The Rose Princess

by Hideyuki Kikuchi

  Apparently this supernatural creature that seemed so inured to being hit or stabbed or even shot couldn’t regenerate the damage from burns, for as the flames enveloped it and its skin quickly baked and peeled, its ophidian form began a wild dance in the throes of death.

  “I got it!” Elena shouted, but Stahl was the only one who could spare a look up at her.

  Elena was coming back down, and the item tucked under her arm was definitely a big chunk of blue moss. Her eyes declared her delight at this accomplishment while flames flickered in their depths.

  Just as the girl groaned with the effort of her descent, flames whooshed madly from the rocky summit and the whole mound rattled.

  “Hurry up! That thing’s ready to collapse!” Stahl shouted to her.

  “I know, so get ready to make a catch!”

  And once she’d said that, Elena didn’t toss down the moss as expected, but rather threw herself into the air.

  Not completely prepared, Stahl managed to catch her shapely form but wound up flat on his ass.

  “Damn, that hurt,” he groaned while Elena promptly got to her feet.

  The girl’s eyes went wide at the sight of the weird serpent creature writhing before her. Its tail looked to be a good thirty feet long, and in its wild thrashing it struck the ground repeatedly. Every time it did so, the rumble seemed to reach the very heavens.

  Suddenly, a mass of rock landed on the creature’s tail. Smashing it flat, the boulder went on to bounce once or twice more on the ground.

  Fighting desperately to maintain her balance all the while, Elena raced for the woods. Behind her, the mountain—or rather, the rock pyramid—had come tumbling down like a pile of dominos.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Stahl asked as they made a mad dash for the path that’d brought them there.

  “That stupid tentacle grabbed the incendiary grenade from me—with the fuse going—and pulled it back into the rocks. It must be some kind of animal catcher or something. I wonder what it looks like under all those rocks . . .”

  “Oh, so you wanna see the Nobles’ machines up close, do you?”

  “Are you kidding me?!” Elena shot back, and then she heard the undeniable sound of hoofbeats behind them. But why was it the Frontier woman pictured not the Nobility, but rather the Hunter in black?

  Turning to look, Elena froze.

  The horse seemed to be running in slow motion just to keep pace with her friends as they fled, and on it sat the Black Knight. She’d seen him many times before. And although she found the might of the leader of the four knights as intimidating as always, she had no time for such emotions with him on their tail. He was a veritable grim reaper. But, what would he be doing out here?

  “Shit!” cried Tan. He, too, had frozen in his tracks, but he pointed the nozzle of his weapon at the Black Knight. It spat a ball of fire.

  Not even trying to avoid it, the Black Knight rode straight into the blast, then through it. The flames slid right across his armor and cape, and then vanished.

  A streak of light zipped up from the ground toward the sky. Without so much as a cry of pain, Tan was sliced right down the middle. The iron-shod hooves trampled his body, splitting the brave man into two separate pieces before he fell in the brush.

  Elena halted. Turning, she glared at the knight following her. Stahl and Nichou both followed her lead, and the Black Knight stopped at the same time.

  “So it’s you after all. You’ve been on our tail ever since we first set foot in the forest, haven’t you?” Elena asked in a demanding tone after the flutter in her chest had subsided.

  “Indeed I have,” he replied, his voice like a rumbling from deep in the earth.

  “Why the hell were you following us?”

  “The answer should be obvious. I can’t have you bringing that moss back to the village. Because then I wouldn’t be able to dispose of all those abominations.”

  “But this will put them right!” Elena cried. “They won’t be your kind any more.”

  “They are filth!”

  A beam of light shot out, shattering the ground right in front of Elena. But even as the soil showered her, Elena didn’t recoil.

  “Hold on just a minute!” the girl shouted, her mouth open as wide as it would go.

  Perhaps her bluster actually worked, for the Black Knight stopped moving.

