The Last Flowers

AUTHOR NOTE: Reuploaded due to formatting error. Seriously, why did none of you guys tell me half the page was in italics? Ha ha ha.

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~*~:~*#S#*~:~*~

Selrilve was still in darkness when they arrived. On foot, they stalked around the west of the town to Sarielle's house. Every turn of the cart's wheels sounded terribly loud. Sarielle gritted her teeth as she brought them in to the yard. Everyone started unloading the empty crates while Sarielle worked on uncoupling the cart. A thump made them freeze. A light shone from the house, wobbling as a figure came towards them.

"Get the bottles," Sarielle hissed, continuing to undo a buckle. Her friends rummaged frantically behind her.

"Sarielle?" Her father's voice was low and flat.

She turned to face him, trying to be strong, defiant. "Hello, Father."

He scowled at her. "Where have you been? Do you have any idea how much you've humiliated me?"

She resisted the urge to look down. "That was not my intention."

"Now you've stolen my horse and cart."

"I borrowed them," she corrected.

"Did you

borrow

my cheese too?"

"You mean

my

cheese. I'm the one who made it."

"With

my

goats."

"Where was my share of the profit?"

He let out an angry sigh. "I provided everything you needed."

"You let people hurt me."

"For your own good. Now stop this nonsense and get in the house." He realised the girls moving to flank her weren't elhuvens. The nymphs came to stand protectively, slightly ahead of her. Unnerved, he straightened his shoulders. "What are they?"

"They're some of the forbidden creatures you warned us about."

Rozenwild took a step forward, elegant and threatening as a demon queen. "These women are busy breaking a curse set upon this land. Do not interrupt their work."

Having untacked Missy, Kerensa and Aster were retreating across the paddock with the bottles. Zarek was holding his ground so Sarielle started to back up. The nymphs made sure he didn't move, before they too melted into the darkness.

Sarielle caught up to Kerensa and Aster in the trees. A glint of metal shone in the moonlight by Kerensa's feet, the axe from the woodpile. She'd snuck around Zarek to steal it while he was preoccupied with Sarielle.

Hopefully he'd give the horse a rub down and nice feed. The mare had been good to them. It was in his interest to keep her in good health, even if he didn't care about her. Sarielle was the one who'd given her a name, as she had all their goats.

"Will he tell anyone about us?" Aster asked.

"I don't think so. He never had much to say to the patriarch and his associates and he's ashamed enough as it is. He might whisper something to Kerensa's father, or yours, but not Hevani's."

The two men weren't friends, even before her 'incident'. She'd tried to tell Zarek once how he hurt Hevani, but he'd already known. Their wives were sisters who lived next door to each other. They'd shared everything.

The group waited to see if Zarek decided to go after them, but his light danced around the yard briefly before going back into the house. A few days ago Sarielle would have been petrified to be in the woods at night, but now she felt safe, almost protected by it. The nymphs led the way further into the forest. Everything was dark, monochrome, the moon lighting everything in grey. Ellowyn's pale hair almost seemed to glow in it.

"There you are, old friend," Rozenwild broke away from the group to go to a large tree. She patted its trunk fondly. "I'm glad you also survived."

Ellowyn danced over and hugged the tree, although her arms reached only a quarter of the way around the enormous trunk. The elhuvens had drifted over to see why they had such an interest. By the size alone, Sarielle knew the tree had stood long before the nymphs and in the moonlight she could see the darker cavern of a hollow at its base.

"In we go." Ellowyn disappeared into the shadow, her hands coming back out to grab the nearest elhuven by the wrists. "I don't know who I've got." She giggled.

"It's me," Kerensa replied, letting herself be dragged inside.

Ellowyn's slender arm snaked back out to touch Aster's elbow, encouraging her to do more than peer into the hollow. "I can tell that's, Aster." She then reached for Sarielle. "Where's my lover?"

"Right here." Sarielle took her hand and ducked her head to enter.

Although it was a huge hollow, there wasn't much space now they were all crammed in it. Rozenwild had to sit half outside, but wasn't bothered, especially once she had her arm around Kerensa. Ellowyn snuggled into Sarielle's side and nuzzled her neck. There were still a few hours until dawn and it would not be a comfy night, but her nerves about tomorrow bothered her more than the sleeping arrangement.

