Brewing Bad Ch. 130-131

Ch. 130 - A Mad Dash

That was when it all went to hell. One minute, Lucas had the entire situation under control. He’d shown enough interest in the dragoness that he was all but certain he was going to be able to let her down nice and easy, and the next, Adin blundered onto the balcony. 

“Ahhhh, ssso thisss isss where yove been hidin…” he slurred, obviously drunk. 

“Hiding, no?” Lucas laughed. “Drinking in moderation, absolutely. You should try it. Chicks dig a man that knows how to hold his liquor.” 

The dragoness took his lead and laughed politely as she looked at the other man with derision. She seemed happy to dismiss the wretch as the two of them walked past Adin, at least until he blurted out, “Yeahhh… well, they don’t ssseem to have any problemsss with pricksss that cheat on their fiancccé’sss”

It was that final word that made her stop and turn. “Fiancé?” she asked Lucas. “What’s this man talking about?”

“How the hell should I know,” Lucas said, going with denial since it seemed safest. “He’s drunk as a skunk and probably high on something to boot.”

“Oh, I wisssh I wasss high, Missster Blue,” Adin said, whirling on them. “Maybe then I wouldn’t care that you were cheating on my sssissster…”

When Skylara turned her head and moved back toward Adin, Lucas started to shake his head, but Adin ignored him. “You sister?” she asked. Walking up to the half-skeletal noble. “And exactly who has my dear Mister Blue been two-timing me with. Give me a name.”

“My lady, truly, there’s no one but you in my heart,” Lucas said, grabbing her by the shoulder and trying to defuse this situation. “The night is still young. Let's leave this wretch and—”

In a motion that was deceptively strong, Skylara brushed aside his grip and then knocked him back against the wall half a dozen feet behind him with a single, dismissive motion. That knocked the wind out of him, but even as he got to his feet, Adin was already spilling his guts to the woman. Lucas knew it was already too late. 

“You sister? Is it?” Skylara asked. “Tell me. Is she pretty? Is she prettier than me?” Her tone dripped venom, but Adin seemed completely unaware of either the danger he was in or the danger he was putting his sister in, as all of this was spinning out of control.

“Danria? Ssshe’sss much prettier than and old—” That was all Adin got a chance to say before she picked him up by his collar and tossed him off the balcony before whirling on Lucas. 

Lucas was pretty sure that the man would hit the moat instead of the ground as he once had long before, but he didn’t care. He rather hoped that Adin died after what he’d just done. “Is this true, Lucas?” she asked. “Are you two-timing me with a younger woman?”

“I’m not,” he said in his most sincere voice. “I’m truly not. Adin Danria, they’re just part of my cover. I—”

As he tried to explain, she picked him up by the throat and slammed him hard against the wall of the castle for the second time in as many minutes. “We’ll see what the Prince has to say about this,” she said coldly as anger flashed in her eyes. “If you’re lying to me… If there’s another woman, well… I can be very possessive of my favorites, Mister Blue.”

Lucas gasped and tried to respond, but she was stronger than any man he’d ever fought with. She was probably stronger than full-blooded orcs or even minotaurs. So, he wasn’t able to speak or breathe until she dropped him and continued into the party without him.

A few other nobles had come out at the sounds of the competition, but they had no idea what to make of the scene they saw. Instead of trying to explain anything or save face, Lucas simply caught his breath, popped his healing potion, and then started walking as calmly as he could toward the exit. Right now, the most important thing was to get out of here and get home. 

While he couldn’t rule out that the dragoness would do something rash, he could hope that her desire to maintain decorum and secrecy about who she really was would slow her down enough that he wouldn’t have to hope that everything worked itself out. 

As soon as he reached the courtyard, he approached his carriage and shouted to Mort, “I gotta take this horse, man,” as he started to undo the harness. 

“What? Why?” the younger man asked. “Do you want me to get the guys together and—”

“There’s no time,” Lucas said as he pulled the horse free and then mounted it. “Adin might be dead too. That's something else I need you to figure out.” His valet had grown into a much more confident man than he was a year ago, but right now, Lucas really had nothing for him, and when he opened his mouth again, Lucas just shouted, “Sorry about this!” before kicking his mount into gear. 

Lucas stayed only slow enough not to freak the guards out as he approached them at a canter. When one of them gestured for him to stop, he said, “It’s cool, guys, I’m just all partied out, and it's time to bail.” Before any of them could question that, he flipped a golden dragon toward the lead man and rode right past them. Money couldn’t buy happiness, but it could buy guards, and none of these guys were worth half what he’d just paid. 

