So Close

"Are you sure about this?" Alaron asked for the hundredth time.

"It should be a small reaction. This is just a test to see how it reacts to the wood. I've only ever used it to sculpt stone." Renat explained as calmly as he could.

The scientist loved his brother-in-law, but at this moment, Alaron was really getting on Renat's nerves.

"Back up so I can focus…and be quiet!" The scientist snipped.

The group had snuck up to the large wooden wall after seeing the harpies open the roof. Upon finding no door, Renat had suggested using some of his tools to quietly break through.

As no one had a better idea, they all followed the scientist's lead. He decided to test his experiment before going full scale.

Renat cleared the snow and knelt. Slowly, he poured the liquid towards the bottom of the structure.

It fizzled and sparked, but did not become soft and malleable like the stone he was used to. Instead it began to smoke heavily.

"Hmm." The scientist furrowed his brow.

"Put it out! Those Harpies overhead are distracted, not stupid. You are practically screaming for us to get caught!" Alaron began to panic. 

The eagle-women were very focused just now, but they wouldn't be for long if they smelled a fire. Doubtless they would come to investigate any second. 

"Give me a moment," Renat blew at the small blaze trying to settle the greenish flicker. 

But the elixir only burned brighter, stoked by the scientist's urgings. 

"This is taking too long. Move aside." The Guardian pushed aside Renat as he picked up a handful of snow. "I'll handle this." 

The lanky scientist realized too late what the other man had in mind. "No!" 

Alaron released the handful of frozen water, pelting the fire with the white blanket. The fire fizzled and dimmed. "See? That's how it's..." 

"Run!" Renat took hold of Lilith's arm and pulled her toward the trees. 

"What?" Alaron hurried after them in confusion followed by Nath. "The fire is out." 

"Ten...Nine..." Renat scrambled onto his horse as he counted. "We need to hurry. Eight...seven..." 

The others were stirred into action and they rode full-tilt away from the basket. By the time he got to one, the group was hidden in a thick copse of trees. 

"What's wrong?" The Guardian could still not see an issue. 

"Hopefully nothing, but that mixture aggressively hates water. The only saving grace is that it was ice and took a little time to melt. Otherwise, we never would have made it." Renat wiped his brow as he took a spot behind a tree trunk. 

"When you say aggressively..." Lilith did not get out her question before a massive explosion ripped apart the part of the wall where the four had just been. 

The results were catastrophic. As the wall collapsed, Alaron shielded himself with his cloak. The others took defensive positions to avoid the debris. 

"Why didn't you tell me not to throw water on it?" The silver-eyed man accused. The roar of the falling lumber threatened to overpower his yelling.

"I didn't think I needed to say don't throw a snowball while I'm working, and you didn't ask. I was handling it and you were impatient!" The two men glared at one another.

"Uh, men?" Nath yelled over the noise.

The four stopped in their tracks and turned to look. Not only had one part of the wall collapsed, but the entire structure was crumbling.

'No!' Renat's face paled.

His wife was in there! He had meant to free her, not crush her. A sick feeling overcame him, and he wretched what little food was in his stomach.

There was nothing he could do but watch the world—and his own—come crashing down.

Creatures of all shapes and sizes came pouring out. A few ran in their direction to escape, but most stayed, finding ways to attack the winged harpies with a vengeance.

Renat wanted to attack them too. A flash of when he was a wolf came into his vision. Thankfully there was no poison in his system to feed his rage.

A hand came over his shoulder, pulling Renat from his reverie.

"The harpies are distracted." Alaron said gently.

"You don't mean to go into that mess…" Lilith furrowed her brow. She pointed overhead. "Any of those creatures will squash you like bugs if they spot you!"

"I'm going too," Nath put his fist on his chest as he looked at his sister. "Uri is in there. I owe it to him to at least try to find him."

Seeing she was outnumbered, the even-tempered elf sighed. "Fine. But we must be careful. If it looks like the harpies are winning, we need to leave as fast as we can and return later. We cannot do our friends any good if we are dead."

That seemed reasonable, especially with how many things were trying to attack the flying ladies both from the ground and the air. As long as the elves and humans minded their own business, they should be able to search in peace.

When the horses were secured, the four traversed the snowy ground back to the original point of impact.

The burst of energy had put out the fire and left a black scorch on the earth in its wake. Any remnant of snow for three horse-lengths was melted leaving singed grass underneath.

It still took some time to get to the top of the debris. There seemed to be a floor of sticks in addition to the wall, making the whole area a dangerous tangle of thorns and branches. 

As they broached the top of the mound, the group looked out at the destruction. "Where do we start?" Lilith deferred to the others. 

Renat looked out at the field of broken wood and his his sank. He had hoped in vain to see his wife standing in the center or running to one of the sides. It seemed most likely that she was, indeed, buried. The chances of being alive, no less being alive and unharmed, were dwindling by the second. 

Seeing the fear in Renat's eyes, Alaron took charge. "Start here, but don't stray too far. We need to be able to help each other and escape if necessary. There is no way to do that if we are spread all over this pile." 

The group began to search in silence. When any of them thought they saw something, the others raced to their aid to uncover what was buried. Some of the things were objects, but a few were grateful creatures that had not been able to climb their way out before the collapse. 

Only once did they find a being beyond help. 

But the creatures in the debris were far less than any of them anticipated. Either the Harpies had not captured many things, or they had mostly escaped before the doom fell upon their heads. 

"Maybe they got out as well," Nath seemed to be reading the scientist's thoughts. "Uri always was a good climber." 

"We need to keep looking," Renat said after scanning the wood yet another time. "I am not willing to give up just yet." 

Overhead the battle was slowly coming to a close. The Harpies had been forced to die or retreat, which left the rescuers to search in peace. A few of the trees beyond the prison had been knocked down from the titanic blows, but the basket had only received minor additional damage from the fighting. 

"It is going to take another couple of days to search all of this the way we are doing. Now that they Harpies are gone, perhaps we can split up?" Nath suggested gently. "At least into two groups," he amended when he saw the glare on Alaron's face. 

The Guardian did not want to leave Renat without some protection. Things were bad enough without losing another member of their team.

"Two groups," Alaron agreed. Renat and Lilith and Nath and Alaron paired off to cover a wider area. 

Another hour passed with nothing being found. They had saved all the surface-level creatures. If there was anyone else, they were well and truly buried. 

Something caught Renat's eye. "Here!" he told Lilith. "I saw something shiny. Perhaps Mairwen, Eria or Uri is trying to signal us!" 

"Princess Mairwen, is that you?" Lilith looked down where the man had indicated. 

Another flash. 

"Over here! Come help us dig!" Lilith called, hoping Nath would hear her. 

Soon all four of them were clearing wood at an alarming speed. 

"We are so close!" Alaron encouraged them to move past their exhaustion. 

He found out a moment later that he had been right. They were vey close.

Very close to danger.