Rell and The Rose

Ch. 5, A Coin, A Quest, A Coffin

RELL

"In God We Trust," I read aloud. "It looks like a coin of some sort. Think how valuable it must be to have so much detail." Then I looked closer, "It has numbers too, two, zero, one, five. Maybe that's what it's worth?" I turned to Lorcan, my thoughts swimming. What did the Mountain Dew and strange coin mean? Were they some kind of clues, pointing us to whomever had stolen the Blood Rose? "I've never seen a coin like this in The Dark Realm, have you? Maybe it's from one of the outer realms?"

Lorcan was silent, his face pale, and he turned away from me and began to pace.

The colorful shadows cast by the dragon flame high above played tricks on Lorcan's face, making it impossible to read. Yet the stiff set of his shoulders, and the sound of his feet pounding the floor told a story in itself. He was worried about his kingdom, his mother queen... which is when I realized as his Beast-Slayer, I hadn't been entirely forthcoming with him.

"Lorcan..." I said, voice laced with guilt. "I need to tell you something."

He turned those piercing eyes to me at once. "Then tell me," he commanded.

In halting tones, I told him of the wall, and the moon, the forest, the roaring beast, and the young man beyond (not mentioning the man had been handsome). He turned back to stare at the coffin while I spoke.

"And what do you think it was?" he said when I was done. "This realm beyond the wall?"

"I'm not sure..." I swallowed, "but Poxel thought it might have been... the Human Realm."

His eyes flashed as he stared down at the coffin, not answering.

"Did Poxel have any other opinions?" he asked, voice low and soft.

"He believes it exists.. . Is that possible?" As a Beast-Slayer, it wasn't my duty to wonder about the Human Realm... even though I did so endlessly. But how could I not wonder at a fantastic world with light at the flick of a finger, metal boxes that fly through the sky, ribbon of multicolored light that arched through the sky after a storm?

My duty was to slay Beasts and serve the Dark Prince. I was renowned as the youngest and best beast slayer in the Dark Realms, yet my deepest, darkest secret was that I didn't often slay beasts. More often, I simply talked with them. It had started the first time I'd tracked down a midnight dragon, and she'd caught me unprepared, a talon the size of my leg pinned against my chest. I was about to die, and yet, my final question had been, where did you get that golden scale? She'd stared at me, her eye as big as a dinner plate, like she could see straight into my soul, and then had spoken straight into my head, the first time I'd ever heard thought-speak. Lay down your sword, Beast-Slayer, and let me tell you of my years in the Human Realm.

And so I discovered that sometimes all a beast needed was a story and someone to talk to. And, even more strangely, the beasts were often the most receptive to my imaginations of the Human Realm. Some even told me glorious stories of things like rainbows and pink birds that stood on one foot and yellow horses with long necks and brown spots. Amazing, ridiculous stories that I devoured.

Which is why, when Lorcan spoke again, though I should have been terrified of what the absence of the Blood Rose could mean, I couldn't stop the bursting feeling of excitement in my chest.

"As the Prince of the Dark Realm, I am not allowed to acknowledge the existence of a Human Realm." And then he sighed, running a hand through his uselessly neat hair. "But if the thief has taken the Blood Rose to the Human Realm, then even I am at the mercy of the magic. Without the rose, I cannot open a set doorway to the Human Realm to track down the thief. We are at the mercy of the magic to pursue them."