Rebel Children

“We have to leave the Alden Wood and go back into the towns.”

Rose was pacing restlessly back and forth. She had met with Maria and Tobias once everyone else was asleep and they were speaking in hushed tones out in the trees.

“It could be dangerous,” Tobias remarked.

“Everything is dangerous,” Rose replied. “It’s dangerous here too. But Maria said I need to find another instructor to try and teach me magic anyway, and I want to know more about this supposed rebellion.” She stopped her pacing and sighed.

“We have to do this. I’m clearly running out of time,” she said. “I’m going to have to strike at Lorena, soon. It’s been long enough.”

“It’s been a few years,” Tobias protested and Rose shook her head.

“It’s been almost six years since I supposedly died,” she said, “but it’s been an eternity for the people living under Lorena. It’s bad enough all the way out here, with these monsters prowling around. I can’t keep hiding. I’m only going to have one chance to fight her, and it has to be soon.”

“I’m not sure you’re ready,” Tobias said, frowning.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready,” Rose sighed. “But I don’t have much of a choice. I probably have a better chance than anyone else of stopping her, and I don’t think people can take much more of this.”

“Well, I guess we leave the woods then,” Maria said quietly. She was giving Rose a proud look, though she looked a bit like she wanted to cry. Rose smiled as reassuringly as she could, squeezing Maria’s hands.

“It’ll be okay,” Rose said, trying to sound convincing.

“This desire to go to town and snoop on possible rebels doesn’t happen to have anything to do with the boy, does it?” Tobias asked.

“Who, Charlie? I mean he’s a nice kid and I’d like to give him a better future but that’s hardly the reason we should go.”

Tobias gave her a look of exasperation. “Let me rephrase. This doesn’t have anything to do with the young man who came looking for Charlie, does it?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rose replied primly.

“Rose, I’ve known you your entire life. Don’t think I didn’t notice the way you were looking at him.”

“I wasn’t looking at him any type of way,” Rose protested. “I just thought it was nice, how he came looking for his brother. He seemed very worried.” She fiddled with the end of her braid, trying her best to look innocent.

“You invited him to stay for dinner.”

“He’d come all this way looking for Charlie and he looked exhausted. Are you really going to fault me for being nice and offering him some food?”

Tobias heaved a sigh. “Don’t play coy with me, young lady. Your eyes got big and sparkly when you looked at him.”

“Well it’s hardly my fault that he’s rather handsome,” Rose said. Maria looked like she was trying to stifle a snicker while Tobias rolled his eyes.

“Rose, he’s a stranger and there’s something…odd about him.”

“He doesn’t seem very odd to me.”

“This girl will be the death of me,” Tobias grumbled. Rose flipped her braid over her shoulder.

“The point is, tomorrow we need to prepare to move out of the forest,” she said. “It’s time.”

“She does need another instructor,” Maria admitted. “We need to give her every advantage we can before she faces Lorena.”

They all went quiet for a moment, feeling a little cold as they thought about Rose actually facing down the queen. Finally Tobias nodded.

“Right,” he agreed. “We need to make sure Rose has what she needs. But we’ll have to be careful. If Lorena finds out she’s alive, there’s no telling what she might do.”

The matter settled, the three of them moved back into camp. Philip, Charlie, and Eli were all still sound asleep. Rose sat up on her bedroll for a while, frowning pensively off into space as she hugged her knees. She’d lived with her stepmother for several years before the woman tried to kill her, and she didn’t look forward to seeing her again. She still had nightmares because of Lorena. She glanced toward Charlie and Eli, and then toward where Tobias and Maria had fallen asleep together. They’d risked a lot and worked hard the last few years to keep her safe. She thought about what Eli had told them about what was happening in the cities, and she knew she’d just have to push through her fear.

Rose barely slept but she still woke up early, finishing up her replacement arrows and doing an inventory of what supplies they had and what they could reasonably carry. Eventually Charlie came over and plopped himself nearby, looking at her arrows with interest as she loaded them into the quiver.

“You’re really going to leave the woods?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you’re going to really become rebels?”

“Never you mind about rebels,” Rose said firmly. “You’re young and shouldn’t be so eager to go running off into danger and worrying that awful, abusive family that would never come looking for you.”

She shot him a sideways glance and he looked like he’d sucked on a lemon. She looked behind him and saw Eli getting up from his mat.

“Speaking of which,” Rose said as he approached. Charlie saw his brother coming and looked a bit sulky. Rose however gave Eli a gentle smile.

“I hope you were able to get some decent sleep,” she said. “It didn’t seem like you got much while you were looking for Charlie.”

He looked caught off guard. “Oh. I…uh, yeah. I slept pretty well. Thanks. And thanks, you know, for letting us stay. And for keeping an eye on him.”

“Of course. I didn’t want him wandering off in the woods alone. It’s easy to get lost. And there’s…dangerous things out here.”

“I hope he wasn’t too much trouble,” Eli said, shooting an exasperated glare at Charlie.

“He helped me make stew and gather berries,” Rose said. “Very rebellious stuff.”

Eli cracked a tiny smile while Charlie scowled.

“I hope it won’t be too much of an imposition for you to lead us to your rebel connections,” Rose added. “We’ve been out here trying to help keep all the black magic creatures at bay, but I’m not sure we have the means to do it anymore. There’s getting to be too many of them and not enough of us.”

“I saw one,” Charlie said, temporarily forgetting to mope. “It came right out of the trees.”

“You saw one?” Eli looked alarmed at this news. “Dammit Charlie, you could’ve been killed out here.”

“I wasn’t even in danger,” Charlie said. “Rose killed it. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw.”

Rose grimaced faintly. “Yes, well. Let’s get ready to go, shall we?”

They were bundling up the sleeping mats when Eli handed her the one he’d used the night before and she noticed a small gash on his palm.

“I didn’t even notice it,” he said when she pointed it out. “I must have gotten it at work before I got the horse and came out here for Charlie.”

“Well, I can fix it for you,” she said. “Wait here.”

“Oh, you don’t have to-“

Rose had already gone in search of some of the moss she’d pointed out to Charlie. She returned with a handful and Eli reluctantly held out his hand. Rose laid some moss over the cut, and then she placed her fingertips against the moss. While she still needed training for more defensive magic, she’d practically mastered healing spells while training under Maria. And she must’ve healed about a million small cuts by now. She closed her eyes and focused on the cut. The earth that made up Norterra was full of magic so having the moss made a more solid connection to it, and after a few moments of concentrating her will on removing the cut, she felt a brief prickling sensation across her skin. She opened her eyes and moved the moss to reveal that the cut had disappeared.

“See, good as new. Sorry if it feels kinda weird. Your hand will probably tingle for a little while.”

“Right. Okay. Uh, thank you.”

Rose smiled, then went to help Philip as he fussed over how best to pack everything. Tobias sidled up next to her.

“What was that about?” he asked in a low voice.

“I was just being helpful,” Rose replied. “What are you so worried about?”

“Oh I wonder,” he muttered and Rose rolled her eyes.

“Just pack your bag, Tobias.”