The Key: Book 2 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Seven: The Key Goes Missing

Rein sat atop the tallest mast of the Blood Omen for several hours waiting for a bird—any bird—to come within her rope's reach. For the first hour, she didn't mind the wait. It felt grand to finally be out of that cigar case—out of the cabin entirely. Fresh air, even salty sea air, was healing. But at the end of this hour of breathing the odors of fish and low tide, Rein felt like she had enough and enacted the use of the bird calls she had taught herself during the past few centuries without wings. Just when she thought she would lose her voice, a seagull landed about two feet from her. She slowly pushed herself to her feet after learning it couldn't talk and grasped her small rope of twine.

When Rein successfully looped the seagull's beak, the bird took off with her clinging desperately onto the end of the rope. She struggled to climb the twine as swiftly as possible while the seagull glided past the starboard side of the ship and then out to sea. Soon, Rein managed to mount onto the bird's back as it swerved madly to-and-fro. It was a battle, but eventually Rein took complete control of the seagull and flew it to Arcor where she safely landed atop a bell-tower, the tallest building inside the massive, anarchic city.

Rein, still mounted on her feathered ride, scanned the decay that was Arcor City for any sign of Empress Renée, but the city was so massive as it extended to the northern horizon that it was impossible to examine the entire metropolis from where she sat. It didn't help that the many fires spotting the city produced the smoke which further obscured her vision. She began to wonder if the empress had already learned of the location of the Mystery Miracle Worker. Or maybe she got caught with the key and someone had kidnapped her. No—it was too difficult to kidnap a naiad. But perhaps Renée had followed whoever might have stolen the key from her. No—Renée wasn't so bold of a person. If someone had taken the key, the empress would have given up and returned to the ocean. Rein didn't even want to consider that.

Rein tried to put herself into the empress's shoes and considered where she may have gone first in her quest to find the Mystery Miracle Worker. Where could one start in a search to find a merchant who would have such information? Rein wasn't about to attempt to talk to any of these people. She would have to hunt for Empress Renée the old-fashioned way.

Rein steered her bird back to the busy port where she slowly drifted among the dirty, angry people with their boats, ships, and rickety carriages. She realized that she didn't even know exactly what to look for since she couldn't be sure what the empress was wearing. She only knew to look for a woman, most likely wearing a lavish cloak of some sort, and chances were she was by herself keeping away from people as much as possible. Rein longed to ask one of these criminals if they had seen a naiad, but she repeatedly reminded herself that they would all be less than helpful.

Rein spent all day exploring every port of Arcor. As Arcor was a massive island, that was a lot of ports and Rein grew rapidly frustrated with her lack of progress. As the Southern sun made its way to the horizon, Rein finally steered the seagull onto a rooftop among a number of pigeons and other seagulls.

"Do any of you talk?" Rein called. She caught a couple of seagulls trading glances with each other and pointed at them. "I saw that! Listen, I'm not from here, and I'm not looking for trouble. I just have a simple question."

The seagulls hesitated but one finally replied, "What?"

"I'm looking for a naiad."

"On land...?" asked the second seagull with a scoff.

"Yes, I realize that's strange, but I know she's here. We recently learned that an Arcorian merchant knows the location of the Mystery Miracle Worker, so she's looking for him."

"Oh, well I can at least give you that much," said a third seagull and Rein leaned forward in anticipation. "People say that the merchant who owns the Worldly Trade shop learned that information from a pirate. As for your naiad friend, I don't have a clue."

"That's perfect! That may be enough! Can you point me in the direction of this shop?"

The seagulls looked at each other again.

"Sure, it's closer to a southern port," said the second seagull. "Main Port, I think. There's a picture of Xyntriav above his door."

"I think he's right beside a blacksmith... some sort of smith," the first seagull offered. "The merchant's feet are on backwards."

"Wonderful!" Rein praised. "Thank you so much!"

Rein steered the seagull which she rode back to the ports to the south of the island where she began her long search for the Worldly Trade shop. It was just as tedious as her previous search, but Rein was thrilled to finally be on track in some way.

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Empress Renée had spent the night in the murky water of the river which coursed through most of Arcor. She had been less than comfortable sleeping in polluted surroundings, but she felt safer there than she would've in any inn the city had to offer. The next day, she felt strangely relieved to exit the river as the Southern and Northern suns leveled out in the sky to mark noon. She carefully made her way back to the barred windows of the Worldly Trade shop where she found the door locked with not only numerous locks, but what seemed to be an Elvic or Farian curse of some kind.

