Dryad's Song

The branches were all around him now. For every one he lopped off, countless more continued their attack. His blade momentarily stuck in one of the thicker limbs and this proved to be his undoing. The tree ensnared him in an unbreakable grasp. He felt himself being lifted bodily into the air and dangled above the earth like a hare caught in a noose. It drew him ever nearer a shadowy maw that yawned in the center of the massive, pulpy trunk.

Feverishly he worked to free his embedded blade from the thick branch, but the blade was stuck fast, and it seemed he would never pry it loose in time. Slowly but inevitably, the unyielding branches drew him down towards the center of that gaping maw. Cursing, he desperately threw every last ounce of his iron strength pulling at the hilt of the sword. At last it came loose, spilling a great deal of foul-smelling, black ichor forth from the wound as he drew the sharp steel free. He held his blade poised before him like a cruel thorn.

With all its own tremendous strength, the beast drew Mantegor's broadsword into itself. There was a terrible sound like a multitude of human screams. Instantly Mantegor felt himself released. His body struck the ground with gut-wrenching force. For a time, he knew no more.

IV.

He awoke to utmost horror. All about him were the groans and cries of men in the throes of abysmal agony. Certainly he was in the underworld, listening to the screams of the forever damned.

Rising to his feet, he saw the source of the terrible sounds. He grew sick with revulsion. There at the base of the colossal tree was a graveyard of the living dead. Seven men, their bodies twisted and torn in unspeakable ways, lay embedded in the crimson loam that surrounded its roots.

"Help me!" moaned one of the men. "Please help me!"

Mantegor shuddered when he saw the extent of the man's gruesome wounds. "I can offer you no help but a swift death, man," he said coldly.

"Even that would be welcome now," he said. "The tree feeds on our life forces. It draws strength from us in every moment, drawing our life into its monstrous limbs. Soon it will grow strong enough to attack you again, and by then, I'll be dead."

"Are you one of the party of soldiers that guarded the girl, Mira?" Mantegor asked.

"Aye, and cursed be the day I ever took that commission, for it was my doom. We were forced back by a blinding blizzard at the top of the pass of Nephilheim. We'd been warned of monstrous creatures which inhabit the forest paths, but we had no choice. And we knew not what form they would take! Unaware, we lay down amongst them, beneath these deadly boughs!" The man gibbered and drooled, and Mantegor knew he was no longer quite sane.

"Some of us were dead before we woke," he continued. "Those were the lucky ones. The rest of us were laid wounded at the base of the tree, still screaming. Yet the thing left the girl untouched, enfolding her within its branches. She cried out once, I think. Then it was as if she were possessed by this demon tree, for as you've seen, she's done nothing which is not of service to it. She no longer controls her own actions. She's become a dryad now."

"What is a dryad?"

"An evil tree nymph, a woman who lures men into the grasp of the devil trees, just as she tried to do to you."

"This is black sorcery beyond anything I've ever imagined," said Mantegor.

"Aye, sorcery of an elder age, the darkest sorcery of an ancient being that drinks men's vital essence, leaving them desiccated corpses rotting in its soil. It's the wizards of Lemuria that have set this curse on us! The trees are vampires, who lend their stolen essence and powers to the sorcerers, damn their black souls. It is they who first planted the demon trees and they who drink the tree's unholy nectar! "

The man groaned. "It's taking my soul! Now, barbarian! Give me the death you promised me! Release me now from this vale of pain!"

Mantegor did as the man asked. One quick stab to the heart and the deed was done. He did the same to all the others who still persisted in their pitiful semblance of life.

The demon tree's limbs writhed in helpless fury. Deprived of its human sustenance, the fiend's movements grew sluggish and weak. It was no challenge now to avoid it's clutching branches. Quickly, he retreated beyond the thing's grasp.

He was undecided as to what to do next. Mira had disappeared beneath the enfolding branches and was undoubtedly still under the influence of the demon tree. He wondered how many more like it there were in this forest. His sword had only wounded this one. How could he manage to slay them all?

He had a sudden inspiration. He reached down to touch the bed of fallen leaves that covered the forest floor. They were dry and brittle. He smiled, taking from his belt pouch a large piece if flint and an iron file.

The fire spread swiftly once it started. Soon it became a roaring inferno, a conflagration that consumed grass and forest alike. There came an awful, sickly moaning out of the night and then a thick unbearable stench. Mantegor laughed with mad abandon. The demon trees were dying! The Lemurians would have to look elsewhere for their gruesome sustenance now!

Mantegor raced through the flames.

"Mira!" he cried. "Where are you?"

"Here!" cried out a frightened feminine voice from out of the crimson tainted shadows. She flew out of the darkness, her long, lithe legs carrying her with all the speed she could muster. Behind her, the flaming branches of the demon tree stretched forth to ensnare her once more.

Mantegor leapt between them, severing the branches with one long stroke of his sword. Lengths of burning branches fell in a shower around him. Another branch quickly snapped out and clutched Mira around her slender waist, yanking her into mid air. She was dangled like a puppet before Mantegor's horrified eyes. At the same moment, another thicker branch came hurtling unseen and smashed into his side. He felt the wind go out of his lungs and his ribs nearly giving way beneath the impact. The branch snapped beneath him and left him groaning on the ash covered ground.

Shaking his head from the pain, he forced himself to rise again. The dryad had begun to sing again, to weave its song of enchantment. His sex rose again between his legs. He gazed into her eyes and saw the tautness of her pink nipples as she raised her rounded breasts up to his delighted gaze.......

He felt his desire rising. Only the sword in his hand kept him from death, for he knew once he released the hilt, the monster would devour him.

He raised the blade, and ignoring the dryad's song, he strode forward to strike.

"Come, demon!" he cried. "It's time for one of us to die!"

V.

Again and again Mantegor's sword struck. Limbs were lopped off in a frenzy as if they were struck off by the woodsman's axe. Deep into the beast's murderous maw Mantegor drove his blade, and he felt the steel bite into something far softer there deep within the thing's monstrous gut, and now his blade was stained with black gore, and the thing was dying.

Grabbing Mira about the waist, he lifted her and raced through the flaming chaos. His clothes were scorched. The flesh on his back began to blister from the terrible heat. But he forged onward, ignoring the pain.

A blackened tree crashed to the earth directly before them. Mantegor flung Mira over his shoulder and leapt over the burning mass. He kept running. At last they were outside the circle of burning trees, but Mantegor refused to stop running until they had left the boundaries of the forest. He was taking no chances that there might be more of the demon trees.

A few hours later they both were safe once more. Jakkar was overjoyed to see his daughter once more. He sent for a healer to bind Mantegor's wounds, and set before him a huge meal, which Mantegor, famished by his exertions, devoured in only minutes, washing it down with endless mugs of foaming ale. Several hours later, after Mantegor had rested, Mira came to his room alone. She carried a heavy leather satchel.

"Here is the reward my father promised you," she said. "You may count it if you like."

"No need," replied Mantegor. "I know he wouldn't try to cheat me, though I think if I'd known what I'd been facing, I wouldn't have been so eager to do the deed for so small a fee."

"You have my gratitude, if that is any consolation for your wounds and burns," Mira said softly. Her eyes were hidden, shaded with her lashes.

"Gold or no," he said. "I'm glad that I saved you from such a fate."

Smiling, she drew him into the circle of her arms.

"There might be other rewards," she whispered.

Mantegor blew out the room's single candle. In the darkness, he undid the ties of her dress, letting it slide to the floor. Her breath came in hot sighs as she pressed her soft body against his.

Mantegor leaned down and kissed the dryad's perfect lips.

THE END