A Royal Rose

Chapter Fifteen

“It is poison!” Rose said, “I read in one of my books about the glitter”. Easton got behind the bar and crouched down, looking at the wall in horror, the liquid had burnt several holes in the wall. Lux had sobered up considerably since and she stared at the carafe of liquid, “but it doesn’t smell bad?” she said, having a quick sniff of the bottle.

Easton nudged her leg as he got up, “Don’t sniff it you i***t!” he told her crossly, “This will be those Toft soldiers. They must have done it when they murdered father! If we’d held a toast in our father’s honour, we’d all be dead! They’d have taken us all out in one swoop and that wall suggests it would have been a very painful death”. Rose looked over at the wall and she pictured the three of them writhing around in pain and she thought that would have been the Toft’s ideal scenario. “When did you read about poison?” Easton asked Rose, interrupting her thoughts about their deaths.

“Literally I only read it the other day, it was a small section in the ‘defence against the defenceless’ book. A paragraph spoke about it, recommending poison for a silent kill and described the warning signs for poisoned beverages and food. I laughed initially at it, as I thought it was a bit out of place within the fighting magic about force fields and electrical pulses. Interestingly, the poisoned liquids are made using the electrical pulses around the container which I guess, is why it was in that section. The liquid, once it is had the electrical pulse, then takes a green shimmer effect to it. The book advised to place it into a coloured liquid to hide the shimmer but thankfully, the mercenaries didn’t bother” Rose explained, feeling quite geeky at remembering such a chunk of text in detail but she loved learning about magic and all it had to offer. She was rewarded for her knowledge when Lux came around to her side of the bar and threw her arms around Rose. thanking her repeatedly for noticing the shimmer and thus saving her life.

As Rose rested her head on Lux’s shoulder, she could see out of the large window behind Lux something zooms past, Curious, Rose walked over to the window to see what had flown past, looking down she couldn’t see anything. Confused, she thought she must have been seeing things until a black and white bird swooped past quickly in one direction and then again in another. The bird was making a menacing call before it descended downwards and landed at the foot of the tree.

“I think you two need to look at this, do you see who I see?” Rose asked, gesturing for Lux and Easton to come over to the window quickly.

Looking down at the ground, the group peered down to the ground below they watched a red-haired woman get off the back of the magpie. Each of them looked at one another, they knew instantly who it was… Mara. Looking thoughtful, Easton said aloud “I wonder how she’s managed to dodge the army guarding the Holt? We best go to the attic room and hope that she doesn’t manage to pass the security below” Easton said. He lifted his wand to teleport them all upstairs but before he could do so, the room walls had a transparent blue sparkle around them, “Crap!” he shouted, shaking his wand in frustration. Rose looked over at the sparkling walls and back at Easton, unsure about what was wrong. “That’s a magic vacuum, it prevents us from doing magic inside it. We’ll have to walk to the attic!” Easton explained to Rose.

This made Rose feel panicked and nervous, Easton seemed to pick up on her feelings as he held her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Lux seemed confident that everything would be okay - despite the situation, Rose thought that was thanks to the alcohol. They walked along the corridor; the wooden floor squeaked under their feet. Downstairs, a woman screamed, Rose jumped and cuddled into Easton’s chest. “Was that Meredith?” Rose said with a gulp.

He stroked her back, “It might be, but we have to get upstairs as quick as we can. The attic is an emergency meeting location. The guards will defuse the situation and come and find us when the coast is clear. We’ll be fine, I’m sure” comforted Easton. Rose didn’t feel like everything was going to be fine, she could now hear the guards shouting in the distance and the clashes of metal for what she imagined were the guards' sword fighting each other. Easton picked up the pace, pulling Rose by the hand up a flight of stairs and then another. Lux tailed behind, quietly singing a ditty and holding onto the bannister a little too tightly.

When they arrived on the top floor, it was a dingy attic, with old furniture draped in white dust sheets. The room was large but dark so she couldn’t see how truly vast it was. Easton pulled his sister and Rose behind a wide oak table on its side. He pulled the dust sheet over the top of the table’s legs to give them some cover. Rose’s heart was beating hard in her chest as she leant against the backside of the tabletop, she closed her eyes to concentrate on calming herself down, but she couldn’t help but listen closely to hear if the noises from downstairs were getting any closer. Easton held her hand and rubbed her thumb with his and said “Hopefully, the guards will hold back - her and any of her chums that have managed to get through! If not, we’ll have to take a chance on that window over there!”. He said moving the dust sheet slightly and pointing to the window he meant.

Rose looked over at the small fabric covered window and prayed it wasn’t going to become an option. They must be at the top of the palace tree, as high up as the tree was before the storm damage… the idea of falling to her death made her close her eyes tightly. “I really hope that it won’t come to that” Rose whispered back.

