by Billy Wong
An armored slap laid the woman out senseless, and a flustered Wilner instructed the others, "Watch over your feisty old mother-in-law. My men will see to you soon. I don't desire to kill women—except ones built bigger than me, and nicknamed 'Iron Flower.'" Leaving them with that cold comfort, he stomped away to hunt his next victims.
#
"Shouldn't you be exhausted by now?" Rose asked as Finn emptied with fire a third-story room occupied by a group of Sevrian archers. She plowed into a squad of spearmen with a short charge followed by a few great twisting swings of her enormous broadsword, killing most and scattering the rest. "You've been using that magic a lot."
"Yeah, but I guess my body's getting used to it. Are you okay, Rose? You've been fighting in close quarters more than me all day. Somebody must've gotten lucky."
Though she felt her undershirt soaked with blood, Rose didn't hesitate to shrug and say, "A couple arrows here, a couple cuts there—I'm not really hurt." Gasping as she pulled a broken sword blade from her worst injury, a deep stab into her belly, she added, "Not enough to slow me down, at least. You?"
Finn stared in horror while she dragged the metal in a rush of dark blood from her guts, lacerating her hand in the process, but held his composure. "Nothing worse than yours." He paused. "We're never going to win this thing."
"We have to get rid of Joghra and Wilner, that's all," Rose replied once she recovered enough from her pain.
Derrick had been leaning against a wall panting during their conversation. "I already feel like I'm going to die of exhaustion. I don't think I'm up for this."
"Take a few deep breaths," Finn advised, "and shake it off."
"Easy for you guys to say." Then he noticed Rose wincing from her wound and looked down guiltily. "As for Wilner and Joghra, we've been asking people forever and nobody's seen where they went. If they're in here, they must've hidden themselves when they came in."
"Saving us for last? I suppose that would be a better finale than killing helpless royals."
"That's it!" Rose said as she seared her wound after heating her sword in a nearby fire. "Let's just try going to the castle, it's the logical place for those two to be. Hope we're not too late though..."
Her love smiled and patted her aching shoulder. "Sounds like a plan. In case we lose"—he kissed her bloody mouth with passionate urgency—"I love you, and I'd be glad to die with our blood mingling as we lie together on the cold ground."
Rose giggled and punched him lightly on the chest, though she was still bent with pain. "Maybe, but not before those two brothers in slaughter. Oh, and if we have to fight them at the same time, I want Joghra—I know better to watch out for his tricks now. I hope you can surprise Wilner with those new tricks of your own."
"Aren't we forgetting about Fiona?" Finn asked.
She glanced at Derrick and looked away. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
They had to fight through many more crowds of enemy soldiers before they approached the castle, but with a goal clear in their minds the battles hardly slowed them. However, they found their enemy before reaching it. Standing before them in the town square was Prince Wilner, stalking King Benedict's spear-wielding brother Lawrence with a dreadful grin.
"You think just because you killed the king, we will give up?" Lawrence said. "We are Kayland, named after the great hero, and we will never be broken by the likes of you!"
"Admirable. But if you won't give up, I might just have to butcher you."
Rose greeted him coldly then. "Aren't you suppose to be rotting in your moat?"
Turning from his prey, who for all his bluster wisely ran out of sight, the dark prince replied, "I was saved by magic and my glorious destiny. What'll save you?"
The huge form of Death General Joghra emerged from a nearby shed and strolled leisurely towards them. "Sorry I couldn't find a more impressive hiding place. Rose, Rose, Rose. I put poison enough in you to kill six elephants, but I can't say I'm unhappy to see you. The four greatest warriors on the continent—perhaps in the world—fighting each other as a city falls around them—isn't this a worthy addition to the poems?"
"And so will be your death!" Derrick screamed, lunging at the gold-armored giant. He gasped as his sword skidded off the thick neck-guard of the unimpressed general, who dropped him limp to the ground with a heavy fist.
Rose ran to check on her friend. Finding him alive, she stood and faced her enemy. "You'll pay for that."
