by Billy Wong
Howard patted his back and tried to reassure him. "It doesn't mean she'll necessarily die. She's already survived this long and it was supposed to kill her in seconds. She's amazing. Believe in her, Finn."
"You know it's kind of awkward talking about me like that when I'm listening, don't you?" Rose asked. "I don't know if I'll live or die. But what I do know is, I'll fight."
Everyone recoiled. "Rose, I couldn't have heard you right," Finn whispered. "You couldn't have said 'I'll fight.'"
"That's what I said." She looked around at her friends and met their incredulous eyes with her determined ones. "Listen, with Lipner and the other senior officers dead this army is on the verge of collapse. Finn, you're great, but just you by yourself isn't enough. Kayland's warriors need both their champions to rally them to stand against the Sevrians and that's why Rose and Finn will stand, unbowed, and fight!"
Finn let out a loud sob. He knew it betrayed his image to do in front of others, even his friends, but couldn't stop himself. How could this young girl, this barely over twenty year old he loved, be so noble, so inspiring, so strong? Of course she was a warrior without peer, and nigh indestructible. But now, in the face of suffering her physical prowess only prolonged, still her great heart held firm and refused to let her be deterred from her resolve.
"Then we'll fight together," he said, crying, "and all of Sevria will have nightmares hearing the stories of our unbreakable power!"
Rose returned to the battlefield the next time the Sevrians attacked, and she and Finn fought back to back and side by side through the day, Howard and Loreen ever close by. When Rose's pain grew such that she could hardly stand, she leaned against her love and kept fighting. Even like this, she killed scores. But most of the time, she stood on her own two feet and tore into the enemy as a wounded boar mauls unprepared hunters. Seeing the unfathomable torment in her agony-crazed eyes, Finn feared with every second she would drop dead. Yet she did not die, did not fall, and it was her foes' corpses that carpeted the ground instead.
"I love you, Iron Flower," Finn said while they leaned against each other one time.
She hurt so much at the moment she couldn't even speak in response, but her head bumping against his back in a nod made him feel like their spirits touched. After killing enough Sevrians to clear a decent space, they turned and kissed one another. Kayland's forces roared with cheers and Sevria's froze in awe before shooting enough arrows at them to block out the sky. They ducked behind their great shields, finished kissing and resumed doing what they'd been born to.
Days passed, the Kaylanders performing better even than before General Lipner had been killed. Even Justin couldn't keep a look of admiration out of his gaze when it fell upon Rose. Joghra and Fiona didn't come. Maybe they were too injured, or maybe the couple's display cowed even them. Slowly Rose gained strength and her pain diminished. The poison that should have killed her many times over was being outlasted by her matchless constitution. He should never have doubted, Finn thought, his unconquerable love.
#
Joghra watched Fiona eat in his tent, regarding her ruined face with sadness. She'd never been a ravishing beauty, but was a halfway decent looking giant before the fight with Finn. Now she barely looked female. It would've been a small price to pay for actual progress, but how had things gone so wrong? Rose. Even if he couldn't conquer Kayland, he swore he would kill her.
"General Joghra!" a soldier called. "A man says he wants to see you."
"Who is he?"
"He won't say, but claims he can help you win the war."
"Fine, let him in." If this turned out to be a waste of time, he'd just kill the idiot.
An armored figure with jet-black hair and cold grey eyes stepped in. Though taller than average, he was half a foot shorter than Joghra, but carried massive enough axes to impress even him. It still shocked him when, upon spotting the visitor, Fiona's eyes bulged and she went to one knee, shaking.
"B-but you were dead," she stammered. "And your hand..."
"Did you really think that buffoon Finn could kill me? And it seems wearing the healing charm for all those years caused some of the magic to stay with me. My hand reattached itself fairly handily after being sown back on."
Fiona's voice grew somewhat louder. "But where have you been? It's been six months, the country needed you!"
