The Rose Princess Read online

  Watching as her henchman rose effortlessly from the spot where he’d landed, the woman gave a haughty laugh and said, “I don’t care if you are a Vampire Hunter, you can’t very well cut down a collection of electrons. But they can cut you!” the mocking figure said, pointing to D’s feet and a white stone that had been hewn in two—the work of a blade also composed of electrons.

  The hazy figures had grown clearer, for they’d just tightened the circle around him. But how was D supposed to destroy opponents he couldn’t even cut?

  “Whatever will you do now, Hunter?” the woman asked, throwing her head back with another haughty laugh.

  “Just this!” a hoarse voice replied, but it was unclear if the words reached the princess’s ears.

  Getting inside the wide swath the same armored knight cut with his great sword, D made a diagonal slash through the phantom warrior from the left side of his neck to his right hip. Once again, a pale glow indicated the path of the blade through him. And the woman was laughing, just like before. But suddenly, she stopped.

  Although the blue line flickered as it had before, it didn’t fade, and the upper half of the warrior’s body slowly slipped off the lower half. Even after the torso hit the ground, the legs remained standing. Flecks of blue light then spread from the wound, throwing a more vivid light on the scenery behind the warrior before his body broke into a millions fragments and vanished.

  “Do my eyes deceive me? You really are good,” the woman said, her voice tinged with excitement. What was she thinking? “Get him!” she cried. “Kill him already!”

  At her command, her guards made a deadly charge, their great swords and spears glinting in the sunlight.

  D met them head-on. Supposedly impervious spears were hewn in two, and swords that had met only empty space sailed through the air with both arms still attached to them. Perhaps it would’ve been foolish to inquire just what technique allowed the Hunter to cut through conglomerations of electrons.

  In a scant three seconds, D had dispatched the phantasmal attackers. A few streaks of pale blue lightning zipped around the garden, and then peace reigned once more.

  “Impressive. I’ve never seen anyone so incredible,” the glowing figure remarked with genuine regret. “If you can cut down illusions, there’s no way to stop you. I wonder if I’m as good as finished now? Of course, I do still have other guards,” she said, turning her glowing face to the heavens.

  A speck of black appeared in the blue sky, quickly separating into a few smaller parts that came drifting down around D in the space of two breaths.

  One of the most fearsome phrases that’d been passed down from the distant reign of the Nobility was “the guardians from above.” A prime example of those defenses had been seen in the southern Frontier, in the domain of a Noble family known as the Brockdens. Their territory covered thousands of square miles, and everything necessary for its defense came from the sky—bolts of steel-melting lightning, ground-devouring storms of acid rain, and even monstrous beasts that could chew their way through mechanical troops.

  And now, D was surrounded by a pack of gigantic spiders. They were three feet high, had bodies more than six feet long, and would’ve measured more than thirty feet across from the end of one leg to the other with their limbs fully extended. The sight of them snipping their exposed fangs together like metallic blades while a yellow fluid dripped from their maws was chilling enough to freeze even the most vicious of beasts in horror.

  Though several theories attempted to account for the sudden appearance of such creatures from the sky, the most probable of them suggested that the monsters were released from “arsenals” flying hundreds of miles above the earth. Several decades earlier, one such craft had crashed. In addition to the large-caliber particle beam cannons and weather disrupters, investigators on the scene were also amazed to find the remains of a variety of monstrosities, each covered with a simple form of heat-shielding armor and strapped to a braking rocket. The armor must have been to protect the creatures from air friction during their descent.

  The six spiders bent all of their legs in unison, and darkness enveloped D. The spiders’ sudden leap had hidden the sun. But this was no ordinary darkness—there wasn’t a speck of light anywhere. D’s vision had been taken from him in an instant.

  As the glowing woman watched the black forms of the spiders raining down on the gorgeous young man, she heaved a sigh. She was sure that this was the end of him. But before she could hear meat and bones being devoured, the light returned. And different sounds rang out—those of steel severing flesh and the agonized screams that spilled from the mutilated creatures. That’s what the woman heard.

