by Sam Ryder
Bright white light danced along the hammer’s shaft and into its steel head, runes swirling. Energy leapt into me from the weapon, not enough for a full recovery but sufficient to get me back onto my feet. I swung the hammer, knocking Narzani off the marmot three or four at a time, light flashing and adding power to each blow.
Beat was nearby, stabbing her spear through the backs of the creatures and pulling them off. Nrrrf, who hadn’t been badly hurt in the fall from the marmot’s back—she was a lion, after all—joined in the fight as well. And all the while, the dragon soared around the area, burning the Narzani by the dozen.
The gargats, however, with the power of flight, were less easy for the winged reptile to handle. Three managed to land on its back and avoid the spikes, tearing into its scaled flesh with their hideous mouths and teeth. I saw Vrill pick her way to them, weaponless. The first slashed at her with a long foreclaw, but she dodged, grabbing its thin arm and breaking it in one swift motion. It had been a while since I’d seen her in action. She was mesmerizing to watch, each move executed to perfection as she killed one, two and then the third gargat.
A dozen more circled overhead, too many for her to handle alone. Her dragon might’ve been able to help, but it was focused on the ground, where the enemy numbers suddenly seemed more…scattered. Was the flow of reinforcements finally waning?
Yes, it was. No new enemies bounded through the gap in the fire circle. I saw Uva emerge from the semicircle of corpses where she’d been watching over Millania. She even managed to take out one of the enemy as it ran past.
Not retreating. No, after so many years lurking in the shadows, this enemy’s bloodlust was beyond retreat. We would have to kill them all. So we did, one at a time—or in the dragon’s case, ten at a time.
We fought until we had nothing left.
It was enough. It had to be, and it was. The dragon’s attention turned to the gargats that were harrying Vrill from above, diving at her from odd angles and forcing her to dodge and land blows where she could.
When the dragon focused on them, however, they showed their true cowardly colors, flying back toward the mountains just as the Black started to fade to gray. My mouth dry, my skin covered in blood—both my enemies’ and my own—and ooze, I watched them go, until they dropped, one by one, turning to ash as the first rays of bronze sunlight crept over the horizon.
Beat was by my side, watching too. “Shit,” she said. “How are we still alive?”
Normally I would’ve laughed, but it was a stark reminder that some of us might not make it. I turned to find Vrill atop the dragon’s back, watching me. “I’m sorry,” she said. Why was she apologizing? It hit me when I saw the ooze dripping from the dragon’s flanks. “I used it all.”
Which meant there was none left to save Millania or to heal the rest of our injuries. And there was most certainly none left for the marmot, its breaths growing shallower and less frequent. Nrrrf was by its side, one of her paws resting on its cheek with all the tenderness of a mother comforting a child. Stomp’s eyes were full of anguish and pain.
This beautiful creature shouldn’t have had to die for us. He shouldn’t have had to die at all.
“Help,” I said, softly at first, but then louder. “Help! Please!”
I didn’t know who I was calling to, only that I needed help. Beat looked at me, compassion in her eyes. “What do you want us to do?”
And then Lace was there, and Uva, and Asfandiar, whose skin was covered in bite and claw wounds and yet he was still standing, still willing to help. “The ooze,” I said. “Gather every drop that’s left in the bottom of the clay pots. Catch whatever you can that’s dripping off the dragon. Scrape it from my skin. I don’t need it.” The last part was a lie. I needed every last drop. In truth, I probably needed a whole lot more, a full ooze bath.
I didn’t regret giving it all to Vrill. She was well worth it, her dragon too, and without them we all would’ve died anyway. But that didn’t mean we shouldn’t try to save the others. Millania. Stomp. The few Warriors that had fallen earlier in the battle were probably beyond saving, but we needed to try to bring them back.
I needed to try.
In the end, it wasn’t my efforts that made the difference, but my naked cry for help. I was about to start helping the others salvage any ooze available, when I saw the light. It wasn’t the bronze sun, though the landscape was brightening by degrees, minute by minute. The light radiated from within the goddess whose life I had helped save when I’d reached into the Morgoss and wrenched the stolen heart from its chest.
