The crackling was almost unbearable. Quinn wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. She balked, even as she could hear the rest of them all around her coming back to themselves, remembering they needed to fight. Still needing to distract their attackers from where Jasper was busy creating the damned doorway they needed.

Hal shielded the partially melting form of Drukala. Although Quinn was relieved to see the healing magic, she’d tossed over appeared to be having some sort of impact, at least. She also knew that cosmicisodracus weren’t exactly fragile, but their fire was also pretty powerful.

Dro rolled onto the ground. Ultimately, she’d received the lion’s share of the backlash of her own spell. Her hide was crackled, still in the mini dragon form that she found herself.

Something tugged inside Quinn’s chest, in her head, giving her that weird sort of déjà vu that always hung over her when her magic was about to do some of the solving for itself. Stretching out an arm, she envisioned the flames contained the charred hide of the dragon to snuff out the rest of the damage, and slowly begin to heal.

At the same time, her understanding of both fibers, their creation, and the permanency of thread ignited to create a magical binding around Dro... who Quinn was dying to find out the full name of. She had to be trussed up. If she wasn’t, she posed too much of a threat to them all. As it was, with Dru and Geneva down, Quinn herself injured and only marginally patched up... she wasn’t exactly liking the odds ahead of them.

Even Hal, now she peered and looked closer with the flamed having died down, had scrapes and wounds littered across his body that were only slowly healing because of the regeneration she’d covered them in. Still, it didn’t keep him from fending off more of the shadow soldiers and giving both him and Dru some distance from Dro.

A ripple echoed through the chamber. Though it was more of a feeling than a sound.

Jasper finally stepped away and back into the flickering light of the cave to reveal the doorway she’d created. Perspiration clung to her skin, lending her a sallow appearance. “Heavily warded areas are not meant for rituals.... when it’s not warded because of one.” She flashed Quinn a wan smile, stumbling to rest against the wall.

“Retreat!” Quinn called out, although that wasn’t really what this was. After all, they were just going home thanks to Jasper, whom she tossed a grateful half-smile. She glanced at Dro for a second, wondering if that was someone they should be taking with them.

Hal caught her eye and shook his head. The older cosmicisodracus was still mostly immobile, thanks to the bindings Quinn currently held, but was also gasping wheezing breaths, as if she was struggling to live at all. Quinn needed to study dragon fire in a wee bit more detail.

Malakai moved fluidly, hauling Geneva gently onto his side as he kept aim with his bow at the remnants of the shadow army while Eric still took care of them. He stepped over their traps easily, his eyes never straying from his targets despite the fact that he didn’t even miss a step in the direction of the door.

Eric, in the mean time, continued to lead the shadows on a strange chase, despite the fact that there were plenty more of them to fight. They seemed entranced by something he’d done. Like they were charmed, as if they compulsively had to follow him.

Quinn was so preoccupied as she moved through the cavern that she let her guard down without as much forethought as she should have given it. The Aracnio she’d presumed to be dead caught her boot, one of its last remaining legs cutting deeply into her calf. She stumbled, going down, losing her concentration. And then Hal was there, scooping her up underneath her arm and guiding her toward the door as he leveraged a ball of lava to finish off the aracnio that sought to fell her.

“Move. As fast as you can.”

Quinn didn’t need to be told twice, and she pushed her magic through her body, healing herself instinctively.

Malakai arrived first, and she could hear him and Jasper talking.

“Hospital obviously. We can’t pour out into the damned main section of the Library with potentially badly wounded members.” He sounded irritated, as if he thought the information was common place and logical.

She couldn’t blame him, and Jasper seemed suitably chastised. “Yeah. I’ll recalibrate it for a second. Step out of the circle.”

Malakai turned his attention back to picking the last shadow stragglers off.

“We should take...” Quinn began, but Hal silenced her with a pointed look.

“We have too many of us injured already. While Dru is friendly and we can help her, I cannot guarantee that Dro won’t place the Library and all of us in imminent danger. I can’t express how much of a bad decision it would be to take her.”

“Should we kill her?” Malakai asked, his voice soft, forthright.

Hal glanced back at where the charred dragon body lay, barely breathing. He shook his head. “Couldn’t manage that if you tried. There’s a reason the Library shapeshifted like it did.” Drukala moaned next to him.

“She looks pretty out of it.”

The King of Halschius shrugged. “Dragon Fire is probably the worst thing they could use against each other. It actually does damage they can’t immediately heal fully.”

Eric had begun to make his way over and Jasper finally stepped back from the door.

