Another booming roar came from down below.
Lily looked up at Sir Giles. “Torval could be dying down there.”
“Would that we could be so lucky,” Ella sighed.
Sir Giles gave a slow nod. “Perhaps Lady Lily has a point. Dirk, go and give Torval some support.”
Dirk quickly uncrossed his arms. “Excuse me?”
Giles made a shooing motion with his sword. “Strike from the shadows, and whatever else it is you do. Go on now.”
Dirk gave an uncertain glance down the stairwell. He tugged at the fastening to his cloak. “Right…now?”
“Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat,” Ella whispered. “Dirk is a scaredy-cat.”
“I am not!” Dirk shouted.
“Please, please,” Sir Giles said with a heavy sigh. “Both of you stop it this moment. Dirk, help Torval out. That’s an order.”
The rogue scowled, then glared over at Ella. “Your time is coming, Elf.”
Ella shrugged. “Whatever.”
Dirk moved down the stairs and vanished.
There was a long moment of silence.
“We can still see you, Dirk,” Ella called.
“Dragon’s fire!” the thief cursed. He jumped out from the wall again. “You want a piece of me, Elf? Is that what you want? Let’s do it, right here, right—”
“That’s enough!” Sir Giles bellowed. “Now Dirk, go.”
Dirk gave Ella a hateful look, then turned sulkily back down the stairs.
“All right, Lily,” said Sir Giles. “Do you have the counterspell prepared?”
“The…what?” Lily said. She looked down at the book. “Oh, right. The counterspell.”
“Come on, mage,” said Ella sweetly. “We’re all waiting for a powerful display of your magic.”
Lily cleared her throat. “I…think this is it.” She held the book up in one hand, straining to read the strange runes in the flickering light of the torch. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure, anyways.”
Sir Giles gave her a confused glance. “I do not understand. Surely you can identify a basic counterspell, Lily?”
Lily paled. “Sure,” she said with a faltering smile. “Of…course I can.” She reached for her staff with a slightly trembling hand. “I mean, it’s just a stupid little counterspell, right?” She glanced down again at the spellbook. “How hard can it be?”
Ella popped open a small hand mirror and examined her face. “For a powerful, experienced mage like you? Not hard at all.”
Lily gave a slow nod. She took a deep breath and looked up at the shimmering wall of energy. She looked down at the book and gritted her teeth. “Nallis Oli Garrellis…Octanus!” She thrust the tip of her staff forward.
The wood blazed with a bright greenish light.
The field of energy flashed green.
Sir Giles took a step back, a smile on his face. “There, Lily, I knew you could—”
There was another flashing green glow, and an animated tree-man appeared in the narrow stairwell. Its roots snaked and whispered over the stone steps. Branches shaped like hands grasped and lashed out in all directions. Two eyes blazed in the knotted bark of its trunk-like torso.
“Oh, Pixie Flickers,” Lily whispered.
The tree-man roared. It lunged forward at Sir Giles.
Giles swiped with his sword, deflecting the attack.
The tree man bellowed in anger. Its leaves swished as it lurched on the stones of the stairway.
“Don’t just stand there, you idiot,” Ella said. She adjusted her hand mirror to examine the other side of her face. “You summoned it. Get control of it.”
“Get control of it,” Lily repeated numbly. She frantically turned a page in her spellbook. “Right. Get control of it—”
Sir Giles buried the edge of his blade deep into the trunk of the creature.
The tree-man lashed out a branched hand with a roar.
Giles crashed back onto the stairs, his armor rattling. His sword was still lodged firmly in the trunk of the creature.
Lily flipped wildly through her book. “Get control of it, get control of it, get—”
“Oh, Pearls,” Ella exclaimed. “Do I have to do everything myself?” She closed her hand mirror and reached for her mace.
Sir Giles climbed back to his feet. He waved his torch at the tree-man. “I will keep it at bay,” he called back behind him. “Lily, cast a fireball!”
Lily turned even whiter than before. “A fireball?” She flipped faster. “A fireball. Ok, I think I can—”
Ella unstrapped the shield on her back and shoved Lily aside. “Oh, you are so utterly useless.”
The tree-man gave a deep, thrumming howl. It swiped its arms at Sir Giles.
“From the darkness, death!” Dirk emerged from between Lily and Ella. He dove past Sir Giles, tumbled around the side of the tree-man, then drove his dagger up to the hilt in the trunk of the creature. “Ha!” he shouted triumphantly. He took a step back and struck a dramatic pose. “One with the shado—”
The tree-man whirled and whipped his spindly arm across Dirk’s face.
Dirk gave howling cry. He stumbled backwards, his hands over his nose, then crashed into the wall and fell to the floor.
Ella rolled her eyes. “You can’t backstab a tree, Dirk.”
Dirk wailed. He rolled back and forth on the steps.
Sir Giles thrust his torch forward. The fire raked across the tree-man’s outstretched branch arm.
The leaves on the tree-man’s hands smoldered and burned. The creature gave a pitiful cry. It shrank back towards the shimmering blue field of magical energy.
“It doesn’t seem to like fire!” Sir Giles yelled triumphantly.
“Fancy a tree not liking fire,” Ella mumbled. She gave Lily a cutting glance. “Now if only we had a fireball—”
Lily thrust the open book towards the Elf. “You think it’s so easy? Why don’t you cast it then?”
“My nose!” Dirk screamed. “Oh gods, it broke my nose!”
“Have at thee, foul tree-thing!” Sir Giles slammed the fiery end of his torch straight into the tree-man’s trunk.