Joghra sighed contemptuously. "Your typically impulsive speech impresses me not. Why are you even fighting so hard? Haven't you seen that the Sevrian way of life is far more accommodating than your own?"
Rose looked fearlessly into his devious eyes, feeling every bit a match for him with righteousness on her side though he towered over her. "Maybe you're right, and our people would have easier lives under Sevrian rule. Maybe we'd have lasting peace and prosperity under your guiding hand. But if a better world's really what you seek, and I don't believe it for a moment, you chose the wrong way of bringing it about. You hurt our people, and they won't have you. We won't have you."
"You guys are wasting too much time with your debate," Finn butted in. "At this rate, Joghra's forces are going to take the city before we're done talking. Let's just fight already!"
Prince Wilner stepped towards him confidently, axes coming up. "I agree, let's do it."
"By the way, where's Fiona? I wanted to fight her again."
"Off fighting some other great hero of your country." Rose figured he meant Victor, but it was surprising he didn't insist on killing a royal of Kayland himself.
"Then I guess I'll have to make do with you!" Finn said, and the two met.
Joghra wasn't done talking, and said to Rose, "You don't have a choice in the matter. You can't win, but you can still save your lives, to serve under me."
"Was that a slip on your part, or did you actually mean to say those last ugly words?"
Wilner had begun to push Finn back under his overwhelming storm of axes. Joghra glanced towards them and remarked casually, "See, Rose, we have more in common with each other than with those two. We know the value of words, as well as that of arms. You'd make a great Sevrian."
As Finn momentarily blinded Wilner with a spray of gravel from the ground and struck out with his mace, Rose only conceded, "You'd make a great conquest."
Though surprised by his use of magic, Wilner tripped Finn and almost cut his head off with his axes while he rolled away. "Are you trying to delay me from fighting until your lover beats my brother in arms?" Joghra mused. "If so, notice that he is losing."
Finn fell stunned to his back when the agile prince caught him on the chin with a ferocious kick. Wilner raised his axes high. Rose stepped in to block the next strike at her love, and now the prince attacked her in earnest. Joghra too began to assail her relentlessly with his hammer, and Rose fought desperately against the two powerful warriors. Somehow, she was able to knock the Sevrian away with a hard shield blow to the face, but Prince Wilner caught her in the side and chest with one axe and then the other. She screamed in agony as the sharp blades crunched through her armor and deep into her body.
Jerking herself free despite the crippling pain, Rose caught her opponent after another short, frantic exchange with a glancing blow from her sword to his head. Prince Wilner fell before her, and Rose raised her broadsword high. But Joghra had recovered, and his hammer slammed into the same spot on her chest where Wilner's axe had buried itself prior. The huge warhammer would have taken a heavy toll even had she not already been horribly wounded. As it was, Rose's world melted into a red sea of churning anguish.
"So I suppose you'd like to negotiate now, hmm? It's too late, however," Joghra said while he advanced on the backpedaling Rose. Badly hurt by the attacks, she hugged herself as blood spilled over her arms and dripped on the ground. Her chest felt all broken inside... "Wilner is as good as they say," the Death General commented while he hit Rose in the face with a devastating swing from
his hammer, cracking bone and jarring her brain inside her skull. She fell heavily. "I never thought I'd have it this easy with you." He raised his hammer for the finishing touch. But, blinking the dizziness from her eyes, she deflected the maul with her shield and stabbed Joghra through his left bicep. She used the embedded blade to pull herself up as he screamed, then slammed her shield into the back of his helmeted head.
"That was an bad break I caught with Wilner," Rose breathed, blood leaking from her mouth, nose, and ears. "But it's not quite enough to beat me."
#
The rest of the squad lay across the floor of the house wounded or dead, even Justin among them. But Howard swung his sword bravely, aiming a flurry of slashes at his towering opponent which she all deflected.
"I ask again, where are Rose and Finn?" Fiona snapped. "Tell me where they are so I can kill them!"
"I don't know. I haven't seen them since coming to Gustrone. But why would you want to pick on them, when you can test yourself against Howard the Uncoward?!"
