The Assassin's Rose Trilogy:
Part 2:
Or Maybe Paint Them Green
Crowley sighed. It had been three days since Ranger Will's murder and no one had seen hide nor hair of Halt. Being the head of the Ranger Corps at this time was not fun, as he was now receiving threats from the Rangers themselves. It was understandable, the Ranger Corps was a tight nit group, but not excusable.
They now called the murderer 'The Rose Assassin', simply because there was a rose and maybe a cruel message at the site of every murder. He sighed again, and thought back to the first victim. Pauline. Halt was crushed, but there was Will to help put him back to his feet. But with Will gone… He sighed a final time (he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately) and got up to get ready for Will's funeral.
It was a somber affair, with a sea of mottled green cloaks. Alyss and Jenny silently held each other. Horace stood alone, looking to the horizon, as if this was just another mission and Will would come up over the ridge, with Tug neighing greeting. King Duncan was there, looking slightly lost himself. For all intense purposes, he had lost the two best Rangers in the kingdom. A hush fell over the crowd as he began to speak.
"Were all gathered here today to honor a fellow Ranger. Will Treaty started out with nothing, and became something we all hold dear. An orphan to hero. I can't say much else, Will wasn't one for speeches."
The crowd chuckled a little at that. Suddenly there were two familiar thuds! Longbows! Suddenly every Ranger sprang to action, bows drawn. There were two heavy thuds on opposite sides of the clearing. Sounds that were all to familiar to the Rangers. It was the sound of bodies falling.
Halt grimly set his jaw. He had monster who killed his son and wife in his sights. But she had him in hers. He suddenly knew he wouldn't make it out alive. But that's alright, he thought dully as the arrow pierced his chest, I killed her.
And he did.
For the next hundred years.
The Rangers found a note on the shaft of the arrow.
Paint the roses red.
Or maybe paint them green?
But it all starts with a white rose to paint the roses red.