by Billy Wong
"You were so hurt, inside and out. I didn't want to make you worry about anything else, or let myself be distracted at all from taking care of you."
"But that's our friend you're talking about..."
He fell silent for a while, stroking her hair though he doubt it gave her any comfort. Then he said, "He doesn't get visions anywhere but his island though, and that's not a place Kayland can readily keep him. Maybe once Victor realizes this, he'll release him."
"Hopefully. I hope he hasn't suffered too badly already, too. But next time a friend of mine is in trouble, please don't keep it a secret from me, okay?!"
#
Irving stared at the backs of the warrior couple from his chair in the corner, hand automatically brushing the wrap over his broken shoulder as he recalled the blow the man of the two had dealt to him after he wounded the woman. He was tempted to rise and avenge his brother killed in their favorite basement now, but knowing how strong they were, held himself back. He'd already wasted too many of his followers, who had taken years to recruit, in an attack decided upon in a moment of blind fury. He didn't fear to die, but a pointless death was just that.
He hadn't planned on living to a ripe old age, but he'd dreamed his brother would be there with him to watch the end of the world. After their parents drove their beautiful sister to suicide just for consummating her love for them, he and Walter had punished them with death in the name of justice and lived as fugitives ever since. They weren't evil or monsters. Why should they have denied their true love with Mara, just to keep themselves open for other families to use for reproduction? He and Walter hadn't loved another woman for decades since her death, which should have been decades of bliss. If their pure and perfect love couldn't be allowed to exist, neither should anyone else's.
He could hardly believe that weeks after suffering easily fatal wounds, Rose walked with only the slightest of limps. What did it take to bring down this inhuman, seemingly immortal warrior? All they'd done to her seemed to have no lasting effect—but no, she did appear much more melancholy and cheerless than she was known for, and he knew they must have managed to inflict some kind of damage. Yet after all the dead men it'd cost to do so, he doubted if he would be able to finish her and Finn off with those he had left.
But if direct combat wouldn't do for the mighty woman and her also formidable husband, there were other open paths to her defeat, and that which appealed to Irving most was one he pursued since long before encountering these new enemies. He needed more sacrifices with which to awaken the great power that would promise victory.
#
In the days that followed, reports of disappearances cropped up all around central Kayland, and Rose and Finn suspected the work of The Lost. But the spread out, random nature of the attacks made it impossible to know where the fiends would strike next and left them helpless as travelers, farmers, hunters, and anyone else outside a settlement alone or in small groups became targets. The couple considered going back to question the Duke of Gelby, but the report they heard of the hunting trip he'd been on during all this sounded legit and Finn concluded he just had an interest in unconventional perspectives and wasn't one of The Lost. Soon soldiers were dispatched into the countryside to curtail the kidnappings and likely subsequent killings, yet those responsible seemed too organized for them to do much good either.
Eventually, though, people began to travel in larger and more well-armed groups and the soldiers lucked out on occasion, and would-be kidnappers began to get caught and killed. Looking over the corpse of one carried into town, Rose and Finn could not tell if he was a Lost. He didn't wear their trademark armor, and Finn supposed that whatever his affiliations had been, it was a good thing he'd been stopped. A score and some dead kidnappers later, the rash of disappearances ended, and the couple considered that The Lost might have met their end, if not at their hands.
Whether or not that was the case, they had not met with much success trying to hunt down The Lost on their own. Their growing desire to reunite their family winning out over their wish for revenge, they decided to return home. A still glum Rose parted awkwardly with her mother after picking up the kids, arguing briefly over whether she was ready to return to her hectic life in Gustrone running the Center for Magical Study. Though she still hurt, Rose didn't think she would be magically cured of her depression by staying at Lise's side. She stood by her choice to leave knowing work would occupy some of the mental space which might otherwise become occupied by despair. Besides, she shouldn't burden Derrick with being in charge of the center alone for so long.
