The explosion that sent Rose flying into the ocean seemed like it had lasted hours when she knew for a fact that it could only have been a few seconds. But from the shock that sent her flying though the air, to the sounds that made her ears ring, and the force of her body hitting the water, Rose could swear it had been a lifetime before her head sprung up from the ocean water and gasped for air from the salty sea.
Her eyes burned as she tried to focus on the beach front, her ears still deafened by the explosion as she saw a flying blur careening through the air and blasting the beachfront with a lighting blue blaze that made Rose gasp outloud.
"ROSE!" she could hear Hannibal yowling at the top of his lungs "ROSE WHERE ARE YOU?!"
She sputtered and quickly tried to wipe the water from her eyes as her other hand waved violently to signal she was in the water.
"I see her! Carrion I see her!" Hannibal shouted and before Rose could think Longwei swooped down and latched on to Rose's body with his mighty claws. Rose clung to Longwei's black scales, her lungs coughing out the seawater that had lodged itself in her throat as she stared up to where Hannibal and Christopher were riding on top of Longwei.
"What was that?!" Rose finally got out as she refused to look down at how far up they were.
"Mercenaries for hire I'm suspecting" Carrion answered with a shout "I don't know how they found us but someone at the hospital is a spy for Motley!"
"So are we still going to Nully?!" Rose shouted, terrified that she had almost been killed just then.
"Too risky!" Carrion answered "We need a place that we are sure not to be found!"
"And where in the hell might that be?!" Rose shouted back.
"Hoobarookus might work!" Hannibal said hopeful.
"A place full of pirates?! I'm highly doubtful" Christopher said, his scoff heard loud above the whipping wind around them.
"If it's full of pirates maybe we can buy our way to someplace safe!" Rose yelled.
"And with what money?" Carrion asked.
"I've got money!" Rose yelled "Hereafter money! We can use it!"
Carrion thought for a moment before he kicked his heel to the left and sent Longwei north towards the swampy Hoobarookus.
"Hopefully you have enough" Carrion said as Longwei bellowed out in excitement at the prospect of actual safety from the sunlight. Although dragons loved the sun for short amounts of time, it was well known that a dark and damp cave beat any dry Day cave.
As they flew to Hoobarookus Rose watching the clouds glide below her, the fear of how high they were still tight in her belly, but none the less she couldn't help but admire the view of the beauty of the ocean.
Although Hoobarookus was at one in the afternoon, it became more cloudy then the nice clear sky of Orlando's Cap as the sea dulled to a dark gray that made Rose think of the sea back home right before it was about to storm.
"We are here!" Carrion shouted "Hold on tight!"
Longwei flew low to the ocean before turning quickly towards a rocky cliff where a nice dark cave seemed just right for the dragon to settle in. Rose admired how strong but graceful Longwei was as he landed so gently that Rose felt like she landed on a cushion rather than a scaly claw.
"I don't think we were spotted" Christopher said as he hopped off the dragon "Thankfully the rainy season is now and the cloud cover is thick."
Rose only nodded as she swayed slightly before being swept up against Christopher, his hand cupping her chin as he looked her over up and down.
"Are you alright?" he said gently as he stared into Rose's eyes that had turned a hot shade of blue at his touch.
"I think so" Rose said unable to break away from his eyes "I landed in the water..."
"I saw" Carrion said staring right back at her "I thought..."
"I'm hungry!" Hannibal exclaimed suddenly "And I smell food!"
Rose blinked away as her eyes broke contact with Carrion's.
"I do smell something amazing" Rose said huffing the air.
"Hoobarookus is known for it's food" Carrion said "But we need to make sure that nobody notices us. I thought Orlando's Cap was secluded enough, but I was mistaken. We need to think as if Motley's spies are everywhere, no matter how safe we might feel. Understood?"
Rose and Hannibal nodded, Rose wondering if this would how it would be, constantly running away from Motley. There must be a way to stop her surely? Her mother had done it twice before, she was sure she could find a way as well. Maybe if they found the book that Christopher had spoken of...
"Here take these" Carrion said handing both Hannibal and Rose dark cloaks "The Tarrie Cat needs the one with the bigger hood to hide his ears."
"Why doesn't Hannibal just shrink down in size?" The less of a crowd maybe the less we are spotted?" Rose thought.
"Hey! Don't try and blame us getting caught on me now!" Hannibal said crossing his arms like a child.
"I'm not saying that at all" Rose said "But I think the less people have to look at, the less we get noticed. And I'm sorry Hannibal, but a Tarrie Cat boy is pretty noticeable."
"Fine" Hannibal said sulking "But promise me you'll sneak some food in your backpack for me to eat."