The man smirked. "The country did not suffer too much, I'm sure. Without me it has fallen into disarray, but not enough time has passed for the true bloodshed to begin. It is all but waiting for me to take back the reins, and will return to my grasp readily. What about you, Fiona? Are you a traitor who has betrayed me for the Sevrians?"
"No, my lord, never! You were not present, so I allied myself with one who would at least keep our land out of the hands of the Kaylanders. After all, we must bend and not break until the proper order of things can be resorted."
Joghra had been listening and come to the only possible conclusion. He addressed the man Fiona called master. "You are Prince Wilner."
"And you are Joghra, the dark tyrant who opportunistically conquered my nation."
"Kayland had already taken the capital before he came," Fiona argued. Good, the girl did have some loyalty to him. "Better to be occupied temporarily by allies than fall again under the rule of the hated enemy."
Wilner shrugged. "Perhaps. In any case, I've seen you two are having some trouble pushing into Kayland—much more than you expected, is that not so?"
"Yes, my prince. Your great enemies, Rose and Finn—their strength is beyond belief." She grinned wolfishly. "But now that you're here, we can finally crush them."
"Perhaps we could, although you do not look in the best condition for fighting. However, the proposal I come to make concerns greater things than those two. My people will not fight for you, Death General Joghra, and it seems you've decided it not worth the effort to try and make them. But what if someone offered you their aid?"
"So you would have your people fight alongside mine. And in exchange? I assume you expect me to recognize Coblan as an independent nation again."
"Is it too much to ask?"
Joghra knew that while Sevria had bases in Coblan, crushing all possible resistance and imposing complete Sevrian authority would be a difficult task yet. But if he conquered Kayland with the help of warriors Wilner summoned to his cause, he could always turn on Coblan and subjugate it later. That is, if he wasn't busy staging his long-planned coup in Sevria itself.
"If all you demand is Coblan's independence, I am prepared to give it."
"I would also be pleased to accept ownership of the Brushknoll and its two adjacent provinces."
Joghra scowled. He should've known the prince would not be that generous. "Fine. Anything else?"
Wilner smiled. "One more thing. I expect your aid in finally gaining revenge for my ancestors against the royal family of Kayland, or at least that you not interfere with it."
"Of course. If Kayland is to fall, why should I protect its rulers from you?"
"And now we three can go together and crush Rose and Finn!" Fiona said, voice full of enthusiasm.
A new, wonderful idea had formed inside Joghra's mind. "We will. But not here."
"What?!" Fiona looked distraught. But Wilner gazed at him with interest.
"We are badly injured, and though Rose is too, they and their allies are well prepared and even with Prince Wilner's help we might not easily break through. So why not let them give up their own strong defense, and then hit them when they are complacent and ill prepared?"
"What do you have in mind?" the prince asked.
"My idea... is somewhat inspired by you." He whispered something into Wilner's ear, then repeated it to Fiona for her benefit. They laughed together loudly, no doubt baffling the Sevrian camp, but Joghra loudest of all.
Chapter 6
Not a week after Rose had demonstrated her continued resolve to fight, the enemy retreated. Even though the Sevrians' morale had been fading steadily, it sti
ll seemed too good to be true. Rose found it hard to believe that Joghra and Fiona would give up without taking another shot at her and Finn. Maybe their wounds ailed them more than she'd thought. Fiona at least... that young girl would be scarred for the rest of her life. Enemies or not, Rose couldn't help feeling sympathy for her.
Even so, she was reluctant to leave when Finn suggested they did, fearing that the enemy would come charging back once Kayland's strongest champions had gone. They'd fallen for such a trick once before, and their allies suffered dearly for it. But when reports came of Sevrian ships being spotted moving away from the coast of Coblan and the army itself began to dismantle their camp, she at last accepted it was time to go.
Before they could depart, Justin approached them one more time. "Good job, Rose. You've defeated the Sevrian army."
"That's giving me too much credit. I barely knew what was happening, I was in such pain."
"Well, obviously you didn't do it single handedly." His voice harshened. "But your inability to remain helpless leads me to question your actions pertaining to my uncle all the more."