  This was a do-or-die situation. With new determination, Elena said, “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Something concerning the wonderful princess you’ve sworn allegiance to.”

  “Something about the princess?” the Black Knight muttered dubiously, though there was laughter in his voice. Undoubtedly he was convinced this was some fabrication on her part to stall for time.

  “That’s right, I’m talking about that bitch. Does your precious princess approve of what you’re doing?”

  The Black Knight said nothing.

  “That’s what I thought. Honesty is a virtue, you know. But the way you pretend to be all loyal and stuff yet run around disobeying orders behind her back is why she’s gonna put you out like so much trash.”

  “Like trash? Me?” the Black Knight asked, his tone naturally sounding suspicious. These were remarks no one could’ve imagined coming from this man.

  “No, not just you—all of you!” Realizing the upper hand was now hers, Elena let her strength flow into her voice as she said, “I’m telling you this as a special favor. Your precious princess actually asked me and D to get rid of the lot of you.”

  After blurting out the words, Elena was frightened by the response they might bring.

  Silence descended, and the beating of the girl’s heart rang through her head like a gong.

  The shoulders of the Black Knight trembled. A low voice spilled from somewhere in his armor.

  She wondered if he was crying. Even Stahl and Nichou looked at each other. But suddenly Elena realized she was mistaken.

  The twilight was beaten back by a great booming laugh.

  “I never would’ve thought you’d say such a thing. In all my days, I’ve never heard anything half so entertaining! So, the princess appointed the two of you to dispose of us, did she?”

  “It’s true!” Elena snapped back even as realized it was pointless to debate him. The black harbinger of death would surely spread its lethal wings over her head.

  Sure enough, the Black Knight began to advance. Not rushing, but slowly. Like a massive mountain.

  “From the fight you gave me last night, I felt you had promise despite being human. But when you resort to such tricks, I’m sorely disappointed. What’s more, your little ploy couldn’t possibly have been more impertinent. It’s unforgivable.”

  “Who are you to talk?! You came sneaking along after us! Why didn’t you just show yourself from the very beginning, eh?”

  “I wanted to see what you’d do first,” the Black Knight replied. “To come out to this forest knowing what time it would be takes a formidable store of determination and strength. And I thought it would be nice to see those traits for myself. I was also curious as to what you’d be searching for.”

  “When did you start following us?” Elena asked, groping for a question. Now she actually was trying to buy some time. Even if it only kept her alive a few minutes longer, she couldn’t miss any chance to improve her odds of delivering the blue moss.

  “When you and the others left the village.”

  “You’re a creep. You’ve been spying on us all along, haven’t you?”

  “All for the good of the princess,” the Black Knight said, his form growing larger by the second.

  Elena finally noticed that he was steadily approaching her.

  “Run for it, Elena!” Stahl shouted as he suddenly jumped between the two of them. Thunder and flames flew from his gun. A hard thud resounded far off, and the Black Knight’s upper body swayed every so slightly. A shallow indentation had been left in the brow of his helm. Around it, other dents formed in rapid succession as bullets and sparks b
ounced off of him.

  “Sorry,” Elena said, kicking off the ground with the second shot. The report from Stahl’s weapon was like a knife in her heart.

  Although she thought about diving between the trees to take the Black Knight’s horse out of play, Elena knew that if he reached the bikes before she did, she’d be finished anyway. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Then she heard hoofbeats. It felt as if all the blood had drained from her body.

  “Stahl,” she said, the name coming to her lips naturally.

  The beating of the iron-shod hooves had come to within three feet of her, and the hot breath of a horse brushed the nape of her neck.

  So, this is the end? she thought for a second, and then a roar to shake the very heavens came from off to the right.

  DANCE OF THE ROSES

  CHAPTER 5

  —

  I

  —

  Although the cry was one Elena had heard before, she’d never actually seen the thing itself. Known simply as “the forest dweller,” it was fabled to bite the heads off fire dragons and use massive trees as toothpicks. And although the biker didn’t put much stock in such tales, the colossal bones that were occasionally discovered near the forest made it clear the creature was a danger she’d never want to encounter.

