Chapter 4
Roses and Thorns
"Okay, I think that's all of them." Emmett sighed.
"No, wait, there's one more." Ayden said, pulling the last thorn out of his shoulder.
"You know? I never really liked roses," he admitted, twirling one between his fingers. "And now I know why."
"Oh come on. One bad experience with them and your willing to give them up forever? That's a little harsh, don't you think?"
"Harsh or not, I think my 'point', isn't exactly 'pointless'. And anyway, they are always used for signifying love or some other such nonsense." Emmett answered.
"I see your point." Ayden said, holding a particularly sharp thorn close to her face so she could see it better. "But you know, different color roses mean different things. For instance the yellow one means friendship. The white one means innocence or silence. They all have several different meanings. The red one also means courage and respect. All you have to do is look a bit closer at things and they will surprise you. Sure, it's not always a pleasant one. But it's a surprise all the same."
"Ha-ha, alright. I wont give up on them completely…just yet. But I swear, if I find one more thorn on me, they are history."
"Suit yourself." She said. Jumping to her feet, she grabbed the flower out of Emmett's hand and started picking the thorns off of it while twirling around as if dancing. "I'm partial to the yellow ones with the red tips myself."
"What does that one stand for?" Ayden didn't answer right away. She had her eyes closed and was remembering her first rose.
It was the night William had proposed to her and he had taken her to a dance. He gave her a single rose. While they were dancing William had whispered in her ear,
"The yellow stands for our friendship. That could never be broken no matter how hard anybody tried. And the red tips mean that I believe I have fallen in love with the most beautiful person in the entire universe. And she is right her. It's this wondrous creature that I am holding in my arms." Then he bent his head down and kissed her more passionately than he ever had before. But it was a kiss that people could see and think that they were nothing but a sweet, innocent couple in love. No one thought, "Get a room!" when they saw that kiss. They were envious that their partner didn't kiss them like that.
"You will have to figure that one out for yourself," she finally answered.
"Suit yourself," he said, copying her.
Emmett watched her twirl around for a moment then got up.
"If you don't mind, I think I'm going to see if I can find that breakfast that got away from you."
"Ah! You were the one that made me miss! If you weren't such a klutz I would have caught it!"
"Sure, sure. What ever stops the tears."
"Be nice, you're injured," she said, making fun of his puppy dog face he had tried on her earlier.
"Oh, no. I think you have that backwards. The injured don't have to be nice. It's the uninjured that have to be nice to the injured."
"Sure, sure. Whatever stops those tears! Now if you don't mind, I am going to see if I can find my arrow."
"Okay. Oh and do you mind if I get some things from your bag? If you have anything worth using in there that is," he shouted after her.
"That's fine!" she called back. "Just don't hurt yourself, and only get the things you know how to use!"
Rolling his eyes, Emmett went over to her bag. Looking inside it, he saw something that completely surprised him. This girl actually owned a dress!
Pushing that aside, he came to a box that had an assortment of knives in it. All shaped differently for the different types of prey.
Pulling out a shorter, more blunt one, he headed out into the woods in search of things he could use to make Ayden's fish taste better.
…
Finding her arrow stuck in the rocky bed of the creek, Ayden returned to her previous spot. Hoping that the commotion that had happened earlier hadn't frightened all the fish away for the day, she stood waiting.
Finally, her patience paid off, and an even larger fish than before came swimming idly up stream. Taking careful aim, she threw her arrow and finally caught her breakfast.
Picking up her prize, Ayden marched proudly back into camp, only to find that Emmett had already created a fire and had a broth simmering over it.
"So you are a cook?" she asked, eyeing the pot over the fire.
"Well, yeah. Kind of. Not really. Just, well…sort of. Aren't you?"
"I never really had the chance to learn. Willow's mom was a great cook so I guess I just took it for granted that I would always have good food. My dad was also pretty good at it."
"Who's Willow?"
"Hmm? Oh, Willow was my best friend that I stayed with when my dad died."
"Oh okay. You hadn't mentioned her name before so I was just a little confused."
"Yep, that's Willow."
…
Two weeks passed uneventfully before Ayden had the courage to ask Emmett about himself.
"So, now that you know all about my past, what about yours? I know nothing about you."
"Well my story is nothing like yours. I never knew my father. My mother was an excellent baker and did it as a living. She died though, three years ago; she had always been sort of sickly. So I took over my moms business and watched over my sister, Aria. There never was a girl around there for me. But all the boys absolutely loved my sister. They thought she was something else. She had her sights on one of them, but she would always blush real hard if I started talking to her about him. But that is my story. Not very exciting."
"You know, if you want, we could try to find out why your town was attacked. I mean, we have nothing better to do."
"Well, I don't know. I don't think I really want to know either."