"I will don't worry" Rose said opening her sack as Hannibal shrunk down and hopped in it. Rose collected his clothes and folded them nicely against where Hannibal sat impatiently. Rose could feel her stomach grumbling too as it loudly complained. The noise echoed in the cave and she quickly looked over at Carrion in apology.
"Sorry, guess it has been a while since I last ate" Rose said putting the backpack on and the cloak over it.
"Then let's get you fed" Carrion said as he adjusted his sword to his side and began walking from the cave.
"Bye Longwei! Be good while we are gone okay!?" Rose said waving as the black dragon settled nicely on some damp rocks and snorted a goodbye at them.
Carrion shook his head with a small smile. It was almost adorable the way the girl talked to his beast, knowing that if Longwei had the notion, he could swallow her whole without even thinking. But he had noticed that the dragon simply tolerated the girl, his mannerisms calm and gentle around her when he could easily have acted out otherwise.
"Christopher?" she suddenly said as she walked up beside him.
"Why do you keep calling me by my first name?" he suddenly snapped.
"Oh! Uh" Rose said as she looked away sheepishly, her eyes turning a soft green "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to. I'm so used to just calling someone by their first name. I guess if you were older I would add a Mr. or something like that. But you don't look too older than me, so I think that would be weird."
Carrion stopped and thought about her words. For so long people had called him Carrion, or My Lord, only his grandmother had used his first name. For someone like Rose, someone who was the complete opposite of Mater Motley, it was strange it him to be called something so personal. But did it really offend him?
"Forgive me" he said shaking his head "I'm not used to being called by my first name. Even your mother called me Carrion."
"I'm sorry, if you want-" she began.
"No, it's...pleasant when you call me Christopher" he said hesitantly "I do not dislike it. As long as it's just you though that calls me it."
Rose couldn't help but feel her face flush at his words. He was after all handsome, and to hear practically anything gentle towards her would make her feel shy and excited at the same time. Sure, she had boyfriends before, only a few though. But none had really looked at her like Carrion...Christopher did. It made her chest seem to tingle, and she feared she would get attached to someone that did not care about her like she had done so many times before.
"Alright" Rose finally said with a smile, her eyes now cornflower blue "As long as it doesn't bother you."
Carrion seemed to nod as they made their way towards a town, although town was a little generous in description to Rose. Many houses with shingled roofs were soaked from the oncoming rain as lights glared out from the mist of different taverns where Rose could hear many people shouting. She knew pirates could be loud and boisterous, even dangerous and crude, but with Christopher here she felt at least a little more safe than she would had she come to this place be herself.
"Where are we going?" Rose asked as a few passerby's quickly skittered by, trying to avoid the rain as much as possible.
"The Crunchy Kiss" Christopher said ahead of her.
"The Crunchy Kiss?" Rose said with a bit of a laugh "What kind of name is that?"
"It's one of the more prominent taverns on Hoobarookus. I have a acquaintance there were we might find some shelter and some food" he said turning down a alleyway.
"Food sounds great" Rose said feeling the biting of her stomach grow the more they walked. Finally a sign with a large mouth and what seemed to be furry lips and sharp teeth hung brightly lit against the rainy alleyway.
"We are here" Christopher said holding out his hand to Rose "Be sure to stick close to me, and keep your head down lest someone see your eyes."
"Oh right" she said forgetting that she had an unnatural characteristic that would surely be noticed even by the drunkest of customers. Rose took his hand and brought herself close to his body, happy to be near his warmth from the coldness of the air.
Rose tilted her head down and pulled the hood past her nose to avoid anyone sneaking a peek at her face before Christopher opened the door and the bustle of the busy tavern was heard all around them. Rose tried to steady her breathing, her heart panicking and her eyes surely a bright yellow of fear and alertness to the noises around her. She could hear Carrion talking to somebody close by and soon enough she was led past the crowd and up a few stairs to a more secluded balcony. A door opened and Christopher quickly moved inside and shut the door against the roar of the tavern below.
"Captain Samson I am pleased to introduce to you the Princess of Day, Rose Quackenbush" Christopher said before gently removing Rose's hood as she stared up at the bear of a man before her. Captain Samson was at least six foot seven, a giant even next to Christopher himself, and a burly one at that. His chest was barreled out against thick arms that crossed over with serveral tattoos that Rose couldn't even begin to take in there were so many. His face though was round, a deep auburn beard surrounding a plump nose and squinty eyes that smiled down at her. It was only a deep scar that ran down his eyebrow and against his temple and cheeks that made Rose realize that this man was indeed a force to be reckoned with.
"Pleased to meet you my Lady" Captain Sampson said with a quick bow "Smither A. Sampson at your service."
"Captain Samson was a friend of mine growing up" Christopher said with a small smile towards Rose.
"At least in this lifetime!" Samson said with a deep chuckle "Cho only knows that you've been Lazurused up at least four times now!"