  The form that’d just pounced on the Black Knight was roughly ten feet tall, covered with hair and circular in shape. Though it had arms and legs twice as thick as a man could reach around, there was no indication of any fingers or toes. And while Elena figured the smell of the head-taker’s blood on her had drawn it here, it was literally a heaven-sent guardian.

  Just as the girl was about to make a run for it, she heard a heavy impact and a horse whinnying behind her. She turned to look in spite of herself.

  The Black Knight and his steed had both been knocked flat. The forest dweller raised one hand and smashed it down on the horse’s belly. Its barding dented, and the horse let out a pained whinny. Then Elena watched as a band of light sank halfway into the thing’s woolly shoulder. Black spray rained down on the branches and leaves, staining the twilight.

  The forest dweller swung the opposite hand. There was a dull thud as the knight was knocked backward by a remarkable hook.

  “He’s all yours!” Elena shouted, blowing a kiss at the creature before her feet tore into the ground. Hope had welled within her again, and the exit was right before her eyes. She felt like she could actually hear the sound of her field of view widening.

  Elena trembled. Her bike was right where she’d left it and in exactly the same shape. Climbing onto it, she hit the starter. The engine growled.

  “Elena!”

  The girl thought she’d imagined someone calling her name. And then she heard it again—very close to her. Before she could get its precise location, a figure came running toward her.

  “Nichou—”

  “I managed to get away. Stahl told me to look after you.”

  “Was he—?”

  “Yeah, he bought it,” Nichou said, holding his neck.

  Feeling her tears building, Elena turned her face away. “Mount up. Let’s go,” she said.

  “No, not yet.”

  “Huh?”

  Nichou’s face was horribly warped. “Watch this, Elena,” he said.

  Putting his hands to either side of his head, he lifted it right up. It came off so easily, Elena was even less surprised than she would’ve expected.

  “Nichou—”

  The ground rumbled roughly as the figure that sprang from the forest came down about fifteen feet from the two of them. With arms and legs covered with black bristles, it was obviously the head-taker. Elena wasn’t even surprised to see that it wore a shirt and pants.

  As the girl watched the deep red blood spouting up from Nichou, her hand instinctively went for the chain around her waist.

  The slight forward hunch of the creature was somewhat ape-like—that must’ve been what it’d been in the beginning. Treading its way across the grass, the head-taker stopped behind Nichou, extended both hands, and took the head the decapitated biker was holding up. It then casually tossed it.

  The head-taker reached for its own head.

  “You must be joking,” Elena muttered, her body stiffened by a fearful premonition.

  Pulling its own head off, the head-taker set it down on Nichou’s neck—which was still spouting blood. The head was pointing the wrong way. But with a sick grinding sound it twisted around to face Elena. At the very same time, the head-taker’s body slumped to the ground. That great simian face with its sloping brow and strangely prognathous jaw then bared its fangs at the girl.

  By swapping heads, it had effectively transplanted its brain. In this manner, the head-taker could replace its aging body and essentially live forever.

  The creature’s mouth snapped open viciously. Every last tooth lining the top and bottom of its crimson maw was as sharp as a needle.

  Nichou’s body leapt into the air. Just as it was about to land on her, Elena moved out of reflex. And her bike was already running.

  It seemed that her vehicle hit the lower half of the creature. Flipping over Elena’s head, the head-taker fell into the bushes.

  Executing a quick turn, Elena flashed her headlight onto Nichou’s body. The way his hands came up to shield his eyes was exactly what the head-taker would do.

  “This is payback for Nichou!” she shouted.

  The laser stabbed through the darkness, searing the palms of the head-taker’s hands. Screeching, it took to the air, but there were no branches or trunks to which it might cling.

