by Jill Cooper
The room spun in a circle and Dani lost her footing. She gripped the counter and realized the hand she coughed in had traces of blood in it. Oh no, it couldn’t be the plague, could it? It had been weeks. Timothy was healthy.
“Dani?” Alessa’s voice rose. “Are you all right? Scotty, help!”
It was the last thing Dani remembered before she fell onto the floor unconscious.
Chapter: Timothy
Four long nights Timothy had tried to nurse Dani back to health, but her fever wouldn’t break. He sat by the bed as she coughed, her forehead drenched in sweat. He rubbed the boils on her skin with lotions, creams, and did everything Alessa told him to do. Still, Dani muttered nonsense in her sleep. The comforter was tight around her body, swelling high in the middle from her full stomach.
Timothy feared he was losing the both of them. A wife he hadn’t asked for and a child he never wanted. But he had grown to love Dani and the child she carried. He wanted a family so he could do things better than his own parents. Timothy didn’t want to go on without Dani, and she’d be crushed without the baby.
He needed to save them both. When he placed his hand on Dani’s stomach, she howled as if every touch he placed upon her hurt.
Wringing out the washcloth, Timothy said a prayer and dotted her skin with cold water. When he placed it on her forehead, she moaned, but smiled happily in her sleep. “Come on, Dani. Fight this thing. You have to for me, for the baby. Come back to us, okay?”
He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. Desperate to see her eyes or some sort of twinkle that proved she was still there with him. He’d take anything.
When the knock came at the door, it was a welcome distraction. Timothy touched Dani’s hand to say goodbye and hurried out to the living room. He hoped it was Alessa and Scotty with more advice. Even if they wouldn’t come in, they were always welcome faces to see. Being with friends calmed Timothy down, even if he couldn’t explain it.
Timothy pulled the door open. “Minister?” His heart jumped up into his throat and he nearly gagged on it. “What a… pleasure it is, sir What is it I can do for you?”
“No invitation to come in? Surely, you’ve lost all manners, dear boy.” The minister scowled and struck the ground with his walking stick two times.
“I’m sorry, Minister. Dani—my wife, she’s fallen ill with the plague. I’d invite you in but I don’t wish for you to get sick, as well.”
The minister laughed. “Oh what a funny one you are. I can’t get ill from the plague or any other human illness. What I am can’t really be quantified in simple terms, but no harm will come to me. That much, you can be sure of.”
Timothy stammered but ultimately moved out of the way. “Please, be my guest.”
“Thank you,” the minister hobbled inside with the help of his walking stick. Timothy had never seen any of the ministers limp before. Somehow he seemed weaker, like he really needed the cane when before, it always seemed more like an accessory. “I won’t keep you long. Dani’s not doing well, that much has reached us. Within the next few days, she’ll die and the baby will follow shortly there after.”
To be given such news so bluntly, weakened Timothy. His knees gave out like jelly and he gripped the back of a chair to steady himself. It felt like he had fallen down a well and everything around him happened in slow motion.
The minister pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Timothy. “Mix that in water and give it to Dani.”
Timothy inspected the powder inside the envelope. “What is it?”
“A drug. Penicillin, actually. Something that’s been long lost to the world, but us ministers still carry the secret of it with us—even after all these years. You see, Timothy, we’ve never forgotten how the world used to be.”
Timothy thought that might be more of a curse than a blessing, but wasn’t about to tell the minister that after getting such a gift.
“Mix it up and make her drink it. By tomorrow night, she’ll be healed. But know this, a gift such as this, isn’t free. I will be expecting a favor of you. A favor for the Dark Lord Creighton, and his favors do not come lightly.”
Timothy nodded. “Yes, Minister. Whatever you want. Whatever you wish for.”
The minister nodded, clearly glad to hear it. “There are rebels in Beantown. Those that wish to aid the curator herself and see the dark lord toppled, as well as the ministers. We must snuff them out. I need you to find them, get evidence, and bring that to me so they may be exterminated. The death hunters will do the job a lot faster than you or I.”
