Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Circle of Magic, all rights belong to the wondrous author Tamora Pierce.

Summary: What if Briar had not been saved by Niko? Instead, what if he went somewhere where not even the plants could comfort him? Rosethorn must come to his rescue, but could she be too late?

Not Where I Belong

Chapter One

In Hajra, port city of Sotat:

It was a bright and sunny day which would have made the young thief quite happy, seeing as his working conditions were not too wet to work in. Plus a lot of the wealthier citizens of Hajra would be in the market enjoying the nice weather and spending money. Very easy for the pickpocket to nab a few purses and bring them to the Thief- Lord.

Instead, the boy, who was known as Roach, was sitting in a prison cell with the rest of gang, waiting to be sentenced to either the docks, the mines, or the galleys. You were to work at your assigned job for the rest of your life. Life that wouldn't last very long. Under those working conditions Roach knew that you would probably die within two years. Unless, that is, you managed to escape, which was highly unlikely.

The heavy footsteps of the cell guard headed down the hall to where Roach and his street rat gang was being held. The man stopped outside the door and looked at a list in his hand. "Weevil. Viper. Alleycat. Dancer. Slug."

Roach growled under his breath softly. Slug was the one who had gotten them all caught in the first place in a jewelry shop. The man had caught the whole gang that day and now he was here in this cell, never to see it again.

"... Turtle. Cheater. Roach," the guard's voice called out. As each name was called that boy looked up. "On your feet now, let's move it," the man said. All the boys rose to their feet and headed out the cell door. Roach was determining if her should make the guard come and get him, but decided otherwise when the guard cracked the whip he was holding.

Roach followed the rest of his pack up the stone steps into the bright sunlight. By the time he reached the top he was sweating slightly. The guards, a second had joined the first, had made them jog up the steps with the whips being a painful reminder to one who stopped.

At the top of the stairs the whole gang was lined up to see a woman in the gray robes of a magistrate seated behind a long table. Civilians in normal street clothes testified against the accused while clerks took down notes of what they said. Roach paid no heed to it, instead thinking of what fate awaited him. He gently tried to rub the two black "X" tattoos that were on the web of skin between the thumb and forefinger of each hand. The first time you were caught you received an "X" and then were sent on your way. The second time followed suit. As for the third, it was then you were sentenced to work.

A pair of strong hands picked up Roach and dropped him in front of the magistrate's table. Roach bit and clawed as best he could with his hands bound in front of him. "Hands," ordered the magistrate. The guard slammed Roach's hands down on the table revealing the two "X" tattoos that marred the boy's skin. Without even looking at the face of the boy she was sending to his doom, instead only looking at his hands, the woman said simply, "mines." Roach was shoved into a holding pen, and kept there waiting to go the dangerous mines.

Roach had a nagging thought in the back of his mind, something was telling him that going to the mines was not where he wanted to go. But, since he was only the criminal, he couldn't quite argue. So, to do what he could, Roach sent a death glare at the magistrate from his gray-green eyes, loathing for where he was to go.

At Winding Circle Temple, in Emelan:

"You did WHAT!" yelled a dark brown eyed woman in a green habit. "You didn't get him?"

"Rosethorn, listen to me," the man with the graying hair said, "I tried to get there. But I got held up Summersea for a few extra hours. By the time I got there the trial was already over."

"Didn't you even think to ask where they sent him Niko? They must have some idea of where he is."

"I did ask Rosethorn. But no one can just sense a Plant Mage from a gang of street rats. And we don't even know his name, if the boy even has one. How do you expect me to find him? Go around to every dock, mine, and galley in the blasted country? We'll never find him. For all we know he could already be dead!"

"That is still no excuse Goldeye! If he is alive, those power need tamed before he accidentally kills some innocent person!"

"Please, both of you stop yelling," interrupted a calmer voice, "it is late at night, everyone is tired and needs rest, and we do not need to wake the -Girls!" Three heads were peeping around the doorframe all intently listening in on the conversation of their elders. At the sound of the voice that told that she knew of their presences all three girls stepped into the room clad in their nightgowns.

