by Billy Wong
She struggled to maintain the concentration to complete the spell, battling against the pain of torn organs and shattered bones. Losing control of the energies for a moment when a sudden pang ruined her words, she finished wrenching the last magic from the sword through sheer resolve. Warmth filled her, pushing aside some of the incredible agony for the time being. But she lacked adequate knowledge to manipulate this raw energy, and knew despite her incredible will she could only hold it so long before it would escape or destroy her. She was powerless, unable to stay her love's death without his help. She shook the now fully human Finn attempting to wake him, but he didn't react. Despair began to overtake her as she felt her grip on the magic slacken.
Rose chanted the best healing spell she trusted herself to use, further draining her ebbing strength, but failed to rouse him. The weak magic was nowhere near what Finn needed to save him, not even enough to wake him from his dying sleep. Desperately she tried pinching him, then burning his arm with a minor fire spell to no avail. Finally, she kissed him.
It took a while before his tongue shifted in response to hers, but it did. Opening his eyes, he whispered in his treasured old voice, "You're with me. So heaven does exist."
There was no time to correct him, and scrambling to find the right words Rose replied, "Yes, we're in heaven. Now take back your magic, and heal your pain. Only then will we be complete again."
"One last test, huh?" Finn mused. She grasped his hand and he took the life she offered, a golden glow coming over him as he absorbed the energies from her. But he wasn't out of danger, for he struggled to stay conscious while he used the magic to meld his torn flesh. Rose held his hands in her own, encouraging him on, pleading for him to live. Then his eyes shut, and he lay still.
But alive, Rose knew. His wounds were closed and no longer bleeding, though he bore some nasty new scars, and his chest steadily rose and fell. He was however still quite pale. Most likely he had passed out again from shock and exhaustion, and Rose couldn't blame him; she felt close to fainting herself. Of course, her own wounds were still disgustingly unhealed, and she wondered if she should've kept some excess magic with which to try and heal herself. But she knew she couldn't have risked it. Finn might have needed every bit of energy to survive.
Only now did she really look at her beloved husband, and joy filled her to regard his long-missed human shape, an immense masculine frame topped by his wide face. He wasn't a dragon anymore, but a man again. Soon she'd finally enjoy the caress of his big gentle hands, the tenderness of his kiss, the security of his great arms... Her ecstasy was complete in spite of unbearable agony, and she hummed softly, smiling.
She had nearly fallen asleep when she heard Loreen close by. "Rose! Are you..?"
"Too loud," she complained. Forcing open blurry eyes, she saw grief and repulsion on Loreen and Brandon's faces. "Finn's okay. He's human again, but he's alive."
"What about you?" Brandon asked softly, averting his gaze from the wreckage of her belly.
Rose tried to look at Loreen. "You did bring your sewing supplies, right?" Both her friends wore incredulous expressions at her casual attitude, and she wasn't sure herself if her unmatched vitality would hold out, but at least she'd saved and finally cured Finn. But she resolved that she would survive; it would be such a waste for her to finally get back her Finn, only to let him lose her.
The count could only stand there and stare at her, until Loreen replied, "O-okay, I know what to do. Brandon, help me."
Rose let her friends do all they could for her, though their eyes told her they thought her doomed, and she screamed when they put her sewn up guts back in. "Thanks, guys," she gasped after they were done. "Wake me up when Finn's awake." Then, in spite of their urges not to, she went to sleep.
#
Looking down at the unconscious warriors, Brandon frowned. He doubted Rose would survive even with her godlike vitality, but if she did somehow live, she was nonetheless lost to him. Finn was back, though he could still barely believe the green dragon he'd ridden so many times had been Rose's husband all along. How many times must he have been tempted to punish Brandon for his advances on Rose?
Then he thought that perhaps Finn, who was well known for his pride, might push his love away if he learned of her affair with him. He wasn't about to reveal that truth himself, but rumors had a way of spreading fast... Enough. He would wait until he knew Rose would live before making further plans. Squeezing her pale hand, he prayed for her recovery.
