Rose's Thorns

Chapter 4

It was dark now, the wagon was the same one from all of those years ago. About a year after I lost Vaynir we found ourselves in a small farming town where the fat man discovered he had a son. I began to see all of these girls as my sisters, we all looked out for one another. I looked at Lily in the darkness, Vaynir would have been her age now. 18 years old, old enough to be a farmer, or a lord, hell even a king would be better than a dead man. After another two years of traveling I turned 13 and began bleeding. The fat man was happy about that saying I could finally be sold. Too bad I had other ideas. 

The first time he tried to sell me I told them about the rash on my genitals and they declined, for all of us. I got a nice lashing for that one. The next time I told the high lord that I had been a man and was now a eunuch. Lets just say he never wants to see any of us again. Each time the men got more and more pissed off. From then on I was not allowed to talk, they told the buyers I was a mute. Apparently lords didn't like mutes, afraid their heirs would be born mutes as well. 

This was to be the first time any of us "flowers" were to be sold to a king. Seeing as I had finally stopped growing I was fitted with a permanent meeting gown, unfortunately there was no color to really match me, so I was fitted with any random color they could find, the color of my dress now was a dull rose pink. A king, one of us was going to be a queen, or a consort to the king, perhaps just a w***e the king bedded every now and again. Most men in the south preferred dark skinned women, and so I feared that Lily would be the flower he chose. 

I sat up with a sigh unable to sleep. I walked into the woods and down to the brook that was near us, never again did I try to run, I could have, should have, but the death of Vaynir broke me for a long time. And by the time I was healed, I couldn't leave my sisters with these monsters. I took off my dress and climbed into the water letting the cold water wash over my naked and dirty body. Pulling the splinters out of my legs and hands was a long process, but it was necessary if I didn't want the wounds to fester. I used some of the sand at the bottom of the water to scrub the dirt away, I submerged myself and let myself pretend the water was going to be my end. When I arose I heard a small sound, I looked in one of the trees and saw a small white owl up in the tree branches. I rested my head back against a rock and relaxed for a minute before climbing out of the water. I quickly rinsed my dress free of dirt and grime before slipping it back on and walking back to the wagon.

"Where have you been?" I heard Rayburn ask from the wagon. 

"In the woods." I said shortly before sitting back beside a sleeping Aster. She looked so peaceful with her eyes closed. Soon I would have to leave her one way or another. If any "flower" turns 21 and is still with the men, they get sold to the nearest brothel. But I planned to kill these men and set my sisters free one way or another. 

........1 month later in the castle of King Orion.....

All six of us stood in a straight line before the large golden throne that had been polished by many a king's fat asses. The throne room was decorated by ornate pillars with carvings of woodland animals such as the stag, wolf, boar and lynx. The floor was a smooth shining red stone, it looked as if someone had covered the floor in blood. The ceiling was adorned by seven candle lit chandeliers, I counted fifty steps from the large stone doors to where we stood, possibly another 20 to the back wall. 

I clenched my dress nervously, King Orion would be the first king I had ever met. My heart tried to escape as a door opened on the far wall, I used my right hand to catch it and hold it in place as I looked upon his grace. He looked like a god striding toward us with a steady gait. I bowed my head in awe of the power he seemed to hold. 

"Rise." I heard him order. His deep voice was cold and devoid of emotion, sending shivers down my spine. When I raised my head I took notice of his cold sapphire eyes on the fat man, I smirked noticing the way Roeger swallowed nervously. 

"Y-your grace, I present to you....."

"Enough." He said holding up a hand silencing Roeger. Cold eyes scanned all of us and landed on Marigold. "Name." 

"Marigold." She said with a bow of her head. I took in a deep breath as his eyes narrowed, he then looked at Lily.

"Name."

"Lily, s-sir." His eyes found mine. 

"Name."

"H-her name is Rose, your grace." Roeger answered receiving a glare from both the king and I. "She is mute."

"Not her then." He said with a disgusted look. Aster, Dahlia and Daisy said their names and the king sighed in annoyance. He then looked everyone over again, skipping me, his eyes settling on Marigold. 

"You." He said. "I will take you." He motioned with his fingers and an armored soldier handed Sigmond a bag full of coin. "The rest of you out." We all exited the palace, I took Lily's hand thankful he took Marigold instead of her. I loved all my sisters but if any were to survive King Orion it would be the girl akin to a fox.

We loaded back into the wagon and set off down the road with one less woman, down to five. Knowing Roeger he would pick up a few girls at an orphanage soon to replace the girls sold. I listened to what the men said as they talked rather loudly. 

"We should head north once more before winter sets in." Sigmond said. "Perhaps we could get an audience with the king and queen about one of their sons."

"I agree, but let's go west first and stop to pick up replacements." 

"Why not just pick up girls in the North?" Rayburn asked. 

