Ruin: Hierophant Candidates, Part Five

It was the trees that nearly defeated them, tearing at their skin and catching on their clothes, even digging into the cave bear's fur. Their limbs were tangled and their leaves were curled closed into hooks, impossibly sharp. The pine trees launched needles at them, and various animals lurched out of the brush to attack them. 

Spike led the way at first, shouldering limbs aside and ripping plants out of the ground, mauling their attackers with teeth and claws; but after a time, when the bear stood panting in the wake of the latest attack, Ruin touched it on the shoulder and said, "You've done well. Let me lead now."

The cave bear made a sort of gruff honking noise. 

"Call directions," Ruin said, and started cutting his way forward. 

For half an hour he pushed on, clearing devil-tainted brush and slicing through grasping roots and reaching limbs while Zoriel kept him on track. A corrupted deer charged him and died; a bat-winged jaguar did likewise. He was a smaller target than Spike, and the cuts on his cheeks and hands closed almost instantly. A swarm of something that had once been mosquitos but now were enlarged and horribly changed swept over them, but Zoriel called an ice storm and took them down. 

"We should go back," the druid said at last. "Return with reinforcements."

Ruin shook his head. "No time," he said. "It won't be long before they open a portal here and the effect begins to spread rapidly. It has to be us, and it has to be now."

"They?" asked Zoriel. 

Ruin stopped, and the druid straightened. Beside him, his cave bear whuffed loudly. "There's someone up ahead, and they're about to repeat what was done to Sol Povos. If we don't stop it now, everything around us will be overrun with devils -- and twisted into diabolic new forms."

There was a long pause. Zoriel regarded Ruin with no particular expression, and Ruin waited. Spike gave a soft, honking moan. "How far ahead?" Zoriel asked at last. 

"Another few minutes at most."

"Let me know before we crash into them," Zoriel said. "I'll do what I can to make us as strong as possible." He pointed, and Ruin turned and began to cut his way forward again.