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

Ivelle sat on the straw-covered floor of the cell. She leaned against the cold stone wall with her back. She watched Adrastos.

She did her best.

When they got water, she tried to make poultice for him. She as well cleaned his wounds as much as she could. But other than that, she could do nothing. Everything depended on Adrastos’s immune system.

Adrastos looked better than a few days ago: his breathing was steadier, and his fever seemed to drop. At least Ivelle hoped that she wasn’t just imagining it.

With a sigh she leaned her head against the wall and looked at the ceiling. She slowly turned her head towards Fülöp, who was sleeping on the straw. At least he could sleep. Ivelle wasn’t sure how long had they been there, but she was certain in one thing: she hadn’t slept ever since they got here.

She closed her eyes slowly and tried to empty her head to get some sleep, but it seemed impossible, since every time Adrastos took a deeper breath, she opened her eyes to check on him.

“Ivelle! Ivelle! Wake up!” whispered someone while shaking her.

“I wasn’t sleeping.” she claimed as her eyes opened. She sat up quickly and looked at Fülöp. “What happened?”

Instead of answering Fülöp just nodded his head towards the door, with clear concern on his face. Ivelle followed his gaze. The door was open, and a man was leaning against the stonewall. He was standing in the shadows, so Ivelle couldn’t see him.

“Who are you?” Asked Ivelle and she hoped that her voice sounded calmer than she really was.

The dark figure pushed himself away from the wall and took a few steps ahead. As soon as Ivelle recognised him, her face lit up, and she quickly walked up to him, bringing the man into a tight hug.

“I should be deeply offended, that you didn’t recognise me.” He said on his usual sarcastic voice.

“I’m so sorry Delroy.” Started Ivelle “I didn’t think we’d meet here.”

“Yeah, me either. ” he said letting go of Ivelle.

“Then what brings you here?”

“I umm...” his gaze wandered to Fülöp, from Fülöp to Ivelle, and from Ivelle to Adrastos. His eyes widened and walked up to him “What happened to him?” He asked kneeling next to Adrastos.

“The blade that cut him was poisoned.” explained Ivelle.

Delroy quickly rummaged in his bag and took out a phial with dark green liquid. He poured some into Adrastos’s mouth.

“What’s that?” Asked Fülöp.

“This potion neutralises the effect of every poison.” said Delroy standing up and eyeing Fülöp “Who are you anyway?”

“I’m Fülöp. ”

“That’s it? You’re Fülöp?” he raised an eyebrow and looked at Ivelle.

“He wanted to help us.”

“And Adrastos was okay with that?”

“More or less.”

“More or less, great.” He said scratching his head “I wanted to help you escape, but I can’t do that if Adrastos can’t walk. I’ll come back in a day or two, and if he’s awake, I’ll take you out.” Ivelle nodded and Delroy left the jail and closed the door behind him. He kneeled next to the unconscious guard and put the keys back to their place “He’ll think he just fell asleep.” He said to Ivelle and with a nod hurried away.

For two days everything went fine: Adrastos slowly got better, and regained his consciousness, but after two days there were no signs of Delroy.

At first Ivelle didn’t worry. Much. Okay she was a bit worried that something had happened to Delroy. But one day of delay didn’t mean he wouldn’t come, right?

On the third day she became more and more anxious, but thankfully, Adrastos woke up, so she didn’t have the time to think about Delroy. Adrastos had to catch up with the events, and Ivelle was glad to tell him everything.

On the fourth day her anxiety grew, because a guard came and announced, that their trial would be the next day. Now that was the icing on the cake: no Delroy, no escape, Adrastos was still quite weak and the trial. What else could come?

Well on the fifth day they were waiting for their trial. Ivelle was walking up and down like a caged lion. She couldn’t clear her mind, one anxious and worried thought replaced the other, and she felt like she was slowly going crazy.

“Sit down, you make me dizzy.” said Adrastos watching her, leaning against the stone wall.

“Then close your eyes.” she retorted maybe a bit more aggressively than she wanted to. Adrastos gave her a “not bad” face and closed his eyes. “I can still hear you walking so put your ass down.” he grinned.

Ivelle rolled her eyes and sat down, like a resentful child. Fülöp, who had been playing with a straw like they were on a picnic, looked between the two of them.

“I can’t understand your friendship.” he said honestly with wide eyes. Adrastos opened one of his eyes.

“Me either.” he answered with a grin and closed back his eye.

Ivelle was just gawping like a fish, she didn’t know what to answer.

Luckily for her -or not- a guard came to take them to the throne room. Fülöp helped Adrastos up, who was still too weak to walk alone. Ivelle went behind the two men examining their surroundings, trying to memorise every little detail.

They went higher and higher on a narrow spiral staircase. Even in the dim light, she could see Adrastos sweating. When they reached the top of the staircase, the guard led them to a wooden door, with complicated carvings. He knocked twice and the door opened.

The guard led them in, bowed and left. On the throne was sitting a man, around his early sixties. He must had been the regent. Next to him, were sitting four men, two on each of his sides. Their chair was smaller and less decorated. All of them were wearing noble clothes and were seemingly healthier than the folk.

Ivelle examined the room. It was richly decorated, with sculptures, paintings, and tapestries. The ceiling was made of glass, but completely covered with sand. No wonder why the others were so poor.

