The sound of moving branches and roots quickly brought focus to both Jude and Wen. But their desire to fight started to wane when they saw the trees coming. It wasn’t just one or two; instead, it looked like the entire forest started marching their way towards them.

“What are we going to do about this?” Wen asked. She was a tough girl, but their situation was like two against an army. These treants weren’t small either; the shortest was easily double their height.

“We hold out as long as we can. Hopefully, Krinn and the rest will get down here soon,” Jude said.

Then Jude pulled out his giant brush, he no longer had any of his small brushes, but for what he was going to do next, he needed the large one. The brush was nearly as tall as he was and the bristles were already wet. Using the brush, he drew a large circle around both of them and then started writing runes both inside and outside the circle.

The treants were slow allowing Jude just enough time to complete the . The large tree’s had a hard time walking on the stone surface, but even with this difficultly they still surrounded Jude and Wen. The large branches swung out, but the circle and runes blazed a bright blue color creating a dome to protect them. The branches bashed against the dome, Wen was about to retaliate, but Jude stopped her.

“This shield doesn’t allow us to attack outside the dome,” he said. “I didn’t have enough time to make something that advanced.”

Wen nodded her head. She had seen Jude set up these shields many times over the last three weeks and it was true that he always took much more time.

“Can you attack with your magic?” She asked. If physical weapons could act, perhaps ethereal attacks could.

“ might break the spell formation and any scrolls I use might backlash back inside the dome. I might be able to do something with but it’s risky, and I would rather wait until our friends get here.”

“How long will the shield last?” Wen's voice was level even in this situation. Calmly getting all the facts before she freaked out.

“A few minutes if left alone, but as long as I keep making adjustments and adding mana, it should last a few hours. The better question is what is taking the others so long to get down here?” Jude was beginning to wonder if the others were ok. Surely they had figured out how to get down by now. What could be taking them so long?

“I know right? Krinn is usually the first to jump into danger when I’m with him. I’m surprised he didn’t dive headlong into that gravel pit.” She knew that the only thing that would keep Krinn at bay was if a monster had attacked them. She wasn't too worried about them. Krinn, Ellie, and Nellie were a good combination and should be able to take care of themselves.

“A brother's love for a sister will cause him to do all kinds of crazy things. I hope nothing has happened to them up top.”

***

Both Krinn and Nellie were holding the rope fast as the other end was tied around Ellie.

“Ready?” Ellie asked one last time.

“Yes,” both Krinn and Nellie answered.

Ellie raised her foot and stamped it down on the gravel…

Nothing happened.

“What’s going on?” Ellie asked. “This is what both Jude and Wen did right?”

“I’m pretty sure,” Krinn said. “Try it again.”

Ellie stomped again, but nothing happened.

“Maybe you need to be irritated or angry,” Nellie said in her small voice.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve got that covered,” Ellie answered as she stomped once again. Irritation and anger were overflowing by this point.

***

The shield was holding fast, and the large arms of the bashed against it continuously. The noise created by the constant pounding of the shield was deafening, especially for Jude and Wen inside. Jude continued to use his large brush to modify the shield spell, but he would only be able to do so as long as he had room to write. The original circle he created was only five meters in diameter, and the large brush he used would not write anything small. The treants attacks were stronger than he initially estimated and now he wondered if the shield would even last thirty minutes.

Wen did her best to stay out of the way and held fingers in her ears. Now that the tree’s completely surrounded them, their banging made it impossible to talk. It was a good thing that they did their chatting at the beginning of this fight; otherwise, she would be clueless about what Jude was planning.

A sharp whistle sounded through the air, overpowering the noise of the treant's attacks. Jude looked towards to source of the sound and saw a strange humanoid creature leaping between the large boughs of the treants.

It wore tribal like clothing made from an unusual looking leather. On its fingers and toes were long claws. The mouth was oddly broad, and its teeth were sharp and pointed. But the most notable feature of this creature was the scorpion tail that sprouted out behind it. Above its head, Jude saw the name .

The quickly multiplied, and they were rapidly surrounded by both and . Sharp whistles sounded out of the group of , and slowly the treants stopped attacking.

“Oog nuug chuug poog,” the leader said.

“We don’t understand you. I don’t suppose you will let us pass?” Jude said.

“Chuug! Shinswan nuug too oog!”

“Chuug yourself!” Wen barked back.

Hearing this the leader was appalled, “Too buuk! Chuug!”

“No, you ‘too buuk!’” Wen answered with a shout and imitated the once again.

“Do you know what you are saying?” Jude asked.

“Not a clue,” Wen answered, “But they don’t understand us either, so I’m just trying to delay.”

The leader seemed thoroughly enraged by being called ‘too buuk’ and leaped towards the shield. He landed before it on all fours and his scorpion tail lashed out pierced the shield and struck the runes causing the whole shield to collapse.

Jude was startled, he wasn’t sure if that creature was just lucky or smart. The leader happened to attack the one weak point of the entire shield. Jude didn’t have enough time to setup a proper shield and constructed it with tall treants in mind. The lower section just happened to be much weaker as attacks from treants would come from above. However, this not only attacked at a low angle but also destroyed one of the critical runes that made up the shield.

“Too Buuk poog? Chuug. Toog?” the leader said triumphantly.

Jude didn’t know the words, but he was starting the guess the meaning. Surrender. And what other option did they have? They were surrounded by tens of treants and just as many of these . Now without even the shield, only death would happen if they started fighting now.