He didn’t have time to dick around, though. This wasn’t a world where he could just call someone and let them know they needed to get out of the house. Cell phones hadn’t been invented yet. All he could do was send a messenger, and in this case, there was no time, so that messenger was going to have to be him. 

He had no idea what it was Skylara and the Prince were discussing. By now, she’d certainly forced her way into his inner circle. He’d almost certainly want to discuss this in private. That would buy him a few minutes, but would it buy him enough time to get to ride twenty or thirty minutes? He didn’t know, and Paron Manor was at least twenty minutes away at a flat-out gallop. 

He couldn’t do that in the city, though, not with the cross traffic and the gates. If a guard saw him running, they would certainly assume that he was up to no good and give chase. Just like hunting dogs, that's the way they were wired. 

So, he traveled in bursts, and as quickly as he was able, he wound his way toward the east gate. When he reached it, he let his fine clothes do the talking for him. That worked for a moment, but when someone asked what happened to his saddle, he threw silver at the problem. It was only after that that he could finally let loose and see just how fast this horse could go.

Lucas was not a talented rider. It was a skill that he’d developed some, but in this case, desperation counted more than talent, and he hung on to the sweating mare’s ribs with his knees and her mane with his hand as he urged her to go ever faster. 

The miles flew by in those moments, but with every few seconds that passed, he allowed himself to believe just a little more that he might have freaked out over nothing. Maybe she’s not as crazy as I thought she was, Lucas’ mind whispered as he started to calm down. 

Even in that clarity, he still didn’t slow down. He wouldn’t until he reached his destination and took Danaria somewhere safe. 

Then, the moment he’d been dreading for the entire ride finally happened. One second, he was galloping flat out through Meadowin, and the next, he heard the sound of terrible wing beats, and they were gaining. Just as he cleared the village, she flew low, less than fifty feet above him, easily outdistancing him. 

If he was going twenty miles an hour, she was going sixty or eighty, and she blasted right past him like he was standing still, leaving only a gritty wind in her wake. “No!” Lucas screamed as loudly as he could. “Take me! Not her!” 

Skylara didn’t respond. Instead, she flew like an arrow toward where Danaria lay safely in bed, and there was nothing he could do to alter that. When she reached the Parin estate, she circled once above it, as if making sure it was the correct spot. Then she unleashed hell. 

The flames lanced out from the sky in a bolt of orange death that expanded as they traveled, and in an instant, the silhouette of Parin Manor was almost completely obscured by flames. One second, it had stood out from the night as a peaked roof shadow, and the next, it was like it had been hit by a bomb. 

“No!” Lucas yelled, spurring his exhausted mount even harder as he rode toward the place. “”

That wasn’t enough for Skylara, though, apparently, because as she circled the manor like a fiery behemoth and hit it with gouts of flame a second and a third time. Each torrent of fire wasn’t just an inferno; there was a shockwave as well. It was like she was dropping bombs, and the building, well-built as it was crumbled beneath her force. 

Each time she breathed, the heat that radiated was enough that he could feel it wash briefly over him. Considering how far away he was, that was shocking. He continued to scream at the sky, but she ignored him if she even heard him at all. It was only then, when the place was in ruins, that she roared once more and flew off, leaving Lucas and the wreckage of his life behind as he raced toward the ashes in a desperate search for survivors.

Lucas arrived on the gravel drive less than a minute after Skylara left, but even so, he was far too late. I should have been faster, his mind screamed as he charged past the dazed guards that had been patrolling the fence line. 

No, I should have killed Adin long before now. A darker part of his mind whispered. I was soft, and that makes this my fault. 

In that moment, as the flames leaped and the building continued to collapse, he hated himself almost as much as he hated that terrible woman. He should have given her an OD when he had the chance. He should have done the same to Adin. Rather than telling his guys to ease up after what had happened at the Fallen Orchid, he should have crushed everyone who could have hurt him, and now he was paying the price for that mercy.

They were the only ones who seemed to be moving, but for now, Lucas ignored them. Where there were one or two survivors, there might be more. Still, when he passed the fountain and got within thirty feet of the building, his horse reared up and refused to go further. Lucas tried as well, but it was just too hot. He took off his jacket and dunked it in the water as he tried to remember if he had any potions of fire resistance in the cider house.

“There’s no time for that!” Lucas scolded himself as he put the soaking jacket over his head and prepared to charge into the building. 

That was when he saw the shape of someone coming out of the fiery doorway. It took a moment for him to realize that the hulking figure was a badly burned Hura’gh. From here, Lucas could only make out that it was a small figure. He wasn’t sure if it was a woman or a dwarf, but whoever it was he’d been trying to carry out was most assuredly dead already, and he held his breath as he felt a terrible certainty assault him. 

