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Chapter 6

The Jellybane

After failing miserably once more at trying to make a frame work for a wall, Alice concludes, "We need rope, and maybe some more o' that sap glue."

Twinkaleni examines the rope Alice had been using as a safety line. It's much too short for building a house but the little mage hits on something.

She strips a stick of its bark in one long yank and begins pulling the soft wood apart into thin, curling threads, "I've noticed the younger branches of this particular tree are quite fibrous. If we can extract lengths of these fibers, perhaps we can weave them into additional rope."

"That's great, Twinkaleni. I'll go cut some more," Alice smiles, rising with her sword.

Danahlia gets up too, "I can make some more glue."

The Murin mage nods, "Excellent. I'll see about weaving these fibers together, and maybe we'll be able to get a simple shelter built."

Feeling like progress is finally being made, Alice wanders out into the forest in search of the right trees. Managing to find one, she cuts a few of the longer branches where she can reach. Letting them drag behind her in one hand, she goes off in search for more. As she does, some instinct tells her to turn around. Spinning abruptly, she startles the little blue pixie that was following a few feet away. It zips well over head for a moment before tentatively flying back down.

"Oh, it's you again," Alice looks at it, a little surprised, "Aren't you gonna fly off?"

The pixie hovers silently, its light pulsing.

Alice is about to return to her work when the little pixie asks, "What are you doing?"

Alice turns back to it, the light still hovering well out of reach, "I'm collectin' some wood."

It hovers just a little lower, "Why?"

"So my friends and I can build some shelter," Alice replies, looking at the creature curiously.

"Mean to stay in the forest do you?"

"Yeah, maybe, is that a problem?" Alice asks, beginning to feel a strange fuzziness in her thoughts.

The pixie flies in circles, "Oh no, Alice Jellybane, is most welcome."

The fuzziness turns to dizziness, "Wha, what did you call me?"

"Alice?"

"No, the other... hey, can you turn off your light?"

The pixie hovers for a moment more before her light begins to dim, fading until it's gone.

Alice's thoughts begin to clear, "That's better, thanks. Now what did you call me before? Not Alice, the other part."

"Jellybane?"

"Yeah. What is that?"

The tiny figure seems perplexed, "You it is. For some time, vanquished the dreaded jellies you have. Once, many of your kind fought them but now only you."

"You've been watching me?"

"Not I alone. Seen by many you have been. Spread your name has, to every twig and leaf. Known to us you are," the pixie says, fluttering in a circle.

Alice didn't quite know what to make of this. Apparently these pixies have been spying on her for quite a while.

Alice considers and then asks, "Your name's Tally? The green one called you that yesterday."

The pixie bobs in the air, "Taliantaquee."

Alice tries, "Tally-ant-que?

The pixie flutters closer on wings similar to a dragonfly's, "Taliantaquee, but call me Tally you may."

"Ok, Tally. Why have you been watching me?" wonders Alice.

Tally bobs up and down happily, "To see the Jellybane slay such monsters as the jellies, the biters, and even the great clawed one was most exciting. Less so when the weaver had me, but flee before you it did!"

"Huh, those creatures give you trouble too?" Alice asks, taking a new hold on her bundle of sticks and searching for another good tree.

"Oh yes. We are not great warriors as you are. Fight we do but small we are and can do little against the jellies especially," says Tally, following along.

Alice smirks at being called a great warrior, "So how do you survive out here?"

"We make our homes high and flee much of the time," the little winged figure admits.

Finding another tree with the right fibrous wood, Alice begins cutting off branches, "Ticks, that sounds difficult."

"Always has it been in the forest. But now, the only slayer of jellies you are and grown their numbers have."

Gathering her haul, Alice says, "Well, you're in luck, because my friends and I might have to stay in the forest a while and we plan to collect plenty o' core stones."

Tally's light flashes back on and Alice turns to watch her flutter in spirals, "Great news this is, tell my sister I must!"

"Your sister, is that the green one?"

"Yes, Shaelyantaquee she is," with that the little pixie abruptly flies off.

"Oh, hey!" Alice calls, eager to know more, but Tally is already gone. Hoping to see her again soon, Alice returns to her work and quickly gathers an arm load of stick for Twinkaleni.

