Legend of the Iron Flower Box Set (Books 1-4)

by Billy Wong

  "You're too trusting," he chided her.

  "I didn't say anything about assuming the best."

  "Yeah, but you're definitely not assuming the worst either."

  "I like to keep an open mind. Besides, I think the two of you could make great friends, if you weren't so insistent on being his enemy."

  He scowled. "He tried to steal my wife."

  "Your wife might not be alive if not for him. He helped a lot in our battles together."

  "That's what allies do in battle, help one another. I don't deny he's a good comrade. But you did even more for him than he did for you. You don't owe him anything."

  "I don't feel like I owe him. I respect and like him."

  "Obviously, I don't share your admiration. Am I going to have to keep an eye on the two of you whenever you're near each other?"

  "I don't like him that much. I just want to stay friends, like he said. Are you okay with that? If not, I'll never talk to him again except when it's unavoidable."

  On one hand, he'd feel more secure if he got Rose's promise to sever all ties with the count. On the other, he was fully aware that she was in a way testing him, and if he denied her leeway in choosing her friends, it would make her felt distrusted and surely diminish him in her eyes. So against his natural inclinations, he forced himself to play the part of the "bigger man."

  "Fine. You're free to be friends with whoever you want."

  "Oh, Finn!" Rose cried in relief, and threw herself into his arms with delight. But Finn didn't share her joy, and wondered if he'd truly made the right choice.

  Brandon soon returned, and the trio made their way to the forest where the villagers had seen the monsters go. They easily picked up the trail, and the count said, "You think this is a trap? If they're ready for us, we might not be able to handle them."

  "We did take out over a thousand of their brethren last time," Finn reminded him.

  "Yes, their lesser brethren, and you were a dragon then. Excuse me for being a little worried."

  "How many monsters attacked your manor, great warrior?"

  Brandon shrugged. "I killed four, and my soldiers managed to fell one. But there could be many more hiding here in the woods, especially if it is a trap."

  Finn studied his face and grinned. "Only five, huh? And that makes you nervous?"

  A thunderous roar split the air, and Rose said, "Maybe we should stop our bickering and concentrate? Sounds like our monsters are nearby. Brandon, it's not like I'm not a little scared myself. Those things can be tough! But we shouldn't assume things are hopeless before we even see, so let's have a look first."

  They trudged through the forest and confirmed the presence of the monsters when one of the ape-things came into view less than five minutes later. A concerted attack brought it down before it could do much of anything, and Rose sighed. "If only they would all go down that easy."

  There was little chance they'd be that lucky, and they all knew it. So when they killed three more lone monsters with equal ease on their way deeper into the woods, they only grew more anxious at the tough fight sure to come. When they finally saw a human figure hanging in a cocoon from a tall tree, they approached anticipating some kind of ambush. To their surprise, nothing appeared to attack them, and Rose climbed up to carefully cut away the webbing. As the strands parted, Finn saw Rose's features scrunch up in disgust and horror and feared the worst. But then she yelled down to her companions, "He's dead—but he's not Derrick."

  Glad they hadn't found their friend dead, Finn nonetheless wondered, "Then where is he?" A moment later the ground erupted, toppling the tree Rose occupied. As Finn stared, huge columns of black flesh rose high into the air all around them. Great wormlike creatures bent to regard their puny prey, opening segmented jaws full of teeth which dripped with sizzling venom.

  #

  Derrick lay on his belly and took small, shallow breaths, trying to move his back as little as possible. He could hardly believe he'd been lucky enough to escape from the huge monsters that had snatched him from Count Brandon's manor, and thanked his pick for it. Waking up in the crook of a massive apelike arm, he'd buried the weapon in the elbow joint of his captor, and taken off fast as he could upon being dropped. Even so he would never have outrun the pursuing monsters, except that in his flight he'd come to the edge of a cliff, and choosing probable death over a more certain one, thrown himself off. He had survived the fall and bought himself some extra time, but was in too much pain to even crawl, and knew he could do nothing more to save himself. He felt sure he'd broken something in his back, for any slight movement sent daggers of pain shooting through his spine, and hoped the monsters would not continue to hunt for him in his defenseless state.