Airiel was coming. She came not by air, but on foot, her wings tucked behind her, visible only above her shoulders, the white plumes like a prop in a fashion show. She walked slowly, like each step was a struggle. She’s still weak, I thought. It was frustrating, because she shouldn’t be. She was no longer dying. She should be getting stronger. Well, technically she was getting stronger. When I’d first met her, she was bedridden pretty much all the time. At least now she was up and walking.
No, I thought. There’s something else. Something I’m missing.
It was something to consider later. For now, her presence was exactly what we needed. A ray of hope.
“Airiel,” I said, hearing the strain in my voice. The exhaustion. The hints of pain. “Please. Save them. Heal them.”
All eyes were on her now and she stopped, surveying the bloody scene. I could tell it was hard for her to look upon the carnage. “I will do what I can for them. My sisters too.”
That’s when I noticed the two other forms approaching and my eyes widened. Airiel’s brightness had distracted me from seeing them earlier. Compared to her, they were far worse for wear, hunched over and clutching each other as if only their combined strength would allow them to reach us without toppling over. It was the first time I’d ever seen Minertha and Persepheus leave the safety of the canyon, well-protected behind their ward shields.
And now they were on the outside of the shields. Coming to help us.
And holy shit, Vrill was here too, I realized. For a second it felt like one of those scenes from a reality TV show where two of the most polarizing characters happen to see each other at a bar and the viewer can’t look away because everyone knows it’s on like Donkey Kong.
Except it wasn’t. Regardless of what had happened between these women in the past, regardless of the bad blood that might boil over in the future, here, in the present, they had the same objective: save lives.
I watched Vrill abandon her mount, sliding down the dragon’s side and vanishing around its front shoulder, which was facing away from us.
“Thank you for coming,” I said, my eyes roving from Minertha to Persepheus and back again.
“We heard your call,” Min said, her deep brown eyes a mix of wonder and sadness. How many years had it been since she’d seen the lands she’d once ruled? The fact that she had heard my call for help was a stark reminder of their power. Even in a weakened and dying state, these were ethereal beings beyond our comprehension.
Persepheus, on the other hand, was less diplomatic, as usual. “She practically dragged me,” she said.
I almost smiled, because I knew that wasn’t true. If Persepheus didn’t want to do something, not even her equally stubborn sister could make her. If she came, it was because, somewhere deep inside her, she wanted to help us.
I felt no shame in asking them for the thing we needed the most. “Can you please sp—”
My question was cut off when Airiel spat on a long gash on the marmat’s leg. “Yeah, that,” I said. “More of that.”
I saw Persepheus’s mouth open, a question on her tongue. Likely something like, Where the fuck did the rest of the ooze go? but then I saw her eyes land on the dragon with its ooze-slick skin, still dripping. Asfandiar and Uva had started moving again, the shock of the Three’s presence wearing off. They were capturing the ooze drips in any of the clay pots that hadn’t been broken in the melee.
“Great,”
Persepheus muttered. “All our hard work to save a monster.” It wasn’t time to have this conversation, though it was a discussion we’d need to have eventually, so I let it go. Persepheus, to her credit, got to work, cupping a hand over her mouth as she drizzled spit on Millania’s many wounds, including the leg that was bent the wrong way.
“Is she…” I said, unable to finish the question.
“Alive,” Persepheus said. “In bad shape, but alive. She needs a full ooze bath.” She didn’t look at me. “You do too.”
I remembered the Three’s ability to see each and every creature’s life meter. It was tempting to ask them what mine stood at, but I resisted. I didn’t want a reason to be selfish. Even if my life meter was at five, there were others in worse shape right now.
“Sam,” Beat said, and I could hear a familiar note in her voice, the one that meant she was worried about me and I had better not give her shit about it.
“I need to talk to Vrill,” I said.
