I Made a Mistake- the Winner of Chapter 7's Question: paradisegurl101

Last Chapter's Question Winner: NO ONE! Oh jeez. Com'on peoples!

Question of the Chapter: What famous actor starred in the movie Troy as Achilles?

Hint: He is mentioned in Part IV of my fiction 'The Drabbles of Random Deaths.'

Nevermore

Chapter 9:

Finding Roses of Life Part II

Artemis opened his eyes. He was a bit queasy. He waited patiently for his vision to clear. The first thing to come to him was a blurry image of Isis puking her little vampire head off. Her long braids were tangled in a frenzy. Andrea was sitting cross-legged on a stone with her eyes closed. She seemed to be thinking. Qwan was just waking up as Artemis did a few seconds earlier.

He stumbled over to Andrea looking around at the setting. He could breath- it supported a good atmosphere for him to live. Therefore, sustained life or was able to sustain life. The ground did have grass, but a strange fuzzy moss type plant. It wasn't green either. It happened to be blue. A wonderful shade of blue. I was very calming.

A few strange plants were here and there. One was bright yellow and quite pretty. Artemis thought it looked like a mix between tulips and daisies. Todaisies or dulips, as he called them.

The sky was a light purple, and the clouds were just a little white haze. It looked as though a sun was out, but seemed very far away although it was warm. Stars danced across the sky, and a planet very close to this one was visible. It must be dangerous to have a planet that close. Artemis thought. It was too big to be a moon or some sort of satellite.

Your mind is always wondering, child. A voice said to him.It wasn't very hard to guess who it was. Everyone seemed to be crawling over to Andrea now. She opened her eyes. It really was a land of beauty.

Without words, she pointed to something in the distance. They all turned to see what she had pointed at. High walls build with care- carvings all over it- pictures of beings and animals. Plants even. At the top of the walls, there were vines and tall green trees peaking out. Once Artemis and the rest got closer, they realized that there were trees of all colours.

A garden with every colour imaginable. There was an old gate- it seemed to be made of gold. The group got closer until they faced the gate. Isis pushed open the huge gate with ease. Artemis took one step inside. Nothing happened. There was a path at their feet. It was made of a very rare-looking stone and marble.

They walked on the ancient path stunned to silence. The sights of all the alien plants, cravings and huge walls were enough to make anyone speechless.

"The Trojans…" Artemis muttered to himself, his mind never leaving out a detail. These walls reminded him of the walls of Troy, which everyone thought could not be breached. The Greeks made a wooden horse and the Trojans took it inside their walls thinking it was an offering to the gods. At night, while the people of Troy were sleeping, a battalion of Greeks came out of the horse and burned the city down.

Of course it was just a myth, but many people believe that Ilium, an ancient city in Turkey was in fact the legendary city of Troy.

"That's right mud boy," Andrea said, her gaze held steady, "the people who used to live in this planet were very fond of Earth. There are still some people on this planet, but not many. They had visited Earth many times before they went to war with that planet there." Andrea pointed to the planet that was deathly close to this one.

"They liked Turkey most of all and yes, they helped the Trojans build their walls. They build this garden in their honour, with the walls to protect them and a golden gate to be a symbol that this garden was sacred."

"But where is this sacred vine? There are vines all over the walls that have roses on them!" Isis asked stiffly.

Artemis took the floor for this question. "Since this is a sacred garden, all the vines must be sacred. All we're looking for is the particular rose."

"Exactly!" Andrea said excitedly. Andrea was always passionate about what she did. Everything about magic and the universe compelled her to learn more. She was good at what she did.

As if on cue, a vine stood before them. A vine with golden roses. The three looked at Qwan and he went up to the vine, reaching his hand out. He touched the rose. Nothing happened. He plucked one gingerly from its home. He was about to retreat back to the group when Artemis spoke.

"Qwan, could you take a few more?" he asked. They just looked at him.

"Why?" Isis asked.

Artemis looked concerned. "For later." Artemis's children might not always have fairy life times and he needed them, just in case. Qwan took five more. Artemis wasn't sure if he and Holly would have five or more children, but for sake of his future children it was necessary.

As they exited the Trojan memorial, they took their time to look at the wonders of the garden. While the others weren't looking, Artemis picked a flower. It was out of this world. Out of our world, that is. Just like she is.

It was a rose, but wasn't an ordinary rose. The stem held no thorns and it was black, with a dark purple at the tips of the petals. A perfect rose.

As Artemis thought tenderly of home, Isis was eager to get to their next destination.

"So where is this 'Ruckus?' " she asked.

Andrea looked at her confusedly, "Ruckus?"

Isis sighed and quoted the riddle from spell, "To shed thy own blood with Ruckus' knife. Ringing any bells?"

Qwan was listening intently, Artemis was half-listening and Isis was getting angry. Andrea ignored all of them. She seemed to be thinking hard until she remembered. Andrea hurriedly took out the book and began to flip through the pages. She had read the book front to cover. Her father wrote the book while he was working as a servant for the king. She remembered a journal entry that said something about Ruckus. Here! Yes, she found it. Andrea began to read with her eyes moving like lightning.

I have had the most horrible day. The king had a feast set up for a guest- the Ambassador of the planet of Werantan 27. He is a very nice fellow. One of the chiefs had made a mistake on the dishes. The King was more furious then I had ever seen him. He was shouting orders and the Ambassador looked quite displeased was the actions of our 'great King.' He began to throw the dishes at the wall and ordered for someone to clean them up.

Guess who was the only maid that hadn't something to do? Me, of course. I spent all night cleaning the walls, and only two hours later did another maid come to help me. As for the poor chief, the King's head guard ordered him to death. In two seconds, his neck was snapped. Quick, painless and clean. Oh, thank God it was clean! I could not even imagine cleaning up the blood.

The Ambassador was trying to make him stop. They are good friends.

"Ruckus," he scolded, "you're being ridiculous!" I'm just glad it's over. All that scrubbing was tiring. I will go and rest. Only God knows I bloody well deserve it!

-Texon Xandimontte

Andrea knew who Ruckus was. Andrea knew what to do. She was going home.

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(Shannon arrived as if on cue) I would like it if you'd review! Three please!

LE GASP! Who is this Ruckus? All for you to find out… in the next chapter! Until next time…

Your Evil Authoress,
Shannon