Fergus was pacing in the perfectly square shaped guards’ room. Minus the wooden chairs the entire room was grey. One of the Legionnaires had tried to bandage up his hand, that was now dripping blood all over the floor, but he had given him such a look that the man handed Alaric the bandage and backed out of the room.

“Fergus, I need you to calm down.” Alaric angrily indicted to the dent in the stone wall. Another thing that will get put down under my name.

“CALM DOWN? You lost my daughter. How was she able to break out, Capitan Alaric?”

“I don’t know. But I am doing my best to find out. I have sent hundreds of Legionnaires out in the city and will be sending a few to your shop.”

Fergus stormed over to Alaric in two steps, and poked him hard on the shoulder. They were almost the same height. “You will not be sending anyone to my shop.” A smudge of blood was left on Alaric’s white cloak.

“She broke out of the dungeon. AND took other prisoners with her. What do you think will happen? You should be thankful that I sent the men out and not the Colonel.”

“The other prisoners? You mean Larkin and his family? Since when do the Legionnaires keep little children in the dungeons? You make me sick.”

Alaric flushed red and threw the bandages on the ground meant for Fergus’ hand. “Warning Fergus. I am not the one you should be mad at right now.” Alaric was about to continue when he realized that Fergus didn’t know about Larkin. Mother of Gods, why me.

Alaric bent down and picked the bandages back up. “Come here and don’t give me that death glare.”

Fergus hesitated and then let out a deep sigh.

“I’m not doing this for your hand. I just don’t want to have to mop the floors up when you leave.” Alaric wrapped the wound up almost as good as a healer.

“Hmph.”

Alaric leaned over and said in whisper, “she’s pretty amazing, though isn’t she? First person that I have ever seen escape that didn’t kill a guard for a key.”

Fergus smiled. “She truly is. Bad temper like her father though.” He coughed and looked down for a moment. “But I wonder how she got Larkin and his family out too. Weren’t they in the cell when we were looking for her?”

“I have to tell you something.”

Fergus gave him a hard stare.

“Larkin wasn’t in the cell. He… he passed away last night after… during an orc attack.”

“What? It’s not possible. He was fine when we retreated.” Fergus clasped his hand over his mouth and started pacing.

Well now we both have secrets. It hadn’t truly surprised Alaric. The Cloaked Knights seemed exactly like an organization that Fergus would belong to. “I am going to pretend I never heard that sentence. And what I am about to tell you, you never heard from me. Ok?”

Fergus stopped pacing the room and finally sat down in a guard’s chair that he had originally turned down.

“Shit. I should not have let that slip. What happened after we retreated?”

Alaric decided it would be wise to omit that Sylvie’s cloak had been cut. There was only so much a man could take. He lowered his voice, “the Colonel called Larkin out as a traitor and killed him on the spot.”

Fergus ran his hands hard through his hair. He was shaking. He stood up slowly. Maybe the ones closest to him would have taken a look at those eyes and remained silent. But Alaric didn’t know Fergus that well.

Alaric reached out to pat Fergus’ shoulder, “I am sorry. I know you knew him.”

“MOTHER OF GODS- Alaric, he was part of Celeste’s clan!” Fergus punched the wall again where it was already dented. Alaric heard a loud crack. He wasn’t sure if it was bone or the wall. Another punch.

“You need to get out of here.”

Another punch.

“NOW.” Alaric hated raising his voice, but this was for Fergus’ own sake.

Alaric opened the guardroom’s door, and shouted down the hall. “I want five men escorting him home. Inspect his premises. Not a throughout check just see if you find any fugitives.”

Fergus was still shaking. “DO NOT TOUCH ME.” He roared at one of the men trying to escort him out.

“Should we take our mounts or the boat Captain Alaric?”

“If you think I am delivering the weapons shipment after today, you are wrong. Everything on Captain Alaric’s boat will be coming home with me until I know my daughter is safe and sound.”

Alaric was walking with the men down to the pier. When Fergus doubled over and started to laugh.

“Looks like your boat got stolen Alaric. You can add it to the list of things the Legionnaires need to find.”

“You will take mounts then.” He would not give Fergus the satisfaction of seeing how upset he was.

Fergus was still laughing as he mounted a large horse that looked more suited to pulling than riding.

The five men that were his escorts looked terrified as they rode off with him.

Alaric was cursing under his breath as an extremely sweaty out-of-shape Legionnaire was running towards him.

“Please tell me you are reporting that you have found the prisoners.”

“No sir, I mean Captain, the Colonel has returned from reporting to the King. He wants to see you immediately.”

Alaric’s back stiffened and he felt the little hairs on his nape began to rise despite the heat. This might have been the longest 24 hours of his life.

--

The Colonel was humming and cleaning in-between his teeth with a small pointy bone. His bad mood this morning had dissipated. First a nasty little lady had the audacity to file a complaint against him. But his men had covered his back. In the end, there was nothing she could do to push the issue further without any evidence. Then he had been furious hearing that the elven wench and her kids escaped alongside Sylvie. As he stormed down to the dungeons and met the angry girl’s father, Frances? Or what was his name? It didn’t matter. He let Alaric deal with the less important people. He had realized this was the perfect opportunity.