She twisted the strange handle and pulled it toward them, revealing the corridor that led to the hospital wing of the Library just beyond.

Quinn couldn’t help but heave a huge sigh of relief but then, as Malakai entered, carrying Geneva very carefully, Quinn turned to Hal and asked. “Are we just going to leave her there or let her escape?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ll come back and get her as soon as we have everyone else settled.” On his arm, Drukala seemed to wilt ever so slightly more, but Quinn was purely grateful she’d managed to stop some of the damage from spreading at least.

Eric remained, as if standing on guard while Hal and Drukala ventured through next. Quinn’s foot still smarted, but it wasn’t a bad injury, nothing she couldn’t heal on her own and spare the Doctors in the hospital. She motioned for Jasper to walk through first, but her friend only offered a tight smile. “Nope. Caster has to go through last.”

“In that case...” Eric winked at them and flitted through first.

The shadows left in his wake were few, and slowed down into a sort of dark molasses as created by his lava attacks.

Quinn stepped through, looking back to make sure Jasper followed her.

But Jasper shook her head. “No. You won’t be able to get back through the door if I close the ritual circle. I’ll just wait...”

Something flashed in Quinn’s peripheral vision, brief and hot, but suddenly time felt like it slowed…

Quinn reacted faster than she thought possible. Reaching through and around, she grabbed Jasper’s hand, tugging her forward as abruptly as she could. Still, the arrow of fire lanced through the doorway, clipping Jaspers side instead of impaling her fully, and they both stumbled through the door, spilling to the ground as it shut behind them.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Immediately alert, Quinn reached out to the Library, sounding the medical alarm.

“Jasper... Jasper...” she said, sending as much healing energy as she could through her friend. No. No. She wasn’t sure if she was muttering it outloud. All she could do was pull everything she knew about healing, everything she knew about magic and try and repair the damage.

Red tendrils spread from the wound in her side, a whole chunk of flesh missing, of her body. The wound gaped like a maw, hungry and relentless.

Quinn had no idea about this anatomy, but she was fairly sure it looked like something mostly important was missing now.

And her healing magic did nothing.

Nothing at all.

Jasper’s breathing came in short, staccato bursts as the wound spread... shallow and painful. Her eyes were unfocused and her hand gripped Quinn’s with far too little strength for the Librarian’s liking.

The edges of the skin began to blacken, and Quinn poured in everything she had. All the healing affinities she’d read about, all the anatomy she’d scanned. It poured from her in a halo of blue and purple power pooling around them both.

And still Jasper’s grip grew weaker, even if her breath seemed somewhat steadier.

And still the blood leaked from her body, spreading out like a pool that would never end.

“Don’t you dare... you stay with me. You owe me ritual circles for days...” Quinn muttered, just wanting to give something for the injured woman to cling onto.

There was no recognition in her eyes at all, they were fading, clouding over…

Quinn didn’t know how much time had passed, but she knew it couldn’t have been that long could it? The Library could pull strings. It could help.

They’d save her. They had to.

Dr Miles was there, suddenly, barking out orders that Quinn couldn’t quite comprehend. She found him asking her questions and giving him answers in a monotone voice that didn’t sound like her own.

Jasper was deftly, but gently removed from her hands and leveraged, while Quinn remained on her knees, her hands in her lap, trying to process everything that’d happened. The blood pooled around her and she realized in a detached sort of way that Jasper bled a sort of purple hue of deep red.

It was so pretty.

Quinn replayed the moments in her mind and realized belatedly she’d lost control of the binding spell on Dro when she’d tripped...She hadn’t even realized she’d been actively maintaining it.

Funny that.

“Quinn?”

She blinked up to find Malakai and Milaro standing over her, looks of sincere concern on their faces, and she was fairly sure those were tear tracks down their cheeks, but it was hard to see through her own.

Mal crouched in front of her, a frown appearing. “I’m pretty sure at least some of that is your blood...”

Quinn blinked at him and looked down. Flashes of the car accident passed through her head as the blue scales flickered in the light of the hospital. “Oh. I think I healed myself.”

Milaro uttered a phrase she couldn’t quite pick up and then his lips pressed into a thin, exasperated line briefly before his magic washed over her. “Sometimes I think you have a death wish...” he muttered, but he didn’t sound angry. Instead, he sounded sad.

“I’m fine...” she started to say. It was what she wanted to say until she realized she couldn’t. “But I couldn’t… it didn’t… she’s not…”

Nausea swelled in her gut, threatening to overwhelm her, followed by a wave of dizziness so extreme she finally registered just how wet her left side was. “Oh... I think some of that blood might be mine.” A giggle escaped her before she crashed to the floor.

