Corruption of the Rose

by S. J. Sanders

  Narrowing her eyes, Rose flexed her fingers, feeling the static rush of electricity through the atmosphere. It was a form of fire born through water, one at her command, and it sang through her veins. Her lips parted to breathe the power into the world when Roninbar smirked and withdrew an amulet from beneath his clothes. It glowed in response to the charge of magic in the air, and Rose recognized it exactly for what it was: a mage-crafted protection against magic. Created by an adept, if she weren’t mistaken.

  “Do not get any ideas, little mage. I am well protected—and armed.” He raised a pistol and pointed it directly at Rose. “However strong your magic is, you can still be killed by gunpowder and steel like any other man or woman.”

  Rose swallowed, her magic unraveling as her hands fell helplessly at her sides. Her eyes tracked every move he made.

  “It is not often that royal assistants are found to be carrying around weapons and enchanted amulets,” she observed in a cold, controlled voice.

  Roninbar smiled in amusement. “I am perhaps unique in that way. Her majesty insisted that I be trained in many things since I entered her service as a boy years before she came to this accursed country as a bride for your king. Naturally, her coin provides me protections that most others wouldn’t have access to. She would not send me to deal with you without special insurance for my safety. Now, you will leave in the morning at first light, and you will complete your contract.”

  “I see. It seems my options are to go to the mountain and die a horrible death, or be executed with all certainty. Hardly affords me much of a choice.”

  He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “As I mentioned before, the queen does not tolerate failure. It would be prudent to take the option with at least some possibility of survival.”

  A bead of sweat trickled down Rose’s back. “I will give you the gold. It is yours. You can tell the queen that you killed me and buried my body in the woods. You will never hear of me again.”

  The sound of the striker arm on the pistol being cocked was loud in the small room, but no more so then the pounding of her blood and the sharp inhalations as she stared down the barrel.

  “I am loyal to my queen and absolutely cannot be bought. I should kill you for the insult alone, but for now you have some value,” he sneered. “Do not squander it. You will collect the flower under my oversight, and I will escort you back to your lab where you will begin your preparations. I will not be leaving your side until the perfume is ready. If you even think of trying to evade me and slipping away from the mountain, your life is forfeit. I will find you, mage, make no mistake about that.”

  Rose’s eyes slipped shut, the inevitable settling over her.

  “When do we leave?”

  “At first light.”

  Chapter 3

  The forest was cool from the rain the night before, water shimmering where it clung to the greenery as Rose trudged through it, her coat wrapped tightly around her. Summer was waning, and the early mornings were cool, the air crisp and clean with the pungent scent of growth.

  A light, wispy fog covered the forest floor, colligating in a few dense patches, visible in the gloom of the early morning light. The fog seemed to gather thicker over the river bisecting their path up ahead. Normally, she would have enjoyed the walk, but the pistol at her back reminded her that it was no pleasure stroll, as did the shadows of the mountain as they breached the thick forest of the foothills.

  The gun nudged her harder, the movement jerky. Rose stumbled forward, her heavy, damp skirt tangling around her legs. Colliding with a tree, she straightened and glared at the man standing behind her. Roninbar’s hard gaze scanned the trees.

  “Where will we find the flower?” he demanded.

  Rose straightened her skirts and shot him a glare. “I have no idea. Foraging in the wild is not like plucking a flower from a garden. There is no way of knowing exactly where to find them…”

  “Do not toy with me,” he growled as he paced nearer to her, the cold tip of the pistol nudging her throat. “You and I both know that no one would have gone deep into the forests. Therefore, you had to know approximately where they could be found in a spot that would have reassured him. I would suspect not too far from this damnable river that we now approach… Isn’t that where everyone is saying the body was discovered? Now, tell me where.”

  “They are said to grow along the River Lethe. They draw on the potent nature of the water that their influence will wash away the desires of those who use it. They are just there, somewhere,” she whispered against the pressure of the muzzle.

  The pistol drew back slightly as Roninbar reached forward and yanked her away from the tree. Pushing her out ahead of him, he kept the weapon trained on her but waved it in the direction of the river.

  “Keep moving then. To the river, mage.”

  Her footsteps felt like lead as she slipped through the trees, her hands catching on rough bark as she used the leverage to help push herself forward. The rushing sound of water grew steadily louder as they approached until it was a roar. Water broke over the rock, white bursts of waterheads forming. The sides of the banks were rocky, and none of the rich marshy soil was in sight. She hissed between her teeth as she was shoved harder with the pistol, the muzzle digging in below her shoulder blade, as Roninbar vented his impatience.

  She desperately attempted to recall what she had read about the rose. It had been so many years ago. What had she been doing? What had she read?

  It was in a book—a book on rare plants used in the arts. She could picture the gold-accented pages as she turned them slowly with her hand. She had been in the conservatory… but not in the library. She had been sitting in one of the upholstered velvet red chairs in the Master’s private study. She had gone there because the Master was absent that day and she didn’t want to be disturbed. The other apprentices were loud, and tended toward disruptive, unruly behavior when he was absent.

