by Billy Wong
They all thought in silence for a while. "All those monsters we fought in Resnick tended to be pretty linear travel-wise," Rose recalled. "So if this thing is similar, it should have gone straight back home from here. If we keep following the line it made between the town and this tree, we should be able to find its lair."
And from the air, it shouldn't be too hard for me to spot any place such a big monster could hide.
"Fine, let's go," Brandon said.
"This is like my worse nightmare come true," Rose mused jokingly. "I hate cold."
Finn was taken aback when Brandon grabbed his love's arm and pulled her close, saying, "I'll keep you warm." What the hell?
Much to Finn's relief, Rose jerked herself free of the count's grasp. "Get off!"
He felt less glad to see the count's surprised face, as if he thought himself entitled to being intimate with his wife! "Easy, Rose! What's wrong with you?"
Loreen raised her hands and snapped, "Okay, enough! The excitement must be getting to you all—or fear of the cold. Come on, it's no problem. You've all got the blubber for it." Grinning while the others settled down, she asked, "So why do you dislike the cold so much anyway, Rose?"
Rose didn't answer for a moment, then said uncertainly, "I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but my parents told me I was born on the coldest day of the coldest winter ever in Hullel, during a fierce blizzard which trapped them inside the house with no firewood to keep warm... I guess that would explain it, except for the fact I don't actually remember the day I was born. Or maybe I do somewhere deep inside... but Loreen, you're right—I do have enough blubber that I shouldn't complain!"
I don't, Finn the dragon remarked. That got a laugh from all, even Brandon, and the humans went back to the nearest town to get their cloaks and drop off the injured survivor. Returning to where they'd left Finn, they mounted him and headed north to hunt monster.
Chapter 9
It didn't take long to spot the enormous hole some thirty-odd miles north of the last destroyed town, over fifty feet across and of indeterminate depth. Rose wondered what exactly had made that massive wound in the earth. Had it occurred naturally, or some other force put it there? Coming closer, she saw the sides of the shaft were largely smooth, as if some unearthly heat had melted the rock only to cool and harden again.
"Loreen, what happened here? Do you know?"
Her friend stared incredulously herself, as if unable to believe where their search had led them. "This is where it lives?! I've heard of this place before. It's here the falling star fell, many years ago. Did it dig so deep as to open the door to a realm of fiends?"
"Well, you have a large hole, good shelter for beasts even if they didn't come from it," Brandon said. "Could you imagine if the thing is so big it can barely get down there?"
Rose chuckled. "Expecting the worst already? You can't guess how big someone is just by looking at the size of their door. But I'd wager it is quite something, considering it made whole towns disappear. How many people were in the biggest village, Loreen?"
"Fifty."
That was bad, but Rose knew it could be worse. "Big enough to carry off fifty people, whether in its claws or its belly. Pretty impressive, but I'm sure Green could do it, right?"
So maybe a little under five tons? If I had a big enough bag, maybe. But it'd be a heavy load.
Rose remembered the incredible strength of the last big monster in Resnick, and said, "If this thing is as big as you, it probably wouldn't sweat the weight. But how did it keep them all from running?"
Pondering that scared them all, but Brandon showed it the most as he asked, "Should we really go in there? What if we wait for it to come out? We could get the element of surprise then, and avoid any dangers inside."
But who knows how long that'll take? Besides, we might surprise it in its sleep if we go in after it. No way it'll be asleep when it comes out.
"It could also have another exit," Loreen added. "I'm worried too, but let's just go carefully. I mean, we do have a dragon on our side."
Rose giggled at Finn puffing out his chest with pride. "Not just any dragon—mine!" And she didn't care that Brandon frowned while she stroked her love's scaly neck.
The group flew down the long shaft on Finn's back, and realized it was many hundreds of feet deep. Rose wondered what this falling star had really been as they descended through the monumental tunnel. It certainly hadn't been the usual big rock from the sky; such things might leave a wide crater, but nothing so deep and relatively narrow like this. She imagined a seed of heavenly fire, cast from a sky-god's member to pierce the earth's womb. No, she thought then, she'd been exposed to too many lewd stories from her time in bars. She smiled at her own crude mind just before they passed through the bottom of the shaft, entering into a vast cavern half filled by a gaping chasm. Her vision of the lustful god evaporated. An unholy beast stared up at them from the edge of the abyss, and uttered the most awful screech.
