#leafmen

Also that one scene where Tinker Bell measures her waist. I can just imagine Prowl doing that and immediately turning to someone and say.

Prowl: Have I gotten fat?

Blurr: Prowl, you have always looked like that.

Oh and leafmen

Fairies and leafmechs

Blurr is king of fairies.

Prowl and Swerve are fairy knights

Jazz, Orion Pax, Shockwave, are leafmechs.

I have fallen.

“Why did you bring her here?!” A voice hissed.

“She was hurt! What was I supposed to do? Leave her to die in the mud?!” Another voice whisper-yelled.

“Not bring her to Moonhaven, are you insane?!”

Two voices, both male, arguing. At first, your brain could only register “two voices” and immediately thought of your loving husband and son. But…no, that wasnt right. Mandrake wouldn’t be bickering with Dagda, he would be at your side the moment he heard you stir, holding your hand, fussing over you.

Moonhaven…

Moonhaven?

In your exhausted and bleary state, you felt a hand against your forehead, soft and gentle and warm.

“Easy now,” a voice as smooth as the river spring said as the hand brushed the matted hair from your face. “You need your strength.”

“Ugh,” you let out another groan and tossed your head, eyes squeezing shut. “What—where-…where am I?”

“Nod you just put the entire forest at risk!” One of the voices snapped. “What do you think Mandrake will do when he finds out she is here? Hm?”

“Relax, Ronin! I was just trying to help—“

“Oh yeah, and Im sure he’ll understand. Here! Why don’t we just tell him exactly how you KIDNAPPED HIS WIFE—!”

“Both of you! Enough,” the woman cradling your head spoke.

With another groan, your eyes peeled open for the last time. The room was spinning, but over time it stilled.

The blinding light you were seeing was the sun, shining through tall green leaves and reflecting off of polished stone walls. There was never this much color in Wrathwood.

Another brush of hand against your side made you wince. Looking down, you see a slim dark hand against your side, pressing against a blood stained bandage that was wrapped around your chest. So thats why it was so hard to breathe in.

As you lay amongst soft white petals, you furrowed your brows in confusion. Then you looked up.

“Oh.” You blinked in surprise.

The woman gave you a friendly smile like you had been friends your whole life. She had a simple beauty to her, like how a breath of fresh air or the sight of blooming flowers felt beautiful. Natural, grounding and familiar.

“Sorry,” Queen Tara chuckled, raising a hand off of your body as you lay in her lap, “we couldn’t get you to the healers in time. This was our next best option.”

You swallowed and looked at her strangely. “It’s…okay?”

You sat up, the bandages pulling tight on your body as you held your head and tried to get rid of the airy feeling behind your eyes. “What happened?” You groaned, shaking your head.

“I think you got knocked off your bird by a hawk or something—“ a boy with brown hair said, before getting hit by a man in green armor. “Ow, hey!”

Ronin sneered and looked at you cautiously. The feeling was mutual as you bore your teeth in a hiss, although, it wasn’t nearly as effective when you weren’t a boggan yourself.

“Nod here found you on the forest floor bleeding,” he said, gesturing his head to Nod. “And stupidly,” he glared at him, “brought you here.”

“I didn’t know who she was!” Nod said, trying to defend himself. “I’ve never seen her without her helmet before!”

“That doesn’t matter!” Ronin said back.

“Boys, boys!” Tara spoke up, and instantly they both quieted. “Ronin, Nod did a good thing,” she smiled. “If he had left her there, who knows what would’ve happened. And then we’d have to deal with the consequences.”

You only looked back and forth between them with a raised brow.

“Uh, I’m sorry,” you interjected, eyes darting between them before looking at Tara sheepishly, “your majesty? Uh—“

“Please,” she snorted and waved you off, “you’re as much of a queen as I am! Call me Tara.”

“…your majesty,” you repeated, making clear the extent of your relation. “You…know who I am,” she nodded with a smile, “…so why in the seven hells did you allow me to be brought into your inner sanctum?!”