They could still hear the magpie’s squawking outside, it was more menacing than ever as the palace itself was silent, Lux was convinced that there were other birds outside too, but Easton kept dismissing the idea. Rose could hear the birds as well, but she felt if she said it aloud and agreed with Lux - that meant it was truly real.

Many minutes passed, unaware of the time, Rose was just listened out for a voice to say, “all clear”, but the voice she hoped for didn’t come. Instead, the deep male voices from downstairs became louder as they got closer. They were laughing and banging doors. Shouting a mocking call out each time a door was banged open, “Come out, come out, wherever you are”

Easton listened to a few more doors bang before he got up from behind the tipped over table and lifted the chair next to the window to smash it open.

The fabric in front of the window did little to cushion the noise of the window smashing out but it did prevent the glass from spraying inwards. Using one of the chair legs, that had come off the chair he’d used to smash the window, Easton knocked out all the smaller jagged pieces of glass from the frame with it. Calling over Rose and his sister in a near whisper when he was done, “Come here, we’ll escape out of this window and I’ll fly you both to the floor!”. Rose wasn’t looking forward to this, the idea of being on a branch above all those birds filled her with dread. She wearily stood up and pulled Lux to her feet. The two women came over, scared, Rose could hear the voices again, this time closer than ever and wasted no time in climbing out first. It was windy this high up and the breeze swayed her as she stood on the large branch that came out from a small drop underneath the attic window. Luckily, it was wide enough to walk along, so she walked a little further out to leave room for Easton and Lux. Easton climbed out second, he was calling up to the window where Lux had stuck her head out of to try and convince his sister to join them on the branch below. “Not a chance, I’ll die! East. I’m afraid of heights and in case you forgot, I don’t have wings anymore!” Lux sternly told her brother.

Bang! Lux spun her head around towards the noise behind her. Rose was at the right height to see the attic room door behind Lux, in the middle of the doorway stood Mara and some goons behind her. Lux quickly withdrew her wand and sent the overturned table across the floor and straight into the door. The table prevented the intruders from getting in the attic temporarily, giving herself the time to clamber out of the window and onto the branch. Lux was visibly shaking as she walked along the branch, trying not to look down as she did so. Easton held his sister’s hand as they walked further away from the tree, trying to comfort her but lead her to safety at the same time. The trio was in the middle of the branch when they turned to see Mara step out of the window and onto the branch below.

Mara was a tall woman, with a black catsuit style outfit on, she had model looks and high cheekbones. Her pale brown skin was the perfect shade to showcase the shade of bright red lipstick that matched her hair. Mara stared at Rose, “I saw you all out on the branch and thought I’d come and watch the group suicide,” Mara said before adding with a chuckle, “…saves me a job!”.

Rose looked Easton, and he tried to reassure her that his wings would save them all. Lux started to cry.

“Oh, you’re a stupid i***t Easton! Dream on!” Mara laughed, fluttering her own wings purposely, “You and I both know that your wings aren’t strong enough to save your love and your sister. You’re going to have to pick… but you aren’t that way inclined. Even Lux knows you’re going to die. You’ll try to save both, and you will all die in the process”

Easton angrily glared at her, “I’ll hold them both and then when we get far away from your magical vacuum we will teleport to the ground” he retorted.

Mara pulled a face, “Go on then!” she urged, “I’m looking forward to seeing this s**t show!”

Rose looked down and the ground below seemed further than ever. Mara looked on, looking at them, wondering what their next move would be. Unexpectedly, Easton grabbed a hold of both women next to him, and they all jumped off. They plummeted downwards to the sound of Mara’s laugh of delight. Easton’s wings tried tirelessly to slow them all down. It wasn’t working despite his best efforts and they fell faster. A bird swooped in beneath them to catch their fall which surprised them all. Gripping on to whatever feathers she could, she recognised the jet-black colour in between her fingers - it was Merula. A moment of relief came abruptly to an end as they were a foot off the ground when Merula dropped like a stone. They were sent falling to the floor once again, crashing into the earth below and when they stood up, they were covered head to toe in dirt. Rose looked over at the bird upside down at the foot of a tree, he’d been slain, and blood was spewing from his side.

Mara floated down between Rose and the blackbird, her wings making the soil beneath her feet move as her wings made a breeze. Mara’s wand was outstretched and pointed squarely at Rose. Easton tried to stand up to fight but Mara was quick to flick him and Lux away to the side and conjure up a large force field surrounding just her and Rose. Horrified, Easton and Lux hammered on the force field trying to get inside, the two of them tried to use their wands to get in but it was to no avail. Rose was battered and scratched from her fall, and stood wearily in front of Mara, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand. Her mind raced through everything that she had read in her books, but her mind still felt blank. Rose aimed her wand and said “You’ve got what you wanted. You and me alone to fight.”

Mara smiled wildly.

Rose tried to reason with her, “You’ve gone too far with this hate Mara! You just want to avenge your mother! This is nothing about me. I was a baby when all this happened, this isn’t my fault – it isn’t your fault. We are innocent in all this…the victims!”

