The Elves of Cintra (Book 2 of The Genesis of Shannara)

His whole being was attuned to and connected with the earth upon which he stood and to the plants that rooted within, and in that instant he was changed forever. No longer a boy, a street kid only, he was a creature of magic, too, a gypsy morph come into being, its potential realized.

The result was instantaneous. Vines and brush and grasses erupted from the earth at both ends of the bridgehead, exploding all around the barricades and weapons and the men who staffed them. They shot out of the earth as if starved, as if reaching skyward for the sunlight, for the air, for the rain, for whatever they were lacking in their dormancy. But their emergence was his doing alone, and they were obedient to his command. They fell upon the barricades and the defenders, upon metal and human alike, enfolding them in ropes of green that wrapped about like cables to make them all fast.

The militia never had a chance. They never even managed a single pull on their triggers. The handguns were ripped from their fingers, and the tanks and cannons were throttled in place. The men themselves were bound as if by ropes, the greenery first making them fast and then climbing the entire bridge, wrapping about the metal spans and struts, about everything that formed the body of the structure until nothing remained visible. In the end, there was only the bushy, dripping green of plant life extending end-to-end, the whole of the bridge and its barricades and its defenders become part of a vast jungle.

The entire swallowing took only minutes and left the onlookers standing with Tessa and Cheney staring in shocked silence.

“Oh, my God!” whispered Helen Rice softly, speaking for them all.

IT TOOK THE CAREGIVERS the remainder of the day to decamp and move the children across the bridge to a new site that Helen and her advisers had chosen, one that Hawk instinctively felt was easier to defend.

After releasing the entrapped militia, they set them free on the south side of the bridge and assumed control of the barricades leading to the new camp.

By nightfall, everyone was pretty much resettled and the move across the river complete.

“I don’t know how you did that,” Helen told Hawk later when they were sitting alone, close to where Tessa had gone to work helping the children. “But it’s proof enough for me that you are who you say.” She shook her head.

“No one I’ve ever heard of could do what you did. Not even Angel Perez.”

Hawk didn’t know what to say. He was still coming to terms with it himself. He could not understand yet how he had managed to generate such rapid growth from a few withered plant and grass ends, a talent so new to him that it seemed as if it must belong to someone else. He could not even decide how he had known what to do.

“The children will be safer on this side,” he said. “But you may have to defend the bridge.”

“If we stay here, I know we will,” she said. “You were right about the pursuit. Already an army is coming up the coast. We had hoped Angel would be back before it reached us. Now I don’t know.” She looked off into the twilight, as if she might find her friend there. “How long before we leave? You sound as if it might not be right away.”

He nodded. “It won’t. We can’t leave until I find my family and bring them here. They are somewhere north, coming to meet me. I should be back with them in less than a week.”

“You’re leaving?” she asked.

“Not for long. But you have to hold the bridge until then.

You have to protect the children. If others come this way, take them in, as well.” He paused, and then added, “Angel would want that.”

He didn’t know if she would or wouldn’t, didn’t know the first thing about Angel Perez besides what he had heard from Helen Rice, but he thought that mention of her would help strengthen the other’s resolve.

Helen sat silently for a moment, her slight form hunched, her head bent. “I am so tired,” she said.

Then she rose, smiled at him momentarily, and walked away.

Hawk watched her go. He was already making his departure plans. He waited until the camp began to go to sleep, then found Tessa and told her he was leaving to find the Ghosts. He watched a mix of fear and uncertainty flood her amber eyes and tighten the smooth skin of her dark face.

“You don’t have to come with me,” he said. “You can wait for me here, if you want.”

Tessa laughed. “I could do lots of things if I wanted to.

But none of them are things I want to do without you.”

“I’m sorry about everything that’s happened—the compound, your mother and father, all of it. I wish it hadn’t.”

“I’m sorry about what’s happened, too. But mostly I’m sorry for you. It must be very scary, all of this…though it isn’t so out of keeping with who you are.”

He smiled. “I wish I could feel that way. It all seems so weird.” He hesitated. “You’re coming with me?”

“What do you think?”

“I want you to come. Maybe we can talk about what’s happened while we walk.

I think I need to do that. I think it will help make it more real.”