“I’ve got to say, I cannot wait for this,” Jenna says to them all as they finish up their Heroes Feast Pieni had prepared for them. It was a mix of everyone’s favourites, from protein shakes to fruits cut into little flowers, herbal teas and extra savoury goodies. Merla’s thoughts still lingered with Kruxeral. What he had said, the unexpected, horrible thought she had, combined with a kind of stage fright Merla had never felt before made it hard for her to eat more than the bare minimum but she knew she would need the boost Pieni’s magically summoned food would give them.
Jenna was practically buzzing, a hamper complete with picnic blanket by her side as the last bits of their meal disappeared into the ether. “Ever since I saw that letter I’ve been
waiting. I hope you all live, I really do. But I am coming to watch the
shit out of this.”
Astra comes up to Merla as the fae-bard stands, checking every strap of her equipment for the fourth time. She doesn’t have to say anything for Merla to know her winged companion is worried about her.
“You don’t need to look at me like that, Astra, I am fine,” Merla says, trying for a reassuring tone.
“I am merely concerned that your head and heart are not aligned, I heard what you said to the Master of Revelries this morning,” Astra says carefully.
“I will be beside you but-” “I appreciate your concern, Astra, truly. But I need to focus.” The winged unicorn falls silent with a slight nod of her starlight head.
Jenna opens a portal for them all to step through and Merla is greeted with familiar golden fields of the Summer Court. There is already a precession gathered and waiting for them. Palanquins, folk of notable standing in the court, some carrying casks of drinks and chests, others bearing nothing but excited looks as Merla and her friends step through from the Material Plane. Queen Titania is at the head of them all, wearing her ever present silver breastplate and longsword strapped to her side. Merla notes the addition of a shield on her back.
The Summer Queen looks over and with a gesture takes them all in.
“You’ve made it. Come. We have work to do today.” Titania turns and begins to lead the way down a nondescript dirt road. Merla and Astra fall into step with the procession, Baine and Frankie beside her easily keeping pace with her Mother’s long strides. Taffeta politely refuses the offer of having a ride on the Great Hound, instead choosing to walk beside BB and Ghesh. Merla had to do a double take to make sure Pieni was with them before realising the halfling with blue hair was her aarakocra friend in disguise.
As they walk, Merla tries to catch her Mother’s eye but after the second time, she takes a moment to really look at her Queen Mother. Her face is very stern, almost frighteningly so.
“Something has upset her…” Merla observes to Astra.
“She will not look at me.” “What do you think it is?” the winged unicorn asks.
A knot of worry twists in Merla’s gut. She is clearly proceeding with the Public Duel but could there be something else?
“Whatever it is we will have to deal with it after the fight.” “As you say, Merla.” The procession comes to a stop and an eladrin at the front of it waves their hands summoning a large gateway. Through it Merla sees a beautiful grassy landscape with rivers cutting through it, a network of waterways creating a delta not too dissimilar to the one where they had gone to fight in the Dust Bowl Dance. This one more variation in elevations with the rivers not running as wide, some even swirling into vortex-like pools where others are still as glass.
Queen Titania, eyes scanning the landscape before them, says softly but loud enough and to no one in particular,
“I issued the challenge so Ulorian of course chose the location. The fight is to be here, very shortly.” A pennant to the Summer Court flutters in the wind behind her.
Across the delta is another pennant, one dedicated to the Wandering Court. A figure, lithe of step, carrying a violin and completely naked comes starts to drift-skip their way over.
“Summer Court contestants? Or proxies is it?” the figure asks, looking from the Summer Queen to Baine then back up again. “I heard it’s not to be yourself Titania, yes? Hands please?”
Everyone raises a hand, whilst Frankie sits down and raises a paw.
“And associated mounts and animals. Fantastic. Marvellous. Glad to have you all here. Follow me please and assemble on that spit of land over there,” the figure says, pointing with the bow of their instrument.
“Good luck to you all,” Queen Titania says. She pauses.
“Morinn’s proclamation has made this… less than ideal but we shall do this nonetheless. I wish you well and,” she suddenly turns and Merla is confronted with the full radiant heat of the Summer Queen’s gaze,
“Merla, you and I shall have a little chat about Lady Alanaya after this.” With that, her Queen Mother turns sharply and leaves Merla on the edge of the duelling grounds.
