The Thorn

Chapter Seven


Glamoured to look like another kitchen worker, Elyon goes in first, her eyes glued to the floor and the shadows rushing across it. The angle is bad, though, and they're not very distinct. That could be a problem...

Subtly, the light shifts, and the shadows lengthen. Looks like Phobos thought of that problem first.

"What are you doing just standing there, girl? There's a spill over there and someone needs to clean it up," one of the women snaps at her as she brushes by, probably noticing that Elyon has just been standing there for a minute.

"Uh, sure." Elyon rushes over, still keeping her eyes on the floor. Good thing it was her who went in- Phobos would probably have a fit and totally blow their cover if someone tried to give him an order.

So far everyone looks normal. Come on, a creepy old hag who looks like the very cliche of a wicked old witch shouldn't be that hard to...

There it is!

The shadow is right at the other entrance to the kitchen...the one that leads out of the castle. Elyon points in that direction, hoping Phobos can see, and the door slams shut.

The woman who had been trying to leave startles and turns around, feigning nervousness. She's familiar...isn't that Trill? Except not really, she's the sorceress who tried to kill them. Twice now.

She hasn't been noticed yet, so Elyon edges closer. A lot of the cleaning supplies are near the door, so she moves towards those first, putting her hand on the brooms. But she watches the imposter out of the corner of her eye. She must have the jewel on her, but where?

"Not so fast, princess. Quintessence."

Elyon chokes. For a moment she's afraid she really did sip some of the poison, but no...a string of drying herbs hanging from the ceiling has twined about her neck, cutting off her air. Her fingers grapple at it, trying to get underneath...

What the hell. She has magic. She uses a spell to slice through the cord, and while it creates a small nick on her skin as well, the pressure around her throat vanishes.

Elyon lunges for the sorceress, but the broomsticks fly off from the wall and knock her over. What the-

Servants are screaming as every object in the kitchen seems to come to life and attack. She glances back to the doorway, and every knife in the room is trained on Phobos. Elyon tries to use her magic to pull them away, but they're unresponsive, as if they have a life of their own.

They fly towards their target, and Elyon screams.

But Phobos summons a shield, and they clatter against it uselessly, flying in all directions away from him. A servant screams, but it looks like all it did was scrape her shoulder. "All of you, get out of here. You're in our way," Phobos yells to the servants, and steps aside so they can obey him and flee the area.

"Oh, not you, sorceress," he says, coming further into the room. "I grow tired of your presence in my kingdom. Show your true form."

Trill smirks, and her shape changes to the wrinkled form of the sorceress. "So rude. Whatever happened to royal etiquette?"

"That's now two former servants of my mother's you've disguised yourself as," Phobos says, ignoring her taunt. "I wonder, have long have you been in hiding in Meridian, waiting for a chance to steal its heart?"

Looking her up and down, Phobos chuckles. "I'm amazed you didn't die of old age first."

While Phobos is busy taunting her, Elyon keeps her eyes on the prize. The jewel containing the stolen heart is clasped tightly in her gnarled hands, but her attention is away from Elyon right now...

"I always considered doing away with you as a child to be too great a risk to my cover," the sorceress says coldly. "But I really should have. I doubt they would have investigated very diligently, anyway, and at least I wouldn't have to do this now."

Lightning arcs towards Phobos, and Elyon takes her chance.

But the sorceress slides out of the way of her slicing spell just in time, and rather than slicing through the cord of the jewel, it harmlessly passes through a lock of her hair.

"You two really are a thorn in my side," she hisses. "I'll be dealing with you soon."

She raises the jewel, and a portal forms in front of her. She vanishes into it, and the portal vanishes again just as quickly, leaving them no time to pursue.

Elyon makes a sound of frustration, but holds herself back from just screaming. "Damn it! We were so close."

Phobos comes closer, and Elyon looks down. She hadn't exactly done great, had she?

But he walks right past her, leaning down and inspecting something in the spot the sorceress had been standing. He rises, a lock of silver hairs in his hand. "It seems that something came of this debacle, at least. With these hairs- a part of her body- it will be possible to create new wards to keep her out. This time for good."


The halls are absolute chaos. Servants rush back and forth, and Nagadir presses herself against the wall, hoping to avoid the crush.

"Battle..."

"In the kitchen, of all places!"

"Is the princess all right?"

Cleaning that up's going to be a chore and a half..."

Nagadir tries to catch someone's eye, but it's impossible. "Excuse me..." No one hears her, and, feeling terribly rude, she reaches out and snags a scullery maid's sleeve.

The girl twists around, her large ears flat, but eases as she sees who has detained her. "Can I help you, Lady...?"

