Faerunners

Giant Slayers

They rode out of the burnt village like the hordes of hell were behind them, pushing hard for the market city. The forest moved past them in a blur, growing thick and darker. The trees crowded close as if they were huddling together for warmth and the evening breeze held a brittle bite. They had left the borderlands behind and rode into the lands of the Winter court. Callan pulled their carriage off the road and slowed the horses to a stop down a winding game trail. The animals were tired and Callan and Valerie worked quickly to unharness them and give them a chance to rest. Tallis did the same with Phaethon but the elemental showed no signs of exhaustion.

“You’d go forever, wouldn’t you boy?”

Phaethon threw his head and shook out his mane. The last of the golden leaves fell from him. Since they’d entered the winter lands the elemental had changed. The moss-fur on his back and flanks had faded from summer green to a brittle grey, the leaves had fallen from his mane, and his eyes had faded from a glowing green to an icy blue.

“How do you feel about the cold? Still doing okay?”

The horse pawed the earth and snorted, his breath coming out in a great fog that smelled of cold days, woodsmoke, and nutmeg.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Aragam stepped out of the cart that Phaethon had been pulling and laughed. “If that horse starts answering you, I’m out of here.”

Tallis shrugged. “That wouldn’t even make my top ten list of crazy things I’ve seen in the past few days.”

“It’s been tough. Are you holding up okay?”

Tallis shrugged. He wasn’t but there wasn’t anything they could do about it now. They had to beat Cold Iron to Tuath Den. There was still a lot of work to do.

“It’s okay to talk about it. Helpful even, yeah?”

“I know.” Tallis nodded.

“Okay, well, if there’s anyone here who knows what kind of stress a battle puts on a person, it’s me. It’s not something that goes away easy, or goes away on it’s own, alright?”

The rest of the crew were busy pitching tents and collecting firewood. Tallis looked to them over Aragam’s shoulder. “I should help set up. It looks like we’re stopping for the night. I don’t want to be too useless.”

Aragam turned with a shrug. “They’ve got it handled.” He collected his rifle from the cart. It was a long and thin piece with an octagonal barrel and some kind of crank handle near the stock. “Let’s worry about food.”

His stomach growled in agreement. Aragam called out their plan to the rest of the group and Valerie gave them a wave towards the forest. It was all the acknowledgement the Changeling needed, and he led Tallis into the woods with his usual springing steps. He seemed to be healed completely, despite looking much worse just this morning.

“Are you sure you’re well enough to travel?” Tallis asked. “You were in Death’s dooryard a few days ago.”

Aragam took a deep breath and smiled. “We’re in the winter lands at the change of the seasons, kid. There isn’t much that could keep a Fae, even a half Fae like me, down here and now, right? The magic in this place is older than time and it runs very deep. The power is incredible.”

Tallis shivered, the air was getting colder by the second and his shirt and vest was suddenly, not warm enough. “Well I’m glad it’s a comfortable spot for you. I’m freezing.”

“Hopefully we can scare up a meal quick then. Maybe skin you a new coat, yeah?”

Tallis pushed a low hanging branch out of the way and stepped over a frost rimmed puddle. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”