#
Derrick watched the soldiers lead the monster named Paul Lep away in extra-heavy manacles, sneering at him as it was dragged off. His blood had boiled with hate to find it hiding under the Earth Mother temple in Resnick, its appearance the mirror of the dreaded Graham's own, but he'd resisted the temptation of attacking it alone. Sneaking away before it could spot him, Derrick had alerted the authorities. The soldiers surprised the creature and trained a dozen crossbows on it, and to everyone's surprise it surrendered rather than fight to the death, leaving them to puzzle over where to hold a monster captive. At least charging it with a crime wouldn't be a problem, for Derrick had overheard it plotting another attack in Gustrone when he found it. He hoped things were okay back home, and that the extremists' war against magic was finally done.
#
Graham sat up inside the dark attic with a racing heart, jolted from his sleep by the intensity of the Earth Mother's latest vision. Why had the goddess' message for him to come been so urgent? The images of death and despair that she had sent into his dream frightened him, and he hurried to strap on his fake leg. As the Earth Mother's champion, no way would he allow her to come to harm.
#
Finn slowly opened sticky eyes and yawned. It'd been so long since he was in a human body, it feel strangely uncomfortable to him, though he supposed he would grow reaccustomed to manhood in time. Then he remembered Rose. He looked around, and almost died again when he saw her pale, still body lying next to him in the... moving wagon they were in. Immediately, tears began to run down his cheeks, as he took in the terribly injustice of the situation.
Why had he improbably survived his fatal wounds, to finally gain freedom from his draconic prison of a body, only to lose the woman he loved more than anything else? Even when dying, it was still him she had been most concerned about, and she'd given her life to save him both from death and his tortured existence as a dragon. She might have been able to heal herself enough with Thorn's magic to live, yet she gave it all to him. Through her unbelievable selflessness and determination, he was a man again, the man she had longed to have again for so long. Only now she was gone, and could never enjoy the fruit of her hard-won success. How could the world be any more cruel?
Finn cried bitterly in grief and hatred of harsh fate. He didn't stop when Rose opened her eyes, though the meaning of those tears changed as much as anything ever could. She smiled brightly and beamed, "Hi there, my lovely man."
Hardly able to believe his love had survived even this, he reached over to touch her cheek and realized she'd lost some weight. Glancing at her belly, he cringed at the recollection of her wound. "Rose. Are you immortal? Nothing kills you. And I'm glad."
She rolled her eyes. "If I was immortal, I wouldn't have to fight so hard to hold onto life. It's still nearly impossible to eat."
"How long has it been?"
"Over a week since the fight. I was getting scared you wouldn't wake up."
He laughed heartily. "You were worried about me? Same old Rose. Say, how did we ever get out of that hole, without me to fly us?"
"Loreen and Brandon had to climb out with quite some difficulty, then pull us up with ropes. I woke up at one point when they banged me against the side of the shaft—you can imagine my cries of agony!"
Finn winced. "Oh, gods."
Grinning at his expression, she added to his shock, "I helped them pull you up. I didn't want them messing up with you, too." She admitted after a brief pause, "I didn't really do any of the wo
rk. I just held onto the rope in hopes of steadying you if you started swinging too much, but they did better the second time around."
"How are your wounds healing?" he asked worriedly. "You said you can't eat?"
She shrugged. "I'm healing okay—at least, I've survived the week, so I think I'll live."
"Freak," he muttered jokingly under his breath.
Rose's playful eyes widened. She smiled bashfully and said in a soft voice, "It's not as big a deal as you make it out to be. I've had my entrails showing through a wound before. You just didn't see it."
"When was this?"
Rose stopped smiling. "For one, the Spelldrinker's claws were as big as swords, only thicker. What do you think would happen when one was driven through my belly? It hurt so bad, I almost fainted—that would've been the end for sure. Still, I suppose this wound was worse and wider. Though the Spelldrinker did put a claw through my solar plexus too. Chest wounds aren't quite as ugly to see, but they're just as tough to take."