"It doesn't matter to me. But I just thought you might like to actually be doing something. Something other than just sitting here."
"Yeah, I guess. I just don't know if I can go back there." he shuddered.
"Did the horses have anything on them? Or did the men shout anything like, 'In the name of so and so, I kill you!' or something along those lines?"
"Well that's the thing. I was half asleep. My sister was just killed. I wasn't really paying attention to details at the moment."
"I understand. But maybe if we go back, we can figure out who did this."
"You seem pretty eager to go."
"I'm so tired of running and hiding. I'm tired of having to relive my past over and over in my dreams. I want to do good. Do right. Can't you see that, Emmett? My past scares me. I hate it; it haunts me. I have killed so many people. I want to do something right for a change. Something that will help, not destroy."
"I get what you mean. But what if this doesn't help me. Ayden, what if this destroys me? Did you think about that? Okay, what if it was someone in the town that had caused the attack? Hmm? What if it was someone I knew? How do you think that would make me feel? Sure, it might help…but it could also destroy."
"You're right," she sighed. "I didn't realize how different endings would effect you. I'm sorry."
"Well, you know what we could do if you are all itching to be the hero? We could go try to right the wrongs you did. We could try to find Willow and explain why you disappeared. We could find some of the family members of the people you…um, well you know."
"Yeah, but what if they don't want apologies? What if they want revenge? And Willow. She might not understand. I left without a warning. The last time I saw her was when she was in her maid of honor dress at my wedding. The next thing she knows is that her cousin and her best friend has disappeared. I don't know if she knows William is dead yet, but she probably does. And by now she thinks that I killed him and that her best friend is a wanted murderer on the run. I don't know what I would do if she tried to turn me in or something."
"Well you never know until we try, now do you?"
"No, I guess not."
"Good! Then it's settled. When do you want to start out?"
"Well first of all…first of all where are we?
"My town was called Fantôme Cheval."
"Ghost Horse?"
"Yeah. When the town was first started, the man who founded it said that every night, you could see a horse standing on the same hill. There is a ledged that goes with the town. It says that a traveler by the name of Pier was looking for a place to settle his family. One night it had suddenly gotten chilly and foggy. Pier was ridding his horse through the fog and didn't see the edge of a cliff. The horse started to slip, but jumped up just in time to keep from falling. Unfortunately the rider fell over.
The founder of the town said that the horse that he saw every night was still out looking for his rider. And he said that if the wind blew just right you could still hear Pier calling for his stallion, 'Rentrer á la maison Minuit Sombre! Rentrer á la maison á Marie!' or in English, 'Go home Dark Midnight! Go home to Marie!' Dark
Midnight was the horses name."
"Wow. That is really cool. Is that story true?"
"I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."
"Do you speak fluent French?"
"Oui, mademoiselle. Ich spreche auch Deutsch, e Italiano."
"You are a man of many words. Aren't you?
"Si signora, io sono."
"Okay, you kind of lost me at the last part of that. And what was that second language you spouted out?"
"Ha-ha, ah German. And I said, yes lady, I am."
"Wow, right. You are going to be my official translator from now on."
"Geldbuße von mir."
"But, only talk in English to me."
"Alright."
"What was that you said?"
"Fine by me."
"Oh okay. So…if we are near Fantôme Cheval, and Willow lives in L'eau Douce Vallée, then we should be a couple weeks away on foot. But we should probably freshen up before we go anywhere."
"She lives in Sweet Water Valley? I've always wanted to go there.
They are supposed to have the sweetest water in the world…hence the name, I guess."
"So that's what the name means, Sweet Water Valley."
"You've lived there half your life and you didn't know what the name meant?"
"Well no, not exactly. I was never really good at languages."
"Pitiful excuse. Anyone can learn."
"Yes, but not all of us want to. Anyway, if we want to find Willow soon, I suggest that we find a semi large town where we can freshen up and try to change our appearances. I for one am a wanted murderer, so I must change my looks before they start hanging up wanted signs."
"What do you plan on doing?"
"Maybe dye my hair and get a couple of newer dresses. Mine is rather wrinkled and I look kind of conspicuous in black clothes. And you, my friend, need a bath."
"Fine. The nearest city is Cité d'Émeradue. We can find a hotel and…wait we don't have any money."
"Speak for yourself. Working for the king, I got paid. And I usually kept my money on me. I was ready for anything. And I got bonuses. Well, Rupert didn't exactly know about that…he gave me money to use for my traveling, but I never used it except to buy some food occasionally. I would sleep in the woods, sharpen my weapons at the castle, and my clothes came from there too, so I was set. And I got to keep a lot of extra cash that way."
"Okay, so now we have money. But what do you plan to do? Waltz into a city looking like a couple of runaways? That's not going to go over very well."
"Don't worry, I have a story. I always do."