"Nagadir. I'm Princess Elyon's maid."

"Oh, of course! Lady Nagadir. I'm so glad to see that you're safe and were well away from all of this."

"Pardon me, but what is all of this? Do you know what happened?"

The girl's eyes are wide. "Oh, it was awful, my lady! Someone tried to poison the king, and it was...it was Trill! Only she wasn't herself at all, she was-"

"Trill?" Nagadir interrupts, her blood running cold. The tea tray...

"Yes! And she used magic and attacked-"

"Where is Princess Elyon?" Nagadir interrupts again.

"I think their highnesses are both in the throne room..."

The girl's voice vanishes behind her as Nagadir rushes off. Damn the palace for having such long hallways and so many stairs. Her chest burns, lungs pressing up against her corset, but she can't slow down. Uncaring of decorum, Nagadir hikes up her skirts, and when she makes it to the throne room she practically rams into the doors.

All eyes are on her, King Phobos himself and Lord Cedric looking particularly irritated, but Nagadir has eyes only for the princess, who rushes to meet her.

"Princess Elyon," she gasps. "The tea tray I brought you this afternoon...did you eat or drink anything from it?"

"No, I... It was cold when I woke up. Nagadir..." The princess is white as a sheet.

Nagadir could weep. "Oh, thank goodness. I just heard about Trill, and...and she was the one to prepare that tray. Oh, thank god." Nagadir sinks to her knees, and tears are in her eyes now.

"Go to the princess' room and fetch that tray now." She hears the king snap to one of the guards. Now his eyes are on her, cruel and unrelenting. "You didn't think to test it for yourself first before bringing it to the princess?"

"No, your highness," Nagadir sobs. "I should have, but it never occurred to me that someone would..."

"Give her a break," the princess snaps. "If she'd tried it, she might be dead now."

"Perhaps she knew it was poisoned," Lord Cedric hisses. "And now she's come begging for forgiveness in the hope of keeping her cover."

Nagadir wants to speak to defend herself, but she can't seem to stop sobbing. Oh, why did she ever think it was a good idea to come to the palace...

There are gentle hands on her shoulders. She looks down in shock at the princess, kneeling before her. Her hand brushes against something in Nagadir's hair, and she holds it up- a white flower. Had she bumped into one of the plants while running in here? That was so foolish, the punishment for that could be...

Far less serious than the punishment if they believe she was involved in the attempt to poison the princess.

"Believe her now?" the princess says. Ignoring the two men, she smiles down at Nagadir. "You bumped right into the truth telling flowers."

"Oh..." Nagadir can't speak.

To her shock, Princess Elyon embraces her. "It's OK. No one was hurt in the end."

Princess Elyon takes her hands and helps her up. Seeing Nagadir's shivering, she keeps one arm around her in comfort. Her sobs subside, but she keeps her eyes to the floor, ashamed of the spectacle she's made.

The guard returns and relinquishes the tea tray to Lord Cedric. He and King Phobos both examine it. "Talus steel as well. This was part of the same poisoning attempt," the king surmises.

"I'm so sorry," whispers Nagadir. "I'll test everything myself from now on, I..."

"While your concern is touching," the king says, his tone saying anything but, "that won't be necessary. Our enemy won't be able to return to the palace again. And she would be unlikely to try the same method twice."

"Come on, Nagadir," the princess says, "it's getting late. Let's get you to your room, OK?"

While she lets the princess lead her out of the throne room with relief, Nagadir can't help but protest. "But Princess Elyon, I should be attending to you..."

"You're shaking like a leaf. Don't worry about it tonight. I think you need someone to take care of you."

"T-thank you, princess..."


"This way, your highness."

Raythor leads them further into the dungeons, his shadow still his own but casting grotesquely against the wall thanks to the dim flames of the torches around them. His sister, whose only experience with prisons is one of roses, shivers and steps closer to him.

Why she insists on accompanying him, he still doesn't understand. This morning at breakfast she had picked at her food, consuming none of it, and when he received word that the food taster had survived the night and made plans to interrogate him himself, she'd followed along without a word.

"Seems a shame that the bastard survived," Raythor says conversationally, an undercurrent of anger lurking underneath. "Would have been a fitting way to die, taken out by his own poison. Begging your pardon, princess," he adds, belatedly remembering that Elyon had been the one to request he receive medical treatment.

"I didn't know he was involved when I asked for him to be treated," Elyon says evenly.

"Course not. Well, here we are," Raythor says, unlocking the door. "With the way the rebels operate, chances are any information he has is already out of date, but..."

