The Red Roses

Chapter 2: The freeing of the dove

/

I couldn't help but stare, frozen in my place in my bed at the miraculous sight that was before me. There before was the man I loved, no longer a cripple or in a state of incapability, there in his place was beautiful man. It was my Griffith, but he seemed more unreal, more magical, and more beautiful. He was just like in my dreams, his hair was longer and wavier, and he wore a cloak of white and beautiful white armor with the insignia of hawk wings on his left shoulder.

I stared until I finally said "Oh, this must be a dream, I must be dreaming again of you, when shall you stop haunting me Griffith? I already forgave you, released you, and loved you, what else do you want from me? When will these dreams finally end for me?"

I felt tears slip down my eyes as I look at this man who looks at me with so much love and admiration in his eyes. I had to turn away as more tears came down my eyes, my hand covering my quivering lips. I continued a light sob until I felt a slight pressure on the side of the bed, I looked to see Griffith had taken a seat on the bed and opened his arms up hold me in a loving embrace. I sniffled more before crawling over to Griffith and accepting his embrace, I buried myself into his hair, which was as soft as in my dreams.

He stroked my hair and kissed the side of my head as he said "oh but this is no dream my dearest, I have come for you, just as I have promised to you. I apologize for having to leave you in the hands of the enemy, but I do not go back on my word, I have come to free my sweet little dove from captivity"

I looked at him and he looked down at me loving as he stroked my long blonde hair gently. His hand then softly started to caress my cheek, it was warm, and it felt so real. He suddenly started to pull me towards him and then we were suddenly lip locked into the softest kiss I have ever experienced. My eyes widened at first at the sudden contact, because this is usually where I would wake up, but instead, it kept happening, and that is when I realized

'This isn't a dream'

I felt myself starting to kiss him back, hungry for the lip I missed so dearly, and the embrace became even warmer for me as I thought 'He came, he came for me, I don't know how but, he's back'.

He then suddenly pulled away making me whimper from the lack of warmth. He took my hand and gently kissed it while saying "alright my love, if I am going to free you, you must do exactly as I say, I need you to hold onto the bed as tightly as you can and no matter what, do not let go, do you understand?"

I nodded in understanding while thinking 'how is holding onto the bed going to free me?' When Griffith got up I immediately held onto the bed post and said to him "Griffith, I hope you know what you are doing"

He looked back at me with an amused smile and said "oh course my dear, now hang on tight".

Suddenly the ceiling began to crash above me making me scream in fright as the bed was suddenly being hoisted up into the air. I closed my eyes screaming as we were lifted up higher and higher. After a while I peeked an eye open to see a creature carrying my bed away and behind me was an army of man and other creatures fighting the Kushan army and top of a tower was the Emperor in his creature form. I looked back as the palace of Kushan was getting smaller and smaller until I was just marveling at the view.

I looked on top of the bed to see Griffith there smiling at me, a light blush splashed on my cheeks as I turned away from him and said "Griffith, what has happened to you? What is going on around here? I am confused"

He looked at me gently saying to me "I will explain to you as soon as we get to the camp"

I looked at him and the creature carrying us and looked back down at the world below thinking 'Is this all a dream? No it can't be just a dream, I know I am awake, but if this isn't a dream then what is this? Griffith was a cripple the last time I saw him, and now he is better, he can walk, his skin has healed, it is like 3 years ago never happened, I need answers, this is too strange, but for now…..'

The cold air was making me sleepy, so I decided go back into my bed and go back to sleep, hopefully I wouldn't fall off.

/

It's been a couple of weeks since my rescue from the Kushan palace and I have gotten use to my new life here at the camp. I have become a handmaiden for the new Band of the Hawks that Griffith have created from my own army, Kushian traitors and from creatures of a different dimension as it seems. I would cook, clean and even help heal wounds for the soldiers and everyone was grateful to have me back and to have my help in the cause. I admit I wasn't really use to do remedial chores, me being royalty and all, but I did not really mind doing so as long as it was for the liberation of my homeland. But that was not all, it seems that my sister, Charlotte has also taken refuge in this camp, having fallen in love with my secretly proclaimed fiancée, Lord Richard, which nary bothered me a bit. I even did her a favor and cancelled my engagement to Lord Richard and consented to the both of them getting married. During this time I actually gotten back to better terms with my sister and such, it was certainly a happier time, especially since Griffith was doing such an amazing job taking back Midland from Emperor Ganishka.

Today I was baking with Charlotte and Anna making bread for the soldiers when I thought maybe it would be nice of me to make a cake for Griffith and I to share with each other. So I made some strawberry cake with cinnamon while conversing with the girls. They would gossip and complain about their husbands and make jokes, I loved having girlfriends to talk to, and being a queen can be lonely sometimes when you don't have anyone to talk to.

