บท 81: Chapter 81 Stella POV 2

"How do you want to take them?" Joseph asked.

Stella was looking at the very well camouflaged ice trolls, hiding under the snow in front of them. She already had her blades out, and was grinning at Joseph.

"I'll stab them, until they can't move, then you can melt them."

Charging for the first one, she used her soft walk to run across the top of the snow. Jumping at the last second, she plunged her blades unto the soft tissue at the base of the neck of the first troll. It jumped up like a startled frog, and started squalling. This caused the other three to jump up and try to attack her.

She was in such a good mood, after playing tag with Joseph all day, that she was actually enjoying this fight. Playing with trolls probably wasn't the safest thing for her to do, but she was starting to lose herself in it, cutting their tendons in the knees and ankles. As she went for their necks, she heard Joseph give a shout, and she suddenly realized she had done her part, that it was his turn.

Backflipping out of the area just before it was filled with magical fire, she waited for him to finish. When the flames cleared, he asked her if she thought that was good enough, and she gave him a look. Piling the skeletons up, he burned them again.

From that moment on, they were harassed by monsters fleeing the evil they were hunting. Several times she wondered if they would make it out, but every time, something would give them an out, and she would take it.

When they finished off the wolves with frost touch, she turned to see Joseph touch one. Her jaw dropped as she watched his eyes roll back into his head and his arm start to turn white with frost.

What should she do??? She couldn't touch him, or it would spread to her. She didn't have any magic to dispel it. There was nothing she could do, but watch as he seemed to fight the magical frost. When it was finally expelled and his arm turned back to normal, she gave a huge sigh of relief.

"Why would you do that?" she shouted. He seemed puzzled by her reaction, and based on his reply, she could tell he didn't understand her fear.

He gave her a hug, and she froze. Why was he hugging her? Was he trying to calm her down and get her to stop yelling? She shouldn't have yelled at him. He was Master Joseph.

"The next time you are about to do something dangerous, that you know is ok, let me know." It was the least she could ask of him.

The tickle fight, he asked about, didn't even deserve a response after he almost froze himself, but he was Master Joseph.

"No, those won't be ok." Her tone was too harsh, but she was happy she hadn't yelled it.

After fixing a large breakfast, she was relieved when the rest of the day went by quietly. The snow continued to pile up, and they encountered a lot of frozen creatures, but nothing was trying to kill them.

About midnight, that night, there was a distant thunder, that rang out over the land. She knew that noise. It was an avalanche. Maybe if she grabbed him up on her back, she could try running with her soft walk? She didn't think that would work. Suddenly a tall hot wall of fire sprung up in front of them.

The snow was vaporized when it hit the fire, but the steam exploded back, blowing them quite a way. Their clothes were soaked and trying to freeze. Checking to make sure Joseph was alright, she was relieved when he created a ring of fire around them.

Stripping her wet clothes off, she laid them next to Joseph's wet clothes, and threw on some dry ones from her purse. Knowing that he would be hungry soon, she spied a dead owl-bear. The pack they had all of their supplies in had been blown away in the explosion. Taking careful aim, she leaped over the flames, salvaged some of the meat from the owl-bear, then returned to the inside of the fire. Master Joseph was still standing next to the fire, warming himself, so she started cooking the meat.

The sizzle must have caught his attention, because he asked if she was cooking something.

"We lost the pack in the avalanche," she said meekly, worried he would be mad at her.

"Stella, how did your clothes?" he was obviously confused, so she explained that they were in her purse. Surely, he knew about her purse? Did he not have a pouch of some kind? It didn't cost too much…

"Stella, do you have any clothes I can wear?"

"Of course, Master Joseph. Why didn't you ask?" She pulled out the spare outfit she had for him, wondering if he really didn't know about her purse. She had assumed he would notice that the wolf hides were gone and ask about them if he hadn't.

He dressed in silence, and didn't bring it up again. She was glad. She didn't want him mad at her.

The next day was cold. It hurt their faces as they walked. She didn't even have to use soft walk to walk across the top of the snow. They had just finished recharging the fire stones, when she spied the incoming fog. It reminded her of an erupting volcano, with the smoke rolling across the land, engulfing everything in its path.

Joseph slipped his hand into hers. "I'm really nervous," he whispered.

She nodded. They were only kids and some huge evil monster that the grownups couldn't fight, and actually ran from in fear, was approaching them. It towered high into the sky, blocking out the sun as it finally reached them, engulfing them completely.

Thankfully the fire stones in their pockets started to warm up even more, as if the magic he had placed into them, were repelling the magic in the fog. She didn't mind one bit. In fact, when they got back, she fully planned to hunt down the shaman who had traded them to him, and give him or her a hug.