Time seemed to slow between one heartbeat and the next as Maeryn raced towards her opponents. At the front was a tall beast that walked on two legs. Completely covered in white fur, save for its purplish face and short horns, the creature exposed its enormous fangs as it roared its fury at her.

  Whatever manner of monster it was, that was clearly priority one.

  Behind it were a number of creatures that Maeryn recognized as polar bears. Remaining on all-fours, their white fur was marred with frosty blue and purple streaks that marked them as Mistwarped. Atop each the bears, however, were… giant human children? Their heads were disproportionate, their bodies deathly blue with cold, but they truly did look mostly human.

  Then Maeryn spotted one of them grinning fiendishly, and she saw the jagged teeth as its grin spread far too wide, dispelling any illusion of humanity. They each carried ice spears, and were clearly eager to use them judging from the way they held them.

  Another step, another heartbeat. Maeryn gauged her odds with the focus of an ice mage. Conclusion: not great.

  Time to even the odds.

  Maeryn bared her teeth and unleashed an unholy shriek of challenge right back at the bipedal beast as she shifted her paradigm enough to call on the ruthlessness that had always dwelled within her. The concepts flowed through her mind with the ease of long familiarity. Cold. Acid. Rot. Spirit. Undead.

  And she attuned to the forbidden magic of the end: necromancy. Mist blasted out from underneath her coat as she flung both her hands up, sickly grey energy gathering in her palms. “Decay Pulse!”

  The beast stomped on the ground, mighty enough to shake even Maeryn’s steady footing, and ice erupted between them, thoroughly blocking her spell. Then it struck forward in a palm strike, and the ice shattered, sending daggers at Maeryn.

  She grimaced, then threw her arm up in an arc. “Acid Spray!” It was the first time she’d used the upgraded form of by-now-familiar Lesser Acid Spray, but it worked like a charm, coating the frost blades hurling her way and melting them into harmless pebbles of ice.

  Then Maeryn had to dodge out of the way as one of the abominable not-children tried to skewer her with its spear. She leapt up, catching one of the other bear riders by the throat as she went, and pinned it to the ground. It took less than a moment to slice its throat, before she rolled away from a crushing blow from a different polar bear.

  Her lips curled into a snarl, and she connected to the ambient mana in the air. As always, it asked her a simple question: what concept did she want to enact? She made her decision, and a pale, unearthly green took the air around her, and the snow at her feet started to sizzle and pop as it melted away. “Necro Aura of Acid.”

  Realizing that she wasn’t as easy a prey as they might have expected, her attackers hesitated. Save for the horned beast in front, which charged her directly, ice growing up from its legs to cover its chest in frost armor.

  “Necrotic Ray!” Ernesto’s voice called out.

  The beast took the hit directly in the side of its head, and stumbled, then fell at Maeryn’s feet. She approached to slice its neck—just to be sure—only to stumble backwards as it lifted its head and roared in defiance, hurling itself towards her. “Abyss!” she swore, flinging herself to the side, mostly evading the attack. Mostly. The claws managed to land a deep scratch along her neck, which bled freely.

  Maeryn grit her teeth as she hissed in pain, backing a little further away. How had it survived a direct necromantic spell?! Did it just have that much vitality? She clamped down on those thoughts, refocusing on survival. She could question it later. Instead, she circled around the beast and leapt up, blades flashing as she returned the wound in kind, with interest.

  A moment later, the monster’s head fell from its shoulders, the smell of copper rapidly filling the air as blood spilled from the corpse. But that just meant it was time to deal with the others. Even as that thought crossed her mind, Terrance all but flew out of the tent from next to Ernesto. His rapier, normally glowing the soft green of wind magic, instead was almost violently pulsing with lavender light.

  Without words, Maeryn took one side of the polar bears and their riders, and Terrance took the other. Every strike the rogue made held the odd effect of momentarily paralyzing the victim, making it all too simple for him to leave a cursed blow before following it up instantly with a lethal strike.

  Of course, Maeryn didn’t have much trouble either. With her Necro Aura of Acid, she was literally dissolving the not-quite-human foes’ spears as they attacked with them, and the polar bears were instinctively backing away. Perhaps they knew, somewhere in their heart, that entering that field would mean being eaten alive.

