“Sir, they are not at all ready.” Zing protested as nicely as she could.
The king shook his head repeatedly as he scratched his small rough beard. “There is no time, the battle has already begun.”
Zing froze, “The battle. There is a battle, sir?”
“I’m afraid so. Only the second battle on our island. It is imperative that the children go immediately to the mountains to retrieve the rose.” He turned to Mith and Ludus. “Have you heard of your mission?”
They nodded.
The king continued, “Now is the time to be strong, all of us. If I may Zing, I would like to give you the task of taking these two to where the rose is. I have the path in my mind, and can interpret it to you.”
Zing quickly glanced at the children before asking the king: “Why not Mitchum, sir, he knows them much better than I?”
“Gai has been promoted to the rank of general. As we speak he is getting ready to leave for the battle with our remaining palace guards to help General Turff.”
“He’s where?!” Mith suddenly exclaimed, forgetting who she was speaking to.
“Parli needs his knowledge and courage, Young Mith.”
“May we see him, sir?” Mith asked sadly.
“Yes you may, but be down ready to go in five minutes, the both of you.” The king bowed and went away.
Mitchum was in his room, standing with his back to Mith and Ludus inspecting his appearance in a mirror that had been brought up for that reason. He noticed the distraught children in the mirror and turned to face them. He looked the part of a fine general. His brown hair had been cut and combed to one side. A yellow general’s tunic fit him perfectly. When they entered he had been tightening the strings at the collar. The word Quinn had been sewn into the collar in black thread.
“What changes in the last few hours, eh?” He tried to sound cheerful, but a certain gloom was etched into his voice. Mitchum fell to his knees to be at eye level with Mith and Ludus. “I know you two will find that rose and set everything right. Where there is danger, there rise heroes. And I know you two are those heroes, all you have to do is believe in yourselves and in your abilities.”
Mith lost the feeling of hope for just a minute; she was scared for herself and for Mitchum. “How did it start, the battle?”
“Our people went to the town of Lwid hoping to find it safe. Instead they found hundreds of yellow suited soldiers inhabiting the town. Turff tried to settle the mess with words when rocks began to be thrown. After that fighting occurred and then swords appeared.”
Ludus whispered: “They had swords?”
“From what I heard they were swords from the Rough Region. Which means one thing: They really have recruited from the Rough.”
“Do you think you can win the battle?” Mith asked quietly.
Mitchum grabbed her shoulders. “I know we can, but we need help from you. What you are to do is simple. When we are all fighting and trying to win the battle, you two will go and find the rose. At about the time that we think you should be near finding the rose we will back up to the Royal Region. At the time that you should find the rose we will fight on the border, the bad guys on the mountain side and all of us on the royal side. That way we will be safe and they will be frozen when you take up the rose. It will be a tough job, but I think we can do it. After all we are fighting several hundred escaped convicts with several hundred trained guards.”
“We may not find the rose in time though.” Ludus pointed out.
“Ah, but the king and queen know exactly where it is; they can tell you an exact path that will get you there right as we cross the border of the two regions. Remember, taking the rose is not so we have it; it is so Oldo does not. We believe that he has many people out right now looking for it. It is cleverly hidden. The mountains have hundreds of tunnels leading to dead ends, one leads straight to the rose.”
“Will we ever see you again?”
“Absolutely, nothing will ever keep me away from you two.” He hugged them both, one arm around each of them. “You two are my family now; you have taught me so much over the last couple days.”
Ludus thought of how he yelled at Mitchum the night before, but quickly pushed it from his mind. “You have taught us much more than we ever could teach you.”
“I will miss you two, but we will meet again.”
The general got to his feet and turned away. The children could see him wipe something away from his cheek. Mith and Ludus looked to each other, both expressing looks of sorrow and anxiety. They sighed as one and nodded. It was time for them to be strong once again, and they now knew how to. The past several days had strengthened their will and their resolve. But it was not over yet. They knew what they had to do and were willing to do it.
The sad children wished Mitchum the best of luck and left the room to get ready. Small backpacks were waiting for them outside their doors after they finished getting ready.
Ludus ran down the hall heading for the stairs, Mith took a moment to mentally say good bye to her room before doing the same. Once in the main hall they saw Zing standing near the doors speaking with the king. As they walked up the king walked away. Zing had a look on her face as if to say: “now or never, let’s finish this.”
“I hope you cleaned up a little.” Zing said almost sarcastically.
Mith and Ludus nodded. And then the three of them stepped out from the safety of the palace into the midday sun.