It wasn’t pouring rain anymore, so that was nice. Being absolutely soaking wet didn’t make it as nice as it could be, but it was better than having the rain continuously reapplied. True enough, Flickerpuff led her away from the muddy, soggy place they had been and to somewhere with actual stone. She couldn’t help but feel grateful for that.

It was a tiny bit nerve wracking walking through an old fae temple, though. “What is this place?” Joan asked.

“You don’t know?” Flickerpuff asked, his tone incredibly low and just above a whisper.

“I don’t know everything, I just think I do,” Joan said, her own tone going down to match his. “But no, I’ve never been here.”

“There are others like this,” Flickerpuff said. “Some are temples, some are tombs, some are retreats.”

“Do fae make a lot of temples?” Joan asked.

“Fae didn’t make this one,” Flickerpuff said.

That made Joan stop and turn towards him. “Wait, what?”

“Fae didn’t make this,” Flickerpuff said again. “It was probably made in honor of one, but it wasn’t made by one of us. The stone is wrong. It’s all cut and vicious. It’s also only partially done.”

“How can you tell all that?” Joan asked.

“Because of that,” Flickerpuff said before motioning ahead.

It took Joan a few moments to realize what he meant. In the center of the main chamber was what looked like that shattered remains of a statue, resting besides a small pillar that was partially formed. “A broken statue?”

“That’s not a statue,” Flickerpuff said.

Joan frowned and moved closer before lightly nudging one of the pieces over. It was definitely stone. Very detailed. Probably one of the most detailed statues she’d ever seen, aside from the ones that weren’t statues at all, instead people turned to stone. Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled away from it. “Oh. Do you know who they were?”

“No,” Flickerpuff said. “There’s more of them, though. It—” He went silent when suddenly a loud howl could be heard in the distance.

“Oh come on,” Joan said with a light groan. “Why don’t they just give up?”

“Because—”

“I didn’t want an actual answer,” Joan said quickly. “I know they won’t. Ugh, how long has it been? Don’t want an answer for that, either.” Oh how she wished this was happening in her home realm. Running here felt so strange and weird that she probably would make almost as much distance if she just stood still and waited for the world to move around her.

The worst part was that she was only thinking that in annoyance but it was actually possibly true. She rubbed her hand and gave a soft sigh, at least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. Still twitched from time to time, though. “I hate this place.”

“Most humans are a lot more frightened in your place,” Flickerpuff said.

“I’ve been the target of a wild hunt before,” Joan said. “Kind of. But not. It’s a whole thing. Wait. Am I the fae realm of people? Wow. No wonder people get so frustrated when they have to deal with me. I must be incredibly obnoxious.”

“You’re also incredibly insulting,” Flickerpuff said.

“You were literally hunting me not… a time ago,” Joan said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “And I’m still annoyed you never told me about this.”

“I don’t even know you!” Flickerpuff said.

“You did, though! Or will, or, stuff!” Joan said.

“You aren’t making any sense,” Flickerpuff said.

“How do you think I feel? I’m the one doing it and half the time I don’t even know what I’m doing! I just throw things at the wall and hope it doesn’t explode in my face!” Joan said before grinning. “Wait, actually, that gives me an idea. Come on.” She turned and started running off again. “You said this place was made by humans, right?”

“Yesssss?” Flickerpuff said, his voice wary.

“So if I break it, nobody will care?” Joan asked.

“I suppose not,” Flickerpuff said. “But why--”

“Eeeee, this is going to be fun!” Joan said, unable to stop herself from giving an excited little hop. “I haven’t been able to do something like this in ages!”

“What?” Flickerpuff asked.

“Ambush!”

------

Joan couldn’t help herself from grinning when she drew the last arcane symbol on the wall of the halfway done temple. Was it a bit much? Yes. Would the others likely yell at her for it? Oh, definitely. Was it going to be the most amazing thing she had likely ever done? Well, as Joan? Certainly.

Eeeee, she couldn’t help but be giddy when she saw the hounds bound into the temple, from her vantage point in a small window opposite the entrance. Sure enough, after a few seconds the fae followed behind them. Some of the fae flew into the room, a few walked. She also noted that some of them had bent wings, a few bruises and singed hair.

It was nice to see they were getting along about as well as she hoped they would. Neverdale looked furious and the moment his eyes locked onto her, her grin only grew when she saw the rage building up. The stone underfoot was actually distorting slightly from it. “You shouldn’t be able to walk,” Neverdale said. She didn’t even need to hear the viciousness in his tone to know he was likely considering a thousand different things he’d do to her once he got his hands on her.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“You shouldn’t be able to talk,” Joan said.

“What?” Neverdale asked.

“I don’t know,” Joan said. “It sounded much more impressive in my head.” Oh, she missed being able to give awesome one-liners as the Hero. Wait. What if they hadn’t been awesome at all? What if they’d just been terrible and she’d been too focused on herself to notice? “Basically, you talk too much.”

“Your suffering will be unending,” Neverdale said with a low growl before he started to walk towards her.

“Wait!” Joan said, but he didn’t. In fact, he looked ready to wring her neck. “Well fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!” She flicked her wrist and a small knife appeared in her hand. She cut her hand just a little, letting the blood spill onto the arcane symbol she’d drawn.

Light flashed through the temple, just for a moment, before all of the fae seemed to become more ‘real’. Their wings seemed more solid, their forms seemed more settled and less distorted or shifting. Neverdale looked confused for a moment, his rage pausing momentarily while he looked around in bewilderment. “And what was the point of that? Did you think I cannot outrun you, child?”

