Chapter 42 Rose
When the corpses erupted from the ground, Rose barely had time to leap out of the way. She fell to her knees and rolled over as a bony hand tried to snatch at her. Unscathed and panting, she scrambled to her feet. She whipped her head around, searching frantically for Wren. Her sister had been here just a moment ago but the forest had swelled and she couldn’t hear a thing over the sudden sound of screaming.
Then Rose caught sight of something that made her heart jump into her throat. There, in the middle of the clearing, was Shen. He was lying on his back in the dirt, desperately trying to wrestle the snow tiger that had landed on top of him. The beast was three times his size and its fangs were terrifyingly close to his neck.
‘Shen!’ Adrenaline flooded Rose and sent her charging into the fray. She hopped over a pair of grappling wolves, then lunged to the left, narrowly avoiding an eyeless corpse. She kept her dagger high and poised to strike but when a pair of skeletons lunged towards her, she used her tempest magic, sending out a gust so strong it flung them into a nearby tree, sending a crack right up the middle.
When she reached Shen, Rose cast another gust, but a tiger had dug its claws into his shoulders. Shen was losing his fight against the beast. It opened its mighty jaws, releasing a deafening roar as it bored down on him.
Rose leaped on to the tiger’s back. Before she could second guess herself, she brought Daybreak down, skewering the beast between its exposed shoulder blades. She held on tight, squeezing her eyes shut as she pushed the dagger deeper, until finally, she felt the creature shudder underneath her. It released a keening groan as it slumped on to its side.
Rose slid off the beast’s back and then, entirely without meaning to be, she was on top of Shen, now straddling him herself.
He stared up at her with wide unblinking eyes. ‘Rose?’ he said, breathlessly. ‘What in stars’ name are you doing?’
‘Saving your life,’ she said, with a huff. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘I … I’m …’ He blinked, searching for the right word.
‘Eternally grateful?’ Rose swept the hair from her face, taking a closer look at him. When she spotted the blood seeping through his shirt, her own blood went cold. ‘You’re hurt!’
‘I’m all right,’ said Shen, flinching as he tried to sit up.
Rose gently pushed him back down. ‘Let me heal you.’
‘Rose, we’re in the middle of a battle! I have to fight.’
‘First, you need to heal,’ she said, firmly. ‘Hush now.’ She closed her eyes, resting her hands against the puncture wounds in his shoulders. They were deeper than she thought, scouring through muscle and bone. But she was a practised healer and despite the screams in their midst, she sank into a quiet calmness and set her magic to work. It tingled as it brushed against Shen’s.
She heard him groan, softly. ‘That’s nice.’
Quickly, carefully, Rose knitted his wounds back together. When it was done, she opened her eyes to find her vision was blurry. But even so, she could still see the ice bear that was charging towards them. She screamed, bracing for impact, when a blur shot out from the trees and barrelled into the hulking creature, knocking it off course. Kai fell to the ground, punching and kicking the undead bear as they rolled over each other, again and again.
‘Kai!’ shouted Rose. ‘You—’
‘You’re welcome, Queenie!’ he shouted back, before ripping the bear’s arm clean off.
Shen shot up, holding Rose’s shoulders. ‘You’re pale,’ he said, searching her face. ‘You shouldn’t have—’
‘It will pass,’ said Rose, waving away his concern. ‘Help me stand, please.’
Shen helped her to her feet, anchoring her to him as he fended off what looked like an undead farmer swinging an axe. Mercifully, Rose’s head soon stopped spinning, enough that she could withdraw Daybreak from the twitching snow tiger before rushing back to help Shen.
‘You need to get out of here,’ he said, as four more corpses came stalking towards them. ‘Find somewhere safe.’
‘Like where?’ said Rose, shrilly. ‘There are dead things everywhere, Shen.’
Shen kicked one squarely in the mouth then glanced at Rose. ‘I can’t lose you again, Rose.’
‘You won’t,’ she said, wincing as she jabbed her dagger through the bones of a gaping ribcage. The skeleton reeled backwards, clutching at the phantom wound. ‘I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Promise?’ Shen pivoted, pressing his back against hers as they slashed and fought in perfect harmony.
‘Promise,’ said Rose.
Time seemed to slow then, until all Rose knew was the sureness of Shen’s back against her own and the steady rise and fall of their chests as they battled dead beast and human alike. She wasn’t frightened any more. No, she felt braver than she ever had before. If they survived this, and they would survive it because she couldn’t allow herself to think any other way, then she would live the rest of her life like this. Bravely.