She senses something creep up behind her. An arm suddenly wraps around Merla’s enlarged form whilst a cool, clammy hand grasps at her throat. A voice, painfully familiar to her, whispers into her mind.
“Did you really think I would let this insult stand?” A horrid worm of psychic energy sinks into her mind, trying to take root whilst simultaneously attempting to split it in two. Astra rears up, wings pinioning out, pushing the hooded fey away from them. Before they fly away Merla calls out to the magic she feels in the air, summoning it to rapidly cover the sharp silvery length of her dancing rapier. Then she thrusts it at the hooded fey, the one she and her friends had fought and banished from Daring Heights – Ulorian’s “White Knight”. Blade and song pierce and resound around the fey as Astra disengages and Merla slips from his grasp.
“Quick as the wind, Astra! To the skies!” The three various manifestations of Ulorian are all frightening, each a powerhouse unto themselves. RipTide, the twenty foot tall powerhouse, the embodiment of a raging river, angrily brings down blow after blow upon BB and Baine. Across the duelling grounds, Koi Pond’s unnatural stillness breaks into a shimmer and between one blink and the next there are now four of him. Merla’s mind races, seeing the pieces change in quick succession when the third version of the River King, Piña Colada, laughs rings out like a bell before a lethal, barbed arrow of water-turned-metal is flying towards her.
“Foq’alis,” Merla enunciated, drawing a slashing line through the air by flipping Piña Colada the ‘unicorn’. Despite the brightness of the Feywild, the Shadowfell answers Merla’s call. Her radiance is not dimmed, but the shadow she casts is darker and on the wind there is the unmistakable call of a raven.
“Hmm, interesting,” Piña Colada says, tilting his head.
“I’ll get you later.” Then he glides off.
Although the shielding feathers and cutting shadows surrounding her and Astra could not be seen by any who did not have the ability to See True, it allowed Merla a moment to take advantage of their elevated position to decide where to strike next or who to lend help to. BB’s gravity altering magic was going to be tricky to get around, but not impossible. Baine and Ghesh were taking on RipTide and Piña Colada respectively, but she worried they might need healing before too long. Taffeta was getting into position to take a precise shot. But what about the third and final manifestation of Uloiran, Koi Pond?
“I wonder how well you can all see in the dark.” The chilling calm heard in that voice was the only warning they had before the battlefield went completely pitch black.
Then the shrieking started. Wailing noises of unknown horrors overtake the sounds of the battle. Merla weaves her hand through Astra’s mane to assure herself that her partner is there with her, wordlessly reaching out across their telepathic bond.
“Do you remember where they are?” Merla asks Astra.
“I believe so,” the winged unicorn says.
“Then get ready to-” Another worm of piercing psychic magic slivers into her mind and Merla fights to not throw herself away from the pain. Again, it was Ulorian’s “White Knight”, and once more she does a crude gesture into the darkness.
Then Pieni screeches and light returns to the world.
Baine, who was going toe-to-toe with RipTide is no longer on Frankie’s back. Instead, he is in the river, the giant angry version of Ulorian having moved away sometime during the moment of darkness. Taffeta is on the ground, her skin appearing more barky, with leaves sprouting from her hair. Nearby the hooded fey is looking at Piña Colada with concern as he pulls a bolt that looks like it’s from the halfling’s crossbow, out from his side. Giant eagles fly towards Piña attempting to help by clawing at his face but they get disoriented the moment they enter the reversed gravity BB cast before. In retaliation Piña throws a dagger at Pieni.
“Now’s our chance!” Merla declares.
Diving down, Astra gets into position as Merla twirls her blade and then both disappear. She reappears in front of Piña Colada, RipTide, and the hooded fey. Quicker than wind the steel of her blade cuts deep, leaving wounds of great force on the Archfey and his white-knight. Before getting out of there, Merla sings a pure, beautiful note of inspiration to BB.
“Fuck you!” Pieni shouts at Piña.
“Well, fuck you also,” he responds, the giant eagles’ talons clawing at him.
