“What is that?!” Murat asked.

He and the Silver Sorcerer had been walking through the forest for hours when the sound of rustling leaves made them turn.  A giant creature was walking between the trees.  Its head was like a crown of gnarled branches and there was a gaping hole where the face should have been.  Green tendrils snaked around its thick arms, which had the texture of tree bark and stretched to its root-like feet.  Its fingers were like twigs, raking the damp leaves of the forest floor as it lumbered along.

“A forest spirit,” the Silver Sorcerer replied.  “One of many on this mountain.”

“Is it harmful?”

“Not to me, since I am also a forest spirit.  I don’t know about you.  It might view you as an intruder.”

Murat shot him an exasperated look.

The forest spirit approached them.  Although it had no eyes, Murat felt as though it was staring straight down at him.  A tendril shot out and latched onto his satchel.  He yelped.  The tendril snaked its way under the satchel’s flap and pulled out a piece of sorrel.  The forest spirit’s twig hands clenched and dug into the soil.  The branches of its head sprouted menacing thorns.

“What’s going on?” Murat asked nervously.

“The forest spirit is displeased that you have plucked its brethren,” the Silver Sorcerer explained.

“I was just collecting them for food!”

The tendrils wrapped around his leg and yanked.  He fell backward with a shriek and was dragged across the leaves.  They lifted him abruptly and he was dangling upside down in front of the forest spirit’s gaping face hole.  Fang-like bristles radiated from the hole’s perimeter.  Sticky sap dribbled from the hole and plopped to the ground, burning through the leaves with a sizzle.

“Help!” Murat yelled, flailing his arms.  Being eaten by a carnivorous tree was not how he wanted things to end.

The Silver Sorcerer sighed and waved his hand.  Glowing silver threads shot through the air and cut into the forest spirit’s trunk and limbs.  The tendrils holding Murat up slackened.  He screamed as he plummeted through the air and squeezed his eyes shut.  Just as he was about to hit the ground, he felt two arms catch him.  He opened his eyes and saw his doppelganger staring down at him.  He exhaled slowly as the Silver Sorcerer set him down.

The forest spirit’s parts were strewn across the leaves.  More tendrils shot out from the trunk.  They wrapped themselves around the peripheral pieces and pulled them towards the center.  The forest spirit reassembled itself with extra mud and leaves caked onto its surface.  It looked larger than it originally was.  Additional thorns protruded from its limbs.

“Well,” the Silver Sorcerer remarked.  “Now we’ve really made it angry.  This does not bode well.  Reminds me of why I generally steer clear of my fellow spirits.”

Murat unsheathed his qama dagger.  He had no idea how they were going to defeat this thing but he was not going to be caught defenseless again.  The Silver Sorcerer stared at his blade.

“Acutally, that might be a good idea,” said the Silver Sorcerer.  “Usually these creatures have some kind of core that holds them together.  One strike and they’ll crumble.”

The forest spirit raked its sharp fingers across the forest floor, throwing up clods of dirt.  Thick vines shot out from its arms at multiple angles.  Murat ducked and rolled.  He saw another vine snaking his way and sank his blade into the squirming green mass, slicing all the way through.  The part that got cut off curled up and shriveled.  The rest of it pulsated and shot out smaller vines in all directions.  Murat shrieked and swiped.  As his blade curved through the air, it sliced more pieces off the vines.  They plopped to the forest floor and curled.

While Murat was slashing away at the barrage of vines, the Silver Sorcerer threw out a burst of silver threads that cleaved criss-cross patterns into the forest spirit’s bark.  Within seconds, the grooves closed up again.  He sighed.  They would be here all day and night if this kept up.  He reached into his robes and took out a shard.  It was dark and glassy like obsidian.  Holding it between his forefinger and thumb, he focused his eyes intensely on it until it sparked and ignited.  The forest spirit took a step back.

“Is that a dragon heart stone?” Murat asked as the vines retreated from attacking him.

“Indeed it is,” the Silver Sorcerer replied.  “Normally I wouldn’t use this in the middle of a forest since I don’t want to destroy my home, but this creature is quite the nuisance.”  He let the dragon heart stone levitate above his palm.  The flame bloomed like an infernal flower.  Murat stared at it, mesmerized.