“You need to rest and let the goddesses ooze you.”
I met her eyes, thankful to have a friend like her, even in a place like this. “I will, I promise. As soon as they’re done with the others. I’ll go ahead of the rest of you schlubs.”
“Deal,” Beat said. “And I’m coming with you.” I was about to protest but she gave me the stink-eye, the one that said Mess with me and pay the price. Considering she was bigger than me now, I didn’t argue. “She’s my friend too.”
It was a fair point. When Vrill had been taken, the three of us—Beat, Vrill and I—had been together in that room of mirrors where we were forced to fight dark, evil doppelgangers. “Fine,” I said, then hesitated. I was doing it again, being selfish. I should be helping the others collect as much ooze as possible to save Millania and the marmat. But when I scanned the scene before me, I realized the others had it covered. Asfandiar and Uva continued to man the clay pots around the dragon, which had settled its chin on its forepaws and gone right to sleep. Every so often Uva would grab one vessel before it overflowed and deliver it to Persepheus or Minertha to use as needed. Millania was already covered in the ooze, almost looking peaceful in her slumber now. Lace barked orders to anyone and everyone, including the Three. Persepheus glared at her each time and I sensed she would rebuke her eventually. Long story short, there wasn’t much Beat or I could do at this point.
I glanced down at my stomach, where the dragon’s spiked tail had gored me. The hole was gone, having been sealed by the ooze Vrill had used to save my life. I knew my body was still repairing itself on the inside, but it was still better not to be able to look in and see my innards. Ha, I thought. That should be a bumper sticker. “It’s always better not to see your own innards.”
“Why are you smiling?” Beat asked.
“No reason,” I said. “Let’s go.” I headed for the spot where Vrill had disappeared around her dragon.
Beat settled in beside me. “You know, for a minute there I was afraid I was going to have to start referring to you as a holey man. Get it? Hole-ey?” She gestured to my stomach.
I snorted. “You still can.”
“Does that mean I get to poke more holes in you.”
I groaned. “Bad one.”
“And yet so good.”
I laughed, and it was a real sound, meant with every fiber of my being. We needed to laugh as much as possible, which, in my mind, was the equivalent of giving the Morgoss the middle finger. Eat that, demon overlords! We’re still laughing!
We’d rounded the dragon’s side, its scaly underbelly bulging out with each deep exhalation. Then there she was, her skin a deep obsidian against the ever-brightening bronze backdrop. She stood looking away, one hand resting on the dragon’s cheek as it slept. I noticed her collars were gone. The dragon’s too. The ooze had disintegrated them completely.
This could’ve easily been one of those awkward moments where we stopped, waiting for her to turn to look at us, trying to find the right words to say in a situation where there were no such things as right words.
Screw that.
I strode ahead of Beat right up to Vrill and she turned in surprise, probably having expected the moments of awkwardness and doubt, and I picked her up, wrapping her in a big hug. Which hurt beyond hell, the pain radiating through my chest and throughout my body. But I didn’t care, because this was my friend, a woman who had saved me so many times it was good I was barefoot so I could keep count. More than all that, she was a good person, a hero if I ever saw one. A person I wanted to be like. A shining example to the rest of us, goddesses included.
Her arms wrapped around my neck and she looked down at my face. “Sam?” she said, the word coming out in a choking manner. Like a sob. Her cheeks were riddled with scars from the torture she’d endured at the hands of the motherfucking Morgoss. I hated them for what they’d done to her. Despised them. Wanted to end them. I let the anger fade away, however, because all I truly wanted in this moment was to hold this beautiful person and know that she was real.
“As corny as it is, lemme get in on this,” Beat said, wrapping her powerful arms around us both. I set Vrill down and the three of us embraced for a long time, not speaking.
We finally pulled apart when the dragon stirred nearby, a plume of smoke bursting from its nostrils. “Is it…friendly?” I asked. A stupid question considering how many times it had tried to destroy us. Still, with it sleeping like this, it almost looked…cute? Was that the right word? Probably not.
