Sirch

Four figures lay on the ground, the remains of an old fire in their midst, the embers still glowing bravely. If one were to come upon the fallen bodies, one would think the quartet of strange teenagers were dead. Well, one of them had been dead, as far as the world was concerned. He was the one with the ragged red cloak.And another once had a glass of milk with Death himself. He was the one with the green cloak.
"I don't like the look of these fellows...they look like Shamans."
If anyone had been awake to hear the tree speak, they would have been surprised. A young girl's face appeared in the tree next to the boy in the white cloak. Bark and moss parted to reveal the green face, wearing an expression of skepticism. A second face appeared in a neighboring tree, and then a third. Some were worried, some were angry, and others were tired. It was five in the morning, andwood nymphs were used to sleeping in.
"I say we put a spell on the lot of them. Make them walk out of the forest while they're still asleep, Echo." said one face.
"Yes! Let's!" said another.
"I say we let 'em go." said someone.
The faces looked around. None of them had spoken that time. Their emerald eyes turned to the bodies on the ground. The one in the green cloak held his paleindex fingerin the air, as if making a suggestion. The finger's owner continued. "Do you have any potatoes?"
At that, the three other bodies sat up. "Potatoes!" they cheered. When they spotted the trees' faces, the three tried to find their weapons among the scattered clothes, packs, and logs(Trying to simulataneously look andhide the logs), but Sirch held up his hand. He said, "Calm down, you baggers! They're not gonna hurt you. Right?"
Sirch turned expectantly to the trees. They narrowed their green eyes. Sirch went on, sitting up and stretching as he talked.
"You guys..girls are nymphs, right? Living in trees, taking care of the woods and all that snap-and-crackle, right? We aren't here to cut you down, we just needed a place to sleep. Do you know anywhere we can practice? A part of the forest that doesn't have spirits livin' in it?"
The trees looked at eachother confusedly. Zeinek sighed and sheathed his swords. His white haira fell in front of his face. "Sorry 'bout the words. We don't like offendin' people, so sometimes we gotta make up our own words."
The trees looked suspicious. One cracked its branches like knuckles.
"'Snap-and-crapple' means 'stuff'. One time in the Vangaven Forest we said 'stuff', and the people thought we were callin' their woodcarvings 'the part of a squirrel...you don't eat'."
The tree-girls' eyes opened a little more. One, a younger nymph, answered Sirch. "There's an old dead area of the forest in the east, with a bunch of black and rotted trees. They're long dead."
Sirch found his hat, a red and blue striped top hat with bells hanging off of it, put it on, and tipped it in thanks. He turned to Nitsue, with a look like "Well?". Nitsue knocked Sirch's hat off and moved his hands very quickly in the air, making circles and little motions. The ground around the campsite shivered, andlittle walls of dirt pushed the group's things together. Each of them gathered their own effects and packs and set off. None of them knew which way was east.
The wood nymphs emerged from their trees, tall and dressed in leaves and bark. Each of them knew that the odd group was headed toward the south, where evil things had taken up residence in the trees and holes. They figured if the strange travelers were too stupid to know which way was east, they deserved to get their cloaks ripped off.
When Sirch and the Fianna arrived at the 'east' end of the forest, Nitsue raised a fire pit. Diabhalta made a fire(A white one without wood), and Sirch and Zeinek fried some potatoes. Sirch always had a few potatoes. Sometimes he couldn't remember where he got them, andthe nearby vendor who yelled at the little kids to go away found he was missing some. "Coincidence."Sirch said each time.
After hashbrowns and eggs, the Fianna retrieved their weapons and started inspecting trees for destruction. Each one chose his own tree, and readied his magic. 'Overkill' never came to their minds.
Sirch swirled his hands in front of him, creating a small tornado. Leaves and rocks whipped around him until it carved a circle into the soil. Breathing deeply, he struck his hands forward, towarda tree. The whirlwind shot out and collided with the tree, ripping the bark off and delving deep through the trees rings. He made a triangle with his two thumbs and index fingers and started to glowed blue. He disappeared inan indigoflash and reappeared with his foot shoved through the trunk of the tree. It fell away from them and crashed into other,unlucky littletrees.
Sirch's friends nodded, impresed. He smiled and brushed his feet off. "I go next, fools." announced Diabhalta. He faced his tree and smiled devilishly. His hands burst into crimson flames and his eyes with slitted pupils burned red. He faced his palms at the tree and twin pillars of flames converted the middle of the tree to ashes in a second. He made a triangle with his fingers like Sirch and glowed green. His eyes closed, and the middle of the tree suddenly exploded. He opened his eyes and looked at his work. He clapped his soot-stained hands, mimicking a little girl. "Yay!" he said in a high-pitched voice.
Sirch twirled his finger in the air, unexcitedly. "Man, you need to get more creative."
"I'm an endlessfurnace of burning chaos and destruction, held together by a thin strand of reason, Sirch."
"You're makin' excuses. Just 'cause you gave up your sanity forthe friggentrident of some demon doesn't mean you can give 7 percent all the time, Diab.Okay, maybe you can. Hey, shove it."
Zeinek unsheathed his swords like a statement. If you listened carefully, you heard their ringing saying "My turn!" Maybe that was just Diabhalta. Zeienek slashed his swords through the air, leaving icein the wake of the blades, until their were dozens of shards of frozen water hanging in the air. He pointed at the tree with his swords, and the shards sliced through its brown trunk, leaving gashesyou could put yourarms into. Zeinek touched the two tips of his swords together and put out his thumbs to make a triangle. He glowed gold and looked at the tree. He dropped the swords and closed his eyes. His hands transformed into claws and his legs inverted themselves.
He opened his yellow eyes and leapt upon the tree, scything through it with his furred arms until it fell. He dropped to the ground and the gold glow faded until his hands and legs were back to normal. Nitsue's mouth was open.
"You're a werewolf?" Nitsue said.
Zeinek shrugged. "Yeah, an honorary one. I'll tell you 'bout it later."
Sirch nodded, satsified. "Spirit magic, dudelio? That's heavy stuff for a tree. Me and Diab used Mind and Body magic. But that was awesome. I've never seen you actually do all you could with your arms and legs. Seen what you could do with your jaws, though."
Nitsue looked up at Sirch and Zeinek. "Jaws?" They turned to him. "Don't ask." the two said simultaneously. Nitsue shrugged and faced his tree. He raised his hands, raising sandclingingtohis clothes and bringing from the ground. He rasied sand until it made a mist around him. Then he threw it all at the tree, and the mist seemed to get sucked into the oak like water. Nitsue put his hands together and took them apart in one motion. The tree burst, sandripping it apart. It still stood somehow, and Nitsue looked at it disgustedly. He made a circle with his thumbs and index fingers and glared at the tree. It turned to sand,flowing like a waterfall to form a huge mound, ten feet tall.
He beckoned to it, and it rose like a wave. He motioned with his hands and it flew into hisshoes with a whir. The rest of the Fianna stood in silence; Nitsue had the smallest boots of the group.
Next: Chapter 3: If a Tree Explodes in the Forest...