Oakwall, Summerpond and Firefly flew over the trees because of a lovely lift spell Garna gave them–able to glide longer, farther. They carried little bombs on strings. Bombs she made that may not do a lot of damage to such big orcs, but would be annoying. Their goal was to annoy the orcs.
The squirrels had annoyed old Biddy for years being too playful among the stacks of books, but now it would be fun to let loose!
If they lived, that is.
The orcs had the woodland warriors cornered and stalled too far up the path. Cassie and Stench and Fenestra, and possibly the Champion of the Autumn Woods was somewhere here. They did see a big orc who was wreaking havoc on the raiding band of fellow orcs, so Fenestra was doing pretty well.
The others were holding their own, barely.
All their allies waited at the end of the path. They could see a large dome of light on the ground near them and they didn’t know what it was, but a shadow of a bird was inside.
“Try not to miss with the bombs. They will burn and they will flash, and be painful to the orcs, but if they are dropped on the ground that won’t mean much,” the Badger had told them. “Remember,” and he’d breathed in and paused, “we need them to see you and chase you.”
They whizzed through several orcs and dropped three bombs. One missed. Two exploded on an ear and a foot. Firefly dropped his second one, which burned an orc’s neck. Then they flew so close to them to get their attention. But the orcs didn’t even consider them of interest.
The orcs looked at them, but went back to attacking.
Some of them went after Cassie. Two tried to break into the dome of light. Several were trying to stop Fenestra’s orc puppet. Others were chasing something small. About ten seemed like they could barely see.
All around them the squirrels heard a song in the woods, “Wake, Wake!”
They tried again to get the attention of the orcs. To move them. To be enticing. To be chased. But the orcs were too involved in battle. Then a shout in the woods ahead!
A big orc voice! All the orcs turned! They bellowed in response. They raced down the path! The squirrels flew ahead of them! The orc voice got louder. Like orders. Was there another orc band ahead of them? No! What had happened to their allies?
The squirrels flew just out of reach of many of the orcs, speeding, gliding, as the orc voice got louder in front of them. Then the ground below the orcs in front collapsed–all the leaves that covered the path fell and revealed a freshly dug pit. From the bushes, a magical pink light blasted the orcs teetering on the edge. The Hare and the Salamander both raised their hands and blasted the orcs with light and illusion.
Human allies came out of the bushes armed with shovels. Some of the orcs fell. Many of them did not. The pit covered itself over again, as Xini put her illusion back in place.
They saw Fade and Dame Brigitt flying towards them and over their heads.
The sound of the big orc voice called the orcs forward towards the hidden pit!
They spotted Carlotta in the trees puffed up and doing her best Orc!
They turned and saw that they had not gotten all the orcs here. Half the orcs were here and still half the orcs where they had been. So the squirrels raced back to try and bring the rest of them to the pit.
Their only hope was to let the pit do its work. To push the orcs in.
They flew back over the fight, the rest of their bombs ready.
Go to Chapter 30
“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.
“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.
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