“I saw the pots. Right before the bang. They were as tall as me. And there must have been many of them. All full?”
“All full of gunpowder.”
“Tons of it,” she marvels. “You really wanted to blow up the dragons.”
“No, I wanted them to fight each other until there was only one left. Then I would blow up that last one. Or at least make sure he was scared away.”
“Fighting dragon fire with gunpowder fire,” Dolly says. “Wonderful idea. Did I hear you say ‘my love’ to me just now?”
“Many times.”
“Does that mean that… you like me again?”
I pull her closer. “I never stopped liking you. But this I had to do on my own. It would be too dangerous to involve you. And as it turns out, you were right. I am a dragon slayer. Isualic… I didn’t tell you. But he was always talking to me. He said I was not. And he was very convincing.”
“You should have told me. He almost separated us forever.”
“But he failed. Nothing can keep us apart. Not even a dragon. And now I feel that…”
She looks up at me. “Feel what?”
“That this was enough. I don’t want to be separated from you again. I know you will leave and go to your home planet, and that what I’m going to do now is ridiculous. But still I will do it. Dolly, will you marry me?”
She laughs, her shoulders jumping in my arms. She looks up at me, and her clear eyes shine. “I will, Brank’ox. Of course, I will. We’re too great at exploring together. And also, there’s something else.”
I frown. “Yes?”
“Yes. I love you.”
“And I love you, too, so it evens out. I think that’s important in exploration.”
“I agree”, she says and gently frees herself from my embrace. “Now let’s get you back to the village so you can get some MSG on that back.”
I walk over to the edge and peer down. “I can see the necklace. I have to get it. In case one of the dragons returns.”
I climb down, trying to ignore the strange pain from my back and the unpleasant noises it makes. Of Isualic, there’s only a heap of scales left. I take two of them as well as the necklace, bringing it all up to Dolly. Together, we climb up to our old hut, where we find enough singed furs to cover her reasonably well.
It gets brighter as we climb higher, and from the upper level I see that the day is beginning. The sun is rising both on Xren and in my life.
“Look!” Dolly says and points. “It’s Mia and Kyandros!” She waves.
Indeed, the dragon and his wife are coming towards us from above. I instinctively go for my sword, but my hand meets only empty air. The last thing I want now is to see another dragon. Especially without my sword. But I suppose I’ll have to endure it.
The dragon flaps its wings and sets down.
39
- Dolly -
“Hi!” Mia exclaims and get off her husband’s back. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
I hug her. “That might be overstating it. Brank’ox is badly burned and needs the MSG.”
She rummages through her pack. “That’s what I thought. So I brought some.” She hands me a pot.
“Great! How did you know? Also, can I ask why you’re here? I mean, it’s really early...”
She raises her eyebrows. “Are you kidding? After Old Bune exploded like a freaking volcano? We were sitting outside, and Jennifer told us about your message, that you’d gone to Old Bune to finish making the gunpowder. And just when we were wondering what to do, we saw that freaking volcano in the distance, flames shooting up like from a rocket engine. We were sure you were dead. But I wanted to check if you maybe needed help.”
I open the pot of magic space gel and start applying it to Brank’ox’s charred back, trying not to look too closely at the damage. If the gel fixes this up, then it must truly be magic. “Really? It was visible that far?”
“Totally lit up the sky. And then the sound, like a thunderstorm gone berserk. What happened?”
I decide to just use my whole hand to slather the MSG onto his whole back. His hands have burns, too. “We were here to make gunpowder. Brank’ox made enough of it to fight a medium-sized war. He put it in pots, turning them into bombs, pretty much. He was going to rid us off all the dragons.