The Key: Book 2 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Two: The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

Unfortunately, Rein had not yet recovered from her regrettable episode three hundred years ago when the infamous Emperor Mentir tore her wings off her back. Ever since, she had been eating the petals of the burdania flower to keep alive as pixies cannot live without wings for the most part. To further Rein's misfortune, this flower was native to the Maja Forest and when she had left this forest the first time, she had not done so on good terms. Returning without wings was humiliating, and making amends was painful. Interestingly enough, even after spending another three hundred years in the forest, not all hard feelings had been amended and Rein was anxious for this opportunity to leave again.

Throughout these years, Rein spent much of her time perfecting her hunting, running, climbing, and jumping skills. She now looked about the age of a twenty-year-old with a black design developing around her left eye. At this time on Xyntriav, pixies were acquiring designs on their necks and faces and they concluded it was simply a sign of age.

Meanwhile, Rein had also tried anything and everything to keep herself distracted from her wingless predicament. Some days were easier than others, of course, though her search for a more permanent solution did wonders to keep her spirits up. It took her almost two hundred years to finally learn that she could regain wings, and it took her another hundred years to discover that the Mystery Miracle Worker was the one who could do this for her. She could hardly contain her excitement that she was finally making noticeable progress in her journey to solve this merciless problem.

Rein rode a seagull to Mayline Port in the Kingdom of Belle (an island that used to be part of the Bonn Empire) where she landed outside the window of a printing press and set the bird free. She glanced around at this very modest kingdom which practiced etiquette as if it were a religion. The cobblestone streets were as clean as the people themselves and rarely did even a small argument take place. Rein didn't feel the need to worry too much about the residents here. Instead, she put all her attention in to making it to Arcor.

Rein jumped off the windowsill and ran down the alleyway between the printing press and its neighboring port operator. Rats; just like she wanted, though there were only a few considering the cleanliness of the country. Rein needed to figure out which ones had the ability to talk. Since rats usually stuck to the walls, Rein snuck down the center of the alley so to lessen the chances of being attacked by the non-talking rodents. When she found the opportunity, she quickly climbed on top of a broken crate and looked over the small colony.

"Do any of you talk?" Rein called out.

"I do," answered two rats to her left.

"Do you know if any of these ships are leaving for Arcor?"

"Lucky you," one rat replied. "There happens to be one at the west end of the port."

"More like unlucky," the second rat objected. "What business do you have in going there?"

"My business," Rein replied. Then she turned to the first one and nodded her head. "Thank you."

"No problem," he answered. "The ship is called The Pelican. There's a large bird on both sides of the bow so you can't miss her."

"Thanks again."

Rein jumped off the crate and ran toward the edge of the alleyway where she wondered how she could cross the street without being seen or stomped. After much deliberation, she figured that all she could do was wait for a wide opening in the traffic, pray that she wouldn't be spotted, and sprint as fast as her tiny legs could take her. She dashed bravely across the road, barely missing the hooves of a horse and the wheels of a coach. Once she made it to the other side of the road, she dove behind a stack of crates and boxes, and thanked God for a safe passage.

At this point, Rein glanced about at the ships which were docked in front of her, neither bearing the painted image of a bird of any sort. So she made her way toward the west end of the port as she peered closely at each vessel for its picture. Even though she felt safer in Belle than in most other nations, she believed it may still be wise to remain unseen in the off-chance one of the nastier citizens caught sight of her. She dodged behind barrels and kegs, crates and boxes, sacks and nets, doing all she could to keep out of sight while paying close attention to the pictures painted on these vessels. She passed about seven ships before she finally spotted The Pelican.

"Get those crates over there!"

Rein observed a number of shirtless, burly men working together to load the vessel with the shipment among which she hid. She concluded that was her easiest ticket on board. Rein squeezed herself between two planks of a crate and hid among the grapefruit inside. Eventually, she was carried onto The Pelican.

                                                                ξ

Rein remained among the cargo throughout the voyage to Arcor. It took her little time to adjust to the exaggerated swaying of the ship and the nauseating stench of fish and salty sea. For the longest time it was mostly an uneventful voyage. To keep herself occupied to some degree, Rein roamed around the area and ate some of the food along with the burdania petals she kept in her little satchel. Whenever someone came down for any reason, she hid in her crate of grapefruit and contemplated playing a harmless prank on the visitor just to add some entertainment to the journey. However, she opted not to be so foolish.

On the fourth day of the voyage, Rein heard hectic commotion on the deck above, which increased in intensity fairly quickly. It sounded frightfully war-like and Rein whispered a quick prayer that what took place above her wasn't what she thought it was. Soon, numerous footsteps barreled down the stairs to the cargo area. Rein held her breath and remained still among the fruit surrounding her.

"What be this madness??" exclaimed a rough voice. "Fifteen kegs of ale and thirty crates of mash! Are ya addled?"

"You gotta understand, Captain," pleaded another, smaller voice. "They wouldn't allow me to load any more than that!"

"Then ya sneak more on, fool!"

"Understood, I'll do just that next time—with extra!"

"Do ya realize how many times I've heard similar vows and never witnessed them be fulfilled?"

"Please, don't be mad!"

"Ya pathetic waste of life!" Rein heard a long, drawn-out gargle and she flinched at the following thud. "Feed this one here to the fish and get these crates on board."

"Aye, Cap'n," replied a couple of new voices.

Rein listened in panicked silence to the struggle which ensued beyond the sanctuary of her crate, then she released her breath at the relieving sound of everyone leaving the cargo area.

