Ben had been grooming his horse and getting ready for a long ride the next day when a tired and bedraggled lamb had come running into the stable, bleating to get his attention. Ben looked down at the little pink lamb with a note tied to its collar.
"Dammit, what's wrong Lassie? Did Timmie fall down the well?"
Ben swore the lamb rolled its eyes at him. He took the note and read it, then spent a bit of time laughing while he got some food and water for the lamb. He tied a feedbag to the saddle horn for the lamb to ride in on the way back, and then went to grab Suzette to straighten things out.
It was an hour’s ride by fast horse out to the orchards where the Dryads had their grove. Suzette asked Ben to slow down as they approached the edge of the trees, "Let me walk from here Ben." She hopped down and moved through the apple trees, touching some as she went. Many were nearly dead, old and withered by rot and lightning. And every single one was stripped of fruit. Where muddy ground had dried, she found squirrel tracks.
As they moved further into the orchard, she saw that some trees were still alive and in much better shape. With enough searching, she could tell which were inhabited by dryads and which were normal trees. The homes of dryads were healthy - the trees held some magic which radiated out and helped the nearby trees. But none had living fruit hanging from the branches, and again, squirrel tracks were everywhere. It seemed that the Ironwood Glade hadn't been the only place to suffer from the oaks and squirrels.
The central area of the orchard was only a few acres in size, and packed with living trees and dryads. A ring of very old apple trees towered above the others in the center. That's where they found Cham and the others. Cham was tied by wrist and ankle to one of the older trees. Jon, Libby, Charlene, and Dot were surrounded by a group of very green young women barely dressed in bits of clothing made of apple blossoms and leaves. They each held a long spear. An argument was going on between three much older dryads and the younger ones. Everyone stopped talking as Suzette walked up.
Ben stayed back, "Sorry, Suzy, but Mudhead seems to think it's unhealthy for us to come further. We'll just stay back here where we can watch and go for cavalry if needed."
One of the older dryads came forward. She looked like an old woman with gnarled bark for skin, wearing a dress of dried leaves and carrying a wooden staff. Suzette could see a lot of magic in the staff and it was linked to the grove. Probably not someone to tangle with, "Another trespasser? How many more human servants of the Ironwoods do we have to deal with? The trees can't come talk for themselves?"
Suzette noticed she was making sure her voice carried back to the trees. She pitched her own voice to carry as well, "It's a long walk. You'd be waiting years for one of their treants to make it this far. I'm from the human village, as are those five people you've captured. I came to peacefully ask for my people back."
The old dryad spit at the ground and scowled at Suzette, "So, not enough of your father's blood to keep you honest? Look at those two! I know Princes of the Ironwoods when I see them. And I don't appreciate them sneaking up on my tender little saplings and trying to sample their fruit. Bad enough we have the oaks and squirrels stealing our apples and demanding 'tribute'. I won't let what little we have left be taken by someone else."Suzette looked over at the others, "Can we just talk this over? Maybe hear both sides and then work something out?"
"Fine. Come say your side of it. We can take a couple of days to figure things out. But not the fancy boy on the horse. Too much fire dancing around him. I don't trust fire."
Since Cham wasn't moving, they headed in his direction. Suzette cleared her voice, "Just tell the truth, Cham, so we can work something out."
Cham scowled at the dryads, which made some of the young ones blush and others look more attentive. The three older dryads noticed and their anger notched up another level. "Not a hell of a lot. I was out ahead of the others, exploring a bit when we came upon the orchard. The girls were squirrel hunting and fell behind a bit. I was surprised as hell when one of the dryads showed up, but she was waving and smiling. She asked if I wanted to taste her fruit and offered me an apple. Next thing I know there's a half dozen of them around me, trying to offer me apples, and then one of the older ones shows up and clobbers me with magic. No one told me taking a bite of an apple could get you in trouble!"
The old ones yelled, "See, he admits it!"
Jon explained their part, "We came walking up and saw Cham strapped to a tree, with three old gals screaming at all the young ones. That changed quickly when they saw us. Lots of people running up with pointy sticks and glowing hands. It's been a stand-off since then with the dryads all yelling at each other. Luckily, Charly sent Cupcake for help." Ben had set the little lamb down on the ground and it ran to Charly and jumped in her arms.
Suzette was getting some idea of what was going on, "So, some information you may not have. The Oak army was wiped out when they attacked the town. The Ironwoods survived the war but are in no shape to threaten you. Your two 'Princes' are humans from the town that aided the Ironwoods and were rewarded. The squirrels and oaks are essentially gone as an army. And we had no idea you were here until today."
