Dr Wetherall fell out of the tree and clattered to the floor at Carthage’ feet. She drew her knife and slashed at a few oncoming branches. Wary now, they stayed just out of reach, the blue orbs studying her and Rareth. Then, the entire tree lunged forward, swatting Rareth away and scooping up the slender Human soldier in its clutches. 

It rose back up to full height, creaked backwards, and shot Carthage out like a rock from a slingshot toward the lake. Just as she flew into the air, the charges she’d primed detonated inside the mess of tree branches, creating a massive fireball that cauterised the site. The entire valley seemed to reverberate with angry screams.

Carthage gracefully sailed through the air, preparing to plunge feet first into the shallows of the lake. That is until a long, fleshy tentacle with the same pale colour as the trees burst from the depths and grabbed her. “Uh oh.” She had time to say, before the tentacle vanished back into the water with her secured to the end of it.

“Carthage, come in!” Thebes called, savagely slicing through razor-sharp vines in the middle of the ruckus. “Athena, secure Dr Wetherall! Knossos, help Dr Ngata! Rest of you, Focus fire on the trees! I’m going after her.” He burst through the swirling mass of branches, some of them on fire, onto the ‘beach’ of the lake. As if to greet him, three more large tentacles emerged from the choppy water and rushed toward him. “Oh shit.” He growled, diving to one side.