When she returns to camp, she finds Danahlia mixing more of her glue while Twinkaleni has managed to weave a short bit of rope, or string at least. The mouse mage holds it up proudly as Alice approaches.

"Wow, that looks great. You think we can make more from these branches?" asks Alice, laying down her bundle.

Twinkaleni leans to inspect the new materials, "They should do well, thank you."

"So I ran into the pixie again," Alice tells her companions as she sits to examine Twinkaleni's string, "Sounds like they need help against the jellies."

Danahlia looks up from her stirring, "Yeah?"

Alice nods, "They been watchin' us and seem pretty glad we're fightin' monsters out here."

Twinkaleni takes one of the cut branches and begins stripping it into fibers, "Well done. We may be able to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement with these pixies."

Alice begins to imitate her, "What do you mean?"

"I'm sure the pixies know this forest well. If we help them by vanquishing monsters, perhaps we can get their help in return."

Danahlia's brow rises, "Hey yeah. They can tell us where to find food and water, maybe even like, a cave or something."

Twinkaleni perks up, "Oh yes, a water proof cave would be a significant improvement over any shelter we might construct with our limited experience."

Alice nods, "Alright, let's ask the next time we see 'em."

In agreement, the girls get to work on their tasks. Twinkaleni and Alice try to make rope while Danahlia prepares more sap glue. As they do, they go over questions they would like to ask the pixies.

So deep are they in their discussion that it's a surprise when Tally shouts, "Lots!" to Danahlia, who wonders how many of them there are in the forest.

They all jump, even the pixies, for Shaelyantaquee has come as well.

Alice looks up at the two faye, their lights out, "Tally, you're back."

The pale skinned pixie bobs up and down in the air, "Return I have, and with my sister."

The girls look to the other. Now without their lights and up close, they can see them clearly for the first time. They are both slender of body and limb with wings vaguely similar to dragonfly's, though pointed near the ends and especially thick where they protrude from their backs. They have no fur but hair sprouting from their heads. Tally sports a rather lengthy sky blue ponytail while her sister, Shae, has a short spikey cut of grass green. They both have large eyes similar, though darker in color, to their hair and extremely pale, almost luminous, skin. They wear clothes made from leaves to conceal their modesty and Shae has what might be a needle like sword but little else.

"It is nice to finally meet you. I am Twinkaleni Orbear," Twinkaleni bows a bit even though she's still seated. She then gestures to Danahlia, "And this is-"

"Danahlia Smoothide," Danahlia interrupts as she smiles and lifts a hand to flitter her fingers at the pixies, "But you can call me Danny."

"Shaelyantaquee I am, but Shae you may call me. And if friends of the Jellybane you are, then you too are most welcome in this forest," the green pixie bows graciously in the air.

"Beg your pardon?"

"Jellybane?" Twinkaleni and Danahlia blurt together.

"That's what they call me, Jellybane," Alice announces proudly, pointing a thumb at herself.

Danahlia chortles and even Twinkaleni visibly holds back a grin, "Interesting. How long have you been watching us?"

"New you are, but the Jellybane we have watched for some winters," replies Tally.

"Heh, the 'Jellybane' says you could use some help with the monsters in the forest," says Danahlia.

Shae gives her sister an admonishing look, "Yes. Some we can fend off, but persistent the jellies are, and more numerous they have become."

"Place trust in the Jellybane we can, sister. She has come to cleanse the forest," insists Tally.

"Uh, I can take a few, but I don't know about-" Alice starts but Twinkaleni quickly interjects.

"We can certainly help, ifyou are willing to aid us in return."

The pixie sisters look to each other and then to Twinkaleni.

"What aid could we offer such great warriors and one so gifted in magic?" Shae asks curiously.

"Like you said, we're new to the forest," Danahlia admits, "and we don't really know our way around yet. So if you could tell us where we can find food, that would help."

"And shelter," Twinkaleni nods.

"And other sources o' water," Alice adds.

The pixies look to each of them in turn and Tally bobs, "Oh yes, know the forest well we do. Help we-"

Shae pulls her sister by the arm, "Help we can but ask we must that you cleanse the spring of this river first."

The girls look to each other and then Twinkaleni inquires, "Cleanse it of what, exactly?"

