The Invaded Orchard
Note: This is part of a series of short stories based in the world of Ivanturia. The primary purpose of the stories is to explore the world, so more focus has been given to that than plot.
Previous Story
Obre took one look at darkened, fuzzy roots of the Kivik tree and immediately yelled, “Master, come quickly.” Within a blink of an eye, Haku, the owner of the orchard, appeared next to the tree. In front of Obre’s eyes, a single fruit withered, its life transferred into Haku’s burst of speed. A stern look brought Obre back to the present, and she gestured towards the diseased roots. Haku studied the tree grimly, placing his practiced eye on the diseased roots.
“Go look for more,” he ordered curtly. “I’ll search the west side, you take the east.” Obre nodded. With that, her master vanished, leaving a trail of withered fruits as he dashed through the forest. She shook her head, wishing yet again she had been born into the Sehran guild. As long as they could find a Kivik tree they could do anything. All she could do was turn into a stupid bird.
Sighing, Obre transformed into a peregrine falcon. She launched into the air, flapping to gain speed even through the tight trees. She whipped around a tree, her keen eyes searching for any instance of diseased roots. There! One of the trees bore a small patch of diseased bark, and she swooped towards. Her talons sunk into a root as she landed, inspecting the plant. On close inspection, she could see the small sporangia of the fungus, sticking out from the bark. With a single talon, she scraped the bark, revealing a web of hyphae extending into the poor tree. Obre transformed back into her human form, and made a simple mark in a dirt, to guide her back to the stricken tree. Then she turned towards a nearby shed, and returned to a falcon mid leap, using the momentum and height to carry her to the nearby building. Inside she pulled free a long pole and a flag. Taking these, Obre jogged back to the tree she had marked. After attaching the flag to its pole, she slammed the pole into the ground allowing the flag to wave above the trees. Before turning to search for more victims, Obre glanced at the tree, and stopped, horrified. The patch of disease had grown. In all of her previous experience, fungus infections and disease could destroy a tree in a few days, but this would decimate the fragile Kivik in hours.
Obre abandoned her quest, soaring out over the trees, searching for Haku. She found the fairy shortly, dashing between trees in the forest, faster even than she could fly. I would not want to fight him here, Obre thought, with access to this many Kivik trees. She shuddered as she remembered him fighting Freelancer bandits a few months back. Without even moving, he had set their clothes of fire, created an apparition to spook their horses, and sealed the men’s weapons within their sheaths. He had consumed several trees, but saved the orchard.
Quickly, she dropped down and pulled out of her dive just as she returned to human form, stumbling a little as she hit the ground running. Haku glanced at her, his usual stern look plastered on his face. Beside him, a single leaf curled, drained of energy by Haku’s actions, whatever they may be.
“Master,” Obre breathed, “the disease, it’s spreading. Fast. I could see the difference in the size of a patch in minutes.”
“I know. This could destroy us.” Haku replied, almost whispering, wings fluttering mournfully. He glanced at her confused face. “ I see you do not know what we face.” Obre shook her head.
“You know Kivik trees are fragile and prone to disease. But this fungus preys only on them alone, no other plant. Even what defense a Kivik tree possess it bypasses with ease. It takes hours to destroy a tree, it will take the forest before the month’s out,” the fairy explained.
“What can we do?” Obre asked, almost pleading. Her mind wandered back to the contents of her small hut. A single room, a mat, maybe a few nuts on hand. If the orchard went, how would she eat? That must not happen.
Haku shook his head, slowly now, he had stopped drawing extra energy from the trees, “Burn the orchard and start over. If we had found it before it had spread beyond one tree we might have saved the orchard, but we have no hope now. We’ll pick what seeds we can, and I’ll use the profit to start again. I’m afraid I won’t be needing help after the burning.” Obre winced at the bluntness.
Obre slumped against the wall in her hut, “This can’t be happening.” Her mind wandered back to her long flight from Cerela in Sehran, south along the coast. Each day she had hunted and eaten, dodged storms, and occasionally avoided bandits. Now it came to this, she would again have no job, no home, no food.
She stood up, rage burning within her.
“There must be a way out,” she growled to the wall. “I won’t return to living as a slave in my father’s house.” Obre began pacing across the small room, thinking. Most of the time when they found a tree with a disease, they simply burned that tree and maybe one or two others where the disease had spread. Sometimes Haku could manipulate an infecting insect or disease to kill it off. But this new disease spread too quickly. The Sehran could not keep up with it, at least without destroying every Kivik tree along with the disease.