~

~*~:~*#K#*~:~*~

Her pillow moving under her head woke Kerensa. She rubbed her face, remembering where she was. It wasn't a pillow she had been resting on. It was Sarielle's thigh. Everyone had ended up on top of each other in the tight space. Rozenwild was curled up mostly outside the tree, eyes closed, hands held close to her chest. She looked...softer.

Kerensa reached out to poke her dainty snub nose. The nymph's long lashes lifted from her cheeks and emerald eyes fixed on her. She rolled up off the leaves, her mouth forming a devious smirk. She took Kerensa's hands and tugged, bringing her to her knees outside the hollow tree. Rozenwild's arms slipped around Kerensa's body, holding her close and then the nymph's lips were on hers. The kiss was slow and tender, wonderfully intimate. Kerensa wasn't sure when she shut her eyes, but she opened them again when it was over. She found herself staring at Rozenwild's lips. They were plump and scarlet, like a juicy berry. It was a colour Kerensa had only seen in lipstick painted on travellers. Never on anyone in the village.

Her fingers moved from the nymph's jaw to brush them. "Are they always this red?"

Rozenwild caught a finger between them and sucked the tip, letting it go with a pop. "Yes."

Kerensa looked behind her at Ellowyn, who smiled at her. She was used to other species all being the same colour. It was only elhuvens she thought who varied due to the cross of woodland and shadow elves, as well as the human and little bit of pyrellevian in their genes.

"You're all such different colours."

Rozenwild's eyebrow hitched and she looked past her into the tree. She was probably confused by Aster's pyrellevian hair colour. "We can take on some of our germinator's traits, but our bark can be the colour of any tree and our flowers any shade of the rainbow."

Sarielle had told her about how the nymphs reproduced. It sounded quite bizarre.

"Your...germinator, what was she?"

"Fey."

Much like the nymphs, fairies were mysterious creatures that stayed out of sight. This forest led to the Far Darklands, where they and other creatures lived.

"From the Darklands?"

She nodded. "My nymph mother found her down there. Our kinds are kindred spirits, both being whimsical and decadent. But Tempestia wasn't willing to leave her folk, so I was born there and Orchidthorn brought me back as a seedling in a basket."

"Is she...?"

Rozenwild pressed her lips together. "She was near the tree." She exchanged a glance with Ellowyn, who shook her head, a mournful expression on her face.

"The ones I found were disintegrating. I couldn't even tell who they were." She choked out a sob and buried her face in Sarielle's shoulder.

Rozenwild ground her foot into the dirt. "Let's finish this before anyone else dies."

~

~*~:~*#S#*~:~*~

The plan was basic. The nymphs couldn't get near the tree and neither could Aster. She'd have to be babysat by them so nothing untoward happened to her. Kerensa and Sarielle would have to take on the tree alone.

"So, which of us is going to be the bait?" Sarielle asked as they got closer to the tree. She felt her arousal ooze from her cunt and slide between her legs.

Kerensa shrugged. "I'll do it. I didn't mind the experience."

A little further on, Aster started whimpering and had to be held by the nymphs, who themselves became overcome by the tree's power.

"This might be it," Rozenwild breathed. "I can't go any further."

Ellowyn collapsed to her knees, bringing Aster down with her. Sarielle scraped together a few twigs and set them alight with the torch she'd carried. They'd known they wouldn't have the time to build a fire from scratch at this range.

Sarielle gave Ellowyn a peck on the lips. "You should move further back."

She shook her head, looking worried.

Rozenwild pulled Kerensa down for a passionate kiss. "Keep yourselves safe. Get out of there if it gets too dangerous."

Sprawled on the ground, Aster could only moan, but her eyes wished them luck. Sarielle tucked the bottle of liquid embers down the front of her top and picked up the axe. She took Kerensa's hand and they started towards the tree with determination. Sarielle had assumed it could see because the nymphs could. But the nymphs disagreed. They thought the tree didn't have eyes so it was probably only able to sense them. They were about to find out if their theory was true.

"I...feel..." Kerensa started.

They were within twenty metres of the tree. It stood imposing and inviting, raw power. Sarielle felt the desire and craving in her pussy and struggled to focus on the task ahead.

"Keep going. Think of the nymphs, all the hurt it's caused them, caused us."

Kerensa clenched her jaw. "It's going to pay."