Renée was not pleased to have to stand around in the open Arcor air waiting for this merchant to show up. She pulled the hood of her cloak close around her blonde hair in the hopes of hiding herself from the endless criminal mischief around her, and for a brief moment, she almost longed for the protective walls of the Obsidian Palace. However, her sorrowful memories of feeling hopelessly suffocated and closed off to the outside world ended that potential longing before it had a chance to develop into something more. She quickly concluded that she hated Arcor and the Obsidian Palace equally, only for different reasons.

Eventually, Renée recognized the grimy merchant with his backwards feet approaching his shop with a large leather tube under his arm, and a tall, lanky partner at his side. Renée was relieved to finally have some protective walls around her to separate her from the chaos of the city, but she was wary of the merchant's suspicious second. Neither could approach the door fast enough and their apparent carelessness trod on her patience.

"He arrives at last," Renée deadpanned.

"I did say noon," said the merchant. "If you've been waiting long, that is no fault of mine."

Renée didn't bother arguing with the man, afraid that it would slow him down further as he took his time unlocking the many locks on his rotting door. Finally, he stepped inside and Renée quickly moved to follow him, only to be stopped by the silver force-field which remained guarding the threshold.

"Patience, my Lady," said the merchant. He fiddled with something which Renée couldn't see and the silver shimmer faded. "Now you may enter."

Renée obeyed without response. The partner trailed behind and locked the door while Renée continued to follow the merchant to a large desk at the very back of his cluttered shop. She watched him remove a large sheet of rolled up parchment from the leather tube.

"You brought the key, I hope," he said as he flattened the sheet on his desk.

Renée only answered by lifting the key from her light blue bodice, but left it hanging around her neck. The merchant glanced at her while he set weights on the corners of the parchment and Renée kept a watchful eye on the partner, who now approached the desk to stand with them. After catching her leering at him, the partner made sure to keep his distance.

Finally, the merchant stood up straight and gestured to the sheet on his desk. "This is a map of Roznova."

"One of the Continent Islands," Renée confirmed.

"Exactly." The merchant pointed to a spot on the map; the same spot Captain Tzatara had shown Rein. "This red dot is where the Mystery Miracle Worker is located."

Clearly Renée wasn't satisfied with this snippet of information. "Is that below ground, in a cave, up a tree...?"

"Beneath a hill covered in moss and glowflower bushes," the merchant responded. "But see, beneath this hill is in fact, three separate passages. Be sure you take the left one. Then there's a door hidden in the wall beside a torch. She'll be behind that door."

"Beneath a hill through the wall of the cave to the left." Renée leaned over the desk to gather a better glimpse at the red dot on the map. "Anything else I should know?"

"I hope you have something practical to trade because she doesn't accept currency as payment."

Renée stood up straight. "Duly noted. Thank you for your time."

"The key, if you will," said the merchant before Renée turned to leave. He held out his hand. "We did have a deal after all."

Renée brushed the key with her white, delicate fingers and giggled. "Oh, you mean this eroded antique..."

Suddenly, Renée melted to the ground right before the eyes of the merchant and his partner, and coursed out of the shop with the key. The two men cried out in panic and chased after her, nearly breaking down the door as they exited. They whipped their heads left and right along the ground in desperate search for the naiad.

"There! Right there!" the merchant's partner pointed.

"Ready your knife," the merchant snarled as he stormed toward the moving pool of water.

The merchant seized a piece of trashed plywood off the ground as his partner drew his knife and followed closely after him. When the merchant caught up to the living water, he rammed the plywood in the ground in front of it so that it crashed into the barricade. The water formed back into the figure of Empress Renée, who wore a dazed expression on her face. Here, the partner slashed at the empress with his knife, but he may as well have slashed at a phantom. He succeeded in snatching her attention though, so that the merchant had the perfect opportunity to rip the key from her neck. Renée attempted to snatch it back only to be socked in the face. She took the merchant and his partner by surprise when the punch had the same effect as a punch to a puddle. Water splashed from her head and returned to her feet as her face quickly recovered before the men's eyes. The merchant shook his head in disbelief and his partner had to grab in him by the arm to get him to run away with the key.

