So comes snow after fire
and even dragons have their endings.
- J.R.R. Tolkien

-----❅-----

- Victorine -

-----❅-----

For a brief moment, black dots danced through my vision, then the world darkened before my eyes. A bright, agreeing sound echoed in my ears.

I tried to fight my way back to orientation and stretched out my arms. My fingers palpated leathery skin. Suddenly, light shot through my field of vision, for a tiny moment. Then again. The object in front of me moved a little.

And as I began to realize what was going on, the sound in my ears grew duller, then was replaced by sounds of screeching. One of them came from Deidamia.

Cold shock ran through my entire body. The attacking creatures had caught us, I had been thrown off the dragon's back. They had hit her on the right wing.

As if in confirmation, warm blood now dripped down on me. It ran into my eyes and I wiped it from my field of vision. I noticed the taste of iron in my mouth as I squeezed out a little between Deidamia's hot body and her wing.

I recognized about five creatures in my severely limited field of vision alone. They kept flying at the dragon, aiming for eyes and the wings, biting into her skin and tearing out pieces. And yet Deidamia did not try to flee across the ground.

She fought off the creatures with her right wing and fire. Without stopping, she spewed flames. The air around us heated up. I tried to squeeze out of the gap even more, but instantly Deidamia pressed her wing tighter, almost cutting off my air.

No. Desperation drove through me and I tried to free myself with all my might.

I pressed against the injured wing, feeling warm fluid, bare flesh and bone against my fingers. I braced myself with my feet and tried to push myself out upwards, but all this was of no use.

"Deidamia, no!", I screamed, pounding my fists against them. But I was just as stuck as before.

The creatures shrieked aggressively and I felt them bumping against the injured wing that protected me. It was getting noticeably hotter around me. She defended my side by fire, neglecting its other.

"No!", I shouted once again, feeling tears spring to my eyes. With all my might, I pulled my sword out of the squeezed area and after what seemed like an eternity, finally managed to thrust it through her wing, screaming. She flinched. But she didn't let up.

"No, no, Deidamia, I beg you!", I cried howling, a huge knot stuck in my throat and almost taking away my oxygen.

She sacrificed her life to protect me.

And for a moment I was paralyzed and pushed into the basement. I rolled and rolled to safety while they murdered my mother. Felt the helplessness and pure desperation to help overtaken by dull, numbing feelings. Breathing became harder and harder.

"Victorine!" someone yelled from somewhere, bringing me back to reality. I couldn't get a word out, my face completely wet with tears and blood, my vision blurred.

"Please, please, Deidamia," I then found the words, but no longer screaming, instead meager, puny and tearful.

"Victorine!" the cry rang out again, closer this time. Then the wing lifted and I recognized a wider part of the scene I was in.

Deidamia's face was covered in blood and partially unidentifiable, flames billowing through the air. There were at least two dozen three-foot-tall black, bat-like creatures with terrifyingly wide mouths and needle-sharp, long teeth.

A hand grabbed me by my forearm. I wrenched the sword from Deidamia's wing and, gripping it with both hands, pointed it at Nicolas.

Over my dead body would I let Deidamia die here.

I would fight here, to my last breath. Die here, with Deidamia.

But my fingers and my whole body were trembling, tears were still in my eyes, so that I could hardly aim. I felt that I was on the verge of collapse.

Nicolas reached around the sword and pulled me to him effortlessly. My body was not able to resist it, no matter how much willpower was in me.

Then I found myself on the back of a horse. We were still in the protection of the slightly raised wing.

And then we rode off.

"Nicolas, no!", I roared at the top of my lungs and rushed to the side to throw myself off the horse. The king grabbed me from behind and held me painfully and violently.

"Nicolas, I must help Deidamia! I must- Let me, let me help her!", I shouted, trying to free myself. When that did no good, I rammed my elbow behind me, but Nicolas was already blocking it.

"Victorine, stop it! She's saving your life!"

I looked over my shoulder past Nicolas to the back. Wanted to give Deidamia one last look, but my vision was so blurred by tears that I could barely make out anything. We rode on and on and she got smaller and smaller. My whole chest tightened and my breathing was so shallow that I briefly feared suffocation.

Deidamia was not allowed to die, none of this could happen. It seemed to me as if I hardly understood what exactly had just happened. For this could not be possible. Deidamia could not be dead.

A gasp escaped my throat. "No, Nicolas, no!" I had no idea how many times and for how long I screamed, but it seemed like an infinity before my voice failed and I bent over, head down, emitting howling, whimpering sounds.

Eventually, I became silent. Stared at certain points of view and yet saw nothing on the other hand. Heard the clacking of horse hooves and yet not. Felt deepest mourning and on the other hand nevertheless nothing.

I had no idea how long we rode. Minutes? Hours? Until we suddenly stopped and I got off the horse a few seconds after. My legs staggered and I fell to the ground. I was still shivering.

Everything was cold and dried on my face, on my body. My sword fell beside me. I remained kneeling on the ground, staring at it. Deidamia's blood was on it, as well as on my body, my face, my hands.

"You have a wound on your head, Victorine", Nicolas remarked. I did not answer. Who cared about my injury. Silently, I allowed him to clean my wound, barely noticing. Noticing in passing that he had dropped addressing me with my honorifics. I only got a rough overview of the wooded surroundings and the river in front of us.

