by Billy Wong
Looking back to see Finn and Jacob approach on horseback, she said softly with weakness, "You came looking for me, huh? Guess I'm such a slowpoke, you made your two trips faster than my one. Wonder why I didn't pass by you on your way here?"
"We went right through the woods," Finn replied. "I was too worried about you to waste time following the road. Suppose I didn't have to worry too much."
Amber saw the pride in his eyes, and felt proud herself of what she'd managed today. Well, as long as she didn't die from her wound. She was still getting more tired by the second. "Dad, it's my first time getting run through; not used to this kind of pain yet. Let me get a ride?"
He almost pulled her up on his steed, but must have remembered how heavy he was and said, "Get on with Jacob. Our combined weight would break my horse's back."
Amber hobbled over to Jacob's mount, ignoring his extended hand though it hurt like hell to drag herself up. Carefully turning her body so the hilt didn't touch him, she slapped the back of his head with what strength she had left. He stared downwards in shame as she admonished him, "You idiot! Never leave me behind like that again, or I'll really hurt you!"
#
"You don't have to look if you don't want to," Finn told the pale Jacob as he prepared to take the sword out of his daughter's body. Amber lay on her side upon the bed, eyes closed and a thick rag clamped between her teeth. To be frank, Finn was himself quite scared; if Amber couldn't take the trauma of having the blade removed as well as Rose, she might die even after making it this far. But the way she walked with it through her would have done her mother proud, and he put his trust in her. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the hilt and pulled slowly, carefully unsheathing the sword from Amber's trunk to avoid doing too much additional damage to her insides. As it slid free, a flood of blood and gore rushed out after it. Amber hugged herself in agony, a sight which pained Finn's soul to see.
Yet though hideously hurt, she looked poised to stay alive, and flashed him a reassuring grin while he patched her up. He wished he could speed her healing with magic, but it would be too much of a risk for him to use it when her life didn't appear at immediate risk. Due to the curse of the archmage who had originally given him his spellcasting ability, too much use of it put him in danger of turning into a monster. But it seemed her resilience proved comparable to Rose's, and she would recover in time.
"Get some rest, honey," he said as he stood to leave. "You want to look nice and tough for Mom when she gets back, right?"
Amber giggled despite her pallor from blood loss, likely looking forward to bragging about the injury she'd survived, and tucked herself comfortably underneath the blankets. Finn walked out of her room, glad his daughter was relatively okay all things considered. Now if only he could get his hands on the man who'd done this to her!
#
Rose strolled cheerily into the tower that served for her home and the heart of the Center for Magical Study she and Finn, along with their good friend Derrick, had started over a decade and a half ago. At thirty-eight, the big warrior often got compliments that she looked younger than she was. Those she took with a grain of salt, though it might be true being covered with scar tissue since youth made her appearance change less than most. If that made her seem "young" others, well, maybe their eyes could use magical healing!
She felt somewhat hot on this warm spring day, wearing the long-sleeved clothes which always adorned her voluptuously massive form in spite of her daughter's advice. But she was used to it, and didn't mind—better to be slightly hot than blanketed with discomforting stares. Sure, everybody knew her and why her body was so covered with scars, but knowing and seeing were two different things. Though she acknowledged being a freak, she didn't need constant reminders of it from people gaping at the reminders of her many ghastly wounds.
Passing by the front desk, she noticed the anxious expression on Wendy's face. The middle-aged clerk, who'd been with them nearly since the founding of the Center, said quietly, "Your daughter got hurt. She's resting in her room."
Rose's heart skipped a beat. Amber was hurt? At least it probably wasn't fatal; Wendy sounded worried, but not sad. Rose had always warned her adventurous child not to get herself into situations she couldn't handle, and now she might have learned that lesson firsthand. But Rose would hardly be happy to be proven right, and hurried to see how her precious little girl was doing. Why couldn't she be more like Jacob? Okay, maybe not that meek—but just a bit more careful would be wonderful.