Jude raised his hands in surrender, “I think you might have insulted him.”

Wen frowned but followed suit, “Seems about the only thing I know how to do.”

It had always been second nature to Wen when it came to insults. But apparently, she was just as skilled at provoking in other languages as her own.

The leader smiled which made it look like his face was split in half. Then he let out another sharp whistle, and a few came up and bound both Jude and Wen tightly.

***

“I’m telling you it’s the rope,” Ellie said.

Krinn countered, “How can it be the rope?”

“I don’t know, but the only difference between Wen and Jude going though is that they were not connected to anything when the left.”

“But how will we pull you guys back up if you don’t have a rope?!”

“Who cares about getting pulled back up! Jude and Wen could be in serious trouble!”

“I know that!” Krinn responded angrily once again. “But if we go down without an escape plan we could be putting ourselves and Wen in trouble!”

Krinn was frustrated on more than one level, but how could they not have an escape plan. This trip was just to scout the entrance to the aquifers and see if it actually existed. But without an escape plan, they would be putting themselves in a situation where they weren't fully prepared for.

Ellie didn't care about any of that at this moment, “I understand, but we are to a place where either we do or we don’t. I for one, DO.”

“Just try holding the whole rope one more time. The delay will let you throw the rope to us, and we can continue like before.” Krinn pleaded.

“We’ve done that already, and it didn’t work!” Ellie finally got frustrated enough that she took a knife out and cut the rope tied to her. She stomped her foot, and the ground dragged her under.

“AARGG! This is so stupid.” Krinn said.

“Krinn lets go,” Nellie said as she stomped her foot down.

“No! Wait, we can-“ But it was already too late. Nellie was gone now as well.

“Ugh, fine. If we are all going to be idiots, I may as well be one too.”

Krinn walked over and stomped his foot. With a roar of gravel, he was gone too.

***

Jude and Wen were now in a small village made of thatch huts and a plethora of . Jude and Wen were in a cage outside made of a vine like material that felt as secure as iron but was still alive. These vines had strange leaves and a strange fragrance that obstructed people from using skills while near them.

A few were kept in another cage not far away. They had been kept alive for months in these strange conditions. However, they looked very healthy, if not a little plump. But that made sense considering the rest of the village.

Over the aroma that their cage put out, the scent of death prevailed. Human bones were everywhere, from decorations to furniture, even the huts seemed to be reinforced with them. But the idea of people being eaten like cattle was mostly reinforced by the large fire in the center of the small village. A corpse was hung over it by a spit.

“It is a good thing that Krinn and the rest weren’t with us. Perhaps they will be able to save us.” Wen said.

Jude smirked, “I thought you didn’t like being the damsel in distress.”

“I don’t, but I like being eaten even less. I would be willing to play the damsel a hundred times to not be here right now.” Wen said seriously.

Jude stopped the jokes. He wanted to lighten the mood, but Wen wasn’t responding well to it. But he wouldn’t passively sit by and wait for the others to rescue them.

“Then try and resist the effect that keeps us from using our skills,” Jude suggested.

“Why? I don’t have my weapons or armor. Even if I picked up a random stick, my attack power wouldn’t be that high.” Wen said depressed.

“They may have taken our gear, but they didn’t have access to my ,” Jude said with confidence. “All I have to do is get past the block, and I’ll be able to access it. They took my brush, but my staff and sword are still inside. I know you don’t usually use a sword, but it’s better than nothing right?”

“You don’t understand,” Wen said with sorrow, “prison areas like these can’t be resisted. It’s a rule set up by the . If it could be resisted, there would be chaos as no one could be imprisoned.”

“I refused to believe that there is no way to resist it,” Jude said with assurance. “Have I not done enough to convince you that amazing things can be done?”

“You have done amazing things,” She brightened a little but then it turned dark, “But I’m not like you, how could I ever do what you’ve done? It's impossible for someone like me.”

“Don’t think that way,” Jude said with a comforting tone, “I may have the advantage of a different viewpoint, but what I’ve done, anyone could do with the right help. I’m here now, lean on me and I will help you. Trust me and you will not fail.”

“Okay, I will trust you, but what good will it do for me to resist? I don’t have your or your unique skills, won’t it be fine even if I don’t resist?”

Jude smiled, “You have a strength that I don’t have. Even if I break past the lock on skills, I might not be able to get us out of here. That is why I need you. But even if I can break us out, we don’t know how long the skill restriction will last. I can't fight them alone if you are still restricted after we escape. Again, I will need you.”

“Ok, I will try,” Wen said. “But it’s going to be funny when Krinn and the rest come rescue us before we can break this lock.”

Jude agreed, but it was still better than doing nothing. Besides, it kept his mind off of the fact that these people wanted to eat him.

“Let me go!” a girl’s shout was heard.

Jude and Wen looked towards the sound, but it was obscured by huts and landscape. But a treant soon came into view with a tied up Ellie and a on its shoulder. Then another treant came along carrying Krinn and Nellie.

Jude chuckled, “You were right, it was funny when they showed up.”

“What is wrong with you?” Wen asked. “They were our best bet. But now they are captured too. How can you be so relaxed when we’ve been caught by people who eat humans?!”

Jude sighed, “Did you not listen before? One way or another, I will get us out.”

***

The leader looked at the leading treant and pointed towards Jude. He spoke in his language, “Put them with the other new ones. These look like they will actually be able to breed!”