  Though his situation seemed grim, Derrick held onto hope that Rose and Finn had found out what happened and searched for him. All he had to do was stay alive until they found him, and as long as no monsters or predatory animals discovered the easy prey that was him, he should be able to for a short while. He knew he'd eventually die of thirst despite the morning moisture he could reach with his tongue, but didn't want to think about it, and tried to convince himself his friends would find him before that.

  What he hadn't counted on was the rain, and when it began dripping out of the sky, his first thought was that he wouldn't be dying of thirst after all. Exposure maybe, but not thirst. But then as the downpour continued and strengthened, he started to wonder how in the world he was going to keep himself from drowning in the muddy water which began to rise beneath him. Steeling himself, he began to slowly, gingerly turn himself over--and promptly passed out as searing pain engulfed his world.

  #

  Graham applauded his own genius. Though his angels had somehow lost their bait, he'd quickly decided to follow through on his plan to lure Rose and Finn to their doom, using the wrapped corpse of another in place of the scholar's. Now the lovers were probably dead, slain by his powerful worm-angels which he'd held in reserve for this, and only the task of making sure Derrick was equally dead remained. The angels had failed in their simple-mindedness to look for his body after he apparently committed suicide to escape them, but Graham now sent them back for the corpse, wanting proof of the excessively lucky Derrick's death. Damn, his children could be stupid at times. Still, anytime now his worm-angels would bring him the bodies of the scholar's friends, and his heart would rejoice for his victory. He only wished he could be there to enjoy his triumph firsthand...

  #

  Rose's powerful blow ripped one of the worm's four jaws clean off. Thrashing in pain, it dropped her out of its mouth to fall twenty feet and land hard on her back. She caught Finn glancing worriedly at the puncture holes riddling her armor around the shoulder area, knowing the poisoned wounds she must have suffered. But she gritted her teeth against the pain and drove her sword up to the hilt into the worm, then ripped it out sideways through the creature. As its body flopped to the ground, she limped-ran to help Brandon with his, leaving the three she'd killed in pools of steaming blood mixed with some of her own.

  She had charged the worms fearlessly right when they appeared, and though she'd taken wounds for it, figured her shed blood might have saved the men from worse harm as she'd drawn most of the creatures' attention to her. Rose took pride in seeing Finn jump back from another worm's bite, pull its head down and smash it with his mace, sending it into death throes for his second kill. Brandon killed his first worm before Rose could reach him, and now only one remained. It didn't last long.

  "Are you okay?" both Finn and Brandon asked as they observed Rose's pained face.

  She chuckled at the glare her husband threw the momentarily frightened-looking count's way. "Of course. I've been chewed up by teeth three times the size of theirs!" Their venom did burn inside her flesh where they had pierced it, but her nickname was Iron Flower.

  "I find it odd they didn't use the real Derrick for the bait," Brandon said. "A plan already seemed beyond their smarts, but to be so cautious? Makes you wonder
if there could be a real divinity guiding them."

  Finn scowled. "It's Graham. Snakes like him never die that easily. And it's just like him to go after us like this, with his hate of our magic."

  Rose thought his explanation likely, but Brandon argued, "No, this isn't Graham's style. If he was behind this ambush, he'd be confident enough in his success not to keep Derrick in case we survived. We would've found your friend just now, dead."

  "Maybe I beat the overconfidence out of him," she suggested. "I did rip his leg off. If it saved Derrick's life, for whatever reason, I'm glad to have done it. Him keeping Derrick as a useful hostage gives us a chance to save him."

  "I'd be glad you did it either way," Finn said. "That was a feat to be proud of."

  "I'm proud of you too," Brandon added. "You're the toughest warrior there is, not to mention the most beautiful."

  To her surprise, Finn didn't sound all that angry when he responded this time. "That she is. Best scar collection in the world."

