A sharp pain spread across the bodies of both Nimble and Adan, who were close to the blast.
Even as they fell to the ground, the electric charges of the failed spell still caused their limbs to convulse uncontrollably.
The druid could feel a metallic taste of blood on his mouth as he tried to understand with happened.
"Someone tempered with my spell. But whom?"
Struggling to get up, he gave a meaningful look to a strange figure that just appeared on the place where the giant treant should have been.
...
Theodore watched in astonishment as the giant tree began to shrink, retracting towards its center.
A humanoid figure took its place. This was a very handsome young man, with a delicate face and around a meter and eighty centimeters in hight. His ears were long, like those of elves and gnomes and his green hair was long, reaching his back. The skin, however, had a very woodish tone of brown.
Unlike humans, dwarves, gnomes and other monolithic races, the fairies were a much more varied kind. Treants and other unintelligent creatures like lesser natural spirits occupied the bottom of the hierarchy.
But dryads were different, possessing great wisdom. One could even say they were "proper fey", while treants, their less evolved relatives, were nothing more than useful servants, just like an ordinary drone whose existence was fully devoted to the queen of its hive.
Most importantly for the gnomes, dryads were much fiercer opponents. Not only their bodies were stronger, but some could even use magic, which as particularly powerful when they were in humanoid form.
However, there was a silver lighting. Since this was a sentient creature, maybe it could be reasoned with.
Thinking so, Ted tried to use diplomacy. His side was clearly loosing, so a peaceful solution was in his best interest.
"Oh, mighty guardian. We apologize for intruding on your domain. There is no reason for this carnage to continue. Why not end the fight here and now? You are winning. That's certain. But as you saw, my friends and I are capable fighters. Victory will not be achieved without a lot of treant lives being lost. We should just shake hands and walk away. Let this be a sign of goodwill between our peoples, showing all that there is still room for peace in this nasty war."
Hope is the last one to die. This hunter had a reputation for being a reasonable man, having friends in both political factions in his home village. If there was someone on this group who could talk the dryad out of killing all of them, he was the one.
However...
"Your words are reasonable, but your actions apeek for themselves."
Saying so, the young man pointed towards the wooden. He had taken notice of them as Theodore gave his speech.
"Those weapons in your hands were made with wood taken from one of my dead sisters."
At this point, his face distorted with disgust.
"Don't blame yourself for this. I always believed gnomes to be a savage bunch, a true plague on this forest. Your little corpse desecration is only the most recent proof."
With a sadistic gleam in his eyes, the dryad continued:
"I could kill you myself very easily now that I have shown my true colors. But why deny my sister such righteous revenge?"
A green flame extended from the man's hands towards the swords, appearing to awaken something deeply buried within them.
"Ahhh!!"
The vines around Ted's arms, which used to give him strength, started to grow uncontrollably enveloping his whole body.
Things were not supposed to end like this.
The group had set off from Willowtown with a simple mission. To investigate a strange explosion that happened somewhere far away from where they lived.
But this was only on the surface. Normally the village wouldn't care enough about some oddity from another corner of the forest to send a party of veteran warriors as scouts.
No. It would have been more natural just to let it go. Besides, animals talk amongst themselves and since gnomes could communicate with beasts, gathering decent information without sending away precious fighting power would be the best course of action.
Then why hadn't the leader and the council done so?
Well, the reason had a name, Nimble.
This respected druid was competing with Alston, the chief's son, for the love of Ella, a coveted maiden.
As such, Lord Douwe concocted a plan. To send the druid in a long mission with the council's approval, while his son would have the opportunity to consummate his marriage and end this petty squabble.
However, it wasn't as simple as this.
Nimble was an important figure, someone from the first generation vying for the title of elder. Treating him too poorly would have damaged the chief's political capital, making him look like some tirant.
Thus he tended this matter with great care, arranging powerful bodyguards, so Nimble wouldn't die on his journey, which would have been very problematic.
He also approached Theodore, Nimble's best friend, to broker a deal. As long as he could convince the druid to take the initiative and extend the olive branch, Lord Douwe would have been more than happy just to give him the position of elder.
This would serve to show all members of their community that he was a reasonable and benevolent leader, capable of resolving conflict in ways that would benefit everyone involved.
But now this supposedly easy mission with good benefits turned out to be disastrous for Ted.
He died with regret in his eyes as the swords slowly transformed him into a tree.