Rose's Thorns

Chapter 3

It had been over a week. We had been stuck with these pigs for over 7 days. It was like I was trapped in a dream without waking. It was a dark night, clouds blanketed the sky, no stars nor moon was there to lead my way in an escape that night. Vaynir was curled into my side, he was able to sleep like the dead, I envied him for that. I sighed and looked over at the rotting wagon where the fat man and his thin sidekick were asleep on the hay floor. At least it wasn't winter. One of the women, a girl named Lilac told me in the winter everyone was piled in the wagon together so no one froze, she also said the fat man was quite handsy. 

I closed my eyes in fake slumber when the men began to wake, they climbed out of the cart and pulled their trousers down to piss. They began to speak in their sleep ridden voices, not caring if they woke us up or not. 

"What are we going to do with the boy Roeger?" I heard the thin man ask. "He is costing us more than he is worth."

"When we get to the central city in two days we will sell him to the witches, he may not be good as a slave but they always need sacrifices." The fat man replied. "If it's blood, life, or bodily sacrifice the witches will pay." 

"I'll make sure our darling Rose is in the bath with the rest of the flowers." Thin man said. "We don't need her drawing attention to our dealings."

"Were she not a sight I'd sell 'em both to the witches." Fat man said. 

"She will be a real looker when she is grown...Too bad she has such a smart mouth." Thin man said. 

"When she begins to bleed we'll have to take her to Lorraine's, she’ll give our dear Rose lessons on what to do with her smart mouth." Pig man said. 

"That would be a sight.." Thin man said as they began walking toward the horses. "I would love to see her smart mouth around my...." Their voices faded and I could no longer hear them. I clenched my jaw and released a breath. I would have to get Vaynir away from them the next night. I had planned to run in the next town we reached. Vaynir and I would flee the barn with Lily and hide for the night, after a day or two we would find passage to Summerville and search for our father and uncle. But it looked like we would have to find our way in the dark, with no sense of direction. 

That day was like any other, the men sat in the front jabbering while us women and Vaynir sat in silence, every once in a while breaking the silence to cough or sneeze. 

"Will you tell me the story of the white lions?" Vaynir asked quietly, while he played with the mud hardened hem of my dress. 

"A long time ago when the last men of the country of ruins sailed here on busted and burnt ships they landed on the shores of the olde kingdom. A hundred years later, the olde kingdom was running out of room for the life that now overran the city. Five brave men stepped forward, the first man said he would lead a party to the south and they would find a new land. That man was Khayn Zexpyro, he founded the kingdom of Zexpyro which he named after himself like the arrogant man he was. 

The next man stepped forward with his wife, together they would take 50 men and 50 women to the west, that man was Dvico Haymond and his wife Ezari Haymond. They founded the kingdom of Lymeria, they named the capital where they would reside Summerville for the summer climate they arrived during. 

The third man, he seemed to be the strongest, said he would go north. He found the mountains to be hostile and any man who journeyed into the large peaks, well they would find pieces of them scattered around. The man kept his castle at the base of the mountain range and called his kingdom the kingdom of the Emerald Pines in respect to the indescribable trees that ruled the north. That man took his son north when he went and they were called Damius and Xavio, the two kings, Xavio ruled and protected their people while Damius protected everyone else by setting up house Danger in the lower mountains, he warned all who entered to turn away before the real rulers of the north killed them.

The next man, the most deceitful by far planned to go west, he got to Lymeria, and decided to take a piece of it, as well as Zexpyro and the olde kingdom. He planned on taking the northern region as well, he passed into the mountains determined to take whatever beast laid in the north into extinction. Pivrock Harden ignored Damius's warning though and ventured into the mountains leaving his wife and young son home to rule his kingdom in his stead. He took 50 good hunters into the mountains and only three came out. 

One man was so shaken he died on his bed during the night as his fears consumed him. The second man spoke of beasts that blended in with the night. They were large as horses with the bellows of dragons. He claimed there was a mountain full of these beasts with eyes golden as the sun and fur black as night. This man lied though, he had not seen the beasts, he only repeated what an olde fable said from the country of ruins. 

It wasn't until the third man wrote down what really happened that we knew what the creatures were for real. The third man didn't tell what happened until years later upon the birth of his son. This is the tale he told. 

"We men were walking through the snow that was up to our waists. The sun shone down on us, the snow blinded us with reflecting it's light into our eyes like a mirror. It was mid day when the birds stopped singing and the only sound was the breeze rustling the trees. In a flash a white beast lept from the snow completely invisible before attacking. Blood stained the once white snow. Loud growls sounded around us all and more beasts lept from the snow. A dead man fell atop me and I layed still while the beast killed the rest of us. They looked like large cats, their eyes shined, nearly as white as the beasts fur. They were larger than the lions of the olde world and quieter as well."

The white lions still live in the mountains undisturbed, and to this day the northern kingdom has two kings, the one who rules and the one who guards." I looked around at the women in the wagon who seemed very interested in the tale. 

"Do you know any others?" Poppy, the pale woman asked. 

"I know many tales, like the one about the olde world and why it's called the country of ruins. The one about Hound and the warrior, about the queen who birthed a snake, or the northern kings and their spirit animals."

