Roses on Fire ~ The Tale of Roses and Thorns 2.
Chapter 8 ~ Skeletons in the cupboard

By sunrise they reached a smaller clearing next to a river. They let the horses eat, drink and rest while they did the same. Everyone was silent. Ivelle was sitting on the grass and played with her dagger, Adrastos stood guard somewhere where Ivelle couldn’t see him, Áedh was sitting with his back to a great rock, Cirillo was standing still, facing the river and Delroy, who was sitting next to Ivelle, was sharpening his sword.

Suddenly Cirillo turned around and examined their surroundings. His expressions darkened and walked up to Ivelle. He stood in front of her.

“Where’s your crazy boyfriend?” he asked with a dangerous tone.

Ivelle looked first at Cirillo then at her surroundings.

“Probably doing crazy things.” she said, shrugging her shoulders and standing up. She wanted to go and check the horses, but Cirillo quickly grabbed her forearm.

“Do you think it’s funny? You could start taking the situation seriously. Adrastos had one job, only one, to stand guard. But he couldn’t do that simple task and disappeared.” he hissed while tightening his grip on Ivelle “By now, he could’ve sent message to his alleys.”

"We are his alleys” said Ivelle, trying to get out of Cirillo’s grip, but he didn’t let her go “And I’m taking the situation perfectly seriously.”

Cirillo wanted to retort but at that very moment someone jumped off the tree behind him. He turned around and drew out his sword, only to face a grinning Adrastos and his blade.

“Well, well, cousin.” he started on a mocking tone “You know it really hurts that you don’t trust me. I did my job very well, I have to say. It’s funny, you know, that your people are called the People of the Trees, but it seems that only I had the idea of climbing on that tree, to have a better look of our surroundings.” he took a step closer ” You know, if I were your enemy, you’d be dead by now... ” he put away his sword, and turned away.

“Then go on, kill me. ” Hissed Cirillo with his sword still in his hands” I know you want to. ”

Adrastos turned back, drew out his sword and went back to Cirillo, and did it so quickly, it seemed like a flash.

" Unlike you, I’m not a murderer. I killed people, yes, but never murdered. ” He was panting hard.

" What do you mean, unlike him? ” Asked Ivelle on a small voice.

" You didn’t tell her? ” He let out a shallow laugh” What a pity. ” he turned to Ivelle, and although only for a moment, she could see the hurt in his eyes “He killed my mother. ” he slowly lowered his sword and put it away. Ivelle froze. Cirillo, the so-called good guy of this story killed Adrastos’s mother. She unintentionally took a few steps backwards.

“And the saddest part is, that it wasn’t during the war. ” he turned away “If I think about it, cousin, you caused the previous war.” he shouted back while disappearing into the woods.

After a few moments Cirillo turned to her.

“Ivelle...”

“Tell me it’s not true. Tell me it’s a misunderstanding.” she looked at him desperately, but Cirillo only stood there like a stone statue.

“I can’t.” he said finally. A horror-struck expression appeared on Ivelle’s face. She started backing, but Cirillo caught at her.

“Ivelle...” she quickly drew apart from his hand and ran into the surrounding forest.

She didn’t know how long she’s been away. The foliage of the trees were so dense, she couldn’t tell whether it was still in the morning or already afternoon. And to be honest, she didn’t care. She wanted to be as far from Cirillo as possible. She just sat on a mossy stone and gazed into space.

Suddenly someone touched her shoulder. She jumped up and drew out her sword.

“Easy, easy!” said the ever-so-familiar voice of Áedh “It’s just me.” Ivelle dropped her sword on the mossy ground and flung her arms around his neck. He hugged her tightly and they stood like there for a while.

Áedh slowly let her go and looked into her eyes.

“Áedh?”

“Hm?”

“Do you know what happened?” she asked on a weak voice.

Áedh took a deep breath, sat on the mossy stone, and motioned Ivelle to sit next to him.

“It happened 25 years before the first war. Adrastos’s mother had always had a good relationship with one of the savage tribes. When the first son of the old chieftain was born, they invited her to a feast.” he took a deep breath again” Adrastos, his mother, her handmaid, and a few soldiers started their way to the Savagedom. Allerick learnt about it and was afraid that Erebos is collecting an army against him. He sent Cirillo with a small team to investigate what’s happening. They were watching the dark-elves for a couple of days, then Cirillo sent back his messenger to Allerick, that the Dark Queen negotiates with the Savage. Allerick gave him the order to stop the negotiations.” for a few moments he was refreshing and then took a deep breath “Cirillo attacked Adrastos and her mother during the night. The Dark Soldiers tried to fight Cirillo and his team back, but they were outnumbered. One of Cirillo’s arrow hit Queen Avyanna. Adrastos somehow managed to get his mother and her handmaid back to Nendawin, but Avyanna died a few days later. ”

“But if it happened 25 years before the war, how does it connect to it?”

“After the death of Avyanna, Erebos was devastated. He barely left his palace, he didn’t let anyone talk to the Savage. Actually, this was the time, when the people started calling them the Savage. Anyway, 25 years later he declared war, as a revenge for the death of his late wife.”

Ivelle just sat in silence. Something was missing. If Erebos really wanted revenge, he would have done it immediately after the death of Avyanna, or maybe a few years later, but not decades later. There was a little detail that was missing.

“Come, we have to get moving, before dawn.” said Áedh standing up “We want to get to the Ocean as fast as possible.” Ivelle nodded and followed Áedh back to the others.

When they got back Adrastos was already there speaking on a low tone to Delroy. When he saw Ivelle, he immediately left Delroy and walked up to her.

“He told you everything, didn’t he?” asked Adrastos following Áedh with his eyes. Ivelle made Adrastos look at him, and looked in his eyes.

“Yes, he did. Finally I can understand you.” she said bringing him into a tight hug.

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