When the cargo bay fell silent, Rein frantically searched her mind for solutions on what to do next. Run and find a bird to ride? That would strongly depend on how far she was from Arcor and there was no way for her to know. She learned during the voyage that there were no rodent holes in which to hide, and leaving the cargo area to hide elsewhere on the ship felt like the worst idea possible to her. It seemed that the safest choice was to remain in her crate and be carried onto the opposing ship. But where was that ship headed? Rein tugged at her black choppy hair in a futile effort to think harder.

About fifteen minutes passed before Rein was carried onto the other vessel. The sailors weren't very gentle about it and Rein got bruised and beat up by the grapefruit. Then once she was thrown onto the floor of the cargo bay on the new ship, she heard what sounded like the crackling of large flames and the collapsing of parts of a ship in the distance, followed by victorious praise from above. She assumed The Pelican was now on its way to the bottom of the ocean, and she was on her way to... well she hadn't a clue.

Moments later, a couple of sailors came below deck before she even had a chance to devise an escape plan. Yet her panic faded when she noticed that these two spoke with each other and suddenly she found herself hoping that she would be able to overhear some valuable information through their conversation.

"I really don't care," said one sailor. "I have only enemies on Arcor."

"Viroe thinks they'll come after us."

"They don't even know we sunk it, how could they come after us? Anyway, what did the cook say he wanted again? Apples, carrots, grapefruit, squash, and what else?"

"I think he said something about pears or passion fruit."

Grapefruit. That was the crate in which Rein hid. No longer was she concerned about what she could learn through their conversation. She had to find a new place to hide. She managed to escape her crate just as one of the sailors opened the lid. Rein hoped and prayed that he didn't see her light as she dove into the next crate.

"What was that?" the sailor asked.

"What was what?"

"That. Look! It just disappeared!"

"What did?"

"There was a light! Help me find where it went!"

Rein exited the new crate and dove behind a sack of potatoes. She still didn't feel safe here, so she continued to move about the cargo before she took refuge in a crate of radishes far away from the two sailors.

"What do ya mean there was a light?"

"I saw a light move! Help me find it, I'll show ya."

The two sailors searched around the crates and boxes as Rein prayed hard and constant. Then she heard them remove the lids to the boxes and search inside, swearing and coaching each other as they slowly moved closer to where she hid. She waited for what seemed like forever as they grew closer and closer still until at long last, the first sailor opened the lid of the crate of radishes.

"I found it!"

Rein bolted through the planks and the two sailors chased after her. She darted and dashed about the boxes and bags while the sailors tossed them all out of the way, fighting to snatch her up. Rein searched for any rodent holes in the walls and the more she failed to find any, the more aggravated she became. She quickly ran out of places to run, there were no places to hide, and before long Rein was cornered.

"What is it?" the second sailor asked.

It was now clear to Rein that she was a on a pirate ship, not that she had much doubt about it before she was carried on. The sailors wore baggy pants and shirts, musty from having never been washed, and they used multi-colored sashes to hold their swords at their sides.

"I can't tell," said the pirate who found her.

"Can ya talk?" asked the other. Rein nodded. "What ya be then?"

"I'm a pixie," Rein answered. "My wings were torn off."

"Ouch," said the first pirate. "That's no good. Come here."

His hands started to close in on Rein and she tried to back away from them, but she only pressed herself harder into the wall of the ship.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Rein cried. "Please! Wait! What do you want?"

"We want to show ya to the cap'n," he said.

"W-w-what's he going to do with me?"

"Can't tell," he shrugged.

"Do you know if he'll kill me?"

"Chances are, no. He ain't got reason to. Now come here."

"I found a jar!" the second pirate called out.

"No! No jars!" Rein pleaded.

"Ya won't be in there long."

"Please! I'll cooperate!"

"Ye will cooperate." The first pirate took the jar and set it in front of Rein. "By gettin' in the jar."

Rein gazed at the jar and trembled. She searched her mind for other options, areas to run off to, places to hide. Curses, if only she had wings!

"Just... don't put the lid on it?" she asked. "You know I can't fly out."

"I won't put the lid on," he swore.

Rein held on to the hope that she could reason with the captain in some way and entered the jar as instructed. The pirate lifted her off the floor with a force that caused Rein to fall the rest of the way to the bottom of the glass.

"Don't put the lid on it!" she reminded, but the pirate brought the lid up.

"No! Don't put the lid on it!"

He screwed it on.

"No! I can't breathe! I can't breathe with the lid on! Take the lid off! Please! Please take the lid off!"

The pirate carried her to the captain's cabin, the whole time ignoring Rein's shouts and pleas. When they entered the cabin, he set her on a large mahogany desk and Rein continued begging for them to remove the lid, refusing to believe that her voice was so muffled to their disregarding ears.

Once the pirates had left the cabin, Rein calmed down some but she was still panting, frustrated, frightened. She frantically searched for a way to remove the lid off the jar, but she could find none. After three hundred years, jars were made of thicker glass and she surmised that knocking it over wouldn't provide the force necessary to break it as she had managed to do last time she was trapped in something similar. She would only roll off the desk with the swaying of the ship, killing herself with the fall. All Rein could do was wait and hope that the captain would let her out when he entered and that he would enter soon.

Rein couldn't handle simply waiting, however. While the captain did whatever he pleased outside the cabin, Rein decided that it was worth a shot to climb up the inside of the jar and attempt to screw off the lid from within. She positioned her hands and feet on either side of the container and slowly pushed her way to the top where she pressed her hands beneath the lid and struggled to twist it. Her constant panting used up the little supply of oxygen left in the jar and she quickly grew tired and weak. Soon, she became incapable of holding herself at the top of the glass and her knees gave out on her. She tumbled back to the bottom of the jar just as the ship swayed, causing Rein to fall against the side so that it toppled over. Slowly, it started to roll to the edge of the captain's desk.