Once the cake was done, I started to remove my apron and said to the girls "well, off to see Griffith, I hope he isn't too busy"

Anna turned towards me from kneading the dough and said "of course he isn't too busy, especially for you he isn't, now run along and go see him your Majesty"

I smiled at Anna and placed the cake in a basket before straightening out my blue dress with white lace and straightened my bonnet before running off to see Griffith. I look to see Lord Griffith standing on top of the hill talking to a young girl, I looked curiously at the girl before making my way up the hill.

Half way up I shouted out "Griffith!"

It seems he heard me because he, as well as the girl and the young lad I had not recognized, turned towards me as I finally made it up the hill.

I smiled at Griffith before curtsying gently and saying to him "Hello dear Griffith, I hope you do not mind the interruption, but I have made something for you and I to share"

I held up the basket of cake smiling as he smiled back at me.

He looked to the young girl and said to her with his hand on her head "This is Queen Apple, my lady love. Apple this is Sonia, a young girl I saved from a Kushan stronghold".

I looked over at the young girl again, she was quite pretty. She had light blue eyes, blonde hair, fair skin, but there was something special about her that just made me smile.

I did a small curtsy to her as well as I said "how do you do Miss Sonia, it is a pleasure to make you acquaintance"

She looked me over once and then to my basket. She ran over to me and said "EEHH, you made sweet cakes? Let me see, Let me see! It's been so long since I have had one"

She opened my basket and took a piece of the cake before taking a bite. I sighed a bit, she is a young girl after all and I honestly don't mind sharing my cakes with whoever wants some, but I hope she leaves enough for Griffith and I to enjoy ourselves.

She quivers at the cake and says while chewing "delicious, it's such a delicious flavor and it's so warm and chewy"

She then turns to Griffith and holds out a piece saying "here Griffith, it's so sweet it will enchant your cheeks"

I arch an eyebrow at this, but pay no heed to it, I honestly just hopes that he likes it.

He took a bite of it and….he smiled, a gentle smile that made me blush all over again, He says as swallows my cake "its aroma is sweet and the flavor makes me smile, right down to my soul. I never thought I could taste something so deliciously fine on a battlefield, thank you for putting in the time and effort to make such delicious cakes for me Apple"

I blush a bit more while fiddling with the bow on my bonnet saying "it's no trouble at all Griffith, I'm happy you like them, I wanted to eat some with you while we talked, if you have the time for your Queen of course"

He chuckled a bit and said "but of course, I will always have time for my dear Queen"

The still unnamed lad walked away dragging Sonia with him, I waved to them both bye as I sat down on the grass gracefully, smoothing out my dress as Griffith followed my suit, laying his head in my lap. I took a bite out of my cake and was pleased at the flavor I got in return. I was so accustomed to this simple life now, I was happy just being with Griffith, but I knew all of this was going to end soon and soon enough I was going to have to go back to being Queen Apple of Midland.

We ate our cake in silent, enjoying each other's company before I decided to break that silence and said "What happened to you Griffith?"

He looked back up at me and I looked down on him and said again "What happened to you Griffith? You changed from the man you were three years ago. The last time I saw you, you were bandaged up pretty bad, your nerves were gone, skin missing, you had no real use of your arms or legs, your tendons were broken beyond repair. But here you are, three years later looking as good as new, better than new, you seem more….I don't know surreal than you did when I first met you Griffith, all this stuff about demons, spirits and such, I don't know what we are getting into but you do. I don't want to be in the dark about the world, I want to know what is going on in the world right now, and how is it that all this is even possible? How magic is possible? How this whole thing is even happening? Tell me Griffith, I refuse to be the blind Queen leading a blind Kingdom or just accept all this is happening without an explanation"

I was out for answers this time, Griffith cannot keep me in the dark forever and I refused to be stuff in there and quietly accept a whole lot of nothing as truth. Ever since I got here he has been side stepping telling me the truth but this time I wanted it, I need it.

He lifted his head from my lap and sighed "Are you sure you want such a truth, such truth can lead one to madness" "yet it is madness living in a world ever changing and not knowing why, tell me the truth Griffith, I deserve that much" I retorted back, not backing down from his gaze.

He sighed and said to me holding my hand "alright, but I will stop speaking the second I see sanity leave your face" "my year in captivity has already taken my sanity, but now I am so sane that not even insanity will phase me" I smiled back at him gently.