"So we have a little time to get them trained." Sigmond growled in annoyance. I tuned out the rest of their conversation. Headed west, back to where I was from. Over the past nine years I had been back only twice, both times we went nowhere near my village. I wondered what it looked like now, had my father and uncle lived through the battle and returned home? Was it just a graveyard full of skeletons never getting a proper burial. Was my mother still in her bed. Would I ever see it again? Did it get rebuilt? Were my father and uncle alive? Did they start new families? Would they forgive me for what happened to Vaynir? I receded into my memories, drowning out the world I was stuck in. 

....Flashback....

"Rowan! Vaynir! Get out of the rain! You'll get a fever!" Mother shouted from the doorway of our stone house. We looked up at her and ran inside dragging the mud from the street onto the oak floors which annoyed her thoroughly "You know better than to play in the rain." She growled making us laugh. 

"What about father, he gets to play in the rain." Vaynir pouted. 

"He is not playing..." She informed us as she pulled blankets over our small bodies and sat us before the warm fire she was cooking dinner with. "your father is teaching the young men how to properly ride a horse and fight like a soldier. These are dangerous times and our queen can use all the mounted warriors she can get."

"I want to learn how to ride a horse." I said looking up at her. 

"And how to fight like a man!" Vaynir said with a battle cry.

"I pray you never have to learn how to fight Vaynir, but I'm sure your father would love to teach you how to ride a horse."

"What will I do while Vaynir learns to fight?" I asked. 

"You will learn to sew, cook and clean, then you can stay in the service of our Lady. Perhaps one day you will be wed to a handsome lord who will need you to help run his keep. That is why you have been learning with our Lady for so long. Educated women fair better in this world than stupid girls."

"What about me?" Vaynir asked. "I want to be smart too." 

"You are smart my son. You want to be educated, there is a large difference between those two words. Always remember this."

"Yes mother." We said in unison. 

"Good, we will talk about this more later, now go wash up for dinner." We shrugged off our blankets and ran to the back of the house in the small back room and pulled off our muddy clothes. We took the rags and dipped them in the water we collected with the rain and wiped off the mud and dirt on our skin. When we were done we pulled on dry clothes and headed to the dinner table. It was likely that mother and I would be washing the clothes tomorrow after spending the day at Lord Dyxon's keep.

....Later that night.....

"Father!" Vaynir and I cried happily as our father soaked with rain water walked into the house. He was instantly attacked by two monsters and he took a step back while laughing. 

"Let him in!" Mother cried out. 

"It's all right dear. They're just happy to see me." He said holding us as he walked into the house while mother shut the door. 

"Can you teach us how to ride a horse father?" I asked looking into his dark moss green eyes. Happiness and warmth flooded them as he nodded with a bright smile. 

"How about we start tomorrow?" He said kissing my forehead before setting me down, doing the same to Vaynir. 

"Yay!!!" We screamed before running into the common room. Our mother joined us while our father got cleaned up and into dry clothes. That night our small family sat around the fire, I was sitting on father's left leg while Vaynir was on his right. That was the night he told us of the Northern spirit animals that usually presented themselves to the royal family members. Three weeks later our father was called to Summerville, another week later our village was raided and mother was slain. 

....End flashback.....

I was pulled from my own thoughts when the wagon came to a sudden stop throwing me forward. I looked around and saw that we had stopped for a man who had flagged us down. Beside him was a dark brown dog with long hair, it was laying on its side without moving. 

"How can we help you sir?" The fat man asked. I noticed the man looked sad, his dark brown eyes were filled with despair. I took notice that one of the dog's paws was incredibly swollen. 

"I can't do it." He said motioning to his dog. "Will one of you please end his suffering for me?" I felt my eyes sting as I climbed out of the cart and walked over to the dog who began to snarl and growl at me. 

"Rose!" I heard the fat man warn. I backed away a few steps and the dog stopped growling, the thin man and the dog's human walked over. The dark canine growled at the thin man and his master before putting pressure on his paw and yelping. The thin man grabbed his dagger and cruelly shoved the knife into the dog's side. I cried out with the dog and covered my mouth with my hands as the dog stopped breathing. 

"Thank you." I heard the master say. I made my way to the body and held his extremely hot paw in my hand. I flipped it so I could see the pad of his paw and I looked at it. I applied some pressure and a stream of thick white goo spilled out from between the pad and one of his toe beans. I used my nails to explore the infected area and I found the cause of the injury. The poor dog was killed because of a thorn, I pulled the barb from the paw and handed it to his owner with sadness. He looked devastated as I walked away, getting back into the wagon. I sat back down and kept my eyes on the hay as the tears kept falling. Aster and Lily curled up beside me and I cried harder. When Sigmond shoved the dagger into the dog's chest I saw him plunge the dagger into the body of my little brother. Another piece of my heart broke, a piece I thought was already dust.