Chapter 3
“The Oracle Within”
The three Tellurians were surrounded by hundreds of Concubines. Those women in green were peering through the telescopic sights of their sharpshooter carbines. The many more in red stood ready to charge in waves. Thulu was here, and she was more dangerous than any throng of mortal humans. Hairy was ready to fight– but could not win. Shrubby was helpless, whether she found her courage or not. If the Tellurians were to survive, it would be by the Oracle’s doing. “You have the power,” the demon assured. “Use it... or watch the others die.”
“How?”
Thulu smiled, feeling the Oracle’s fear and uncertainty. “For all its numbers, humanity is weak and helpless. For all their weapons and technology, they are mortal. Harden your power that it may become a sword with which to slay them.”
“Kill?”
“Yes. The dead cannot harm you. Slay these women... that your friends may live.”
The Oracle reminded, “They are your women.” The demon shrugged. “They are too many!”
Thulu smirked. She mentioned, “You are not alone. Hairy is with you. He shall fight by your side.”
“Fight?”
“Kill.”
The Oracle looked at the many Concubines, knowing that human eyes were behind those black goggles. Warm, human blood flowed through those mortal veins. She was the Oracle, the Gentle Sibyl of Telluria. She loved humanity! Adam was her king. How could she ever silence a human heart? She looked at Hairy and Shrubby, fearing for them. These humans; these Concubines were the soldiers of the Great Shadow, Devourer of Worlds. These women lived to serve a malevolent darkness. They would die for him! Would it be wrong to kill them? “Do what you must,” the demon urged. “Save your friends.”
Since even her days as a sapling, the Oracle was the Oracle. Her thoughts and powers were greater than those of others and she could see and hear what they could not. She delighted in sharing her wisdom, but learned to be mindful and aloof. Human minds could not hear even what little they heard, nor see what little they witnessed. Light blinded them as assuredly as if it were darkness. Was she now blind? Who were these women that she should not kill them? What was humanity but an alien race? Why should Hairy and Shrubby die that invaders may live?
The Oracle was the Oracle and she could see what others could not. She saw her branches snatching up Concubines, crushing them, hurling them or smashing them together! She could hear the demon laughing... but she herself was the one laughing! Her roots whipped around Hairy and Shrubby, pulling them close and crushing them under foot! “No!” the Oracle cried. “Never!” She had long since focused all that she was to be a blessing unto others. She had not chosen to be gentle, per se. It was the nature of her powers as they had become: They had become her. It simply was not within her to inflict harm. Should she cease to be within her very self... the demon would fill the void! “All that I am would become yours,” she realized Thulu’s insidious design. “You would become the entirety of my will!” It horrified the Oracle to know that a mind could imagine such evil.
“Kill them!” the demon shrieked. “Kill them all!” The Concubines rained volleys of glowing bolts at the Tellurians! Hairy answered with blazing streams of rapid-fire!
“I am sorry,” the Oracle embraced Shrubby. “This is all I can do for you.” The Oracle grew and hardened around the little zoophyte, becoming the old and hearty tree. Plasma bolts pelted the thick trunk, making it bleed bright green sap. The tree actually swayed and shivered, as if writhing in pain!
Thulu blew into Hairy, as if a mighty gust, knocking him down! She sneered at him as he sprung back up– then blew him down again! The demon laughed. Hairy roared, his fierce cry actually bursting her into a harmless mist! How?! How did the mindless brute do such a thing?!
Hairy raised his fully-automatic stormgun– and blazed away! Blood sprayed and throngs of Concubines withered. The hundreds more rained bolts at the sasquatch... but could never hit him! How?! How were they missing him?! Women were dropping in bunches, their bodies littering the forest. Their sisters now ignored the Tree of the Oracle and attacked only the sasquatch! Hairy kept gunning them down... until his stormgun stopped shooting! He dropped the bulky weapon and snatched up minicarbines. These littler guns were meager pistols in his large hands. He zipped bolts into Concubines. The many others kept shooting at him... but could never hit! “Kill him!” Thulu demanded. “Slay the mindless brute!” The demon knew that her women were exhausting the sasquatch’s protective aura. If they kept trying, they would soon kill him. Thulu laughed, relishing Hairy’s inevitable doom.