Fiona stopped and bent over laughing. In that moment, Howard raised his blade and chopped down. She casually lifted her halberd, blocking it. "You are ridiculous!"
"What on earth do you mean? I am Howard Giantkiller—die, giant!"
Her eyes narrowed. "Can you save that 'giant' talk for actual members of giant races? It makes me feel... unfeminine!" She swung her polearm. It shattered Howard's sword and cut into his breastplate, just stopping against the chain underneath that barely saved his life. Nonetheless, the power of the hit was enough to send him out a window to crash painfully down on the street. He rolled over and tried to get up, collapsed grasping his tortured sternum, and lay there wheezing for air.
After some time, he managed to stand and reenter the house. Fiona was nowhere to be seen. Justin, who had only been unconscious, woke up. "What happened, where did she go?"
Rubbing his chest, Howard answered, "She fled. I guess she knew she couldn't beat me."
#
Wilner and Finn both slowly stood, and the mage made the prince jump back with a missed lightning bolt. As fast as a jaguar he came forward again, beating Finn back. "Won't you learn your lesson?!" he demanded while he disarmed his larger opponent of his mace. In response, Finn made him eat a gout of flame. Now livid, the badly burned prince redoubled his assault, numbing Finn's shield arm with heavy blows. A stab with the spike on one axe pierced Finn's side, and Wilner swiped at his head.
Finn raised his shield, but the force of the blow was such it dashed his arm against his face. Desperately, he stepped in close to get inside Wilner's reach, but his adversary simply smashed gauntleted fists into both his ears, dropping Finn to his knees. "It's astounding," the ruler of Coblan observed, "how fools like yourself can never see your own weakness."
"Come on, Finn!" Rose yelled as she turned away from the downed Joghra to help her struggling love. But the Sevrian drew a sharp pick from his belt and buried it deep in the distracted woman's back, forcing a shriek of agony from her throat.
The sound of her scream drove the dizziness from Finn's mind, and he surprised Wilner with a lightning bolt that threw the prince ten feet away. He hurried to aid the fallen Rose, but a huge thrown axe tore into his shoulder despite his thick armor and dropped him. Prince Wilner stood, smoking and shaking. He ran lopsidedly towards Finn, taunting him confidently still, "Now the fool dies."
#
"What did you poison me with this time?" Rose asked while she shuddered violently, barely able to rise as excruciating convulsions rocked her. The pick was still buried inside her body, hanging from between her shoulder blades. Joghra attacked his hampered opponent furiously, scoring multiple warhammer hits each of which would have crippled or killed a lesser fighter.
"What," he taunted after she crumpled to the ground, "can't you get up this time?"
She did, and Rose saw utter disbelief in the Death General's eyes as she rallied and struck at him again and again, though her blows were weakened by her decreased control of her body. Still, she opened up a gash on his thigh, and followed up by knocking him down with her shield.
On his back, Joghra demanded, "That was my worse poison—don't you ever die?" and shot both gauntlet crossbows at her. This time she was ready, and deflected the bolts with sword and shield. He turned his hammer around and tried to skewer her on the back spike, but Rose hacked it away. She continued to batter at his failing guard, repeatedly driving the handle of his weapon against his armor with the force of her blows, and finally knocked it from his grasp. The giant Sevrian tried one more trick. A thick dart flew from the leering visage of his mask and pierced deeply into Rose's neck.
#
Finn threw a desperate gout of flame at the charging prince, but Wilner covered his face with an armored forearm and came on. Yet his rush did slow somewhat, and the mage took the opportunity to stand up and blast him with a lightning bolt. Wilner hit Finn's shield with his axe just as the bolt hit him, and both men fell sharing the current's shock. The prince recovered first. Grabbing Finn by the hair he punched him in the face half a dozen times, knocking out teeth, before rolling behind him to wrap an iron arm around his neck and attempt to break his spine.
#
Rose tore the bolt from her neck, though gushing blood accompanied it. While she struggled for breath, Joghra sprang to his feet and tackled her through a market stall. New power fueled her spasms, and Rose knew the dart had been poisoned too. What was worse, she could barely breath through the blood filling her throat...
