Follow: Book 1 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Three: A Town in Chaos

The Northern sun was on the verge of setting when Gerardo and Rein entered Cair. Their first order of business was to search for a place to spend the night, but Gerardo dwelled on second thoughts as he scanned the crumbling buildings surrounding him. He and Rein cautiously meandered along the grimy streets with an aching desire to leave the town as soon as possible.

The townsfolk were scattered about the rubble, panicked and maniacal. As many of them looted demolished buildings, some cleaned up spills and debris while others sobbed hysterically over the damage. Some were so irate that Gerardo and Rein endeavored to avoid them the most.

Females wailed, males begged, children screamed for their missing parents. Rein explained to Gerardo that Cair, Vann, and the Xer base on the outskirts of Vann had recently been attacked and destroyed by a Noelle infantry.

"In that case, it might be better to find lodging in a neighboring town," Gerardo suggested.

"Agreed."

Rein found it an eerie coincidence how much this town reminded her of the horrid dream she had suffered nights ago. She sat hunched over on Gerardo's shoulder as he dodged the townsfolk with their injured farm animals and damaged carts.

A crash sounded on their right, snatching their attention to a grocery that had scarcely survived the invasion at all. A filthy, hairy man flailed around atop a mess of broken crates and squashed fruit. He continued to shout obscenities at whoever had left them there as he repeatedly failed to lift himself from the mess. A second, larger man scrambled out of the grocery, swearing up a storm as he roughly hauled the intruder off of the juices and splintered wood. He then proceeded to shove the man away, slapping him left and right to encourage him to move faster.

"You blind fool! Aren't you even watching where you're going? If you think for a second that you'll get away with stealing any of my produce you must be a special kind of lunatic! Get on with you! Away! Now!"

Then Rein's eyes fell onto the shop to the left of the grocery, and her body stiffened when she recognized it: a poison shop selling pixie corpses along with an abundance of methods for exterminating them. The bodies of many of her kind dangled in the window in a show of pride. They had been killed in a variety of ways; closed up in jars, squashed, thrown against walls, poisoned, sliced in half, chopped into tiny pieces, and every other way one could easily kill an insect (or pixie). The most horrifying part of it all was that they were a perfect match to the silhouettes in the poison shop window she had dreamt about nights ago.

A scream escaped Rein's throat and she hid her face in Gerardo's greasy hair, praying for the shop to disappear. Her sudden panic startled Gerardo. The townsfolk close by turned their heads to the sound; even the grocer who was still trying to shoo the delirious man away. What everyone saw was an Xer soldier with a pixie on his shoulder and they whispered about this peculiar picture to each other, either confused or suspicious – perhaps both. Pixies may have been small, but they didn't have quiet, high-pitched voices as commonly understood. They could be easily mistaken for a much larger creature if they were not seen as their voices were averaged-pitched, big voices.

Gerardo nervously glanced around at the growing crowd. He cocked his head toward Rein and scolded her in a whisper. "Rein, what do you think –"

Then he spotted the gruesome figures in the window of the tiny shop and immediately empathized with Rein. He would hate to see humans displayed so disgracefully.

"It'll be all right," he assured her. "We're almost out of here."

Gerardo walked on and continued his pursuit for the nearest exit out of Cair. The townsfolk scowled at him and the bright, shining thing on his shoulder. Spiteful? Suspicious? Disgusted?

The town line was in Gerardo's sight when an officer stepped into his path. "Are you unaware that pixies are rodents here? Pests."

Gerardo observed the model of masculinity before him. He didn't understand foreign ranks in law enforcement, but clearly this officer had to be at least close to the top of the chain of command, or he wouldn't have been draped in the silver-blue cape, which symbolized authority in all three empires. If Gerardo hadn't been fighting soldiers of the People for the past few years, he may have mistaken this officer for an Xer as he was covered from head to toe in leather and steel. However, while the breastplates of soldiers mimicked a defined chest and abdomen, this officer's plate was simply engraved with delicate swirls and vines.

"As a matter of fact I was unaware, Sir," Gerardo confirmed for the officer. "Fortunately, I'm presently headed out of town, so we won't be of any trouble for you much longer."

He moved to continue onward, but the officer side-stepped him to prevent him from leaving. "What business do you have in associating yourself with one of their kind?"

"She's my pet, Sir," Gerardo replied smoothly.

"Really? Why is it not secured then?"

"She's trained."

"Trained?" the officer chuckled. "You expect me to believe that?" Gerardo didn't answer. "Nevertheless, it's not allowed here. Perhaps they're legal in other towns, but not in Cair."

"My apologies, Officer," Gerardo replied. "As I said before, I'm leaving town at this very moment."

Gerardo tried to step around the officer, who held out his hand to stop him once more. "You don't understand. The moment one of those things enters town, I must take it into custody."

"As in to the exterminator?" Gerardo asked with raised eyebrows. "I just saw it back there a bit. The one with the dead sprite creatures in the window, correct?"

Gerardo could hear Rein's heavy panting in his ear. She hid behind his right shoulder and peered over at the officer. The tension between the him and Gerardo rapidly thickened and Rein expected one to attack the other at any moment. She would've left a while ago but knew if she had, the officer would've killed Gerardo anyway, angry that she had escaped. Mira wouldn't be pleased to hear such news. Rein figured that as long as she stayed put, there was a chance that Gerardo might be able to convince the officer to let her go.

