Elegy for a Star

CHAPTER SUMMARY (SPOILERS):

“Tess, duck!” Gwendolyn shouted

Tess immediately planted herself into the snowy ground. The warrior flicked her arm and a spinning dagger caught the wolf that had been charging Tess from behind. It whined and circled around to try a new angle.

Their march today had been interrupted by some howling. Gwendolyn tried to circumvent the danger, but the wolves had already locked onto their scent. The sudden, eclipse-driven winter had likely starved the pack for a few days, so they were willing to take on some danger for the possibility of food.

When Tess lifted her face from the snow, her vision was blurry. She could still see Gwendolyn several paces ahead, a wolf with its teeth buried into her left arm. Gwendolyn didn’t even cry out. Her face was focused and professional, even as she skewered the wolf’s midsection with that broken sword, peeling it from the wolf’s stomach and spilling its steaming guts into the snow. Gwendolyn pulled her arm to the side, toppling the creature, and gave it one strong hack across the neck.

There wasn’t enough time to consider the violence, the gore, the death. Survival was all that ran through Tess’ mind. Her gaze snapped to the side to see a gray blur charging Gwendolyn from behind. “Gwen!” She cried out. The warrior looked toward her and then spun to face the charge. It was too slow, and Gwendolyn was taken to the ground by the beast, her blade knocked from her grasp. With the snow in her eyes, it was too blurry to tell exactly what was happening, but she heard Gwendolyn struggle.

“Hold on!” Tess shouted, scrambling to her feet, only to be taken back to the ground, chest first. There was a weight on her back that kept her from rising, growling in her ear mingled with the sound of her panicked breathing. “No! No!” She cried out, but she heard a crunch and felt the weight immediately lift from behind her. She spun onto her back, and saw the wolf floating in the air. Its jaw was snapped down to meet its neck, its eyes unfocused, its entire body limp. Holding it by the scruff was Miri, floating just above.

“You can-..” Tess started, but Miri was already on the move. Tess followed the motion and saw Gwendolyn on her back, the wolf atop her. Gwen had her gloved hands pressed into the canine’s chest to keep it at bay, but the wolf was beginning to overpower her, outmaneuver her, snapping its jaws wildly just in front of Gwen’s face. Miri glided toward the struggle and pulled the wolf back just a bit, helping Gwen to push the beast enough to draw another dagger and drive it through the wolf’s vulnerable neck.

The beast toppled, and the rest of its pack soon fled in a chorus of yelps and barks.

Tess rolled over onto her back, panting. Something burned along her shoulders and her chest felt sore, but she didn’t care. She just wanted a moment to breathe. A chance to close her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Gwendolyn asked. Tess didn’t have to open her eyes to know that Gwen was standing just above her.

Tess let out a heavy breath, “I think so.”

There was a pause before Gwen asked, “Is that your blood or one of the wolves’?”

“I don’t know.”

Tess opened her eyes and saw both Miri and Gwen standing over her. Miri was licking blood from her fingertips. Gross. Gwen extended a hand to her, “We best make tracks before they come back. No doubt they’ll be stalking us for a long while.”

“No rest breaks. Got it.” Tess replied neutrally.

“Yeah,” Gwen nodded, “No breaks.”

Even if they hadn’t been attacked by the wolves, today’s march was even worse than yesterday’s. Not only did Gwen and Tess discover a number of bleeding yet superficial wounds along Gwen’s arm and Tess’ back, but she was already sore from the day before. Even worse, they had begun an incline up a hill, leading to a mountain. How was she going to ascend that, hurt and sore and unacclimated to this environment? 

Still, she was determined to go wherever Gwen went, if only because of what Miri told her last night. Speaking of, Miri remained with them this time, floating upon her back just beside Tess, keeping an easy pace. To say that Tess was envious of the imperceptible-yet-tangible demon was an understatement. This morning had proven that Gwendolyn couldn’t see her demonic second half.

One saving grace was that Thyr showed past the Black Sun in full now, and the snow was quickly melting at their altitude, which made each step a little less exhaustive and the wind less biting. Tess still lagged behind Gwendolyn either way.

This was good for communicating with Miri. Miri could read her thoughts, but that was a disturbing concept to Tess, so she liked to keep it audible, even if it changed nothing. It was more comforting. “How did you do that?” Tess whispered.