When they got back to the tower, Derrick greeted them with his usual cheer. "So how did visiting your mom go?" he said to Rose. "I was a little worried after hearing a rumor you got hurt bad, but see you came through fine as usual. Heard you killed a bunch of crazed murderers too—glad to see you're making the most of your time off, like you usually do."
Rose didn't respond, face blank no doubt in an attempt to hold back tears, and Finn too held his tongue, not sure if she wanted him to speak of and thus bring to the forefront those terrible memories. Looking confused and anxious at his friends' unusually grim demeanors, Derrick asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"I lost... my child," Rose managed to gasp out.
Derrick stared in bafflement. "What? Jacob and Amber look fine."
"No, my other child..."
Now that Rose showed her willingness to share, if with difficulty, Finn joined in. They told him the story, taking turns when it got too tough for one, rushing through to avoid having to speak of it for too long. They were all crying to some degree—again in the couple's case—when it was over, and Rose said, "I'm such a bad mother, I didn't even know I was a mother again."
Finn noticed disapproval mixed with the sympathy in Derrick's eyes, which revealed the scholar did not excuse Rose's ignorance of her condition as easily as he did. Of course, Rose disclosed little about the extent of her health issues even to close friends, and for that matter Finn himself. In fact, he imagined she probably tried to make light of them in her own mind. He asked Rose to get some food for the three of them, then after she left the room, turned to Derrick.
"You shouldn't be too hard on Rose, even if it seems irresponsible of her not to know when she was pregnant. She has a lot of bodily problems she doesn't like talking about, the unknown severity of which scares the hell out of me, but suffice to say, she can hardly be blamed for not being able to tell what's going on inside her. She's been stabbed so many times in her torso, everything's got to be a terrible mess in there."
Hearing his frank and frightening words, Derrick nervously touched his mouth. "She'll live, won't she?" Finn knew he loved Rose despite their occasional disagreements like a sister, and his annoyance at her tragic ignorance had been replaced completely by concern.
"She's lived for years with such hurts, and doesn't seem like she'll die all of a sudden yet. She'd already taken wounds that would have killed most people at the age of sixteen, and considerably more since then. So that goes to show how tough she is. I don't know how she can live with all the damage she must have inside her, but she does and she's still strong. I can't imagine how much pain she must suffer, though."
Derrick wiped his eyes, and Finn knew he pondered the dreadful possibility his great friend might not live so long. He too feared that in his heart, but tried not to think about such grim possibilities. His violent life was hard enough without thinking his future with Rose might not be much of a future at all.
"Will she ever get better?" Derrick asked.
Finn wasn't sure if he meant it in terms of Rose's emotional state or her physical condition, but answered the way he would have for either. "She'll never be able to recover completely like it never happened—no one could—but I'm sure she'll be okay. It's Rose we're talking about, remember? She's indestructible."
"Yeah, but she doesn't seem it now."
"Don't be a pessimist. If you want her to be happy again, as I know you d
o, believe that she will."
The scholar smiled sadly. "Not like me, huh?" It'd been over a year since Derrick's own love Julie's untimely death. Rose, Finn and friends had wiped out every member of the group responsible for her death, but even now, he remained a changed, less spirited person, clearly haunted by her loss.
"I'm so sorry," Finn said, guiltily recalling how he had been too insensitive to that heartbreak when it'd happened.
"You've nothing to be sorry for. You were going through a hell of a time yourself, remember? Just concentrate on taking caring of your wife now. She needs you."
Rose soon returned with two full plates of seasoned meat and assorted dipping sauces, but apparently she had listened in on part of the conversation. "Just give me time, okay? I eventually spring back from everything. Just don't feel so good now..." After a pause, she added, "By the way, what do you think is going on with Evan?"
"It's probable that Victor already let him go," Finn said. "Not exactly useful to keep a powerless seer at home feeding him for nothing."
"But what if he hasn't?"
