Follow: Book 1 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Four: Stalling

Gerardo no longer cared enough to make his way to a neighboring town. He had sought out a lonely back alley and slept in the dirt by the mounds of trash and debris. The memory of losing Rein left an overwhelming feeling of guilt that had him tossing and turning all night. The next morning, the harsh beams from the Southern sun rudely awakened him from a short night’s sleep. As he stepped back onto the street, he noticed nothing about the town had changed. Nobody even witnessed him egress from the darkness between the two battered shops in his musty uniform. They remained preoccupied with cleaning up and working to keep what was left of their families alive. When Gerardo felt sure no one would pay him any mind, he proceeded to search for the exit out of Cair, and this time his goal was to reach the dreaded Emperor Mentir’s palace.

Cair was a very small town that sat in the middle of acres and acres of grass dissipating into a vast desert. Gerardo followed the seldom-traveled dirt road that split the flat valley in half. All that he could survey of the landscape was the trail leading around the Lucierna Forest, surrounded by vibrant green which stretched as far as his eye could see. Way out in the distance he spotted the palace sitting on the horizon like a little white stone on a bright green ring. He took a steady, deep breath, and forced himself onward.

⚜

The suns were high in the bright blue sky now, but as winter was ever nearing, they were tiny and emitted little heat. After walking for half the day, allowing himself a couple of breaks, Gerardo felt a tad warmer, but the air was still chilly and caused him to shudder every so often. Over a quarter of a day further into his trek he had stopped shivering, but his muscles were sore and his body weakened with every step he took.

As the Northern sun dipped low, casting long shadows over a grueling day of travel, Gerardo caught the distant sound of pounding hooves, muffled, but unmistakable. Shouts followed, carried faintly on the wind from his left. He turned his head toward the commotion, but saw nothing. Just the thick edge of the Lucierna forest, dark and unmoving. But the noise grew louder. Clearer. Gerardo slowed to a halt, frowning, his eyes scanning the treeline. A dark shape emerged—small at first, like a smudge on the horizon. It swelled rapidly as it approached, shifting from a blur to something massive and swift. Then the light hit it.

A unicorn.

Its coat was a dusky gray, nearly black in the fading sun. A silver horn gleamed from its forehead, sharp and ethereal. The creature galloped straight toward him, eyes fixed, hooves tearing up the soil beneath it. Gerardo tensed. It wasn’t slowing. His breath caught in his throat as the unicorn thundered forward, powerful and unyielding. For a moment, he wondered if it even saw him, or if he was about to be trampled flat and run through with the spear on its head.

The unicorn skidded to a dead stop in front of Gerardo, creating a large cloud of dust between them. They stared at each other for a few short seconds before Gerardo sighed through his nose, understanding. He scanned his surroundings, feeling quite unalarmed for this poor creature, and spotted a tall blackwood tree ahead to the right of the road.

“Hide behind that tree,” he said, pointing. “I’ll be casual about it.”

The unicorn quickly and silently obeyed. Moments later, two hunters bolted out of the forest to see only Gerardo wandering along the path, like a random traveler ignorant of their situation. They rode up to him on their white and brown horses, their bows and arrows ready for any tricks he might pull. Once they realized they had a distaste for this soldier and his presence, they retreated to the Lucierna Forest without muttering a word to him.

When the hunters were out of sight, the unicorn left its hiding place and trotted over to Gerardo. He ignored the armed steed, however, and continued to walk on, watching his feet.

“Sir!” called the unicorn, his silver beard bouncing with every word. “I appreciate what you did back there, but I must ask: If you’re a soldier of the People, why did you assist me?”

“I’m not a soldier of the People,” Gerardo admitted without taking his eyes off his feet. “But you’re welcome.”

The unicorn hesitated. “Why are you wearing the uniform of the People?”

“I’m borrowing it, if you must know.”

“What for?”

“That is none of your concern.” Gerardo tried to put a hint of warning in his voice, but he wasn’t sure if he was successful. “Please, return to your home.”