  When the glowing figure turned around, D was standing there. Three of the six spiders lay at his feet, while the other three had returned to their original positions and were staring now at the twitching bodies of their compatriots and the beautiful butcher.

  “You’ve gone and done it again, haven’t you?” the dumbfounded figure of light remarked. “I’ve had quite enough of this. I’m running out of pawns. You other three—do something about him already!”

  But the woman’s impassioned cry wasn’t enough to move the survivors into action. It was as if the sight of the Hunter gripping a gore-soaked blade but personally unsullied by a single spot of blood had utterly robbed them of their nerve.

  “Do it! You know, that thing you do!” the woman cried.

  The spiders seemed to understand what she had in mind. Their black bodies began to bulge in places, giving way to conical protuberances that sent yellowish streams of fluid into the air without a sound. For all their resemblance to giant spiders, these monsters were actually something else, and what they launched was no doubt some bodily excretion.

  As soon as the liquid settled like a mist on them, the marble pillars and ground all began to give off a white smoke.

  “Yes! That’s it!” the jubilant figure of light exclaimed, but then she gasped aloud and froze in place.

  The young man in black appeared to be enveloped by the deadly yellow rain, but a split second later, he came down right in front of the woman. The spot he’d leapt to was the safest place imaginable. Although she was merely an illusion, the creatures didn’t let their deadly rain fall on their mistress.

  Flashes of white light sank between the eyes of the befuddled monsters, and all three of them fell forward together to lie motionless.

  Watching intently as D took the remaining wooden needles in his left hand and put them back in his coat, the glowing woman paused a second before saying, “Well, it looks like there’s nothing more I can do. Say, you wouldn’t mind teaching me how to do that needle-throwing trick later, would you?”

  Making no reply to her stupefying remark, D returned to spot where she was supposed to be buried.

  When he touched his left hand to the ground, a voice exclaimed, “What’s this, now?”

  The dubious tone issued from the point where the hand made contact with the soil.

  “This is a curious development,” the hoarse tone continued. “Her grave’s vanished. I wonder, has it gone up into the sky or deep into the earth?”

  As D turned, his eyes were greeted by the fading figure of light.

  “Under the circumstances, I had no choice but to run away, grave and all. See you. Wait until night,” she said, her hues melting into the sunlight.

  “Interesting gal,” the hoarse voice remarked to D as the Hunter sheathed his sword. “Still, I’ve gotta wonder if she’s worth all those knights risking their lives. Well, I suppose that’s the tragedy. At any rate, let’s wait until nightfall.”

  In lieu of an answer, D turned his gaze to a wall on the west side of the ruins. A familiar figure was pushing her bike as she cautiously approached. It was Elena.

  “What, another tomboy already? Looks like we’ve got feisty females by the handful this time, eh?”

  Naturally, there was no reply.

  —

  II

  — />
  Even when the sun went down, Elena showed no sign of going home, and D didn’t force the issue. Perhaps he figured he could put her to sleep if it became necessary.

  When Elena had joined him again in the ruined garden, she’d groused, “You certainly had nerve leaving me back there like that.” But she didn’t sound particularly angry. Apparently, she wasn’t stupid. When D didn’t give her any response, she’d continued, “You know, I saw your fight with those spiders just now. I’m gonna stay here with you until night.”

  After that, she’d gone on to tell him exactly how much trouble it’d been to repair her bike, and then she fell silent.

  Three hours later, the blue of the sky was deepening. Sitting on a flat piece of stone wreckage a short distance from D, Elena began to tremble slightly.

  “Scared?” said D, although why he’d even bother to ask her that was anyone’s guess.

  “It’s just excitement—getting ready to fight,” Elena replied, hugging her own shoulders.

  “Are you scared?” D asked her once more.