“This is entirely mutual.” “No, this is for the Lassitude, you prick!”
“For the what?” Piña Colada asks innocently before throwing a water arrow at Pieni. This time the disguised aarakocra struggles to get up, the bolt sinking deep enough that Pieni cannot keep his concentration on the summoned giant eagles.
“Really, if we could dispense with the birds, the face is quite important you know.” As if on cue, the giant eagles dissipate as Pieni falls to his knees.
Piña leaps into the air, doing a flourish flip off of Frankie’s back, who tries to snap at his heels, and lands in front of BB.
“And also if we could dispense with this gravity thing, I put a lot of effort into this arrangement of rivers.” “The water just wants to be free!” BB counters getting ready for whatever may be coming her way.
“Who says it isn’t free?” Piña Colada asks with a smirk. A dagger flashes between them and though BB tries to move, she is too slow. Her hand goes to her side, holding closed a wound as Piña turns to the hooded fey and there’s an awkward, almost uncomfortable smile on his face.
“Doing great… Jax?” Merla sees it for the briefest of seconds: pure joy and adoration for being noticed by the one you love, only to see it crumble away at being called the wrong name.
“Oi!” Baine’s booming voice catches Piña’s attention. He pulls himself out of the river, the light of angry fire in his eyes. “Stay
the fuck away from my dog.”
As the big man hefts his cindermaul and goes to town swinging at RipTide, fire lighting up with radiant smites, Merla sees out of the corner of her eye Koi Pond suddenly appears very close to Pieni. She is about to tell Astra to move closer but BB is already countering the necrotic spell. In retaliation, Koi’s head whips over to look at her and then four successive blasts of eldritch force see her shoved away.
“Where is Ghesh?” Merla asks, trying to see where her dragonborn friend is.
“There!” Astra indicates with her muzzle.
Flying in from the other side as Baine gets knocked around on Frankie again, Merla could now hear his scream of rage as he puts all his considerable strength and anger behind every hit against RipTide. It would be frightening to see against a regular opponent but RipTide is too sturdy. Covered in blood now, dark dress ripped and torn, the giant Archfey grabs Baine and flings him into the river where he gets pulled up with the rising water in the reversed gravity.
Closer to her, Merla sees the hooded fey try to cast something at Pieni but she doesn’t let the spell come into existence. They look up at her as she counters it, and when he tries to attack her mind in retaliation she is ready, the gem in her circlet flashing with a burst of defiant sunlight. Pieni changes shape, polymorphing into a Giant Ape that rushes at Piña Colada, trying to pummel him but unfortunately not managing to land a hit. Merla seese Taffeta misty step closer to where she and Astra are flying, readying her crossbow to take a couple of shots at Ulorian’s playful form. The hooded fey also clocks this and glides down to her, ready to intervene.
“Well,
‘Jax’,” Merla calls out to them, mockingly. He looks up at her and she feels rather than sees the sneer he gives her. “How does it feel to be fighting beside the one you love and… maybe dying?”
She doesn’t wait for an answer. Merla and Astra fly over Ulorian’s White Knight into the middle of the fray between RipTide, Piña Colada, and Koi Pond with all his duplicates, her grin brilliant and wicked as steel flashes. When she is done being the storm, Merla’s reappearance is breathtaking and fierce, the unmistakable reflection of Queen Titania across every line of her body. Before the three forms of Ulorian can recover, the Daughter of Summer flies up and out of melee range once more.
The chaos of the fight continues. Ulorian’s various forms try to regain their footing but two out of three are beginning to look way worse for wear. Daggers fly at Merla’s friends, cutting words being exchanged, and spells hurled at breakneck speed.
Suddenly, the water that had been rising due to BB’s reversed gravity magic begins to come back down, Baine falling along with it.
There is a panicked moment where Merla sees Baine’s eyes widen in sudden fear before he begins to drop. But BB is there to help, catching him in a net of feather fall that sees the grin come back to his face. She relaxes a little, starting to see the light at the end, their victory, Ulorian’s defeat that will be so much more humiliating than anything she could have hoped for. The fire of Baine’s maul gets brighter as he sends out gouts of flame to RipTide and Piña Colada and then he readies himself to land. Merla is scanning too, calculating her next move. Her friends need help still, but would healing them be better?