Sarielle let go of her so Kerensa could take the cork from the bottle of blue poison and pour it over their hands, before tucking it away in her blouse. Sarielle ran her wet fingers along the blade of the axe while Kerensa walked the last fifteen metres on her own, her steps wobbly, but sure. The tree responded to her presence, moving its branches lower. Kerensa sat on the ground below them and parted her thighs, exposing herself and inviting the tendrils. Two vines slithered from the nearest branches, feeling their way over the ground and up her legs. Sarielle couldn't see what they were doing from where she stood, but could guess well enough when Kerensa let out a deep moan. That was her cue. Her hands gripped the axe handle tighter and she stalked closer at a quick pace. The tree didn't pause what it was doing. Maybe it planned on ignoring her until it was done with Kerensa, or thought it could stuff two girls at once. It didn't know what they had planned.

Kerensa panted, her hips humping the vine wriggling in her butt. Sarielle was almost within the tree's reach.

"Now," she hissed, racing for the trunk.

She swung the axe up and brought it down against the tree. The wood was hard, but she had cleaved a deep slice into its bark. The tree almost shuddered with the impact and a vine slapped Sarielle in the arm, flinging her away. She rolled in the leaf litter, raising her head in time to see vines darting from Kerensa's hands like her touch burned. Her friend was up and racing for the tree, bottle whipped from her cleavage. Sarielle ran for the axe while Kerensa poured what she could on the tree. She heard a thump and a squeal. Kerensa was on the ground, having been swatted by another vine. Sarielle's fingers clamped around the axe and it was over her head in a second. Whack. It hit the trunk. Twice more she cut it, then something hit her hard. The air left her lungs and she was flying. Her body smashed into the dirt and tumbled. Pain blossomed from her left side. Something pounded in her head.

"SAE!" Kerensa screamed.

One arm flailed in the air. The sky was above her, treetops, branches creeping into clouds. Her clit throbbed with need. Sarielle rolled onto her elbow and pushed herself to her knees. She looked for Kerensa, found her trying to climb the trunk. Her head spun as she got to her feet. Something dribbled down the side of her face. The world tilted sideways, but she tried to run anyway, away from the tree, to the bottle of embers she'd left out of reach. It felt heavy in her hand, or the rest of her just felt light. She fumbled with the cork and hurried back to the tree.

"Arrrhhhhhhh!" Kerensa had found the axe and just taken another chunk out of it, her face twisted up with pure rage. "You villainous, boil-brained, lecher!"

The tree tried to wallop her, but she was too fast. No, it was getting slower. Sarielle tipped the bottle upside down and out came the thick syrup. Dark as molasses, it wept down the bark and dripped onto the ground. A vine came for her, coiling around her arm, but it shied from her touch when she seized it in return. When another vine launched at her, Kerensa sliced through it with the axe. It whipped around in the air, the other vines joining it in panic. A fruit cluster on one branch crashed to the ground, littering red pods everywhere.

"It's working!" Kerensa said.

For now, but their plan was only half complete.

"Get ready to run." Sarielle told her, drizzling the last of the black stuff from the bottle onto the dirt by their feet. She tossed it aside and they both fled into the forest. Sarielle felt dizzy and every breath was like being stabbed with sewing needles. She slowed to a walk, hunched over and gasping. When she stood up Kerensa was grinning at her.

"We did it."

"Not over yet."

Kerensa took her by the elbow. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's nothing."

They'd left the nymphs at least five hundred metres away. Even that wasn't safe for long, but they were both still there, and they'd done their job. A collection of sticks was laid out, one end in the fire.

"Oh, no," Ellowyn cried and went to stand up.

Rozenwild stopped her. "Don't touch them."

"But there's so much blood."

"I'm okay, Elle." She crouched to scoop a handful of sticks and had to fight off a wave of nausea.

Kerensa took the rest and they turned to walk back to the injured tree. It seemed further away now and everything ached, but she had to finish this.

~

~*~:~*#K#*~:~*~

Kerensa's palm was sweaty around the sticks. She held them out like candles, walking as slow as Sarielle needed. Her friend looked badly hurt, but she wasn't complaining. They weren't in a rush at this stage. It would give the poison some time to seep in.

The tree had dropped more fruit while they'd been gone and now its branches sagged. It must have sensed them as they came up on it because its vines came off the ground to hover limply in the air, poised to attack. But the women didn't need to get within striking distance this time.

Kerensa singled out one of her sticks and lobbed it at the tree. It fell short by several metres. "I was never good at throwing things."