She waved her arms in exasperation. "Maybe I could have saved him, I don't know! I didn't really think about it. You're right, I did make a mistake. But I'm human, and was so wounded I could barely move. Can't you forgive my one moment of weakness?"
"Out of five men who saw your battle, four said they thought you had time to throw your spear and still draw your axe before Joghra reached you. You say you forgot, I know, but I doubt such a perfect fighter as you would have overlooked that option."
Finn grabbed him by the front of his shirt and with one hand jerked him high into the air, though he was not a small man and wore a thick breastplate beneath his outer garment. "She was poisoned and bleeding like a pig, and in the most awful pain! Would you have gone into melee against Joghra in her state?!"
His collar beginning to choke him, Justin coughed, "I would have been dead."
"It's not about that. But you would have been, and still expect Rose to think clearly? Your standards are awfully unfair."
Justin could only gasp in response, and Rose nudged Finn to set him down. "The Death General would kill me easily," Justin said to her, "even if I were not wounded. Yet I would have been ready to make the sacrifice of facing him in melee, knowing how much more important my uncle was in the grand scheme of things than me. So you, I expected better of than cowering from Joghra's rush at the expense of his life. Before his death, I liked you. Greatly, even. I thought you were the ideal hero, strong and stout and selfless to a fault, who'd put herself at any risk to help those in need. But you destroyed my image of you, when you allowed my uncle to taste Sevrian steel because you couldn't be bothered to try harder."
"You're not understanding. I wasn't 'scared' to meet him in melee. I chased him when he ran after I hit him with the spear. I just didn't remember my axe in the damn moment before I threw." Finally, she lost her temper and asked, "Are you saying you've never made a decision without considering every option before? Are you?"
"Besides," Finn added, "who knows what Joghra would've done had he gotten a chance to attack Rose, weakened as she was, before being wounded by her spear? Are you saying your uncle's life was more valuable than hers?"
The anger in Justin's eyes faded some, but he replied, "Yes, his life was more valuable than hers. I'm sorry, Rose, it's the truth. He was our general and an important figure in Kayland's military and nobility. You, though not a bad person generally speaking, are just a self-centered warrior with a weak sense of responsibility."
Rose's eyes grew misty at his evaluation, and she murmured, "I came here, didn't I?" Her body shook a little, but then she looked up proudly and her voice gained strength. "Worthless and irresponsible, am I? Who defeated Prince Wilner, when he would've soon crushed your uncle's undersized army, and got skewered for her trouble? Who stopped the spread of the accursed Clarities at the expense of her friend's life? Who killed the dragon of Whitehill, even though it scarred her mind for years thereafter? Who slew the man-dragon of Mulhiri? Who kept Death General Joghra's deadly arrows from your camp? Who helped bring magic back to the world? And who killed thousands of your enemies, many of them decent souls, though it tears her heart to pieces every time she thinks of the pain she's caused countless innocents?
"I know my worth better than you your uncle's, who could say his own greatest accomplishment is what? Stealing the credit for defeating Coblan? Your view is flawed. I don't claim to be perfect—I have flaws, and faults, and shortcomings like every other human being. But you call me selfish? I can be selfish at times. But I daresay your beloved uncle who you go on and on about was more selfish, and cruel like I've never been. And you let anger blind you. There. You wanted honesty? You got it."
Justin glanced around, no longer willing to look Rose in the eye, and saw that many soldiers gazed with admiration at her. He turned back to her and she smiled defiantly, and though a few tears had escaped her eyes, stood straight and proud. Justin tore his defeated yet still angry eyes from her and stormed off.
She turned towards Finn, who held her close. "That was great, Rose. You showed him he was wrong, he must have seen it. If he still feels malice towards you, it's only because his heart is hateful.
"Didn't think you had a speech like that in you."
Rose sniffed. "Was he right in a way, though? I've never attached myself to any cause for long, only running wherever my fight takes me. Am I truly selfish, not to stand firm and give myself fully to some noble endeavor, but instead follow my whims without a second thought?"
