The Next One

The beast shouldn’t have two mouths, but it did. All barbed teeth and crusty drool.

Warden Lawrence drew his sword. “I’m getting you out of here.”

The dwarven woman nodded.

The beast gave a disharmonious bellow. Whatever it was, it had been blighted a long time.

He’d been a Grey Warden. Spent twenty years fighting blight. But that poison was in him, too. One day it sang in his ears and he knew. When the time comes, you go underground and fight ghouls ‘til you die. Or become one yourself. His joints hurt when he came down. They didn’t anymore. When he breathed, there was a ghoulish rattle in it. So that was that. The end.

But he’d heard her yell. Found her on the wrong side of a cave-in, standing brave as spit, gripping an old blacksmith hammer.

The beast lunged fast and crab-like. Lawrence turned, bashed his shield into its leg, and swung at the central bulk. It didn’t matter what he was becoming. He was still himself. He’d stand between her and the dark.

The creature snapped with the closest maw. Lawrence dodged, rolled, and stabbed again. He heard her holler before feeling the pain himself.

She ran forward, cracked the creature hard as she could with that hammer. His sword found the beast’s heart and it fell.

“Didn’t think I’d save anyone else…”

“You haven’t yet,” she said.

“Mouthy!” He laughed. “I’m getting you out of here, uh…”

“Evka.”

“We’re getting you out, Evka.”

They walked through the dark, but he knew the way. It hurt, but someone needed him. He was bleeding, but it was fine.

Strange how it was grey and not red, though. Strange how… he could almost hear... His vision blurred.

“Thought I could save…”

“You still can.”

“I don’t…”

“Tell you what,” Evka said. “You save me and I’ll save the next one for you.” 

He smiled. “Deal.”

She took his arm, his weight, and they kept moving. It wasn’t far now. They were almost… But something was coming. Scratching, scrambling—

Ghouls.

When the time comes, you go underground and fight. And die.

But they’d made a deal. Get her out and she’d save the next one. No one should face the dark alone. He’d get her out of here. He was going to…

***

The ghouls were dead.

“Who are you?” Evka asked, grip tight on the hammer.

“A spirit,” it said through Warden Lawrence’s mouth. “I could hear him.”

Drawn to the dying, then. After all he’d done...

“Release him,” Evka snapped. She wouldn’t leave him like this.

“I am Perseverance.” It lifted Lawrence’s hand, tore the griffon crest from his chest. “He wanted to save just one more…”

Evka hesitated. “If there’s anything left in there, tell him I’ll rescue the next one.”

The spirit inclined its head, in agreement or farewell, Evka wasn’t sure. The Warden’s body collapsed to the floor.

Evka knelt, clutching the crest. She closed Lawrence’s eyes.

“I’ve got the next ones.”

(Illustrated by Ramil Sunga)