“I think the spirit’s core is somewhere in the middle of the trunk since that’s where the tendrils keep coming out,” the Silver Sorcerer said.  “If I use my threads to split the trunk open and you can get up to it before it heals itself, you can use your dagger to strike the core.”

“What?!” Murat exclaimed.  “That thing is tall!  How am I supposed to reach up there?”

“I’ll assist you with some magic.”

“Why don’t you just defeat it yourself?”

The Silver Sorcerer smirked.  “You wish to be useful, don’t you?”

Murat was speechless.  He didn’t recall saying that openly to the Silver Sorcerer.  Before he could think any further, the forest spirit began lumbering toward them again.

“Well, here we go,” said the Silver Sorcerer.  He flicked a ribbon of flame over to Murat’s qama.  Murat nearly jumped but kept his hold on the hilt.  The blade vibrated and glowed.  His eyes widened in awe.

The Silver Sorcerer turned to the forest spirit and launched a shimmering web of silver threads.  It sliced through the bark and tore open the trunk.  The forest spirit teetered and its sprawling arms left deep grooves in the soil.  Its torso was like a hollowed log.  A pulsating mossy ball dangled in the dark cavity.

“Go!” the Silver Sorcerer shouted.  Murat felt the qama yank him forward.  He started running so he wouldn’t be dragged over the damp leaves.  His heart pounded as he approached the forest spirit.  

The Silver Sorcerer waved his hand and Murat flew upward.  He yelped in shock but kept his grip on the hilt.  The blade glowed even brighter.  The splintered bark was beginning to piece itself back together to seal the opening.  As he approached the cavity, he thrust the qama into the mossy mass.  There was a squelch as the blade sank in.  Dark ichor squirted and soaked his sleeves.  He scrunched his face in distaste.

The forest spirit’s face hole contorted as if it were emitting a silent scream.   It flailed its limbs and shot out tendrils in all directions.  Murat clung onto the qama's hilt as he was flung left and right.  Deep cracks spiderwebbed across the bark and wood chips flaked off.  The forest spirit’s knees buckled and its entire body fractured.  Murat felt himself in freefall again, and then the familiar sensation of being caught in someone’s arms.

“Are you all right?” the Silver Sorcerer asked softly.

“Yes,” Murat breathed.  His feet touched the ground and leaned away from the Silver Sorcerer.  Sheathing his qama, he glared at him.  “Why did you put me in danger like that?”

“You weren’t in any real danger,” the Silver Sorcerer replied.  “I cast a shield over you so you wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Why though?  Wouldn’t it have been easier if I just gave you the dagger and you did all that yourself?”

“Perhaps I wanted to show you that you were capable of defeating it on your own.”

“But it wasn’t on my own!  You were controlling all my movements and pulling me along like a puppet!”

“The blade was pulling you along and I did lift you into the air, but all the other movements were yours.  You should give yourself more credit.”

Murat furrowed his brow and sighed loudly.  “Why do you even care anyway?!”

The Silver Sorcerer frowned.  Murat looked away.  A cold breeze whispered its way between the trees as the two stood in silence.

“I’m sorry,” the Silver Sorcerer finally said.

“Huh?” Murat turned back to face him.

“I know you’ve been through a lot so I shouldn’t have put you under more stress.”

Murat looked downward and clenched his fists.  He didn’t want to be reminded of the events from earlier.    

The Silver Sorcerer walked around the remains of the forest spirit.  It was a pile of splintered wood and twisted branches.  He gathered the fallen tendrils in his arms.

“What are you doing?” Murat asked.

“These are edible.”

Murat’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped.  “You’re not seriously suggesting that we eat the monster we just defeated?”

“Oh, not me, I don’t need to eat.  At least, not for survival.  You haven’t eaten for hours though, so you’re probably famished.”  He continued gathering tendrils.  “Also, it’s not a monster, it’s a forest spirit.  And it’s just these parts which are edible.  The trunk and the branches are too tough.”

Murat gave him a strange look.

“Best not to waste food anyhow,” the Silver Sorcerer continued.  “If we leave it here, it will just nourish the forest floor instead.  Besides, don’t you remember that the forest spirit was trying to eat you earlier?  Now you can have the last laugh.”

Murat was completely and utterly speechless.