Loreen shook her head. "You selfish? I never met a person whose drive to help others against the threat of evil was stronger than yours. And you are attached to a cause—your own cause though it may be, to go wherever your great talents are best put to use. Besides, you're attached to Finn as well, I'm sure he'd agree."
"Yeah, bound by the chain of love," he agreed happily. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Thank you so much," Rose breathed. She turned to Howard. "And you too, so brave you were to stand up for us. I'll miss you. Come visit us in Gustrone if you like."
He hugged her. "I'll miss you too. It was quite an experience fighting with and saving you. I'm glad I got to meet all of you, and hope to see you again. I'll try and turn Justin's anger away from you, so that he'll come to appreciate you again as he once did."
Rose smiled widely. "Thanks again. On that note, Finn, let's go. Derrick must miss us, and I'm sure he's very anxious to resume the revival of magic that he wants so much. Are you coming, Loreen?"
Her friend shook her head. "It's been good seeing you, but I'm sure my brothers miss me too. I can't leave them alone for so long, as they're bound to get in trouble sooner or later."
"That's alright, we'll meet again. If you ever want to leave dangerous Coblan, there'll always a place for you in our home. Bye!"
Finn said his own farewells, and the lovers walked out of the camp. On the road, they turned back and blew a good-humored kiss to their friends. "I can't believe I just did that," Finn muttered. "You're rubbing off on me."
"Good," Rose said as she clapped his back, "you need to get in touch with your feminine side."
He scoffed. "If such sharing's a good thing, why don't you ever want to take on some of my masculinity?"
"I got enough," Rose joked, breaking into throaty laughter.
Finn examined her closely, eyes probing her all over as she continued to laugh. "No, you're all woman," he decided. "Maybe I could rub off on Derrick instead. Speaking of which, he wasn't too happy when I left."
Rose gave a cheerful shrug. "Nobody likes finding out the people whose help they need don't share their priorities. It'll be okay, though. I'm sure when Derrick sees us, he'll be too happy to see us still alive to remember being upset."
He mussed her already messy hair. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right." He paused and looked at his hand. "Damn, you're filthy—you need a serious bath."
"It'll be
nice to have real food and beds again." She picked at the ugly holes in her armor and sighed. "And a change of clothes!"
Finn thrust a canteen into her hand then, and reminded her, "More of this stuff, too!"
Curiously, she took a sip of the mystery drink. "Volcano! How'd you ever hold on to this stuff for so long?!"
"I was saving some for you and I to celebrate with when the fighting was done, of course," he explained joyously. "It's not much at all, but let's savor its burning bliss!" They drank and laughed together, and the canteen was soon empty. But their bliss stayed with them all the way home.
#
They finally returned to Gustrone, and Derrick was happy to see them as Rose predicted. A few nights of relaxing and partying later, they returned to work on the collection of spellbooks. After the first full day back of study, Rose felt dizzy from trying to take everything in. "Wow, this is difficult! So many nuances and qualifiers… my brain is melting."
"That's what I felt like my first time," Finn said, "and I had the advantage of knowing other magic beforehand. But I think I got the hang of it."
Derrick shook his head bemusedly. "No you don't. You just fool yourself into thinking you do because you can cast a bunch of spells, but in terms of actual translating you're both making really slow progress."
Instead of just learning the spells contained within the books they had found, they were also trying to translate the symbols that made them up in hopes of someday being able to get more creative with the language of magic. But they had over a ton of books, yet could hardly even get a whole page translated perfectly.
"We're warriors," Rose said, "not scholars and definitely not linguists. I'm pretty much just an average girl who's been hit in the head about a million times, and Finn's head is made of pure meat." Finn punched her over the joke, and with a smile she punched him back. "Besides, it's not like you've been doing that much better."
"We should get help. I thought about it before, but I knew you guys wouldn't want to let strangers around the books with only me around. But now that you're back, all three of us can see the candidates and only accept those we agree on."