  Elena continued to quake. Then she said, “Of course!” Her tone was incensed. “I’m not a Hunter. I’m just a normal person. There’s not a chance in hell I wouldn’t be scared of the Nobility.”

  “Then why did you come?”

  “None of your business!” the girl snapped back, turning her head away roughly and flicking the hair out of her eyes. “As long as those bastards are here, our village will never know peace. The mayor and his advisors all have their tails between their legs. I’d like to beat the hell out of folks like that even worse than I wanna lay into the Nobility!”

  “The village looks peaceful enough,” said D. “And everyone seems satisfied.”

  Elena turned and looked back at him in astonishment. “You’ve already figured out what’s going on here, have you?” she said in a low, twisting sort of voice. “The villagers—and I mean everyone—have gotten so damned used to being ruled. As long as there’s Nobility in this castle, the fields stay green no matter how dry it gets, and we can harvest as much grain as we need. No matter where else you go, you’ll never find a village as well off as ours. But it’s all a sham. When the water dries up in summer, the regular thing to do is dig a new well with the sweat of your own brow. And in winter, it’s only natural to stay up nights tending bonfires so your fields and ponds don’t freeze. Raising as much food as you like whenever you want and having storehouses packed with the stuff—now that is crazy!” Elena said, her confession tinged with self-loathing.

  “Did you notice how many folks there were with scarves wrapped around their necks?” the biker continued. “They’re all victims of the Nobility. But the Noble in this castle is good at drinking blood, and she can feed on them without killing them or turning them into Nobility. And we’ve got Mama Kipsch going for us, too. She’s a genius at witch doctoring, and she saves everyone from the wounds they’re left with. Now, if it was me and a Noble had sucked my blood, I’d be ashamed to live. But no one around here’s got any pride at all. Have you heard of any other village in this day and age where people just sit back and let the Nobility suck their blood?”

  Saying nothing, D soaked in the moonlight.

  Realizing that the sight of the young man made her mind wander, Elena hurriedly turned her thoughts to something else. “Those bastards—,” she started to say, but her eyes suddenly narrowed. Sniffing once or twice, she said, “What’s that smell?”

  “Roses,” D replied.

  The blue darkness was shifting toward pitch black. As if to praise the coming world, the faint aroma of flowers had started to mix with air that still held the last lustrous remnants of daylight.

  “Ah!” she gasped with new surprise.

  All around her—actually, around both of them—little glowing points of whiteness came to life. And the glow wasn’t that of any light. It was from flowers. Where had they been hiding?

  In the murkiness, white rosebuds had begun to open their petals in splendor. What’s more, the glow came from within the flowers themselves. These nocturnal roses gave off a light of their own.

  Elena closed her eyes—she thought this wasn’t possible. How could flowers this beautiful bloom in such a fearful place? She simply couldn’t believe it. And she didn’t want to see them. The demon’s lair was supposed to be more vile than this, and yet sharp lights shone in the darkness. The roses had burned their image into her retinas. Elena feared the way they tried to make her feel.

  She opened her eyelids once more.

  A dazzling display of life had begun to cover the garden. Resplendently blossoming white roses appeared, and all around them, elegant spirals of color continued to bloom in pale purple, crimson, blue, and even black. This symphony of brilliant lights left Elena in a motionless daze. Before she knew it the hour would grow later and later, and the people of the night would awaken and quickly find her there—

  However, a powerful hand caught hold of her shoulder and a hoarse voice rang in her ear, saying, “Here it comes, missy.”

  As something that felt like ice water raced from her shoulder to her brain, Elena returned to her senses. She quickly turned her head.

  Three figures suddenly stood in the hall of the main building.

  “So good of you to come,” said the knight in blue armor. “Mere words cannot convey your boldness, as you come here of your own accord after seeing us, and you even threaten the very resting place of our princess. However, you’ll never leave here alive.”