The unicorn paused, then continued to pry. “Well, you’re still from this empire, so naturally I’m curious as to why you helped. The people here have little respect for anyone not of human form.”

“I’m from the Noelle Empire,” Gerardo confessed with a sigh. “Now please leave me be.”

“Ah,” said the unicorn. “So you are a soldier of Noelle then?”

Gerardo shot a glare at the unicorn.

“I see. What might you be doing here?”

“I recall having already explained it’s none of your concern.”

“Well, there seems to be an interesting story behind this!” The unicorn trotted in front of Gerardo to claim his full attention. “A Laxer on enemy lines, dressed as an Executioner, on a road which leads to the palace. How could one resist? I only hope you don’t plan to take down the entire palace on your own…”

Gerardo was appalled at this creature’s blatant disrespect. After all, he’d just saved him. “Are you naïve to what ‘none of your concern’ means?”

“It’s not as though I would alert anyone. I’m only interested to learn what you’re doing and the story behind it. Who knows, I might even be able to help you … assuming that your plan isn’t too absurd.”

“Do you wish to be involved?”

“You saved my life. I’m obligated to return the favor.”

“There’s really no need. I’d prefer to do this alone.”

Gerardo shuffled around the unicorn, but the irritable creature continued to trot beside him.

“As a matter of fact, there is a need. It’s what you would call, ‘custom,’ for my kind. However, we only call it a custom when we’re not acting due to conscience.”

Gerardo supposed at this point there was no way out of this, so he began to talk. “I must break another soldier from the emperor’s prison. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know why. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of the naiad who gave me the message. Only something about the importance of his future bloodline.”

“And you believe this naiad?” asked the unicorn, his tone laced with mockery.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I just thought I’d get away from battle.”

“Well, I’m no fool.”

“That’s all very well. I’m not you.”

Gerardo stopped to sit on the side of the road for a moment, and removed his boots with some struggle.

“What are you doing?” asked the unicorn.

“Making sure my feet aren’t about to fall off. I’ve been walking constantly for almost a month now.”

The unicorn paused and did his best to be patient. “My name’s Calder, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Calder,” Gerardo said as he massaged his feet. “I’m Gerardo of Liko. Everyone calls me Gerry.”

Calder only huffed in response. “Why don’t you ride on my back?” he finally offered. “I’ll gallop so that we arrive sooner and we can get this over with.”

Gerardo felt hesitant, but nodded his head in accord as he pulled his boots back on. Then he mounted Calder and allowed the unicorn to carry him the rest of the way to the palace. By then, the Southern sun was setting, and Gerardo noticed for the first time that day a hollow ache in his stomach. It would be twilight once they reached the main road that led to the palace gates. Exhaustion settled quickly, and his strength waned. He wouldn’t be storming the palace tonight.

⚜

The Southern sun had set with only the faint beams of its light shooting up from the horizon when Gerardo and Calder came to a fork in the road. Calder was ready to continue forward, but Gerardo stopped him.

“I’d like to know where these roads lead.”

“Straight ahead is the palace, and to the right is the Dead Sea Desert,” Calder replied. “We need to go this way.”

Calder began to move toward the palace, but Gerardo stopped him again.

“Wait, don’t go that way. Go into the Lucierna.”

“You can’t cower now! We’ve arrived, so just go in and get your friend out!”

“Calder, we must be wise about this. Has it occurred to you that if I simply waltz up to the gates without a plan I might be thrown into jail too? Not to mention I’m hungry, exhausted, and weak.”

Calder paused and observed the positions of the suns, but of course there were none. He sighed. “Very well.”

Calder ventured into the Lucierna Forest, which lined the emperor’s palace wall and stretched farther north. Gerardo directed him deep enough to where he hoped they wouldn’t be seen, but where they could still see the pale white of the palace wall. The icy wind blew past the trees and Gerardo trembled from the uncomfortable chill. He yanked off his leather gloves and blew into them in a futile attempt to give them some warmth. Though he was thankful that it wasn’t snowing yet, it felt like it might as well be. The temperature was low enough to where a campfire was necessary, so Gerardo began to gather the materials to make one.

