A Royal Rose

Chapter Eighteen

“I see her!” a Fae guard shouted to another soldier in the trees. The soldier was on watch to guide Rose back to the veil when she arrived. Another few soldiers spotted what the first soldier had seen and run just as quickly to their awaiting birds.

“GO!” they yelled to each other and they burst through the veil. The army was mounted on two types of animal, birds and rats. The ground soldiers on their rats scurried across the floor and towards Rose. The birds, meanwhile, swooped and circled her. They had to guide her back to the Holt, they had been promised a monetary reward if they could guide her back in which made the army determined to follow out orders.

Glancing down to see what the commotion was, Rose saw swirling around her feet several large rats. Birds surrounded her in the air. Screaming loudly, she jumped on the spot, clutching the box in her arms and she tried to run away from them. The animals got more intense and came in front of her, so she turned in the other direction back towards the trees. Baring their teeth now, the rats pursued Rose towards the trees, strategically dropping back to allow her to run ahead of them. Scared, she gripped the box despite her sore arms and carried it straight into the Holt, and through the veil, she couldn’t see as a human. The animals having completed their task, scurried away into various tree roots, leaving Rose stood in the middle of the Holt.

Rose’s blonde hair glowed in the morning sunlight, in a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt she looked around her to see if the animals had gone. The animals had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, she looked with curiosity at the old tree near her that looked like it had been hit by lightning. Suddenly, Rose saw a dancing white light in front of a tree to the left of her, she watched as it moved in a beckoning way, memorised by the bright shiny light she walked over to investigate. To the edge of the Holt was a large oak tree with a hollow at the trunk which the dancing light went into. She carried over the cardboard box and stuck her head inside the large hollow at the foot of the tree to see if she could see where the light went, using the cardboard box to steady her. Rose could see it in front of her, so she reached out to see if she could touch it. As she reached out the light disappeared, and her fingertips touched a stone at the back.

Within moments, she was small again and inside the tree hollow still touching the cardboard box. The soldiers were stood inside the hollow around her, wands extended. Rose looked panicked, her memories were all back and she could remember everything. Stood inside the Fae Church she knew she was in trouble as an older guard with a grey long beard talked to her with a gravelly voice, “Rose, we need you to come with us. It is time to go to the Toft for your penance”.

Rose looked at the faces of the men around her, they looked stern and unfriendly. “Penance? Where’s Easton? You’re not wearing the Holt’s colours” she asked.

“Never you mind,” said one of them who stood behind her and wrapped her wrists together with some twine. Another soldier placed a black sack over her head, it was stuffy and uncomfortable inside the hood. She was very confused as to what had happened whilst she’d been gone…after what seemed like an hour, the black sack was taken off. Rose’s eyes stung from the light, it took a minute for her to adjust to her surroundings and worryingly she had a feeling she was no longer in the Holt anymore. The wooden chair she was now sat on was next to a large window that overlooked a field of hay, the sunshine streamed through, illuminating the room.

The room reminded her of the attic in the palace but instead of being filled with fabric draped furniture it was empty other than a few wooden chairs. Looking around, she noticed her captors had gone, and noise came from the other side of the room. Rose watched in horror as a woman appeared from behind a heavy oak door. Mara walked out in a black leather jumpsuit and some red knee-high boots that knocked loudly on the floor below them. If she was in the human world, Rose thought, she’d have been mocked for the outrageous look she was sporting, but in this world, any jumpsuit was fashionable. Dominatrix looking in the human world but height of fashion in the Fae world.

Mara’s heels clicked noisily against the wooden floor; the noise stopped when she crouched down in front of Rose.

Mara looked Rose straight in the eyes, they were a piercing shade of purple, the same shade as Easton and Lux. Rose wondered are purple eyes another sign of royalty. Mara’s wings twinkled in the sunlight and didn’t move until she spoke. “Finally, you’re here. I have your boyfriend, his sister and your mother in the dungeon. I’ve waited nearly a fortnight for you to get back from your travels, but not before I lost my patience with grilling your loved ones. I figured an arm for an arm…”

“If you’ve hurt any of them, I’ll do the other arm too!” Rose shouted, hoping she sounded convincing enough as she said it. She doubted she had it in her to m**m her, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Mara laughed, “Sure, sure”

“Don’t underestimate me. If I wanted to kill you, I could”

“Rose. I don’t believe you. This was your mother’s work. Your wand work is terrible and that’s why Aine took over. Even she knew you aren’t capable of fighting me”

“Get this rope off my wrists and I will!” Rose retorted. Worrying that Mara had spoken about her mother in the past tense.

“Okay, Okay. As you wish!” Mara said, holding her arms up in surrender before she moved behind Rose’s chair and waved her wand. The rope disappeared from Rose’s wrists with only a tingly feeling as it went.

