I don't know, and I don't want to find out.

I lunged at the Dryad, reaching out with human hands, and I knew I didn't have enough time.

She'd pulled as far back as the rope would allow, having taken advantage of the distraction. Even if I pulled it back, She'd probably just pitch forward and drive her hands into the ground. Her hands were already half way down, and she held a manic pleasure in her alien eyes.

Her hands touched the ground for a second, and the world heaved underneath us.

I stumbled as the ground became broken and uneven, dozens of roots shooting up from beneath in a wave. Some bound me, arm and leg, and the rest came flying at the Exciser. She cursed, a second goblin body twitching on the ground before her, and leapt back. The Dryad cried out in annoyance as Alva dance gracefully between her roots, and I returned the sound in kind.

She couldn't eat me, and she couldn't bite my dick off, but that hardly translated to don't tie me up or kill me. I felt foolish, having been taken in by the innocent act, and that made me angry.

The Dryad began to shift, their slender form swelling and becoming black and gnarled. Their androgynous face elongating and becoming smooth and featureless, their small form becoming giant, and their limbs branching out into a dozen prehensile roots.

"Ikarus!"

I had spared her, and spoken for her, and swore to keep her under control.

I had made a choice, and this tree-bitch repaid that with treachery.

I was angry, and that made me angry; like a snake eating it's own tail, I fed off of my own rage.

"Burn." I felt something burning in me, a spark of resolve alloying with the fury and making it real. The Dryad screamed and shrank back as the roots binding me burned. I fell to the ground, the underbrush catching fire, and looked at the Dryad. They'd returned to their smaller form, hands held up in surrender.

I reached forwards, flame dancing on my arms, and the Dryad fell to their knees in a universal pose of submission.

Smoke swirled around me, the air warped by the cloak of flame I wore, and for a moment the only thing I could think about was betrayal; my sister had formed the mob that chased me from home. A dozen incidents along my travels where strangers tried to kill me, where liars had entrapped me with honeyed words and hidden blades.

The fire flared in response to my fury, my lifeforce a pyre for the Dryad.

My fingers ached with the need.