~~

A breeze drifted across her skin, pulling Quinn out of her doze. Even though she knew it couldn’t possibly windy in here, in their little pocket of existence that kept trying to crash down on them, the sensation was still welcome.

“Glad to see you awake. You really worried my grandfather.” Malakai said from next to her. He tried to smile, and almost succeeded, but Quinn could tell it didn’t reach his eyes.

Quinn tried to remember the events that had led her here... into the infirmary... or the hospital...

Jasper’s crumpled body, Drukala’s melting skin... and her own gaping wound.

“Ah, yeah...” Quinn rolled the words on her dry tongue before opening eyes that felt way too crusty to look in Mal’s direction. “Just worried Milaro, right?”

Jasper's gaping wound.

The crease in Malakai’s brow deepened, and he shook her head, taking her pale hand in his as he spoke words that belied his actions. “Yeah. Just my grandfather.”

Jasper’s purple blood.

Quinn smiled and then grimaced. They would talk about this at another time... but for now, it was enough. “How long?”

“You’ve been out for two days.”

Jasper’s clouded, sightless eyes.

“Damn it.” Quinn’s throat was one huge croak. At least the damned book was safe. What a consolation prize. She didn’t want to ask the question, but knew she had to. “Are they?”

But Malakai didn’t get a chance to answer as Lynx popped into the room.

“You have to stop worrying me like that!” He said. The concern in his voice was loud and sad, and tinged all around with panic.

“Didn’t set out to.” Quinn felt weak.

She knew. But she didn’t want to.

Lynx scowled at her. “Don’t try to move. I’ll make sure you get hydration. Taking glancing dragon’s fire for a friend. What were you thinking? We can’t replace you. You know that!”

Beneath his frantic words and actions, Quinn knew he was worried for her. And she knew he was grieving. Not just as the Librarian. She stole a breath, determined, even if she was unsure of the answer. “Dru?”

“She’s fine. Hers was all superficial. Well… for a cosmicisodracus anyway. Yours was practically a laser rifle concentration. Much harder to heal than a general sheath of fire.” Lynx was taking medical recordings and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “She’s in the core with the Library sorting things out. You need to give me the book so I can pass it on...” Then he paused, giving her a closer inspection. “Whenever you’re ready, though. They’ll probably want you down there, anyway. So much has happened.”

She didn’t want to know. Not definitively.

“Do tell?” It wasn’t the question she wanted to ask, but it was the one she had to ask right then.

“With Drev and Dro both working together, we have to sort through our original hypothesis. We’d expected one. He’d always been opposed to the Library and only grudgingly helped... but two of them.” Lynx shook his head as he gathered further readings on her.

Quinn didn’t need him to spell it out for her. The Library might be an all powerful depository of knowledge, but it was made from a singular cosmicisodracus sacrifice... technically. At least if she understood it right. Sure, there was a hell of a lot more involved. But if they now had two of the primordial dragons working against the Library, it made them that much more vulnerable. Just that much more susceptible to attack.

Quinn enabled her storage ring and directed the book out to Lynx’s hands.

He gaped in surprise and then scowled. “Stop doing magic until I’ve cleared you.”

She shrugged. “I figured having the book back would help.”

Because she certainly hadn’t helped her friend.

“What helps,” Lynx said as he began imprinting something on the chart in the system at her bedside, “is that book never got into Drav’s hands. Right now, that’s one of our saving graces. Or at least we hope so.”

The question wriggled under her skin like worms trying to break out.

They sat in silence for several seconds while Lynx finished his exam. All the while, Quinn had to work up the courage to ask her question. One she wasn’t even sure she wanted the answer to.

The question broke.

“Jasper?” Quinn forced out, already fearing the worst.

Lynx wouldn’t meet her eyes, but Malakai tugged on the hand he still held, drawing her focus once again. Quinn tried to breathe and waited.

“You tried.” Was all he said.

Past tense.

Quinn gasped, the action hurting her chest.

No future

“Hey.” Malakai said sharply. “It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have predicted there’d be a bloody dragon fight.”

It was no excuse.

“Yeah...” Quinn knew it wasn’t her fault, but also knew it was.

Jasper was dead.

There was a part of Quinn that knew her training to be lacking, her skill to be wanting, and her power to be substandard. She swallowed the despair, and locked it away before locking eyes with Malakai.

“I need to get stronger.”

And make the Sölem pay.