“Your beloved Easton and my so-called uncle have held my mother and me here for years against our will. It has bothered me for years, but it didn’t hurt until I saw you were here. My father is dead because he went to rescue you! Your mother ruined my mother’s happiness by telling her fiancé that she loved him on the day before their wedding day. I’ve grown up watching my mother mourn for the man she adored” Mara said, pacing around in the bubble, keeping her aim on Rose.

“My mother was a heartbroken teenager who had just given away her new-born baby on her parent's orders”

Mara scoffed “Oh. My heart bleeds for her! I saw how upset my mother was when you turned up here, seeing how happy Aine was to have you back in her lives… it made us sick. My mother has tried so hard to rebuild her life since losing her love, the chance to be Queen and the real sting came when she found out she was having me. Your mother might have had temporary heartbreak, but my mother has been heartbroken since the day your mother put the idea of saving you into my father’s head. Seeing you waltz in with Easton that day was annoying enough itself. Then reading in the papers that he’s in love with you…”

Rose looked over at Easton, worried about what was going to happen to her next.

“the idea that YOU could be queen one day upset my mother that much that she’s cried pretty much every day since she read the newspaper of your budding romance with him. She’s too mentally scarred by past events to act on it but I have no issues with it. Oh, yes, and we cannot forget that on top of all that you then had the audacity to sleep with my husband!” Mara ranted as she carried on pacing the force field bubble, she paused and looked at Easton and Lux who were still trying to get in. The forcefield muffled their voices.

“I’m sorry about your mother” Rose uttered.

“Oh, you will be!” Mara said as she stood in front of Easton, she smiled wickedly and started making a ring of fire with her wand around the outside of the force field which forced them back. The heat inside of the bubble was intense but Mara was still using the opportunity to rant about her life.

“my mother remarried and a few years after her new husband died in the war. I have my brother Alf, but you and your mother killed her one true love and her happiness with it. So, I am going to take away the one thing I know will hurt Aine and take away her happiness. You.” Mara seethed before firing an energy pulse out of her wand. Rose who had been listening, heard the end of her speech and quickly deflected the energy pulse into the force field around them which took it down with a buzzing noise.

Mara saw the forcefield was down and fired another shot at her which Rose managed to duck. “There’s no need for us to fight! This isn’t our fight; this is between our mothers. Let’s get them both in a room and talking to each other!” Rose shouted as she shot a beam of light out to distract her.

Shielding her eyes from the beam, Mara scoffed “and let your mother worm her way out of it again?”. She then unleashed a jet of water that shot out of her wand and wrapped around Rose. The tornado of water surrounded her, and it got tighter and tighter. It started to wrap around her neck choking her, Rose’s throat was closing, and she couldn’t breathe. She could feel herself getting weaker, her eyes felt like they were bulging, and her mouth was open hoping for some air. Suddenly, a beam shot Mara off her feet, she fell to her side and the fierce tornado fell as water droplets to the ground. Inhaling deeply the fresh air, Rose rubbed the sides of her neck, coughing in between breaths. Looking up she could see Aine stood behind the flames with her wand stretched out.

Mara dusted herself off and got to her feet, “Nice to finally meet you,” she said, “Funny how we live next door to each other but whenever you see me – you normally disappear back into your house. If that doesn’t scream guilt, I don’t know what does!”

Taking offence, Aine fought back by firing some wand tricks at Mara. Rose, meanwhile, struggled to her feet and seeing that her mother had magicked part of the fire away, she decided to go over to Easton and safety whilst her mother distracted Mara. The two women were deep in a duel so she snuck off as inconspicuously as she could manage. Seeing Easton, she ran towards him and jumped into his arms. He hugged Rose tightly, stroking her hair as he did so.

“I was terrified!” Rose told him as she held him close.

Behind them, the duel was intense, Aine deflected a strong laser beam of light from Mara which sliced into the tree behind her sending pieces of bark flying off in different directions. It was a near miss to Aine, so she returned the wand skill by sending a beam of light was a direct hit and it took Mara’s left arm below the elbow clean off. Blood sprayed everywhere, as Mara clutched her the stump of her arm in agony. Aine shouted in shock, “Oh s**t!” at what she had done.

Mara dropped to her knees screaming in noise that Rose had never heard someone make before, the noise of pure agony. the goons who were watching the duel from a distance, rushed over, their wands out, they threatened to kill anyone who stopped them getting to Mara. The group of men all dressed in dark clothes were the size of bodybuilders with large torsos and thick limbs. No one wanted to challenge them, so two of the goons picked her up and they teleported over to their birds with her still screaming loudly. A pool of blood on the floor was where Mara had been, and it was sprayed all around too.

Watching the birds flying out of the veil and into the twilight sky. Rose breathed a sigh of relief hoping that this would be the last she’d see of Mara for a while.