by D. R. Grady
“Am I wrong that he seems to have developed an interest in Lucy?” Eliza’s smile looked sweet. And a little melancholy.
“I thought the same. And she lives by the ocean with a sea serpent for a friend. It seems like a wonderful match.”
“Is she too young for him?”
Felicity smiled. “Lucy is the first female to ever train as an Aasguard. She is not as old as him, but close. Lucy mentioned a desire to move on a few years ago. I convinced her to build her house instead. She had grown weary of protecting treasuries and the like.”
“Did you know this was going to happen?” Eliza used a hand to encompass the school and the crowd.
“No, but something told me that the time for her to pass was not then. That she needed to remain here.” Felicity acknowledged the spurt of gratefulness that she and her friend had held on a little longer.
Lucy hovered much like Punzel and she kept close to Fergus, who seemed to take it as perfectly normal for her to do so.
“Do you believe he will walk again?”
“He has been in this condition for so long. Vaspiris are among the nastiest of creatures. Their venom is horrific.” Eliza’s face shadowed as she took in Fergus. “He would have had a better chance if Punzel had gotten him to us much sooner.”
“They did not know what caused his agony.”
“Unfortunately. Our hope is that his Aasguard healing abilities will enable him to walk again.”
“If not, he can at least use that chair. It should offer him additional freedom.” Yet Felicity knew she would struggle to live in a chair.
She would move on to the next life. Then her thoughts slid to Rykert. Except… He joked with another Aasguard who looked cheered to be in his company. Maybe she would take being confined to a chair if it meant she could spend time with him. If he could accept her as broken… But I am broken.
Perhaps not in body, but certainly in her stunted mental growth. She had been an automaton for so long, a creature who could not feel, that she had neglected to develop internally.
Rykert’s head lifted abruptly and he said something to the other warrior before loping across the room. One solid arm slid around her and tugged her into his side. She leaned into him. His scent washed over her and comforted her as she savored his arm around her.
Eliza drifted off to check on Fergus.
“You are entertaining bad thoughts.” Rykert breathed this into her temple.
She shivered. “Yes. Would you still want me if I was in a chair?”
His mouth gaped. “What kind of question is that?” Rykert’s expression turned fierce. “Yes. I shall take you however you are.”
And suddenly life looked much nicer.
‡‡
Rykert did not like how tumultuous Felicity’s thoughts felt. She struggled with something and he needed to quell that immediately. He had come to realize she could be her own worst enemy when it came to her internal conversations.
That might be why nature had paired them. He could help her through the ugliness.
“We do not have to figure all of this out right this minute.” He also glanced pointedly at Fergus and Lucy. “Do you believe Lucy would be so shallow as to spurn Fergus because of his injury?”
“No. I believe she will work around whatever struggles they have so they can be together.” Felicity’s fierce tone told him all he needed to know.
He quirked a brow at her.
Chagrin flashed across her face before both of her arms wrapped around his waist in an equally fierce hold. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” He kissed the top of her head. “Finding Lucy will probably be the best incentive for Fergus to continue living.”
“I hope he regains his mobility.”
“He probably will. When no one else had ever heard of Aasguard warriors, Fergus pushed himself to become the very first of our kind. Then he trained others to become their best selves. He kept the course, never deviating from his goal.” He smiled in the direction of his friend. “Now he has even more reason to fight this new battle.”
Lucy stood close to Fergus with her hand on his shoulder. He spoke with the many in the room who desperately wished to chat with him.
“Let us move into the lounge area.” Ari’s voice rose above the myriad conversations. He and Felicity turned to the door as they stood the closest. They strode down the hallways to the large living area off the foyer. Here everyone was able to take a seat so Fergus was not as conspicuous and he took to wheeling himself about with the same glee that Maeze took to learning Aern’s bad habits.
Eventually, Fergus and Lucy settled close to them. Felicity glanced at Rykert. “Should we admit we have been to their treasure houses?”
He laughed. “We have been to both of your treasure houses.”
Lucy chuckled. He might know her but Felicity did and warmth emanated from her at her friend’s delight. “Did you find mine in good order?”
“We did. Felix loves treasure, so he found both of yours a few decades back.” Rykert explained about him diving into the sea without warning all over again. This time, Fergus joined Lucy in laughter. As he suspected, Fergus thought it hilarious that Felix had dunked him. Words could not describe how happy he was to hear that rumble of happiness from his friend.
The tight lines of pain and fatigue that previously etched around his mouth and eyes had decreased. An emotion that might be joy emitted faintly from him. His gaze kept caressing Lucy’s face.
“I rarely visit my treasury.” Lucy tapped a finger on Fergus’s chair wheel.
“Do you swim down there alone?” Felicity did not sound as though she approved of this.
The laughter lines faded on Lucy’s face. “When I first built it, no. I had my dragon. But she passed on and I have yet to find another.”
“So you do swim to your treasury alone?” Rykert could not prevent the slight judgmental tone.