The man, who was sitting on the right of the regent stood up.

“You are standing in front of Lord Éinrí, Regent of the Kingdom of Prigon and his advisers.” he said loudly. “Your trial is about to begin. State your names.” his voice echoed in the room.

Everyone stayed silent. Ivelle looked at Adrastos, hoping for some kind of miracle to happen.

“I said, state your names.”

No answer.

“If you won’t cooperate, I can as well execute you right away.” said Éinrí standing up. His adviser quickly sat down and looked at the floor.

“Oh, come on. That must be a misunderstanding. We were attacked by your man.” said Adrastos on his stoic voice.

“You lied to our guard. You attacked my people.”

“We needed to see your healer. A friend of ours is really sick. She needs help.” lied Ivelle quickly.

“How unfortunate. For all of you.” his voice matched Adrastos’s. The advisers leaned a bit closer and whispered something to him. He hummed quickly and eyed them, then turned to Fülöp.

“Lord Fülöp of Knightfield, if my adviser’s not mistaken.”

“Yes.” he said simply. The regent hummed again.

“Queen Willa is a strong ally of mine. It would be harmful for our relationship to execute her knight.” she thought about it for a minute. “Cathán.” he shouted, and a man in silver armour hurried up to him.

“Yes, my lord.” he said bowing slightly.

“Choose your best knights to take Lord Fülöp back to Elibora. Make sure that Queen Willa gets his knight back in one piece. And give her my greetings.” he said and waved his hand dismissively.

The knight started his way towards Fülöp.

"Go." she heard Adrastos whisper to Fülöp, who after a few seconds nodded slightly.

“Get moving!” said Cathán and pushed Fülöp towards the door. With a last look at Adrastos and Ivelle, Fülöp started his way out of the room. Their steps echoed from the walls. After the huge door closed behind them Éinrí turned back to them.

“So What should I do with the two of you?”

“Just let us go, please.” said Ivelle as she stepped next to Adrastos to help him “We mean no harm.”

“Sure Ivelle Preston.” said Éinrí. Ivelle jerked up and looked at him taken-aback. A grin slowly appeared on Éinrí’s face. “You can’t hide your true identity in front of me. ”

“Well then,” said Adrastos, trying to straighten his back as much as he could “let’s put our cards on the table, shall we?”

“Very well, Prince Adrastos, very well.” said the man, his grin widening “You see, I have a theory.”

“Really? I’m listening.”

“I think that you came here to overthrow me and my reign. You want to sit the rightful heir on the throne. You see, I can’t let you do this.” His grin disappeared and a dark look appeared in its place.

“Pardon me, but I don’t really care how you ruin the lives of your people.” Said Adrastos “We just need the advice of the healer so we can defeat my brother. That’s all.”

“Still, I can’t risk it.” He said and looked at the last guard standing at the door “Cónán, make sure that our guests will never leave this city again.” The guard knocked three times on the door with a specific rhythm and started his way towards them. The huge door opened, and four other guards came to escort them.

Ivelle and Adrastos went with them, without a word. When they were out of earshot Ivelle turned to Adrastos.

“Quickly, do your voodoo thing.” She whispered.

“My what?”

“You know the thing you did with the police officers.”

“Elle, I can hardly stand on my feet, not to speak of controlling the mind of four guards.” He said with a sad expression.

“I’m sorry.” She spoke.

“Shut up!” Said the guard behind them.

They walked next to each other in complete silence. Soon they reached another spiral staircase. As they went higher and higher, Ivelle felt that Adrastos got weaker with every step. She carefully looked behind them.

“Don’t give up.” She whispered as silently as she could. As an answer Adrastos just nodded his head.

At the top of the staircase, they reached a hard stone door. The guards pushed it open, and Ivelle felt warm breeze coming in. The guards went outside, and they followed them. They were on the surface, somewhere in the Prigon desert.

The guards led them further away. Ivelle felt kicking something. After looking down, she halted.

“Holy cow, the hell is this?” She cried out as she took a few steps backwards.

Adrastos followed her gaze and Ivell felt him pulling her closer.

“The last man who stood trial. ” grinned the guard “Now get moving.”

When the door was out of sight the guard stopped.

“We’re good here.” The guards behind them kicked the hollow of their knees, making them kneel down.

“You just could’ve asked us to kneel.” Hissed Adrastos.

“What’s the fun in that?”

The four guard faced them and two pulled out their swords.

“Any last words?” Asked Cónán.

“Screw you.” Said Adrastos, his eyes filled with anger. Cónán laughed. “And see you in Keres’s halls.” He added.

“We don’t believe in the hell of the elves.” Answered the guard simply “Finish with them.” He gave the order.

The guards walked up to them. They raised their swords but didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for, idiots?” Yelled Cónán.

“I can’t move.” Said the youngest soldier.

“Me either.”

“Then I’ll do it myself.” He started his way towards them but stopped halfway.

“Why do you want to hurt these people? They don’t deserve it.” Said a voice behind them. They turned around slowly and saw a man around his seventies.

“They are the enemies of the crown. ” answered Cónán.

“As I heard they only want my help.” He said and walked up to them “And those who ask for my help will get it.” He smiled and with a clap of his hand opened a portal. “Come with me.” He said and helped Adrastos up.