The War for the Rose: Book One Complete

[Cadorean]

That should be more than enough to keep our promise without trying to get risky about it. Yay minimal effort! B- in high school for everyone!

> "That should fare wonderfully, my lord. Thank you kindly."

Because she is from the South originally, after all. Aww yeah, go Dixie.

[alexthewhite]

> "That should fare wonderfully, my lord. Thank you kindly."

You turn to depart, but Lord Rose puts a hand on your shoulder before you go.

GRINNING ROSE: Wait. I have something for you.

He hands you the white rose he's been clipping this entire time. It's been completely cleansed of thorns and leaves, and the moonlight reflects brilliantly off the pale petals.

GRINNING ROSE: A gift. A reminder that you always have a friend, someone to trust, in Palegarden.

FROWNING SAGE: Thank you, my lord. I will treasure it.

You walk away, towards your rose. Grinning Rose never does anything without a good reason. He didn't give you that rose for no reason.

Do not even think of betraying my trust. That, you believe, was the message he was trying to send.

You arrive back at the luxurious guest room Lord Rose has provided for you and your husband. It's only marginally less nice than the actual room the two of you share back in Strongvine.

Your husband is lying on the bed, leafing through a book. When he sees you come in, he marks his page and sets it aside.

READING SAGE: All taken care of?

FROWNING SAGE: Every bit of business a success. A most fruitful day.

READING SAGE: I'm glad that I could help...aren't you?

FROWNING SAGE: Oh, of course, my love. I could not have done it without you.

Reading Sage smiles a smile bursting with self-satisfaction.

READING SAGE: Good. I believe it's time for my reward.

FROWNING SAGE: ...Quite. I believe it is.

You put your hands under your gown's sleeves and, in one motion, drop it to the floor.

FROWNING SAGE: I am ever so grateful for your help, my love.

End of Chapter Nine

[absoluteCertainty]

ooooh yeaaaaaah

> wake up!

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Be Hiding Spire!

[OnBackorder]

Gross.

> Read some nice, sensual mail.

[Miss_Meg]

I have nothing good to say so...

==>

[alexthewhite]

>Be Hiding Spire!

Chapter Ten

Alright.

It's been ten days since you departed from Palegarden. It took Lord Rose all of an afternoon to rally up his entire fleet, and you were joined by the significantly smaller Sage force before nightfall.

Since then, it's been a long, boring voyage. You've been confined to the sickbay except during mealtimes, when you were allowed to sit with the soldiers. None of them paid you much attention.

Palegarden ships aren't much like the ones back in Tritower. Your father's fleet came in grey, dark grey, and pale grey colors. Lord Rose's flagship, the hundred ship known as the Crimson Thorn, has a bright red mast and long green lines stretching all the way back to the stern. There are indigo fifty ships, purple twenty ships, even some yellow and black ten ships ("honey bees," Leaping Granite called them.) Most of the five ships were left back at Palegarden; a ten ship carries twice as many men but only needs one priest.

Unfortunately, the priests need their rest, so the ships only travel twelve hours a day. They then land for twelve hours and return to the skies the next morning. The waiting is torturous; Lord Coal had said the Keep had only two weeks before the Mudmen would attack, and that had been sixteen days ago. Leaping Granite was sending you in the five ship kept inside the Crimson Thorn to tell your father to rally his own men for the attack.

Tritower's been in view all day. You had finally managed to convince the ship's medic that you were fit to walk around on your own accord, and have been wandering the decks of the ship all day. They gave you your knives back, which is nice, but you've been stuck with a blasted green gown instead of your armor.

Lord Limestone is also on the upper decks, watching Tritower get closer and closer. You walk past the Rosemen manning the crossbows and cannons, past the engineers bickering about the hissing noise on deck two, and reach Limestone.

HIDING SPIRE: Have you ever been?

RISING LIMESTONE: Been where? Tritower?

HIDING SPIRE: Yeah.

RISING LIMESTONE: I don't think so, no. My father...was not a fan of yours.

HIDING SPIRE: Really? I thought we were pretty close to Southflight.

RISING LIMESTONE: Some families like yours, some don't. My father was no friend of Lord Obsidian's, but he hated Towering Spire. That was one thing the two of them agreed on.

HIDING SPIRE: Why does your father hate mine?