  “Or would you care to become one of us?” the Red Knight inquired in a low voice. His tone wasn’t quite as forceful as that of the Blue Knight, but it was understandable given the fact he’d been knocked out earlier by D. “With your skill, you deserve to stand shoulder to shoulder with us. But if that doesn’t suit your fancy, we can destroy both you and the girl.”

  “You said there were four knights,” D replied quietly. His aura was so eerie that it seemed for a second as if the sweet perfume had left the air. “Blue, Red, Black—you still seem to be a color short.”

  “And you may count yourself fortunate in that regard,” said the Blue Knight. His two compatriots did nothing to indicate their agreement. Apparently, the fourth knight was someone who was not to be mentioned lightly.

  “On the Frontier, there is but a thin line between life and death,” said the Black Knight, who until now had remained silent. His voice was a monotone. “As a Hunter, I’m sure you appreciate that. And now that you’ve entered our castle, we have no choice but to fight until you, or we, are dead. However, it would be a pity to have to take a life like yours. I won’t ask that you ride with us. But at the very least, could you swear fealty to our princess?”

  “Okay, stop trying to make us laugh already!” Elena exclaimed. Until a few minutes ago, her body had trembled, but now it shook in a new way—with rage. “This man is a gift from God, a huntsman sent here to slay you all. Why the hell would he ever want to serve that monster?! Just watch. We don’t need any help from those gutless worms in my village. Him and me will put an end to all of you!”

  The three knights fell silent, but it wasn’t that they were amazed by the girl’s fighting words.

  Having finished speaking, Elena suddenly found herself breathless. It was just such a silence.

  “You called our princess a monster, didn’t you?” said the Blue Knight.

  “Those words shall cost you!” the Red Knight declared.

  Seeming somewhat more personable than the other two, the Black Knight muttered, “Does their idiocy know no bounds?”

  “What is it we’ve done that’s so terrible? Haven’t you been given a life of peace and plenitude?” asked the Blue Knight

  “And how many people have been killed in return?!”

  “You can’t get something for nothing. It’s a fair price.”

  “A life of peace in exchange for the lives of our friends? Spare me! The others may be able to stomach that, but not me. I spit on your deal, and will till
the day I die.”

  “In that case, your spitting days will shortly be at an end,” the Blue Knight jeered as he jumped down to the ground.

  At the same time, smoke and blue flames poured from the motorcycle’s exhaust pipes. The ancient garden was shaken by an engine roar that hardly suited such a place. Elena meant business.

  “Insulting our princess is a grave crime. Your death won’t be an easy one.” To D, he added, “Stay out of this, Hunter.”

  “You took the words right out of my mouth!” Elena said, kicking firmly off the ground and sliding to one side. The wheels of her bike could be turned a full three-hundred-sixty degrees. “Even without his help, I can still take out the likes of you one-on-one. I’ll show you what a human’s capable of, you monster flunky!”

  “That does it!” the Blue Knight exclaimed, the brief phrase seething with anger. Lowering the lance in his right hand, the Noble’s knight was a daunting sight as he took a purposeful step forward.

  Elena rolled back a pace on her bike. And stiff though it seemed, she definitely had a smile on her lips—the girl certainly had nerve to spare.

  D didn’t move. He wasn’t there to keep the other two knights from interfering. Rather, he’d become another observer of Elena’s deadly conflict. Everyone understood the rules.

  “I shall bring the battle to you,” said the Blue Knight.

  “Come and get it!”

  The instant Elena shouted that, she angled her exhaust pipes toward the ground and shifted her bike out of its current acceleration mode to activate its boosters. Nozzles wailing all the while, the bike carried Elena straight to the left.

  The blue figure was still in the same spot, his lance unraised.

  I’ve got him baffled, Elena thought as she felt an explosion of delight. Her right thumb pressed the firing button.

  Go! An ember hit the tails of the rockets in the launch tubes mounted on either side of the girl’s bike. Shooting sparks all the while, a trio of three-foot-long implements of death streaked at the Blue Knight.