It was like a thousand needles driven into her brain, such was the effect of the dreadful cry, and Rose knew her friends must be suffering all the worse. Finn's controlled descent turned into a near freefall, the ground rushing far too fast to meet them. No wonder the villagers had been unable to escape once the creature came upon them. Even sturdy as she was against most any hurt, Rose could barely force her muscles to respond. She found just enough strength to pull the great axe she'd won from Prince Wilner off her back and throw. Her heart skipped a beat as, with speed enough to make its whiplike tail a blur, it swatted the axe aside.
Finn hit the ground hard, barely landing on his feet. Rose rushed to free herself from the saddle-straps which bound her to her seat. Springing off to fall over ten feet and come up from a painful roll, she finally got a clear look at the loam-black monster attacking them. It wasn't quite as gigantic as she'd feared, only slightly taller than the largest one at Resnick, but far more massive, like a bull on two legs, and not as manlike in build as that earlier foe.
Rather, it stood in a hunchbacked manner, huge upper body leaning forward as if poised to snatch up prey in short jaws full of needlelike teeth. Its incredibly wide head sat almost directly on its shoulders like it had no neck, and the bony ridges of its skull were so heavy its eyes appeared set behind a built-in helmet of sorts. The questions about how it carried its victims were answered by a loose pouch of skin covering its entire front. Long arms dangled nearly to the ground, and massive wing membranes loomed behind it. But the body part which worried Rose the most was that long, thin tail, tipped with a giant dirk of bone. It weaved and waved continuously, like a snake awaiting the chance to strike.
Rose looked back at her allies. They seemed to all be regaining their senses, as Brandon and Loreen began undoing their straps to dismount. Finn spat his stream of deadly cold at the monster, making it wail. But its very wail hurt its opponents in turn, and Rose saw her human friends press hands to their screaming skulls. She too was stricken with an incredible headache, but walked forward against it, screaming herself both in pain and challenge to the beast. Finn also stood against the sonic assault, and Rose smiled proudly as he blasted the beast again with his icy breath. Then its tail snapped forward quicker than an arrow. Distracted by his own attack, Finn could do nothing. The bone spike gouged his flank deeply, and the dragon fell to his belly.
Staring wide-eyed with fear for her love, Rose barely avoided the monster's next stab. She tried to chop at its tail while it passed, but it was too fast. She had hardly begun to retract her blade before it shot forward again. This time she warded off the blow with her shield, though the impact knocked her down. Rolling aside and up, she broke chips off the incoming spike with a slash which batted it aside and ran forward to stab at her foe's lower abdomen. But when she got close, it screeched again. As she slowed with the pain, it flapped its wings with lightning speed and clapped them together on her.
The force was akin to two heavy steel doors being slammed together by ogres, and Rose thought sh
e felt something burst inside her. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed in soundless agony. Before she could even finish falling, a fist like a boulder crashed down and plowed her into the ground. She heard the sickening snap of her own bones. The monster raised its foot over her, but she stabbed upwards when it stomped down and drove her sword through its sole. It screamed as it stumbled back and fell on its side, but Rose was so engulfed with pain that she barely noticed its punishing voice.
She forced herself to stand using her sword as a crutch. Limping beside the monster's neck, she stabbed through its throat. It tried again to cry out, but only blood issued from its mouth. All of a sudden it went completely still, and Rose let out a sigh of relief as she freed her sword. Wiping gruesomely dark blood from her chin, she shuddered to imagine the extent of her internal injuries.
Ignoring her own wounds she turned to check on her companions, and saw happily that the humans were recovering from the beast's screams. "I can't believe your strength," Brandon breathed while he helped Loreen up. Remembering Finn's fall, Rose started to look towards him. She felt a movement behind her, and at the same time saw her friends' eyes widen. Diving to the left as the spike streaked by, she quickly rolled up and faced the monster which had inexplicably risen back to its feet.
