THE ROSE BOOK // A NOVEL

CHAPTER 14.2

"They traveled back in silence"

By the time Honey and Dai finally got back to the camp, the vagabonds had risen, cooking breakfast over a smoldering fire and passing around strangely colored fruits . Several vagabonds offered Dai and Honey food and Dai accepted a couple of dark purple apples. Honey took a couple of slices of something that looked like a melon but it was bright blue.

Everyone in the camp was so happy it seemed strange. The bright colors and exotic food was unlike anything that Honey was used to. But she couldn't say that she didn't like it. In fact, she preferred this to whatever shreds she possessed back home. 

Dai walked through the camp smiling and speaking to the vagabonds like old friends as he headed in the direction of his golden tent. Dai walked over to the tent and at first, Honey thought he was going to enter it. But instead, he kicked one of the stakes out of the ground, causing the whole thing to come crashing down.

At once a flurry of cursing came from inside.

"So he was still in there," Dai said, smirking, as Lukas emerged from the remains of the tent, dark gray eyes blazing. "That's for drooling on me."

"I didn't-" Lukas began but only wiped the drool from the side of his mouth and Honey couldn't help but smirk. He did drool in his sleep. "You were the one who made me stay in the first place," he snapped, shooting an accusatory glare at the Mutare.

"Don't remind me," Dai said with a shutter. 

"You're more fun drunk," Honey commented, earning a golden-eyed glare. "What's the plan for today?" she asked. "More rest? Moving again? The Rose Book's not going to find itself."

Lukas picked himself up from the fallen remains of the tent, dusting the dirt off of his humbling outfit. "We should probably keep moving," he said. "But keep your voice down about the Rose Book. We don't need everyone in the Wild Woods knowing exactly what we're doing," Lukas said, glancing around at the trees as though they might whisper his secrets to the next person who passed.

"And how are we doing that?" Dai asked. "The wagon's gone."

"We'll just have to walk," Lukas said. Both Honey and Dai made a face, causing Lukas to scowl. "This is a quest. It's not all wagon rides and Dai you run through the woods half of the time."

Dai clicked his tongue, crossing his arms and muttering something under his breath. "And what about me?" Honey asked. "My legs weren't exactly built to go trekking through the wilderness," she said, gesturing to her short limbs.

"I'm not either," Dai said, mimicking Honey's action.

"I'm sorry you two are short," Lukas said, rolling his eyes. "It's not my fault neither of you got enough vegetables to eat as a kid."

"I ate all of my vegetables!" Honey snapped. "I just... take after my father," she said. Her larger shoulders and more stocky form was clearly from her father, though she often envied her mother's long and willowy limbs. She was beautiful. But Aldwin was the one born tall and lanky, with hardly any muscle at all.

They were all mismatched at birth.

"I wish I did," Dai said.

"What was your father like, Dai?" Honey asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Dunno. Probably tall," Dai said. "I mean, my brother's a lot taller than me. So I think he's tall too."

"You didn't know him?" Lukas asked, suddenly sounding curious.

"Nope," Dai said.

Lukas looked at Dai with pity. "I didn't... know my father either," he said, slowly. "He's up there," Lukas said, pointing towards the sky.

Honey frowned, squinting. All she saw was the sun. But Dai nodded as though he understood exactly what Lukas meant. "I don't... see anyone," she said. "Is he dead? And like in the heavens?" Honey asked.

"Not exactly," Lukas said. "My mother is the Balance Goddess but my father is the sun," he said. Honey's eyes widened as she recalled the story Dai had told her. "But mother had to trap both Sun and Moon in the sky so they wouldn't destroy the world." He sighed. "Moon had created something. Something he wanted to use to destroy mother."

Dai rolled his eyes, as though this story bored him.

"Moon wanted an heir to his wicked throne," Lukas said. "So he tried to breed chaos. An end to all life," he said. "It was my first mission to kill this abomination to nature."

"So saving the world is just a daily thing for you, isn't it?" Honey asked.

Lukas smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm a god. It's my duty to keep the balance."

"Gods destroyed balance that day," Dai said, cutting in. Lukas and Honey both turned to him, glaring. He was trying to pick another fight. "In the heavens, there are twelve gods," he said. "The Balance Goddess, the six children of Sun, and the five children of Moon," Dai said. "You are an unbalanced power, Lukas," he said, very simply.

"Excuse me?" Lukas asked.

"I have to wonder why you even still exist," Dai said, pressing his lips together in thought. "It's not like the Balance Goddess would hesitate in killing her own children."

"She wouldn't-" Lukas cut himself off as the Mutare's words reached him. And how truthful they were. Lukas's mother would do anything to keep the balance, including killing her own son. "It doesn't matter," he snarled instead. There were some things better left as secrets. And Balance's love for her children, or utter lack thereof, wasn't something Lukas wanted to discuss.

Especially with Dai.

Honey swallowed. She didn't like the expression Lukas was making as he clenched his fist and turned away from them. "Come on," he said. "We've wasted too much time in this place already."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thanks for reading and happy july!