“Well, not if this place explodes. Bye bye,” Joan said before flinging the dagger with her blood through the air. It disappeared midway through its journey, sending the few droplets of her blood onto another arcane mark she had made before. She then leaped out the window and then ran for it.

A moment later she heard the explosion and started running faster. “Flickerpuff FLICKERPUFF!” Joan shrieked. She didn’t dare look back because she was distressingly aware of just how close she was to the temple when the stone began to crumble and collapse in on itself.

Then, a moment later, she was gone. Quite a distance from the collapsing temple. A thick layer of dust was filling the air as the stonework crumbled and broke, caving in on top of the fae. She couldn’t wait to tell the Chosen about this. Assuming they got here soon. The only thing that she regretted was that she doubted it would kill them. In fact, she doubted it would even stop them for too long. “You know,” Joan said. “Most things stop running you once you collapse a building on them.”

“That seems inefficient,” Flickerpuff said. “What if you really need the thing you’re chasing?”

“Get a smaller building,” Joan said. She gently rubbed her hands. She was feeling tired, but nowhere near as tired as she felt she should have. She supposed that was one advantage to being in this realm, there was a lot more magic to draw out of the air rather than herself.

Joan started running again. “Okay, what’s next?”

“Are you enjoying this?” Flickerpuff asked.

“Maybe a little bit,” Joan said.

“This is the strangest wild hunt I have ever been a part of,” Flickerpuff said.

“You’re fae, aren’t you supposed to like things being strange?” Joan asked.

“Not to this extent,” Flickerpuff said. “Also, I feel you’re abusing my abilities.”

“Hey, they can teleport around places too,” Joan said. “Well, once they break that seal I put there, they can. It’s only fair I can do the same. I can’t even do it as well as them, since you have to direct it. If anything, I’m being incredibly fair.”

Flickerpuff just gave a sigh that she was so used to hearing.

Joan wondered if it was good or bad that even fae were apparently exhausted by her. Then again, Flickerpuff was hardly the standard.

------

“Are all fae immortal?” Joan asked.

“What?” Flickerpuff asked. “Why?”

“I’m curious, mostly,” Joan said. “I never asked before. I just kind of assumed you were.”

“We’re not,” Flickerpuff said. “We’re long lived, but not immortal.”

“Huh, neat,” Joan said.

“Don’t you think you should worry about other things?” Flickerpuff asked.

“Not really, no,” Joan said before giving a light yawn. “Maybe if I can find somewhere to nap.”

“You’re going to nap while being hunted?” Flickerpuff asked.

“It was a joke, come on, relax,” Joan said. “Neverdale is a joke, he’s--”

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Flickerpuff said bitterly. “And, since I helped you, you’re going to cause me untold suffering.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Joan said with a roll of her eyes. “I just…” She trailed off and considered it for a moment. She really was taking this a lot less serious than she should. Sure, everything had been going her way so far, but was that really a reason to get cocky? Yes, it was. But that was how the Hero did things. She took a deep breath before shaking her head. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I just let it all go to my head. It’s just been a while since I’ve actually felt like I was in control, you know?”

“I really don’t,” Flickerpuff said. “You make very little sense. How are you in control?”

“I thought fae liked speaking in riddles and all that?” Joan asked.

“We like speaking in it, not having it spoken to us,” Flickerpuff said.

“Well, that’s just you being greedy. Some of us mortals wanna have fun now and again, you know. Go absolutely wild and run around.”

Flickerpuff gave a soft sigh before shaking his head. “What is your goal?”

“My goal?” Joan asked.

“To win?” Flickerpuff asked. “To escape? It’s going to be a long time before you can win.”

Joan frowned and glanced up at the sky. It had been nearly dark, before. Yet now it was as if it was a little after noon. Without the night coming between. She really hated that about this place. “Delay.”

“Delay?” Flickerpuff asked.

“It’s really all I can do,” Joan said. “The closer I get to the end of the hunt, the more he’ll pull out the stops. He’s angry, but he’s not desperate. He’s probably imagining the things he’ll do to me once he wins and I’m just another mortal at his mercy. But he thinks he’s still got me cornered and beaten, so he’s taking his time.”

“You talk about him as if you know him,” Flickerpuff said.

“I do,” Joan said. “You’d be surprised at the number of fae I know who don’t know me.”

“Like the Nameless One?” Flickerpuff asked.

“Oh, no,” Joan said quickly. “In fact, I’m pretty sure they know me better than I know me. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about them. Even if I could, I don’t think I would. Though, there’s a thought. I wonder if the other archfeys would know about me. They were one. Do the normal fae not? No, Vanillamist didn’t know anything about me.”

“You talk to yourself a lot,” Flickerpuff said. “Is this how you mortals usually feel? This is miserable.”

“Yeah, we do. Sometimes it is,” Joan said. “Don’t lie, if the roles were reversed you’d be doing the exact same thing.”

Flickerpuff gave a sigh, but didn’t respond.

Joan wondered if she should tell him that she was hoping the Chosen would be here to rescue her. But there was always the chance he’d betray her in the end. As much as he wanted to know about the Forgotten One, she doubted his loyalty towards them would be enough to get him to keep helping her if Neverdale made a good enough offer.

As much as she wanted to believe she could delay as long as needed, if Neverdale truly got desperate then he would crush her. So long as he kept toying with her, she’d be fine. Hopefully.

Off in the distance she heard fierce barking. “Okay, then,” Joan said. “Let’s go see if we can find some flowers.”

“Flowers?” Flickerpuff asked.

“I have an idea,” Joan said.

“Why does that fill me with dread?” Flickerpuff asked.

“Because you’re setting proper expectations,” Joan said in a happy tone.