"That's why we brought lots." Sarielle tossed one of hers. It also didn't reach the trunk but where it fell on the ground must have been splashed with embers as it flared with flame.

Kerensa put more into her next throw. The stick hit the trunk and bounced off, landing in the soaked earth underneath. Fire ignited the concoction, blazing a trail up the trunk. She smiled. "Got you."

The branches went wild with fright, but she had little pity for it. The tree was also a victim of the curse, but she couldn't bring herself to feel much sympathy.

The fire spread in seconds, racing along the spilled liquid. Sarielle chucked a couple more sticks, setting alight the dry leaves on the ground. Kerensa unloaded all of hers for good measure. Even ten metres away, she could feel the heat start to come off the blaze. It was turning into an inferno. The trunk was a column of fire, slowly spreading onto the limbs. Lines of flame criss-crossed the ground underneath. The elhuvens retreated to escape what had become unbearable heat. Leaves crackled and snapped. Fruit sizzled and dropped into flames below. Vines hung wilted and black. Orange soared skyward, daggers jabbing towards the clouds. The tree was consumed by it, a dark shadow somewhere in that fiery hell. White smoke billowed into the clouds.

Sarielle let out a breath. "Goodness."

"You think it's dead?" Kerensa asked.

"I hope so."

A loud crack split through the woods and the flames turned blue. The smoke changed to black. Kerensa worried the magic would get out and hurt them somehow. They were forced further away by the intensity.

"Did we just start a wildfire?"

~

~*~:~*#E#*~:~*~

"That's getting kind of big." Ellowyn threw a worried glance at Rozenwild.

The dark-haired nymph rolled onto her feet and stood up. Ellowyn went to follow her, but Rose held out a hand to tell her to stay. She watched Rozenwild stalk closer. Aster sat up and crawled next to her to gaze at the orange mass blazing away. One hand was still under her skirt, but had stopped the frantic motions it had been performing. The tree's power was dissipating. They could all feel it.

Ellowyn stood up and picked Aster off the ground. She caught up to Rozenwild, who glanced at her but didn't tell her off.

"We have to stop it before it spreads," Aster said.

Sarielle and Kerensa were standing between them and the blaze, frozen in place.

"Clear the leaves from the ground," Rozenwild shouted to them, breaking into a run.

Ellowyn took off after her, her chest tight with fear. It made her nervous sitting next a tiny fire. This was terrifying.

She could feel some power still radiating from the tree. Its pollen was still in the air. It made her sluggish and her legs wobbly. She fell to her hands and knees, but was determined to keep going. The elhuvens had dropped to the ground at the edge of the clearing to scoop aside leaf litter with their arms. Sarielle kicked at it with her heels, turning over moist earth from below. They were slowly forming a barrier ring around the tree, but embers sailed through the air, fluttering down beyond their hurdle. A tiny fire started on the south side of the tree, only to be smothered with a swift beating from a leafy branch.

"Willow!"

The older nymph headed her way, pausing to smack at falling embers. Rozenwild saw what she was doing, and unable to venture much further herself, took up her own branch. Aster needed no encouragement to do the same, although she wasn't covering much distance either.

"Have you taken root, Ellowyn?" Willow called.

She shook her head, though she wasn't far from it. "Not yet." Her brain switched back on and she made herself crawl towards Willow. "I can't get any closer."

"Just stay back, okay? Stay near me."

Ellowyn roamed her section of forest floor, armed with a branch. Shouting stopped her work. Several figures were running through the trees, men from the town, armed with buckets and wool blankets. Ellowyn counted twelve of them.

She snorted. "What are you going to do with a single bucket each?"

What they did was mainly shout at each other and stare. They did make a futile attempt to halt the progress with the water buckets, but the fire was already contained. The tree had killed everything in a fifteen-metre radius and while the dead hollow trees near it were perfect fuel, they didn't have branches to pass the fire on. The hexed tree didn't remain a blackened husk like them. It wilted and crumbled like dry clay, chunks of it falling off in the flames.

"What the hell is that?" yelled a man.

Finally someone had noticed her. Now they all suddenly had a lot to say. A few shook their heads and started to back away. Ellowyn used a tree to help her stand but Rozenwild and Willow were already marching over to confront them.

"This is a cleansing. The land, and your town, are hexed no more. Leave this place," Willow ordered.

They didn't like that and argued amongst themselves for a bit.

"GET OUT!" Rozenwild growled.

That frightened them. More of them moved back, but a few got defensive.