a mysterious new master to take back the valley. As Rose leads Balsaad back to the river, she is knocked out and has a dream. It is revealed that Briar is Balsaad's new master and the one who led the rat creatures to the valley. The Lord of the Locusts has discovered Briar's hidden hatred of her sister, inspired by jealousy of the powers Briar would never have as a dreamer and future queen, and has taken advantage of it through her dreams. Rose is about to be killed by the Lord of the Locusts, but Briar stops him, as she wants to be the one to kill her. She then wakes up and kills Balsaad by chopping him up and his body parts are washed away by the river's current, and then Briar appears at almost the same time as one of her dogs. She has aged as punishment for defying the Locust King and begs Rose not to kill her, thus Rose kills her dog rather than Briar. She brings Briar back to the valley and bursts into tears when her other dog asks where its companion is. Later, the people of the valley cheer her victory while the Red Dragon looks on disapprovingly. Characters Rose, Briar, Mim, the Lord of the Locusts, and Lucius Down, the bartender at the Barrelhaven Tavern in the original series, have significant roles. The Rat Creatures, monsters for which Bone is well known, also make an appearance, though the ones that have individual personalities in Bone do not appear in Rose. The Veni-Yan, a benevolent religious order, makes a appearance while the Great Red Dragon also does the same. The only characters in Rose that do not appear in Bone are Rose's two talking dogs, whom only she can understand. In Bone flashbacks, Briar looks a little older than Rose. In Rose, however, Briar ages for failing the Lord of the Locusts, though it is possible that eventually she was given some of her youth back by the Lord of the Locusts as he had other plans for her to complete. Balsaad and the Lambton Worm It appears that the whole plot of Balsaad, the way to defeat him, and Rose's choosing to kill her dog instead of Briar are all influenced by the legend of Lambton Worm from north-east England. The Lambton Worm regenerated itself by reattaching body parts that were