Suddenly, he didn't want to know who was dead, and he charged off to the cider house to fetch whatever medicine he had lying around. The dead could wait until the fires were out. For now, he had to focus on the living. 

Ch. 131 - Only Ashes

When Lucas sprinted back toward the cider house that hid his lab, he found half the grounds on fire. Fortunately, when he reached in, the building itself was only mildly charred, and Kar’gandin was doing his best to put out fires by smothering them with a blanket. His beard was singed, but otherwise, he seemed okay. 

“Was that what I think it was, lad?” the dwarf yelled as Lucas came barreling into the place. “A bleedin’ dragon is attacking Lordanin?”

“Not the whole city,” Lucas gasped, running past him and opening the secret door to the stairs below. “Just us. Just here.”

“What?” he bellowed in alarm. “That’s madness! Why us? Why now?”

“Later!” Lucas yelled as he ran downstairs. 

“Later? There’s not going to be a later if there’s a dragon involved. What are we supposed to do about it now?” the dwarf demanded.

“Pray,” Lucas mumbled to himself as he ignored Kar’gandin’s final outburst. He didn’t have time for conversation. In fact, he didn’t have time for anything except trying to save people because he was certain that as soon as he stopped and figured out who he hadn’t been able to save, he would come apart entirely. 

So, he kept his hands busy instead of his mind and started to put anything with a healing component to it in one of the spare crates he’d set aside for bottling blue. Healing slaves, healing tinctures, lesser healing potions, and more all went right in there. 

Fortunately, he had a lot of lying around. That wasn’t surprising, considering that it had been one of his biggest areas of experimentation for a long time. 

While he was down there, he looked around to see if he’d made potions of fire resistance or anything else that might enable him to run through the flames of the main house and see if there was anyone in there that might yet be saved, by the time he’d filled his box with healing draughts, he saw nothing of the sort. Even after the wooden box was full, he still had more stuff people might be able to use, so he shoved it into his pockets and then made his way back to the house as fast as he could. 

“Where ye goin!” the dwarf called out after him as Lucas rushed out of the building. “There’s still fires t’put out!”

“To save lives!” Lucas called back. “When you get the fires out, get some more healing potions and bring them to the front gardens!”

He didn’t give a shit if the whole cider house burned down and his lab with it. It was just stuff. They could gather new herbs, blow new glassware, and make new gold. Even if the gold in their strongbox was fused solid, it could still be recoined, but not a single life that was extinguished tonight could ever be replaced. 

The stuff in this box would have saved my ass after the owl bear but against Dragonfire? Lucas’s mind boggled at the idea. Though he’d reacted as if this outcome was a real possibility from the moment Skylara had tossed Adin over the railing of the balcony, he hadn’t really believed it. It seemed too ludicrous. 

It was like the government calling in a drone strike on your house. It was something they were certainly capable of, but they didn’t actually do it. “She did do it, though,” he grunted as he carried his crate of medical supplies back toward the building. “She killed all these people, and as soon as I’m done here, I’m going to go kill her.”

That no one was around to hear him vow vengeance or that such vengeance was as ludicrous as it was impossible were not his concern. It was still true, and some way, somehow, he would figure it out. For now, though, it was only a distraction, and he pushed it from his mind as soon as he came across the first victim to cross his path. 

Bella was a handmaid to… well, who she worked for didn’t matter, but she was suffering from smoke inhalation, and he gave her two potions before he moved on to the next survivor. They came in rapid fire after that. A stable boy with a burned face who was almost certainly blinded in both eyes, a footman with burned hands who had tried to dig someone out of the rubble, and a tough who’d had his leg crushed by fallen masonry were the next people that cross his path. 

Minute by minute, more victims came stumbling from the shadows and the outbuildings. Though the maid house had been quite literally annihilated, there were survivors. Everyone that appeared that wasn’t Danaria, though, broke his heart a little more. Still, Lucas pushed that out of the way as he and anyone else lucky enough to be mostly unscathed did what they could for the victims of the inferno while it continued to roar in the background. 

Maybe I should have learned magic, he thought, questioning his earlier resolve to focus on alchemy. If he knew healing magic, then he’d be able to do a lot more for these people, and if he knew elemental magic, well, then he might have been able to put these fires out and save more people. 

I might have been able to save her, his mind whispered before he forcefully shut that line of thought down. He absolutely could not think about that or about the charred body near Hura’gh when he went to treat the half-orcs wounds. 

“You gonna make it, buddy?” Lucas asked him, willing himself to smile even though there wasn’t a trace of happiness left in his soul.  

“This is nothing,” Hura’gh boasted, even though he could barely open his mouth, and half his body looked to be burned. It was a grisly wound, and Lucas was sure if he’d been burned half so bad, he’d already be dead. “Orcs are famous dragon slayers, and a member of the tribe would shrug off wounds like this.”