Ghesh once again soars up behind RipTide, swinging his morning star. The collision is a resounding crack that sees the giant stumble forward and then fall, his whole body turning into a crashing wave of water that splashes onto the ground. One of the aspects of Uloiran has been defeated.
There are cries of disbelief from the crowd watching. Merla suddenly remembers where they are, that this is a duel and there are spectators. She steals a look to the Summer Court side. Sitting near her Queen Mother are three familiar figures: Roxanne, Crios and Antheia. The first two look quite condescending about the whole thing, almost irritated because they are not out here fighting. Antheia is sitting forward, highly engaged in what is happening, and looking a little less vexed.
“We are doing this, Astra,” Merla says, hopeful invigoration mixing with slightly stunned amazement. She sees her dragonborn friend continue his flight over to Piña and effortlessly smack him upside the head. The Archfey wipes at the blood on his face and is about to magically step away when Merla notices how ragged and wild Ghesh is looking, beyond any rage she has seen him in before. Thinking quickly, she counters the spell Piña was about to do and his gleeful laugh suddenly becomes very nervous.
“Together, we can do this. We can-” A cold feeling drips down her spine, cutting off her train of thought. Merla has a moment to look, eyes widening at what she hopes is not real, wishes is not possible. But it is real, it is happening and there is no way for her to stop it.
“Well, let’s make that a trade, shall we?” Koi Pond’s voice is quiet and yet Merla hears it as if he is right next to her. But he does not speak to her.
“Die for me.” Baine’s body falls into the river.
Frankie lets out a mournful howl.
“No… It can’t…” The wind begins to whip around her faster and faster. Merla tightens her grip on her rapier tighter, the angles of her face become more wild and untamed, a beauty so ferocious and incandescent. The air vibrates with heat and music.
“And we’ve had quite enough of the ‘Daughter of Summer’.” Three beams of eldritch force come at Merla, blasting her square in the chest.
“Merla!!” Astra shouts as she feels her mistress lifted off from her back and begins to fall.
She hits the ground hard, rolling with the momentum as best she can before coming to an abrupt stop, face in the dirt.
“You’re not the same person he fell in love with the first time,” Koi’s still voice says into Merla’s mind.
“How can you possibly think he’ll fall in love with you now?” Lifting her head up, blue eyes clear and as sure as the stars are bright, she stares across the distance to Ulorian’s Koi Pond form.
“Because our love is pure and from the heart – and love conquers all.” Koi’s head tilts slightly, intrigued by her rebuttal. Then their form begins to shift and swell, the three remaining versions coming together to reform into the recently defeated shape of RipTide.
O, you son of a- “Both sides have taken some losses!” the naked, violin playing figure that had greeted them before the duel says to those observing from the stands. “That half-orc ain’t moving. But which side will be the first to yield? We shall seeeeeeee! Whoever it is,
I am here for it!”
“Merla!” Astra says, landing next to her mistress.
“Quick, we must help our friends!” Deftly and quickly, Merla grabs her rapier, sheathing it as she stands, and mounts Astra in one fluid motion. It takes but a second to scan the duelling grounds and see where she can go. With two beats of Astra’s mighty wings, in a flash of starlight and moonbeams the two dash across the field, Astra brings the Daughter of Summer to be in front of the hooded fey, stopping him in his tracks.
“You
really should have told him how you felt,” Merla says. There is the sound of a glissando as she brings her hands together and a swirl of colours flash out from her splayed palms. The multicoloured rays light up the battlefield. In a kind of poetic irony that makes Merla’s smile turn wicked, two beams of the same colour strike the hooded fey and Piña Colada, electrifying both even though the two tried to dodge out of the way.
Standing nearby, Ghesh is breathing heavily, still wild and battle crazed in his rage. Merla’s voice carries easily to him, like a commander’s would to a trusted soldier, inspiring him to great deeds.
“Finish off RipTide! I know you can do it Ghesh! I’ve got you when you fall.”
“Look out!” Astra tries to warn her, but it’s too late.