  In any case, inside of three minutes, it was done. The ground was bloody and littered with corpses, and the air stank of death and the almost-metallic odor of Maeryn’s acid spells, but everyone was safe again.

  Maeryn looked up from where she’d just finished ending the last bear, and met Terrance’s gaze. His eyes were the same intense hollow as before, and she belatedly realized that he was using void magic. Not that she could blame him. Her eyes flicked at the enemies at his feet, and she gave him a nod. She wouldn’t have guessed it was so useful in direct combat, but clearly he made it work.

  Terrance nodded back at her, and then almost in sync, they both let go of their dangerous magics. Maeryn’s aura winked out, and his face softened as he relinquished the void. “You okay?” the rogue asked, nodding at her neck. “You’re bleeding pretty bad there.”

  “Bad scratch from the big guy over there,” she told him with a grimace. “I’ll be fine. It’s not that deep. Neck and head wounds just bleed a lot. You mind getting a bandage out of my supplies over there? I’m gonna clean it up and apply pressure.”

  “Can do.”

  Maeryn quickly grabbed a pot, threw some snow into it, and set it over the fire, infusing the pot with Warm Object fire cantrip—available to anyone of any element—for good measure. The snow melted instantly. A quick application of the Purify cantrip to ensure the water was clean for use, and Maeryn used the now pristine water to wash away the blood on her neck with a hiss of pain.

  Why did it always hurt worse after the fight was over?

  Terrance returned moments later, a fresh white bandage in his hands. Too large. Maeryn took it from him, roughly tore it in half, and then pressed it against her neck firmly while handing the other half back to the rogue. “Now tape to hold it down. Should be in the same pack.”

  “On it.” He was back fifteen seconds later, and she tilted her head as best she could give him access as he carefully but firmly taped the bandage in place. His hands were steady—no doubt from having to treat his own wounds growing up—but the uneasy expression on his face told Maeryn that he’d never had to help somebody else like this before.

  He was doing great, though. The ability to quickly follow instructions like this without panicking was exactly what she needed. After he pulled away, Maeryn slowly relaxed her hand. When the first aid stayed right where it needed to, her expression softened. “Thanks for the help.”

  Terrance half-smiled, half-grimaced. “Anytime, Maeryn. Hope it doesn’t scar.”

  “Honestly? Me too. Agatha would use it as an excuse to drill me endlessly about battle awareness.”

  An enormous yawn rang through the camp as Dan exited the tent a moment later. “Eh? What’s going on?” Then his eyes finally opened, and he took in the carnage. His gaze flicked from Maeryn to Terrance, then to the bloodied snow and the scattered corpses. Finally, he looked back to her. “So, the one time somebody suggests not having a watch, we have a big monster attack. I’m beginning to see your point about chaos spirits, Maeryn.”

  “Whatever happened to coincidence and confirmation bias?” Maeryn teased him lightly, remembering the alchemist’s old skepticism.

  Dan rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Around you? The evidence otherwise is starting to pile up. I mean, really? A yeti, polar bears, and ice fae?”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “We’ll make a believer out of you yet,” Terrance told him jovially, throwing an arm around Dan’s shoulders.

  The alchemist ducked away. “Let me just go put up another Ice Wall. It’s lucky that the storm subsided, otherwise we’d be half buried in snow at this point.”

  Maeryn stilled. She hadn’t noticed until that very moment that the wind wasn’t threatening to deafen them, despite the Ice Wall barrier having been destroyed. That could only mean…! “This isn’t luck,” she whispered, frantically changing her paradigm back to ice and stretching her awareness. Sure enough, the storm had stopped utterly. What little ice magic in the air was rapidly fading, reintegrating into the environment. “The dragon knows we’re here. It stopped the storm.”

  “That is good news, no?” Ooble suggested, coming out of the girls’ tent. He was completely fluffed up in his winter outfit, obviously unwilling to brave the cold without it. Which, fair. Being coldblooded and exposed to the frigid temperatures would have him very quickly becoming quite ill or dying. “If the ice dragon knows we are here, and ceased their storm, then that is a sign we are welcome.”

