Rell and The Rose

Ch. 26, The Darkest of the Night

Lorcan

"My Prince, perhaps it would be best if you came back with someone more equipped to handle this?" Smender worried his hands, glancing up at the dark tree limbs that seemed to claw and reach down towards us.

"I am the Prince of Darkness. Who exactly do you think is more qualified?"

He muttered at this, and I laughed.

"Don't be nervous, Smender, We're almost there anyways."

The journey had been longer than I'd supposed, and strange. First, Poxel had shown up, overcome with worry that Rell had disappeared. Rell was many things; stubborn, brave, incorrigible— but to disappear? Not once in all our years together had she disappeared when danger was afoot, in fact, it was far more likely she went towards the trouble, or had caused it herself. I'd given him a shapeshifting charm, along with specific instructions should he stumble into the Human Realm accidently, as dragons seemed to apt to do, and then sent him to find her. It would allow him to assume the shape of other creatures, with the caveat that no matter the creature he became, he only had the same amount of strength he now possessed in his small body.

But stranger even than Poxel's sudden arrival was the lack of dark creatures we'd seen on our way... It was as if they had all suddenly disappeared.

Or had moved into another realm.

A cold wind blew across the land, throwing up swirling gusts of snow higher than the pines. The cold didn't bother me, but Smender shivered so loud I could hear his teeth chattering. But if I was going where I thought I was, I was going to need him.

"I don't think I can go any further," he moaned as we passed beneath two enormous black oaks. He opened his mouth to speak again, but I held up an arm, silencing him.

"We're here."

It was as if the forest were suddenly quiet, the life beat that pulsed through the land afraid of this place. Even Smender held his breath, and stared at the immense wall of thorns suspended between the oaks, before he whispered, "What is this place?"

"The Blood Garden." There was a terrible beauty to the wall of thorns. Within the shades of black and grey, were traces of another color, one that many of the Dark Realm had never seen, did not even had a word for.

Green.

"They're beautiful." Smender reached out a hand.

"They're cursed." He jerked his hand back.

"Cursed, my lord?" His voice trembled.

"Yes, so be careful not to touch anything."

I made my way carefully into the thorns, and a cave-like opening parted before me as the thorns shifted and shuddered, the noise like wind howling or fire crackling, reluctant yet obedient to my claim as their ruler. I stepped inside, Smendle following close. We walked further, and I forced myself not to turn as the thorns closed in behind us, casting us into even deeper darkness. Finally, I sensed the deep pulse of lifeblood, a quickening vien that ran through the magic, tempting me to reach out, to stroke the leaves, to prick my finger upon a thorn and lend it my blood...

No.

I touched nothing.

Instead I kept walking until suddenly the thorns cleared, and an enormous stone pedestal rose above the ground, with steps that wove around it, the top high above us. On the side, a poem was chiseled deep in warning. Though I'd heard the tale of the first Dark Queen many times, still I paused to read it, the same way my mothers always had, like some sort of respectful homage.

On the darkest night of winter,

Three knocks rang upon the castle gate,

And revealed an ugly woman,

Marked with years of hurt and hate.

The King spurned her without knowing,

He shunned the first Dark Queen,

Come to see if those of the Human Realm

Where wicked as they seemed.

She revealed her power in a flash of lightning

And he begged her to forgive,

But instead she cursed his inward heart,

A Beast to forever live.

She saw the humans there were born from hate

And could never love those of the dark,

So she fed the ground with her own blood,

And birthed a rose to keep the realms apart.

Touch tho not, the rose that separates

The realms of dark and light

Lest you become the Beast,

The darkest of the night.

Smendle mouthed silently, still reading the poem, but I pushed ahead, climbing the stairs as they wrapped around the stone. They grew more narrow the farther I walked, until the last bit where I had to flatten myself completely against the stone, and pull myself up onto the flat ledge.

My heart pounded blood in my ears, a terrible sinking feeling in my chest.

The stone was empty.

The rose was gone.

No, not completely. I stepped forward. Laying on the stone table where the rose normally stood was...

I wasn't entirely sure what it was.

It was almost like a necklace, but with thicker, fabric like material that was shiny and bright green. I picked it up; the material was smooth. There was a tiny, sort of metal hook at the end. And written in white letters through the green were the words: Shadowglen High.

What in the name of darkness was a Shadowglen High?

A high, feminine scream tore through the glade, and I ran to the edge of the pedestal. A expanse of water stretched out on the side, a deep, slow-moving river, and on the shore a girl with dark hair screamed again as a gargoyle dove towards her.

I ripped off my jacket, then launched off the stone ledge into the water beyond. 

(Shout out to -CliffhangerQueen- for the awesome banner!

All the best, 

Hannah)