Thorns and Roses 6
by ~Animegirl300
At Castle Acorn the great King Maximillian was pouring over his maps and battle notes, over the desk in his study. Something just wasn't right. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was; but somehow, somewhere something was wrong.
He scratched his head.
It just didn't make sense: everything should have been perfect: After all they weren't exactly in a war…yet.
Three years ago they had been very close to war when bunch of renegade soldiers who called themselves the Black Arms appeared and started to attack them and the other countries surrounding the Kingdom of Acorn.
Nobody knew where they came from: they had simply appeared out of nowhere claiming that they would destroy the whole world, and everything.
They had several small battles: but they had been more like skirmishes for different areas.
They would go; they would attack; they would destroy; but they always went back when they were done.
It was maddening! What was the point in even attacking if they weren't going to take over?
Annoyed, King Acorn massaged his temple.
But despite the hardships the country had, had; it all changed with the battle for Leung Kar. The Kingdom of Acorn had destroyed the Black Arms in that battle: and it was after this that they had disappeared.
Not completely of course.
For the first time in three years, just a couple of months ago they had been sighted again; they had lead an attack on Furville, and were defeated badly, but that still left a lot of unanswered questions. Like where they were now; and what were they doing?
Abruptly his thoughts were interrupted as Sally, his only daughter and youngest of two children entered.
"Hi Daddy; what's going on?"
She gave him a hug and looked over his shoulder at the papers on his desk.
Most girls wouldn't have been able to understand what they were; but King Acorn knew better. Sally Acorn would immediately recognize them as battle plans.
"Ah nothing sweetie; how are you?"
He said hastily moving the papers out of sight.
He noted as she frowned slightly and rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine I guess. I'm sort of disappointed my own father can't trust me to see a bunch of old papers though."
"Oh no Sally dear; It's not at all that I don't trust you."
"Then why are you trying to hide your battle plans from me?"
"That's exactly why Sally: you should be focusing on other things: you're a princess: it simply isn't proper for a young lady to deal with this type of thing"
"Hmph! Shouldn't you be thrilled that I'm actually thinking of something OTHER than dressing up and spending money?"
Her father chuckled at this. His other friends were always complaining about how their daughters would have them bankrupt.
"I suppose I should be, and I actually appreciate it. But Sally, everyone has their place in life. One day you'll understand that!"
"Oh fine, fine! I'll leave you to your important documents then."
As she left King Acorn shook his head.
"Girls"
~~~~~~
"Rise and shine Amy!" shouted a voice out of the darkness that warm, fuzzy darkness that engulfed Amy's consciousness. The voice sounded muffled; far away; and Amy was reluctant to come closer.
She rolled over in her bed, covered by the huge soft comforter.
She muttered tiredly to be left alone.
She just wanted to sleep.
But suddenly her face was hit with a very, very bright light.
She groaned and she rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the red spots that were blocking her view.
"You did that on purpose Sheryl!"
"All I did was try to wake you up; now come here and eat your breakfast! We have to get you ready to meet Lord Caprielle today."
Amy groaned as she sat at the table where her breakfast was waiting.
Not ANOTHER one.
"Arggg! Do I have to go?"
"Well of course you do: He's coming all this way just to meet you! And you had better be on your best behavior; your parents might let you get away with it, but your actions are a reflection of the way I've helped to raise you! So please no funny stuff today!"
"Alright, alright; I'll be on my best behavior."
She muttered as she ate her breakfast.
"I really don't know why I put up with this!" She said to herself when Sheryl had left.
After her breakfast she took a nice morning shower to help relive her new-coming stress.
As much as she loved her parents and her home, she needed to get out of here.
She had no friends around because for one thing there weren't any people her age to hang out with around the village, and her only real friends lived too far away.
So for the most part she was alone trying to find something to entertain herself with.
But even before at least she had been able to explore outside a little.
But now-a-days her parents discouraged her from her adventures.
Being cooped up in her room all day was beginning to take its toll on her:
Lately she was more irritable, and unhappy.
And she had developed a bad habit of pacing back and forth like a caged tiger.
Her parents weren't trying to be mean or anything; but the least they could do was let her outside the house every once in a while.
But apparently it wasn't proper for a lady to explore so much.
Ladies had to sit still and quiet and stay that way all day long.
She gave an aggravated sigh;
And when she was in her room all day she was entertaining guests.
There were the suitors who mostly ignored her like she was some sort of child, or it was the old noble ladies from around who visited often for "teas" as her mom called it.
She hated it.