She knocked lightly when she got there, hoping not to wake the injured Amber if she slept. It was Finn who opened the door, and his smile told her their daughter would be just fine. But his words that followed shook her. "Amber got run through. Turns out your daughter's just like you. She cut her foe's hand off after he stabbed her, and walked home practically by herself with a big sword stuck through her middle!"
"Is she going to be okay?" she asked frantically. How could her husband be so calm after their child had been skewered?!
Finn soothingly touched her shoulder. "She's doing great, just like you'd be. And to answer the question your incredulous look is asking, I'm happy because I'm proud of her, and that she's not going to die."
Rose frowned worriedly despite his reassurance. Death wasn't the only undesirable outcome bad wounds could bring about. She herself suffered constant pains from all the blows she'd taken over the years, and though she was used to dealing with them by now, it wasn't a pleasant part of life by any means. But she counted herself lucky in that she was a very good healer and her chronic hurts didn't impair her too much. It was only pain, after all. Many who survived grave injuries weren't so lucky, being concretely handicapped by their wounds.
Putting such nightmares for her daughter aside, she asked, "So is she sleeping now or what?"
He grinned. "No, sitting up in bed against doctor's orders, listening to our conversation. Come in."
She ran to wrap her daughter in a gentle embrace, her dark mane falling over Amber's face and shoulders as she coddled her wounded child. "Oh, Amber," she breathed, "are you all right? Getting run through for the first time hurts like hell, that much I know!" And every time after that, too.
"It sure does! It was like nothing else I've experienced. But I'll be fine, Mom." Edgily, she added, "Jacob left me there to die."
"What?"
To Rose's surprise, Amber came hesitantly to her brother's defense, saying, "He thought I was fatally injured; most people would be. I think he didn't want to see me die, so he panicked and ran."
"It's no excuse," Finn snapped. "What if you hadn't been strong enough to make it out yourself, and I couldn't come to save you? Then you would be dead."
Rose sighed. How had her son turned out this way? To be reluctant to seek out danger was one thing, but to leave your wounded sister behind condemning her to death? "Your dad's right, Amber. It's terrible what he did."
"I'm sure he already feels terribly guilty about it. He's been hiding in his room since we got back."
"Guilty isn't good enough," Finn said. "He's got to change, or somebody's going to pay for it sooner or later.
"I already paid. I had to walk ten miles with a sword through me—ow."
Hearing the strength still in her voice after what she'd recently suffered, Rose chuckled. Now Amber was the kind of child she'd expected to have, physically anyway. Big and strong and tough as iron... "I'm really proud of you."
Amber grinned. "For what, living or scaring my stabber away twice?"
"Twice?"
Finn explained. "Yeah, he found her again on the road, but chickened out when he saw how ready for a fight she was. Our girl would've killed him, right Amber?"
"Of course," she said with a laugh.
Rose was happy to see her family in good spirits despite their frightful experience, but asked, "Why did he come after you so soon after you took his hand? Was he that desperate for revenge?"
"I don't know. He didn't really seem that angry when we met the
second time. Just calm and confident until he got scared at the last second. But he did want something, I'm sure..."
Finn bent at Amber's bedside and picked up a large sword with one of the most extravagantly decorated hilts Rose had ever seen—and she and Finn had seen lots of hilts. Made or at least coated with gold, it was absolutely covered in crimson rubies, light blue aquamarines, and dark purple amethysts. The blade itself was fairly plain in design for a long one-handed sword, but masterfully crafted and extremely sharp. "Maybe he wanted this back," he said.
Looking again at the sword that had pierced her, Amber mused, "That thing must be worth a fortune. Can I keep it?"
Finn burst into laughter and Rose quickly joined him, their memories of adventures from long ago stirred by her request. "You're just like your mother," Finn remarked. "She had a habit of keeping things that'd skewered her through her torso, too."
"Of course you can keep it," Rose said, "but only wear it outside if you're careful of people who'd want to rob you for it. Otherwise, it stays home." Looking at the incredibly decorated weapon again, she added, "Also, let's check if it's magic."
