The Rose Thief

by Claire Buss

  'Jenni.' Ned was relieved.

  'Boss. Fawt you could do with a power surge.'

  'Excellent timing, as always.'

  The sprite beamed and joined the unlikely heroes as they walked to the main throne room. It was rather dark and decidedly empty within but Jenni pointed to the throne which, although shrouded in shadow, seemed to have a bundle of something upon it. The bundle stirred and came undone.

  'I said I didn't want to be disturbed.'

  'Mia?' Brogan's voice broke.

  'Brogan? Is it really you? How?'

  'I came back for you. I love you, I...' He couldn't finish as she flew down the steps and launched herself at him sobbing incoherently and clutching at his large body. The smell didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.

  Ned felt slightly put out, after all it had been a joint effort coming back from the middle of nowhere and if him and Jenni hadn't gone there in the first place, Brogan would still be there. Jenni was lighting the candles in the room so Ned focused his ire on the fireplace and lit it with a giant whoomp. The flames burnt bright green for the first few seconds before returning to their normal hue. It caught the attention of the reunited lovers and Ned flexed his magical fingers, ready to do battle if need be.

  The door burst open and in ran Joe.

  'Joe? What are you doing here?' Ned asked.

  'Don't hurt my sister! We can work something out – she didn't mean it.'

  'She killed the High Priestess and Two-Face Bob, Joe. She's facing murder charges even if we let everything else go.'

  'And she doesn't appreciate being spoken to like the cat's mother,' Mia interrupted icily. 'Joseph, pull yourself together. Now that you're here, I'm more than a match for this catcher and his imp.' Mia scowled at them all.

  'Sprite,' Ned said.

  'Sorry?'

  'She's a sprite, she doesn't like it when people get it wrong.' Ned explained.

  'Whatever. Now that my brother is here, my magic is amplified and I doubt the two of you would be able to overpower me.'

  'Mia – don't.' Brogan pleaded with big barbarian eyes, one hand on her arm, the other on his heart. Ned seriously thought he might start batting his eyelashes soon.

  'Brogan, you don't understand. It's out of my hands. I have no choice.'

  'Who do you work for?' Ned was beginning to see a way out of this mess.

  'How did you know?' Mia was startled, she half looked behind her as if expecting her mysterious boss to be standing there.

  'Just tell me.'

  Mia licked her lips and shot a look at her brother who was frowning at her. 'My father. I'm working for my father.'

  'But he died... he's dead. Mother told us...'

  'Mother fed us a pack of lies to keep us away from him. He's not dead, he left her. He left us.' Mia's voice wobbled but she took strength from Brogan's hand which had now encircled her own. 'I never believed her so I went looking for him. I found him experimenting in the Purple Mountain. But he was trapped there. I wanted to make him proud so I agreed to be his apprentice and help him escape.' She gave a half laugh. 'He made me the warlock I am today.'

  'So you admit you are responsible for the murder of Two-Face Bob and the High Priestess?' Ned asked.

  'No.' Mia shook her head. 'That wasn't me. Believe me or not but I swear I didn't kill them. My father released the wraith that killed Two-Face and used me to steal power from the Druid vigil. I'm his conduit.'

  'I'm not sure that absolves you of all wrongdoing,' Ned said.

  'I know,' Mia replied quietly.

  Joe was frowning. 'But, but, I followed you. You pulled me along. This whole time you never said anything about it to me.'

  'I couldn't. I took an oath of secrecy but it looks like the Great Sadness broke its hold.' She flexed her fingers and looked around in startled wonder. 'I can't feel him. I'm free of his chains.' The wonderment quickly fled her face. 'We need to leave now. He wanted an update, he'll be here soon. I was meant to hand this empire over to him. If we go, this very second, we might be lucky.'