This prompts the green haired pixie to say rather seriously, "Jellies."

The girls look to each other again, nodding all around, and then Alice announces, "Yeah, we can do that."

"Jellies are our specialty," Danahlia boasts with a grin.

Tally cheers and Shae nods her approval.

"Will it take us long to get there?" Twinkaleni wonders as they rise to gather their things.

"Not far is the spring," Tally assures them.

"I guess we can pack light then," Alice says, glancing at all their gear.

Danahlia nods and Alice watches as she takes her spear but also another long stick, this one with a jagged piece of crab leg on one end.

"What's that?" she asks, pointing to it.

"Twinkie made it, thinks it might help us get cores," Danahlia replies handing it to the Tokala.

Alice inspects the part with the crab leg. The stick is glued to the inside with some of Danahlia's pine sap charcoal mixture, though the crab leg extends beyond the end of the stick.

"This should be an adequate field test," says Twinkaleni.

As they set out to walk along the stream's edge, following the pixies, Alice asks, "So how does it work?"

"Well, my theory is, that if we were to thrust this end," Twinkaleni gestures to the crab shelled one, "into a jelly and scoop up its core, given that the core is large enough, it should become lodged inside. Then we can push it straight through the creature. Once the core is free, the jelly should collapse as we have seen before."

The two pixies have taken interest and hover around to listen.

Alice looks to the device approvingly, "Wags."

"If it works, we may have a new weapon to use against the jellies," the Murin concludes.

They come across a brown jelly wobbling along the shore line of the stream.

Danahlia extends her clawed hand to Alice, "Hey, lemme see the thingy. See if it works."

The fox trades her for the spear and Danahlia approaches the jelly. As she pushes the jagged edge into the monster's outer layer, the core lazily floats toward the middle of the mass. Danahlia has to angle herself but slowly approaches the core and manages to scoop it into the open end.

"Alright, now just push it all the way through," Twinkaleni instructs and Danahlia shoves until the jagged edge pokes free from the other side. They all watch intently as the Liguna thrusts most of the stick into the jelly, which moves toward the end a little before it starts to collapse. Danahlia stays put as the jelly loses its structure, spreading into a smelly puddle. A bit of goo drops out of the stick's crab leg end with the core.

Twinkaleni raises her little arms and cheers, "It worked!" then reigns herself in, "Yes, well, excellent."

"Ha! That was easy," Danahlia barks, stepping around the puddle to collect the core. "This is great. We'll be able to beat loads o' jellies now!"

Tally cheers enthusiastically as Shae looks on in disbelief, "To have defeated a jelly with such ease. Truly powerful you are."

While Danahlia cleans off the rather effective new weapon in the stream, she asks, "So, is the spring really important?"

"Very important it is, to us and our friends," exclaims Tally, bobbing up and down.

Shaelyantaquee adds, "Amassed there the jellies have."

As the party continues, the concentration of jellies increases and the girls cross over the shallow stream many times to clear the shores. They all take turns with the new weapon and even Twinkaleni is able to dispatch jellies with relative ease using it.

"Something this good needs a name," claims Alice.

"I was thinking, the core extraction probe," says Twinkaleni.

"Cep, for short," Danahlia puts in with a grin.

"Cep," Alice repeats, "Yeah, that works. The cep was a really good invention, Twinkaleni."

The mouse mage beams and they continue onward.

"Wow," blurts Danahlia as they finally make it to the small, rocky bottomed spring.

The water is clear and beautiful but the moist shore around it is crowded over with large, mostly brown and green jellies. The once thick grasses and shrubs around the spring are all dead or dying. Alice had never seen so many in one place before.

"They, they must be gorging themselves on the plants surrounding the spring," Twinkaleni offers in awe.

"If we take all these cores, we'll have plenty to trade with!" Alice says giving Danahlia the cep to draw her sword.

"We'll be able to get loads of food," the lizard girl practically drools.

"Hold on you two," Twinkaleni says grabbing hold of both of the larger girls' arms, "We've never faced so many at once. I believe some tact is an order."

The Murin mage has the trio follow a strict strategy in which the girls only engage lone jellies that have strayed from the groups along the shore. Though this method is a bit more rigid than they're used to, they do manage to collect many cores while reducing the jelly population swiftly, efficiently, and safely. The pixies are delighted at the dropping numbers and cheer the group on merrily from a safe height. But as they defeat jelly after jelly, the cep's jagged edge becomes steadily less effective.

