Chapter Seventeen: Vineious

I watched Lenart fight the Orc. Not once under their short confrontation did I interween. His strength was slightly superior to the Orc's. The only reason he almost lost was his own foolishness.

Lenart being 1,6 meters tall made the difference in size pretty much one to three. Yet Lenart didn't lose in a physical confrontation. In my eyes that's impressive.

(Third person)

News about what happened to Lenart spread through the village like wildfire. It quickly became the topic of all conversations. As for Lenart, he laid unconscious in his house. Being tended to by a professional maid, from one of the destroyed villages.

The hunter walked back and forth in front of Jantyr's totem. Which now had wooden carvings of different kinds of weather. Two lightning bolts, one on the left, one on the right. Wind symbols painted all over his body and rain too.

The hunter was short, just like all Falkens. His muscles were bulky, like an Orc. But it didn't limit his movements in the slightest. He had short hair and a large brown beard. On his back was a bow he bought two years ago, right before the first wave of monsters. It had survived till now and had become his most trusted utensil. The arrows on his back were completely new, made just the other day by the professional smith in the town.

The smith was a woman called Lydna. She had migrated here under the winter, after leaving her city. Apparently she had some problems with her family. So she had come here, eager to prove her skills.

"Jantyr, my lord! What are we supposed to do against Orcs? They're much stronger than us and they're almost as tall as our walls. There's no way we can keep them out! They're basically giants!" Howard said to Jantyr. With Lenart out of the picture for some hours, it was his job solely to lead the people.

"Don't do anything then! We have no feud with the Orcs! Heck this city was named after Orcs, literally. If they show signs of aggression we will defend ourselves. But if they don't strike first, we leave them be!"

As their conversation was taking place, a woman was rushing towards her house.

The house was newly built, made out of wood and sticks. It wasn't relatively big, but it would do. The house was one of the few houses that didn't have more than one family in it. Almost all buildings were apartments, but they had the privilege to live alone.

The woman's name is Matisra and she's Lenart's wife. She's several months into pregnancy and will be giving birth very soon.

She slammed her door open and ran inside. The maid greeted her, as she came inside. But Matisra ignored her and quickly went to her husband's side.

Lenart laid on his king sized bed, with several broken bones and other kinds of injuries. Matisra almost went into shock, seeing him like this.

Matisra was sweating from all her physical labor and it didn't help that she was about to go into labor herself. The second she reached their bed she fell face first into her sleeping husband. Having her blond, long hair cover her husband's face.

The maid sighed and regretted not working for the hunter. She walked towards the bed and grabbed the lady, who fell asleep on top of her husband. Using her inborn strength the maid managed to lift the heavy, pregnant lady and lay her down next to the husband. While also checking on the husband's condition. Scared it would've worsened, due to his wife's actions.

(Meanwhile)

Jasmine hastily walked along her friend Jasper. They just left the tower, descending towards the city. The tower could be seen floating in the sky, next to a gigantic castle, made out of stone.

Using a cloud, they flew down towards the city. All kinds of Falken walked around in the city. But the most important thing was the animals. All kinds of species did the work of their superiors. Slavery in a way. To Jasmine this was normal, she didn't even question it. Animals had no intelligence, so they deserved being treated badly.

As Jasmine and Jasper were walking, they heard a child. It was screaming loudly, complaining about something unimportant.

Jasmine being Jasmine was instantly interested in this and quickly ran towards the sound. When she arrived, she was met with a crowd of Falken's watching in displeasure. What Jasmine saw was several Falken children being beaten with a stick, by an enraged girl. Her clothing said it all, noble.

"What happened here?" Jasmine asked. She wasn't affected by the display of cruelty. But she'd still stop the girl, if she had no justified reason to hurt the children.

"One of the kids accidently walked into the esteemed noble child of this city. We can't do anything to stop the young lady from hurting the orphans. The guards are watching us and have no plans to stop the lady from possibly killing them!" one of the elderly Falken said.

Jasmine rubbed her chin for some seconds, before forcefully making the crowd move out of her way. Using wind magic to make them fall over, or take some steps back. Her move gained the attention of everyone, even the lady beating the kids.

Jasmine strode forward, with a confident sway of her hips. Her staff was in her hands, ready for combat if need be. She was smiling, a smile that made everyone around her uncomfortable.

"Who are you to approach me, peasant?" the young lady said. Her pride was through the roof and Jasmine really wanted to reprimand her now.

"Vineious" Jasmine chanted and a green streak hit the young lady.

She howled in pain, as vines sprouted out of her body. The green colored vines were tainted in red, as they grew out of the young lady's body. Some vines came out of her feet and burrowed into the ground. Locking the girl in the palace. More and more vines came out of her body, some snarling around her like rope, binding her arms. A puddle of blood had formed under the young girl.

Her vocals didn't work anymore, as vines had blocked her throat. Growing inside her body like a nest. Vines started coming out of all sorts of holes, not only creating their own holes, but using the existing ones too.

The lady had lost one of her eyes to the vines and blood was leaking like tears on that side of her face. While normal tears flowed out of her still working eye. She couldn't even beg for the lady to stop and could only stare at her in agony.

The guards tried to help her, but the vines attacked all the soldiers approaching. One even lost its arm to the vine. They couldn't attack Jasmine either, as she was intentionally standing within the vines' range.

"Hmm, peasant, that's what you called me right?" Jasmine asked, placing her finger on the girl's cheek, wiping away some of the blood.

Jasper who had arrived watched the scene with a smile and walked towards Jasmine.

"Now, now Jasmine, The Weather Forecast Witch. We can't bully our juniors. She's due to start in the tower in two years, when she's old enough. Until then don't bully her too much!" Jasper said and walked inside the vines range, without being attacked.

"She called me a peasant, Jasper. I'm not a peasant, she can't bully me!" Jasmine said, with a fake hurt voice.

Jasper gasped and looked at the girl. "How could you call your future senior a peasant?! I'm telling your parents about this!" Jasper said and took out his staff. Unlike Jasmine it was very short, definitely above average though and it had a good personality too.

With a flick of his wand and with two words from his mouth. "Cancelious, Stablious" the girl's vines disappeared and her wounds closed. But she would need serious healing to recover.

"Now let's get ourselves a pet Jasmine!" Jasper said and dragged her away from the lady, before she could cause any more harm to his cousin.