In Exchange for Magic

I must have sat there for five whole minutes, fighting the urge to cry.

I had actually kissed that thing!

When Ez had said that the forest was dangerous, he was right. I hadn't realized it because I hadn't actually run into any dangerous creatures, minus the Shades. Hell, all I'd seen of Attannia was peachy-keen.

A harmless tree nymph, a couple of easily outwitted Shades, and a cute elf-vampire thing. Seriously, I'd had it made.

I was shaking when I got up off the forest floor. The image of Prince Jude's handsome face melting into that creature stuck in my mind. I wondered what Ez would tell me when...

Ez!

I sprinted all the way back to the clearing, my pulse flailing. But, by the time I got there, it was already too late.

-_-_-_-_-

"Rose?" Ez pleaded. "Rose, wake up... Please... Just open your eyes... Come on..."

I could hear his voice before I got to him.

"Please... Please..." he breathed.

The axe lay forgotten on the ground.

"I'll do anything," he choked. "Wake up, Rose... Come on..."

Ez was on his knees in the middle of the clearing with my head on his lap... Only, I was standing, frozen in shock, about ten feet away from them.

My body double was lying motionless, her honey hair matted with a dark liquid. Ez was holding her in his arms, supporting the back of her head. Slowly, Ez brought his fingers in front of his face. Bright red blood was smeared across them.

He broke. A forceful sob was let loose from between his clenched teeth. His breath racked and he struggled with his throat... Tiny cracked cries made their way out of him, like a child trying not to cry. He brought my head up to his chest and rocked back and forth. At the angle he was holding her... erm... me, I could see the shaft of a feather-tipped arrow protruding from the back of the skull.

My stomach heaved. Shock and gore are not a good combination. Instead of hurling, I underwent a sudden onset of awareness.

"Ez, get away from her!" I shouted.

He started.

"R-Rose?" he asked, utterly confused.
I pointed to my doppelganger.
"You're not Rose!"

The creature that was resting in Ez's lap started twisting and writhing inside it's skin. Ez leapt away from it in horror. It underwent the same transition as it did with me, shimmering and melting into it's true form.

"Oh..." Ez murmured in surprise.

The creature rose up on it's long, thin legs and lashed out at Ez with it's claws. He jumped back, springing into action by withdrawing the menacing cutlass he kept in his belt. The creature lunged forward and slashed Ez across the chest with it's claws. Ez grunted in pain and sliced it's thigh with his sharp sword.

The yellowish-brown thing screeched in a tinny tone and scrambled away on all fours, dripping vomit-green blood.

"What was that thing?" I asked in disbelief.
"Imp," he answered simply, panting.

"An imp?" I asked thoughtfully. "Well, I met it on the way over here and it didn't look like-"

But Ez wasn't listening. His face was shining brighter than the moon, and he dropped his sword on the ground. He fumbled for a second with the buckle on his belt, but soon flung the rest of his weaponry to the forest floor.

"You're alive!" he cried.
"Yeah, but, listen. I've got to tell you that I saw the imp-"
"Shut up," he ordered, laughing.
I blinked.
Ez ran over to me, his jaw set. He'd turned down the corners of his mouth like he always does when he doesn't want me to know he's trying hard not to smile.

Ez wrapped his arms around me in the biggest bear hug I've ever gotten. I hugged him back, but not with half the strength he was using on me.

"Let me look at you," he said, standing back a bit and holding me at arm's length.

Tears clung to his eyelashes and he'd stopped pretending like he wasn't happy. His smile stretched from pointed ear to pointed ear.

"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive!" he chanted giving my shoulders a little shake each time he said 'alive.'

"Ez," I cried, incredulously. "You're bleeding!"

The front of his shirt was striped with three thin lines of his (slightly diluted) silver blood. The imp had gotten to him, but he didn't seem to care.

Ez placed his hands on either side of my head and planted three random kisses on my forehead, eyelid, and chin. I swatted him away, but he just decided to hug me again, gentler this time.

"Don't you ever do that to me," he breathed, still recovering. "Don't you ever dare do that to me again."
"Well, I couldn't exactly help it, now could I?" I teased.

He swayed us back and forth, running his hand through the hair on the back of my head - as if to make sure there wasn't an arrow sticking out of it.

"If you're ever dying," he whispered. "Kill me first."
I laughed airily, not knowing if he was joking or not. It's usually like that with Ez.
"I"m serious, Rose," he told me. "That was one of the worst... That was just as bad as when... That was goddamn terrible."

He pulled away from me and wiped his eyes off.

"Huh," he mused. "Two months ago, I would have squirmed at the thought of holding hands. Now look at me! I'm crying, hugging, kissing... I've gone soft!"

I laughed and shrugged. "Good! I like you better this way!"

He sniffed violently and wiped his face on his sleeve. He looked down the neck of his shirt.

"Not too bad," he commented on his scratches. "Hardly broke skin."
I shook my head. Leave it to Ez to make light of being attacked by a terrifying magical creature.

"Well... Now we know that my vision is over," he said. "Unless you're planning to get another arrow lodged in the back of your head?"
"No... No, I don't think I've got that scheduled."
He chuckled.
"Hey... Hey, Ez?" I asked, realizing something. "If your vision came true... Then that means... That means it was a vision of the future..."
His eyes widened. "And not one of the past..."
"Ez..." I asked, on the brink of laughing. "Are you over the nightmares?"

He looked at the ground, his eyes searching.
"I... I..." he stuttered. "I don't know. Am I?"
I smiled, but he suddenly shook his head.
"No... No, we'll just wait and see. I won't get my hopes up."

I rolled my eyes. Ever-practical Ez.

"Let's go..." he sighed.
"Yeah," I agreed.

Ez grabbed his axe, fastened his belt back on, and we headed back towards the campsite.