The Last Golden Rose

  Chapter 36: One Last Memory

  Ludus did not have time to celebrate the victory. As the three of them were leading Oldo to the lone cell on the first floor his vision blurred once again. He was sent to the days of the founding of Parli, over four hundred years prior. After the last memory he did not want to see more and tried to fight it, but to no avail. This time his head ached from the feeling of sudden motion. When it stopped and his vision cleared he recognized exactly what was about to happen. This memory was just as bad as the one before it.

  Ludus saw through Lwid’s eyes the main entryway to the palace. It was dark inside; several fires were lit so that he could see. The first thing he noticed was the sword in his hand. It was the same sword that he and Mith had used to fight Oldo. Around the entryway stood other people, all holding swords. Their faces were much older than Ludus had seen before. The age could not hide the pain on their faces. The others each had looks of being completely distraught.

  In the center of it all stood Ijnus, the sword he carried looked exactly the same as it did when Ludus and Mith found it. He had the most evil face Ludus had ever seen. It was twisted by paranoia and anger. The sword was constantly turning colors, from black to red and then quickly through every color imaginable. Behind him in the doorway were people watching with a dark backdrop of night. Ijnus ordered them to not help; he said that he could handle it.

  Ludus tried to close his eyes, but had no control over them, he had to watch. The fight began. Portur jumped in to the ring the other lords and ladies created. A slow sword fight began. It ended quickly when Ijnus used the magic from the sword to throw Portur across the room. The others did not hesitate. Through Lwid’s eyes Ludus ran to Ijnus, sword raised. The man deformed by greed and paranoia tried to defend himself, but was unable with four coming at him. Portur joined in, and together they took turns swinging. Ijnus blocked all hits. The others realized there was only one way to win. All at once they thrust their swords straight into Ijnus. He let out a scream and withered to the floor.

  Lwid dropped his sword and fell to the ground. He looked into Ijnus’s eyes as the final breath came. Nobody spoke. The only sound was that of the crackling fire. The other four walked away in a different direction. The battle was over. Ludus had the sudden thought come to him that there had been fighting outside, and many may be dead.

  Only seconds later Ludus felt the now usual feeling and was transported back to the jail. Once back he stopped in his tracks. Mith, who was still holding a sword to Oldo’s back as they led him to his cell, looked to Ludus, confused. She saw the look on his face and knew he must have had another memory. The cell was nearby, after they shut the door on Oldo, who was now eerily silent as he clutched his bleeding arm, she went back to Ludus.

  “What was it?” She asked, not hiding her joy of beating Oldo.

  “I saw it; I saw the end of Ijnus.”

  “Oh, well remember, he was sorry for that.”

  “I saw their anger, I saw someone die. They killed him—I mean I already knew they did, but actually seeing it was . . . horrifying.”

  Mith put her arm on Ludus’s shoulder. “It’s alright now, that was long ago. Look at what we just did, we beat Oldo and saved Parli.”

  Ludus smiled in relief. “I guess we did.”

  Mith nodded happily. “We sure did.”

  They overheard Mitchum speaking to Oldo through the small window in the cell. “Why Oldo? We could have changed things the way we wanted, through peaceful approaches.”

  Oldo could not be seen by Mith and Ludus, but they imagined he spoke with teeth barred. “Ten years and nothing, is that what you call progress?”

  “True change takes time.”

  Oldo suddenly screamed: “Ten years and nothing! At least I was doing something!”

  Mitchum shook his head sadly and closed the window. When he looked to the kids he smiled broadly. “You did it, you really did. How did you know about breaking the rose?”

  Mith shrugged, she leaned on Lwid’s sword. “We just got the idea suddenly. It was as if Lwid was telling us what to do before we even got the magic. But how did you know about breaking it? And who’s did you break?”

  “I once heard a story about it, I hoped it would work. And I have no idea whose rose this is.”

  The sword had a blue stone, and was presumed to be Altis’s.