You looked at her in bewilderment. You were her enemy, the partner to the man who threatened her entire realm. So why on god’s green earth did she just so nonchalantly bring you in, heal you, and just idly keep you at her side?!

“You were hurt,” Tara answered bluntly. “Despite Ronin’s insistence,” said general crossed his arms with a glare towards you, “I would’ve have done the same for anyone.”

The irritation in you subsided. You blinked in surprise, looking at her with astonishment.

“Huh,” was all you could say.

“We should really send her away,” Ronin stepped forward, his hand never leaving the hilt of his katana. “Her being here is a threat, your majesty. We can’t risk her bringing the rest of the Boggans here.”

“She is our guest, Ronin,” Tara said firmly. “And besides, I can only heal so much!” You looked down at your torso, at the blood stained bandages that wrapped around and under your unclothed chest. It still hurt. “She still needs to rest.”

“If Mandrake figures out she’s here—“

You all stopped in place as a sudden boom rattled the ground beneath you, followed by the sound of screeching birds.

“Too late,” Nod said.

You sighed and shook your head. Always one for the dramatics, your husband.

You pushed off of your knees, grunting and wincing and pain as you tried to stand. Nod and Ronin rushed to your side, arms under your armpits and helping you stand.

“That’s my cue,” you grunted, the sound of clashing metal and shouts echoing down the stone halls.

“Come on,” Ronin scoffed. “Let’s get you back before your husband tears through my entire guard.”

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing,” you retorted, limping beside him.

You barely went out into the open without your weasel cloak, or the shrew skull you wore as a helmet. Ronin had been the only one in all those years to have seen you without your armor, at least when alongside your husband. So to the rest of the leafmen you were nothing more than an injured leafwoman or jinn, an associate, a peer, collateral damage that had been ushered in to be healed or a fellow soldier. They didn’t bat an eye as Ronin and Nod ushered you through the halls, your eyes squinting against the bright light of day outside the stone stronghold as the sound of battle grew closer.

You threw up your hand and winced at the bright sun light, glaring at it until the loud growl of your husband turned your head.

Looking left and right, you almost pushed Ronin away before your eyes fell onto the towering frame ahead among the many bodies of boggan soldiers versus leafmen. And damn it if you couldn’t stop the smirk on your face seeing Mandrake’s cloak swirl around him as he threw leafmen off the stone awning and slammed his cudgel against the ground. Damn it all if he wasn’t hot as hell when he fought with that sneer on his face.

“Mandrake!” You yelled, holding your side.

He didn’t even have to stop fighting to look up and spot you immediately, standing at his full height while kicking a leafman in the chest.

“Y/n!” He turned back to the leafman he was holding up in the air by the collar and growled. He slammed his head against the soldier’s, dropping him before stomping forwards.

Ronin gripped your arm tightly as you tried to pull away, glaring ahead as you tugged and cursed at him.

The moment he laid his hands on you once more, your carefully tuned ears picked up the sound of many many arrows being drawn.

You looked around, spying the dozen boggan archers hidden in the rocks now aiming their weapons towards Ronin and the leafmen who came to your side with shields raised. Your eyes fell on one particular archer, the familiar rat-pelt donned figure of your son Dagda.

“Weapons down,” your voice gave Mandrake pause as you yanked your arm once again to no avail. Ronin’s grip did loosen, however. He looked at you in surprise.

You looked up and made eye contact with your son, giving him a stern look.

Dagda glanced at Mandrake, then back at you, as if to say “are you sure?”

You nodded curtly.

He frowned and lifted his hand in a closed fist, telling the archers to hold as he lowered his bow.

With a huff, you got your arm out of Ronin’s grip, shooting him a glare and a well placed huff in his direction before running a hand over your head and sighing.

“Mandrake,” you said in relief and pushed past the leafmen who watched in shock and bewilderment.

Mandrake’s look softened and he let out a huff, shoulders relaxing. “Oh thank the gods,” he grumbled under his breath while rolling his eyes, his large hands settling on your shoulders as you stopped in front of him and he immediately began to fuss over you. “Are you ok? What happened—?”