"We are sorry Lark," all three girls said in unison while looking at their feet.

The blonde haired one looked up and said looking down at the three adults over her small nose, "We couldn't sleep, not with Niko and Rosethorn yelling. We just wanted to know what was going on."

"Oh Sandry," sighed Lark, "we are sorry for waking you. I apologize to you two as well, Tris and Daja. We should have kept our voices down," she finished throwing a slight glance at the two feuders.

The tall dark skinned girl, named Daja spoke up. "If you wouldn't mind, what were you talking about?"

The slightly plump redhead piped up, "you make it sound like you lost a plant. But in a human form."

"That is somewhat correct Tris," replied Niko, "as all of you know, I found the three of you and brought you all to Winding Circle. I was supposed to locate a plant mage in Hajra, but got held back in Summersea. The boy has disappeared, and seeing as he was a street thief to begin with, we have no records of his name, or any relatives."

"So what your saying," continued Sandry, "that we won't be able to locate him at all?" "But what about the X's?" questioned Daja. "Shouldn't he have been let go back into the city? Unless..."

The only male in the room sighed. "That's the problem Daja. He had already been caught twice. So he is not in the city anymore, in fact we have no idea where he could be. As I said before, he could already be dead. No one survives long after they get put to work, no one."

A mine center in Sotat:

Roach had been shoved into a waiting wagon with a few other boys three hours back. Thus they had begun the dusty journey to their new "home." When the six boys exited the wagon at the driver's request, all that could be seen was dusty barren earth as far as the eye could see. Along with that was a gaping hole which led to the mines as well as a few ramshackle buildings for the miners to sleep in.

Roach's normally bronze colored skin and raven black hair had a ghostly appearance to them from the dust the wagon had kicked up along the trail. From the looks of it, everyone looked something like a phantom. A large man came over to where the boys were waiting being covered in a new layer of dust as the wagon turned around and headed back towards Hajra.

"So these are my new recruits," the man said making his way over to them. "My name is Mister Sir. And if you do not address me as Mister Sir, you shall be punished. Understand?"

"Yes Mister Sir," chorused all the boys excluding Roach.

"And what about you Boy?" said Mister Sir bending down to look into Roach's gray-green eyes that were currently more of a stormy gray. "Why do you not answer?"

"Why should I answer?" answered the boy with his own question. His response was met with a backhand to the face. Roach looked up from where he was on the ground and with a nonchalant smile continued speaking by saying, "that's the best you can do?"

A muscle at the man's temple bulged, he was clearly irritated. He reached over to where Roach was sitting on the ground and picked him up by the rope that bound his hands together. Breathing hard the man spat out, "If you do that again, you will regret being born boy." He then threw Roach to the ground and stomped off.

The boys all followed, no one bending down to help Roach up. 'Of course,' he thought, 'out here it is you against everyone else.' Roach struggled to pick himself up and follow his new roommates into a building that was marked in peeling letters as Cabin Five.

The room held six cots lined up against the wall and nothing else. There really wasn't a use for anything else, for once you got caught the third time, you weren't allowed back to wherever your headquarters were to retrieve any personal items. Not that Roach had had any. His daggers had been taken back in Hajra so he had nothing except the clothes on his back.

'Except,' he remembered as he reached into his pocket, 'these.' These were a small handful of dead flowers that Roach had stolen from gardens and other floral areas. They had been alive when he had plucked them, but staying in his pocket had made them wilt. Although, there was still a bit of life in them, but it was slowly starting to fade.

The boy looked at them all fondly, especially the wilted red rose. He had had to climb over a fence into a Bag's garden to get that one, and from the top of the fence had gotten cut on some spiky plant growing on it. He really didn't know why he was so attracted to flowers, that kind of thing was for girls. But yet, he had still been drawn to the green growing stuff since a young age and nothing was going to change that.

"Look at that guys," shouted a boy who looked about Roach's age and Roach had figure out that his name was Snake, "Look! The kid is carrying around flowers!" He was pointing at Roach who was sitting at the end of his cot flowers in hand.

Whispers started around the room. "What does a kid need with flowers?"

