Isaac disentangled himself from Aster, jumped up and shouted at the familiar.

  “Use your horns! Your horns! Cave his fucking face in!”

  Rocky tilted his head back, growled at his adversary, then pounced forward. Chips of gold scattered, the golem staggered, stunned. The familiar didn’t let up, he smashed his horns into the golem’s face again and again.

  The golem attempted to get away from the relentless dismantling of its face but Rocky followed it every step of the way up to the breach in the wall.

  “Kick him! Kick him the fuck out!” Isaac stood jumping and screaming until he reddened in the face, not paying any attention to the rest of the fighting going on around him.

  The familiar once again responded without delay. He let go of the golem, who staggered back, too pummeled to respond. He jumped up and caught onto the edges of the breach, flexed his arms and swivelled forward with his hind legs and kicked the golem square of its feet.

  Aster heard the crashes of the golem tumbling down the hill. The courtyard erupted into cheers and the villagers surged forward. She struggled to take in what she had just witnessed. Just how strong was this familiar? Rocky didn’t move according to his size at all.

  Isaac whistled at the familiar and he came bounding over in just two leaps. Isaac grasped onto the hand that the creature offered him but turned to help Aster up first.

  “We’ll provide the distraction, you provide the cover fire! Once we have his full attention, you come in from behind and finish it!” He had to shout over the celebrations of the villagers in their renewed vigor to throw out the remaining invaders. “Okay?”

  Aster felt blindsided, everything moved so fast, her heart beat so fast that each pulse blurred into the next. A searing pain in her chest accompanied the acidic feeling in her stomach. The light hurt her eyes.

  “Aster? Are you alright?”

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine.” She struggled to a standing position.

  “Right. I’m off then. Remember, come in behind him and finish it once he’s occupied with us, but be quick about it, I don’t think we can hold on for too long.” He hoisted himself up onto the familiar’s shoulders with the help of a rocky hand.

  Aster felt dizzy. What was Isaac talking about? “Who are we attacking again?” she asked him.

  Isaac pointed at Augusteen. “Him.”

  “Wait, Isaac, no!” Aster shouted at him, but it was too late, he’d already gone, riding off towards Augusteen with a tremendous speed. That familiar was too good to be true. She’d never seen a golem even half as strong or agile.

  She saw now why Isaac was in such a hurry. Inga’s eldest daughter had started running out of planets to throw at Augusteen, she tried to create more from her hands but she showed all the most critical signs of mass fatigue; violent shakes, excessive sweating and a delirious expression on her face. Going over your mass limit felt like starving, dehydrating and overheating all at once.

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  Augusteen sliced any object that came his way with little apparent effort. In fact, he smiled and laughed, shouted orders and praise to his soldiers, not even paying full attention to the fight in front of him. Aster hesitated. He’d just lost his golem, but he didn’t even seem fazed.

  Isaac and Rocky burst into the middle of the fight, Isaac whipped his head back just in time to make Rocky weave away from a planet hurtling behind them towards Augusteen. Inga’s daughter shouted at them to stay out of her battle but the duo ignored her.

  Augusteen slashed out a series of intricate attacks aiming for Isaac atop the familiar, but Rocky weaved and bobbed so each slice landed on his horns. Small chips of rock flew off the familiar but the creature shrugged the damage off. The familiar thundered on and seemed poised to run Augusteen through. Augusteen laughed as if this new turn of events delighted him.

  He whipped his sword around in his hand, stuck the hilt into the ground, grasped the blade and the blade shot up in the sky with Augusteen following along for the ride. The blade shrank back and Augusteen flipped the hilt back in his hand with a casual flick of his wrist.

  “En garde!” he shouted and sliced down with a malicious gleam in his eyes.

  Isaac shouted out in surprise, being attacked from above he sat exposed, no longer protected by Rocky’s curled horns. The familiar dug his heels in but their speed decelerated too late.

  Aster heard herself shout; “Isaac!”

  Rocky twisted around at the last second and hugged Isaac tight to his underbelly. Augusteen’s sword cut deep into Rocky’s back and one of his tiny wings sliced clean off. The familiar cried out a heart wrenching sound but kept his limbs like a protective cocoon around Isaac. The duo rolled and skidded along the ground until they crashed into the wall on the opposite end.

  Rocky writhed and screamed in pain but Isaac rose to his feet unharmed.

  Augusteen landed next to Rocky’s discarded wing. He used his extending sword to catch his fall for him. He began a casual stroll towards the wing. “Oh, no no no,” he laughed and wagged his finger to and fro, “perhaps this will teach you insolent mongrels…” he left his casual walk with a sudden burst of speed and kicked the wing several paces up in the air. “...to leave my fucking golem alone!” He roared with a sudden anger.

  An inexplicable heat grew inside Aster’s own stomach to match Augusteen’s fury. Something about the way Rocky whined dug up a pain deep within her. It bubbled up to the surface and before she knew it she was screaming back at him.

  “He was innocent you little shit!”

  Augusteen put on a shocked but mocking expression. “Zhe little puppy attacked me, ‘ow can he be innocent?”

  “You attacked us first! He defended himself.”

  The golden buffoon of a man cocked his head to one side and a grin split his face. “Why, but Aster, ‘ave you gone soft for zhese interlopers? I thought you were stronger zhan zhat, Aster.” His ridiculous accent made her head ache.

  The soldiers had used the distraction their leader was causing to push the fight even further into the courtyard. They’d now reached the pyre and Inga had joined the fighting. Inga’s elder son stood surrounded by a score of soldiers, each golden clad man feinting in and out to find a weakness in the large man’s defenses.

  All of these details played at the edges of Aster’s mind and threatened to send her into a panic. Her body screamed for sleep. But the sight of that bumbling buffoon in front of her kicking Rocky’s wing had sent her blood boiling. Like she had so many times before, she used her anger to overthrow her fear.

  “I’ll take that sword and shove it up your ass! Let’s see how much you enjoy extending it then!”

  “Hahaha! I’d like to see you try! You are too predictable, Aster. How could you ever defeat me?”

  Aster snapped her armament and gravity keys off with a flick of her wrist and hooked them onto the chain around her neck. She halved her weight five times over and called forth every shred of resonance she had and sent it behind her. She exploded forward like a bullet, straight for Augusteen.

  “Like this!” She screamed.

  Augusteen balked at her suicidal charge. He hadn’t expected that.