Obre stepped out of her hut, and launched herself into the air, gracefully transforming into her falcon form and soaring upwards. She swooped over the orchard, silently mourning the golden trees. Each one stood separate from the others — Kivik trees couldn’t stand crowding — with irrigation lines criss-crossing the orchard. South of the orchard, a large pile of manure waited for Haku’s crew to use it as fertilizer. She wheeled towards the west, straying towards the nearby town. Along the road Biher drove his cattle back towards the barn. If birds had lips, Obre’s would have pulled into a small grin as she watched the gangly man trying to control his new Vorcan steed. Apparently the monstrosity could anticipate the movements of the cows, and help control them with those extra limbs. But Biher mostly seemed to need help controlling it. Obre personally thought she would rather ride a one-legged horse, but — Vorcans!
Within a second Obre changed her trajectory and charged towards the town of Kauh. Obre remembered seeing a traveling Vorcan salesman there while she had peddled Haku’s Kivik fruits. One did not see many Vorcans this far south. Toyoi above, let him still be there.
Almost an hour later, she landed in the town square, quickly resuming human form. She dashed to the tavern, and moved to the bar tender.
“Is the Vorcan peddler still here?” she gasped, still out of breath from her speedy flight.
“Calm down young one,” the bartender, a tall light-haired fairy with purple eyes and wings. “He’s here, but enjoying his meal, I doubt he wants more business today.”
Obre shook her head, “This can’t wait. We have an infestation in the Kivik orchard.”
The bartender’s eyes widened. “Very well, he’s over there,” he said, gesturing towards a lone Karshi near the fire. Obre strode over to the Karshi, noting his richly furred head, and tall pointed ears. She sat down by the fireside catching his eye. He looked at her somewhat startled; one didn’t see humans down in Sehran very often, nor did young women randomly approach strange men at a tavern.
Blushing slightly, Obre began, “I need your help, sir. A disease, a fungus, attacks our Kivik forest. We’re going to burn it all. It’ll ruin my master. The whole village will go without Kivik.”
The salesman held up his hand, and Obre quieted, reddening more as she realized she had babbled.
“I assume you need me to create something to destroy the fungus,” he said, his low growling voice echoing in the chamber.
Obre nodded, “Quickly, the fungus spreads so fast.” She hastily appended, “sir.”
The Vorcan glanced to the windows, noting the darkened sky, then sighed, “I’ll start tonight. But it’s cost you some deng, I’m not giving up my sleep for free.”
Obre paled, “Right, payment. I will, uh, be sure to mention that to my master. I’ll be back with the fungus shortly.”
About an hour later, Obre glided back into town, carrying a small patch of bark with some fungus growing into it. She entered the tavern, and the bartender directed her to a back room. The Vorcan jumped slightly as she entered.
“How long have I been here?” he asked hastily.
“Just about an hour.”
“Oh? You moved rather quickly then, I was expecting more time.”
Obre smiled, “I’m a Cerelan falcon, sir, distance is not a high cost.”
“Really? Human’s aren’t usual in Sehran granted, but I assumed you were still part of the guild. Most of the transplants live in the city.” Obre winced at “transplant.” After leaving her guild everyone had used it to describe her, like she was some kind of freak.
“We don’t have time for this, sir.” The Vorcan nodded and silently returned to his work.
They began their trek back to Obre’s village shortly after dawn. Obre led the peddler to the orchard, and brought him to a diseased tree. It didn’t take long, trees all over the orchard displayed the blackened bark, many more than when Obre had left. Several were beyond return. Fortunately, the peddler wasted no time in getting to work. He pulled out his creation and set it on a patch of fungus-infested bark. On the outside, the Vorcan creature appeared much like the parasitic grubs Obre had worked so hard to keep out of the orchard. Maybe I should have asked Master Haku about this, Obre though nervously. Watching the grub immediately begin chewing into the delicate wood did not calm her nerves.
“It should clear out the fungus without eating anymore wood than it has to,” the peddler explained. “Once it runs out of food, it will undergo metamorphosis and spread eggs onto many different trees. I have about 10 to get them started, but they should outpace even this disease.” Obre didn’t fully understand her companion, but she liked the speed at which the fungus vanished. As she stared, the peddler moved to several meters down before planting another grub.
They met Haku at the guard hut. Obre couldn’t stand the sight of his morose face and drooping wings. Even the deep purple of his eyes seemed to contribute to the melancholy atmosphere.
“It’s done! We stopped the fungus!” Obre yelled as soon as he came into earshot. Haku simply stared at her, and then at the peddler.
“Allow me to introduce myself, I am Yodam, from Vorca,” the peddler announced more calmly. Haku returned a wordless nod of greeting.
“I have completed the task you ordered,” Yodam continued. “This should cost about 10 silver denge. I will return in three days to collect my fee if the creatures perform to satisfaction.” Obre gasped slightly at the cost. I really should have asked Master.
Haku gave Obre a quick glare before nodding in agreement, “Thank you. My assistant chose well.” And Obre knew that was the best she could expect.
