Roses and Thorns ~ The Tale of Roses and Thorns 1.

They were riding on a hill. The view was beautiful, however, Ivelle couldn’t admire it, since it was the very first day of their journey into the Dark Kingdom. They had been riding for hours now, and Ivelle was already exhausted. The others looked calm and fit like it was just a family trip or something. Merle wore her usual dark blue cloak with a black dress and rode on a chestnut horse. Cirillo was riding on Brandr and wore a black shirt with leather pants. Áedh rode a huge black horse and - just like usual- wore black and red clothes. Ivelle wore her white linen shirt with brown leather pants and a black cloak. Áedh slowed down his horse so he could ride with Ivelle.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Fine.” answered Ivelle shortly.

“No, you’re not.” Ivelle turned towards him with a blaming look on her face. Áedh looked at the others and resumed “You’re tired, already, but you don’t want to stop because it would prove what Cirillo said yesterday. You’re also worried that he was right.”

“Wow. You’re right, I guess.” she didn’t know what to say.

“You don’t have to worry. You bear it better than most of the rookies.” he looked at Ivelle, who wasn’t sure that what he said was true. “Look, they are way more experienced than you. Cirillo, Merle and me- we all fought in the previous war. You’ll get the run of it soon. I’m sure about that.” he gave her a weak smile.

“Thanks, I really appreciate that.” she smiled back “Wait a minute. Merle fought in the war?”

“Yes.”

“No way! She can’t be older than 25.”

“Well...she’s 67.” Ivelle gave him an unbelieving look “Sorceresses age differently. They live longer, however, they’re not immortals.”

“I see... I didn’t know that.”

“I have a hunch, that there are many, many things you don’t know... yet”

“Maybe you’re right. But hey, I’m a half-elf, soooo I have a very long time to learn everything.”

“Now, that’s true.” he laughed “Half-elf children inherit the immortality of their elf parents.”

“Good to know.” she smiled. “And what about the dragons?”

“What about us?” he asked.

“Are you immortals?” she asked curiously.

“Well... No...” he said uncertainly “However, we do live longer - much longer- than the sorcerers. The oldest sorcerer so far was 1201 years old. We can live much longer. The oldest dragon was 6789 years old. Although it didn’t help that we were hunted...”

“I see...” she thought about it for a second and asked again ” What about the dwarves and the fairies?”

“Dwarves live for about a 100 years give or take. The fairies they are immortal too. Some say that they have a close relationship with the elves.” explained Áedh.

“Oh. Do you believe it?”

“Yes. They are very alike. Their lifestyle, their looks, the facts that they are immortals. For me, it seems to be the only logical explanation.”

“Interesting...”

“Áedh, come here!” said Cirillo. Áedh put spurs to his horse and rode ahead. Cirillo was standing at a small lake looking into the water worriedly. They stopped their horses and got off the saddle. Ivelle approached the water, where Áedh already discussed something with Cirillo. Merle was standing next to them.

“What happened?” asked Ivelle. She looked at Cirillo, who chose to stay silent, and didn’t even look at her. Áedh however answered.

“There’s a dead raven tied to a rock in this river.”

“What?”

“It’s a caution.” said Merle.

" Yes. The question is, from whom, to who?” Cirillo said and reached into the water for the “caution”. As soon as he took it down the bird came to life and its eyes started glowing red.

“I know where are you going.” said a mysterious voice in their head. The voice was calm but togated. “You want to approach my kingdom through the hidden path. Very foolish of you I have to say. The path is not hidden anymore. If you come closer I will kill all of you. One. By. One.” the voice disappeared and the raven died. Again. For a few moments, they just stood there in silence.

“So...” began Merle “What’s next?”

“Well, we obviously can’t stay here.” said Cirillo “There’s a town not too far from here. Aerowyn. It’s in Abonwan so we’ll have to cross the border, but we’ll be safer there. If we don’t stop, we’ll reach it by dark.”

“That sounds like a plan to me.” said Áedh “What are we waiting for?” and with that, they mounted their horses and started their way. All of them were silent no one said a word. They were worried.

A few hours later they reached the border. It was guarded by soldiers both from Abonwan and Lorlea...well, the lorlean soldiers were sorcerers, with swords. Why did they need swords?

“Stop, where you are!” said an abonwan soldier. He was tall and well-built, with shoulder-length brown hair and beard. Who are you, and what’s your business in Abonwan?” asked the man.

“I’m Lady Merle.” she said straightening her back and giving the guard a superior look “I’m the Head of the Lorlean Magic School and the deputy leader of the state. They are my companions Prince Áedh, Prince Cirillo and Lady Ivelle. We are heading to a very important meeting in Drauri, so do us a favor and do not ask stupid questions.” the guard couldn’t stand Merle’s look and looked away.

“Forgive me Lady Merle.” he murmured, “You’re free to go.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said. They went through the border without further problems.

They reached Aerowyn way after sunset. They took their horses to a stable and went into a small inn named “The Dancing Nymph”. As soon as they stepped in it became clear why was it called “The Dancing Nymph”. The innkeeper and the servers were nymphs. Cirillo approached the innkeeper and whispered something to him. He was tall with green hair and clothes that were made of leaves. The man nodded, then Cirillo tossed a few coins to him. Then the man turned towards them.

“Please, follow me.” he turned around and walked them upstairs. He pointed at two doors. “Two rooms, as you wished.” he said and bowed. ” If you need anything, just let me know.” he bowed again and left. Ivelle and Merle got one of the rooms. It was small but very homey. There were two beds and a table with chairs. They waited an hour and then started discussing what to do next.