  Rose smiled, happy to be around two men who in spite of being strong, proud warriors themselves, appreciated her for what she was. A horribly scarred, brutal brute of a woman, yet they didn't mind. "So are we going to the swamp now? We don't have any other leads, and I don't want to waste time sitting around thinking."

  "Sure," Finn replied.

  Brandon shrugged. "Why not? It's not like I'd be much safer in my own home, which doesn't exist anymore." He grinned. "Besides, I've got to make a good impression."

  He obviously meant towards Rose, but she hardly minded right now, only happy to see his confidence back to an acceptable level. The victory over the worms had done them all some good, bringing the two men somewhat closer together and thus diminishing Rose's worry over potential escalation of their feud. Despite the danger she knew they were going into and the pouring rain that dogged their steps, it brought contentment to her heart to watch her male companions chat without great hostility on their way out of the forest.

  #

  Ashleigh sighed at the heavy rain which soaked her cloak, weighing it down to cling uncomfortably to her armored body as she searched for Count Brandon. She regretted going after him, for the rain all but ruined her chances of tracking him, and she did little more than wander aimlessly now in the hope of somehow bumping into him. She'd wanted to share the new information gotten from a traveler right away, but finding him seemed a lost cause, and she was about to head back when she heard an all too familiar roar nearby.

  Following the sound, she saw a loam-black ape creature standing over a man lying motionless on his side in a rising puddle. Ashleigh didn't even know if he was alive or dead, but one less monster terrorizing Resnick wouldn't hurt in any case. As her twin longswords scraped free of their sheaths, the ape-thing realized her presence. It charged to meet her, huge spear lowered.

  She ducked a powerful thrust that would have impaled her through the throat and likely decapitated her, then slashed her swords across the back of her opponent's knees. But its tendons were tougher than expected, and though it howled in pain it did not fall. Sidestepping when it turned to stab her, she hacked with both blades into its huge thigh, and it dropped to a knee. This brought its face and throat into reach, and Ashleigh sensed victory at hand as she avoided a desperate spear swipe. But before she could finish off her foe, its rock-hard fist connected with her face. She fell stunned.

  She recovered just in time to roll aside from the spear which planted itself in the ground and stabbed a sword through the beast's foot, pinning it to the earth. It surprised her by grabbing her head in one hand and began to squeeze, sending pain shooting through her skull. Gripping her remaining blade two-handed, she struck again and again, frantically trying to kill it before her head popped like a grape. Her assault quickly turned its face and throat into a shredded mess. But before it died, it got off one last stab with its spear, and in her haste to relieve the pressure of its grip, she'd forgotten the danger of the other hand. Ashleigh felt something like a hard punch to her side, yet it was only after a last few slashes which dropped the monster fully dead to the ground that she felt the strange weight in her flank. She looked down to see the huge spear buried in her torso, blood gushing out around its thick shaft.

  Tugging experimentally at the shaft, she was overwhelmed by pain, and gasped desperately for breath only to feel moisture leak out of her mouth and down her chin. Was she dying? She convinced herself otherwise, telling herself she only crumpled to her knees beside the still man to check on him. Wiping mud from his face, she recognized him. Derrick? What was he doing here? She thought he'd been captured. He was still alive, she saw, but unconscious and pale with shock. She couldn't see any bad injuries and didn't know what exactly was wrong with him, but this hardly seemed like the time to check him over in depth.

  Ashleigh began to lift him, only to be agonizingly reminded of the spear in her side by unbearable pain ripping through her body. How the hell could Rose still fight like a demon with wounds that looked worse than this, when she felt close to passing out already? Well, she was no Rose, but thought herself pretty strong, and wasn't about to ruin her own image of herself by dying next to the person she'd been trying to rescue. Barely recognizing her own voice as she screamed with anguish, she put Derrick on a shoulder and stood, ignoring as best she could the sharp blade inside her tearing tissue further while she rose.

  #

  They all heard the distant scream, though only Rose was sure of it at first, a feminine howl of agony which moved her heart. The warriors hurried towards the voice, expecting to find monsters attacking someone, but instead beheld Ashleigh lying beneath Derrick on the ground in a small pool of blood. Red droplets trailed her as if she'd been limping back towards Trumil, and though she'd not likely make it with Derrick on her shoulder and a huge spear deep in her side, she was still trying to get up.

