Saria went quiet, thinking carefully about Alex's question.
"In a forest like this," she said after a moment, "the best way to hide a base would be to make it look like the forest itself. If it were me, I'd fuse it with a tree—so perfectly that it just seems like another part of the woods."
Understanding dawned on Alex in an instant.
"Correct," he said softly.
Almost at the same time, both of their gazes shifted toward the same spot in the distance.
At the center of the forest stood a single, colossal tree that dwarfed everything around it. Its trunk was so wide an entire village could have been carved inside, bark dark and veined with a faint eerie glow.
Branches spread outward like an endless canopy, stretching so high they pierced the clouds, making it look as if the tree itself was trying to stab into the sky.
Alex's eyes narrowed.
In a low voice, he said, "Archers, aim at that tree—and bring it down, if you will."