An arrow strikes her in the side and Merla cries out in pain as it sinks deep, before melting into water that pours down her side. Her head whips back to see Piña Colada, drunkenly grinning at her. Their eyes lock and then his gaze shifts over to the hooded fey who is looking like he is about to collapse.
“You’ve done wonderfully for me,” Piña says sweetly before throwing a water-steel dagger at them.
The fey in front of Merla throws his hands up like a martyr as the dagger sinks into his sternum, like some sick parody of a willing sacrifice to a god – or in this case to the one he loves. The hood starts to fall back and she sees a twisted grin curl his fingers begin to draw out a familiar, powerful psychic spell. A golden ring of light appears in Merla’s eyes as she looks down at the falling fey and waves her hand over him, countering his dying will.
“Enough. Your Song is done.” With one final, strangled exhale, Ulorian’s White Knight falls into the river and is washed away.
“Oooo,” exasperated Piña Colada, lower lip sticking out in an exaggerated pout. Then he shrugs, expression changing in a flash to unconcerned indifference.
“Well at least I don’t have to invite him to brunch any more.” He ducks behind a large shrub, seemingly disappearing.
“What a useless sacrifice,” Astra says, disgusted.
“He did not even care. That fey was his subject, one of his people, and he killed him.” “This is why Ulorian must be brought down.” A head pops up from the bush Piña Colada was hiding in, proceeding the dagger that sinks into Merla’s other side. She doesn’t cry out this time, but she feels the water mix into her wound.
“Fuck you!” Ulorian’s aspect calls out to her.
Merla just grins and points at him.
If Ghesh wasn’t flying, Merla isn’t sure the dragonborn would be able to stand. But that is irrelevant at this point – the only thing that matters is what happens next and Ghesh is merciless with his strikes. The first hit sees the shit-eating grin knocked off Piña’s face as he staggers back. The next and final one mulches him into a burst of water that, like the dragonborn had done to the previous version of RipTide, sees this aspect of Uloian fall, returning to the rushing river.
Merla turns and sees a stream of water swirl up and slowly consume the newly reformed RipTide, closer to where BB is, Frankie having pulled Baine’s body from the river. The last standing aspect of the River King changes his shape and reforms into the one that is unmistakably the same one they had seen at the Dust Bowl Dance.
“Ugh, fucking fine,” Ulorian bemoans, waving a hand at the naked violin player-turned-MC.
“I’m yielding,” he mumbles.
Everything stops moving, the naked man halting mid-song. The stands go quiet, Merla and her friends freezing mid-action on the duelling grounds. She heard what the River King said, and it’s clear her friends did too. All the gathered fey from both the Wandering and Summer Courts look to Ulorian, a myriad of expressions from the different denizens of the courts. Ulorian scowl deepens.
“Don’t make me say it. What do I pay you for?!” “Oh!” the naked man says, startled. He recovers quickly turning back to the stands. “Er… King Ulorian… has graciously ceded the field to the heroes of the Summer Court. They win!”
In a crack of lightning, Queen Titania is instantly on the field, appearing next to Ulorian. Merla and Astra come closer to the rocky plateau where the two Archfey stand, noting her Mother towers over the other fey court ruler. She wonders if Titania is doing it to emphasize their victory, or perhaps there is some other reason the Summer Queen stands taller. Regardless, when Titania looks at Uloiran it is down, emphasising the difference in stature between them.
“You have been bested in the field of battle by my daughter and her companions from the town you wronged. Now…” “What?” Ulorian moans, sounding like a petulant child.
“What do you want?” Titania turns to Merla and fairly business-like says,
“I imagine you might want two specific boons of Ulorian. First to interfere with Daring Heights never again and the second to not seek revenge on any of you? Is that accurate, daughter?” Merla glances at her friends, silently checking that Taffeta, BB, Pieni and Ghesh are satisfied with these terms, absently noting that Pieni is no longer disguised. She is about to look back up when her gaze falls to Baine, still as stone and just as lifeless. Frankie is silently licking the water from his face in the tenderest way, and it breaks her heart to look at. Clenching her hands, lips pressing into a hard line, Merla finally answers.
“Yes, Mother.”
