Epilogue
"Try not to forget a burden's easier to carry with four hands."
Carissa nodded to herself at the memory, the motion sticky and disjointed. "Vaelen's right," Carissa murmured, wiping the rain out of her eyes.
It poured, each drop a tiny sharp prick into her skin, pelting her.
She wondered why the rain didn't hiss and sputter against her skin, still so hot.
Instead it soaked her, its ferocity a roar of sound that was too loud even with a hood pulled over her head.
She darted between trees that remained dead no matter how much they were watered, on land that stayed barren no matter how many years passed.
Bare branches offered absolutely no reprieve from the downpour, and her steps quickened through abandoned buildings and statues of dragons with broken wings. A pool whose only water currently fell from the sky into it.
A place most were so terrified of they wouldn't dare set foot in.
Which made it the perfect location to hide something important.
Carissa slid into a barn, and the rain turned into just a dull rush, distant noise.
Stormstrike's scales shimmered at her approach, his quiet excitement.
"Hi, baby," she cooed, and pet him on the head.
"Thank you for staying here." He nudged into her and she chuckled, the sound a little too tense and off-key, even to her own ears. "I'll be right back."
Then her silent steps carried her into the back room, and down into the cellar.
"It's important to share your worries, you know," she said as she stepped off the last rung of the ladder. "The wisest woman I ever met told me that."
Glaring eyes narrowed as Carissa dropped her bag on the leaning wooden table inside the small room. The stained bag landed with a thump, its contents clacking together. Those eyes eased into shock, disbelief, face paling a bit.
The rope around captured wrists tightened as their owner leaned away, the very short leash Carissa provided going taut as she neared, as she tugged the gag down from dry lips. "You… you did it. You got them?"
"I told you—I wasn't joking," Carissa said as she reached into the bag. She pulled out two crystal-clear, shiny jewels.
"Two diamonds," she presented, palm outstretched with the two gems in her hand.
"H-how did you get them? The only diamonds I really even know of are in the Timberscale Stronghold. It's been taken over by Evergale."
Carissa knew her smile was a sneer. "I'm aware. A dragon can be very persuasive," she answered.
Two long, slow blinks. "Are you crazy?"
Carissa snapped her fingers around the diamonds, glaring down at the offending guest. "Does that matter?"
A scoff, a noticeable tug at the ropes. A non-answer. Still? After I went through all that fucking trouble…
"Fine. I'm sure I'll find someone else who will take this payment—" Carissa stepped away as if she didn't care if this person agreed or not. As if this person wasn't Carissa's last, desperate option.
"No!" The shout echoed around the room, and Carissa stilled, relieved and frustrated all at once. "I'll do it."
"Then what's next?" Carissa demanded through gritted teeth, annoyed that this was taking so long.
"…Huh?"
Carissa drew in a breath. Rolim, I cannot wait to tell you about the pains I have gone through.
"What. Is. Next?" she asked, turning to face her new… friend. "What else do you need for the spell to resurrect my husband?"