Dodo Eggs

The woodsmith worked tirelessly for the week and a half.  He added a different hat and slightly different features to every soulbind statue.  And just as Rudolph had done they seemed to spring to life as he neared completion.  When they were finished, most simply jumped off the table and disappeared without even a word.  Others took a moment to thank him in some ancient tongue.

With his increased power, Slobadon forced Rudavich from the garden.  Without produce from the garden Rudavich grew weak and his advanced years began to catch his body. 

But the banished gardener was not done.  He still had Rudolph and his pouch of magic seeds.

Rudavich kept a cutting called leech vine.  It was a purple leafed plant that fed ferociously off of magic and covered ground faster than advancing fire.  It would consume the garden in minutes destroying every magic plant.  The vine would also consume Slobadon’s soulbind servants and would likely take Slobadon as well.  After ingesting the garden’s produce for so many years, both brothers were traced with magic.

Rudavich had a plan for saving the garden.  In addition to his own seed pouch, Slobadon’s seeds would be enough to replant the garden after the leech vine died. 

“Rudolph,” He took the woodman near the garden.  “Slobadon will take a bath today and he always removes his pouch.  Go into the garden, steal the pouch, and then run to the tall razor grass on my side of the garden.  Half buried in the grass you will find an iron lockbox.  Crawl inside with the pouch and wait.  The iron will protect you from the advancing leech vine.”

Rudolph agreed.  He walked through the garden past a small army of beings similar to him.  They recognized him as one of them and didn’t raise any protest. 

Rudolph pitied them.  Within two hours, the earth would reclaim their precious second lives.

Taking Slobadon’s satchel was simple.  The gardener relaxed in the sun resting beside a spring feed stone basin.  He ran cups of cool clear water over his limbs then wiped off the water with a glossy yellow leaf.  Slobadon closed his eyes and cradling his head between stones.  

Rudolph snatched the seeds then made his way to the razor grass on the other side of the garden.  He knew Rudavich wouldn’t wait beyond what was deemed necessary for the task.  If the box wasn’t reached in time, all his efforts would become for naught.

The iron safe box was right were Randolph was told to find it.  It was covered in dirt and rust but the sides were still thick.  He crawled inside just as a cry came out.  Slobadon had discovered his seeds were missing.

Rudavich sat on with his back against a common oak.  He was near the edge of his garden looking at it one last time.  He could see the soulbind puppets moving small mounds of dirt and watering the creation era plants he had raised.  Between his thumb and forefinger, he spun the dried leech vine.  Finally, he heard this bother’s cry of distress.

He stood and walked to the garden’s very edge.  One end of the vine was placed in the ground with the leaf pointing into the garden.  Rudavich watered it and stepped away.

The purple vine did nothing for a minute.  It had been dormant for over a thousand years.  Then color and fullness rushed through the stem and leaf.  The growth end of the vine lengthened sinking into the edge of the garden.  Then two sprigs sprang up, then four, ten, and anther seventeen.  Everywhere the vine took root the ground and plants went gray and died.

The deadly purple creeper began taking the garden much faster than even Rudavich had expected.  Magic was taken and pulled into the decaying earth.  Rudavich saw the first soulbind servant become tangled in the leech vine.  A low whistle of fear came from its wooden throat and then it was dust.

Rudavich couldn’t watch the last reservoir of creation’s magic being so savagely taken so he turned away.  He heard his brother cry out again but he did not turn to look. 

“A new garden will rise up in its place.” He told himself.  “Another place of magic that I do not need to share with my foolish brother.”

When the leech vine reached the garden’s edge it died.  Normal grasses and ferns could not sustain it.  With the magic gone, it withered and went dormant.

Before entering, Rudavich burnt the land.  He would not risk reactivating the vine and suffering the same fate as his brother.  The iron box Randolph was hiding in would heat but not harm his servant.

Later, the iron box was located and freed from the charred ground.  Rudavich opened the box.  Inside was the dried wooden shell of Randolph.  His wooden form stiff and lifeless with one arm holding open the satchel.

It was the last thing Rudavich saw before realizing that he had fallen into a trap.  The satchel taken from Slobadon was filled with skull nettle powder the most absolute of poisons.  Slobadon’s seeds must have been kept safe somewhere else and this bag was a decoy.

Rudavich dropped the iron box.  The breeze had stirred the dust and he knew it was already too late.  He could taste the skull nettle on his tongue and sense it in his nose.

“Slobadon!” He screamed.  “Slobadon!  Help me!”

Rudavich’s eyes went red and he fell to the ground.

************

Erwin never learned what happened deep inside Hildagriff’s woods.  He watched but never again saw the soulbind men he carved.  Rudolph, Slobadon, or Rudavich were not heard from again.  Not long afterward, the wolves dispersed and the poison plants that cursed the land died back. 

Erwin used the money Slobadon had given him to buy all of Randolph’s land.  He built a small estate home on the site of the hermit’s cottage.

He knew death would eventually come for him as well.  But unlike most he was prepared.  Erwin wore a gold pendant that was set with a greenish-black seed the size of a walnut.  He had saved one of the soulbind seeds and one day he would tower over his land. 

• SoulBind (Part 2)
• SoulBind (Part 1)
• Cloud Weavers (Part 3)
• Moonroot (Part 1)
• Cloud Weavers (Part 2)