Lying weakly on a pallet on the floor and still weak from the effects of the poison, the prisoner is hardly a flight risk. At their entrance he startles, laboriously forcing himself into a sitting position but unable to rise further. "What do you want, Phobos?" he spits out.

Raythor snaps at him to show some respect to his king, but Phobos pays it no mind. He's well aware that to the rebels he is merely a usurper and not even worthy of the respect normally afforded to one's enemies- let alone a member of the royal family.

"Well, for starters, I'd love to know how long my own food taster has been working for the rebellion," Phobos says silkily.

The man spits on the ground. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Perhaps his tongue needs loosening," Raythor suggests.

No, torture is frightfully inefficient and messy. Phobos contemplates skimming through his mind, but that can also be a messy ordeal when delving beyond surface thoughts and into the depths of a man's consciousness. But perhaps...

"It may be in your best interests to share whatever information you have...given that your co-conspirator also attempted to poison Princess Elyon," he says, gesturing at his sister, who has been standing behind him nervously.

The prisoner looks at her in shock. "What...but Trill has been a part of the rebellion for so long... Is this true, princess?"

"Yes," Elyon says, her voice trembling slightly. "She sent up a tea tray to my room that was poisoned. If I'd eaten from it, I would have been dead by dinner."

The man looks stricken. "I'm so sorry, princess." He bows his head down to her. "Please, you must believe that I would never do anything to cause you harm..."

"But you did try to kill my brother."

"That's... Your highness, that's a different matter entirely-"

"Yes, we've heard it all before," Phobos interrupts. "I'm not here for a diatribe on my tyranny, I'm here for information. You can even keep your fellow rebels safe. The only one we want to know about is Trill, and she is certainly no rebel."

"You heard about the sorceress who broke into the palace, right?" Elyon asks him. "She was disguised as Trill."

Digesting that, the rebel asks, "But then where is the real Trill?"

"Probably dead," Raythor offers from the doorway. "If it were me taking someone's place I wouldn't want to leave 'em hanging around as a loose end."

"I spoke to her once," Elyon says. "I didn't realise it at the time, but she was very careful to make sure I never got a look at her shadow. The sorceress has probably been posing as her for a while..." Her eyes are distant, probably thinking of how their enemy had also posed as the mage. "I wonder how long she's been hidden in the palace?"

She'd taunted him, speaking of doing away with him as a child... How long had she been here, indeed? Were these women she disguised herself as ever even real, or simply creations of her own? But surely the mage at least had served his mother for far too long to be an imposter...

There will be time to contemplate this later. For now Phobos turns his attention back to their prisoner. "It appears that you weren't very useful after all. But since my sister asked me to save your life, it seems a waste to end it now. So I hope you enjoy the rest of it- in Cavigor prison."

Phobos takes his leave, savouring the stricken expression on the rebel's face. The man had probably been expecting the executioner's axe, which is after all the appropriate punishment for treason such as this. However, a life spent in the dank hole that is Cavigor is far more appropriate and lasting a punishment.

He expects his sister to follow him, but instead she lingers behind.

"While I thank you for your kindness, princess, I think perhaps it would have been better if you had left me to my fate," the rebel says weakly.

There's a long pause, and then his sister's voice rings out coldly: "Yes, it would have."

Elyon sweeps from the room, and for once his uncouth sister from Earth looks every bit the picture of royalty- her back stiff, posture perfect, and her face cool and uncaring. She meets his gaze, and only then does her expression soften, melting into the face of the sister he has come to know.

She comes alongside him, and he leads her out of the dungeon.


Quick Author's Note

I forgot to mention when I uploaded the last chapter that I've actually gone back and edited the previous chapters of both The Thorn and The Rose! The major changes in the Thorn were to chapter five, where Elyon and Miranda talk- in the updated scene, it's made clear that Miranda does not in fact know Elyon and Phobos' secret (honestly, he'd probably kill her if she did).

The Rose received some major updates to chapter one, with a lot of the scenes where Elyon and Phobos discuss their family history being edited. I'm starting to think that most of the continuity errors in WITCH are related to their family- specifically, Phobos and when he came to power. I could probably write a whole essay at this point on the continuity issues, but I don't want an essay in the story notes. (The comics are worse, with a scene in the fourth story arc implying that Phobos was still a toddler when Elyon was born, which makes absolutely no sense.) What I went with in the Rose is that Elyon was born when Phobos was fourteen, their mother died of some illness and transferred her powers to Elyon before dying, Phobos plotted to take her powers but was kidnapped by Galgheita first, and he continued acting as his missing sister's regent and escalated quickly into a full-blown tyrant as the people of Meridian objected to his rule.