Roses on Fire ~ The Tale of Roses and Thorns 2.

And they did talk. A lot. Through all day and night, until none of them could keep their eyes open. They went back to their rooms to sleep and then resumed next day.

At the end of the second day they agreed: only Ivelle and Adrastos would go to Prigon. They couldn’t risk taking Áedh or Cirillo. So they packed their things, and they left as quickly as possible. They went back to Lillaleux together, where they parted their ways.

Cirillo and Áedh went back to Marmoris to seek the help of the water nymphs once more, while Ivelle and Adrastos started their way towards Prigon.

They were walking for hours when Adrastos stopped and looked back. After a few moments of silence he drew his sword and walked up to a huge rock.

“Why are you following us?” he said dragging out a man from behind.

“Don’t hurt me!” Said the man quickly.

“Give me one good reason why not!” he bellowed.

“I want to help. I heard that you are going to Prigon. That you want to stop the war in Sanctuary. Let me help you. I’m a knight, but I can’t fight here. Let me help. I’m a fine swordsman. I know the country and I’ve been to Prigon a few times before.”

“How do you know where we’re going?” asked Adrastos still pressing the knight hard.

“A bard told me.”

“How did he look like?” asked Ivelle.

“Ginger hair, craggy face, colourful clothes.” gabbled the knight.

“Your friend was eavesdropping on us.” turned Adrastos to Ivelle and raised an eyebrow.

“We could use his help.” said Ivelle placing a hand on Adrastos’ shoulder.

“Fine. But one bad move, and I’ll end you.” he hissed and let go of the man.

“Understood.” nodded the knight “I’m Sir Fülöp Ambershield of Knightfield, Silver Knight of the royal court of Lillaleux, by the way. Feel free to call me Fülöp. ” he said with a smile and running a hand through his messy chocolate brown hair. Ivelle took a better look at him. He was around his mid-twenties and was wearing an armour. He had piercing blue eyes. His sword was richly decorated, but seemingly had never been used before.

“I’m Ivellle. And that grumpy guy is Adrastos.” she smiled.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” said Fülöp with a huge smile.

“It’s brave to tell us your full name. ” said Ivelle seriously.

“Why? ” asked Fülöp with a surprised expression.

“You know, the fairy-kind thinks that if you know someone’s full name you gain control over them. ” answered Ivelle with a slight smile.

“I didn’t know that. ” Said Fülöp and started thinking about it “What’s the fairy-kind? Do you mean the alvens? ”

“No. She means the fairies, the elves and the nymphs. Of course alvens are fairy-kind too, but they don’t have this superstition. Despite the fact, that they are the most traditionalist among us. ” Said Adrastos matter-of-factly.

“That’s interesting. I can’t wait to get to know your world better. ” Smiled Fülöp “Tell me more about it. ” Adrastos sighed which made Ivelle laugh. It was going to be an interesting journey.

“So, if I understand well, you’re after a man, whose name you don’t know, nor his appearance. ” said Fülöp, walking next to Ivelle.

“Yes.” Nodded Ivelle.

“And you have to persuade him somehow to give you the Light Bringer.”

“Yes.”

“Because Merikh has the Dark Blade.”

“Yap.”

“Okay but wait.” He said stopping in his track. “How come that Abaddon had the blade. You said it should had been in Arcanum. ” Ivelle opened her mouth to answer, but Adrastos was quicker.

“We were fooled.” He said simply. This was the first time he said anything in a few hours.

It was new to Ivelle too. She never had thought about it better, but Fülöp had a point.

“What do you mean?” She asked curiously.

“Dear Ivelle, tell me, what’s the most significant difference between elves and fairies?”

“Fairies can’t lie.”

“Bingo.”

“I still don’t get it.” She shook her head quickly.

“Alvens can’t lie either.” Added Fülöp quickly.

“And that’s the point. If your mother did really study in Hiwaya, then she must had learnt how to talk to alvens. They are tricky, you know. Since they can’t lie, they learnt how to stretch the truth. They have great talent in writing messages with double-meaning.”

Ivelle nodded slowly. Adrastos looked at her then resumed.

"The sisters guard in the past what is taken from the Dark One.” he repeated the sentence in the journal. “Maybe what they guard wasn’t the Dark Blade.”

“Then?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe something else was taken from my father too.” he was deep in his thought for a few moments “Or maybe my father wasn’t the Dark One.”

“Then who?” asked Fülöp.

“I don’t know. But we’ll have to figure out.”