The bone spear struck again and again, but Rose ducked and dodged each thrust. The flustered monster reached down to grab her, only for her sword to take off two thick fingers. It balled its other hand into a huge fist and punched her, a battering ram-like impact which sent her flying to land at Brandon's feet. "Well don't just stare!" she gasped. "Help me!" The count charged, spun past the bony spear as it thrust—and fell. He had received a deep gash on his thigh while he passed. Loreen started forward too, but Rose motioned her back, knowing her no match for the beast. Death rose over the fallen Brandon, but Rose saved his life with a slice deep into the tail which diverted its strike so that it only ripped his shoulder open instead of driving through his throat. The monster recoiled, hugging the fleshy whip close to its body, and staggered back.
Seeing it vulnerable, Rose rushed and drove her broadsword deep into its belly. She tried to pull the blade sideways to gut it, but somehow it didn't move. Or rather it did, but extremely slowly like she was trying to drag a butter knife through raw steak. How? Was its flesh really that tough, or had it somehow tightened its abdominal muscles around her sword? Both, she realized, and saw the deadly tail hover before her again. Jerking Thorn free, she sprang back in time to avoid it. But then her feet hit something—Brandon—and she tripped. As she tried to sit up, the tail rose, tensed, and shot down. It pierced her belly just below the navel, and lifted her while she shrieked up towards the monster's parting jaws.
#
Finn watched in horror as his wife was raised high into the air, limbs thrashing spastically as if in her death throes while blood spurted out around the bony spear violating her body. He knew he could never reach her in time, but forced himself up anyway in defiance of fate. But he shouldn't have lost faith in his indestructible love so easily. She raised her sword and chopped down into the beast's face, splitting its left eye and cheek. In agony it whipped its tail to its right, throwing Rose off and into the wall there hard enough to dent her thick armor and send debris tumbling down over her.
Finn sprang, spitting icy death while he leapt. But a massive fist caught him on the snout, making him turn away. The bony spear stabbed into his leg to drop him again. Then Rose was there, somehow driving the monster reeling back, each forced sword swing tearing away chunks of dark flesh in spite of the huge hole in her belly from which blood and gore dripped onto the cave floor and—oh gods no—the ends of her entrails poked out. Could even she survive and heal from such ghastly injury? Yet it might not matter, for in her weakened state Rose barely dodged the next stab, and then the tail changed direction to slam its fleshy part into her. Carried through the air, she ended up soaring over the nearby abyss before plummeting down into the dark, her long scream eventually cut off by a sickening thud.
Rose was dead. His love was gone, her beautiful spirit snuffed out by an unthinking beast when she'd deserved so much better. Of course, he'd thought her dead before, when she'd been run through the chest and knocked off a roof right here in Coblan, but there was no mistaking it this time. She'd fought to the very end, even when she'd been gutted, until her killer took the coward's way out of removing her from the battlefield. Unconquered even in death, his goddess of love and war. His iron flower.
The horribly wounded monster, half blind, limping, and perhaps already dying, looked down into the chasm as if reluctant to believe its indomitable foe truly dead. Finn pounced atop its back, clamping tremendous jaws around its neck and tearing wildly at it with his mammoth claws. His sharp draconic eyes glimpsed Rose's body in the pit, tiny in the distance, blood pooling around her motionless form. Rage gave his bite even greater strength and he felt bone slowly give, though his teeth too began to loosen and crack under the terrible strain.
The struggling beast stabbed him with its tail in the shoulder, then the back, then the flank. But he didn't even feel pain, having lost himself in the act of trying to crush that adamantine neck. The tail thrust at his throat, but he caught it in his claw, and using both arms ripped free the bony tip. Changing his grip on his prey's neck to stand at its side, he drove the hated spike into its open mouth, driving it through the back of the skull. Finally the monster died, going limp like a mouse in a cat's maw, but Finn didn't stop biting and tearing until its head came fully off.
He recalled now Rose's gentle smile, her weak laugh as she assured him she was all right after taking wounds which would have easily killed a normal person. Closing his eyes, he waited to hear that cheerful voice of hers, a joke, a girlish giggle, anything. Nothing. Sparing the others not even a glance, Finn crawled weakly over the dead monster to the edge of the chasm, determined to retrieve his love's body though he hardly had the strength to fly or climb. He looked down, dreading the sight that broke his heart.
