Thorns of the Blood Rose - Installment 1
#1 of Thorns of the Blood Rose
Exiled from her home, Naomi Leask is in a strange land and already up to her neck in problems; an easy mark for theft, completely broke and homeless, Naomi spends her days trying to provide for herself and mend her rendered soul with her father's blood still warm on her hands. She needs to figure out what entity possessed him and why it followed her.
Thorns of the Blood Rose
Tales From the Kingdom of the Red Sun
Six Virtues of the Perterian
Honor:
Allow no dishonor to come to your family name by word, deed or thought. Strike swiftly and with furious vengeance against any enemy or slight that would undermine the honor of your name. If slighted in falsehood, reveal truth where it does not exist and break down the barriers that prevent you from doing so with a soft, even hand. Only through these actions will the heavens allow you entry.
Cleverness:
Obscure and make your focus unclear if it will save the lives of those you protect. To speak lies veiled as truths should only be done in the name of deceiving ones enemy, when the stakes are of life and death. Find and exploit weaknesses where they exist in all things.
Self Sacrifice:
To contemplate life is to know its inherent unfairness, the duty and honor of the Perterian is to fight and die in the stead of those lost in the storm. Do not shy away from this responsibility, it is an honor to balance the scales.
Loyalty:
Loyalty to debts of all colors brings with it the loyalty of those around you. If your word is given, obey it so as not to divide your loyalty between the heart and the rational mind. One will speak only truths and one will be given to the prevailing wind.
Justice:
Right is right and wrong is wrong. There can be no room for interpretation and no excuse for inaction.
Sanctity:
Hold sacred the lives and property of those you defend. Do not abandon them no matter the odds, failure is forgivable, cowardice is not.
B attles were won and lost by bargains, Naomi's father had said. You bargained your prayers to the gods for protection, you bargained your memories to the ancestral spirits for courage and you bargained your body by toiling in the fields for long hours so that when times like this came, you had made all the deals possible to tip the scales in your favor.
But bargains like those were meant for males; women could not pray to the gods of war, women could not train to fight and, as keepers of the family legacy, they were not allowed to forsake their memories. Naomi had nothing to bargain with, there was only her father's sword and her trembling hand holding it to his neck.
Within the sauna of her mask what little breath she could manage betrayed her, forming sweat that stung her eyes and tendrils of hot condensation which trickled down either side of her grey lupine muzzle. She wore her father's armor like a death robe, matted to her flesh with blood from rocks thrown at her by the villagers she had been trying to protect. When they thought she was her father.
The Tikasha war mask that her father had worn lay half buried in the mud between them, his eyes, once so bright and powerful now looked up at her accusingly. Daring her to strike.
They were not the eyes of her father.
This man could not be her family.
Her uncle surged forward from the crowd of shocked onlookers, "This fight is not yours!"
Naomi whimpered. He was right. She was a woman, she was a dancer. Not a warrior.
She had no right to do this! Women did not kill their family!
But if not her? Who? Who stand when the village elders _demanded_they supplicate to 'Lord' Tikasha? Naomi's shaking grew worse, scraping her father's fur with the side of his blade.
The_thing_ that wore her father's body cackled, throwing his head back with mad glee as his lupine muzzle opened wider than should have been possible. The flesh cracked, tore. Bled. "You're so predictable!" His voice was pinched, choking the words out between fits of laughter. "But you've won! We will withdraw if you but strike!"
The Tikasha warriors that had formed a semi circle around the combat stood from their kneeling position, each lowered their sword in unison. Crimson sunlight caught reflections from their polished, blood splattered armor. A vicious howl of wind swept through the village.
"N- No." She found her voice, barely a whisper within the star iron war mask. "No. . ."
"No_what_, precious girl?" the thing that was her father leaned in, grinning a shark's smile. "Don't tell me you're going to cower now with victory so close at hand? Hm?" he reached a gauntlet for the blade. "Do it!"
She jerked it away.
"Naomi! This is not our way!"
"He is a demon!" She snarled, her body so numb she could barely feel the words in her throat. She had won the duel, she could still save the village. Who, if not her?
"A demon, she says! Hah! Not in the slightest!"
Her uncle grabbed for the blade.
She elbowed him, drew in a breath and looked to the creature on his knees in front of her. She fought with the memories of the summer days they had spent fishing, the winter nights they had spent sharing stories. She would not give in. She was. . . Tears welled in her eyes as she tightened her grip on the sword.
"Psst! Let me let you in on a little secret, pup." Her father's maniacal grin went back even farther to expose bloody flaps of muscle under his torn cheeks. "You _can't_win. We've been doing this for a _long_time-- I've seen it! Seen your death a thousand times!"
Naomi inhaled, drew the sword back.
She had already become a Blood Rose, it was time to become a Perterian._She would do what her father had done for decades. She would save the cowards from themselves. She _would. "Forgive me, father."
Her uncle grabbed for her but she was already pivoting into the blow. "No!" It was too late.
Cackling laughter. A subtle resistance as flesh and metal met. Bone gives way, blood arcs through the air. A dam breaks; tears; sorrow; agony. A howl. Lighting crashing through a cloudless sky and merciful silence.
A Blood Rose had bloomed.
T hank you _very_much for downloading this piece of my fiction, I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. If you would like to check out some of my other works, including those set in this world and others, you can find them at johnenright.info