‘Marry me,’ she said.
‘What?’ said Shen, cutting down a rampaging cadaver with a single blow.
‘Marry me, Shen Lo. I love you. I’ve always loved you. You stole my heart as a bandit, and you have kept it as a king.’ Rose paused to cast a gust at an advancing leopard. ‘And I would marry you even if you weren’t a king,’ she went on between breaths. ‘Even if you were still a bandit.’
Shen laughed. ‘Is that meant to be romantic?’
‘Well, I don’t have very much experience when it comes to proposing!’ said Rose, hotly. ‘I’ve never done it before! Just say you’ll marry me, Shen.’
‘I love you, Rose. I’ll always love you. But this is a conversation I want to enjoy. To relish. And right now, well—’ Shen slammed his elbow into a shrieking, red-eyed crone, before rounding on another. ‘We’re surrounded by dead people!’
‘A fair point,’ she conceded.
‘We need to finish this fight. And if you keep trying to seduce me, we’ll never make our way out of here!’
‘Proposing to you is not seducing you!’
He barked a laugh. ‘Trust me, it is.’
‘You are ridiculous.’
‘And you love me.’
‘You are insufferable.’
‘Again, you love me.’
Soon, they were both fighting too hard to speak at all. When they had finally managed to battle their way free of their attackers, Rose looked around for Wren but there was still no sign of her anywhere. ‘I don’t think Wren’s here,’ she said, more to herself than Shen. ‘She must have gone after Oonagh.’
Shen scrambled up the nearest tree, climbing ten feet in a single heartbeat. He scanned the battlefield, shouting at the top of his lungs. ‘WREN!’
Lei Fan sent a warning gust to rattle the tree. Once she got their attention, she pointed towards the other end of the forest. ‘That way!’
Rose and Shen didn’t waste another second. They fought their way across the clearing, tussling with humans and beasts alike, until the trees thickened around them. The dead were everywhere, but the forest was eerily quiet.
Rose whirled around, trying not to look at the bodies on the floor, all these faces of people she had known and loved as their queen. Innocents, sent to fight phantoms and corpses, all to die in a cruel war of Oonagh’s making. ‘This is impossible,’ she said, her eyes prickling with unshed tears.
Shen squeezed her hand, unable to bring himself to look at the bodies. ‘It will be over soon.’
But Rose had already seen too much. She felt each death like a pinprick in her heart. All these lives wasted, and for what? This forest had already endured so much, mourned so many. Rose was starting to fear that no matter how hard they fought, it wouldn’t be enough. That Eana would never truly be theirs, that she wouldn’t be able to save it.
But then she glimpsed more glowing seeds clustering above her and was reminded of the spirits of her ancestors, and how bravely they had fought here against the Protector’s army over one thousand years ago.
It was time for Rose to be brave, too.
She wiped her tears as they walked on into the dimness. ‘How will we figure out which way she went?’
‘There – look,’ said Shen, pointing west. ‘Footprints.’ Rose could make out the outline of Wren’s boot-steps in the mulch but there were other footprints, too – ones much larger and wider than a human’s. Bears, she realized with a jolt. Oonagh had come this way, too.
Shen followed the trail, pulling Rose with him. ‘They went west. Towards Ortha.’
‘They’re heading for the cliffs!’
They broke into a run, Rose tucking Daybreak into her bodice and hiking up her dress as Shen darted through the trees, slashing vines and branches out of their way. After what felt like hours, a shaft of sunlight reached them through the trees and a familiar sea wind stung Rose’s cheeks.
The edge of the forest was in sight. Rose raced towards the breaking light, overtaking even Shen until she stumbled through the thinning trees and out on to the long grass where Wren was waiting for her.
She almost sobbed with relief when she spotted her sister standing across the grassy plain. ‘Wren!’
Wren raised her sword and pointed it at Rose.
Rose frowned. ‘What are you doing?’ she said, starting towards her.
Shen grabbed her wrist, tugging her back. ‘That’s not Wren,’ he said, in a low voice. ‘At least not as she truly is.’
It was only then that Rose noticed Oonagh standing at the edge of the cliffs, the sea wind streaming through her dark hair. She mouthed something Rose couldn’t hear but the words weren’t meant for her. They were meant for her sister.
When Wren heard them, she charged at Rose.