"Just hand it over," the officer insisted.

"Allow me to set her free. She won't bother anyone anymore."

"Listen, Soldier. We have zero tolerance here in Cair." There was a hint of frustration in the officer's voice now. "Either hand the thing over, or I'll take you with it."

Rein stretched her hand to a dagger she kept in her right stocking and slowly removed it. There was no way the matter would end peacefully at this point.

"I'm not giving you my pixie, Sir," Gerardo assured. "I'm willing to negotiate –"

The officer drew his sword and extended it to Gerardo's neck, causing him to stumble back a couple of steps. The shining tip of the blade forced Gerardo's chin up so to make it clear which of the two possessed all the power. Gerardo felt the point tickle his stubble and thought for a moment that the officer was sure to cut into his flesh. He strived to keep calm and watched for his opponent's next move.

"I wasn't bluffing, Soldier." The warning almost came out as a growl.

"I'm curious, why would an officer threaten a soldier with his sword?" Gerardo asked.

"Perhaps he's willing to bet that he has more experience with the sword than the soldier does."

Rein eyed the end of the weapon intently, watching with a prayer that it wouldn't penetrate Gerardo's neck. The doubled edged blade was nearly invisible on each end, making it difficult to decipher exactly how close Gerardo was to death. Rein soon began searching her mind for the best excuse to give Mira as to why Gerardo was killed before he could make it to the palace. It wasn't really her fault, was it?

"I've survived the Stone War this long," Gerardo informed the officer. "Are you sure you're more experienced?"

The officer thrust his sword forward, but Gerardo fell back just in time to survive the attack. He quickly found himself in the sticky mud with a wounded throat. Poor Rein had a good fall herself but was unhurt and she managed to crawl back behind Gerardo's shoulder. Hearty laughter arose from the crowd around them.

"Give me the pixie or I'll end you right now," the officer threatened with the tip of his sword sitting on Gerardo's wound. "Then what will you do?"

"Nothing, you will have given the pixie a chance to escape," Gerardo answered, unfazed by his near-decapitation.

"You're a foolish boy," spat the officer. "You wanted to negotiate, this is my offer. Either I kill you and take the pixie, or I take the pixie and you live."

Gerardo took a quick second to notice the time. The Northern sun had almost set and the town was still lit by the twilight. Gerardo knew he could easily win a sword-fight against this officer, but it would bring him too much attention and word might reach the palace before he did. He tried frantically to devise a plan out of this, but other thoughts got in the way.

There's no time to devise a plan. This officer won't let me live even if I do give Rein up. At least I'll be dead, but I must free Jorge from prison. Though, I may survive if I devise a plan!

Gerardo's eyes darted from the officer to the sky to the officer to the ground to the officer to the sword and then back to the officer again.

Fed up, the officer jerked the blade to the right, cutting a slit instead of a hole into Gerardo's throat. Gerardo cried out from the unexpected sting and grabbed his neck. It hurt to touch. He held his hand out in front of him. Blood. He felt it slowly crawl down his neck, tickling his skin. It wasn't long before the officer's sword was back in the wound.

"I'm not going to kill you right away, Soldier," the officer said. "This is your final warning."

Gerardo knew the officer was being completely serious. In fact, he was surprised he had been given so many opportunities to do the officer's bidding willingly. But now he gave up trying to find a way to survive the conflict. Rein noticed this when he closed his eyes. She was old enough to know that soldiers were supposed to keep their eyes on their opponent and their opponent's weapons at all times. This was a sign of surrender. Rein couldn't believe it, but she hoped that Gerardo was working some sort of scheme. Then she saw Gerardo swallow hard at the knowledge that death would come slow for him. This was no scheme.

"Fly Rein, I can't do much more," he whispered.

"What?" Rein replied through gnashed teeth.

"I've helped as much as I can. The rest is up to you."

"What are you doing?"

Gerardo sighed. "Very well," he said. "It's your choice."

The officer heard everything. "You're giving your life over a pixie?" he laughed. "The war must have made you go mad!"

Gerardo remained silent.

The officer's gaze shot to Rein and he stretched his hand towards her. "Come here, or I will kill him," the officer ordered.

"Just fly away, Rein." Gerardo squinted his eyes at her.

"You need to go save that soldier," Rein whispered casually into his ear.

She tucked her knife back into her stocking and reluctantly flew over to the officer. Gerardo watched helplessly as Rein was snatched from the air. This changed everything. Now he had no choice but to survive this conflict, or her sacrifice would be in vain.

"Fool," the officer said.

He brought his sword down on Gerardo who rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet. Gerardo was quick to draw his own sword and the two of them exchanged merely a couple of thrusts and strikes before Gerardo disarmed his opponent. The officer was stunned to find his weapon in the dirt and Gerardo's at his throat in a matter of seconds. How had the tables turned so suddenly?

Gerardo glanced at Rein who furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head at him in warning to just leave. She had already caused enough trouble and couldn't bear to tell Mira that she was responsible for Gerardo's death should anything happen in the near future. Gerardo swallowed his guilt and glared at the officer.

"Take your prize and leave me to my business."

Gerardo hesitated for a moment with one last pitiful glance to Rein, then reluctantly walked away. Once he had disappeared through the thick crowd of bemused onlookers, the officer picked up his sword and carried Rein to the shop that she had dreaded so immensely in her nightmare.