RISING LIMESTONE: Dunno. Can't exactly ask him, can I? Still, maybe I can make peace between our families once we land. See Lord Towering Spire for myself. How about you? Are you excited to see home?

HIDING SPIRE: Of course I am.

RISING LIMESTONE: Who are you most excited to see?

[meekmeep]

Laughing Spire!
(Is Frowning Sage still with us? If so we could bring her along and watch the two get into a fight... it would be very amusing.)
Also, Shrinking Spire. Stock up on some new weapons.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>We miss dear old Dad the most, but Laughing Spire is a close second.

[alexthewhite]

>We miss dear old Dad the most, but Laughing Spire is a close second.

Laughing Spire!
(Is Frowning Sage still with us? If so we could bring her along and watch the two get into a fight... it would be very amusing.)
Also, Shrinking Spire. Stock up on some new weapons.

HIDING SPIRE: I guess...my brother, Laughing Spire.

RISING LIMESTONE: Laughing Spire, Frowning Spire...your father has some interesting ideas regarding names.

HIDING SPIRE: It gets worse. They're twins.

RISING LIMESTONE: Ouch. Is he exactly like his twin?

HIDING SPIRE: Haha, thankfully no. The exact opposite, to be honest.

RISING LIMESTONE: Well, I look forward to meeting him. Hopefully he's less scary than the rest of his siblings.

HIDING SPIRE: You think I'm scary?

RISING LIMESTONE: I watched you go toe-to-toe with a Furious Fool while I played dead. This was after you organized all the Keep's lords against Lord Obsidian, and that was after you came back from a top-secret mission with one of Whitesky's deadliest people covered in blood. You're actually terrifying.

You aren't sure what to think of what Lord Limestone just told you.

HIDING SPIRE: Anyways, there are other people, too. My father, of course, and then there's my cousin Shrinking Spire...

RISING LIMESTONE: Do you care about anyone who isn't related to you?

HIDING SPIRE: Of course I do!

RISING LIMESTONE: No need to shout, I was just asking. All the people you've been naming are your blood.

HIDING SPIRE: ...I don't have very many friends. Like you said, I'm scary. And not all that pretty.

RISING LIMESTONE: You kill people, quite well if I say so myself. You have no need to be pretty. Look at Crushing Force, look at Ten Knives.

HIDING SPIRE: Are you comparing me to Ten Knives?

RISING LIMESTONE: You are kind of similar-looking. Knives, leather armor, short hair...

HIDING SPIRE: We don't even know what Ten Knives looks like! She's all covered in tattoos!

RISING LIMESTONE: I suppose. I don't think she'd be very pretty, even without them, but we all fear and respect her, don't we? Crushing Force is the same in that sense.

HIDING SPIRE: ...I'm telling Crushing Force you said that.

RISING LIMESTONE: Please don't. I like all my innards just the way they are now.

You snort in a manner most ladylike.

Speaking of ladies, you still need to talk to Frowning Sage. She had headed back to Strongvine by the time they woke you up, and you haven't seen her since. She should be on the Sage's flagship, the Spade of War, and like you, she'll be landing in Tritower.

RISING LIMESTONE: We ought to find Leaping Granite so we can get on the five ship already.

The two of you head for the interior of the ship. As you walk, making sure not to disturb the soldiers and engineers, you take stock of the fleet around you.

It really must be something to see; the Roselord's fifty five ships plus the Sagelord's twenty five makes for eighty titanic vessels all flying as one. You imagine the fleet must have given quite the scare to any settlement you flew near or over. With your father's ships, it'll grow even larger.

RISING LIMESTONE: You never answered my question.

HIDING SPIRE: Hmm?

RISING LIMESTONE: Are there any people in Southflight besides your family you're looking forward to seeing?

HIDING SPIRE: Uh, well, there was this one boy...Whispering Dune.

RISING LIMESTONE: Dune, eh? What do you think of him?

[mellifluousMastermind]

>mumble something incoherent. Don't forget to blush.

[OnBackorder]

Yeah, it's really easy to forget just how frightening Hiding actually is.

> He's soft, I mean quiet, and a terrible liar. He works hard, but needs to train more; falls for feints too easily and has a weak nose. His stance is clumsy and his attacks are obvious. Really blunt, it's almost like he has never even tried to lie. Can you believe that?