  Everyone exchanged glances, and Maeryn gave Ooble a slow nod. “It would seem so.” Despite the apparent good fortune, she couldn’t quite silence the niggle of doubt in her heart. But their path was clear, now. They could only keep moving forward.

  Maeryn, Dan and Ooble took the time to skin the polar bears and yeti, while also harvesting the bear meat. No sense in wasting perfectly good supplies, even if the process was messy. And smelly. And generally disgusting.

  Terrance assisted largely by keeping a breeze blowing away from the tents, allowing everyone within to escape the worst of the otherwise nauseating stench of blood and guts. Ernesto kept up a simple Holy Aura of Warmth to ensure nobody got frostbitten in the process. Afterwards, he and Maeryn used Acid Spray to dispose of the unwanted corpses, though Dan requested the rest of the yeti corpse be kept for later study. Purging all traces of the grisly work from everyone’s clothes and hands afterwards was simple with the Purify fire spell.

  Finally, when everything was taken care of, Maeryn stumbled off to bed, thoroughly ready to get some rest. Thankfully, her exhausted body was more than able to quiet her restless mind, and she fell into a deep slumber.

  The next morning, Maeryn awoke to a gorgeous view of the sun rising over pristine snowy plains. The sky was almost completely clear, the air crisp without biting, the wind light. On any other day, in any other circumstance, she would have taken it as an omen of a wonderful day. Today, however, it left a gnarled knot of dread in her stomach.

  She listened as Frankie cheerfully discussed how much easier it would be to travel without the snowstorm fighting them every step of the way, while Dan calmly reapplied the Ice Resistance enchantments to the SPATTs. Ooble enthusiastically bantered with an equally excited Peter over what it’d be like to actually talk with a living dragon. Even Terrance and Ernesto seemed lighter, more optimistic as they doled out everyone’s breakfast.

  Only Veronica seemed to be on Maeryn’s wavelength as she sidled up to her. “I don’t like this,” the cartographer murmured. “This feels like a trap.”

  Maeryn looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “I agree, but why do you feel that way? You’re not a hunter.”

  Veronica scoffed bitterly. “I may not make a living fighting to the death, but social traps are traps all the same. The stakes are just different.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “And this? This feels like a trap. We wanted to talk to the dragon. What possible reason would a dragon want to talk to us?”

  She’d put her finger exactly on what had Maeryn so bothered, and the hunter nodded quietly. “Yeah. That’s what I’m stuck on too. It could be anything from loneliness or curiosity…”

  “...to just letting us stroll right into its gaping jaws with no effort on its part,” Veronica finished pessimistically. “But it’s too late to change course now. The die is cast. Just… tell me that you’re ready to fight a dragon to survive.”

  “I don’t think anyone is ever ready to fight a dragon,” Maeryn muttered. “But if that’s what it comes down to, I won’t go down easy. You’ll get a chance to run. I promise.”

  The mapmaker didn’t say anything for several seconds. “That actually does make me feel better,” she admitted softly. “You’re the strongest person I know. If anyone could pull off a fighting retreat against an ancient flying magical beast of ice and death, it’d be you.” She straightened her back and shook herself off. “Right. Let’s just get this over with.”

  Maeryn kept her face carefully blank as Veronica walked away. As much as she appreciated Veronica’s vote of support, that was a lot of pressure to live with.

  The image that Frankie had inspired flashed through her mind: Maeryn, free of her responsibilities, ready to fly and explore the world. The hunter let it linger behind her eyes for a few seconds before reluctantly banishing it. She had a long way to go to get there.

  And the first step was dealing with this dragon.

  Soon enough, they boarded their SPATTs and set out. Without a blizzard constantly hindering them, their progress was simple and easy. After a couple of hours, they spotted a pack of white wolves in the distance, and the leader eyed them before moving on. A while later, they passed a pack of yetis crouching over holes in a frozen lake, staring intently. Fishing, probably.

  The yetis barely even looked up as Maeryn and the others passed, and it made her wonder. Why had they been attacked the previous night? She doubted she’d ever know for sure, but still. She’d thought the yeti had been the one in charge, but maybe it’d been the ice fae? She didn’t know anything about them at all.