Cham yelled out, "Will someone just tell me what the whole deal with the apples is? Please? I swear I normally don't understand women, but now I don't even understand fruit!
The old dryad with the staff gestured, "Blossom, come explain things to 'your prince'."
A young dryad came up, walking slowly and shyly, she gave Cham a small wave, and he wiggled a finger in return, "I'm sorry. I thought you knew, and there are so many of us, and you have such nice leaves, and your bark...."
"Spit it out girl!" The gnarled staff thumped on the ground for emphasis.
"Right, well, when a dryad offers a wood sprite her fruit, it's an offer to bring forth new trees between them. I was so happy when you took a bite. We can move our trees near each other and watch over our saplings."
Cham looked a bit stricken. Jon fell to his knees laughing and holding his stomach.
Suzette took that bit in, "Oh. And I take it that not asking her elders first is a bit of a problem?"
All of the venerable dryads agreed with that statement. "Yep, you got that right. Now I've got to deal with an out-of-glade suitor, possible war with the Ironwoods if they don't sanction the match, and way too many other young sprouts trying to get him to take a bite. And the bitch of it all is we need the new trees. The orchard has withered under the oppression of the oaks and the demands of the squirrels. But it's not worth a war with either oak or iron, we aren't warriors, we just like to feed people." The old dryad looked exhausted and sat down with her back against the tree.
Suzette sat next to her, "And I thought I had problems. I don't ever want to have raise a bunch of boy-hungry girls, and you have a ton of them." She offered her hand, "I'm Suzette, the mayor of the town called Sedgewick, and a member of a White Circle. I have treeties with the Ironwoods to protect them; what if we try to work something out as well? Both groves are vulnerable to the squirrels and oaks. That gives us a mutual enemy."
The old woman took her hand, "Some sense in what you say. You gave your name; I'll give the ones we are using this season. I'm Blacktwig, that's Winesap, and Snowsweet. The little ones change names so fast I can't keep track."
"So, you'd offer us some protection and prevent a war with the Ironwoods over this incident? What are they going to say about their Prince dallying with one of my grand-daughters? Or more than one?"
Suzette looked over at Cham, "Up to you, sport. You want out of here? Or you sticking around? Do the Ironwoods care?"
Cham considered things. He was definitely attracted to the little dryad, but two minutes and a bite of apple seemed like too short of an engagement period, "Could we, you know, try things a bit? No more apples, no saplings, or anything of the sort for part of a season? Humans aren't used to doing things quite so fast."
Winesap looked at all the younger dryads, making eye contact, "And trees shouldn't do things fast either. Why, in my day it took several seasons for us to warm up enough to a Prince to select one. Of course, I was quite a catch back in my day and could take my time..."
"And if we let you tell that story, it will be three seasons before anything is done." Blacktwig thumped her staff on the ground, "We'll take things slow. A temporary truce with the town and the Ironwoods, and we'll accept the protection of the town for a portion of our fruit. Don't scowl at me! It will be far less than what we've had to pay to the squirrels and their masters, the oaks."
She looked over at the Bunny Girls, "You three look like you go squirrel hunting a lot. Are you part of this?" All three nodded and Libby took ahold of Jon's arm possessively. She didn't like the looks he was getting.
"We'll help out. Killing squirrels getting to be a hobby with us. Some of them are getting up in levels and give good experience. We'll also guard 'Prince Jon', so we don't double your problems.
Blacktwig went on after nodding to the three squirrel hunters, “The mayor, myself and the other elders will work out a treety. Let the little Prince go; he and Blossom can start talking." There was a lot of emphasis on the word talking. John and the girls were released. The little dryads made a fuss over Cupcake and less of a fuss over John, not wanting to gain the ire of either their elders or Libby.
The Apple Dryads have approved the Treaty that you presented to them.
The Dryad Grove seeks the following for two seasons:
-A guarantee of non-aggression with the Ironwood Glade.
-Prince Cham is free to make an alliance, or not, with the apple dryad, Blossom.
-The town of Sedgewick will provide protection from the Oaks, their squirrel minions, and the axes of the townsfolk.
In exchange for this protection the Orchards will tithe 500 bushels of apples per growing season to the town of Sedgewick, and an additional 200 bushels per acre of orchard that the town plants and protect until the trees may protect themselves.
Sedgewick receives 150 Building points and tithes 50 to Gadobhra.