“What are you doing?” Calder asked.

Gerardo positioned a bunch of sticks to form a pyre. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

It took Calder a moment to piece it together. “Why are you building a fire right now?”

“Because I’m cold.”

“You said you were hungry. There’s an apple tree by the river.”

“Thank you. I’ll grab some once I’m finished with this.”

“You don’t seem to be very concerned about your comrade.”

“Quite frankly, I’m not.” Gerardo struck his flint a couple of times to create some sparks. No fire followed. “Jorge and I don’t get along. If it were up to us, we would’ve killed each other a long time ago.”

“Then why are you rescuing him?”

Finally, a small ember sparked into existence. Gerardo gently blew on it until it flickered to life. Then he brushed his hands together, and stood to face Calder.

“I already explained this to you and I have no intention of explaining it again.”

He turned toward the river to search for the apple tree Calder had previously mentioned. To his disappointment, the unicorn followed closely behind like a second shadow.

“Good,” Calder said. “So you remember that somehow, his children are going to be important in the future, which means we need to get him out as soon as possible.”

“And in this case, that means tomorrow. You don’t even believe the story anyway.”

“You said that you do.”

“I said that I don’t know what I believe. Either way, I can’t do anything until I devise a plan to get inside and refuel my strength.”

“Well, keep in mind he might not have a lot of time to waste,” Calder continued. “The emperor only uses his palace prison for soldiers who might have valuable information, so you can be sure your friend isn’t necessarily living in luxury at the time being.”

“You think I’m unaware of this?” Gerardo asked.

“I’m only mentioning it as a reminder that you may want to think quickly before there isn’t much of Jorge left to save.”

“Perhaps you would like to help me conjure up some ideas then.”

“I suppose I can try, but I don’t know what I can do.”

Gerardo couldn’t grasp how this brainless unicorn was anything more than two extra pairs of feet for him. He did his best to ignore his feelings of vexation and searched around for more food besides apples, as well as more wood so his fire would last the rest of the night.

“Why can’t you just walk in?” Calder asked. “You’re dressed in an Executioner’s uniform so they should let you in.”

“Suppose Xers must say something before they can enter?” Gerardo asked. “Like their name or brigade? If that’s the case I’ll be found out on the spot. So no, that won’t work.”

“What I’d do is simply walk up and see what happens. If I found myself in trouble, I’d gallop back into the forest and hide, then find a way to sneak in later.”

“After that they’d expect more attempts.”

“They might suspect more attempts, but I doubt they’d expect them from one person.”

“Who’s to say I’m alone?”

“Who’s to say you’re not alone?”

Gerardo breathed a heavy sigh. It was growing more difficult to maintain his patience, and it was impossible to take this unicorn seriously. He gave up on searching for anything more than the apples and wood he had gathered, and returned to his campfire.

“Very well,” he replied. “In that case, we should come up with a plan B before going through with plan A.”

“Find a way to crawl over the wall,” Calder suggested after a beat. “Maybe climb these trees to reach the top, then sneak into the palace.”

Gerardo rolled his eyes. “Calder, perhaps you should just lie next to the fire, eat something, and relax for the rest of the evening? When you come up with a suitable, step by step plan, let me know.”

Gerardo could read the irritation in Calder’s eyes, but they didn’t move him. Thankfully, the unicorn did just as he had suggested. Meanwhile, Gerardo ate his dinner slowly and analyzed his situation from afar. Everything was against him; numbers, resources, strength, energy, perhaps even wits. Calder certainly hadn’t offered any useful ideas, but then again, Gerardo hadn’t come up with anything at all. There weren’t very many options for a soldier working alone, so perhaps “waltzing” up to the palace in his Executioner uniform was as good as any other solution. What frustrated him more was the thought that Rein probably would’ve produced an exceptional plan. Rein … she was probably dead by now, wasn’t she?