Empress Renée collapsed at the base of a tree with a sad, squishy plop, and she held her face where she had been hit. Then she watched the merchant and his partner run off with the key... her key... her only hope of ever finding joy, healing, bearing children... and saving her adopted daughter's life. Her eyes welled up with tears and her nose gleamed red as she let it all sink in. After finally coming to terms with her failure, Renée sobbed uncontrollably for a considerable period of time, like a small child with her knees to her chin.

"Renée! Renée, get up! Get up!"

The voice sounded familiar to the empress. She craned her head to gaze up into the tree where she caught sight of her old pixie friend.

"Rein? What are you doing here?"

"I came to join you in finding the Mystery Miracle Worker," Rein answered as she set her feathered ride free.

"I lost the key, Rein," the empress replied with more tears in her voice.

"I saw that, but I found where they took it. I'll need your help getting it back though. You want to get it back, right?" The empress nodded. "Great, I'll show you the way."

Rein climbed down the tree and hopped onto the empress's shoulders, then she pointed at a section of the forest line. The empress wiped her face, pushed her shoulders back, and marched into the forest where Rein directed.

Out of the sight of the pixie and the empress, a mysterious man dressed in a silver cloak had watched the whole spectacle from behind an abandoned bakery. He kept his face hidden with the shadow of his hood and had the presence of a wanderer, yet he carried little on him. He was careful not to be seen before he emerged from his hiding spot. Only he knew of his intentions as he followed the two girls. It seemed as though they may be of some use to him.

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Rein led the empress along a river deeper through the thick trees. Here the air was much cleaner and the aura much calmer. The river thinned out into a creek and they followed it into the mouth of a cave where the temperature grew colder. The creek led them to the back of the cave where it disappeared beneath the wall.

"There's a door there somewhere," Rein explained. "I think we can both slip underneath though."

Without a word in reply, the empress melted into a puddle again and did exactly as Rein suggested. Meanwhile, Rein discovered a tiny hole through which she barely managed to fit. On the other side, Rein spotted a set of stair-steps carved into the rock. They led down into a steep cavity where they disappeared into darkness. The trickling of the tiny waterfall echoed up this stairwell, the hollow shape of which amplified the sound. Carefully, Rein made her way down each of the slippery steps, but they were wet and mossy and she slipped. She clawed desperately at her rocky surroundings to gain purchase, but everything was too damp to grab a firm hold and she continued to fall into the darkness with a yelp. Thankfully, the empress heard Rein's cry and managed to catch the pixie before she collided with the rocky floor.

"Thank you," Rein breathed, and the empress set her back on her shoulder. Then they both turned around and stood aghast once they realized where they were: expanding before them was an enormous rock city with no evident city-folk. The lair was dark but full of vegetation, and the tiny creek appeared to continue through to the other end of this city. The air was musty but filled with floral perfume. The only source of light was the torches that lined the ghost town where every single building was made of some form of stone. Some homes were even carved into the walls.

As empty as the realm seemed to be, Renée was awestruck by its beauty. There were trees and gardens everywhere, crops to keep the missing residents alive, and flowers which added more color to the lawns and gray domiciles. There were even some livestock, all which were white or gray in color. Far out in the distance, she made out a large, white castle on a cliff top, also decorated in vibrant plant-life. Its glistening spires reached up to the cave's ceiling while the structure teetered over the abyss below. There were signs of life everywhere the girls looked. There had to be people somewhere, but where could they all be?

The empress entered the city with her fairy friend on her shoulder, and they continued to use the creek as their guide as it flowed down the center of the limestone streets. They soon found that they advanced down the main road which led all the way to the castle, and they proceeded down this road with vigilance in search of either of the two men who took the key.

It was here when the mysterious man descended the stairs and peered into the city himself. He remained stationary and watched the two girls with hidden eyes. Rein and Renée kept watch for any signs of people, but by the time they had reached the center of the city, they were ready to confirm that they were the only life forms around.

Suddenly, there resounded a loud BOOM! The empress hid in the creek while Rein sprinted to the closest torch and scrambled up near the flame so that the firelight would hide her glow. The mysterious man stepped back into the shadows of the stairwell. They all stared in the direction that the noise had come from and waited in anxious silence to discover the cause.