Though she could have cast a simple spell instead, out of habit she fished the old magesight, a lens which revealed magic auras, from her belt pouch. She looked through it at the blade. She wouldn't have been shocked by the result either way, and when she saw it stated calmly, "It is indeed magical. Seems like along with my resilience, you inherited your father's luck at finding things in the strangest ways."
Excitedly, Amber asked, "So is it a really powerful weapon or what?"
"I don't know yet." Now Rose cast a spell that fatigued her slightly in order to discern the nature of its magic. What she found this time did surprise her. "It's enchanted to be more difficult to break than the average sword. But what's more, it seems to be the key to a magical seal."
Finn frowned. "Seal on what?"
"Of that, I have no clue." But saying so, Rose smiled in anticipation of finding out. While she'd spent too much of her adult life fighting one great threat or another, her adventuring roots were in the pursuit of knowledge, and now that she had a new lead in that never-ending search, she'd be damned if she didn't take it!
Chapter 2
Putting aside the mystery for the time being, though, Rose went to Jacob's room and knocked, still unsure how she'd tell him what she must. Oh, he had heard it many times before, and probably recently from Finn and Amber herself after what just happened. But he didn't just need to hear, he needed to listen.
"Who is it?" her son asked in a cracking voice.
"It's me," she replied less harshly than she'd expected. He must have been crying, Rose realized, and felt the urge to rush in there and comfort him. She wanted to tell him everything was all right, whatever he'd done wrong was forgiven... no. That wasn't what she should do, and when he opened the door, she said flatly, "We need to talk."
He hung his head. "I know, it's about leaving Amber behind. I know I was wrong, and I'm sorry. Okay?"
Jacob's inability to meet her gaze made her heart tender, but she had to be firm to discourage something like this from happening again. In the coldest tone she could muster, she said, "No. Sorry isn't enough. You can't ever, ever leave your sister alone in a bad situation for no reason other than you being chickenshit. Never ever. You almost killed Amber, you know that? Do you want to kill her? For her to die? No, right?"
"No, of course not. I was just scared, Mom. There was so much blood, she was choking on it..."
"How do you think she felt?"
Jacob's eyes widened, and his guilty frown deepened as he considered. "Gods, I really did betray her. No wonder she hit me."
"Amber hit you? Well good, you deserved it. If Finn ever left me behind just because of a little sword, or spear, ballista bolt, tail spike, tentacle, molten gauntlet, whatever stuck through me, I would've really kicked his ass for it. Us girls may be tough, but we need our men to take good care of us, not leave us to die lying in our own blood. Trying to get up on your own after being skewered isn't a pleasant experience, not even after all the times I've had to do it."
"I'm Amber's brother, not her husband," Jacob pointed out in an awkward attempt at humor.
"You're still a man in her life. Anyway, I was kind of joking around when I specified 'men.' What I really mean is, we've got to look out for our companions, right? Even more so when they're family."
"I know."
"If you know, why didn't you do it?"
"Like I said, I'm sorry. I messed up, okay? I was really scared. Aren't you ever scared?"
Rose smiled warmly. "Of course I am. All the time. I was scared nearly out of my wits when I heard Amber was hurt! But we have to keep thinking clearly when we're afraid, or we won't be able to change the circumstances making us that way."
"Okay. I'll try extra hard to be braver next time."
"Don't try. Do it. When it's just the two of you, your sister depends on you to help her out of trouble and you her, so you can't let each other down."
"She wouldn't have gotten hurt at all if we hadn't been out there putting ourselves in danger."
Though no stranger to putting herself in grave peril, Rose sympathized her fair share with him. Amber's determination to follow in her adventuring footsteps did worry her, and her injury only compounded those fears. She'd managed to survive this time, but surely come close to death from her grievous wound, and suffered much though she tried to make light of it.
