Team Effort

The sweeping vines shot through the air at impossible speeds.

Noble swerved as the first tendril passed beside her before swiping to the side.

Using her secondary sight, Noble could see thousands of needles lining the vile plant's appendages. She could also tell she wasn't going to make it completely out of the way.

The vine raked along Red's back. He cried out.

"Are you alright?!" Noble tried not to panic.

"It ripped off the back of my breastplate!" Red hugged Noble's neck tighter.

'Better the metal than your skin.' The Queen hoped that would be the only injury Red would suffer.

She spun out of the way of another black creeper.

Noble was used to being an agile duelist in the Dreamscape. But in all her years of battle, having three other people awkwardly hanging from her body while she fought was not a skill she had mastered.

And physically lifting things while she floated was different than if she was using just her telekinesis. It was like using a different set of muscles in a workout. Noble knew what to do, but the actual execution needed work.

The mundane people around her swung from side to side as she avoided the increasing number of thorny obstacles in her path.

Noble wanted to tell the people to stop screaming as it would let the creature know exactly where they were, but she knew it would do no good.

The only option was to get higher than the monster could reach.

And that was turning out to be far easier said than done.

It turned out Noble had dove far deeper than she realized. Then again, between the three people she had managed to save, she had fallen straight down for more than a minute.

The light marking the surface seemed a world away, but the floating woman was determined to reach that point no matter the cost.

Two vines came at her from opposing directions, ready to clamp her in a pincer grip. But Noble was not in a pinching mood.

She slowed down enough for the two stalks to collide and used the force of the percussive wave to float backward from the needles. Shifting her momentum, she soared upward again.

'Almost there...' Noble could feel the number of vines around her lessening. Only the longest and strongest were still trying to follow her movement.

But just when she thought that she would make it. The man attached to her by the [Staff of Sages] screamed in pain.

She felt a sudden pull and an even more sudden release. The man screamed louder.

'Not good.'

With a burst of energy, Noble pulled ahead of the final vine. It crashed into the wall beside her and sent rubble falling from above. The dirt and stones stung Noble's skin but were far less painful than if it had still been attached to the ground.

Squinting, Noble navigated through the cloud of dust. Finally, the air became clear and significantly cooler.

'Noble! Noble, blast it, you better still be alive!' A voice screamed in the queen's head.

She couldn't help but smile. 'I'm here Nickel. And I brought a few friends.'

There was sadness in her voice. A fifty percent success rate wasn't great, but she had truly given it all she had. Noble sighed.

'We will be up soon. Try very hard not to let anyone else tumble down on us while we try to surface.'

It took many more minutes for the four people to break free from the chasm. When they did, Noble set Red and the other two safely away from the ledge. She lowered them beyond a manmade barricade and took stock of the victims.

The second gentleman had lost his sandal and part of his foot with it in the final attack by the viney flower. He was bleeding but conscious. Soldiers immediately whisked him away as soon as the [Staff of Sages] was dismissed.

Noble had given up hiding her ability to summon and dismiss Memories, and thankfully in the chaos, no one seemed to care.

Red and the woman lay on the ground, exhausted and in shock. Noble wished she could join them, but resting like that would bring her more pain than relief.

"Vera!" A man and child pushed through the crowd to surround the woman. A couple of soldiers joined Red to check on him as well.

Noble backed away to give both groups some privacy. She was tired, but there was a lot of work to do.

Floating back over the barrier, Noble hurried toward the palace where Sarai and Nickel waiting for her with General Theo.

All three looked at her with anticipation.

"I saved three and lost three," she said quickly, keeping to the facts. "The creature down there is the one the saint fought in his Nightmare. Because we saved most of the people in the city, it has gotten hungry early." 

Nickel and Sarai both took her words and digested them. Theo furrowed his brow. 

Noble understood why. He had no knowledge of Nightmares or Saints. The queen coughed lightly.

"General, the creature down there is a carnivorous flower. Each being it eats helps it grow a little stronger and reach a little higher. The barrier your men are making is good. Excellent work! Now, you must remain vigilant!"

Theo seemed to understand. "We will keep going, Your Majesty, but most of the credit goes to Her Grace and Honorable Nickel."

Noble looked at the other members of her cohort. The redhead was once again wearing her [Mindweaver's Tapestry] over her battle gear and the wraith beside her held a whip in his hand. 

Nickel shrugged. "Fireshing convinced all the people to leave with her cloak. All I did was encourage the dissenters that it was in their best interest to go behind the barrier."

"You should have seen Laundry catch someone with his whip and pull them back. It was amazing!" Sarai lowered her head. "I'm sorry we couldn't stop everyone though." 

"Me too." Noble smiled sadly. She had the best cohort. Without them, many more would have likely tumbled into the breach. 

Sensing that he was no longer needed, Theo bowed. "I will go check on the status of everything and report back..." 

Left alone, the three challengers of the Nightmare looked at one another. 

"I thought the Tyrant was the obstacle." Sarai's anxiousness spiked.

"So did I, but I guess we tripped a bonus level..." Noble shook her head at the irony. "We will just have to beat it like we did all the rest."

"Can it even be done? You are the only one who can move around down there without getting you know..." Nickel shifted uncomfortably.

The Queen lifted her chin. "We are a team. You took down Ender. Fire took the lead on the Lord of the Mountains. This one is mine…That's not to say I won't need your help." 

The other two looked at her attentively. 

"Nic, can I borrow that weapon of yours?" Noble held out her hand. 

"Um, do you know how to use it?" Nickel arched his brow as he transferred the whip into her Soul Sea. 

"I'm a quick learner," the Queen winked. 

"What about me?" Sarai pursed her lips. 

"Keep doing what you are doing to deter people from jumping..." Noble looked at the pile of glass by the palace as an idea formed in her head. "Oh, and I might also need your fire for a moment..."