My Life for Hers

“What do you mean, no idea, Finley!?” I squeezed his hand.

“Ow, tight, tight-”

“Oh, sorry!” I let go, suddenly very conscious of the fact I had been clinging to him like a maiden for the past minute.

“I’ve never seen anything like that beast before, princess. Nor has anyone witnessed the moment dubhiast are born — the moment of corruption.” He scanned the battle. “For the moment, we’ll have to trust in Diana and figure something out, swiftly.”

My voice trembled, “But, it’s just a Scourge monster, right? Aren’t they weak to magic?”

“They ought to be. But that one isn’t. It shrugged our mana attacks off like nothing.”

Lost in thought, he studied the goat-giant. I joined him, frantically searching for any sign of weakness.

Diana’s soldiers were still herding the beast backwards, poking it here and there to keep it contained. The captain herself was a blur, dashing in and out of the thing’s legs, swiping at it with her sword. She clanged off a leg, then sheathed her sword — the hazy red glow disappeared, instantly replaced by a stark white. Whoa. As soon as her weapon was enchanted again, she tried attacking again, wisps of frost coming off of her blade as if it had been dipped in liquid nitrogen.

It, too, was ineffective.

“What is she doing?” I asked Finley.

“Trying all of her enchantments to see if any can harm it.”

Confused, I continued, “Why don’t you join her?”

Surprisingly, he smiled at me. “I can’t. Just as I specialize in pure mana manipulation, she specializes in elemental enhancement, specifically of her weapons.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t realized magic was that specific. Got a lot to learn.

“You might even see her bring out her other- Yes, there it is.” He pointed at his sister.

From a safer distance away from the boss, Diana sheathed her sword, which had just been swirling with grey wind, but didn’t draw it again. Instead, the enchantment faded, and she put both hands in front of her and concentrated. Swirling out of thin air, just like Finley’s objects had, a huge warhammer coalesced from magic. She can summon weapons? That’s sick.

It didn’t weigh her down whatsoever. She started to run at the monster, slowly at first, then picking up speed. She swung the hunk of magical metal at one of the legs, using all of her momentum — but it didn’t even dent the thing’s bone armor. Instead, the force ricocheted back at Diana, who was flung backwards from the attack.

“Diana!” Finley and I both shouted, starting to run to her.

On the ground, she slowly got up and held out a palm in a stop gesture. “Don’t come any closer!” We halted. Diana pushed herself up off the ground and yelled a command at her soldiers, “Squad tuiteamais, keep that thing busy! I’m going to strategize with High Scholar Finley!”

She made her way over to us, clutching her shoulder. “Hey, brother, you think-”

Before she could finish, Finley had his hand outstretched, using his orange healing magic on her. The region of her arm glowed, and very brightly.

“That was reckless, Diana,” Finley scolded.

“Ugh, I know. I was getting frustrated. Thanks for the aid.”

Finley checked over her. “I used as much as I could, but you’ll want to avoid heavy swings like that. It’s not fully mended.”

“Tch. Understood,” Diana grumbled.

I butted in, “What are we going to do?”

Diana flashed a pained grin. “Oh, don’t you worry, miss princess, I’ve got one more thing to try. I never used lightning.”

“Lightning?” I was confused.

“Indeed. Look,” Diana grabbed my attention with her sword, inside the sheath. She closed her eyes. The smell of ozone filled the air around us as she pulled it out again, flickering yellow lightning arcing off of it. “I love this one, but it’s dangerous to use around other people. It’s very potent.”

Finley solemnly agreed. “I think this warrants its use.”

Physical attacks hadn’t worked. Nor had Diana’s various enchantments, or Finley’s magic energy. I was doubtful this would be any different.

“Alright. Once more into the fray.” Diana spun around and readied her electric blade, then dashed in.

This time, however, it was different. As soon as her sword connected with the leg, it sent a small jolt through it, and the goat monster bleated in annoyance. Hold on, that worked?

Diana triumphantly issued another command to her squad. “Soldiers, dealanach!” At once, the entire group held their weapons out at arm’s length. She grabbed her sheath, focused, and after a few seconds, every other sword around her crackled with the same energy as her own.

