Rupert had a worried look on his face as he entered the house, and the others mirrored his expression. “We found something out there besides elk,” he said.
“What?” Magdala asked.
“I think something’s moved into the area. I think we caught the trail of an ice giant.”
Magdala froze. “What do you mean? They don’t come down this low.”
“I know that,” Rupert said, “but still…I think there’s an ice giant prowling around the woods. We have to be on guard, just in case it stumbles into the village.”
Magdala thought for a moment. “Well, come and eat dinner, and we’ll talk about it afterward. Did you catch anything?”
“Three deer and one elk,” Sean said.
And with that, we shelved the discussion about the ice giant and gathered around the table for rabbit stew.
CHAPTER 63: BRYNN’S CONFESSION & THE ICE GIANT
After dinner,Brynn and I were sitting alone by the fire. Alina and Mavis were doing the dishes, Thornhold and Ray were huddled around the table with Rupert, playing a game of Cardos, which was apparently some sort of betting game, and Aisling and Sean were out in the shed, with Magdala, stringing up the carcasses they’d brought home to bleed them.
“What’s going on between you and Aisling?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“What do you mean?” Brynn blushed.
I just stared at her, giving her one of those ‘you know what I mean’ looks.
She let out a sigh. “I like him,” she said, ducking her head. “I miss my boyfriend, I really do, but I feel so alone here and…Aisling is nice. He’s different.”
“You have to remember—he’s a Sym.”
“I thought we weren’t calling them that anymore,” Brynn said. “Remember what Otsiano said?”
“I know, I know.” And I did know. The Syms were real, they weren’t just bits of plastic and metal and programmed computer chips. Here, in this world, they were as real as we were, and they lived their lives, they breathed and lived, and they died. Justlike we did. But it seemed so odd to hear her say she was falling for what was, essentially, the creation from some programmer’s mind.
“He’s not just a figment of imagination,” she said. “Maybe in the beginning, but Erenye, we may never get out of here. We may only have a chance to have a real family if we stop looking at these people—except for the game employees—as constructs. Something about Aisling makes me want to be near him. He’s polite and courteous and everything I could want in a man.”
I tapped my fingers on the table. “What about your boyfriend, though? What if we do make it out?”
“Then I’ll go back to him, happily. But what if we don’t? Should I just throw away what could be a budding relationship on technicalities?” Brynn rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know what to do. We’ve only known each other for a few days, but it seems so...”
“Perfect?” I asked. The thought occurred to me that—since there were so many female players in the game that the devs had played on the romance side as well. Not that men didn’t need or want romance, but women could be easily engaged.
“Perfect doesn’t exist, but he’s as close to it as I think I’m going to find.” Brynn sighed. “Don’t judge me? Please?”
I didn’t know what to say. “I’m not. Not really. But…are you coming with us when we leave? Are you staying here? You’re not one of the lycanthroids. You can’t shift into wolf form.”
“I saw Aisling shift,” she said, lowering her voice. “Out by the woodpile. He sensed something nearby and shifted to run off into the woods. When he came back, he said he thought it might just be some goblin or kobold or something. He was gorgeous—a snow-white wolf twice the size of a regular one. He was so gentle, he sniffed my palm and licked it.”
She had the dreamiest look on her face, and I realized that she had a mad crush on him. There wasn’t anything I could sayto break through that haze right now. I wondered how Magdala would feel about it. After all, Brynn couldn’t have children with him, could she? And that opened a whole new slate of questions to which I didn’t have the answer.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said. “I think it’s a mistake, Brynn, regardless of how nice he is, but you have to make up your own mind. But please, let us know in advance if you decide to stay here.”
She nodded. “I promise,” she said, a solemn look on her face. “I don’t know what to think, really. But there you go.”
I was about to say something when a scream from outside echoed through the night. I leaped up, as did Sean, Thornhold, Reggie, and Ray.
“That was Magdala!” I grabbed for my boots and jammed my feet into them. Then, sliding my cloak on around me, I grabbed my weapons and headed for the door. Brynn and the men were right on my heels. We spilled out into the night to hear shouts from the direction of the shed. As I pulled my sword—the night was no place for a bow when you couldn’t see that far ahead to tell companion from foe—Sean pushed ahead, rounding the corner by the shed. He came skidding right back.
“It’s the ice giant—it’s breaking into the shed. I can see Aisling fighting it, but I don’t know where Magdala or Rupert are.” He quickly turned again and charged back around the corner. Alina stood to one side and began an incantation. Reggie joined her and Ray, both muttering spells.
