Let Them Bite ~ GG Onslaught

    “You are… imperfect…” the blue fang hissed, cocking its head to the side to stare down at Seelie. Its hollow eyes narrowed as its long serpentine tongue clicked against its icy teeth. 

    Seelie didn’t listen to the creature; its Music had long gone cold and unnatural. It had nothing worth hearing now. But whoever the blue fang had been before their death, they must have been the chatty type. 

    The blue fang snarled as Seelie danced around it, staying just out of reach of its biting chill. 

    But, they could do nothing to stay out of sight. 

    Like most folk, Seelie worked best in a team, with someone to cover their six. They worked best as support, capitalizing on openings that others created for them. Seelie was, to be frank, absolutely terrible at fighting solo. 

    By themself, Seelie was a bright blue glittering target who jangled whenever they moved too quickly. 

    …

    “Our scouts have reported mega predators in the swamp, seemingly following the Grove caravan,” Pipsqueak explained as she passed around sketches and summaries. “They’ve got your tree’s blights. Bloodborne, moontouched, mummy rot, and frostmaiden’s kiss? Sound like nasty things.” 

    The grove-born defenders mumbled or chuckled agreements– many sporting blight-affected eyes, cured or not. They hadn’t realized before meeting other colonies, but the Grove seemed to have more blights than anyone else had seen before. 

    Unique, horrible ones, too! 

    Each mega predator was a terrible creature, even in sketch form. The summaries that came along with them spoke of tragedies– some of the cove-born gasped or cursed as they recognized the name and sketch on the medical paperwork of the mummy rot predator. 

    But it was the frostmaidens-infected blue fang which caught Seelie’s attention. 

    …

    “Ugly little thing…” 

    Seelie hissed as they shook their arm, sending a cascade of ice scattering in the wind. They hadn’t gotten blasted by the monster’s ice breath, but just being near it was enough to freeze the moisture clinging to Seelie’s fur. 

    It was weighing Seelie down, slowing them, drawing them closer and closer to the blue fang’s maw. 

    And the bastard seemed to know it. 

    The blue fang hadn’t even swiped at Seelie, content to let them dart between trees & stumps as it simply strolled after them. There was nothing to distract it or keep it from locking straight onto them and them alone as Seelie desperately tried to outrun it toward the path. 

    It seemed to catch on as the forest began to thin toward Deadman’s Cove proper– towards help.

    And it did not seem pleased.

    …

    It wasn’t what was there that caught Seelie’s eye. It was what wasn’t. 

    Seelie’s brow furrowed as they looked over the dusk blue fang’s meagre file. 

    Name: REDACTED at the request of the family.

    Age: REDACTED at the request of the family.

    Frostmaiden’s Kiss Infection Date: REDACTED at the request of the family.

    Medusa Syndrome Infection Date: REDACTED at the request of the family.

    Deliver the retrieved heart flower to the Well of Remembrance– no special instructions on contacts for the planting. 

    Huh.

    Seelie’s tongue clicked as they set the papers down, trying to block out the whispers rumbling throughout the tent. It was nothing they needed to pay attention to. Their compatriots could gossip all they wanted about theories on who the blue fang was or why the family had wiped any mention of them from the files.

    But Seele knew everything they needed to know already.

    Whoever the person was in life, either they or their family had thought they’d been special enough to outrun their fate. 

    Seelie would set them back on the path.

    …

    The blue fang snarled, its lips curling over its frozen teeth. “Disgusting. Wrong. Weak.

    “‘Can’t fight me alone..?” 

    Yes, Seelie couldn’t fight it alone, and they weren’t rising to that stupid taunt. They weren’t an idiot, and they weren’t special. 

    They were, however, close enough to see the rising smoke from the log house. 

    “Don’t worry…” the blue fang hissed. “I can fix you…” 

    And between one step and the next, Seelie was flying. The blue fang’s wings snapped open, slamming against Seelie’s side. There was no time to correct themself mid-air.

    Seelie landed wrong, skidding face-first through the debris and mud. 

    There wasn’t pain– not at first. Only a sharp heat, cutting through the sting of the cold, brackish water, freezing them into the mud.

    They heard shouting, coming closer, but not fast enough. Not fast enough to stop the blue fang from swooping down, grinning with all its teeth.

    “Don’t worry… You’ll add to my power. ‘You’ll be worth… something in the end…”

    Seelie snarled, glaring up at the blue fang opening their gigantic maw. 

    Their claws dug into the mud.

    They weren’t dying to some pretentious bastard. Not today– not ever. 

    The blue fang leaned forward, the wind whistling through its mane of icicles– whispering to Seelie.

    “Don’t worry…” whispered the wind, curling around Seelie like a pleasantly warm draft. “Worth something… you’re not alone…”

    It melted the ice freezing their legs to the ground before running up to dance through their fingers. 

    “You’ll add to… your… power…”

    Seelie’s claws dug into the mud as if curling around a kill. 

    It froze under their fingers. 

    “You… don’t… fight alone…”

    Seelie looked up and met the blue fang’s grin with one of their own.

    Before they moved their claws aside, letting the ground beneath them shoot up. The frozen ball of ether slammed into the blue fang’s jaw with enough force to knock out one of its icy teeth.

    ‘Just as the hail of arrows began.