  'Lucky enough for what?' A tall, thin man had walked unnoticed into the throne room. His aura radiated so much power that even those who could not read such things were intensely aware of his deadliness. Black eyes bore out from under thick black eyebrows as the man evaluated everyone in the room. He dismissed Ned immediately. Free from his attention, Ned motioned for Jenni, who was half-hidden behind him and had not yet been noticed, to make a sharp exit so she discreetly popped. The man's head whipped back at the use of fae magic and frowned at Ned suspiciously.

  'Is this how show your respect?'

  Mia fell to her knees and prostrated herself on the floor. Thinking that it might be a good idea to emulate the second most powerful person in the room, Brogan and Ned followed suit. Joe looked as if he had seen a ghost.

  'Who are these unworthy souls, my child?'

  'No-one Father. Just vassals coming to the end of their usefulness. I was about to discharge their services.'

  'Allow me.' The sorcerer raised one hand, a spark of power glinting from the tip of his finger.

  'NO!' Mia exclaimed then tried to smooth over her reaction. 'They have given faithful service. I wish to retain them for any future works.'

  'Are you sure? I feel certain more worthy worms could be found if you spread your net a little further.'

  'Yes, Father. I am sure.'

  'Very well – dismissed.'

  And before Ned knew what was happening, an unseen force had pushed him, Brogan, and Joe out of the throne room and dumped them unceremoniously in the corridor outside. Brogan had a broken puppy dog look on his face. Ned grabbed his arm before he could try and do anything more stupid than fall in love with a psychotic sorcerer's daughter and dragged both him and a catatonic Joe away.

  'Let's get out of here. We need a better plan.'

  Chapter 24

  Joe finally came to in Ned's kitchen. If he was surprised to find himself there again he gave no sign. He stared down at the peanut butter and banana sandwich in front of him. Ma Bowl had dropped off a little something for Ned to keep his strength up. There was rather a lot of little somethings, most of them fattening, some of them aphrodisiacs.

  'That was my dad.' Joe sounded stunned.

  'Yeah, we met him. Seemed like a lovely chap.' Ned was eyeing up the corner of an apple turnover that peeked out from the hamper on the table, hoping no-one else had noticed it was there.

  'No. You don't understand,' Joe said. 'He died fifteen years ago. In a fire. He was trying to rescue his grimoire. It was horrible.'

  'Looks like he made a full recovery. You two not hungry?' Ned looked hopefully from Brogan to Joe, they both shook their heads. Each one preoccupied with his own heartache. 'Excellent.' Ned rubbed his hands together in glee. If you have never been fortunate enough to have one of Ma Bowl's legendary apple turnovers then it would take about four chapters to explain to you how mouth-wateringly delicious they are and how very, very rarely she bakes them. Ned began to have paroxysms of ecstasy, lost in a heaven of pastry, cream and apple. Secret spice? Ginger. Who knew?

  Ned's moans finally brought the others out of their respective funks. Mostly because it sounded like he was having a one man orgy and neither Brogan nor Joe felt like being present at such an event.

  'If that was my father, then Mia must be working for him under duress,' Joe said.

  'And nothing she did was her fault,' Brogan grinned. 'We can rescue her, pardon her and love her forever.'

  'I wonder what he has over her, to make her do what he wants. She never does what anyone else wants – ever.'

  'And she still loves me. Can you believe how lucky I am?'

  'I can't believe she never told me about him. I've been following her all over the place and for what? She didn't even tell him about me!'

  'I need to make a good impression. I need to ask him for her hand in marriage, it's the right thing to do.'

  'I need to speak to him,' they chorused.

&n
bsp; Ned sat back in his chair, amusement flitting around all over his face. He looked like the cat that got the cream and judging by the crumbs on the table before him, he certainly had. All of it.

  'Boys, we do nothing tonight,' Ned said. 'Let's sleep on what we know and regroup tomorrow. If this guy is more powerful than Mia we need to make sure we're fully loaded.'

  'But he's my father, I have the right to speak to him.' Joe objected.

  'He may have sired you, kid, but he's not your father and from the looks of things he wants nothing to do with you.' Ned glanced at Brogan. 'And as for you, Cupid, cool your heels a little. She loves you, you love her. What could possibly go wrong?'

