drove through him. He ran anyway. The beast tightened its grip. Sam's breath left him in a broken sound. His injured hand opened and closed against the wooden fingers, finding nothing he could hold.

Thomas thrust, though the spearpoint stopped several yards short. Sam needed reach. He needed iron. He needed a weapon now, in his hands, where Thomas could not place the one he carried. The need struck Bond before Thomas could shape it into a command. Mana tore through the old spearhead. Gold flared between the wooden fingers. A second shaft formed across Sam's trapped arms, beginning as a bright line beneath his right hand before lengthening past his shoulder. The point appeared near its wrist.

Sam stared at it for half a heartbeat. Then his fingers closed around the grip.

"Inside the arm!" Thomas shouted. Sam twisted the second spear against the wooden hand holding him. He lacked space for a proper thrust, so he drove the point into the split Jenny had opened with the billhook. The iron entered. Thomas felt the strike through both weapons. Sensation divided across his bond, one spear balanced in his own hands while the other moved inside Sam's desperate grip. The separation pulled at his concentration hard enough to make both echoes flicker. Sam forced the spear deeper.

Its hand opened. He dropped beside the wall and landed on one knee, still holding the second weapon. The sharpened branch passed above his shoulder and buried itself in the paving. Jenny dragged him backwards. Thomas reached the creature at last. He drove his original spear into the root binding its right foot. Sam understood without being told. He rose beside the broken gate, shortened his grip, and thrust the second spear into the damaged wrist again. The monster tried to pull away from both points.

Thomas felt Sam's movement through the distant echo, but the weapon did not answer Thomas's hands. He could maintain its shape and sense the pressure travelling along it. Sam alone supplied direction and force.

"Keep it pinned!" Will called. He had reached the wall and pressed one palm against the old stones. The farm tightened around the intruder. Mana gathered through the yard, gateposts, pasture, and animal paths, resisting every root the creature had pushed into the homestead. The monster strained against the ground, but its connection no longer fed it cleanly. Thomas cut through the final root. Its expanded body contracted with a violent crack. Branches folded inward.

The thickened torso split along several seams as stolen mana rushed back into the field. Marcus regained his feet and attacked the left knee. His billhook tore through the weakened joint, dropping the beast onto one side.

"Chest!" Will shouted. Thomas drove his spear toward the vertical opening beneath its ribs. The monster caught the shaft with one hand. Sam came from the other side. His golden spear entered through the wound beneath its shoulder, crossing toward Thomas's point inside the body. The impact travelled through both echoes and struck Thomas beneath the sternum like a hammer. His knees nearly folded. Both spears dimmed.

"Thomas!" Sam shouted. He forced Mana Control around the separate shapes, feeding them carefully rather than flooding the bond. The echoes steadied, though the hollow in his chest became a deep internal bruise.

"Again," Thomas said. They pushed together. The two iron points met inside the central knot. Wood split between them. Amber light poured from the creature's face, then vanished as the core broke apart. Its raised arm fell against the wall, scattering dead leaves across the paving. The beast collapsed beside the ruined gate. For several seconds, nobody moved. Thomas remained bent over his spear, breathing through the ache beneath his sternum.

Across the fallen husk, Sam leaned against the second echo while Jenny checked the bruising already darkening beneath his torn coat. Will kept one hand against the wall.

"The other one?" Marcus asked.

"Dead by the feed store," Thomas managed. Will closed his eyes and followed the farm's boundaries as his awareness travelled through the damaged western fence, north pasture, well, barns, and stone yard.

"Nothing else has crossed." Sam shifted his grip on the golden spear. Thomas felt the movement through the bond and looked down at the echo in his own hands. Both remained connected to the rusted point, though the second existed several yards away beneath another man's control. He dismissed his spear, but was able to keep Sam's active. The sudden reduction in pressure nearly sent Thomas backwards. He caught the wall while the second echo continued glowing between Sam's hands.

Sam looked at the space where Thomas's weapon had been.

"You meant to do that?"

"I hoped it would work."

"Well, thank you then." Jenny pressed her fingers against his ribs, and Sam hissed at her.

"You're going inside till we rebuild the gate."

"I can still stand."

"You can stand around inside." Thomas reached into his pocket and removed the rusted spearhead. Sam looked from the fragment to the full golden spear he still carried.

"You made two from just that?" Thomas nodded, conserving the breath required for a longer answer. Jenny glanced toward the dark field beyond the fallen wooden husk.

"Can you make another?"

"Please don't ask me to do anything else before I get the chance to sleep honestly." Thomas released the second echo. Gold withdrew from the point and travelled along the shaft, fading beneath Sam's fingers until his hands closed around empty air.