[Miss_Meg]

I like Mumble and Blush. That's what I get from this. Mumble and Blush. We like him. He was a sweetie and we like him. And then, realizing we're blushing, we should start complaining about everything. So basically both comments above, one after another.

[Askia]

maybe its just me but... i dont really see why hiding spire would blush so much its not like we have spent that much time with whispering dune (while i do supports this love) it hasnt been that long from my view its more of hiding spire knows he likes her... and she doesnt really know how to react

though it could be awkward to talk about

[Koffie In Blik]

>Give a generic noncommittal answer.

[Cadorean]

Mumble and blush. Then grin like an idiot.

[alexthewhite]

> He's soft, I mean quiet, and a terrible liar. He works hard, but needs to train more; falls for feints too easily and has a weak nose. His stance is clumsy and his attacks are obvious. Really blunt, it's almost like he has never even tried to lie. Can you believe that?

RISING LIMESTONE: ...

HIDING SPIRE: What?

RISING LIMESTONE: I didn't ask how he fought. I asked what you think of him.

Mumble and blush. Then grin like an idiot.

RISING LIMESTONE: Figures. His father would be very happy to hear about this.

HIDING SPIRE: His father...? You know Flying Dune?

RISING LIMESTONE: Not personally, but Dune is a northern family. A big one, I think the late Lord Dune had eight or nine sons and four daughters.

HIDING SPIRE: E-eight sons?

RISING LIMESTONE: A fertile man, evidently. I don't know why a Dune would be in Tritower, though, maybe your father is friends with the current Lord Dune. It's not unheard of for lords to trade some of their most trusted men with friends, especially far-off ones.

You haven't thought about it in a while, but now that you think about it, you do remember something like this coming up in the past. You tended to stop listening whenever Falling Spire or Towering Spire were lecturing you about politics.

RISING LIMESTONE: Oh, there's Leaping Granite! We better go talk to him, I wouldn't want to keep young sir Dune waiting.

HIDING SPIRE: What? Hey, wait!

You shake your fist at Limestone as he hurries away. After taking a second to calm yourself down, you decide not to stab Limestone in the face and walk towards him and Granite.

Leaping Granite's wearing a big, dark grey suit of armor with a blood-red rose emblazoned on the breastplate. His sword is fascinating; the hilt is encrusted with rubies and emeralds, but the blade itself is strong, plain steel.

He certainly looks ready to fight.

RISING LIMESTONE: My lord, are we prepared for launch?

LEAPING GRANITE: Hmm? Yeah, I suppose you are. Get to the bottom deck and I'll see you in Southflight once I've retaken your city.

RISING LIMESTONE: Our city.

LEAPING GRANITE: Whatever.

HIDING SPIRE: Why are you wearing your armor now?

LEAPING GRANITE: Been a while, little girl. This thing is heavy, and I'd like to be able to maneuver myself while wearing it. I'm a bit more used to the weight, now, meaning I can kill all the more Mudmen.

RISING LIMESTONE: Come on, Hiding Spire. We need to retrieve Setting Sun before we head down.

You and Limestone both head for the infirmary in the ship's interior. For its majestic size, things are rather cramped in the bowels of the Crimson Thorn. The infirmary is no exception; Setting Sun's room is a bed and two buckets.

He looks a lot better than the pale, wheezing wreck he was when you arrived in Palegarden. He's dropped a lot of weight, like you, but that was weight he could stand to lose. A decade of a lord's life will do that to a man, but Setting Sun looks much leaner and faster now.

SETTING SUN: Finally. I thought I was going to die in this bed.

HIDING SPIRE: Not too late for that. You could drop dead at any moment, couldn't you?

SETTING SUN: This might be my comeuppance for hitting you upside your head roughly every other day for the past ten years. However, once I am able to walk of my own accord again, I will remember that.

HIDING SPIRE: Do you need help? We're meeting a priest in the lower decks, and there are several staircases in between us and there.

SETTING SUN: I'll make do with a cane.

Setting Sun stands up with a groan. You get the feeling he would refuse help so long as he was able to stand for more than a couple seconds.

The three of you head slowly down lower and lower in the ship, passing hard-at-work engineers and cannon crews. The soldiers primarily dwell on the upper decks, where there is room to move around, but the cramped, humid lower decks are another story.