Because her mother always made her attend those things, only for her to be bored, until the ladies would get on the subject of Amy and all the things that made her such an unsatisfactory person.
Then they would compare her to themselves back when they were her age.
It was sickening.
Who cared if her knees were knobby or if her shoulders were too wide?
Besides herself of course; but she didn't need them to point it all out!
She could really use someone to talk to…
Almost anyone would do; as long as they weren't one of her suitors, or an old lady.
With a groan she got up and went to her dressing room to get ready to meet "Lord what's his face".
That morning Amy wasn't the only person having trouble getting up.
Shadow had gone to bed late. Again.
There was simply too much work to do for one day, and so he usually stayed up until well past midnight, working to meet the needs of the people he was in charge of protecting.
They had better be grateful.
His room was nearly pitch black despite it almost being noon already, but that was due to the heavy black curtains that effectively kept all sunlight out of his domain.
That is until the brave soul that was his butler decided to open them up.
"Good afternoon sir!" He called as the black hedgehog turned over and curled into a ball muttering about five more minutes.
Lawrence had been serving this family for many years: starting with Shadow's father, and so he had no fear in making sure his master did his job.
"Sir, that is completely out of the question: you still have work to do and half the day has flown by already."
Lawrence brought the tired hedgehog a tray of breakfast, as Shadow sleepily stretched and rubbed his eyes.
After finishing his breakfast, and grooming he headed to his work study where, yet another huge stack of a letters and legal documents for him to sign awaited.
There were proposals for new laws, taxes, zoning laws, regulations, and his worst pet peeve complaints and pleas from the villagers.
Now, he didn't mind helping the common people out: that was his job as a Baron.
And some of them were valid:
For example, Because of new laws on taxes, many farmers were having a hard time making ends meet these days,
But most of them were the biggest bunch of bull he was not paid enough to deal with!
For the rest of the morning he had to suffer reading through letter after letter of bizarre claims made by the biggest bunch of fools he would find.
By lunch time he was ready to go down to the village itself to perform a mass execution.
And he probably would have too, if Lawrence hadn't come in with his lunch and a pile of personal letters sent by people he actually knew.
~~~~~
Amy squirmed in her seat.
He was staring at her again.
Through her hair she glanced up and shuddered as her eyes almost met the gaze of young Lord Caprielle.
He and his father had arrived almost an hour ago and Amy was becoming more and more anxious as the minutes ticked by, and she wished she was somewhere else right now.
The immensely huge Lord Caprielle senior was talking boisterously with her parents about some very boring conversation that couldn't spark her interest even she sort of wished it did: then she wouldn't be quite as aware of the very creepy stare she was receiving from the young man across from her.
His son was rather skinny with the look of someone used to being ignored and unnoticed. And it was slowly becoming obvious that that's what usually happened: because as soon as they had walked through the door his father had conducted everything as though Lord Caprielle Jr. wasn't there.
At first she felt a bit sorry for him and how he was being treated, and she had attempted to be friendly: giving him an encouraging smile; but since then she was starting to regret it; He just wouldn't stop staring at her.
It actually wasn't the fact he was staring: she was somewhat used to being stared at actually.
At almost all the social gatherings she received quite a bit of attention simply for the fact she was a Lady: and one of the biggest things about nobility was their obsession for reputation and gossip. That was the usual type of staring she got.
The only other time she'd had a problem with someone staring at her was with shadow: but even then it wasn't something uncomfortable; she had wondered before what he was staring for but it was the way he stared that made the difference.
When Shadow stared at her even though she didn't know what his motivation was, the vibe she got wasn't dangerous or threatening; quite the opposite.
But now the stare she was getting was very uncomfortable.
Things like this rarely got under her skin: she was for the most part always calm and collected; easily able to keep up her friendly inviting mask up.
But she was having more difficulty than usual: she was bothered to the point she was almost scared.
"Isn't that right Amy?"
Her father's voice broke through her thoughts and Amy forced a small smile:
"Oh yea, right."
She tried to pay more attention to the conversation. But her parents had gone on to the topic of estates or something.
Very boring.
Avoiding Caprielle Jr.'s eyes she turned her attention outside the window.
The sky was such a pretty colored blue: and huge fluffy clouds floated lazily across the skyline. She watched the small humming bird that had appeared in front of the window to collect nectar from the tree next to it.
Idly she wondered how everyone else was doing.
Was Sonic having fun with his family on their vacation to Angle Island?
He was probably exploring: he didn't like the beach since he couldn't swim.
The image of him almost drowning came to mind and smiled slightly.
She wondered how he and Sally were doing: Cream said in her last letter that she confided in Rouge that some other girl named Mina was starting to hang around him, but he never appeared to notice.