"Lazurused?" Rose said as her hands went to undo her cloak.
"Yes my Lady" Samson said as he clapped Christopher on the back "Carrion here has been resurrected more than my Aunt Phan, and she's close to 300 this year!"
"I think you are being generous" Christopher said, his voice almost shy as he looked away from the two "Your Aunt Phan was at least a 100 by my first Becoming."
"Interesting" Rose said "So you can bring people back from the dead?"
"Back from the dead! A'zo,! You could bring back someone's spirit as long as there's a body to put it in!" Sampson laughed at Rose.
"Then why didn't someone do that to my mother?" Rose asked bluntly.
The two men suddenly got quiet as Captain Sampson looked to Carrion to answer that difficult question.
"Because there wasn't a body, or a spirit left to do it" Christopher said darkly "And even if one could, bringing people back from the dead doesn't always end well."
"What he's talking about is Princess Bo-" Sampson started before a sharp look from Carrion stopped him in his tracks.
"I uh, better fetch you something to eat then eh? Mary's cooking up a storm downstairs, so I'm sure there is plenty for the two of ya" Sampson said making his way out of the door quietly, leaving Rose and Christopher staring at one another.
"Why do you keep doing that!" Rose hissed at him as she walked towards him like she was a snake about to strike.
"I don't know what you are talking about" Christopher said looking away hard as his eyes focused on the bed within the room.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Rose said "Why do you keep withholding things from me! If you can't trust me then we aren't going to be able to-"
"We aren't going to do anything" Christopher suddenly said, the tone of his voice taking on a harsh tone "The minute we arrive at Yebba Dim Day is the moment you will leave my company for good. There you will be safe with the one that your mother should have had protect you all along."
"Fine by me!" Rose said as her hands flew up in the air "Maybe then someone will actually tell me what the hell is going on instead of acting like a petulant child!"
Christopher sighed in frustration and sat on the bed as his hands pinched the section between his eyes.
"If anyone is acting like a child it is you" he growled.
"Me?!" Rose said "Your the one that's always acting like someone has spit in your face! You have no idea what I've been through! My entire life I have been alone, even when people were around me I have never felt like I was normal! And now, now I'm here in this amazing world and all I want to know is who the hell I am and you won't let me! You want to keep me in the dark and I'm sick of it. I want to know who my mother really was, I want to know why she gave me away!" Rose said her eyes now stained dark gray as tears welled down her cheeks. Exhaustion and hunger had made her ragged, and now on top of Christopher acting like this towards her, well...it was just too much to handle.
She needed to breath as she stomped away, her hand grabbing the handle before taking a deep breath and turning to Carrion, her eyes flashing brick red in anger.
"It must be nice knowing exactly who you are, even if it's a prick like you" she sneered before darting out the door and out in the hallway.
Christopher stared at the door, the hollowness in his chest growing the farther and farther away Rose got from him. Her words had stung him like a knife, the hopelessness, the anger and frustration coming out with each syllable. He had misjudged her, had thought that she would be better off knowing that she was a Princess and that is all. Isn't that what most women wanted? To know that they were higher and better than most?
"What do you know of women?" the dark voice said inside himself "The only women you have known have either hated you, tricked you, or haven't felt the same for you..."
"Quiet" he tried to tell himself. That voice, the voice that he had back before Candy, back before his transformation into the new monster he was now. Sure, she had changed his face, gave him a new start, but the memories were still there, memories of that scarred face, those hollow eyes. And his heart that seemed just as black as it was back then. How could he have thought, even for a moment, that she would see him as anything but what he always knew he was...
"You should go talk to her" Hannibal suddenly said as he hopped his way out of Rose's bag she had left on the other side of the bed "Ladies shouldn't have a reason to cry like that."
"What good would that do?" Carrion said shaking his head.
"It could do a lot" Hannibal said "After all, she was the one that wanted to help you initially."
"What?" Christopher said surprised as he turned to the tiny cat who began cleaning himself of the salt water.
"She saw that cook refuse you, she wanted to give you something to eat. Even after I told her not to, she still did what's right. She seems to have a habit of doing that" Hannibal said as he looked towards Carrion "Maybe you should take a cue from her."
Carrion sat there and contemplated the Tarrie Cat's words. In talking to a female, he had little experience. Since Candy he had seen them try and twist and turn words into something else, trying to gain and get higher in status through him. He did not trust them, the only one he had trusted had broken his heart...
"Carrion" Hannibal said "Are you going after her or should I?"
Christopher made a decision then, and stood silently as he walked to the door. Maybe he should take after Rose...that fire in her eyes, the way her words slapped him like lighting to his skin, she was more like the Queen then she realized. Maybe then...she would see what her mother saw in him, even if he himself didn't know what that was...