“Do what?” Miri responded, as loudly as she could to rub it in to Tess that she, at least, didn’t need to be silent like Tess. The sound traveled the surrounding hills, but Gwendolyn didn’t seem to hear it. Or, at least, she didn’t acknowledge it.

Tess scowled, “You know what I’m talking about.”

“Oh, you mean when I saved your lovely asses?”

“Yes.”

Miri gave a girlish laugh and slipped through the air to be in front of Tess, lying prone in the sky, arms supporting her chin. “Guess our bond is good for something. Maybe it means that I make us telekinetic. Or maybe I’m just our personal ghost that fucks shit up. Who cares?”

“I care,” Tess replied.

Miri frowned, clearly feigning offense, “I haven’t heard a thank you yet.”

Tess felt bad for that. Miri had not only saved Tess, but saved Gwendolyn when Tess couldn’t. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” Tess said softly, “Thank you, Miri. You saved us.”

“You’re welcome!” Miri chirped.

“Did you say something?” Gwen asked.

Tess’s heart sank in her chest for a moment. But maybe some conversation with Gwen could distract her from her burning calves. She tried taking some longer strides to catch up to Gwendolyn, to be within speaking range, before pressing some questions.

“No, no,” Tess said, “Well.. I mean, kind of.”

“No breaks, Tess. Sorry,” the silver-haired woman replied, maintaining her pace.

Tess felt embarrassed by Gwen’s assumption, but didn’t take it personally. She did ask for a lot of breaks this morning and the day before. “You mentioned the Expeditionary Corps. Fighting the Black Sun? How does that work?” Tess was genuinely curious, beyond just what it meant for her and Miri’s connection. How were mortals meant to battle against some celestial object? How does one take a blade to the stars?

“Oh,” Gwendolyn replied, looking over her shoulder, like she was surprised to hear Tess asking about it. “Well, the Expeditionary Corps doesn’t really share the specific secrets, but they take recruits and train them,” Gwen started, hiking up her rucksack higher upon her shoulders, “When a recruit is ready, they’re sent into the Black Sun.”

“How?” Tess immediately asked.

“They don’t share the specifics,” Gwendolyn repeated, “But they found a way. While there, they battle against its denizens before returning.”

“Its denizens?” Tess asked, confusion dripping from every syllable. For every answer, five more questions came to mind. Miri, aware of Tess’ every thought and feeling, gave a laugh that Gwendolyn was deaf to.

Gwendolyn nodded, a motion that Tess only detected by the back of her head. “Yes,” the warrior added, “The Old Gods.”

Tess was tired of echoing every phrase that Gwendolyn spoke, and just requested, “You’re going to have to run me through it all.”

“It’s a lot,” Gwendolyn explained, “But I’ll give you the short version.” She took a breath and remained in silence for a moment. The crunch of snow was all Tess heard for a few long moments before Gwen broke the silence, “A long time ago, and I mean a very long time ago, there were gods for everything. A god for this mountain, for that river, for the roads we walk, for the fire in our stoves.

“Well, it was like that for a long time before those gods started to get curious. Guess they didn’t know where they came from, just like we don’t. The gods might be our caretakers, but they didn’t make us. Anyway, they left, abandoning their powers and gifts to the pantheon that chose to remain—those that we worship now—to go search the entirety of the celestial black for their own answers.

“But the story goes that they found something terrible, and it changed them. When they came back, thousands of years later, they were what you see in the sky.”

Tess looked up at that inky hole in the blue sky and imagined it as some great city owned by a myriad of gods.

“It’s hard to see right now, with Thyr so close to it,” Gwendolyn added, “But there’s a stream of Thyr’s light leaving it and pouring into the Black Sun. We call that stream the Arc, but someone else can teach you about that. Point is, the Black Sun is eating our star, and once it has, it will eat us. Not like it would matter at that point.”

“How-..” Tess blurted.

Gwendolyn seemed to predict her question, “Our God of Light, Uthr. He resides in Thyr. He is constantly at battle with the denizens.” Gwen sighed, “But he’s losing. The Expeditionary Corps helps by delving into that fucking thing and killing what we can in support of Uthr.”