Derrick looked questioningly at her. "You want to leave again? You just got home, and after what just happened..."
She averted her downcast gaze. "Yeah, I know. I don't want to be apart from Jacob and Amber so soon either. But if our friend, who saved our kids' lives before, is in trouble, we can't very well leave him that way either. So we'll learn about Evan's situation and hope he doesn't need help—but if he does, we'll help him."
#
It turned out to be no secret that Evan was still a "guest" in the prince's grand old manor, and Rose and Finn traveled there once more. At least by themselves, they could move faster, and hopefully not waste too much time. The guards let them in without a fuss, and they wandered the long hallways before finding their friend in a courtyard garden, watching a pair of sparrows court each other on the circular fountain.
Hearing them enter, he looked up. "Hey, you two. Doing okay?"
"Not too well, but we're both alive," Rose admitted. "Sometimes that's all you can ask for in our profession." She sat down next to him on the marble bench. "What about you? I see Victor's still holding you... captive."
"Yeah, even though I told him about the island, he seems to believe there's some reason to keep me here while he 'thinks' about it." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Even if I could get visions here, I wouldn't tell him. I want to leave!"
"We can understand that," Finn said with a smile. "This prince cares way too much about controlling everything and not nearly enough about other people. So, you need anything? Want us to help you escape or something like that?" Rose wasn't sure she wanted to defy Victor that strongly yet, but she'd suggest they talk to him first if Evan expressed a desire to leave.
"No, not yet. It's actually pretty nice living here now that I've gotten used to it, and I wouldn't want the two of you to get in trouble for my sake. I can give it a little while more to see if he gives up. So what happened with The Lost? Did you..?"
Rose took a deep breath and exhaled. "No, they might be gone, but if so it wasn't us who did them in. They, or who we think was them, started kidnapping people in mass numbers, apparently grabbing every vulnerable person they could get their hands on. But they began to slip up, and more and more of them got killed... I don't know how many are still out there, if any, but if they are finished we weren't responsible for it."
"That's good," Evan said in a relieved tone. "Who stopped them doesn't matter, as long as they can't hurt anyone else."
"Yeah, I'd be happy too if they've been wiped out. Besides, I already killed the one who..." Rose's voice trailed off. Her eyes beginning to mist, she couldn't quite bring herself to vocalize what he'd done.
Finn hugged her. "I just hope that really was them, and not some kind of ploy... and if it was, I wonder who those men they used for it were."
"I don't want to think about that. Let's consider The Lost dead and buried until we see an indication otherwise, and then we'll deal with it. But I'd rather not imagine those monsters to still be out there if we don't have to."
Evan nodded. "They really were monsters. I'm glad you came through okay, Rose. You really looked like you were dying."
She couldn't suppress a tiny grin at the reply that came naturally to mind. "Me? What do you expect? This body never quits!"
When a ecstatic Finn was done congratulating her on her returning capacity for joy, Evan said, "There is one thing I would like you to do for me."
"What?" Rose hoped it wouldn't take too much of her time, though.
Evan hesitated. "Um... it's about Justin, actually. I asked him to find out how you two fared and he agreed, but I haven't seen him since. Could you check on him?"
"You made friends with Justin?" Finn asked.
"We're not friends, really. We just agreed on wanting to check on you, that's all."
Rose blinked. "Really? He's the last person I'd expect to care about how I'm doing."
Meeting her eyes, he smiled gently. "I think Justin is good at heart, so even his wrath would have its limits. When he saw you... down... I could tell he was sad—for you or maybe for your child, but I think it was both. He didn't enjoying watching you suffer so, and really, what sane man would?"
"I suppose that makes sense. I've rarely met anyone who was truly, completely evil, though it's hard to find redeeming qualities in some like The Lost. But why ask us to check on Justin, and not just the other soldiers?"
"I have asked them. They don't seem to have any idea where he's gone."