“Catch!” Mara said, throwing Rose’s wand at her. Mara stood in front of Rose; arms splayed out to the sides. Rose picked her wand off the wooden floor and shook in fear as she did so remember the last time they were in this situation. “Go on then!” Mara urged.

“I really don’t want to hurt you, Mara. This could all be solved by our mother’s talking to each other. The issue is theirs!” Rose told her.

“No. This is now between you and me. Now suck it up and fight me!” Mara roared.

Shaking, aiming and firing out a beam of light which made Mara fly backwards and crash into the wall behind. “You’ve been practising!” Mara chuckled with a slight smile. Rose ignored her and flicked the tip of her wand again, which made the chair across the room slide straight into Mara’s side. The pain didn’t seem to affect her, it was like she was immune to it all, so Mara laughed it off and stood up. Retaliating the magic that Rose had done, Mara made Rose crash into a chest of drawers. Getting up and steadying her wand again, Mara lifted her wand into the air and with a puff of smoke Phineas was in the middle of the room. Battered, bruised and hungry, he was a shadow of his former self. Standing in just a pair of ripped dark green shorts he had welt marks over him.

“Go on then Rose. You say you can kill. Try it out on that sad figure of a man” Mara scoffed.

“What have you done to him? Why? I know he was a cheat, but he doesn’t deserve this!”

“Oh, I forgave him at first, he begged me to. However, the i***t messed up. He sabotaged the palace slaying – telling me a time when Easton and Lux were out, then he purposely botched the poisoning and to top it off he then attempted to poison me! Hence, his current condition. I’d kill him but sadly, I don’t think I don’t want to do it myself, don’t want a cold heart but I have no issues with you having one! My cold heart guard over there – Thomas – was going to do it for me but I’d much rather see the effects of it on you. Turns some Fae mad so I’ve heard, poor Thomas has lost his youth early…” Mara told her, pointing towards the guard. Rose remembered seeing him in the hollow before. The soldiers were in a corner behind them watching it all take place.

Rose looked over at who Mara gestured towards Thomas who was stood in the middle of the other soldiers with very wrinkled skin and a long greying beard. Rose looked back at Mara and realised she couldn’t do it, I’m not a murderer.

“I can’t do it, Mara. I’d rather die than hurt another. I’m not twisted like you, I’m not power hungry as you, I came back here to be with my mother and Easton – if you’re going to have them killed you may as well kill me too.” Rose mimicked Mara’s earlier move by holding out her arms outstretched to the sides.

“Jeez, I really had hoped that under pressure you’d come out as a fighter. You’re just as much of a coward as I thought you’d be” Mara sighed and flicked her red hair behind her shoulders.

“If not wanting to kill someone to prove a point means that I’m a coward, then I’m quite happy for the title” Rose shot back.

Mara pursed her lips and quickly reached into her pocket for her wand and flung Phineas across the room into the air and he then crashed into the wall. He flopped down to the floor and his body made a loud thud. Phineas’ body didn’t twitch, and Rose couldn’t take her eyes off him, praying for him to move, even a little so she’d know he was alive, but he didn’t. Seeing what Mara had done to an innocent man she could feel herself filling up with rage, Rose pointed her wand straight at Mara and sent a massive pulse of energy at her chest. Not stopping to look at what she’d done to Mara, Rose rushed over to Phineas to feel for a pulse.

She could hear guards starting to come towards them, so Rose used her wand to block them behind a force field. The soldiers were trapped behind a light blue wall of magic, hammering their fists at it, they soon gave up. Seeing that Mara was knocked out over the other side of the room she knew she had the opportunity to check if Phineas was ok. Checking him over, she rolled him on his back so she could feel for a pulse, any sign of life, she started a version of resuscitation that she’d seen on television. Arms straight, hands overlapped, trying to get his heart beating again, she’d done half a dozen chest compressions before a magic beam picked her up and dragged her about in the air like a rag doll. Holding Rose in the air, Mara stopped moving her about and instead told her “bye” as she let Rose crash to the floor.

Opening her eyes, they felt heavy and fuzzy, they didn’t open more than slits. Defeated, Rose lay on her back, sore, staring at the ceiling, then Mara’s face appeared above her. The end of her wand was pointed square in Rose’s face “Actually, I’ve had a quick think. I’d rather become a cold heart and lose my youth than not get the satisfaction of this”. Rose lay on the wooden floor, she couldn’t even speak, she didn’t feel like any bones were broken but she was too sore to move. Looking at the wand tip, Rose watched the end of Mara’s wand start to glow, so she shut her eyes awaiting her fate. Nothing happened to Rose until warm liquid sprayed over her face and a weight flopped on her chest. Quickly opening her eyes in fright, Rose could see nothing but red hair over her face. Rose brushed off the hair from her face and when she did, she saw stood towering over her clutching a length of wood was Phineas.