“Whoever is behind the attacks knows our plan.” said Áedh “We can’t keep going.”

“We have to,” said Cirillo.

“I agree with Áedh. We should turn back,” said Merle.

“No...”

“Cirillo...” said Ivelle in a weak voice, but he made her shut up with a look.

“Cirillo, think logically. They know that we are coming. We’ll lead them to the path. We’ll show them how to get to Drauri unnoticed.” said Áedh. His voice was calm, but Ivelle could see the fear in his eyes.

“Fine,” murmured Cirillo defeatedly. “We’ll stay here for the night, and go back to Lorlea tomorrow.” Áedh and Merle nodded, while Ivelle stayed silent.

Ivelle woke up in the middle of the night, hearing loud screams and clashing from downstairs. She looked at the other bed. Merle was already up and putting on her cloak. She got out of bed quickly.

“What’s happening?” she asked while she reached out for her weapons and cloak.

“I have no idea.” said Merle with worry in her eyes. Suddenly they smelled smoke. Something was burning. They left the room and bumped into Áedh and Cirillo in the hallway. “Cirillo, what the hell is going on?” asked Merle trying to outshout the noise.

“Dark solders. Around 20 downstairs and 30 in the town. Light-armed.” he answered, not stopping to scan the hallway with his eyes.

“There’s another way out.” said Áedh.

“Wait. Shouldn’t we help or something?” asked Ivelle a bit concerned and taken aback. “I mean, they are most probably here because of us.”

“She’s right.” said Áedh.

“The inn is on fire. There’s no chance that we could help them.”

“Exactly. It’s on fire and loaded with drunken people who can’t defend themselves.” said Ivelle worryingly “At least we should try to get them out.”

“Fine.” sighed Cirillo “Áedh, you come with me. We go down and help as many people as we can. Merle, you and Ivelle go and get the horses.”

“Okay.”

They separated and made their way out. Ivelle and Merle started running towards the stables to get the horses, but they were stopped by 10 armoured soldiers. Ivelle drew out her sword and waited. The soldiers surrounded them. They all were much bigger than them. Ivelle’s heart started to beat faster and for a second she froze. She had never fought anyone before...well except Pádráig, but it was not the same. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud laugh.

“Look at you!” laughed the man. He was tall with grey hair and had a scratchy voice. Ivelle had seen him before, but where? “Awfully confident, aren’t you? You think that you have a chance against us.” he grinned. And then Ivelle realised. He was the man from the bakery, the one who asked for direction. Her eyes widened at the realisation. “Oh, you recognised me.” his accent wasn’t strange anymore. She got used to it since everyone had the same accent in the Sanctuary. Ivelle held her sword tighter and the man raised his. In a flash, soldiers were attacking them. Ivelle took a step backwards and waited. The first man attacked her and the fight began. They were turning and stabbing, it was like a strange dance. Ivelle wasn’t fully aware of what she was doing. It was like an instinct. Merle used magic to fight. They killed soldiers after soldier, but it seemed that there were always more and more. Ivelle got cut on her cheek and a trickle of blood was dripping down on her cheek. After a while that seemed like forever there were no more soldiers. They were either dead or ran away. She couldn’t tell. Ivelle looked down at the dead bodies on the ground. She never killed anyone before. She felt terrible and couldn’t avert her gaze, not even when Cirillo and Áedh ran over to them. They were talking, but Ivelle wasn’t listening. Áedh put his hand on her shoulder.

“Ivelle, look at me.” she hardly averted her gaze and looked into his eyes. “It was a kill or get killed situation. You did what you had to survive. It’s not your fault.” she nodded.

Cirillo looked at her and said something she hadn’t expected.

" I told you, you shouldn’t come.” Ivelle couldn’t say a word she just stared at him for a minute.

" Are you mad at me or something? ” she asked eventually.

" Is it that obvious? ”

" Yeah, pretty much. You’re nasty and hateful ever since we’ve left.” Cirillo stepped closer to her and whispered into her ears.

“It was a rhetorical question.” and with that, he turned and walked away.

“Umn... Cirillo, Ivelle, look at this!” said Áedh.

One of the soldiers opened his eyes and it was glowing red. He started talking in the same creepy voice than the raven.

“I told you to turn back. Now bear the consequences. This town will burn down because of you.”

"He's right." said Ivelle quaveringly "That's all our fault." Áedh turned to her and wanted to say something, but Cirillo interrupted him.

“Where’s Merle?” asked Cirillo concerned. They looked around.

“There!” pointed Áedh to a square. “What is she doing?”

Merle raised her hands and blue flames appeared around her. It grew bigger and bigger until it covered the whole town, and distinguished the fire.

“Merle? ” Said Cirillo looking at the woman. She didn’t say a word just looked at them. She looked extremely tired like she could faint from tiredness any minute. And for a moment Ivelle thought that she really was going to faint. Merle did a step towards them but started lurching. She stopped and took a deep breath. Cirillo wanted to help her, but she refused it. Never underestimate the honour of a sorceress.

“I’m fine. ” she said “Just tired. ”

“Yeah, sure,” said Áedh. They went to their horses and got into the saddle. Ivelle looked her last on the town. It was in ruins. Most of the buildings burnt down, people were shouting for their loved ones on the streets or crying because one of their loved ones died. It was horrible. She turned away and spurred Novalie. It was their fault. This town wouldn’t be destroyed if they hadn’t come here. It was their fault. And the death of those innocent people lies on their hands.