“No, I encountered Issac during one of my forays there and he had a few pithy things to say to me.” The laughter lines deepened.
“Who is Issac?”
“The handsome sea serpent who visits me whenever I am home.”
“Ah. He accompanies you to your treasury?” Felicity inquired.
“He does. He also ate the nasty octopus who lived there. I had a bad wrestling match with him after my dragon passed. That is when Issac and I first met.”
“The sea serpent ate that octopus? I have never encountered one that size before.” Rykert well remembered the enormous octopus. “Then again, sea serpents are gigantic.”
“Yes, Issac is even larger than Punzel.”
“Did he follow you into your treasury?” Fergus inserted this question into the conversation.
“He did. And he lectured me the entire time. As though we had been friends for years.” Lucy smiled. “He is an excellent friend. I am certain if something happened to me as it did you, he would remain with me.”
“Punzel has kept me sane. I do not know what I would have done. I must have eventually died. Something would have eaten me and I could not have fought it off. There were times when I wished for that.” Fergus rubbed a hand down one thigh. No one commented on how much smaller his legs were than they should have been. Not small by human standards, but definitely by Aasguard norms, he had lost muscle there.
This made sense in light of the injuries he had sustained.
“Why did you visit our treasuries?” Lucy asked the question he should have already answered.
He and Felicity explained their idea to make a general treasury. Both warriors sat up a little straighter.
“That makes perfect sense. I took the time to invest mine a few decades ago and my treasure has continued to grow.” Lucy tapped a finger to her lips. “I could aid you in growing the treasury.”
“I did the same before I left for Atlas. Since then, I have had plenty of time to think about investing mine in different ways. Of course my treasure has been neglected since this occurred.” Fergus gestured to
his legs. “I am certain I can assist you with investing it wisely and helping to distribute the funds as well.”
Fergus animated even more than he had before at the prospect of something to do. As though not only had he found Lucy but he also had found a new purpose. Rykert and Felicity exchanged glances.
“Do you believe Atlas would make a worthy general treasury?”
A few blinks as his friend thought about the place he must know well. Although if he had been confined…
“Punzel and I explored the entirety of Atlas. My upper body strength is such that I can hold onto her and she is an excellent swimmer, of course. We have explored every alley and building there.”
“You could hold on for short jaunts but not until you reached the surface.” Felicity answered the question on his mind.
“Correct. We tried to increase the amount of time I could spend exploring with her. Despite our best efforts, I could only hold on for a third of the time it would take us to reach the surface.” A note of despair lined his otherwise emotionless answer.
“But for Rykert and Felicity’s explorations, we still would not know you are alive.” Lucy grasped Fergus’s hand in a white knuckled grip.
“It happened when it was supposed to.” Fergus carried their entwined hands to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to the back of Lucy’s hand.
An intimate exchange but Rykert was thankful to have witnessed it. This show of early affection made him hopeful for his friend. Fergus had Lucy and Punzel—two excellent reasons to remain with them in this realm.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rykert and Felicity had just accepted Fergus’s offer to aid them with the general treasury, something he was thrilled about, when a loud bang reverberated through the school.
Everyone stilled, hands on swords.
“Sounds like Felix and Punzel made a route into the school.” Rykert spoke with confidence.
“What did they do?” Ari and Kellen both looked stricken for a second.
“Felix and a few of the other dragons have been considering making a tunnel between the school and lake.”
“A tunnel. That is not safe.” Kellen’s eyebrows met over his nose.
“It is if there are dragons and sea serpents guarding it.” Lucy pointed out an obvious.
“But what if there are not?” One of the more aged Aasguards countered.
A small Felix flew into the room. He was the size of a dog. “Punzel refused to leave the school unguarded. She insisted we find a guardian before we created the tunnel.”
“You made the tunnel, so who is the guardian?” Felicity played along.
“Come and see.” With that Felix turned tail and yellow wings flapping, led the way into the cellar.
Rykert and one of the other warriors lifted Fergus in his chair on the stairs but otherwise their first warrior had no trouble keeping up with them.
Felix continued down to the dragon area. He crossed the expanse and flew to the edge. There they had knocked out a wall and part of the floor to allow for a dock and entry for an underground river.
Ari gasped. “I had no idea a river flowed there.”
“We suspected but again, Punzel was stubborn. She wanted the students here protected.” Felix pointed to the sea dragon.
“That sounds like my Punzel.”
“And my Issac. He would insist upon the exact same.” Lucy added as she smiled at the sea serpent.
The surface of the water rippled as a creature much like Punzel broke the surface. This one was smaller and green instead of black. But every bit as fierce looking.
“This is Bram. He has lived in this lake for centuries. And has watched the building of the school with interest. He and his family have agreed to protect this entrance.”
Ari stepped forward to greet him, Kellen right behind her. Both of them kept swallowing. “Bram, we are thrilled you are joining us.”
“I have long felt Aasguards should continue training their own.” Bram spoke in a deep voice, one that reminded Rykert of Aern’s. The lake serpent noticed Fergus. He hissed.