For that full day, until the sun went down. He told me about how he was offered a second chance to be reborn and gain all of the things he lost, including me, and more. He said that his rebirth into his new human body caused our world and the world of magic to collide and so his birth was responsible for the appearance of these magical creatures. He also explained that he now commands an army of human and magical creatures to take back Midland and that will serve under not only him, but myself as well, being that I am the Queen of Midland. He told me everything without a hint of lying in his eyes or words. Once he was done explaining, I had no idea how to react, it was a whole lot of information to take in at one time. So from what I understood was that magic was real, Because Griffith took a second chance at life from some magical beings and his birth resulted in magic being brought to this world.

When it all settled in, I looked at him and said "Well that makes sense, I mean you are healthier than a horse and your appearance is somewhat more…unreal and all of this…."

I looked out at the horizon at the sunset, gripping Griffith's hand, I look at my lap at my half eaten sweet cake and then at Griffith how is looking at me gently before saying "well, we know what is going on now, but now the real question remains 'where do we go from here?'"

Griffith took my hand into both of his and said to me gently "I want to marry you Apple, My love for you has not faded in the two years we have been apart if anything it has gotten stronger, and it has been you and only you. I have never made contact with your sister or any other maiden since my grievous mistake. All I want is to be yours again, I love you more than anything in this or any world, you the sun to my moon. I need you, I won't have anyone else"

I blushed lightly and said "Well what about Charlotte?"

He leaned into me and held me in his arms while saying "I made a terrible mistake with what I did, that day you confronted me about your feelings and then when you were leaving, I felt like it truly was going to be the last time I were to ever see you. But I have a second chance at life and I will not waste it making stupid mistakes like that again. Please be mine again, I only want you, my heart only beats for you."

I leaned into his embrace and looked up to him saying "how can I be sure? I will not deny my love for you, if anything it has grown immensely, but I refused to be betrayed again, I have a kingdom to think about and family I want to have, but I can only have it if it's with a man who is willing to commit to my kingdom and to his family"

He didn't say anything for a moment, but he did stand up with me in his arms. He took me by the hand and led me down into the camp. We got to the middle of the camp when he said out loud "Attention, men, women, children, please lend me your ears!" At that, everybody stopped whatever it was they were doing and turned their direct attention to Griffith as he spoke

"Everyone, as you may have known, three years ago, I made a horrible mistake, a mistake that broke up the original hawks and worst of all, made me lose the love of my life, so in order to prove to my love that I am truly sorry, in front of all these witnesses, I want you, my dearest Apple, to strike me, in front of everyone to atone for my terrible sin"

Now that caught my attention as well as the attention of everyone in the camp. I have never physically strike a person, even when they deserved it. I felt everyone's gaze on me, seeing what I would do.

Although I knew all these people on a personal level now, I had to remind myself that I am a Queen, not just any Queen, the Queen of Midland and what I do now will affect how these people will look at me after I hand up the apron and adorn my crown again. So I decided that to do the simple way out.

I look to Griffith, I step up to him while the crowd look away at bated breath on my actions. I took my hand and leaned his head to my level and then I lifted my hand in a manner that looked like I was going to strike him hard. The residence at the camp either looked away, looked on in shock or was looking in some kind of amusement. I suddenly brought it down quick only to stop a few inches from his face and give him a light tap. The residence looked relieved at my action as Griffith actually looked confused.

I looked to Griffith and caressed his cheek while saying "That Griffith is the wrath I held in these years, with each passing day my anger for what you have done continually extinguished as my love for you grew hotter and brighter. What you did right now, willing to accept physical punishment just to make me feel better will not make me any more convinced that you have truly turned over a new leaf, but it does confirm your love for me. So just this once, I will let you go off with a warning, if you hurt me again Griffith, and may all you heed witness to my promise. If you hurt me again Griffith, or do anything to hurt my kingdom, I will kill you myself"

I smile at Griffith as continually caress his cheek, he can tell by the smile I wear that I meant what I said. Three years has not changed who I am. I am Queen Apple, the ultimate monarch of Midland and will soon have my dream of an ultimate Kingdom to rule over.

I took Griffith by the hand and turned to my subjects and said "rejoice all, for I, Apple Elizabeth Cortina Maria Antoinette, Queen of Midland, hereby decree on this day, that I will not only being taking Lord Griffith as my betrothed, by I will be appointing him as supreme commander of Midland's regular army!"

With that everyone cheered in excitement and I smiled gently at their excited faces. I looked over to Griffith and said "you know, since we are to be betrothed, we must inform the other noblemen. They think I do not know, but they have abandoned their motherland in comfort of another. I must return and set things right Griffith…will you come with me?"

Griffith squeezed my hand before returning my smile saying "but of course my queen".