Elegy for a Star

“So,” Miren started, “Just get from point A to point B?”

Joyona nodded. She wasn’t unhappy to be working with Miren, but would have much rather worked with her Summer Courtish counterpart. Miren was alright, though. Serious. Practical. The kind of person that Joyona pretended to be.

“Is there anything I should know about your gift?” Joyona asked.

Miren just shook her head in response.

Joyona nodded, even if the response was not very helpful.

Taking in the sight of her surroundings, Joyona’s eyes scanned the grassy hills, dotted with large rocks that seemed to have pushed their way out of the ground. Plenty of places for an ambush, and considering that the Trial left them their armor and weapons, she assumed they would have a use for them.

“Well,” Miren said, gesturing ahead, “Lead the way, shieldwall.”

Joyona didn’t much like confrontation, so even if the words were distasteful, she didn’t want to get into an argument with Miren. Besides, what good would it do to build discontent right before a fight? She tried to suppress any annoyance with the Winter Fey that had swelled in her chest, focusing instead on the potential dangers ahead.

Pulling the axe from her back, Joyona wielded it in both hands, stretching her shoulders and testing its weight. She nodded and began to march ahead.

There wasn’t any visual sense of direction, but rather it was an instinctive feeling. One direction felt “right” and another felt “wrong.” The way forward had a certain pull to it that drew one step after another from Joyona.

She wondered if she should say something to Miren, but nothing came to mind. She could ask about the Winter Court. Ask about Mairaela. Neither of those options sounded good.

Focus. Focus. Joyona couldn’t afford to think about social norms and her inability to maintain them when there was potential danger around every corner.

That danger made itself known not long after Joyona centered her thoughts. Around a tall rock off to her right, atop a green hill, Joyona could hear some scuffling. She turned to look at Miren, who seemed to hear the same thing, judging by the way her ears were perked up and she was looking toward the rock as well.

Joyona shared a look with the Winter Fey, pointing toward herself and the rock, then to Miren and making a chopping motion. The Fey nodded her understanding. Joyona liked that. Silent conversation. Silent agreement. She was more comfortable with that, without having to worry about social cues. She wondered if Miren actually understood what she was going for.

Joyona crept toward the rock with Miren just behind her. As they approached, the Winter Fey maneuvered to the side a bit, keeping low. The scuffling continued up until Joyona leapt over the rock. There was a squeal as a small, impish creature fled off to the side. Joyona was immediately relieved to see that it was something so small, so seemingly harmless.

Miren didn’t seem to agree with that notion. She intercepted the creature as planned, flanking it from the side, and skewered it upon her rapier. It let out a screech before Miren twisted the blade and wrenched it free with a pop and a squelch of internal fluid. The scrawny, short winged imp dropped to the ground, bleeding out upon the grass.

Joyona approached the corpse, picking it up by one wing and looking it over. It was green, blending in with the grass quite well except for the streaks of crimson blood that dripped from its wounds. “This is… too…”

“Easy,” Miren completed, “That is very unlike the Void.” The Winter Fey patrolled around the area, looking off into the distance and nearby, “That doesn’t make sense. There must be something else.”

“Maybe they explode,” Joyona looked at the corpse before throwing it away into the distance. She watched it, waiting for some sort of detonation, but nothing happened.

Miren sat back against the boulder the imp had been hiding behind and said, “Maybe we should just consider ourselves lucky and head the remaining way.”

Joyona wasn’t so sure and she didn’t even believe that Miren thought this would be the case. The Winter Fey didn’t seem very confident in her own words.

There was good cause for that. The boulder that Miren sat against burst from the ground behind her, revealing a much larger stony body beneath. The Winter Fey was thrown down the hill, rolling until she came to a stop. In her place, the boulder rose into the air until Joyona could see two arms, two legs, and two red, gemstone eyes. It stood taller and taller and taller still, until it dwarfed the sizable Joyona, who stood about as tall as the giant’s knee.

“Shit,” Joyona thought, “This is going to really hurt.”

The giant brought a rocky fist down and swung it against the ground, kicking up dirt and rocks as it traveled along an arcing path toward Joyona. The armored woman blocked the attack with her axe, but the force of it threw her to the side. She was sent rolling down one end of the hill, her broken axe clattering to the ground beside her. She thought to herself, “My gift is armor, not weapons.” She got her feet under her toward the end of the slide and began a mad dash back to the stone monster.

Another swing from its other arm, but Joyona was ready. Panels on the back of her armor opened and emitted a forceful shockwave behind her, propelling her forward and tearing up chunks of dirt and grass in her wake. Joyona slipped inside of the giant’s reach, grabbing one of its legs and pulling it backward with such force that it grew unbalanced and fell forward.

As it dropped, Joyona’s armor sent out another shockwave, launching the woman into the air above the collapsed stone colossus. As she began to arc downward, she brought up a fist. Her armor let out several more rapid bursts, flinging her to the ground with such force that her drop upon the monster burst its stone body into dozens of pieces. Each of them, individually, grew lifeless. “As stones should be,” Joyona thought.

She wasn’t even winded, but she was about to be.

Joyona looked around her to see each of the dozens of boulders bursting from the ground and becoming the same rocky monsters. Not all of them were alike. Some had stone weapons, some were taller, some were shorter and some had multiple limbs like spiders.

She would need help. She had to check on Miren.

Joyona rushed back to the Winter Fey, who had already collected herself. Her mouth was bleeding but she otherwise looked fine.

“Whatever your gift is,” Joyona said, “We need it. Why are you holding out?”

“I’m not,” Miren said, “He’ll be here in a moment.”

True to her word, as a few of the giants approached, Joyona spotted a creature approaching from behind them. Running on four legs, furred and massive, its lengthy stride had it upon the stone monsters in an instant. A maw with a deadly row of sharp teeth and prominent fangs opened wide and slammed shut around the stony beast, squeezing until the bounder-creature burst into gravel and stony dust.

It was then that Joyona could get a better look at the beast. A great, white wolf, massive in size. At least fourteen feet tall, but likely much more. It was ferocious, stony chunks settled into the fur around its mouth as it set its sights on the nearest foe.

“What is that?” Joyona said under her breath.

Miren crossed her arms, “My gift, of course.”