  They both looked glumly at Ned but he didn't care, he was riding the sugar high of his life. Who cared about the withdrawal headache of tomorrow? This was better than beer, better than smokes, better than – well probably not better than that, but he was so out of practice for now it was the best thing that had happened to him in a good long while. He showed the others the spare room. It had two pallets available so they didn't have to top and tail. Ned sat on the edge of his own bed and kicked his boots off with abandonment, not caring where they fell or what they broke. He flopped backwards into his bed and was asleep within seconds. Dreaming of Fourteen and how pretty she looked in candlelight.

  Mia trembled in the throne room. She hadn't thought her father would ever be able to physically follow her here. Yet here he seemed to be. Had he finally managed to escape his prison? Did that mean he didn't need the red rose anymore? Which would be great, seeing as she had lost it.

  Get the rose of love. It had seemed like such a straightforward errand. But on the way here Brogan had been a stupid oaf and allowed himself to be sweet talked by that floozy of a doxie. Well, she wouldn't be sweet talking anyone anymore. Mia had pulled her tongue out of her mouth. With a pair of pliers. She didn't know whether the woman would live and she didn't care. She had been so angry that when she arrived in Roshaven, she had decided to have some fun first. If only she had stolen the red rose her father had asked for in the first place. Now she had to try and explain that she had lost it. It must have cost her father magically to be here, he had never left his prison before. She peered at him sideways, trying to gauge his wells but as always, he was impervious to her senses. Something to do with the family bloodline.

  'How long are you planning to stay?' She asked nervously.

  Her father was pacing around the throne room. 'I like what you've done here. Finally consolidated a position of power. It was forward thinking, a little out of your league but you show promise. However misguided your initial thought process was, the fruits of your labour will bear greatness. Have you destroyed the Emperor?'

  'No, the refuge is still warded. I've been dealing with... something else.'

  'You have failed to kill the person you are pretending to be. Did you learn nothing in Canva?'

  Mia flushed. That had not been her fault. It had been her first kill and the girl was so gentle and naïve, she hadn't been able to go through with it. She had spent several weeks in the box for refusing to carry out that order and she had no idea whether the fragile girl still lived. Probably not.

  'The Emperor is powerfully warded. I was building up a counter spell when things got sidetracked.'

  'You refer of course to sending the hulking barbarian, who is hopelessly in love with you, to the middle of nowhere.'

  'Yes, Father.' Dammit she thought. She had hoped he wouldn't have noticed.

  'I felt the Great Sadness across the miles. It was a good try but lacked the proper power base. Do you know why you failed?'

  Mia shook her head. It looked like her father was on a lecturing ramble rather than a punishment jaunt so she tried to look as interested as possible while thinking furiously about what she could do to rectify the situation.

  'True love has blossomed here. A powerful magic that cannot be swayed by anything we might try. A pity you didn't lay plague to everyone when you arrived. Still I'm sure you thought your methods adequate. Tell me, do you still have the rose of love?'

  'No, Father.'

  The sorcerer's eyes narrowed. 'Where is it?'

  'I sent it to the middle of nowhere.'

  'Then I should send you to go fetch it.' He lifted a hand menacingly.

  'It's too late, someone already went.' Mia broke in hurriedly. 'They returned bringing back love and breaking the Great Sadness. I assume the rose was destroyed in the process.'

  'You should never assume anything child.' The sorcerer began pacing. 'Who are these star crossed lovers that broke the Great Sadness? Something like that takes power. Power I can use.'

  'The Emperor and the thief-catcher.'

  'If you had killed your quarry in the first place instead of wasting your time building a popular rogue in the papers, our mission would have already succeeded. Now we have true love to deal with.'

  'Yes, Father.'

  'Luckily for you I did not need this pathetic rose specifically. My goal was to use its power of love. True love however, that power will sustain me indefinitely and I can finally leave my prison for good.'