"Do the Queen who birthed a snake." Vaynir said excitedly. "I haven't heard that one before."

"Many years after the kingdoms were first established there was a King in the old kingdom which they renamed Azailia. He married a princess from the south who was the third born in her family. She was a beautiful girl of 16 with skin like the rosewood tree, her eyes were the color of lavender which was a rare thing. The color of the curls on her head looked like swirls of black ink. The king himself was no more than an ordinary man, and he worshiped his queen. She was a goddess in his eyes, she is still the most beautiful woman born in any year since. You see the goddess of beauty made Beatrice the beauty in her own image, and many called her even more so than the goddess. 

The goddess envied her own creation and looked to her sister the goddess of procreation and motherhood. She begged her sister to make her creation infertile. The goddess of procreation was furious with her sister but accepted her request knowing her sister would owe her a favor. The goddess cursed Beatrice with these words. 

"Beatrice the beauty you shall bear no human child from any man on this earth." And so she bore no children to her husband, and the king was getting restless, not having an heir with his wife. So he took another and she gave him a son. The queen was heartbroken, she ran into the woods and prayed to the gods for a child. The god of all earthly creatures answered her prayers and blessed her with a child. He told her, her child shall bear resemblance to the goddess who made Beatrice. And so Beatrice went to her husband with the news and he was so happy he cried out. 

9 months later on her birthing bed Beatrice was finally having her child, but when her baby came out the doctors and the king looked upon the babe in horror. Beatrice looked upon her baby and screamed in horror. The babe was covered in snake scales and his tongue was forked, it had slit yellow eyes. The god of earthly creatures appeared and took the child. 

"Would you look at that, the babe does look like the snake my sister is." The god placed a kiss on the babe before slitting the throat of the abomination that Beatrice had birthed. Not long after the Queen died from infection and the king's new wife took the title of queen and his son the title of Prince."

"Why did the god slit his throat?" Vaynir asked. 

"Because it would have caused chaos and unrest amongst men. It would have led to war and possibly the end of the gods who still watch over us today." I looked out at the sky where the sun was beginning to descend. The men pulled the horses off the trail and stopped the wagon for the night. The babbling of a brook could be heard close to us. 

"Go get cleaned up, you smell like pig shit." The fat man said as he walked around the wagon. Poppy grabbed a little white bar and we walked down to the brook that was no more than 1 meter(4ft) across and less than a meter (3ft) deep. We all stripped naked and washed our clothes before getting into the pool of water and washing ourselves. It felt good to finally be clean again. I helped Vaynir clean his back and he did mine. When we were done we pulled on our wet clothing and back to where the men had built a fire. They cooked up some mice , rabbits and squirrels they had collected throughout the day. 

We all ate the meat once it was cooked, I urged Vaynir to fill himself completely seeing as I didn't know when we would be able to eat again. When the food was gone and we were dry the men drank themselves to sleep. I waited till the moon was at its peak before waking Vaynir and Lily up. Luck was on our side seeing as the night sky was clear and the forest was lit. 

"What are you doing?” Lily asked as I pulled them into the woods away from the others. 

"We have to go Lily, we are not going to be sold like animals." I whispered as I tugged on her arm. 

"What about the others?" Lily asked. 

"They are old enough to get away on their own." I said as we trudged. Tomorrow those men were going to sell my brother to die, I wasn't going to let that happen. Unstealthily Vaynir stepped on a twig and snapped it with a loud snap. The sound echoed through the woods and I heard the men wake up. 

"What the f**k?" One of them mumbled. 

"Hurry." I whispered in a panic. I began pulling them faster only to be stopped when I heard the men shouting. I pulled Vaynir to my chest knowing the men would catch up to us. "Run little brother and don't stop." I said pushing him away while looking at the approaching black shadows. "I can't let them sell you." I pushed Lily with him and ran off in a different direction. "RUN!" I screamed hoping to grab their attention, which I did. The thin man caught me and tackled me to the ground. I fought like a mad woman biting and scratching, the fat man ran over out of breath and picked me up by my hair. He dragged me back to the wagon and grabbed my wrists, tying them together before pulling me to a tree and binding my bound wrist to a branch above my head. The men grabbed at my dress undoing the fastens on the back and opened it up exposing my skin to the harsh night air. Goosebumps rose on my skin, not from the cold, from the sound of the belt buckle. I cried out as the leather belt whipped my back. There was a stinging sensation after the initial hit, before I could fully process it, again the cold leather caught my skin.

"You....stupid....little.....bitch!" The fat man yelled as he carried out my punishment. My throat was raw from crying out and my sight was blurry from tears when the fat man decided I had enough. My head was spinning as the pungent odor of Roeger swallowed me, he cut me loose and I fell to the ground in a heap. I looked up at the woods as the thin man pulled Lily back to the wagon, she was sobbing and tripping over dead leaves and broken branches. Instead of Lily my eyes found the scarlet blade in his other hand dripping on the ground. My heart skipped and I pulled myself up as far as I could. 

"I caught her.." He breathed with a sinister smile before turning his evil eyes at me. "And I killed the stupid boy." I screamed until I tasted blood in my mouth. Knowing my baby brother was dead was worse than being whipped. When I screamed everything out I fell in a heap and let the darkness take me over.