“I fell off my bird,” you assured him and cupped his face with two hands, mostly to keep him from looking at your bandaged sides. “I’m fine, really.”

You stopped, sighing and looking back at where the leafmen were now parting, standing at attention as Tara made her way out of the palace walls. “She fixed me up,” you said, brows knitted together as you looked up at her with your arms crossed.

Mandrake looked up, his gaze immediately narrowing as he stood at full height once more, looking down at her.

“Tara,” he said with disdain.

“Mandrake,” she stopped and held her hands in front of her. That was one thing you respected about her, she wasn’t afraid to look her enemy in the eye. And she did it with grace too, even as her general behind her was biting his tongue until she returned to the safety of Moonhaven’s stoney walls.

“I apologize for the trouble,” Tara said with a smile. “Someone had found your wife badly injured on the forest floor without knowing who she was and brought her here.”

She raised her hands and looked at them. You noticed she still had some blood on her fingers.

“I healed as much as I could,” she added, looking back up and clasping her hands together and looked at you with a warm, friendly smile. “But you’ll have to figure out the rest. Personally, I’d recommend staying in bed for a bit, some good ole TLC never hurts.” With that, she winked at you, and it made you feel…strange. Tara was…a lot friendlier and more casual than you expected her to be.

Mandrake made a noise deep in his throat, moving his cudgel from one hand to the other.

“She’ll be fine,” he said bluntly, his hand itching to be somewhere on your body or to pull you closer. “Our healers will take care of everything.”

“Of course,” Tara bowed her head.

He let out a sharp exhale from his nose, putting a hand on your shoulder and pulling you back towards him, wrapping part of his cloak around you as he turned around and began walking away.

The other boggans cleared out, snarling and chittering both with each other and at the leafmen, mounting their birds as Mandrake’s grackle soared down and landed, ducking her head.

He was just about help you up onto his bird, Nightshade, when he stopped and turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at Tara.

To your surprise, he gave her a slight nod, before heaving you up onto his bird and settling right behind you.

As he nudged his bird to take off, he pulled you into his lap, arm wrapped around your waist possessively as you took into the skies, leaving Moonhaven behind.

He was being unusually quiet. You almost said something, but he beat you to it.

“You’re not going to be leaving the nest for a while.”

You groaned and threw your head back as he didn’t even bother looking at you. “It wasn’t even my fault!”

“We need to find your bird as well,” he added.

“Hah! Good luck! I don’t know where those mockingbirds chased him!”

He looked down at you with a smirk and held you closer, nudging you and teasing, “Mockingbirds?”

First things first, my friend---who is also working on this au with me---didn't really like the helmets the Leafmen wear in the movie, so I just did a little redesign.

Not really needed and probably not going to stick, but it's Epic related, so it's included.

A random arch fae I sketched out.

I want to lean farther into the fantasy aspect of Epic, while still keeping it semi-grounded in the premise of life vs decay.

Solution? Dark fantasy with random other fantasy creatures sprinkled all around.

There's going to be nymphs (The flower people and the mimics of the story), Dryads (very few still around. They're saplings that faeries enchanted to come to life), and Naga (a lot of different reptiles and such). And of course Boggans and Leafmen/Jinn.

And finally, we have Dagda, Mandrake's head general and the heir to Wrathwood's throne!

Boggans are way more creepy and bug-looking in my redesigns so far. Dagda's mother is still a WIP but I'm pretty sure she's gonna be some type of spider Boggan. Dagda inherited her mandibles, and the extra eyes.

I didn't really manage to capture his canon personality very well in this headshot, but I like the outcome anyway. The skull needs a little bit of work, though. A little wonky looking.

Also, Dagda could totally rock the snakebites piercing.

Yet even as quiet as it was, Arianna had said it hummed with activity. There was a constant battle between the forces of life and decay, and that if Rapunzel looked closely, she could see it. And if she couldn’t, to look closer, and to listen.

Rapunzel had closed her eyes as her mother instructed, and listened. 