“Did she just enchant theirs, too?” I was in wonder.

Hope rang through Finley’s voice. “Indeed. It’ll be a battle of attrition, but we’ve got something to harm it, now.”

I wanted to share in that optimism, but when Diana and her squad moved in on the Scourge, their blades all connecting at once, the monster bellowed and started stomping. They backed away as it started to lumber forward.

“Not good. That only made it angry.” Concern overtook Finley’s face once more. The thing started moving towards the vendor area — towards us — slowly trampling over decorations in its way.

“Princess, time to go!” Finley grabbed my hand.

A melancholy feeling washed over me as I imagined Aileen’s cute little “straw berys” sign getting crushed under demonic hoof. I glanced at the fruit alley as Finley pulled me away — wait.

“Finley, stop!” I pulled my hand from his.

“Princess, what is it?” He whirled around.

But I was already racing to the stalls. Desperate to get there before the monster, I threw my sandal-heels off, opting to go barefoot on the dirt for speed.

When I looked at Aileen’s shabby stall, my heart stopped.

It wasn’t empty.

Aileen huddled beneath her counter, squeezing the life out of a small stuffed cat, staring in horror at the approaching monster.

Why is she still here? Why didn’t she evacuate?!

“Princess, wait, you can’t!” Finley called after me, panic in his voice.

I ignored him. Aileen’s face was frozen in terror, unmoving, paralyzed.

“Finley, figure something out!” I shouted as I sped past the beast.

I reached her stall, looking back to see the monster closing in. “Aileen, come on! We have to get you out of here!” The splintered bone and twisted goat horns bearing down towards us were getting bigger by the second.

“P-P-Princess!” Her lips trembled. I knelt, reaching my hand out, and she took it. In her frantic state, she tried to scramble out from under her counter and smacked her head against the wood. She fell to the ground in pain, curled up in a ball, clutching her head, and started to cry.

I looked back. It was picking up speed, almost here.

No other options.

I huddled on the ground over her, hugging her tightly, shielding her with my own body.

“It’s okay, Aileen. I’ll protect you. The princess is here.”

The rumbling footfalls of the goat-beast shook the ground more and more. This is how it ends, I guess. Sorry, Dad. Your daughter died at that festival you hate. I closed my eyes, embracing the small child in my final moments. I wonder if I’ll wake up at my computer.

A supernova of blue forced my eyes open. Right in front of the goat’s freaky sideways eyes, a massive, bright, flower-shaped illusion shimmered. The monster skidded to a stop.

Finley stood, face hardened in determination, commanding the magic with outstretched hand. He closed his eyes, conjuring another illusion in front of the goat: a spectral wolf. It growled, and the disfigured goat slowly backed up. The High Scholar, living up to his title, concentrated and used the two illusions to force the monster back into a ready circle of lightning-charged knights.

“Aileen, look!” I helped her up. “Finley and Diana are saving us!”

“Huh?” She sniffled, hugging the cat doll as she slowly raised her head. “I w-wanna be like them. But it’s too scary.”

“I know, it really is.” I hugged her again, and she tightly hugged back. “Let’s take this chance to escape while they’re helping us,” I said, picking her up off the ground and holding her against my waist.

Finley pointed to his left with his other hand, and I saw Marie and Margot standing far away, at the front of a crowd that had formed at the edge of the grounds. They were comforting a woman who looked a lot like Aileen, holding her hands close to her chest in fear.

“Aileen, is that your mom?” I asked, standing up to carry her away. She nodded, tears still coming from her eyes.

A feeling of contentment filled my heart. I felt… motherly. Protecting this child was all that mattered. Love for her overcame my emotions. Is this what it’s like? I wondered.

Diana’s squad of knights encircled the monster once more, this time brandishing their lightning to threaten it, keeping it in place without attacking. Finley jogged over to join me in taking Aileen to safety.

He started, “Princess-”

“I know. I know, Finley. Let’s take care of little Aileen first, okay?”