  The three made it back to the mess hall and tried to think up the next move. First thing they would have to do is find the king and queen hiding in the Rough to tell them everything was alright. Mitchum took that job, Mith and Ludus did not want to even speak to them after what they did to Mitchum. The next thing would be to bring all the statues back to their regions and set the roses back. The Mountain Region would need a different approach, with all the statues of inmates to remove before the rose could be set back. After that everything would be back to normal for the most part. They decided to let the court of Parli, in which Allard was the head, to decide the fate of the individuals involved.

  “It should all take about a week.” Mitchum said after the plan was made up.

  “Sounds great, but one more thing still puzzles me. How did you get past Gyrd and the minions?” Mith asked.

  “The minions? What a name. I shut the first girl and the big guy in a cell. The small boy is also in a cell. And the other girl is in a supply closet, knocked out.”

  “And Creen, the older one?”

  “I never saw him.”

  Mitchum looked around cautiously. Nobody was there. He told them to stay and ran out of the room.

  Mith and Ludus went to the statues of the people they knew. It was still sad, even with the knowledge that they would get better. They walked around and counted the entire population of Rerum amongst others they did not know. The children younger than themselves were all huddled together in a corner. Ludus found his parents and stood with them for a while. He then went to Mith who was sitting with her father. He sat on the other side of him, putting his hand on Mr. Hardel’s shoulder.

  “Only a few days and he’ll be back to normal.”

  “I know; it’s just hard to see him like this.”

  She hugged her father. At first she thought it her imagination when he started to warm up. She took her hands off of him and he went back to being ice-cold. Slowly, afraid of what would happen, she put her hands on his shoulder. With Ludus on one shoulder and Mith on the other, Mr. Hardel came back from his slumber.

  It was hard to tell the moment when he came back, but once he did he immediately fell backwards. Mith jumped on him, almost crying.

  “Dad! You’re here, you’re alright.”

  “What? Of course I’m alright. When did you get b—where are we?” He got up to a sitting position and looked around at the other statues. “What in Parli happened?”

  Mith laughed. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain later. First we have to unfreeze all of these people.”

  “Unfreeze? Mith what happened?” He noticed Ludus next to him. “Hello, young Mr. Tinn, how are you?”

  Ludus was also smiling widely. “Oh, just awesome, thanks.”

  Mith and Ludus started around to all of the statues, using their magic to bring everyone back. Mr. Hardel got out of the way and tried to figure out where he was and what happened. All of the others did the same.

  Mitchum came back into the hall with Creen in a headlock. “It’s alright I got him, he was outside.”

  He almost let go of Creen in the shock he felt. Every person was up and walking around. He went up to Mith who was closest. She was talking in excited tones to a man Mitchum recognized.

  “Sorry to interrupt but how did this happen?”

  Mith put her hands up to show Mitchum. “We did this, me and Ludus.” She looked from Mitchum to her father. “Dad this is Mitchum. Mitchum this is my father.”

  Mr. Hardel shook Mitchum’s hand. “I believe we met once.”

  “Yes, and thank you very much for that, I owe yo
u one.”

  “Well I owe you a million. Mith has been telling me about what’s been happening.”

  “Oh has she?”

  “I cannot thank you enough.”

  Mitchum nodded and excused himself. He went around looking for Ludus in the now very talkative crowd. He passed Maows and quickly went in the other direction. Ludus was found in deep conversation with two people Mitchum took to be his parents. The tall man in the hat stood watching, not wanting to interrupt another reunion. He looked around and saw that the story was making its way around. People talked hurriedly and exuberantly to each other. Something about that sight was comforting. All those people who had only moments ago been frozen, now up and about conversing and socializing as if nothing at all had happened, it was almost surreal. Mitchum took Creen and found a cell suitable for him on the second floor.

  After closing the door he put his back to the wall and slid down to the floor. It was hard for him not to chuckle to himself. All the wonder and happiness downstairs made him think of his family. They were frozen somewhere in a desert that used to be a forest. For the first time in years he actually wanted to see them again, to be with them. To forget everything and sit down to one of his sisters amazing pies. Or go see his brother that always made him smoked meat just the way he liked. For the first time in years Mitchum took his hat off to the family he always wanted, and just now realized he always had.