  Mia watched as her father began to flicker. His spell was weakening. She tried to hide her surprise, she had honestly thought he was here in flesh not projected in spirit. It had been a powerful projection, he had opened the doors. She tried not to show the relief coursing through her veins, she still had time to get out of here. To run as far and as fast as she could and save Roshaven in the process.

  'Do not think of running, my child. We are blood. I will find you. You can tell your brother that I look forward to reacquainting myself with his gifts when I see him next. He not only boosts you but his father as well, a useful tool to have in times of need. We must be cautious we don't drain him too early.'

  Mia swallowed and bowed her head. There was no getting out of this situation for any of them. All she could do was try to warn those involved and suffer the consequences.

  'You will send the Emperor and the thief-catcher to me. I shall not trust their deaths to you.' He waved a hand and the image of her mother suspended in a cage appeared. Mia's heart ached as she looked at how thin and frail her mother had become. The woman in the cage began coughing, a deep wracking sound that seemed to tear her apart. Blood flecked her lips as she fought for breath. The image disappeared. 'If you want to keep your worthless mother alive, I suggest you do what I say. Or would the loss of one of your own limbs be more motivating?'

  'Yes Father, I mean, no Father, that's not necessary. I will send the Emperor and the thief-catcher to you. I just need a little time.'

  'You have one week. If they are not with me by then, your mother dies and you lose an arm.' He smiled warmly. 'I'll let you decide which one.'

  With that he faded from view, his borrowed power source completely drained. Mia tried not to think what that might have been. An unsuspecting fae more than likely. She hoped it had only been one. What adrenalin there had been coursing through her body had run out and she collapsed in a heap, sobbing. There was no way out. She had to do what he said. She had to.

  Chapter 25

  Joe slept fitfully, he couldn't stop thinking about his sister. He could feel her emotional pain and he wanted to go to her side and make everything better, but he was scared of his father. How was he alive? That fire had been all consuming, they had lost everything and lived in near poverty since. Their mother had never allowed them to use their magic for personal gain, she had always commented darkly on the corruption of spirit that using magic caused. It was one of the reasons Mia had left home at fifteen and why Joe had reluctantly been dragged along. Where possible, he fixed the things she broke but he could do nothing for the High Priestess she had apparently killed. He was worried his sister's soul was now broken beyond repair. At least she still showed a little love and compassion - she hadn't let their father kill him, Ned or Brogan. Fed up with tossing and turning for what felt like forever, he got up. Brogan's pallet was empty. Joe headed down
stairs cautiously, girding himself for an argument.

  'Morning sleepy-head.' Ned had absolutely no idea why, but he was feeling cheerful. Seeing as happiness had decided to try and start the day off, he thought he'd go with it and enjoy the experience.

  'Morning,' muttered Joe. Brogan was sitting with an enormous stack of pancakes in front of him. Despite everything, his tummy rumbled in anticipation and it was with pathetic gratitude that he slid into an empty chair and accepted a similarly piled plate.

  'It's the only thing I can cook,' Ned said as way of explanation. The three men sat in harmonious silence while they methodically polished off their respective stacks. 'So, what's the plan?' Ned asked, scraping his plate clean.

  'I need to help my sister.'

  'I must save Mia.'

  'Thought so. I think we ought to go and speak to her again but with a little firepower in our corner this time,' Ned said.

  The men all turned as a huge bang reverberated in the kitchen. Jenni and Momma K appeared. Momma K looked even smaller and more delicate than she did in her own realm.

  'You owe me big for this, boy,' she said.

  'Yes, Momma K.'

  'Where's my sugar?'

  Joe thought Ned was going to kiss the diminutive sprite but instead he reverently placed a large sugar bowl in front of her. The fae glowed with pleasure and settled herself in front of the sugar cubes. She may or may not have been eating them. It was difficult to tell without staring and Joe felt that staring might not be the best idea. He vaguely remembered his time in Momma K's realm and that she was not a person, individual, fae, to be crossed lightly.