Vrill laughed. “Remains to be seen. For the moment, he’s exhausted.”
“He?” Beat said. “What—did you lift up its scales and take a peek under the hood?”
“I just…know,” Vrill said. “In any case, I’m exhausted too. The ooze tore our minds away from that dark place. It was painful and tiring. We both need to sleep. I don’t know whether Mrizandr will be dangerous when he wakes up, but I’d rather be fully rested so I can handle him just in case.”
“He has a name?” I asked, my wonder growing by the second. Naming pets made sense. But naming a dragon?
Vrill nodded. “It wasn’t my doing. Through our connection, I just knew what he was to be called. The Morgoss didn’t. That was why they couldn’t control him on their own. There is great power in a name. But now I must rest.”
She placed one hand on my shoulder and the other on Beat’s. “Thank you. Thank you both for trusting me. For bringing the ooze. That dark place—it almost broke me.”
“Nothing can break you,” Beat said, beating me to it. “If we were back on Earth you’d be given an honorary degree in badassery from Kickass University.”
Vrill managed a tired smile. “I won’t pretend I’ll understand what any of that meant, but I’ll take it as a compliment. Now…may I borrow one of your dwellings for the day?”
Beat and I looked at each other and I was almost afraid to breathe. Vrill was actually coming inside the ward shields? “Don’t make nothing out of something,” Vrill said, noticing our reaction. “I just need sleep. There will be much to discuss when I awaken. There is something I must tell you all.”
That didn’t sound good, but I wasn’t about to argue. Vrill being here was a blessing I wouldn’t ignore. “Of course,” I said. “Pick any of them you want. Except Lace’s. Her hut is the closest one to the shields. Unless you want to become a midmorning snack. Beat will escort you.”
Beat looked at me, frowning. “Where are you going?”
“To get treatment,” I said. My head had started spinning. I was aching in places I didn’t even know could ache. My injuries, though partially healed now, were catching up to me.
“Sam?” Beat said, her voice growing tinny and distant to my ears. She caught me as my legs gave way, my vision growing fuzzy around the edges.
“See you on the flip side,” I managed to say just before everything went black.
My last thought was the realization that Vrill hadn’t said anything about my fangs.
~~~
The sun was c
reeping through the opening in the hut when I awoke. Which was weird for two reasons: First, it was coming from the wrong direction. When I’d passed out, it had been morning, which meant by now it should be much later, casting shadows in the opposite direction. And second, the light was silver rather than bronze. I was certain it had been the Bronze time before. I blinked away my exhaustion, my mind trying to wrap itself around these two thoughts. Duh. The second one explained the first. The battle had been yesterday. I’d slept for a long time. All the way through the Bronze and another Black, into midmorning of the Silver.
I hoped the Black hadn’t been full of monsters.
I flinched when I realized someone was watching me. Beat chuckled, her head propped on her hand as she lay on her side. “Sleeping Beauty awakes at last,” she said. “And it didn’t even require a kiss. Thank the goddesses.”
I yawned, the sound morphing into a groan halfway through. Parts of me still ached, though I had to admit I was feeling somewhat better. Something wet was wrapped around my skin. Almost all my skin, in fact, covering me like a mummy. Ooze-soaked cocoon material, I realized.
“There’s still not nearly enough ooze for a full bath so we had to tend to your wounds the old-fashioned way,” Beat said. “It’ll take longer, but you’ll make a full recovery—or at least Airiel thinks so, and I tend to trust her on such things. The Three have been working nonstop. I’ve got to hand it to them, they came through in the clutch.”
“Where are they now?” I asked, still trying to comprehend all that had transpired.
“Resting back in their cave. Lace and I had to carry Persepheus and Minertha. Airiel was able to walk under her own power.”
I was in shock. I expected Airiel to help us. Hell, she’d helped us even when she was about to die. Minertha, too, maybe. But Persepheus? It was unprecedented.
“And Vrill?” I asked.