It certainly would take a burden off Rose's heart if her daughter found a new dream that didn't set her in harm's way quite so often, but she had no desire to dictate Amber's actions now that she was an age when Rose herself had been coming into her own as a woman and a warrior. When it came to Jacob, though... "You don't have to follow your sister around everywhere she goes, you know. Your lives aren't bound to the same path, and it's clear her dreams aren't your own."
He smiled, though he sounded more resigned than happy when he spoke. "Thanks for thinking of me, Mom. But if I hadn't been there, Amber might be dead—I did relieve her in the fight, if only for a moment—and I don't want her to die. So I'll stay with her for now, though I wish she'd find another hobby."
Pleased at the genuine concern he showed for his sister, she nodded. "It's her choice, but I'm glad you want to stand by her. I'm sure you'll take good"—better, she supposed—"care of her in the future."
"So is she going to be all right?" he asked worriedly. "She looked pretty bad before, like she was hanging onto life by a hair at some points."
Rose shuddered at the thought. "She's made of iron like me, she's going to be fine. I don't look forward to seeing her hurt as much as I've been, though." But already, her daughter seemed well on her way to following in her footsteps in suffering as well.
"Me neither. I will definitely be a better comrade and brother to her next time."
She could tell he was sincere, and bid him goodbye with some measure of contentment. She just hoped next time he was in a tough situation, his willpower wouldn't fail him. Plenty of failings she'd had in the past aside, if she couldn't teach her children how to survive in their harsh world, it would be her worst failure of all.
#
"So what do you think this opens the seal to?" Amber wondered while she examined her new sword during a family meal in her room a few days later.
"I have no idea. Maybe a gate to hell." Finn laughed. In all the years, he and Rose had never encountered one, and he doubted if such a thing even existed.
Amber suggested hopefully, "Or maybe some hidden treasure of the ancients."
"For a girl who gets everything she needs and more from her parents, you sure do like the thought of finding treasure."
"Could run in the family. You loved treasure hunting in your youth, didn't you?"
He nodded, but reminded her, "I wasn't nearly as well off then as we are now."
"Besides, we weren't just looking for wealth amidst the ruins of the Old World," Rose chimed in as s
he walked inside. "We sought knowledge of the ancients, too. I'm hoping our new key will lead us to more of that."
Amber looked curiously at her. "Do you have any idea what we might find at the end of this?"
"No," Finn said, "but we rarely do in the beginning. Let's try to figure out where this sword might have come from, and then we should get a better idea of where to go."
Rose surprised him and Amber by revealing, "There's an inscription on the bottom of the crossguard in Old Script."
"How come we never noticed?"
"Amber was too busy being in pain, and you're just lazy," she said with a smile.
"So what does it say?"
"'Guardian of Salvation'—a good sign, I'd think."
"I guess it probably doesn't open a gate to hell."
"Wonder what they mean by salvation?" Amber mused.
There was only one way to find out, by discovering the origin of the blade. Finn recalled, "The guy who hurt you must have been a member of the Flying Vipers, yeah? We should find him and ask where he got the sword." He grinned wickedly. "And, I can pay him back for what he did to you."
Rose put her hand on his arm. "Remember, information first, okay?"
"Sure. Let's go check out the cave, and when we find out where he's gone, we'll see how this bastard deals with real warriors."
Amber pouted. "I'm not a real warrior?"
"I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was... more experienced warriors."
#
Watching Rose and Finn exit the tower from the nearby alley, Oswald grinned knowing his prized sword would soon be his again. And that stupid girl's life with it. But how would he get to her undetected? He didn't even know where her room was and she was badly injured, unlikely to leave the sanctuary of her home anytime soon. How long would it be before he got a proper opportunity to strike? Suddenly he saw the girl's brother walk out, and an idea formed in his head. He'd use the weak sibling to have his way with the stronger one.
Oswald slipped closer to the mouth of the alley and waited for the boy to pass, then darted forth to grab him by the arm. He tried to struggle, but Oswald dragged him out of view of the street easily and threw him to the ground. "Hello again," he said, his sinister grin making the boy stop moving.