Everything he said caused Timothy to pause. He, too, hated Creighton, but he never thought it was possible for the dark lord to be besieged. Was the minister actually afraid it was possible for this to happen by mere men?
“You will have five days to bring the evidence to me or you and Dani shall die in their place. If you understand, nod.”
Timothy nodded. “Yes, Minister, but how will I find out who the rebels are?”
The minister’s mustache twitched. “They will generally have illegal wares in their home. Books, sheet music, old painting supplies, art. That sort of thing.”
Timothy thought of everything that Dani had told him about Alessa and Scott. About the painting parties that Alessa had with her friends, the things they talked about. “I’m afraid, Minister, I already have my suspicions about a married couple in Beantown and their friends.”
The minister smiled. “Lovely, Mr. Richardson, lovely. First, let’s go heal your wife, then I’m going to have a very important mission for you.”
Timothy rushed to get a cup and mixed it with some water he kept on the counter from the well. “Of course… Minister.”
It didn’t matter that it was like making a deal with the devil. All that mattered was that Dani and the baby would survive, right? He had to look out for his family. Alessa and Scott had already made their choice. Timothy couldn’t sit by and watch his wife die.
“When she’s healed of course. I wouldn’t want to put any undo strain on her. You will need to keep it to yourself. As master of your house, it will be your duty to keep this between us. Do you think you can do that?”
Timothy answered without having to think about it. “Of course, Minister. My allegiance is to you.”
****
The Minister of City Affairs was true to his word. By the next day, Dani was sitting up on her own and smiling again. Her appetite returned and the color returned to her skin while the boils quickly healed. A few pin prick scars appeared on her hands, but Timothy didn’t care about any of that.
She was alive and getting better. That’s what mattered the most.
Dani had a sweater wrapped around her shoulders when Timothy helped her outside. Their boots crunched through the snow as they made their way over to the fence across the way. “I thought you should see this,” Timothy said. Dani, while still weak, hung onto Timothy’s arm and gazed up at the sky.
He watched her face and how her eyes squinted under the intense glare of the sun. “Oh my, it’s so bright.” Dani broke out into a big smile as her eyes made contact with his. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
A gush of wind blew by and Timothy wrapped his arms around his wife to warm her. Sparkles of color appeared in the sky and they listened to the chimes of music. The song was simple in melody and rhythm, but Timothy hadn’t heard real music in his entire life. It filled him with hope, he felt… inspired.
Dani laughed and put a hand to her mouth, tears in her eyes. “Do my ears deceive me? Am I dreaming?”
Timothy shook his head. “Not at all, my love. Music is returning to the world. The sun is shining. Things are changing.”
The world was changing and the Minister of City Affairs didn’t like it one bit. Timothy made a deal with him and he’d have to honor it. His right to choose had been stripped from him as soon as Dani contracted the plague, but he was on the wrong side of things. Timothy knew that as soon as he gazed on his wife’s joyful smile
as she watched the musical shards drift down from the sky.
He took her hand and kissed it. “Dani, there’s something I have to—.”
His words were cut off as Dani groaned and grabbed beneath her swollen belly. Timothy gripped her arm. “The baby… is it…?”
Dani blew out a long breath, stroking her belly. “Not yet. But things are pinching. I’ll be all right. Best if we get inside for now though.”
“Yes,” Timothy said with urgency. “Our friends will want to see that you’re all right. We should plan to see them in the next few days. Won’t that make you happy?”
“The happiest,” Dani grinned. “I have much to say and brag about.”
“Brag about?” Timothy took her by the elbows and led her back to the house and Dani lovingly stroked his cheek.
“Yes, brag about my husband and how he nursed me back to health.”