Birds chirped in a lively chorus of varying pitches and warbles. Insects buzzed by her ears, and crickets chirped. She could hear the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees surrounding the meadow in gentle susurrations. In the far distance of her hearing, she could just barely make out the babbling water of a nearby stream. 

When she had opened her eyes, she had found her mother face up to the sky smiling, her emerald green eyes closed. A soft sigh had left her, as though she had remembered something precious to her long gone. 

‘I haven’t been out here since you were a toddler.’ 

‘Wait, you’ve been here before? I’ve been here before?’ Rapunzel blinked. She had thought she had discovered a secluded sanctuary no one else in Corona knew of. 

‘Of course,’ Arianna smiled at her daughter and brushed her hand down her long chestnut-brown locks, ‘You were born in that cottage. Your first picnics were here. I remember you almost fell into the stream once when you were four,” she brushed her hair away from her face, “It seems so long ago. Your father and I met in this meadow. He intimidated me at first, but I soon discovered he had the kindest, most gentle heart. Frederic was charming, handsome, patient, and had an odd fascination with eggs,’ she chuckled at the memory, then turned a wistful, nostalgic gaze to the whole of the natural beauty around them. ‘Coming here feels like coming home,‘ her smile held a hint of longing, ‘I didn’t realize until now how much I missed it.’

Coming home…

Rapunzel sat cross legged and barefoot on top of the mossy boulder with Pascal on her knee and tried to summon that feeling of ‘home.’ She had begun to feel it almost immediately whenever she came here. It was odd how quickly she had become accustomed to this place over the past month. 

And now because of the Stabbingtons, they would lose it forever. 

She slid down to sit on the soft grass up against the boulder and looked up at the white puffs of clouds lazily drifting by. The wind brushed strands of loosed hair from her ponytail across her forehead. A storm was predicted to hit early in the evening. She loved the summer storms, and how she could cozy up in a blanket in the window seat of the living room with a cup of tea surrounded by candles they had made and watch the storms roll by.  

It had only been a month, but she didn’t want to lose that. 

“What are we going to do, Pascal?” she said forlornly to the small lizard, “We can’t just roll over and let those lunkheads take our home,” she pondered for a moment, then sat up, “I got it!”

Pascal squeaked out a question. 

“I could get a job as a cobbler’s apprentice, or as a baker at Atilla the Bun’s.”

Pascal shook his head ‘no’ to both. He knew her skills, and neither of those were in her wheelhouse.

“I know I burn almost every pie I make, but maybe I just need a little more time to get it right,” she snapped her fingers, “Oh! What if I joined the Corona royal guard?”

He stared at her as though she’d lost her mind. 

She huffed a breath, “Yeah, you’re right. Those outfits look stuffy. Besides, with all those rules, I’d hate it. Hm… what about a blacksmith? I might not be able to bake, but I’m good with a frying pan. And I can make candle holders!”

He nodded, smiling. 

“That’s it, then.” Rapunzel smacked her fist into her open palm, “I’ll tell mom I need some new paint for the candles, head into town, and ask Xavier for a job.” Even though she had no experience whatsoever in metal working, this was her plan. How hard could it be?

She began to get to her feet when the heavy crunching of boots too big to be her mother’s caught her attention. 

Rapunzel snuck a peek over the boulder and gasped. 

The Stabbington twins were walking, stomping unceremoniously into her clearing.

She ducked back down to hide behind the boulder, hoping they hadn’t seen her, and wouldn’t get the urge to venture anywhere near. 

Pascal climbed to the top and lay flat to get a look. Yup, it was those two lunkheads alright. 

Rapunzel risked poking her head up enough to watch. “The Stabbingtons? What are they doing here?” Her mother had ordered them to leave, and yet they had lingered on their land. A few acres of this forest belonged to the Der Sonnes, including this meadow.

Sideburns and Patchy stood out like dark tar stains in the lime-green landscape. Sideburns (the meatwall on the left) squared his fingers up to his eyes to measure up the field while Patchy picked his nose, examined what he’d mined out of his nostrils, and flicked it aside. 

