The night patrol took them as deep in the war zone as they dared. From there they walked. Jenkins kept to himself and Eve and Jacob had mostly insignificant conversations. He told her about his childhood in Oklahoma and she told him the rare funny stories from her missions. He told her about the research plans he had and she told him about her wish to become a small town sheriff. He showed her a pool full of tadpoles and she tucked a moon daisy behind his ear.

"What do you want to do, after?" he asked when they stopped to eat and rest at noon. "I mean, not in the ideal future, where you get to be the sheriff, but if we get out of this alive and come back to the camp – what next?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Keep fighting. The world won't stop being a mess overnight, there'll be plenty of work for everyone. What about you?"

"It's time to get the Library back. Mr. Jenkins can help you guys hold the line for a while and I need to be a proper Librarian again," he replied. The Library would be cold and empty after all the years with his friends, but it was home.

She shall become your Guardian, no matter how much you resist...

He would've asked Eve to join him, if the prophecy hadn't suggested exactly that. It was probably bound to happen anyway, but there was still a chance that Eve wasn't the woman Cassandra had been talking about, so he kept his mouth shut.

"We will meet again," Eve said suddenly with absolute certainty. "I don't know where or when, but we will meet again."

"How do you know?"

"One of my soldiers used to say that some people simply gravitate towards one another and no matter what happens, they always end up together. Maybe that's our case." She blushed and shook her head. "I think he knew what he was talking about, he had been divorced three times – the same woman in all three cases."

"Apparently those people tend to drift apart as well," Jacob remarked.

"Not really, they got married for the fourth time and this one looks pretty final, going on ten years," she told him with a nostalgic smile.

Jacob thought that he would gladly skip the three divorces to get to the final marriage, but didn't dare to say it out loud. This would never be an option for him.There would be no essays on the architecture of the oldest American churches, nor any star-shaped badge. They both knew that, they only talked about it to have something nice to think about.

It still was damn hard to accept.

"I don't mean to alarm you," Jenkins interrupted them, "but we're being surrounded."

His words were followed by a rain of bullets. They all took cover behind a fallen tree, checking their weapons. Rubens squeezed himself between Eve and Jacob.

"Twelve of them," Eve said. "They've learned their lesson."

"This is going to take some time," Jacob growled and cocked his gun.

"No, you two go ahead," Jenkins told them. "I can handle this and you need to get to the dragon."

"What about the Prophet?" Eve asked. "You can stop her, we can't."

"We are not here to stop her, we are here to kill the dragon. Just get out of here already, will you?"

Eve looked at Jacob, seeking help, but he was secretly glad that Jenkins was staying behind. It allowed him and Eve to stay together and it was safer for Cassandra. "He's right. We should get going."

Jenkins lifted his gun. "I do prefer swords, but, unfortunately," he shrugged, "these are much better at long distances."

Jacob tugged Eve's hand and together they crawled away through the undergrowth. Behind them gunfire echoed through the trees, but they did not look back.


They did take the binoculars, but they didn't need them to see the huge scaly body taking up half of the camp.

"It's still chained," Jacob whispered. "Maybe she isn't here yet."

"Or they just don't trust it very much," Eve suggested. "If we circle the camp and come from there, they won't see us," she pointed.

"How good smell do you think it has?" Jacob asked. The wind was coming from the wrong side.

"When was the last time you changed your socks?" she quipped and moved through the trees.

They met a single guard, whom they took out quickly and quietly. Twenty minutes later they were crouching just fifty meters from the beast. It seemed to be asleep, but after a couple of meetings with crocodiles, Jacob knew that the creatures that looked slow and clumsy could be awfully fast and agile when attacking.

"I go for the dragon, you cover me," he told Eve.

"You know I have more training with these than you have," she reminded him.

"That's why I'm taking the bigger target," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes, but agreed to the plan.

"Rubens, stay," he told the dog. He couldn't help in the gunfight. Rubens whimpered and sank to the ground, looking like a puppy. "I'm gonna pick you up later, now stay!"

Jacob straightened his back, checked his gun and looked at Eve, who was busy tying her hair in a ponytail.

She would put Queen Hippolyta to shame, he though. There has never been a more beautiful or braver Amazon.

Reality was brought to his attention as Eve kissed him. It was just a quick peck on the lips, they didn't have time for anything else, but suddenly he felt like they could actually get out of this alive.

"Ready to go, Librarian?" she asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Ready to go, Guardian," he answered.

There was no use in lying to himself – she was his lioness with a mane of gold. And he fell for her.


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