Timothy swallowed hard as they entered their home. His eye caught the basinet cramped into the closet. He had four days left to bring the minister what he requested, or else it would be Dani’s life, but when he did what he needed to, would she even be able to look at him any longer?
Chapter: Tarnish Rose
I descended out of the tower and stood just west of the city’s entrance. To my left and right the members of my party flanked, with their weapons drawn and ready. George had been given a sword and stood with Robbie and Beatrice who had their bows aimed, ready to be of service.
Ana held her two daggers, one in each hand, and gave me a nod. “Ready to serve and protect you ‘til the end.”
I returned the humble nod and Sebastian stood with me in the center with his broadsword drawn. My staff wasn’t drawn, but instead stowed on my back. The remnant spun and I could feel its power as my hand gripped the hardcover book tucked safely in my satchel.
“Remember,” I said to everyone. “We don’t want to kill the dragon or make her flee. We just want to make sure she doesn’t kill… me.” I raised my eyebrows as I finished my statement.
I really wished Ella was there or nearby.
“We have your back—and good luck,” Sebastian said. I was thankful for his luck, but on the inside I felt thick with fear.
I stepped forward, my boot crunching the crumbled gravel. The gray haze of fog from the city the last time we visited was dissipated by sunlight. Holding my breath, I continued my way forward down the twist of the street as a growl warned me off. A sharp wind blowing against me that smelled stale like meat.
She was here. The dragon I had to conquer. My fingers trembled as I pulled my staff free and spun it like a baton into a half circle. Behind me, the silence was broken by a sharp twang as the members of my party pulled back their bows, ready to fight. Against the horizon, I saw a sharp, scaled tail whipping against buildings and heard the echo of her footsteps.
BOOM.
BOOM. BOOM.
The ground shook and rattled as her steps quickened. Before I saw her, I saw the darkened shadow of her form casting shade against the city street. My feet vibrated and I backed up as I saw her head rounding the corner. Narrow and angular, her red eyes glowed and her snout sniffed as she charged toward me.
My fear nearly overtook me, but I thought of all that was at stake as the great beast picked up steam and her mighty wings flapped, displacing the wind around me and the buildings. Waves of dust and snow howled, whipping at my face, and I lifted my staff overhead, the light shining right and left like a beacon in the dark.
The dragon growled and came to an abrupt halt just as she was about to trample me. She reared up on her back legs, her front ones kicking at the air. They stomped the ground upon landing and she snorted, her red eyes following not just me, but the staff I wielded.
She responded in the way I hoped she would from our last encounter. I brought the staff up level to her face and extended my gloved hand toward her, testing her, though I wasn’t ready to touch her just yet. I was pretty sure if I did, she’d eat my hand straight off.
When I swayed my staff, the dragon followed its movements with her eyes. Unsure of herself, she backed up, her tail swishing. It struck the buildings on the right and left, crumbling their brick facades.
“You know this staff. You know what’s to come. There’s no reason for us to be enemies anymore.”
The dragon hissed. She showed me her mighty teeth and I shuddered in her presence. “Stay where you are,” I warned. I doubted my friends posed much threat to her, but it was all I really had.
“I must end the war with the ministers and the death hunters so they no longer control the world. Creighton must go. To do that I need you and the library. Only then can we restore the world to what it’s supposed to be. Passion, love, music. They are only a few of the things that I feel in my heart.”
I placed my hand over my chest and the dragon snuffed. Tossing her head side to side, she advanced and punted me gently. It pushed me back, as if she didn’t really want to hurt me, but wanted me gone. My boots skidded back into the cobblestone, an arrow whizzed past my head and bounced off the dragon’s hide.
She hollered, a burst of fire shooting out of her mouth to my left and as she brought her head over to me, I aimed my staff at her and caught her in a beam of light.
“Let us then end this. I know you.” I spoke with conviction and felt the truth of my words. “Surely as you knew me when we first met on the cliffs leading from Imagination. Do you remember?”