Queen Titania starts to turn back but Pieni speaks up.
“Is it possible we could specify that he does not take revenge on the places where we live? Not just us?”
Titania nods and looks back to Ulorian.
“Yes. Agreed?” Ulorian almost rolls his eyes as he begins to mumble,
“I promise not to…” “I can’t hear you,” the Summer Queen and her Daughter say in unison.
Ulorian takes an unconscious step back, eyes widening. For a moment, Merla thinks she sees her Mother glance at her and smile but then light reflects off her breastplate and there is no smile anywhere, just the Warrior Queen staring down the River King with the heat of a thousand suns.
“I promise not to seek revenge on you or your people or wherever you came from,” Ulorian vows. An almost imperceptible shiver goes through him as he speaks, the words he speaks binding him. Then he slouches in that nonchalant way that is the River King’s signature stance.
“And he should change his name to Dishwater,” Pieni adds a glint to their avian eyes.
“Fuck you,” Ulorian spits.
“Absolutely not.” “I will be rewarding my champions, of course, but you will throw something into the pot from your personal treasury,” Queen Titania says. Her tone does not allow for any kind of refusal.
Ulorian rolls his eyes.
“This was all for the- What did you call it? The… The thing I did, what was it-?” “The Lassitude,” BB says.
“Yes! That. Here you can have this.” Ulorian holds out a rod of corroded metal.
“Give it to the pale one, I thought he was very gung-ho. I expected him here but you brought a tiny, shooty halfling instead, and, well,” he looks down to Baine and smirks,
“and whatever he was.” There is a soft twang and Uloiran yelps, dropping the rod as suddenly there is a crossbow bolt in his kneecap.
“I yielded!” he screeches, attempting to hide behind Titania.
“I fucking yielded!” “Oh. Sorry.” Taffeta says with no trace of sincerity.
Queen Titania glances over and this time the smile Merla sees is small but real as she looks to Taffeta and nods.
“I’m so sorry,” Titania says, turning back to Ulorian.
“Now, walk it off and get out of my sight.” Ulorian pulls the arrow out of his kneecap, limps over and hands it back to Taffeta who politely accepts it, despite the pointed look. Then he brushes at his face, fixing the way his shirt drapes over his body and holds a hand out, expectantly. The naked violinist promptly places a fresh martini in his hand.
“Are you sure you don’t know what that seed is, by the way?” BB tries asking Ulorian.
“Oh, the seed?” Ulorian asks, smirking.
“Good luck.” Then he turns and limps away.
BB shares a concerned glance with Merla.
“Merla,” Astra says, drawing her attention to Frankie. The Great Hound has laid his head on Baine’s chest but his brown eyes are looking at Astra, pleading with her. They can all hear a soft wine coming from deep within his chest that is slowly getting louder now that Ulorian has walked off.
“I know Astra. Reassure Frankie that we will be leaving soon.” Queen Titania looks at Baine’s body on the ground, and the giant dog crying over him, and though her face remains stern, her eyes soften a little.
“He was very brave and I will always respect the warriors,” the Great Seelie Queen says, a tone of reverence in her voice. She then looks at each of them.
“Go, tend to him, restore yourselves, and… thank you. Merla, we shall speak. I will send rewards to you. You have things to do. Fort Ettin, was it?” “Daring Heights. I can take them,” Merla offers.
“You have your own transport,” the Summer Queen says. There’s a pause.
“Great.” Then she turns and quietly walks away.
Merla is suddenly torn. She doesn’t want to leave without speaking to her Mother but Baine needs to be brought back. Every second he remains in the state he is in is another moment of guilt, another moment of seeing how she failed in protecting one of her friends. She could ask Peini to bring everyone back, but then it was her who asked Baine to come fight with her. She owes it to Baine and to Varis to be there, to help bring him back-
“You can return afterwards. The Queen understands,” Astra calmly tries to reassure her.
Still, Merla cannot leave with this tension between them. She decides to cast a Message.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Femaer.” Titania doesn’t break stride.
“So it’s true.”Continued in ‘You Asked for It (Coda II - Resurrection Boogaloo)’ 🦋
, then in ‘Brave Shine’ 🌻