Twinkaleni frowns at the end of the weapon, "It must be the corrosive effect of their slime. It's dissolving the shell. I'm afraid we won't be able to rely on this much longer."

"That's alright, we still have this," says Alice, brandishing her sword.

Danahlia adds, "We can make more. We still have some usable pieces from the crab."

Twinkaleni shakes her arms to let her long loose robe sleeves fall back, "Right, let us clear off the rest."

The girls fall back on their old strategy of Alice trading off her sword with Danahlia as Twinkaleni shifts each jelly's core off to the side with her magic, making it easier for the sword wielder to lop off that section.

After a consecutive series of battles, the few remaining jellies have drifted off, leaving the girls exhausted. Alice drops the last core into the pile her shoulder bag had become buried under and collapses into the yellowing grass beside her friends.

She rolls to her back as Tally shouts, "Incredible you are! Defeated them all in a single day!"

The pixie lands on Alice's stomach, careful to avoid the goo stains all over her blouse, appearing to have tired herself with all her cheering. Danahlia and Twinkaleni are both laying back and breathing hard, but look over to the tiny figure.

"We_are_ pretty incredible," Danahlia agrees.

"Truly you are the Jellybane," Shae praises happily as she joins her sister.

Alice grins at them, their weight slight even for their size.

"Did you have doubts?" Twinkaleni asks, still catching her breath.

"Gone now are all doubts, Master Orbear," assures the green haired pixie.

Tally suddenly grabs her sister's arm, "Tell the others the spring is safe once more we must!" Shae agrees and the pixies thank the girls for their efforts before flying off.

"Well, at least they're happy," Danahlia huffs, "Anyone bring anything to eat?"

Thinking their quest would be a short and easy one, they hadn't. Hungry and tired, the girls wash off some of the jelly from themselves and make their way back to camp, arms full of core stones.

It's evening by the time the weary trio arrive at their base. They have only the strength to dump there cores into a loose pile and flop down around the left over crab. They shove what they can into their mouths and groan each time one has to invest what's left of their flagging stamina to crack open another segment.

After supper, the girls lay in the grass until the sun begins to fall below the tree line. As the light fades, the glow from all the core stones brightens, keeping the ground around them lit. Each seems to have the intensity of a single candle, but together their light is magnified to the brightness of a small fire.

The girl's admire the wondrous glow for a time until Twinkaleni suggests they scatter them about the camp so even in total darkness, they can still see. The cores are placed in piles of four around the camp, and some even in low branches. The mostly brown and green glowing orbs illuminate the camp well enough for them to find their way around even as night closes in. With this last bit of work done, they climb up their tree and quickly fall asleep.

The next morning the trio wakes up late and sore when Danahlia shouts, "Hey! We're bein' raided!"

Alice rolls to her side to peer at the pointing lizard girl. Movement catches her eye and she looks below to more than a dozen giant gray ants roving over their supplies. Several of them are dragging away what's left of the crab. They've already taken the legs and claws. A group now attempts to lift away the body of the cooked crustacean.

"Ughey, hey! That's ours!" Alice grumbles as Danahalia leaps down among them.

The Liguna takes up her spear and begins stabbing and swinging at the six legged thieves. Alice grabs her sword to join her. The ants make no effort to defend themselves, instead completely focusing on stealing the girl's food. Even with her muscles burning, Alice chops and slices through them as she makes her way to the body of the crab being carried off by a handful of the massive insects. Just as she clears a path, a much larger ant snaps its long and horribly jagged mandibles at her leg causing the Tokala to stumble back and onto her butt. The giant among the giants closes in on her with frightening speed while Alice reaches blindly to her side for her weapon.

The monster's fearsome mandibles open wide to take Alice's foot just as Twinkaleni shouts, "Vespis flowmino!"

The goliath ant is hammered to the ground by a wind so powerful it blinds the fox as it disperses over her. Even so, the ant quickly attempts to get its many legs back under itself. It's nearly standing when Danahlia's spear impales its head, ceasing its movement instantly.