  If she allowed this thing to live, it would claim other victims. She sped toward where it landed.

  Her foe was in a crouch. Elena slammed into it at ninety miles per hour.

  Nailed it! she thought, but just as all the tension was leaving her body, her bike tilted forward. The vehicle bounded wildly before it fell over with only the whine of its engine still echoing, and it was then that the head-taker stood up straight again. It hurled the wheel it held in its right hand at the bike. Elena lay by the vehicle. The wheel landed near her feet, and then toppled over.

  It was her motorcycle’s front wheel. Though it’d been secured by steel bolts, the head-taker had managed to tear it off with a swipe of one hand.

  Whether the gagging sound that escaped the creature now was simply its breathing or the sound of its laughter was impossible to say. As it lumbered over to Elena, the expression it wore bore hints of malice, hunger and an unmistakable lust. Elena had landed on her back, and due to her struggles, the front of her top had been ripped wide, leaving her pale breasts half exposed, while a diagonal slash down the right thigh of her pants yawned to reveal more of her sweet, nubile flesh. After leering down at her exposed portions and noting the full lines of her bosom, the head-taker licked its lips. Both its hands grabbed her breasts through her shirt.

  Elena didn’t move a muscle.

  Surely the beast with a human body had something in mind as it clambered on top of Elena. The stage now set for its depraved acts there in the moonlight, the creature’s monstrous mouth was about to close on Elena’s half-open lips when there was an unearthly howl and the head-taker’s upper body bent backward. The creature braced its legs in an attempt to flee, but the arm wrapped around its waist wouldn’t allow that.

  “Too bad. I’ve been falling off bikes all my life, so I’m used to it,” Elena sneered, her left arm locked on her foe’s waist while her right hand gouged his flank with a weapon. “This little throwing knife belonged to Nichou, who you killed. A long time ago, he gave it to me as a memento. So just consider this a stab from him!”

  After she’d plunged the weapon into the hard, wriggling torso three times, it ceased to struggle. Elena no longer held the body as it now slowly toppled backward, allowing the girl to quickly get to her feet. Every inch of her ached. No matter how accustomed to spills she might be, being thrown from her bike at ninety miles per hour still left h
er body screaming in a dozen places. And as she turned to head back to where Stahl and the others had left their bikes, Elena found there was one important point she’d overlooked.

  Not ten feet from her stood the Black Knight.

  “How long have you been watching?” she asked as she checked on the moss she’d shoved into her shirt pocket. Her legs felt like they were about to melt.

  “You did splendidly,” the Black Knight said in a calm voice.

  But Elena wasn’t in any shape to take that as a compliment.

  “There’s nothing lower than a man who’d just stand around watching a woman bust her ass. Drop dead!”

  Elena gauged the distance to the other bikes. Twelve feet. Not far at all.

  The Black Knight simply remained there in the dark, and then spoke. Elena couldn’t understand it.

  What did he just say? Come with me?

  “Hyah!” Elena cried as the end of her chain flew from her right hand. The blow had all her might behind it, but the Black Knight easily batted it down with his left hand. Her arms numbed by the shock of that impact, Elena dropped the chain.

  I suppose this is the end, she thought.

  The darkness spread before her eyes. The last sight she saw was the Black Knight as he closed on her.

  I’m sorry, Stahl, Tan, Nichou . . . Looks like I’ve had it, too.

  The girl regained consciousness. From the way she came to her senses so quickly, not long had passed since she’d collapsed. She was lying in some brush.

  As Elena started to get up, her every hair stood on end. An ineffable lust for killing whirled through the darkened space.

  There was a moon out. Beneath it, a pair of figures appeared to be facing each other. To the right was the Black Knight. The night winds that made the grass on the plains sway caused the coat of the figure on the left to flutter gracefully.

  “D,” Elena said, sounding more dazed than thrilled.

  The Black Knight backed away unexpectedly, saying, “I believe I shall call it a night here.”