It had almost been too easy to report to the King. He already hated elves. And playing in to his fear was something the Colonel excelled in.

“Yes, your Majesty. At the rally’s the elves are plotting against your Kingdom- after all you have done for them! Azuren is truly a paradise and they have taken advantage of your hospitality. You can see, today in the dungeons is evidence that have begun to revolt. Two different cells holding elves and even one Elf-hu escaped.”

“Thank you, Colonel. I see my past efforts are not being taken seriously enough. We will need to curb these acts of treason immediately. We will convene with the Royal Court tomorrow. It would please me to have you attend.”

He had almost skipped walking back towards the dungeons. He shouted out at the first man he saw, “bring Captain Alaric to me now.”

--

Alaric knocked hard twice before opening the door. The former Colonel had never left his door closed. Alaric had one time entered the new Colonel’s office without knocking; how he wished he could unsee what had been seen.

Rather than sitting at the handsome desk, the Colonel was lying down on a small cot, flossing his teeth and smiling.

Disgrace. “You asked for me Colonel Rojel?” Alaric couldn’t help himself; as much as he tried to keep his voice calm and steady, his hands were all telling balled up in fists at his side.

Rojel looked him up and down and then smiled larger, “sit down.”

Alaric looked left and right, and then said through gritted teeth, “there is no where to sit, sir.”

“Oh, but there is quite a lot of space,” he gestured towards the ground, “sit. That’s an order.”

Alaric felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead to his cheek. Don’t lose it. Don’t lose it. With as much dignity as possible he lowered himself to the ground.

“See that wasn’t so hard.” Rojel stood up in one move. And was now towering over Alaric. A sinister smile crossed his face, “you will cease the search for the traitors. If they are coincidently found they will all be brought immediately to ME not the dungeons.”

Alaric had to crane his neck all the way up, “Sir, I already have over a hundred men searching…”

“YOU WILL CEASE THE SEARCH. We will be taking a more direct approach in the future by order of his Majesty. You will be briefed after my meeting tomorrow. Now get the fuck out of my office.” The Colonel nudged him hard with his foot.

Alaric realized he hadn’t known what anger was until that moment. He stood up and was going to throw a punch when he thought of Larkin’s wife. She had been sent up here to this monster. He hadn’t been ok with it happening, but he had allowed it to happen. He felt sick.

He ran out of the room as the Colonel began to laugh and vomited in the hallway. Sylvie was right. Two Legionnaires ran up to him, the one saw the vomit and quickly took Alaric to the guardroom. One shouted, ‘get him a water, and send one of the new recruits to clean the vomit.’

Alaric was shaking. He looked over at stone wall that was now busted up. It had little flecks of brown blood still splattered around it. Alaric shrugged, walked over to it, and began to punch. Punch. Punch. On the third punch, the stone and his knuckle broke at the same time. He looked at the hole, he was panting hard. The second Legionnaire walked in with the water, and gasped as he stared at his captain.

“I will supervise the rest of the day, sir. You need to go home and rest.”

Alaric chugged the water in one swig and slammed the glass down. “All search parties shall be ceased. We will await our new orders tomorrow. And if any of the fugitives are found, they are to be brought immediately to me.”

The two Legionnaires stared in shock, but nodded.

“Good. I will be at my home if you need me for anything.”

His apartment was not far from the dungeons. In fact, he was very close to the old market. The top floors were often not desired in Azuren. Too many stairs, too hot during the harvest season, and the very rare but potential wyvern attack risk deterred all but the young and brave. After endless years of living in the Legionnaire dormitories, this was the first thing that belonged entirely to him.

He reached his door at the top, not realizing that he had walked home and already climbed the stairs, threw his uniform in a pile on the ground -something he would never do- and collapsed into his bed.

--

Frida awoke suddenly. She had been having a nightmare about fire. The sun was high in the sky. How long have I been sleeping?

Frida stood up and looked around. She ran a wrinkled hand through her still damp hair. It felt so soft. She looked down and was shocked by the contrast of her pink skin to the dark grey water. A long time ago she might have been horrified by the amount of dirt that had been on her body, but today she simply shrugged and let the water drain out down the little hill away from the huts. The trees certainly didn’t mind a little dirt in the water.

She looked down at the neat little pile Mabel had left her. “Oh, that toadstool, this won’t do at all,” she said to no one. “Earl, get over here.” The old donkey was actually relieved to stop eating. He had hoped to nap alongside Frida, but that huge cat had made him so anxious. He had been nervous-eating waiting for Frida to wake up. He meandered over, his stomach bulging, with one ear still pointed towards the cat.

“Earl! Look at your stomach. I am only going to pull you half way home, the rest you are walking.” Frida looked frantically through the pouch that hung on his side. “We only have one more gift with. This won’t do at all. Look…” she gestured at the cloak, salve and loaf of bread on the ground, “the bath means two presents, this pile means another two presents.” She pulled at her hair. “Ok, don’t panic Earl. We will think of something.” Earl hadn’t heard one word and was eying the bread. His wasn’t hungry at all, but it smelled so good.