Finn tried to remember the story about that giant monster, and asked, "Didn't you get right back up then? Are you getting weaker with age, Rose?!"
She nudged him with her sweet fist. "I'm sure I didn't age that much in a few months. Besides, I did get up pretty quick after the stab this time, just not the fall... and I still saved your life afterwards. Why should I bother getting up, when it'd be really hard? I'd rather enjoy the free rides."
In the past, he might've been foolishly pleased to hear her admit to weakness, but now it was her denial of it, her assertion of her strength, which made him smile with pride. Mostly only teasing, he continued, "You lost to the guy I beat."
"You said it yourself, it was a cheater. I was winning, if a little messed up, until it knocked me off the edge! And don't forget Brandon's part." Rose paused, and Finn waited eagerly for her delightful voice to fill his ears again. "If I ever seriously get into magic, the first spell I'm going to try and invent... is one which saves you from falling. It happens too much to me."
"They had spells for that, and for flying. Say—after taking back the energy in Thorn, I wonder if I could cast spells again?" But when he sat up and opened his mouth to chant a spell and find out, Rose grabbed his arm.
She stared fearfully at him. "Wait, no. We don't know if the curse is still on you, or if you'll start turning into a dragon again if you use magic. You have to promise me never to cast spells again—unless it comes down to losing our lives or that, I guess."
He bowed his head. He'd enjoyed his role as the first modern mage, and leader of the movement to revive the art of spellcasting. But he supposed if his choices were between giving that up and losing Rose, she was more important. "All right, Iron Flower. I'll never use magic again except in the most dire circumstances." She sat up too then, and hugged him.
Before they could lay down again, the wagon hit a bump in the road, and Rose cried out and squeezed him tightly in pain from her injuries. The curtain separating the passengers from the front opened. "You okay, Rose?" Loreen asked, driving with Brandon squeezed in next to her. Rose nodded. Seeing Finn look back at her, Loreen greeted him. "Glad to see you're back from the dead. You'd better take better care of yourself from now on. Rose would've been destroyed if she lost you."
He saw his love's lip quiver and said, "Hey, I didn't even know I was hurt that bad! I was more afraid of losing you, Rose." He squeezed her cheeks. "Hope you get your face meat back soon. You look sick."
She quickly regained her cheer. "I don't need such chubby cheeks as I had! No more Meatball nickname for me, Brandon! But I am sick. Sick of my wounds, and not being able to enjoy decent food even if there was any to be had. It stinks."
"Where are we exactly, anyway? Where are we headed?"
Loreen answered. "Rose wasn't too fit to travel right after getting skewered, so we rested in town for a couple days before she insisted she was ready to go. Crazy as always, huh? We're heading for the border. I'll have to separate from you to report to Wilner, so Brandon will be taking over as driver."
"Why aren't we going with you?"
Rose looked at him. "Well, if the prince sees us in this condition, the opportunity to kill us easily might be a little too tempting."
"True enough. I'd say we could still take him, but let's avoid wrecking Loreen's country again." They all laughed.
"Hope Derrick's okay," Rose mused shortly after Loreen closed the curtain, making Brandon frown before it hid his face.
"You mean running the center all by himself? Hey, seeing as how I'm still technically in charge, how about I make you an official instructor right now?"
She chuckled. "Your way of rewarding me for saving you, hmm?" Her voice grew more somber. "But you know I'm not cut out for it."
"Why the hell not? You might not have skill, but I'm certain you have potential."
She shook her head. "You know my fear, Finn."
"A stupid one."
"Yeah, yeah, sure. But it's mine. I just can't embrace the thing that made so many of my worst enemies."
"And your love." Not only had protecting others from ancient magics brought their hearts together, but it had been pursuing the return of magic that changed him into the man he was now, far more accepting of Rose's greater prowess than he'd been before.
