Black Rose (4 page)

“I’m
here,” he answered. Jake remained silent as the two Captains laid upon the bed,
drowning out the laughter in the synchronized beat of their hearts.

Yet
even as the sound faded, a vision of the young girl appeared. Dressed in a gown
of blue satin, she stood upon the stone steps, Edward’s hands holding hers.
Soft music filled the room as the two bodies swayed slowly across the stone
floor. Edward twirled the girl around the room to the beat of his heart.

Mara
lifted her head and glanced down at Edward. His chest was covered with blood. 
She jumped, violently jerking her body away from his. She wiped her eyes,
struggling to clear the vision. “Mara?”

She
glanced down in a daze. She tried to smile, but could not bring herself to form
the lie upon her lips.

“Mara.”

“I
am glad you are safe, Edward.”

“Mara,”
he said again as he looked towards her, but his gaze faltered when it grazed
her violet eyes.

“Still…”
The single, bitter word spoke volumes. He did not look up. “Forgive me, my
Lord.  I must go.” She walked towards the door.

“Mara!”
he again called her name.

She
stopped walking, but did not turn to face him. “I will always come for you,
Edward, mi amor. But I just…can’t.” She waited several moments. When no reply
came, she continued forward and walked out the large doors.

Jake,
who had been standing against the wall throughout the exchange, ran forward,
exiting right behind her. “Captain!” His voice rebounded against the grey
stone. “Mara!” He switched to her first name. “It was centuries ago. It was…”

“Did
you hear her laughter?” She turned to face the Sub-Captain, who gave her solemn
eyes. “Edward did.”

“And
you just let him go?” King Mathew asked from his silver throne in the center of
the brightly lit chambers, the large windows filtering sunlight from every
direction. He was less physically imposing than many of the men who stood by
his side. Though tall, he was rather slender. His eyes were pale grey and
matched his long-sleeved shirt which was closed with silver buttons and
cufflinks. His hair was a blond more silver than gold.

Captain
Regald knelt on one knee before him. “I am sorry, my King. He was taken while I
was away.”

“And
the guards just let him leave? I want every man who stood between the gate and
the dungeon punished.”

“For
what, your Majesty? It was the Captain of the Black Rose Guard. No one
questions her.”

“Mara?”

“Yes,
my King.”

“Mara
came herself?”

Regald
nodded. 

“The
Black Rose hasn’t played a hand in centuries.”

“Well,
I would say that they did so today.” He paused for breath. “Forgive my
bluntness, your Majesty. What did you think was going to happen? You had to
know Mara would come for him.”

“Did
I?”

Regald
eyed the King carefully. “You and I both know that this had nothing to do with
the Black Rose. Harming Edward? You knew that she would come.”

“After
six hundred years?”

Regald
considered remarking further, then wisely decided to keep his thoughts to
himself.  Instead, he simply stated, “It doesn’t matter why she came, your
Majesty. Only that she did and that it would be unjust to punish those who
observed her authority, considering it is exactly what we teach them to do.”

“I
suppose you are correct. However, I want to see the guard responsible for
actually allowing them to leave.”

“Forgive
me, but Nolan left with Captain Mara. I imagine he intends to take the Oath of
the Rose.”

A
stiffness entered the King’s features. A scowl crossed his lips. Several
moments of silence passed before he finally said, “I suppose there is little
that I could devise which would result in a punishment as cruel as that.” The
King shook his head. “Attend to your duties, Captain.”

Regald
stood from his kneeling position on the white marble floor and walked quickly
from the room. As he passed down the various halls, another guard called his
name.

“Captain
Regald, Lady Sandra is asking for you.”

“I
will go to her chambers,” he replied. He turned to his left and headed down a
different corridor. The walls were painted bright blue, lined with the
golden-framed portraits of elegant men and ladies of past eras. When he came to
Sandra’s large wooden door, he knocked gently.  Moments later the door
opened and he entered the chambers beyond.

The
room was large with walls painted in the same royal blue that filled the
hallways. Lady Sandra sat before a huge fire on the far side of the room in a
gown of deep green velvet. A leather-bound book sat in Sandra’s lap, which she
closed at his entrance. “My Lady,” the Captain said to the future Princess.
“You asked to see me?”

“Yes.
I want to know more about the man who was being punished. Who is he?”

“He
is the Captain of the Ciar Royal Guard.”

“Yes,
but…I want to know more.”

Regald
moved toward a large couch which stood across from her and took a seat upon the
cream colored cushions. “Edward has served as Captain to the Ciar Queen,
Clarissa, for roughly twelve hundred years. He has trained more members of both
the Arum and Ciar Guard than anyone. He also trained several members of the
Black Rose.”

“Including
Mara?”

Captain
Regald tilted his head and leaned slightly forward. “You know Mara?”

Sandra
tensed and moved to cradle her head in the palm of her left hand. The vision of
a tall woman with long black hair and violet eyes flashed before her. Then just
as quickly, it vanished. “She is the Captain of the Black Rose Guard, is she
not?”

“Yes,
my Lady.”

“I…”
She wracked her brain, but the image refused to return. “No. I suppose I do
not.”

“Well,
her identity and position is far from a secret.”

“Sometimes
I know things and I am not sure why.”

“It
is to be expected. We know that your memories are scattered at best. Remember,
my Lady, I am the Guard who found you.”

Sandra
remembered little before waking up in the wings of the Arum Court healers. She
had been found severely injured, wandering through the forest. She had almost
no memories of her past. 

“I
saw him,” Sandra confessed to the man who had spent the past two hundred years
watching her from afar, as though finding her had somehow made him responsible
for her safety. She had been grateful for the watchful eye, and upon becoming
engaged to the Crown Prince, had shyly asked the King if he could oversee her
protection detail. The King had consented and Regald had spent the past few
months splitting his time between and the King and future Princess. 