“Uch,” she scrunched up her nose. These two were disgusting.

Sideburns lowered his hands and pointed to the west in the direction of Corona, “We’ll put the hideout over there, clear out this field, and cut down these trees for pasture. No one will find us way out here.”

“Using this place as a farm to front our operation is a genius move. I didn’t think you were capable of coming up with a plan like that,” Patchy punched his brother in the shoulder, “Uncle would be proud.”

Sideburns hit him back, “Yeah. I can’t wait to see the look on the old Baron’s face when we show up with the deed to the Der Sonne’s property instead of him.”

“He’s hated that family all his life. For us to be the ones to own it will really put sawdust in his bread,” Patchy chuckled. “We’ll charge him to use our land for a change.”

Sideburns scuffed up a clod of dirt beneath his worn leather boot and kicked it up to catch it. He ground the dirt around in his fingers - a metaphor for his plans. “We can build our own storehouse and keep everything we gain from the other six kingdoms in secret. It’s the perfect sideline from the pass to get around customs.”

He turned around to look back into the forest toward the house. “I say we put it where that manky old cottage is. It’s termites holding hands. We get the goods in, we get the goods out, and no one is the wiser,” he let the dirt sift through his fingers to the ground. 

Rapunzel gasped, and quickly covered her mouth. 

They were going to destroy her father’s cottage and the land to build a fake farm to cover a smuggling operation.

A poker-hot anger rose in her chest and spread outward through her limbs. Her small hands balled into fists. 

Pascal gripped the three quarter sleeve of her tunic to stop her from doing something stupid, but he was too small, and merely got pulled along. 

“Hey!” Rapunzel stepped out from her hiding place, catching the attention of the two brutes. Pascal climbed up onto her shoulder. To her small stature, they were the intimidating height of a single story building and just as thick as a brick wall - with the intelligence to match. 

The twins turned to look down at this small girl. They hadn’t expected anyone to be out here. And as she marched up to them, they folded their arms with smirks of annoyance. 

“Look, Sideburns,” Patchy said, “The Der Sonne brat came to give us a tour of our new home.”

“I thought my mother told you to leave.”

“This is your meadow?” Sideburns badly faked ignorance to let this girl know he didn’t care.

“Yes,” Rapunzel stopped, “And you’d better get out of it immediately, or I’ll--”

“Or you’ll what?” Patchy sneered down at her. 

She faced down the twin walls as fear began to override her bravery. Yet she held her ground. “I know what you guys are planning. I heard everything. And as soon as my mother finds out, that warrant is as good as snuffed. And the captain of the guard will lock you up,” she glared with Pascal adding in his sharpness, “for.e.ver.”

“Oh no!” Patchy feigned distress, “Not the Captain of the Guard!” He faked trembling in fear, then burst into laughter. “He couldn’t catch a fly if it died in his hand.”

Sideburns advanced slowly on her like a prowling bear.

She stepped back. 

“You made the number one rookie mistake, girl. You just removed your leverage. But you’ve given us ours,” Sideburns’ mouth cracked in a wicked smile. “There’s nothing to tell if you never make it home to tell them.” 

Rapunzel had made some idiotic decisions in her life, many of them bordering on dangerous, but this one rapidly climbed the ladder to the top. “Uh...maybe we can talk this out?”

He nodded over to his brother, “Get her.”

She didn’t know those two could move so fast. 

They lunged at her swiftly, grabbing her upper arm. 

“No! Let me go!” she struggled, pulling at the vice grip of Sideburns’ sausage fingers.

Pascal rushed down her arm and up her attacker’s. No one messes with his human and gets away with it. 

The little lizard swarmed over the Stabbington, crawling across his face. 

He let go to swipe at Pascal, staggering around. “Get it off me!”

Patchy hauled off with a punch that landed against his brother’s nose a second after Pascal vacated his face. 

Sideburns fell.

Pascal leaped toward Rapunzel, but Patchy caught him in mid air. He squeaked in surprise.