"That, my dear Alice, was a soldier," Danahlia huffs, leaving her spear in the monstrous ant to help the downed Tokala to her feet.

"Thanks," Alice says earnestly, retrieving her sword.

Danahlia smiles and then places her foot on the slain soldier's head to pull free her spear. Twinkaleni hurls down another burst of wind at the group taking the crab's body, sending the smaller ants flying in all direction, some even plopping into the stream. Without the help of their accomplices, the two remaining ants circle their prize uncertainly until Danahlia and Alice take them out. Those that are left scatter as Twinkaleni climbs down and Danahlia carries back the crab with Alice.

"Well, that's one way to wake up," Danahlia groans, letting her side of the crab drop.

Alice lets go of her side as well putting on a half smile, "At least we won't have to hunt for breakfast."

She shakes visibly as the adrenaline in her blood works its way through, grateful her friends were there to help when she needed it.

"Alice, are you alright?" Twinkaleni asks, planting her furless pink feet on the ground.

"Yeah, I'm ok," she answers, squatting in front of the imposing soldier ant.

"I'm just fine too, thanks for askin'," Danahlia assures them as she gathers a few of the more intact ants into a pile.

Twinkaleni gives the Liguna a look before stepping up beside the fox girl.

Alice smiles to Twinkaleni, "You guys really saved my tail."

"Of course we did," Twinkaleni grins back.

Danahlia's head pops up between them, her arms wrapping around both girls to pull them into a hug, "Yup, this is a good team to be on. Now, how's about we get a fire goin' and have us some ant."

"An excellent idea. I think the crab was beginning to turn in any case," Twinkaleni says, her large ears folding forward as she squeezes out of Danahlia's hold.

The girls gather up some fire wood and quickly get breakfast underway. While their ant is cooking, Alice pries off one of the soldier ant's forearm length mandibles. Using its jagged edge like a saw, she quite easily halves the crab's body. Popping it open causes a plume of fishy stink to flood out, forcing the young fox to turn away. She then slides it to the edge of the stream with her feet.

Alice briefly considers keeping the lower half to use as bait so they can possibly attract something else, but the powerful stench has her thinking better of it and she kicks it into the stream, letting it be carried away. She then cleans the top half out and fills it with water. She finds it does make a rather nice bowl, deep and sturdy. Emptying it and placing it on her head, she thinks, with a little cushion, it might make a nice helmet too.

"What are you doing?" asks Tally from behind.

Alice jumps a little but then poses for the pixie, "Tryin' on a hat. What do you think?"

"Most unusual," the pixie replies, with a tilt to her head.

Alice takes off the crab shell and sees Shae has also come, the green faye hovering around Twinkaleni as the Murin gathers the core stones that were scattered in the morning's battle.

Alice heads back to her friends, Tally following, and asks, "So were your friends happy to have the spring back?"

"Oh yes, brought you their thanks we have."

When Alice returns to camp, she notices several different types of birds fluttering about.

"Hey Alice, check it out," Danahlia calls excitedly, waving and pointing to a spot where the birds are landing briefly before taking off.

Each one of the birds has a tiny woven basket clutched in its beak and sets it down. Once the birds finish their work, they perch in the branches of the trees as if waiting for something. Danahlia crouches to pick up one of the baskets, small enough to fit in her palm, and dumps it to reveal a number of colorful grape-like berries. Alice joins her and empties another of the baskets, coming up with a small fruit similar in shape to a plum but aqua blue in color.

"Adonseea fruit and Jelessa berries," Tally supplies.

"Can we eat these?" Alice asks, watching Danahlia sniff the berries.

"Do, do," Tally encourages, "Picked this morning for the Jellybane and her friends they were."

"Wags," says Danahlia, putting down her basket to pop a berry into her mouth.

The moment her hand leaves the basket, one of the birds lands beside it, takes it in its beak by the tiny handle, and flies away.

As the girls watch it go, Danahlia comments, "Nice birds. Did you train them yourself?"

"Train we do not. The Chakor wish to show their thanks, ask us to lend our baskets they did."

"You can talk to birds?" Alice wonders.

"We mostly listen," the pixie replies.

Alice purses her lips curiously and then takes a bite from the blue adonseea fruit. As her sharp canine teeth pierce the delicate skin, a wonderful burst of sweet juice sprays her tongue. It's light and tangy, going wonderfully with the soft texture of the sun warmed flesh.