  The pages… There had been so many pages in the book. She stumbled with the weight of the hand shoving her forward once again. Rose ignored it, her thoughts focused on that book. It had a deep red, nearly black cover, just like the color of the flower painstakingly drawn by hand.

  She remembered the sketch, the dark petals closed tight in a bud in one perspective, fanned out in full bloom in the other. The text with its elegant calligraphy arranged the information in sections. First was the description of the magical use of the planet for quick indexing, and it had been followed by a section describing the rose with botanical sketches.

  Then…the natural habitat. She could see the gold leaf lettering of the section. Just below it, the script. The roses grew in the muddy banks of Lethe… She knew that. The mud… the mud… the roses were born from the mud created from where the water slipped from between the rocks and pooled in the earth.

  The water rippled calmly through her mind, dropping down into a dark basin that swelled with life. From the river, it flowed once more through the foothills until it fell once more beneath the stone.

  It had been so serene that she hadn’t wanted to leave that place in her mind. It had been difficult, but she pulled away. Her hand had caressed the page, her fingertips dwelling on the flowers until the page turned and swept it away…

  Rose’s eyes widened, her breath hitching.

  She had forgotten that detail. How could she have forgotten it? This wasn’t it. It was the wrong location. She had sent Alexi to the wrong spot—but he would have realized. He would have known immediately just looking at the water and the rocky banks that he was in the wrong spot. He would have known, and he would have left. He hadn’t remained there… He went higher into the mountain, and he had washed down the stream brutally torn.

  Her eyes scanned the area, tracing the origin of the river further into the distance and her breath trembled from her lips. A shiver raced through her and then pain as the Roninbar jabbed her with the pistol.

  “Why have you stopped?” he demanded.

  Rose glanced over at
him, a grim smile pulling her lips tight. “We are in the wrong spot.”

  The world spun as he swung her around, his hand gripping her hard around her throat. The shift of weight threatened to pull her right off her feet, but he restrained himself. His head dropped low, his nose only an inch away from hers, and his fetid breath blew across her face, fanning her upper lip with his angry snarl.

  “Do not play me for a fool! Do you think I cannot see that this is a trick? You wouldn’t have sent your assistant into the mountains. Your intent is obvious, but I will kill you with my own hands before I allow you to lead me to my death. You will produce the roses immediately.”

  Her eyes watered, due equally to the burning foulness of his breath and her own guilt, which stung her deeply. He was right, she wouldn’t have. She was not a monster. At the same time, she wanted to laugh at his assumption. In a way he was right about that too, although so wrong. If she had the ability to do so, she would have done just that. That didn’t solve her immediate problem. She hung limply in his grip, her mind reaching out around her.

  She couldn’t hurt him with her own magic, but she could distract him…

  Her senses stretched, traveling through the flowing water, her concentration almost broken by the hard hand gripping her as she sought the presence of any watery spirit that might help.

  There! The naiads of the Lethe. The spirits uncoiled sleepily, regarding her through large, dark eyes from within the roar of the river. She didn’t have enough energy to summon more than one… but just one, if they were cooperative, might do the trick.

  Her hands trembled, her index finger on her right hand hastily sketching the invocation symbols in the air at her side. She opened the gate to her magic wide with her plea, spending energy into the watery domain. There was a ripple of power that curled out to them. One of the naiads broke free from her sisters and pushed forth, her dark eyes glowing a brilliant aqua blue in their depths as she surged. The water sprayed up in a fountain from the river as an unearthly shriek filled the air.

  The hand at her throat went lax, dropping Rose to the ground. She coughed and wheezed but didn’t waste time lingering on the ground. Rocks and dirt kicked from under her feet as she scrambled away, her fingertips brushing the ground for balance only briefly as she propelled herself forward before she was even fully upright.

  Roninbar’s fearful shout filled her ears, and it was only somewhat satisfying. It wouldn’t take him long to figure out that a naiad had minimal influence in the human world and wouldn’t be able to do much in the way of damage against the magic protections.

  Still, she provided just the opening that Rose needed.

  Gathering her skirt in her hands, Rose surged ahead as the water sprayed and mists thickened around her. The wet droplets cooled her skin and clung to her hair until the condensed water began running down her face. She ignored it all, including the way her breath dragged in and out of her lungs, pushing the sensations to the back of her mind so she could focus wholly on her headlong flight. She was hyperaware of every pump of her legs, the tightening of muscle, as they took her further away and into the forest.

  Squinting through the mist blurring her vision, Rose skidded among the shrouded trees that grew alongside the river, weaving through them as branches caught her arms and dragged over her skin. She stumbled as a branch caught her skirts, but she jerked forward, a small cry working its way up her throat. She only just barely squelched it, but the rip of material was audible.

  In the distance behind her, she heard Roninbar’s angry roar as he broke free from the naiad’s enchantment. It sent a flutter of fear through her, but she didn’t stop or slow her pace. The thud of his feet hitting the ground was unnaturally loud, and every so often an impact was punctuated with the snap of a tree branch. She could almost feel his foul breath on her skin as she followed the river deeper into the forest. The incline of the slope tired her limbs, but she pushed herself onward until she encountered a thick barrier of trees rising from the fog, their massive limbs stretching low over the water.