I did everything not to think about this nightmare. About what couldn't possibly have happened.

Suddenly Nicolas wheeled around, got into an upright position and pulled out his sword. Slowly and carefully, I followed his lead. When four of the attacking creatures from before stepped out of the bushes, I froze.

Not because I was afraid. But because Deidamia was dead.

Because they had finished off their victim and decided to follow the trail of the fugitives.

I looked at the charred body parts of the creatures and suddenly found myself as if in a parallel universe, where I was a spark of Deidamia's fire penetrating her skin and causing excruciating pain.

After an indeterminate amount of time, I crouched over the corpse of the last killed creature and stabbed, over and over again. I couldn't even tell exactly what had just happened. The memory gap unsettled me and I stabbed again. New, fresh blood splattered my face and what were once organs were now bloody slush.

"Victorine, it's dead," Nicolas said, simultaneously unsettled and gentle.

"Why did they have to give their lives for me?", I then asked quietly, lowering myself and the sword to the ground. "She and my mother, why? How can any human bear such a burden?"

He let me cry for a few seconds before raising his voice in a careful tone. "It's not a burden. It's an honor. They did the greatest and most meaningful thing ever to protect you. It is the greatest act of love that any living creature can perform." He paused slightly, but I did not make eye contact.

Now he spoke a tiny bit more softly. "She wanted it this way. She made a conscious decision, Victorine. Not just at this moment. You also knew a long time ago that you would die for Deidamia or your mother."

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, I looked into his serious, deep green eyes. His features were hard. We said nothing for a long while until he averted his gaze and let it wander among the trees.

I swallowed hard. "Deidamia didn't just die," I whispered. "She held off the creatures as long as she could to give us a head start. Fought to the bitter end to keep too many from coming after us. I wouldn't have survived that situation if she hadn't put herself through that torture and torment."

Nicolas was still looking deep into the forest and seemed to be searching for words for a moment. "And she also did that deliberately for you. You shouldn't worry about it anymore. You are mourning, while we are not mourning the deceased at all. The being is gone, in my opinion. Not here as a spirit or soul or supernatural entity, but gone. Probably the only thing magic can't do."

He hesitated thoughtfully before continuing. "No, we grieve ourselves because we feel lost and thrown into nothingness, never having said the words we were supposed to have said, never again having the opportunity to do things that were supposed to do. And I know that this feeling will never completely go away. But remember that maybe you don't have to grieve so much. Your father would have given his life for you. Your mother and Deidamia did. You loved and were loved, and what has happened is the greatest proof of that."

His words burned into my memory and I knew I would never forget that moment in my life. The pain in his voice was unmistakable. Blindly he stared into nothingness. Affected, I averted my eyes.

Nicolas spoke from experience. How much too rarely I felt that he was not only a king, but also a man with feelings. Who had to ascend the throne of his parents far too early.

One could not reverse the course of fate, but one could influence the future. I should concentrate on making this world a safer place. To free my sister.

My heart beat a little faster and it felt good to feel the pressure returning against my chest. Nicolas was right and I wondered how I had even allowed myself a second of self-pity.

He was right, because of course things happened randomly and meaninglessly in this world, but the deaths of my parents and my oldest, only friend did not. They died for something, died for me, and that gave their deaths meaning.

I could change the course of our destiny. I would save my sister and the entire country and overthrow pure wickedness from its reign.

❅

We rode through the twilight. The hooves of the shadow horse struck the ground rhythmically, his long and powerful strides brought us closer to our destination with every second.

Nicolas and I did not speak to each other, and yet we understood each other better than ever. I was hell-bent on bringing Cephas down. It was blind to sense that Nicolas felt the same. In his eyes I saw more than determination, but an eerie kind of certainty. As if he would do anything he could to stop his mortal enemy.

It was getting darker and colder. I looked up. The twinkling stars there far in celestial time seemed like secret allies to me.

Nicolas and I were small compared to this world. Small compared to Cephas' kingdom or his insurmountable army. But our courage was much stronger than before, our determination greater than ever. It was not the size of a body that counted, but the size of his heart. Confidence in himself and his allies, however few. Confidence in the deeds of loving departed ones.

I made this journey not only to avenge myself, but to free my beloved sister. To free all who lived in fear and suffered loss. To make the world once again a place where families can live together. Where friends can be carefree together. Where all beings can exist and live and have hearts that fill this world with life and wonder.

I did it for my mother and father, for my brother, for Crescentia and Deidamia. For Nicolas and Tryhopsa and Orestes and the rest of the brave troop. For Nicolas' parents. For all the dragons and kind-hearted beings of this world. For Vindicta and all the witches who had to pay for their freedom with scars. For the original witch and her stolen heart. For Archelaus and Andaus, who hid in fear in their newly built kingdom. For the ship captain Vane and his crew. For the tortured mermaids and the victims of our witnessed Wendigo attack. For all those who suffered terrible losses at the hands of Cephas.

Because I did it for all these people and creatures, it filled me with strength. Enough power to fight even the strongest armies and overcome the most insurmountable walls.

I closed my eyes and when I tried to breathe in the cold air of that night, it was suddenly no longer cold, but hot like fire. I felt the fire fill my mind and soul with unshakable confidence. I opened my eyelids and looked up into the sky. Someone had given me a gift.

Deidamia trusted me.

I trusted me.