As she munches, Alice exclaims, "Wow, this is good."

Danahlia dumps her handful of berries into her mouth and chews them with gusto, "Mmm, where did you get these? I haven't seen any fruit trees around."

"From the Jelessa tree are those. Few there are now and carefully guarded are the ones that remain. Feed many they do," Tally explains.

"Why are there so few? Can't you plant more?" Alice asks, taking another bite of the succulent fruit.

"Once they were many, but the fallen fruit attracts the jellies. Too many to protect then. Now we gather all the fruit that falls and spread their seed in the hope that more will grow," Tally tells them somberly.

Twinkaleni approaches the small bundle of baskets with Shae, "So they take your water and food, another reason to rid the forest of these jelly monsters."

"Try these, Twinkie. They're great!" Danahlia encourages, handing her another basket of berries.

She does, and from her expression they must be delicious.

Danahlia grins and then asks the pixies, "Hey, do you guys know if there're any caves or something dry and large enough for us to sleep in?"

The pixies look to each other and Shae answers, "Many caves, but few are so large."

Alice continues listening while eating her fruit, delighted that rather than one large seed, it has many tiny ones that don't even need to be avoided.

"One close to a water source would be preferable if at all possible," Twinkaleni adds between berries.

As the pixies think on this, the scent of something burning reaches Alice's nose.

"Oh ticks, the ant!" Danahlia cries, rushing off to pull the blackening insect off the campfire.

"Well, we have plenty more, and thanks to our new friends, we even have fruit," Twinkaleni says happily, taking up an adonseea.

"Mm-hm," Alice agrees, trying the berries. She finds them to be sweet and juicy with a unique refreshing flavor that cools the mouth in the way that mint does.

Danahlia tosses the burnt ant aside and sets another to cook while the pixies hover high in whispered discussion. Twinkaleni notices the patiently waiting birds and dumps all the fruit into the crab shell bowl, letting the feathered animals take up their baskets to fly off in the same direction as the first. Alice watches them leave, curious as to where they're all going. Before she can ask, the pixies descend.

"A cave we know, suit you it might," Tally informs them.

"Though deep in the forest it is, a distance from here," adds Shae.

"A deeper location would help keep us hidden from anyone interested in looking for us, though it may also make it difficult to trade with the towns and villages around the edge of the forest," Twinkaleni considers aloud.

Alice looks to the pixies, "Is it safe there?"

They glance at each other and then Shae answers, "For the Jellybane, safe it may be."

Alice's eyebrow rises, "What does that mean?"

"The deep forest has long since been claimed by jellies, where they come from it is," Shae says as if it were common knowledge.

"More cores for us," Danahlia puts in, spinning the roasting ant over the fire.

"We'd be helping the pixies a lot if we cleared some out," Alice adds.

Tally blurts, "Help all you could! Benefit many it would."

"What would we do about clothes and things we can't get in the forest?" asks Twinkaleni, looking at her tattered, stained robe.

"We can always go feral," Danahlia chortles.

The girls discuss the matter over a nice breakfast of fresh fruit and barbecued ant. They offer some ant to the pixies, though they are hesitant to try it. Twinkaleni gives off a sort of check list of things they would need, while Danahlia, Alice, and the two pixies try to find solutions. They go over clothes and Danahlia feels confident that they can make leather clothes like hers from hides, Tally adding that the girls could also fashion things from leaves. Food is fairly plentiful in the forest if you know where and how to get it. The pixies offer their aid in this. When asked about water around the cave, the pixies hesitate. It turns out the two had only heard of it and have never actually seen it, though they claim to know right where it is, or is supposed to be.

Twinkaleni sighs, "I suppose we won't know if it will be large enough or protect us against the rain either until we see it for ourselves."

"A big cave it is said to be," Tally offers encouragingly.

"No offense to you or your people, Tally, but what seems big to you may be a bit small for all of us."

Danahlia claps her hands, "Whelp, looks like we're in for a hike."

"Even if it's not what we need, there are others, right?" Alice asks the pixies.

"Y-yes," Tally says, getting a look from her sister.

Alice furrows her brow at Danahlia, who shrugs.