Finally, you make it to the bottom; a small, circular room with a simple-looking ship sitting in the center. Standing by it are an elderly, bearded priest and a lanky young engineer.

PRIEST: You made it. Finally.

SETTING SUN: Lay off, old man. We all nearly starved to death, and I took an axe to the kidneys.

PRIEST: Better learn to dodge, then. Get on, I don't have all day.

The four of you climb onto the ship, the Thorn's Thorn. The engineer runs to the side of the room and pulls a lever.

The floor starts to retreat under your ship with a dull creak. Immediately, the priest drops to his knees and begins praying.

For a few brief seconds, you are in freefall.

Luckily, the priest corrects that almost instantly and the Thorn's Thorn starts flying towards Tritower. In the distance, you see a lavender dot emerge from one of the Sage's ships to do the same thing; that must be Frowning Sage's ride.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Ask Setting Sun how he's feeling. Be sure not to disrupt your flight.

[Askia]

that has to be a experience... (im REALLY JELOUS AND WISH IT WAS REAL :<)

> look at setting sun and smirk

[alexthewhite]

>Ask Setting Sun how he's feeling. Be sure not to disrupt your flight.

SETTING SUN: Like a man sliced my stomach open, and then I was starved for a week, and have had a week to recover.

HIDING SPIRE: So...pretty bad?

SETTING SUN: Better than ever. I could jump from this aircraft, hit the ground, and get right back up.

RISING LIMESTONE: I'll have to ask you to stay away from the edges of the ship until we dock, Setting Sun.

SETTING SUN: Hah! Your father, lad...did he fight in the Blue Sands War?

RISING LIMESTONE: He was there, mostly to show solidarity with the rest of Whitesky. We've never had a large army, not until Lord Granite blew half the treasury on giving Mud an army. My father, Lord Obsidian, Lord Coal, and Commander Flint were all there with our forces, though. Obsidian lost a son, I know that much. Lord Coal nearly died, Commander Flint took some serious burns when the Honitians took down the ten ship he was inside. My father was the only one to escape without losing much, but a lot of the other lords lost sons or brothers.

SETTING SUN: I never met your father. There were a lot of us up there, though, maybe I did. Long war. Bad war.

HIDING SPIRE: But didn't we win?

SETTING SUN: T'was a costly victory. Entire families were wiped out. Honitian storms would hit fleets of five hundred men and two ten ships would come out. We won, but every inch of the Blue Sands is soaked with the blood of Whitesky men. They ought to rename it the Purple Sands.

HIDING SPIRE: And the Honitians want to fight again? Why would they want that?

SETTING SUN: ...Honitians aren't like us, Hiding Spire. A glorious death in battle is what all their warriors strive for. Honitians love war, and they're very good at it. When they don't have a war of their own, they hire out their armies as mercenaries so they can get involved in other people's wars.

RISING LIMESTONE: We beat them once before. We'll do it again.

Setting Sun smiles grimly at Limestone and you.

SETTING SUN: Good optimism. I'll see you on the battlefield.

None of you have much to say except for the priest, who is still murmuring his prayer.

You finally sail past Tritower's...three towers. The familiar smell of iron, clay, and straw fills your nostrils again.

You're home.

The ship slowly sets down in the shipyard, and several soldiers run up to greet you.

SOLDIER ONE: What is your business in Tritower?

SETTING SUN: Shoving my foot up your ass, Rigel. Out of our way, we're here to see Towering.

RIGEL: Oh, Setting Sun, lady Spire! Forgive me, I thought you were Rosemen.

SETTING SUN: Because all northerners look the same to you, issit?

RIGEL: No, err, I-

RISING LIMESTONE: Rigel, was it? I'd suggest stop talking.

The four of you disembark and the priest lifts the Thorn's Thorn off behind you. In the distance, you see Frowning Sage's ship rapidly approaching.

SETTING SUN: Well? Ought we wait for your sister, Hiding Spire, or head straight for Spire Keep?

[OnBackorder]

And waste valuable doting time with father? No chance.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Psh. If we waited for Frowning she'd get mad at us for being inefficient. Straight to father we go!