He hauled off and angrily threw the small lizard as far as he could into the nearest tree line. 

“Pascal!” Rapunzel cried out. She lost sight of him. Her friend could be seriously hurt from that. “No!” 

Patchy grabbed her before she could run off to find the lizard.

“R’ah!” Now furious, scared, and worried about Pascal, she rammed her bare foot down on the instep of his foot.

His grip loosened enough for her to jab her sharp elbow into his gut. It didn’t take him down, but it did weaken his grip enough for her to pull away and take off running. 

“You’ll pay for that. After her!” Sideburns ordered. 

The two chased the fleeing girl through the meadow and into the forest.

------

Meanwhile, deep within the forest…

The royal barge carrying a smiling and excited Queen Tara drifted smoothly over the last of the falls tumbling into Illum Grove - the choosing grounds. 

A crowd had followed to watch from the edges of a small pond dotted with lily pads. Flowers sprang up around the pool amid trees old and young. Crepuscular rays of sunlight flickered across the water through a canopy of bright green leaves that sheltered the tranquil, peaceful setting.

Quirin and the leafmen guided the barge to settle gently on the pond's surface, and the water stilled to welcome the Life of the Forest. The barge unfolded like a fan into a large lily pad. 

The leafmen took up guard in the trees and along the rocks surrounding the pond to keep a vigilant eye out for any threats. 

Queen Tara moved down the ramp to the edge of the thick leaf, extended her right foot over open water, and stepped delicately onto a cluster of small petals that floated in at her unspoken word. The sundrop walked along a path that formed with each step to where the pods were kept. Her gown and her aura left a golden trail in her wake

Flowers bloomed as she passed, their heads following her like sunflowers follow the sun. The path of petals dispersed when Tara stepped onto another large lily pad. Multiple green pods frosted with a soft pink hue at their tips floated in the still water, tethered to a root system that connected them all. 

The crowd fell silent to only the songs of birds and the lapping of water against the shore as she walked along the outer edge of the lily pad with her palm hovering over the pods. She extended her other arm, feeling the power within her guide her in the right direction. 

She paused, turning her gaze toward the sky. The sun was nearing its zenith. And yet instead of directing her to the pods spotted among the lily pads, the sundrop looked briefly to the west. Whatever the reason, she took note of it, and continued her search.

Watching from the shore, a young, eager, red anemone jinn could barely contain her excitement. “She’s amazing!” Red looked up at the daisy that raised her, “I want to be queen when I grow up.”

“It doesn’t work that way, sweetie,” the daisy said, and watched the queen walk by a group of pods near them, “Queen Tara gives her power to a special pod when the sun is at its highest point. Then, she cares for it until it blooms in the first rays of the morning sunlight ,” she cast a wistful smile as their monarch moved in, “It’s all very mysterious.”

Red half heard her mother while daydreaming about what it would be like to be queen. If she ever had the chance, she would need to tell Kiera, her blue coronaria best friend. They would have so much fun.

Above them, the leafmen kept watch. 

Although Tara’s focus narrowed in on choosing a pod among the dozens present, Quirin’s senses were on high alert. 

Every rustle of leaves in the wind, every snap of twigs, every bird call, and every motion of the people below watching the mysterious ceremony with awe reached him. 

The crackle of a leaf a branch below snared his attention. As he watched, one of its points crumbled away, spreading its infection outward. 

They were here.

“Boggans.”

In the blink of an eye, Quirin turned in his bird’s saddle, nocked an arrow back on his bow, and let it fly. 

It embedded into the trunk of a tree.

The leafmen nearby instantly drew their bows tight with arrows at the ready to fire in a heartbeat. Bex and her group held steady. Nothing would get past them to the sundrop.

Quirin held another elm arrow nocked, his eyes narrowed on the tiny gap in the bark where his first arrow protruded. 

An agonizing moment of silent suspense thickened the air. 

No one breathed. 

The rectangle of bark split from its surface, and the boggan hiding behind it with Quirin’s arrow through its side, fell to the forest floor.

He knew better than to let his bowstring slack.