Lucas let him boast, even as he flinched from Lucas’s touch as he applied a healing balm to the half-orcs face and the worst spots on his chest and back. After that, he stripped off his soaked jacket and laid it across the warrior to try to soothe his wounds. 

He wanted to do more, but even if Lucas had used every potion he had on the half-orc, it wouldn't be enough to heal him completely at the moment, so after that, he moved on. There were too many injured to linger too long on any one person. 

Person by bloodied person, Lucas made his way through the growing number of injured. As he went, he handed out tinctures and salves, and he ripped off his sleeves to make bandages, but it was never enough. He was just one man, and even with a couple of the uninjured men who had been on watch, he was entirely overwhelmed by the growing tide of human suffering around him. 

This is my fault, he repeated to himself like a mantra as he went, immersing himself in the misery in a desperate bid to keep from cracking under the weight of thoughts he didn’t dare to think. 

He was still working, even though tears were rolling down his face, as he sought to save what lives could still be saved when he heard the familiar voice. His fine suit had been ripped to shreds to make bandages, and most of the healing potions he’d brought up from his underground lab had long since been used up, but he still didn’t think half the burn victims were going to make it. 

“Lucas, tell me how I can help?” she asked. 

“By not dying,” he answered, not taking his eyes off the maidservant, who would probably be blind if she managed to recover. 

“Lucas, stop, I’m right here.” the delusion said. For a moment, he almost made the mistake of turning and looking, but this close to madness, the temptation was too great. He knew that when he turned around and saw nothing, he would crack. 

Not looking didn’t help when he felt someone’s hands on his shoulders, though. For a moment, her touch was so familiar that he knew it couldn’t be anyone else, but that just meant he was crazier than he thought he was. He could even smell Danaria’s perfume over the stench of smoke and charred meat. 

Still, it wasn’t until she grabbed his head and turned it to face him that he saw Danaria standing there. She was wearing a white dress and looked pale, like every ghost he’d ever imagined. “Are you okay, Lucas?” she asked. 

“Of course, I’m not okay!” he said, too loud. He couldn’t help it, though; his emotions were entirely out of control. “You’re dead, and the house is—”

She pulled him to her, forcing his ragged, soot-covered body against hers. It was only when he felt that warmth and his arms didn’t close around empty air that he started to believe. “I’m right here,” she told him. “I’ll always be right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Lucas broke then and buried his face in her breasts as he tried and failed to hide the wracking sobs that passed through him then, and it was more than a minute before he could speak. Until that moment, he was sure that Danaria was dead. He was sure that the corpse Hura’gh had rescued from the manor was the body of his fiancée and that he was too late. 

This moment made no sense, not until he eventually gasped, “How are you still here?” and she started to explain that she’d been in Meadowin.

“I was at Cassara’s apothecary shop,” she explained. “I’d gone there on an errand for Arissa. She needed a tea for nausea, and when we got talking, I lost track of time. It wasn’t until I heard that dreadful roar that I came back.”

As Dannaria continued to talk, it became apparent that she had no idea what had happened. That sobered him up. She’s alive, he reminded himself. That’s all that matters.

That was enough to put all of his grief back in the lockbox in the center of his normally cold dead heart and notice everything that was going on around him. It wasn’t just him and a couple of the guards that were trying to help people now. Cassara was here, doing what she could for one of the cooks, and more and more of the villagers were pouring through the gate. Some of them were even forming up into a bucket brigade.

That wouldn’t do much, of course, but still, the gesture touched him. Never in his life did he have friends and neighbors that would come and help him in a moment like this, and now it seemed like half of Meadown had mobilized to do just that. While he watched the hive of activity stirring around him now that his tunnel vision had faded, Danaria continued to speak, but she’d switched from explaining how she’d survived to asking questions about what had happened.  

Who had done this and why? What had happened to her brother and, very probably, his wife? Those were questions that would get their answers later, or perhaps not at all in some cases, Lucas decided as he pulled away from her. For now, all he could do was tell her that he loved her. Everything else would come once the dying were saved or at least comforted.

Part of him felt the need to whisk her away from this awful scene, but the rest of him knew that he couldn’t run away from what he’d done. If Skylara came back again, the two of them would die together. For now, they would do everything they could for those who had fallen.

This concludes Book 2. Book 3 will obviously keep posting next week without any interruption, but I would love some feedback on this ending. Is it too cruel to the reader? Does the reveal that Danaria is not dead feel to rushed? Part of me wanted to save that for book 3, but that was monstrous, and I decided against it. Still, I feel like these two chapters need something.