She wondered how Tails was: probably working on another one of his little inventions of his. Hopefully one of them might actually work one day…
And Knuckles and Rouge were probably having lots of fun together since they lived so close. She wished them the very best.
And then there was Shadow…
What could he possibly be doing…?
"Amy?"
She looked around and her face flushed as she realized they were all looking at her.
"Umm, sorry; I guess I blanked out there… What happened?"
Her mother shook her head; what was she going to do with this child.
"Lord Caprielle was just asking what activities you like to do"
"Oh, well… I guess I like a lot of activities… I'm willing to try anything anyway…"
She looked at the big man as she talked avoiding his sons look.
"Ah! An adventurer! You hear that Juan? Ah yes: everyone needs a bit of excitement! Not just sitting around getting fat like me! Ha, ha! I've always tried to do something fun outside, but I dear say it's a bit to late to start exercising these day: what with my back problems and all that… So Young Lady: you like adventure, but how about some good old fashion literature?"
At least she had something to take her mind off of the creepy stare she was getting.
If anything Juan Caprielle was staring harder than ever!
At noon though her momentary relief evaporated, as her mother suggested she and Juan take a walk and get to know each other while the adults talked.
Amy knew her mother was trying to be nice: she was always asking if she could just go outside: but this time she was very fearful to comply.
~~~~~
Shadow sighed as he looked out the window of his castle.
He knew he should have just gone straight to his parent's place.
He had just received a letter from his mother: apparently they needed him to come home and discuss some things. He had no idea what they might be, but he still didn't like the sound of it.
He was a man after all: he was even running his own village! But, he was still young, and until he was 30 he his parents still had an amount of legal authority over him. Being ordered around by his parents was something that would not sit well with him, but he had to obey them… for the moment.
Silently he turned his back on the window pondering what exactly his parents had in mind, as he went to go pack the few things he would need for his trip.
~~~~~
Amy looked around her garden nervously, looking around to see if there was anyone about, and to avoid the gaze of Lord Caprielle.
She looked around for some type of distraction.
She pretended to be interested in a little butterfly walking after it in mock interest.
He followed after her silently and it didn't work.
She tried to find interest in the pond of coy, watching the little orange and white gold fish float along calmly.
She could feel his stare on her back, and it didn't work.
It wasn't until out of the corner of her eye she saw something that distracted her.
She took a double take at the bush of roses and her thoughts sparked elsewhere.
She guessed it was the color of them because her mind went right to a certain someone…
Shadow…
She stared at them in a daze.
What was he doing right now?
She knew he lived near the ocean.
She pictured a tropical wonderland, much like the vacation home.
Would he be outside out in the wilderness right now?
She couldn't picture him staying indoors and enjoying it
Maybe reading a nice book, but he didn't belong behind a desk in a stuffy old office.
She sighed and was dragged out of her thoughts as the young baron next to her finally spoke up for the first time since she'd met him.
"You're pretty."
She glanced up and could feel her sweat drop.
For any other person in the world she would have taken it as a complement; but for this guy, there was something in the way he said it, and there was also how the look in his eyes that was causing her such distress had become much more pronounced.
"Oh, um, thank you for saying so" She said politely.
For a second his eyes glinted most frighteningly, but he was cut off.
The parents were calling form the front of the house for them.
"Amy! The Caprielles are leaving!"
"Yes, quite, come on son! We are due back at our grand castle by nightfall!"
Amy grinned relived and walked quickly towards her parents leaving Lord Caprielle behind before he started to follow.
The Rose family waved goodbye, Amy still being aware that the younger gentleman was still staring at her, before they closed the doors to their castle.
"I'm really sorry," Amy's father was saying, "But I can not say how relived I am that they are gone!"
"You and me both sweetie" Amy's mother said.
"Oh you guys too?" Amy said crossing her arm, raising her brow and smirking.
Her father laughed and patted his daughter on the head.
"Yes. I don't know what it is about that boy, but I have a bad feeling about him…"
"His father was quite lovely though"
Her father snorted.
"You think every Lord who walks through that door is 'lovely'"
Her mother looked aghast.
"Say WHAT!"
Her father smirked childishly.
"Oh nothing Dearest, I'm just saying…"
Amy's mother spat her tongue at her father.
"Hmph. You might not want to say that. After all you weren't the first baron to come to me."
Her father grinned and gave her a hug from behind kissing her on the cheek.
"I know, but I am still the best~"
They laughed at each other and Amy smiled.