The dragon growled and pushed against the light, growing closer to me. I doubled my efforts and the staff glowed hot in my hands. The runes running up and down the staff illuminated in gold.
She hollered and shook her head, gnashing at me with her teeth. “Once upon a time,” I whispered in a small voice, unsure of what I was doing and what I’d say. I repeated it, but only louder. “Once upon a time, young Abby Taylor sat with her mother over a pot of tea. Lemon tea was the small child’s favorite and they always sat by the window where the light would stream in from the morning sun. But this morning,” my lip trembled and I wasn’t sure if I could go on.
“But this morning,” I said as I sucked my tears back. “The child was sad because her mother was gone and buried in the ground. Abby Taylor’s mother had left the world and it left her hollow on the inside. Without guidance. So, on this morning, she filled that pink tea pot with tea. She placed two empty pink mugs on the table and she drank while facing the sun.
“Alone.
“But the spirit of her mother never really left her. The little girl, little Abby, felt her mother’s love wherever she went. Even if she couldn’t see it. Abby Taylor felt it.”
My voice dropped off and I hoped it’d be enough. I hoped my story had enough emotion to crack a dragon’s heart.
The dragon howled as if it had been wounded. It stomped its front legs in the air, as if to break free from the light. Frightened, I extended my right hand to the dragon as she reared up. The thick scales of her hide began to crack. Slivers of gold and red appearing like lava, and in the center of all that, a blackened circle in her chest began to crumble.
Now was the time. I knew it.
I thrust my hand past the beam of light and against her chest. The light beneath my hand intensified, and for a brief moment, I was blinded. As the picture began to clear, I watched the dragon fall to the ground with a mighty thump, shaking the earth. I backed up, afraid as footsteps from my friends rushed toward me.
My mouth hung open and I watched the dragon change before my eyes into a beautiful blond… elf. I had never seen paler skin. She wore a shimmering blue dress, had dainty feet, and her flowing, blond hair was secured with a silver crown across her forehead. It was only when her hair blew, that you could see her pale and pointed ears.
Her facial features were dainty and small, starting with her nose and ending with her lips. Slowly, she breathed as she slept and I didn’t want to wake her. Part of me was afraid to hear what she would say, but the pounding happiness in my heart told me we were winning. Creighton wouldn�
��t be able to stop us now.
Not with Muse back in the world.
“All that I know and all that is holy to me,” Sebastian whispered as he stepped up beside me, “you’ve done it.”
We gazed up at the sky as prism shard pieces opened up and music notes fell to the ground. Each note a bit different than the last, but as each new one was born into the world, it stitched together like a song. Each note, singing off the last, it was so beautiful, it awoke something in my soul.
The emotion was so intense, I couldn’t fight it. I couldn’t speak. My lips only trembled to hear real beauty for the first time. It was like hearing love.
Real love.
“Abby,” George whispered beside me and then I saw why.
Muse was standing. She took a step forward. Her bare feet barely sticking out from beneath her dress. She smiled, and a hue of light seemed to encompass everything that she did.
She extended her hand and took mine in hers. “Now everyone shall hear the song of Tarnish Rose.” Muse extended her arms and threw her head back. Lips parted, she exhaled and a blue shockwave raced across the lands going in all directions: north, south, east, west.
It climbed the mountains and it raced across the plains. It sang in the desert and it cried through the winter storms.
With the shockwave ending, the area was filled with black smoke and a sense of dread. I spun the staff in my hand and sent it careening back. My eyes fixed on the sky as a portal opened and an army of death hunters swarmed out.
“He knows you’re coming,” Muse said, with her eyes on the death hunters. “Creighton knows you’re ready and now he wishes to put an end to everything you’ve begun to do.”
“Then we stop him. We kill every last one of his death hunters and we tell Creighton no more.” I thrust my staff into the sky as my friends, my crew, got in line on either side of me.
The death hunters shrieked, their hands extended as they swooped down. They thought they would win. They had never lost.