The Oracle was wounded and in pain. She wanted to fight; wanted to save Hairy and Shrubby– and herself, but could not. She was who she was and could be no other, whether expedient or not. “Rise up!” the demon mocked, “or watch your protector fall.” Hairy kept fighting and women kept dropping... but the throngs kept closing in!
Lady Thulu appeared behind her human underlings. Her face became a head and her shapeless form became arms and legs. She glared at the insolent sasquatch: How dare he smite her with his mindless voice?! May the cold fire of her seething hatred consume him! The demon hissed and gestured. Purple flames engulfed the sasquatch! Hairy roared, his cry hurling the cold fire back at its caster! Thulu shrieked as she burned out of material existence.
The Oracle was the Oracle and could see what others could not: The demon was gone! The Concubines were oblivious to all but their battle with Hairy. She did not tell the sasquatch this. She simply showed him. He was intuitive, but was locked in a desperate fight, so would he notice? Would he understand? Yes!
Hairy fled. The throngs of Concubines pursued! The sasquatch kept ahead of them but never left their sight. They zipped potshots at him as they went. He would often turn and harry them with his minicarbine “pistols.” Concubines winced and dropped, the many more keeping after him!
The Oracle gorged from the ground, using all her strength to heal from her nasty wounds. Her tree shrank and softened... until again the naked “woman” with leaves for hair. “Come,” she led Shrubby away from the chase. The little zoophyte ran sluggishly, but as fast as her articulate roots could carry her. The Oracle, in her tall, humanoid form, was much swifter, but would not leave Shrubby behind. The two plant fairies ran and ran... until the Oracle stopped. “Here,” she pointed at the ground. “Open a portal between this very spot and a little ways that way,” she pointed. “I would do so myself, but I have spent my powers healing those agonizing wounds.”
“You were wounded?!”
“I am healed. Shrubby, do what I ask of you.”
“What if the Concubines seize my portal?!”
“We are a ways from their edifice. Besides: Your portal shall be such a little thing that perhaps they shall not see it.”
“What about Hairy?”
“You may ask him when you see him again. Prepare your portal.”
Hairy had stopped turning to shoot and now only fled. Bolts eventually stopped zipping past him, as he swiftly gained distance from his pursuers. The buzzing of an entomopter followed him from above. He zigzagged, but the aircraft never lost him. Could it see through leaves and branches? Hairy did not understand that it was detecting his movement. The faster he ran, the easier it could “see” him. Suddenly there were flashes in the forest, all around him: Hairy knew these were Concubine portals. The women were surrounding him! Wherever he turned, a group of them was there to shoot at him! Battle, curses and running had wearied the sasquatch. He needed to escape! The Concubines surrounded him, but they did not converge. Hairy knew the thing humming above was about to strike. He would not wait to be blasted by rockets. Hairy made a mad dash to escape! The Concubines on the ground shot at him, but he zigzagged among the trees, using the forest as his cover. Women cringed as he darted between and past them! Hairy ran and ran!
Soon, glowing, caseless rockets rained about him, blasting and burning the ground and forest!
Shrubby’s roots and branches drew patterns in the ground. Even her steps were part of the design. It was not easy to get these things right. Feeling Shrubby’s uncertainty, the Oracle told her, “You are among the simplest of our race? Few, even among our wisest, can do what you are doing. Your patterns are true. You know the way between places and how near and far need only touch to be together.”
If Shrubby were humanoid, she would have blushed. She conceded, “I learned from Mother Willow. I watched her and could see what she was doing.”
“You learned well.” Shrubby was weak and simple but where she was wise and strong, she was very wise and very strong. The Oracle thought, but did not tell her, “You are small, but your roots run deep.”
Hairy roused back into consciousness. He found himself sprawled on his belly among blasted earth and broken forest. He could hear the humming of the entomopter! Hairy scurried in among bushes... and waited. Concubines were roaming about, obviously searching for him– or his carcass. The buzzing from above moved away and about. Neither the women nor the entomopter knew where he was! Hairy crawled away.
Shrubby stepped through her own portal... and