  Her heart pounded as she paced in front of them, her eyes searching for any break in the branches—for any glimpse of a safe path. A barrier ought to be breached, and it would be unwise to do so. She just needed to find a way around and get away from her pursuer. A frustrated growl escaped her, her eyes narrowing.

  There was only the barrier that ran right up to a wall of sheer rock a short distance away. There was no way to circumvent it. She glanced thoughtfully at the river. It could potentially carry her downstream, beyond the reach of Roninbar, but that was risky since she didn’t know what dangers she might be unable to escape if she threw herself recklessly into the water.

  Her head jerked around, staring through the fog rising to conceal her in response to her will. A shiver of trepidation ran through her, the sounds of feet striking the earth getting increasingly louder. She couldn’t wait any longer. She turned back to face the low branches, filled out in random spots with low growing bramble.

  This was going to hurt.

  Rose dropped to the ground and squeezed under the barrier of tree branches, dirt smearing her dress and skin, sticks and sharp rocks scraping her hands and legs with red welts as she forced her way through. Fabric shredded audibly as she pressed forward in her determination to put as much distance as possible between herself and Roninbar. A shiver stole over her as she heard him shout at the edge of the barrier.

  “Daemon-whore!” he bellowed. “Come out of there!”

  He went silent, and Rose slowed to a stop, her ears straining as she listened to him shuffling at the edge of the barrier. When he spoke again his voice was a forced into calmer, more reasonable tone.

  “Let’s try to be reasonable, Mistress Almander. I just want the perfume. I’m not interested in anything else—not even in vengeance, if you do as my queen asks. Come out and we will get the roses and return to town. There is no reason for this to go any further.”

  Rose curled her lip in his direction. “He must think I am gullible. Yes, let me come and present my throat to you,” she muttered with disdain as she shifted a little further. The earth crumbled beneath her, and the thinner branches at her back gave way as her weight sent her sliding out of the barrier into the open mountain forest at the other side. Pushing to her feet, she grimaced at the state of her hands. “Finally,” she muttered.

  “Mistress Almander?” he cajoled, eliciting an unladylike snort from her.

  “Roninbar, it doesn’t pain me at all to say that I must decline your most unconvincing request,” she shouted back as she stepped away from the barrier, her eyes scanning the forest. “I admit that I appreciate having complete control over my wellbeing and so speak the truth when I say that would rather risk the beasts that roam this mountain that do anything that favors your mad queen in any way.”

  Silence fell, but only for a moment before the trees shook violently. Rose held her ground, her eyes narrowing on them. She doubted that he would get through so easily as that. Let him crawl on his belly and survive the wilds if he wanted her so much. Turning away, a smile curved her lips as she strode away, an infuriated roar following her.

  “Come out or be hunted down!”

  “So you say,” she called over her shoulder as she set her path deeper into the forest, leaving civilization and everything she knew far behind.

  With the unnatural murk of the forest surrounding her, it was almost like a mythic journey into the underworld. No wonder that the Urgal Mountains captured the imagination of the lorekeepers of the order. A mage might have walked the path and reflected on facing the evils that dwelled between worlds and in the minds and hearts of men.

  Rose wasn’t interested in such introspection.

  Wrapping her arms around herself, she trudged forward, not ascending any farther than necessary up the slopes. She needed to find a way to slip around Roninbar and return to her apartment to grab the bag she kept prepared with provisions in case she had to flee once more.

 
; Mystery descents into the underworld were best suited for mages with resources, who didn’t have to worry about basic comforts or some lunatic chasing them on behalf of his ruler. Rose grimaced as the gloom thickened, the forest darkening to shades of gray. The sooner she found a way off the mountain, the better.

  Chapter 4

  Saris lifted his head, his ears pricking, a hunger stirring deep within him as his lips curled back from deadly fangs. A low growl rumbled from the deep recesses of his large chest as he paced forward, nostrils flaring as he scented the air.

  A stranger… a human… was on their mountain. And they tasted like… magic.

  His eyes glowed in the darkness of the room as he kicked away the skull of one of the fallen, its hollow clatter against the stones filling the air. Eagerness filled his blood, a burning desire for the hunt that thickened his prick within his sheath, and a shiver of delight stole over him. It always excited him, and that was in part why he was chosen and elevated as Alpha of the inferna lupi.

  The Master selected him by his own hand and trained him for a great task that Saris had thought never would come…until it did. The Master left, and Saris began to hunt. And so he hunted for hundreds of years, the skulls of the dead slowly gathering in the Master’s wake. But it was his duty, and he relished the duty for which he was made.

  “Remember,” Darthar had instructed, his voice a low rasp in the study, his fingers sliding over manuscripts thoughtfully. “You were created with a thirst for destruction. It is your nature, for you stand between the worlds, protecting the world of the living, but your thirst suits my purposes as well and so those desires stir even deeper within you—my perfect creation.”