"What are you planning on doing, eating 'em?" The jeers went around the room all aimed at Roach.

"No," said another, "he wants to be a girl? Is that it?"

That did it for Roach. No one called him a girl and got away unscathed. With a growl, he leaped at that particular boy and tackled him to the ground. From there, Roach did all he could to beat the boy up while still wearing bonds on his wrists. This included punching, kicking, biting, clawing, and scratching anything that was bare skin. In the melee the flowers had gotten flung across the room.

One of the boys ran out of the cabin looking for an adult to stop this, two launched themselves on Roach, and the last one in the room, Snake, picked up the pitiful pile of flowers off the ground. Just to see what the owner would do, he broke the rose in half. The reaction he got was not what he had expected.

Roach let out a loud yell and tears sprung to his eyes. One even started to trickle down his face as Snake broke up each flower individually. At that same moment, Mister Sir came running in with the boy who had left right on his heels. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?," he bellowed.

The chaos that was in the room came to an abrupt halt. All eyes turned to the man that was standing in the doorway. The boy's got off of Roach leaving him sitting on top of the boy he had pummeled. Mister Sir strode over to where Roach was sitting on top of his captive.

"What is going on here?," he asked in a steely voice, "who started it?" All eyes turned to look at Roach. "So it was you again, was it? Your kind never learn boy." With that he scooped Roach off the other's boy's chest. "You all right there Kid?" he asked the victim of Roach's anger.

"I'm all right Mister Sir," the boy replied through a bloody lip. His left eye was also starting to close up due to swelling from a well placed punch from Roach. "He just jumped on me Mister Sir, I didn't do anything! I swear!"

"What's your name Kid?"

"Weasel, Mister Sir. Is he gonna get punished?" he continued nodding at Roach who was still being held up in the air by Mister Sir.

"You bet he is," replied Mister Sir shaking Roach in the air. Outside the cabin thunder boomed and a streak of lightning brightened up the cabin. "Well would you look at that, it seems that we are in for a nasty storm tonight. Such fun," the man said with a gleeful smile. "If you want to see this boy get punished," he said shaking Roach again, "follow me out." He then left the cabin with Roach still in his grasp and five boys following him.

Other miner kids looked out of their cabins and followed the procession that was gathering behind the boss of the camp. Mister Sir led them all to a lone pole with a hook on it that was standing in a patch of bare earth. He hooked Roach's hands over the hook and stepped back. Roach's feet were just brushing the ground.

"Boy, you've caused too much trouble already, and I don't like boys who cause trouble." His eyes got a malicious gleam in them as he unstrapped his belt from around his waist. "Now for those of you who just got here, this is how we dish out punishments. I think 20 lashes will be enough for starters. Now please all of you stand back."

With that, all the boys stepped a good three feet away from Mister Sir as he raised the belt and bringing it high in an arc lashed it down on Roach's back. Roach let out a loud yell as the metal clasp bit through his skin bringing back part of his shirt with it. He lost count after 8, the pain was so bad, but he was still awake at what he guessed was 20 because the belt had stopped hitting him.

"I do hope you learned your lesson Boy," said Mister Sir harshly, "but it seems that you will be working here with no shirt. What a pity." At the end of that statement a raindrop hit Roach on his nose and in seconds the sky opened up and rain flooded down. "You can stay out here tonight!" yelled Mister Sir above the wind in order to be heard.

With that being said, all the bystanders raced for cover and shelter in their cabins to avoid the rain. Roach leaned his head against the pole and let the tears come knowing that no one would be able to distinguish the tears from the rain. But even with the rain pounding all around him, Roach lost consciousness as he slipped into a black oblivion.

Author's Notes:

As most of you can probably tell by now, Briar/Roach is my favorite character. So naturally I like to torture him! I am a bit weird in that sense, but... hehe.

As you can also see, the spacing is all over on the left margin. Since added more file formats all of mine are acting up! Not to worry at least it looks even!

I would really appreciate it if you could push that little purple button down at the bottom of the page so that I could get some feedback on this story. Like it? Hate it? Tell me everything in a review! Constructive criticism is allowed, but I do discourage flames.