She wanted a marriage like that when she grew up…
"Come on you two, dinner will be soon, and we don't want to offend the cook~"
~~~~~
"Damn it!" Shadow cursed as he held onto his bleeding forearm.
He drew on the reigns of his horse and sheathed his sword.
"That idiot actually wounded me!"
He glared over his shoulder down the road.
Although he was by now miles away, he knew that somewhere along that road was a dead man bleeding in the streets.
He smirked vindictively: that's what he got.
Shadow had been riding hard on his way to the home of his parents when he came upon the stupid young man at one of the bridges on the way.
He was a young Sir who was obviously new to the whole fighting at arms deal.
He tried to warn him.
After all; Shadow was well known through out the entire country for his skill at arms: he wasn't called the ultimate life form for nothing, and even if he hadn't inherited his title, he would have earned it if that were the case.
But the younger knight wouldn't listen and so he challenged Shadow to armed combat.
The boy wasn't very talented, and he wasn't very good.
He easily lost his balance and he could barley hold on to his sword, which Shadow guessed wasn't originally his in the first place: it was way too big and unbalanced a weapon in the first place.
At first Shadow planned to go easy on the kid, but after a while his patients wore thin; the kid was a sore loser and would not stay down and admit to his defeat.
Then it happened: Shadow caught the boy off guard, the young sir lost his balance, and as the idiot tried to stay straight, he flailed his arms around like a madman and hit Shadow on the shoulder.
That's what got Shadow really pissed.
And now the boy was dead, and Shadow was wounded unnecessarily.
Shadow picked up a bandage from his pouch, putting it between his teeth as he put his bag away, and attempted to stifle the bleeding with it. It wasn't perfect but it would do.
Softly he heeled his horse at the sides and took off.
"Great. Now I won't get there till dark…"
~~~~~
He had been right about getting to his parents castle after dark.
The moon was full over head as he and his horse skidded to a halt in front of the great stone fortress.
Immediately as he stopped he could see the tall balding figure of Jason the butler, followed by a young boy.
He slid off his horse, handing the reigns to the boy who was apparently the stable boy.
Jason stopped in front of him and bowed deeply.
"Good Evening Sir!"
"Hello Jason, good to see you. Could you tell me what is happening?"
"I'm sorry sir, but your parents have not relayed that information to me I just know that you were suppose to show up; Right this way if you please."
Jason led him through the front doors and to the room to their right.
This was the dinning room.
At the end of the great long dinning table sat his father and mother who were sitting, and eating in conversation when he entered.
As soon as she spotted him, his mother was there a split second later greeting him enthusiastically.
"Oh my goodness Shadow! Welcome back! Your father and I have missed you! My look how you've grown! You've gotten taller since last time I've seen you!"
Shadow couldn't help but sigh amusedly as his mother doted on him.
"Hello mother" He said receiving another hug.
"Father" He nodded towards the end of the table where his father was still sitting, smiling as he watched his wife and child's family moment. His father gave a short sort of wave in his direction before standing up and walking over.
"Ah Son, it's good to see you. I'm glad you decided to show up"
"Yes, we worried when we realized you were so late! What happened?"
Her eye caught on his wounded arm and Shadow shook his head, annoyed.
"An idiot with a sword decided to challenge me to a duel. I beat him a couple of times but he wouldn't admit to losing; he got a cheap shot; I beat him, and now I'm here."
He shrugged noncommittally.
And his parents glanced at each other.
"And what happened to the opponent?" His father asked frowning.
Shadow shrugged again, avoiding his mother's eyes pointedly.
"I tried to hold back but in the end he forced my hand."
"And?"
Shadow sighed and a rebellious tone mixed into his voice.
"He's dead."
His father sighed and his mother looked a bit relived.
"What! You wish I would have let him kill me or something?"
"No that is not what I wish: I just wish it could have been resolved differently."
"If I had been able to I would have! But I had no choice did I?"
"You did have choice. You didn't HAVE to kill him."
Shadow and his father glared at each other.
Some family reunion this was turning out to be.
Shadow's mom broke the two up pushing them away from each other.
Malcolm, its sounds like if this guy had been left alive, he could have done something serious to someone! We both know how much damage a fool with a weapon can do."
She raised an eyebrow and Malcolm looked away pointedly.
"Cough. I thought we weren't going to discuss this!"
He turned away and mumbled to himself.
"You make one mistake and she holds it over your head for the rest of your life! Hmph! Whatever!"
"Anyway, I guess we'll have to leave what it was we wanted to talk to you about for tomorrow. Are you hungry?"
He nodded and followed his parents to the dinning table.