“I told you about my warrior, Fergus the First.” Punzel spoke to his back as the lake dragon erupted from the water to glide, there was no other word to describe his actions, to Fergus.
He bumped his snout along Fergus’s legs. This wet the seated warrior. Bram hissed again. “Vaspiris.” He plunged his head into the water and bellowed. The water dampened the sound, but it flared out in rings, building on top of each other, rippling until movement in the water behind Punzel caught their attention.
More green sea serpents like Bram breached the surface. Bram used his head to indicate them. As though none of them noticed their arrival.
“My family. This is my sister Serene and my mother Myrtle. They are both healers.”
The two females rose from the water and in the exact same manner as Bram, approached Fergus. They sniffed him and got him wet all over again. He did not seem to mind.
Myrtle, the mother, leaned back. “What has been done to remove the pain?”
Eliza introduced herself and explained what she had already accomplished. The two fell into a more technical discussion with the sister interjecting what he believed were helpful observations judging from the reaction to her thoughts. The three healers came to a determination although he had no idea as to their conclusion.
“My hope is to walk. And to fight again.” Fergus inserted his desire into their conversation.
All three females looked at him. Then at each other again, and the scope of the conversation appeared to change.
Serene, the sister, sniffed at Fergus again. “You tire easily?”
“Yes. But I am no longer in pain.” Fergus held up one large hand. “I have only been treated for an hour or so.”
Both lake serpents turned to verify this with Eliza. “Your progress is stellar in that case.” Myrtle stuck out her tongue and used it much as Eliza had used her staff earlier. Serene followed suit. The two lake serpents must have come to the same conclusion.
“The poison is diluted but it remains within your body.” Myrtle stated this with confidence.
“That means I will not be able to walk?”
“Not with the poison still inside you.” Myrtle turned to her son. “Please be aware that we might not be able to fully remove the poison. It has been a part of you for a long time. We have some remedies that remove poison but we have never treated vaspiris poison before.”
“Why not?” Fergus’s hand clenched into a fist.
“Because anyone who is infected has never survived before.”
‡‡
At Eliza’s bold statement not one of the Aasguard warriors in the room blinked. No one showed astonishment. Felicity certainly did not gasp. It stood to reason that Fergus would have survived.
Eliza frowned at them. “You are not surprised by this? Shocked?”
Lucy shook her head. “We are Aasguard. We cease fighting when the fighting ceases.”
Quiet agreement rippled through the space.
Myrtle and Serene finished a low conversation in their own language and Serene entered the river. She soon swam away with powerful, mesmerizing strokes against the current.
“Serene is going to obtain the herbs and plants we hope will remove all the poison from your body.” Myrtle’s stunned air did not dissipate. Their knowledge of Aasguard warriors had only begun.
Ari and Kellen remained in deep conversation with Bram. All three of their postures indicated muted excitement.
“Myrtle, can you fly?” The question popped into Felicity’s mind and out of her mouth before she could censure it.
“Of a sort.” Myrtle bustled around Fergus, not really paying attention to the question.
Felicity sought additional information. “Our dragons have wings so they can fly.”
This must have distracted the lake dragon. Maeze opened her wings and flew around the space. Which was surprisingly spacious although many of them needed to duck.
“
We obviously do not have wings. But our flippers work so we can…” She stopped as though searching for the word.
“We are more gliders than fliers.” Bram must have overheard the question because he answered.
Punzel perked up. “You can glide? Do you believe I can as well?”
“It might be better if we exit to a training field.” Kellen opened a dragon sized door to the outside and they all exited. Fergus could go as far as the patio and he breathed deeply of the fresh air. A pleasure he had been denied for a century.
Felicity admired him and his resiliency more than she could ever say. This man had been through an experience none of them could relate to, other than Punzel.
Myrtle and Bram encouraged the dragons to take to the air. Then they launched into it as well. Their flippers made a motion that might resemble flying from a distance. Their motions reminded her of the small mammals that caught wind currents and rode them.
Nothing indicated the lake serpents were doing the same, yet they looked similar.
Punzel watched her fresh water counterparts and after a couple of failed attempts, lifted her massive body into the air. She screeched the first time but Bram and Myrtle coached her on how to stop and turn and various other necessities. Soon she gleefully glided through the air with the dragons and the two lake serpents.
Serene entered the patio. She carried several bunches of green plants in one flipper. Instead of joining the flying fun she concentrated on her patient. Eliza took the plants and the two of them made a potion that glowed a bright green. Eliza added a few additional ingredients from packets in her pockets and shook the bottle vigorously.
Then she handed it to Fergus. “Drink as much of this as feels comfortable.”
He opened the bottle and raised it to his lips. A grimace after tasting the concoction but he downed the contents.
“One should never underestimate an Aasguard I see.” Serene said this in an aside to Eliza.
“We mages are hardy but Aasguards apparently best us in this realm.” Eliza took the bottle from him and with the leftover plants, made up a second potion. This one she handed to Lucy, who tucked it into her pocket.