So
it was to Regald, and not her fiancé, that she offered her confession. “I saw
him.  Edward, I mean. I saw him, or at least…I think I did.”

“Saw
him?” Regald questioned. “Do you mean…you remembered him?”

“Yes.
No. I’m not sure. It was like a dream. Only it was more like a nightmare. What
she did to him was…it was so awful.”

“She?”

Sandra
turned her gaze back towards the bright yellow flames. “There was a woman in a
rose garden.” She shook her head. “No, there was a rose garden, and then there
was a woman in a room of stone the color of obsidian. She was hurting him.”

“A
rose garden?”

“Yes,
full of red and violet roses.”

“Red
and violet? Are you sure?” 

She
nodded. 

“The
Court roses have not bloomed in those colors for centuries.”

Sandra
closed her eyes and searched her memories. She found only darkness.

“I
need to see him.”

“My
Lady.” Regald cleared his throat. “Captain Edward is no longer here. He has
been returned to his court.”

“The
Black Rose came for him, didn’t she?”

Regald’s
eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

Sandra
shook her head and turned her deep blue eyes on the Captain’s. “I don’t know.”

Nolan
knocked on the door to Mara’s borrowed room, down a few hallways from the
Captain’s chambers. “Come in,” Mara called from behind the silver stone. The
door opened with a soft click and Nolan quickly entered the room. Mara was
seated in front of a large mahogany desk, reading over a small stack of papers
scattered in front of her. An unmarked bottle of a clear spirits sat on the
edge of the desk, half empty from the looks of it. 

She
read to the end of her page, before raising her head and glancing towards her
visitor. “What can I do for you, Nolan?”

“Captain
Mara,” he began. “I have watched you over the years, and tales of your Guard
are legendary.” He knelt down in front of her. “I humbly ask to join the ranks
of your service, my Lady. I would like to join the Black Rose.”

Mara
stared at him from her seated position by the desk. “Tell me, Nolan. How old
are you?”

“Forty-seven,
my Lady.”

Mara
nodded in thought. “That makes you, what, eight hundred years younger than I
have been Captain of the Rose?”

“Yes,
but you were younger than I when you were named a Sub-Captain.”

“Tell
me, have you ever been in love? I am not talking about a one night stand or a
generic girlfriend, but rather, a real, true once in a lifetime love?”

“I
thought I was once or twice. But it wasn’t with the right girl.”

Mara
eyed him critically. “If you join the Black Rose, you will never find her.” She
turned to her drink and took a long, deep sip.

“I
don’t need to fall in love, Captain. I would rather serve the realm.”

“Serve
the realm?” Mara said sarcastically. “What do you know of service? You, who
have lived in the realm of peace bought by the blood of Roses?” Her speech
slurred as she stared into the eyes of the younger man.

“I
am brave. And I very much want to join your ranks.”

Mara
glanced down at the silver rose embroidered on her black shirt. “I suppose,”
she said slowly, “that we seem majestic to you? The feared Order of the mighty
Black Rose. The slayer of daemons, procurers of Kings? Is that how you see us,
young Lord? Are we glamorous, mystical, majestic as the Knights of old?”

He
drew a deep breath before answering. “I see you as the protectors of the realm,
my Lady.”

Mara
gave a harsh laugh. “The Black Rose does not defend, Sub-Captain Nolan. We are
not saviors - we are killers. We do not protect; we destroy. We are glorified
assassins and the best at what we do. Look at you with your pretty, idealistic
eyes. Almost thirty years of living and still as optimistic as a child.” She
poured more of the clear liquid into a thin glass and drained it dry. “The
Black Rose destroys the soul of all it touches. It betrays every moral,
standard, value, and person you have ever held dear. I have done things, Nolan.
Things you can’t even imagine. And for that, my soul burns in the fires of
Hell, while my body still breathes.”

Mara
refilled her glass and took a long, slow draft before turning her violet gaze
back upon the younger man. “You want to serve the realm? Then marry a kind
woman and teach your children to dream of a world where the Black Rose is no
longer needed. A world where I am condemned for my crimes, not honored for
them. A better world, Nolan. One where someone like me will never again see the
light of day.”

Without
knowing how to respond, Nolan rose from the floor and walked towards the silver
door. As he stepped out into the hallway, Mara’s voice cut through the space
between them. “Nolan.” He turned back towards her. “Tell Captain Edward you
want to serve under him. I will use my authority to sever your vows to Regald.
Serve him well. Then we will see if you still desire to become a member of the
famous Black Rose.”

Mara
walked along the crystal sand of the fabled beach, the waves crashing softly in
the gentle ocean breeze. The water was the deepest blue Mara had ever seen. The
sky was clear, not a single cloud in the pale sky. She inhaled deeply, tasting
the salt on the tip of her tongue. Her white cotton gown swirled around her
body, and her long hair blew behind her brushed back by the soft ocean wind.
Mara knelt down, running her hand through the warm, golden sand and then looked
up, gazing out into the blue sea where the water broke in white waves along the
edge of the beach.

“Hello,”
whispered a small voice. She turned her head to face the young boy who had
walked up beside her. His bronze skin was kissed lightly by the sun, and his
short blond hair blew in the wind. He wore a pair of leather pants and a white
shirt that buttoned up the front with small, sapphire buttons. Her gaze
traveled up to view the boy’s young face, and she found herself staring into a
pair of blue eyes; eyes the color of the sea, with a touch of white running
through them as though the waves of the ocean moved gently within his azure
gaze.