To his disbelief, though he didn't dare to feel joy yet, Rose showed clear signs of life. Her eyes were open, her lips moving ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly though not to him—surely dying, but for now, alive and still beautiful. Loreen! Brandon! he yelled. She's alive! He didn't wait for them to come, yearning to attend his fallen angel, and given new strength by that need flew down to land at the bottom of the chasm beside her. He laid his head on the floor next to her, wanting to hear clearly her fragile voice, but also exhausted himself.
"Help me up, Finn," Rose whispered. "I don't think I can do it alone."
He knew dragons couldn't cry, but hated himself now for his lack of tears as he choked on his words. No, Rose. Let's enjoy some peace and rest now. Let's lie together forever.
"Finn," she gasped as blood poured from her mouth, "it's okay. I know you're hurting, but you mustn't give up. I love you."
I know, and I love you back. That's why it's so hard. Finn touched her face with the tip of his nose and wished he could hold her in his arms, and to hold her soul here on earth, away from the heaven which would soon beckon.
Rose seemed to finally sense the despair in his voice and asked him the unbearable question. "What's wrong?"
He didn't want to answer, but couldn't help his eyes wandering to the horrific sight that was her abdomen, entrails sticking out of the huge hole in her mangled belly, blood and gore thick on the ground below her. Rose, he managed as her gaze followed his and her eyes widened, you're dead.
"I'm not dead," she insisted too softly before her hand rose from her side to attempt moving the misplaced innards back inside her body. Her face was contorted in the worst agony Finn had ever seen, and he guessed exposed, shredded guts must be very sensitive indeed. "I'm just a little worse off than usual. I lost a fight though, Finn. Wonder how that happened."
It cheated, Finn answered without hesitation. And Brandon screwed you up.
"Going to kick his ass for it when I'm better."
Rose gave a little nod, then asked, "When are you going to stitch me up? I can't go walking around like this."
I got no fingers.
"Loreen!" she tried to shout. It came out a cough. "She always fixes me up good."
Though Finn had no tears, he began sobbing mentally. I'll miss you so much. I'll always cherish your memory, always.
"No you won't. Because I'll be right here with you."
Finn broke then. Don't die, Rose! Please don't die! I love you! I'll never run off again! I'll never argue again! I won't-
"Of course you will," Rose corrected with a tiny grin, "because I'll live, and you'll forget all about these hasty promises and continue being yourself. And I'll be mad, but I'll forgive you, like I always do."
He decided to indulged her last delusion. What are we going to do when we get home?
Rose smiled wistfully. "Sleep," she muttered, and Finn saw her eyes starting to glaze over. It was almost over...
He could sense life begin to depart, and darkness close over the world. His head sank lower, somehow, though it already rested on the floor of the cave. Rose seemed to grow larger in his vision, as if gloriously magnified right before death. He realized he hadn't really noticed how chubby her face was now, after she'd given birth to their soon motherless twin children. He saw her gasp piteously, close her eyes... and then, the world ended.
#
Fighting back the darkness, Rose forced tired eyes open as she sensed something was terribly wrong. She stared at Finn who lay next to her still, but looking shrunken, diminished, with his eyes closed. His scales, too, appeared to be getting smaller and less defined. What? Only then did she notice how much blood poured from his deep wounds made by that awful spiked whip, and she realized he was dying, the magical energies of dragonhood leaking away as his blood did from his body.
She barely heard herself beg, "Finn, no! Fight for your life!" But she realized that even if he could hear her, he probably wouldn't listen, thinking to follow her into oblivion. But she wasn't ready herself to go, and growled into his ear, "I'm not coming with you. I plan to live." He didn't respond, truly unconscious, and she saw he had nearly reverted to human form. What could she do? In her weak state, she definitely wouldn't be able to save Finn with healing magic, not that she'd have the skill to even if healthy. Then, she remembered her sword. Finn had taught her how to draw the magic out of Thorn in case it was needed to save a life, and ironically that might be his own.