“Ah here. Ellastern root. Yes, this is equal to two presents.” She took two of the larger leaves that had been in her hair, and wrapped them carefully around the root. It had immense healing properties and was rare. Mabel will be delighted.

She slowly got dressed. She couldn’t even enjoy the topaz cloak until she figured out two more gifts. She ripped a chunk of bread off and began to walk around the property to get some inspiration. She opened the door to Mabel’s quarters and almost fell over. Hanging up next to an elaborate tapestry was a body length mirror.

Frida cautiously walked closer. She reached up and touched the wrinkles near her eyes, the topaz cloak was flattering on her. It made her eyes pop out like ambers. She cringed looking at her hair. Her auburn hair was covered in greys. When did I get so old?

“I should get a haircut and could wear some rouge,” she said to her reflection. She twirled slowly smiling as the cotton cloak danced around her. There was something in one of the pockets. A little perfume bottle. She unscrewed the cap, men used the kind they could dab on their wrists and necks, the spray type was for women. She took a whiff and almost gagged. It smelled like ginger combined with a dark woody smell. Memories flashed back, and she shook her head slowly at her reflection. That Frida could stay in the mirror. She messed up her hair. Where are my leaves?

As she left the room, she snapped her fingers together. “Earl, I know what the other two presents will be.”

Heru had been watching her the entire time. Frida looked quite pleasant when she was cleaned up. As she had opened the bottle, he also immediately recognized the smell, and whom the bottle had once belonged to. That was almost 10 years ago already. Frida had, for whatever reason, slipped the bottle back in her pocket.

She grabbed her cart, with Earl trailing slowly behind her, and disappeared in the woods. Ten minutes later she was back, the cart overflowing in wildflowers. She onloaded everything onto the eating table and found two large buckets in the enchanting room. Then, even if it was for a fleeting moment, the former Azuren master florist, made her magic. Her hands flew with energy she had forgotten she possessed. So enthralled in her work, she didn’t even hear a wagon making its way towards Mabel’s hut.

--

Blanca yawned and stretched. She had slept like a rock. She wiped quick at her mouth. Mother of Gods, I drooled. She looked to see if the driver had noticed. Santos was smiling and looking around the forest.

“Happy to see you are awake, it was a beautiful drive. But I can see why people have problems finding your Aunt’s place. It’s like a labyrinth in these woods,” he said. His baritone voice was like silk.

“We are almost there, and yes some Azurens believe the forest is enchanted.”

She smiled at him. Looking down she noticed something black and crumbly on the bottom of her pastel yellow cloak. She scooped the bottom of her cloak up and gagged.

“Orc blood. No chance getting it out of that colour,” Santos said while shaking his head. He handed her a flask of water and an apple. “You need to eat something.”

“Thank you. Look there it is. She doesn’t have a stable. But we usually let the horses free in the pasture and we can tie the wagon up here.”

Blanca squinted her eyes. Sitting at the table was a middle-aged woman arranging a bouquet the size of a large turkey. Next to her was a finished one, a bit smaller but even more exquisite.

Blanca whispered, “Santos, can you tie everything up alone and start unpacking?”

Alarmed Santos looked around; he assumed the woman at the table was her Aunt.

Blanca was already walking towards the table, Heru jumped up to greet her, and only then did Frida finally look up from her work.

“Uhm hello? I am looking for Mabel.”

“Blanca, is that you? You don’t recognize me anymore; I suppose its been a few harvests.”

Blanca stepped closer, “Frida?” she stammered.

A yellow toothed smile greeted her.

“You look great… are you arranging these flowers for my Aunt?”

“Aye, I owe her two.”

“They are beautiful.” Blanca inspected the finished one. It was primarily purple, white, and all possible shades of blue. She inhaled softly; primrose lingered in the air.

“Can you guess the emotions?”

In addition to the aesthetic beauty of a bouquet, master florists could set the mood of a room.

“Out here in the open, I think it might be too difficult.”

Frida rolled her eyes and flicked a bud at Blanca. “Do I look like an amateur to you? What emotion do you see?”

Blanca’s eyes were huge, taken aback she meekly said, “I’ll try.”

She stepped nearer and closed her eyes while inhaling. “Friendship…Thankfulness…and something else. A touch of love?”

Frida beamed and cracked her knuckles. “This is one is also finished.”

“I didn’t know you are a master florist Frida.”

Frida rolled the bottle in her pocket between her fingers. “I’m not. Come on Earl. The others will wonder where we’ve been hiding.”

An old donkey walked himself up into the cart, turned in a circle and laid down. Frida grunted while heaving the cart harness around her back, “Dragon Balls, Earl! Next time you are staying home.”

She waved to the large man standing dumbfounded by two horses, and disappeared into the woods cursing along the way.

“Mother of Gods what just happened?” shouted Santos.

Blanca turned and smiled looking at the second bouquet. It was primarily white with a few small purple and pink flowers. She breathed in, joy, courage, and a little bit of hope.

“I’m not really sure I know,” she answered while laughing.