--Astrid—

Although she could feel mum worrying, Astrid crept forward regardless.

The delvers were only a few feet away, now, and they still hadn’t noticed her. The delver who had fought Puck was focused on his friends, grinning and talking through their weird mouth-sounds.

He was bragging, wasn’t he?

The delver stuck his nose in the air, radiating smugness.

Definitely bragging.

All smugness fell from his face, however, when he finally saw Astrid standing less than two feet from them.

He froze.

The blond delver was only a little taller than Astrid. He was surprisingly frail looking, too—slight framed and skinny. His human mouth was longer than how mum imagined herself, his eyes bigger, too. It gave him an over-expressive look, a bit like the faeries.

He gulped loudly.

His friends looked up, still sitting on the floor. The girl made an inquiring noise, and the blond pointed.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The diplurans started singing something vaguely horror-sounding. Rude.

Screaming again. Astrid winced at how loud it was. That girl—the same one as before—must have massive lungs.

[Oh, come on.] Astrid said—not that they understood. [Isn’t this too much?]

She knew delvers couldn’t respawn, but she hadn’t even attacked them yet!

Of the three, the blond was definitely reacting best. The third, a small brown-haired boy, wasn’t screaming at least—but she was pretty sure that was because he was completely frozen.

Astrid tilted her chin at the blond. [Come on. Let’s play!]

His eyes widened. Had she gotten her point across?

Apparently so, as he took a hesitant step forward. Astrid bounced on her toes excitedly, shifting from foot to foot.

He picked up on her excitement, swinging his weapon at her in a downward arc. Astrid side-stepped it but didn’t counterattack.

The girl stopped screaming (thankfully).

Astrid tipped her head challengingly. The boy came at her in earnest, jabbing and slashing in quick, practiced movements. He didn’t score a single hit.

Unnerved, he went faster, even throwing in feints.

He was good.

But not good enough.

In one, smooth motion, Astrid knocked the knife from his hand. He stumbled backwards and she used the movement to trip him.

The delvers were all on their butts, faces pale with shock.

Astrid loomed over the blond. She reached out one clawed fist and…

Gently bonked him on the head.

His face was priceless.

--Felix—

Felix squinted suspiciously at the terrifyingly humanoid creature in front of him. It was huffing air sporadically, clicking its pincer-teeth in quick staccatos.

The idea seemed impossible, but.

Was it laughing at him?