“And don’t forget they have very sharp garden implements in their hands,” Alice said, grimacing.
“So, what you’re telling me is that we’re as corked as the goddess’s favorite wine?” I asked.
“Basically,” Alice agreed, almost cheerfully.
“We have to have options,” I whined unprofessionally. My mind raced over the possibilities as silence descended once again.
Sebille finally said. “They’re not sentient in the way we think of it. They don’t rationalize or adjust. They just lock on and go.”
A thought occurred to me. “What if we didn’t look like their intended victims?”
Both Alice and Sebille frowned in confusion.
I didn’t know much, but I did know some things. For example, I knew that sprites were good for gardens. Which meant she probably had some skill in growing things. I eyed the enormous tree, whose branches reached toward the stairway with knobby fingers.
Knobby, strong fingers.
“What if we were covered in leaves or…flowers?” I asked, warming to my idea. “Would they still recognize us?”
Sebille thought about this for a beat and then nodded. “It might work.” She followed my line of sight to the tree, her gaze going speculative.
Unfortunately, our time for discussing and considering was over.
With a long, wailing roar that made my skin crawl and ice coat my brain, the wooden army below us broke its waiting stance and barreled up the stairway toward us.
“The tree!” Sebille yelled unnecessarily.
I was shocked and appalled by how quickly the blocky little soldiers conquered the stairs. In the blink of an eye, they’d cut the distance between us nearly in half, and the stairway shook beneath their combined movement and weight.
Sebille leaped easily across the four-foot space between the stairs and the tree. Hands clasping a sturdy branch, she swung her body lithely to sit astride it, her gaze locked on the quickly ascending army of short, widely-made wooden soldiers. “Hurry up!” she yelled at Alice and me.
We climbed over the railing, teetering on the few inches of exposed stair beyond the railing. The first gnome hit the landing only five steps below us, and Alice leaped, her panicked scream turning shrill enough to hurt my ears.
My head whiplashing back and forth between the approaching gnomes and Alice, I watched in horror as the Keeper fell past the branch she’d been aiming for, her fingertips barely grazing it and then slipping away as she dropped like a rock toward the ground.
I screamed her name, my own voice matching hers for screechiness.
The branch below the one she missed suddenly swerved sideways, breaking her fall and wrapping its smaller branches around her waist as she threatened to bounce off again.
I looked at Sebille and realized that had been her handiwork.
Shimmering green energy swirled around her outstretched hands, and the scent of Spring flowers wafted over me.
Her horrified green gaze sliced past me and widened.
That and the soft scuff of several pairs of shoes on the stair were the only warning I got that I was out of time.
“Jump!” Sebille screamed.
I didn’t turn to see how close they were. Before I could think about the danger of leaping four feet to a branch that might or might not hold my weight, I jumped.
But I didn’t go anywhere.
Several small, hard hands caught my arms before I was away, yanking me roughly backward. I slammed into a wall of painted wood and it gave way, tumbling back down the stairs with me riding them like a boat bouncing inelegantly over river rapids.
We clanged en masse into the railing at the landing that was several steps down, and the wooden “rapids” rolled out from underneath me as I fought to regain my feet.
Something hit me on the back of my neck, just below my skull, and pain scissored through me, creeping outward in a dull throb that made my knees and arms go limp for just a beat.
Another blow landed on my forehead. And another on my right shoulder. Several more hit me in quick succession, until all I could think to do was curl up into a ball and try to keep my most vulnerable parts protected.
The gnomes were eerily silent. The only noise for a long moment was the meaty sound of their little fists smacking against my flesh.
My cries were muffled by the fact that I was curled into a ball, my face buried in my chest and my arms forming a protective barrier around my head.
Metal clanged loudly above me, causing me to jerk and lift my head.
There was a shovel caught in the uprights of the railing. It was twisting and banging against the metal supports in an effort to get loose.
That was the moment when I knew staying in the fetal position wouldn’t work. They were going to start attacking me with sharp metal implements any second.
I had to move.
Somehow.
The pile of wooden bodies had deepened on top of me. Their weight was more than I could simply shove away. The upside of that pileup was that it was harder for the gnomes with weapons to get to me.
Despite that, I couldn’t risk staying there.
It was only a matter of time before one of those sharp blades found its way to me.
Alice screamed her shrill scream again, and the pile on top of me shifted, lightened, as some of the soldiers headed toward the sound.
I buried my worry for the Keeper behind my need to escape my current predicament. I wouldn’t be any good to her if they hacked me into a million little pieces. I gathered myself, tightening my muscles in preparation for making my move, and then, as another scream sounded in the lobby below, I took a deep breath and shoved upward, sending gnomes flying away from me like cordwood. Some of them tumbled over the railing and thudded against the ground below.
But not enough.
They were on me again in the time it took for me to run
