Chapter 281: Explosive Power
In the Briar, six days had passed since Ashlynn and Amahle bestowed the seed of witchcraft on Heila, and still, she showed no signs of waking up. Her body lay still within the stone circle on the barren island, though Ashlynn had covered her with a soft blanket and placed a pillow beneath her horned head.
-BOOM- -CRACK- The sounds of a fierce confrontation filled the air as magical energy flared, casting its flickering light across the island and adding a variety of hues to the diffuse light that filled the Briar.
At the opposite side of the narrow island, Ashlynn stood panting, her hands balled into fists and her arms raised before her in a defensive posture to guard her head and body. Facing her, Jacques stood in a similar pose, flexing his clawed hands as if he’d just struck something painfully solid. Around his hands, a flickering orange glow danced between his fingers, ready to explode again in an instant.
"You see, Auntie?" Jacques said with a toothy grin. "When you have de strength of de oak tree, you don’t need any fancy armor. Jus’ wrap dat solid trunk ’round yourself and de forest, she’ll be all de armor you need, non?"
"I still don’t like it," Ashlynn said. Deep gouges scarred the ground between her and Jacques and the sleeves of her dress had long since been torn so badly that she’d removed them entirely, revealing arms that were bruised and bleeding in places from her confrontation with the Sandbox Witch. Overlaying her body, a faint green energy shimmered like the bark of an illusory tree.
"If I have to draw on the strength of the forest to protect myself when a suit of armor would do the same thing for me, then I’m wasting the forest’s gifts," Ashlynn said as she changed her posture to one that was more relaxed and released the energy that sustained the ephemeral armor.
In a real fight, she would never close her eyes in battle, but when sparring with Jacques, she felt it was more important to do things correctly rather than forcing herself to fight as though it was ’real combat.’
Amahle had sent her a collection of invocations used by various witches of the forest and their covens for personal combat to accommodate her desire to train with Jacques while they waited for Heila’s transformation to finish. Now, Ashlynn reached for a simple one as she stretched her hands out before herself.
"From oak heart’s core to battle roar,