  She’d asked Dan while they were harvesting the polar bears, but Dan didn’t know anything about them at all except their appearance. Records from that time were understandably scarce, considering how much had been lost during the Nameless Plague incident.

  They drove and drove, until the sun started to dip beneath the horizon once more. “We made excellent time!” Dan enthused as they rapidly set up camp. “At this rate, we’ll reach the dragon before lunch the day after tomorrow.”

  “I thought you were on team Caution,” Terrance pointed out bemusedly.

  “What can I say? Ooble made excellent points. And the dragon did stop the blizzard. So far, the signs point towards being friendly.” Dan grinned. “And it’s the chance to see a dragon in person! We’ll be the first ones to see one alive in a thousand years! You can’t tell me that’s not exciting!”

  Maeryn said nothing as the others joined in. She hoped they were right. That this ball of anxiety twisting her insides was baseless.

  The team ate well that evening, using some cooking oil and seasoning to fry up some polar bear flank steaks. But Maeryn barely said a word, lost in thought.

  That night, she took third watch with Dan, who engrossed himself in his various reading materials. She didn’t mind; that was just who he was. Always studying, always learning. Also, it gave her a chance to do something debatably risky. “I’m gonna stretch my legs. Be back in a minute.”

  “Alright,” Dan acknowledged without looking up.

  She rose from the fire and walked around the camp, going to the other side of the tents… out of sight from everyone. She took a moment to change her mindset, to align herself to Freedom, Movement, and Breath. To the magic of the wind.

  Maeryn took a deep breath, and channeled a Wind Whisper, bringing the little orb of green energy to her mouth to capture her words. “Hello. I am Maeryn, a human from far to the north. My friends and I come in peace. I wanted to thank you for halting the blizzard, but I also want to respect your wishes. I do not know you, or any of your kind. I can’t say if you would find our presence impertinent or insulting. I merely wish to negotiate a pact of nonaggression while we travel through these lands. If you are amenable to meeting, please leave me a sign, and I will meet with you wherever you wish. If not, then I will redirect my people to give you a wide berth. I humbly await your response.”

  She let the spell fly towards the ice dragon in the distance, wondering if she’d just made a massive mistake. There was no guarantee the dragon understood the human language. She couldn’t even predict if the dragon could hear it at all, after all this time keeping the storm raging. But with the blizzard gone, her message was sure to at least reach the ancient being. All she could do was hope she hadn’t made things worse. She released an anxious sigh, then returned to retake her seat at the campfire.

  “Sending a Wind Whisper back home?” Dan asked idly, turning a page.

  “Something like that, yeah,” Maeryn responded, carefully keeping her tone between dismissive and casual. It worked; the alchemist grunted distractedly and returned to his reading.

  Maeryn kept up her watch dutifully over the next hour, wondering how long it would take for the dragon to receive her message. How long would she wait before she assumed the worst? Morning, she decided. If she didn’t get a response by morning, she’d direct her team to go around.

  Mere minutes before she was about to get up and wake Ooble for his shift, mana resonance flared sharply. Both she and Dan instinctively looked towards where the dragon awaited in the distance, and then to a patch of snow a short distance away. It was… shifting. Parts of it freezing into solid, pale blue ice, standing out starkly against the white landscape and the night sky. The ice crackled as it splintered into elegant but severe shapes. Maeryn recognized them immediately. They were symbols that she had seen before, back in Skonelk—the home of the dragonkin.

  Draconic.

  “I’ll get Ooble!” Dan reported, notes of panic in his voice as he raced back towards the tent. Maeryn merely stared at the writing, scarcely believing that her message had worked.

  A minute later, the dragonkin saboteur was at her side, reading the writing with audible excitement. “It reads, ‘I await you. No harm shall befall you, unless you turn your blades against me, or if you refuse to meet with me.’”

  “Well, that’s about as definitive as it gets,” Dan muttered. “Meet the dragon, or else. At least we’re guaranteed safe passage.”

  He was right. Maeryn felt her gut unclench a little. It was the best possible scenario. Good. That was good. Now she only had to worry about accidentally offending a creature older than the conflict of their world. No pressure.