She realized she'd lost her unsteady grip on her sword, and wasn't sure where it'd gone. Her clever opponent's vocabulary had apparently been reduced to repetitions of "Die," and his strength seemed to have skyrocketed while he hit her downed form with blow after brutal blow, mauling her with animalistic ferocity. Had she seen him swallow something before his change in demeanor? So he used drugs in addition to poison... Even now Rose refused to die quietly and began to fight back with her bare hands, somehow knocking Joghra away from her. As she staggered to her feet, the giant rushed again, but his desperate rage made him too reckless. Staying focused she caught him with a kick to the knee, another to his injured arm, and then a titanic punch with all her strength which broke his heavy mask, shattered his left eye socket and cheekbone, and dropped him limp to the ground.
Rose rubbed her knuckles, and struggling for breath turned towards the two men who still wrestled on the ground, neither able to hold an advantage for long. Not trusting herself to join the battle without falling faint from her ghastly hurts, she stood leaning on the haft of her now-drawn axe, though she prepared to help Finn should he need it. As she watched the fight worriedly, hoping she wouldn't have to get involved, to her utmost relief Finn gained the upper hand. Then Wilner looked up, and seeing Rose standing victorious over them struggled frantically to break off the contest.
The prince disengaged him from Finn, snatched up his axes and ran, Rose's love still grabbing without success at his legs. Knowing they couldn't catch him in a chase, the couple didn't try, and instead Rose threw the axe she had once taken from the prince himself. But her wounds and the poison in her system threw off her aim. As the axe flew past his head, Wilner turned a corner and disappeared out of sight.
Finn looked at the panting Rose, who swayed on her feet, the strength she'd forced herself to hold onto through all the pain finally leaving her. She knew her face had been battered into a nearly unrecognizable pulp, and already her blood formed a puddle beneath her. The battle had taken an awful toll on her broken body. Her knees began to buckle, and Finn limped towards her though there was no way he could reach her in time. Somehow she caught herself without his aid, imagining that if she fell, she might never rise again. She was in so much pain!
When Finn came to her side, his first question was, "Did he poison you again?"
She tried to answer, but Finn couldn't understand the sounds she forced out. It could've been the convulsion-causing poison, or the blood choking her, or bot
h. Rose didn't know, and it didn't matter. She nodded. Finn frowned, and told her, "Sorry, I still haven't learned to use magic to counteract poison yet. But I do know a little healing now, so is there anything else you want fixed?"
Of course Rose had numerous sources of agony in her body, but she meaningfully touched her bleeding neck. Finn looked with worry at the hole, then put fingers to the ugly wound and muttered a chant. The healing was only partially complete when Finn stopped and nearly fell, and Rose caught him.
"Sorry, healing magic is really taxing. It's an incredibly complex process which takes a lot of the caster's strength to perform, and I don't have that much strength left."
"Finn," Rose croaked, "it's fine. I don't need any more. My neck's alright now. So mages can't heal themselves at will?"
He shook his head. "No, we can seal our wounds, but the effort it takes is such we'll be weakened sometimes to the point of being as tired as if still wounded. It can save our lives though, it just isn't always practical for in-combat use. Will you be okay?"
The spasms didn't seem too bad now that she didn't have to move quickly. Though still barely able to speak and well aware her wounds would've killed a normal person several times over, she smiled. "My chest is killing me just to breath, but I'll be okay, eventually. But you could've spared me quite a bit of it. Why can't you ever seem to deal with that arrogant prince?"
Finn shook his head. "Sorry I got you hurt. He's just too fast for me, that's all. We're not a good match."
Rose helped him up, and mused, "I think we should announce their leaders' defeat to the enemy now."
She caught sight of Fiona watching them then, the giant girl having just arrived to see the results of the terrible battle. For a moment, it seemed she meant to attack them, but a glance at Joghra's ruined face changed her mind, and Fiona fled from their view.
After unsuccessfully begging her to come back, Finn looked down at the Sevrian. "Is he dead?"