"We're not master detectives," Finn pointed out. "Our expertise is in battle, hence why we've had so much trouble hunting down The Lost."
Rose nodded. "If they hadn't taken the fight to us, we might never even have made much of a dent in their ranks. At least, not anytime soon."
"Can't you just try? He's only one man."
"That might actually make it harder. But fine, I'm sure there are people better at investigation than us around here we can ask for help." And hopefully Justin was just away on some special assignment, not actually "missing" as Evan thought.
"Thanks. I wonder what the hell Victor's going to try and do with me..."
The couple shared ideas about what scheme the prince could have in mind, but failed to come up with anything plausible. "Don't worry," Finn assured Evan shortly, "you can count on your freedom. Whatever he's planning, it can't possibly work."
#
Bound securely in a cocoon of rope, Justin groaned as the huge, blue-and-silver armored figure pushed him before a two-and-a-half-foot stone spike standing upright on the floor of the dark cellar. The Lost forced him to his knees, pressing his head down to bring his throat dangerously close to the dark blue spike's wicked tip. "Legend tells us that sacrifice is what will awaken the power of this stone. Perhaps you will be the lucky one who finally triggers it."
Just when he thought he was about to die, the man pulled Justin back up away from the deadly spike and laughed. "No, you're here for a different purpose, though I suppose you'll make as good a sacrifice as any once that's done."
"And what 'purpose' is that?"
"Your... friends—though they've proven quite stubborn thus far, I have hope they won't survive what we've planned for them next."
He was being used as bait? How insulting. "What friends?" he asked, though he had a sinking feeling he knew the answer.
"Rose and Finn, who else?"
"You're mistaken!" he cried. "I'm not their friend, and barely know them! They'll hardly go out of their way to find me."
"You traveled with them, fought with them, stayed with them, and most recently asked many questions about their status. I find it somewhat hard to believe you're not their friend."
"I was tasked by Prince Victor to go with them, and our time together came as a result. As for my later inquires, that was a favor to someone else."
The Lost's eyes narrowed behind the visor, and he demanded, "You tell me the truth?"
&n
bsp; Not so sure anymore that he should have, Justin replied, "Yes."
Though he tried to cling to the courage expected of a soldier, his captor's next words covered his back with sweat born of fear. "Then there's little use for you, isn't there? Stay while I figure out what to do with you, not that you have a choice of course." Tying him to a shabby wooden chair with more rope, the man left the cellar and shut the door behind him, leaving Justin in total darkness.
Somewhat surprised he hadn't been killed yet, Justin didn't doubt that without his assumed value as bait, he would wind up sacrificed sooner than later. He had to escape this place, but how? Snugly bound as he was, he could barely move at all. Shifting his body towards one side, he could sometimes make his chair move ever so slightly that way, but this erratic progress wouldn't get him through the door. In order to have any real chance of escape, he would need to get the ropes off.
The spike. That strange blue rock had certainly looked sharp enough to cut rope, but Justin couldn't see it anymore, and knew he would have a hell of a time using it to free himself in the dark. Still, it was his best and probably only shot. He shifted his way towards where he believed he'd seen the spike, a very slow process indeed. Joints aching, skin raw from the ropes scraping against it, he forced himself onward. He prayed for the chair not to tip over. Eventually his heart quickened when he believed he'd almost made it, that just a couple more feet would put him within reach of the deadly-looking spike that now ironically promised salvation.
Encouraged by his proximity to the goal, he pushed harder, but as he rocked on the fragile chair, he felt a leg give beneath him. He fell sideways on the seat, totally helpless to do anything to mitigate his fall. He steeled himself for a harsh bump on the head, hoped he didn't crack his skull. But before his head touched anything, a sudden excruciating pain stabbed through the side of his ribcage to fill his entire chest. Within moments the agony faded to a strange numbness, and he thought this must be how it felt to die. A moment later, he felt nothing.