  "Ashleigh!" Rose yelled, easing her down with a gentle hand. "It's okay, help's here."

  She took Derrick from the warrior's arms and checked on him. Finding him alive and breathing steadily, she let out a great sigh of relief. "Think Derrick's okay, Finn. I mean, he'll live anyway... but his back is hurt, so we'll need to be careful moving him."

  "Can you heal Ashleigh?" Brandon asked, holding the hand of the injured young woman who now lay on her back. "She's bleeding badly."

  Ashleigh pulled out the spear herself and Rose did what she could for the wound, which wasn't that much. "Sorry I don't have any magical talent."

  "Don't worry, I was doing fine on my own," Ashleigh said with a weak grin. "Though, thanks for saving me the rest of the walk. By the way, am I drooling blood?"

  "No, it was just spit." Rose patted her shoulder, and the concern she saw in Brandon's eyes cheered her. Maybe there was a woman here for him after all, if not her. She'd help that along by giving Ashleigh some insight about him, later. "Thank you for saving Derrick—but how did you know where to look for him?"

  "Know where?! Hardly, I was practically lost looking for the Count... good thing I was, though. Found your friend almost breathing rainwater."

  Brandon gave her a curious look. "Looking for me? Why?"

  Her face grew excited. "A traveler told me he saw monsters like the ones we've been fighting coming out of the Greencrest Hills. Maybe that's where their master is, and where we can finish this."

  "That would be good," Finn said.

  Rose frowned. "Weren't we going to check out the swamp?"

  "You think their master is more likely to be there?" Ashleigh asked.

  "I don't know, we don't have much evidence either way. I just know we have to keep doing something. At the least, hopefully we can thin down the monster population some more, even if their leader isn't wherever we decide to go."

  "Which place is closer?" Finn asked.

  Ashleigh answered. "The swamp. It can't hurt to check it out first."

  Rose nodded. "But let's go back to town and get some rest first. I'm pretty tired from trying to heal you, and we just f
ought seven worms the size of houses. So we'll drop you off, and leave in the morning."

  "You're not suggesting that I stay out of the fight, are you?"

  "You're in no condition," Rose told the pale woman. "You've lost a lot of blood, and you're lucky that wound wasn't fatal." Then she grinned. She was still worried, but knew Ashleigh was tough, and trusted her judgement when it came to her own health. The veteran soldier wouldn't insist on coming if she thought she'd be a liability in battle. "Then again, it's not like I ever wait until I'm healed to go back to fighting. You're welcome to come if you want, if you think your strength will hold up."

  She smiled bravely back at Rose. "I'll be okay. I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning."

  "You better not get yourself killed," Brandon said, his gruff voice unable to hide his admiration.

  "So what about Derrick?" Finn asked.

  "He's certainly not going to be safe in my manor. I don't even have one."

  Derrick groaned then and drowsily opened his eyes. "R-Rose? Finn? What happened?"

  "Ashleigh saved you," Brandon explained. "Poor girl took a nasty wound doing it, too."

  The scholar stared at the gash which adorned her side, her mail ripped open by the huge spear. "That's a big one. Looks worthy of Rose."

  Watching Ashleigh's wince, Finn laughed. "For once, the largest wound of the day isn't on my poor wife's body. Though she got some new scars of her own—a really big worm bit her, though I'm glad its poisoned teeth weren't too large. By the way, Derrick, you lucked out. You were close to drowning when Ashleigh found you."

  Though she was glad Derrick lived, bitter tears suddenly filled Rose's eyes before she even realized why. She saw Julie, white on the bed and already gone when she woke up, again in her mind. The others stared as her massive body shook with sobs. "Why am I so bad at saving people? I couldn't do a thing for Julie, and even today, if you hadn't been there Ashleigh, Derrick would be dead... I'm such a beast—good for nothing more than slaughtering people by the thousands, but not for saving even one friend..."