Arthur looked in dismay upon his precious rose garden. He had done his best to prune away at his rose bushes to keep them neat and orderly, but the red and white roses in particular kept growing out of their confined shape and sprawling across the garden. Meeting each other in the middle, they clashed.
Red and white.
White and red.
If Arthur closed his eyes and listened closely enough, he could hear the sound of swords clanging against the steel of armour plate. He could almost see the red blood pooling around the pale white skin of his people. Red and white, fighting against each other for supremacy. Feeling a sudden bout of weakness, Arthur tore his gaze away from the warring roses and hurried back inside his house.
Red and white.
White and red.
Arthur returned to his garden a few weeks later. The most predominant colour that could be seen was red. His white roses were huddled in a corner, defeated by the swarm of red petals. However, as Arthur looked closer, there was one white rose amidst the sea of red; intertwined with a single red bloom.
"Good evening, Sir." A voice with a feminine lilt reached Arthur's ears, causing him to snap out of his trance that the roses had ensnared him in. "I understand that you are one of my husband's advisors." Arthur looked towards the woman and recognised her as the sister of his former King, and wife of his current one, Elizabeth.
Arthur dipped into a low bow muttering, "My queen," humbly before answering Elizabeth's previous statement. "Yes, my lady, I suppose you could say I am one of Henry's advisors."
Raising an elegant brow in response to his relatively vague answer, Elizabeth turned instead to the roses. "They are beautiful, are they not?" she murmured, her eyes seemingly drawn to the entangled white roses residing in the far corner. "It seems, however, that the red have taken over." Elizabeth added, with only the slightest hint of sadness.
Arthur nodded before adding, "Yes, but those white roses will not be easily taken over. Their roots run deep. The red will have to overcome many difficulties to remain supreme."
Elizabeth's face hardened slightly as the literal meaning of Arthur's words became clear, before once again clearing her face of all emotion, putting on a blank face of neutrality. "We shall see my Lord. Excuse me." Arthur bowed in farewell as his Queen departed, followed by several hand-maidens who had been dithering at the garden entrance.
Arthur sighed as he once again looked upon the chaos of his rose garden. "It's going to take a while before it's back in shape," Arthur muttered, before picking up his slightly rusted pruning shears.
Red and white.
White and red.
A/N This is kind of like a prologue to a series of one-shots that will be based upon rebellions throughout the Tudor period, which I am writing in an attempt to make revision for my A-Level more interesting. However, I understand that not everyone will have studied Tudor England, so here are some notes to help with the historical references.
RED AND WHITE ROSES- The relevance of the colours of the roses is that red roses was the sign of the Lancastrian family and the white rose was the sign of the Yorkist family. In 1485, at the battle of Bosworth, Henry VII (a Lancastrian), fought against Richard III (a Yorkist) for the throne. Henry won, making him King.
'SISTER OF HIS FORMER KING'- In 1483, Edward V became king. However, as he was only 12, his uncle ruled in his place. There were rumours going around that Richard had murdered the young boy along with his brother. Elizabeth was sister to Edward V and the other prince, Richard Duke of York.
THE RED AND WHITE ROSE INTERTWINED- This symbolises Henry's marriage to Elizabeth. Henry, a Lancastrian, is the red rose and he married Elizabeth, who was a Yorkist i.e. the white rose.