[Miss_Meg]

>Psh. If we waited for Frowning she'd get mad at us for being inefficient. Straight to father we go!

So true. To father! And then to visit our friends and Whispering Dune. ((He doesn't count because we have a crush on him.))

[alexthewhite]

>Psh. If we waited for Frowning she'd get mad at us for being inefficient. Straight to father we go!

The three of you start heading to the Keep. Everything is the same as you remember; why it would be different after only a couple weeks, you aren't sure, but it still all comes as a mild shock.

It's mid-day, roughly lunchtime. That would explain the sparse amount of people you see. Several of them are familiar; guards, traders, craftsmen. Every one of them bows their head in reverence when you pass by.

You walk through the gates and head straight up for your father's office. Spire Keep is as gloomy and grey as ever; not nearly as pretty as the flowered and well-lit Rose Keep. For all your family's achievements, fascinating architectural design is not one of them.

Your father is yelling at someone, that becomes apparent as you reach that floor of the Keep. The door is unguarded, so you slip it open.

Towering Spire, as imposing and commanding as ever, is storming around the room, gesturing to Forging Tower, the guard captain.

TOWERING SPIRE: I entrust you with Tritower's safety, and you cannot tell me why a fleet of eighty-odd ships is heading straight for my city?

FORGING TOWER: Those are Whiteskyan ships, my lord. The chances of them coming to harm us are-

TOWERING SPIRE: Low, perhaps, but not non-existent. How do we know they aren't here to attack us?

SETTING SUN: The only part of you these ships are going to attack is your eyes, Spire. Some of them are bright orange.

Towering Spire turns to look at you. His eyes go wide for a moment, but they quickly settle back into a brutal calm.

TOWERING SPIRE: One question at a time, I suppose. Have you completed the mission I assigned you?

HIDING SPIRE: Nope!

TOWERING SPIRE: Where's your brother?

HIDING SPIRE: Falling Spire is back in Southflight. I dunno about Laughing Spire.

TOWERING SPIRE: Is he alright?

HIDING SPIRE: I haven't seen either of them in weeks, so I couldn't say.

TOWERING SPIRE: What are you doing here?

HIDING SPIRE: Asking for reinforcements.

You explain the situation to Towering Spire; how Lord Granite committed suicide, how the Mudmen are about to overwhelm the remaining Granites, how you and Setting Sun went to Palegarden to talk to Leaping Granite, how Setting Sun was wounded during the mission, how you met up with Frowning Sage and how she helped you recruit the Sages and Roses to help retake Southflight, and how the Spirelord's fleets would ensure a speedy victory.

That last one is kind of a lie, but it was an important lie.

Towering Spire takes a seat about a third the way through your explanation, and when you're done, he raises a single grey eyebrow.

TOWERING SPIRE: I see. Okay.

HIDING SPIRE: Really? I don't have to jump through any hoops?

TOWERING SPIRE: Why would I make you do that? Setting Sun, what do you think?

SETTING SUN: Things are desperate for the Granites, but I know an organized, well-trained fleet with enough numbers could retake the city. Most of it, anyways.

TOWERING SPIRE: Most?

SETTING SUN: ...Some odd things were happening in the waterfront. Ornegian presence. Magical storms. Mercenaries acting as though they were possessed.

Towering Spire sighs and closes his eyes for several seconds. When he opens them, there is an old pain that you have never seen before.

TOWERING SPIRE: I see. Striking Shield, I want you to investigate for me.

STRIKING SHIELD: Aye.

HIDING SPIRE/RISING LIMESTONE: Aaaah!

You and Limestone both leap half a foot in the air. Striking Shield has been standing in the corner the entire time, as still as a statue. How the largest (or maybe second largest depending on how big the Ornegian is out of his armor) person you've ever met can manage to be silent and stealthy continues to elude you.

STRIKING SHIELD: ...Your shield recommends the young hyena as a commander.

TOWERING SPIRE: Laughing Spire? You believe him to be ready?

STRIKING SHIELD: No. But this is the fastest and best way to make him be ready. Look at your daughter. She has grown remarkably from just over a fortnight of war and suffering.

TOWERING SPIRE: True. You said I am going to see my eldest daughter again, Hiding Spire?

[mellifluousMastermind]

>I don't know if she was planning on coming here first, but as far as I know she's definitely in town.