But she said, "Magic didn't make you. It was just one aspect of your life, though you forgot that once and it cost you. Anyway, let's not get into another argument when this should be a most happy time. I can't wait to get back home to the kids—how about you?"
Finn pictured his children, who he had stupidly neglected for the short time he lived with them before undergoing the change into a dragon and abandoning his family. He realized guiltily that he hadn't even missed them until now. "It'll be great to get to know them. Say, think I'm going to get in trouble if people figure out I was the green dragon?"
Rose grinned. "They may think it, but they'll never prove it. We can trust Loreen, and Brandon likes me too much to harm you so overtly, when he knows I'd never forgive it."
"So what are our children's names again?" Seeing her eyes bulge, he quickly said, "Just kidding! It's Jacob and Amber, right?"
She embraced him joyously again, and they relished each other's touch until Loreen had to leave. They said their goodbyes, and with Brandon as their rather uncomfortable new driver, left Coblan and returned to their home country.
#
Brandon dropped himself off in Resnick and the couple hired a new driver to replace him, neither of them willing to leave the comfy back of the wagon to sit up front and drive. Nearing Hullel, Rose remembered her mother's dream and smiled. It'd come true after all, whether it really was a vision or just a mundane nightmare—she'd indeed had her belly ripped open in a cave, though not quite died from it.
Leaping carelessly out of the wagon when they reached the baker's house where Lise stayed, she felt pain shoot through her torso upon landing perfectly on her feet and almost fell. She laughed while she leaned on the back of the vehicle for support. "Damn, am I in some pain! It sure is taking long to heal up. And here I thought lying down resting would help me heal better than how I usually run around when badly messed up."
"It could be because you haven't moved much for so long that your body's not used to it. Also, you did take wounds that would've killed most people thrice over. Need me to help you walk?"
She didn't really think she did, but knew she'd enjoy having him so close and gladly accepted his offer. Walking in one another's arms to the house, they knocked together on the door, Rose giggling at Finn's gesture. Lise's face bore a wide smile as she greeted them after the baker's thin wife fetched her. "Rose! Thank goodness you're okay. I heard you killed some huge monster, in a cave like in my dream. I guess I was wrong... and you even finally got your man back! How are you, Finn? No, I'm sure you're great, being human again. You, Rose?"
Not wanting to worry her mother, Rose said casually, "Well, I didn't die. Yeah, I'm okay now."
Finn didn't refrain fro
m clarifying. "I killed the monster. Rose just got gutted."
"Shut up!" she snarled, and elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt.
Of course, it was too late, and Lise asked fearfully, "Rose? How did you get hurt? Please let me see."
She didn't want to, fearing the shock she would give her mom, but Rose slowly lifted up her shirt to reveal the enormous scar where she'd been torn open. "I'm doing fine," she tried to reassure her.
Lise turned white as she whispered, "Gods, Rose, how'd you survive that? Did Finn magically heal you?"
"I had to save him, actually," Rose bragged good-humoredly. She had to get him back for his earlier boast.
Her mother ignored her cheer. "You can't have healed from that properly."
She shrugged. "I'm still a little wobbly, but I feel passable considering what happened. Come on, look, I can even do a somersault already!" She pulled it off with a little—okay, a lot—more effort than usual, giggled, and said, "It must be the weight I lost throwing me off."
Lise easily read the pain in her eyes and blinked away tears, and Rose felt at once touched by her concern and slightly annoyed that she was taking her wound worse than Rose herself. "You and Finn want to come inside and have some stew? It'll help your poor stomach, I'm sure."
"I'd love to," Finn said before Rose could, and she eagerly followed him inside for dinner. The two ate their usual hefty portions, chatting with Lise and the friendly neighbor couple about their lives since Rose's last visit all the while. Sending their driver off, they spent many nights. When it came time to go, they left a ring a grateful villager had given Rose for Lise's hosts and a necklace for Lise herself.
