Lyra steadied herself as the stone fortress around her morphed into a gigantic tree, which immediately started growing vigorously skyward. Within minutes, the sturdy branch that she found herself standing on was already several hundred feet above the ground.
“Robin!” she yelled at her newly acquired squire. “Can you come over and hold on tight to my back?”
“Yes, mistress.” he replied submissively. “Would you like a massage as well while I do that?”
He’s certainly wasting no time in making himself useful, Lyra thought with satisfaction. With Robin securely on her back, she activated her levitation belt, leapt off the branch and descended gently toward the ground. Around her, she saw the other acolytes similarly evacuating from the giant tree.
A shrill, piercing shriek rang out from above. Still unaccustomed to his childish stableboy body, Marge had lost his balance, fallen off the tree and was now plummeting to the ground, arms flailing wildly. Lyra cursed her own impulsiveness in her choice of Marge’s new form, as temple rules required that she help any kid whose life was in danger, regardless of how rotten the kid had been before. With great reluctance, she threw out an enchanted lasso that quickly secured itself around Marge’s body, abruptly breaking his fall.
Zoanna rushed forward to greet Lyra as she landed. “Meet my new squire!” Lyra announced as Robin continued to slavishly rub down her back. “And who is that?” Zoanna pointed at the naked little stableboy, still in a daze from his near-death experience.
“Well, that used to be the enemy captain.”
“So what is he doing here? We don’t exactly have any stables for him to muck out right now.”
Lyra thought quickly. “Weren’t you looking for a new castrato for our temple choir?”
“But he’s filthy! And he stinks of manure!”
“Just get him cleaned up, put him in some nice robes, and he’ll be perfect. Oh, and take care of that too will you?”
Marge snapped out of his trance and clamped his hands over his groin in panic. “Don’t worry.” Lyra continued smoothly, smiling at the former guard captain. “We’re not monsters. We’ve got a really effectively topical anesthetic that we’ll apply around that area first. You won’t even feel that it’s gone…” The boy’s eyes bulged wildly as he tried to run away, but Zoanna easily grabbed hold of him and held on to him firmly.
“LYRA! There you are!” Audrey dashed forward with a panicked look in her eyes. “And what the heck are you doing?” she stared down at the squirming stableboy.
“I’ve finally recovered my transformation rock!” Lyra smiled triumphantly at the female warrior. “We’re going to head back to the temple now, and I’m just… helping the latest addition to my choir get prepared for his new career.”
“You’re making preparations for your CHOIR?” Audrey yelled in exasperation. “Are you NUTS? Have you even been looking up at THAT?!” she pointed skyward. The massive tree now stretched all the way up to the clouds, and lightning was flashing ominously around its crown. “I’ve seen this before, it’s very bad news. And where is my partner Mika? Did you just leave him up there?” she glared accusingly at Lyra.
A diminutive halfling staggered forward, wheezing heavily. “My miss…mistress needs.. help…” he gasped, pointing upwards. Lyra stared at him blankly. “Who’s that?” she asked the female warrior.
“That’s Jak the ogre.” Audrey responded tartly. “Someone used transformation magic on him during the battle.”
“Ah.” Lyra nodded. “That must have been another one of the little acts of mischief my new choirboy was up to earlier today.” she shot the squirming Marge a sidelong glance. “Okay, so now I’m going to have to use the transformation rock one more time…”
+++++++++++
Balancing precipitously on a branch near the top of the giant tree, Shari stared down and realized that she could barely even make out the ground anymore. “Err… Tobi?” she called out pleadingly to her friend.
“Shush! I need to concentrate or we’ll lose Amber.” Tobi replied curtly as she and Mika exerted all their strength to neutralize the demonic poison coursing thru the young beastmaster’s veins.
Looking straight up, Shari saw a vortex of shimmering clouds swirling around the tip of the tree. A small yellowish cloud drifted lazily downwards, enveloping a group of soldiers that were desperately trying to climb back down to the ground. There was a cacophony of screams and shouts, followed by the ripping of clothing and the cracking of bones, and finally a panicked gibbering, hooting and screeching. Then the cloud drifted away, revealing a troop of macaques that were now variously swinging from the branches, beating their chests, or scratching their crimson red butts. Ominously, the cloud started drifting towards Shari and her party.
“Tobi!” she cried out urgently. “We need to get down….”
“MISTRESS.” A deep, booming voice reverberated thru the branches as a colossal orge’s face rose into view. Shari’s eyes widened as Jak slowly extended his house-sized hand towards them. Already perched on it was Luka, looking simultaneously anxious and relieved. “Mika! You’ve got to get off this tree NOW!” the barbarian bellowed urgently at his boyfriend.