9 Tour in the Weapons Room

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Nate suddenly appeared at my side. I did not respond. My eyes were too focused on Custard chewing at the mist of air surrounding the man as he screamed. Nate cussed beside me. "Rose, make him stop."

"I-I don't know how." I stuttered. My eyes flew to the man in the cage. He was trembling in fear. And to be honest. I am too. "Nate, I don't know how!"

Nate saw the panic and fear in my eyes. His eyes softened and he placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Try to stay calm. Then command him. He should listen to you."

I turned to Custard who was still chewing the life out of the rogue. "S-stop." I commanded. Custard's ears only flinched, but he did not stop.

"Try again. This time make it sound like a command and not a request."

"Custard, STOP!" Abruptly he stopped and a tight sensation ran through my head making me dizzy. Suddenly I can hear screaming. The same scream coming from the man that Custard attacked, but it seems far away. It felt like it came from -

"What happened here?" My thoughts were broken when I heard Ren and Dan coming, but the loud ringing in my head was too hard to ignore. "What is Rose doing here!? And why does she look constipated!?" Dan demanded.

Ren growled. "Brother, there's a rogue!" I couldn't see it but I can hear them scrambling to capture the half dead rogue. "Oh my gods. What happened to this guy? He doesn't seem injured but he looks dead."

At that comment I decided to look. Custard moved aside to let the twins carry the rogue. The man, as Ren had described him, doesn't have any injuries. But his face looks pale and his eyes were shaking as if he was in pain. He was drooling and his hands trembled in fear. He looks so terrible that I don't want to look at him anymore. Instead I looked at Custard, he was now back to his normal size looking ashamed as he walked back to me.

What did he do to him? Is this the reason why he called the royals of Gija an abomination? What really happened?

I heard Nate making a sound beside me. "You guys take that guy to Fred. I need to get Rose out of here. Come on, Rose."

Nate guided me out with Custard trailing us from behind. Nate lead us out into the garden and we sat on one of the benches.

We sat in silence for a while. Nate figured that I needed some time to gather my thoughts and I was thankful for that. Even Custard did not make any sound.

But the silence did not last for long. "I know you want to be alone." He said. "But if I do that then you would probably go and sneak somewhere again." He gave me a small smile, unsure of whether it was the right thing to say or not.

"I have no idea what just happened." I whispered. "I mean, I know what I was doing before, but when that guy showed up I knew that I must not let him get me."

"So getting attacked by that guy wasn't part of your plan?" He said teasingly and when he realized something he frowned. "Wait. How did you get out and where the f$%^ are the guards!?"

Oops.

"Um..." I started thinking of a quick excuse, but I don't want to put the guards in trouble for my actions. "Actually..." I trailed off when I saw the frown on Nate's eyes. He's mad alright. I averted my gaze and hope that he wouldn't suspect me.

"Rose, please don't tell me that you did something to the guards."

"Okay I won't." I agreed immediately still not looking at him.

"Rose, do you realize that by doing that you could have endangered yourself? Well scratch that. You did." I knew how serious he was at this so I did not even try to make an attempt to joke about the situation. He sighed at my lack of words. "We tried to keep you out of danger and yet you come running towards it. How can we even protect you?"

"Yeah. Protect me by locking me up. Sure. Make me a prisoner in my own room." I rolled my eyes. "At least I'm doing something. I have the initiative to find answers as to why I am in danger instead of asking others to do the job for me. I may be a princess, Nate, but I don't have to sit pretty all the time. And it is a good thing." I whispered as dread started seeping into me as I recalled my conversation with the rogue. "What I found out is actually worse than I thought. Worse than any of us could have imagined."

"Then I suggest that we head back to the office and have a meeting with this matter." Said PRINCE Ace, who was in the pavilion the whole time. He was standing where the wall's shadow hit, so we haven't noticed him at all. Then my eyes darted towards the book that he was holding, but I couldn't read the title. Is he reading Japanese novels!?

"Are you the ghost that keeps appearing when there's bad gossip in the castle?" I asked sarcastically and earn a scowl from the book loving elf.

But soon after we followed PRINCE Ace to the queen's office, where she called us for a meeting. Only a few trusted guards, the princes, the king, the queen and I were in the room. The guards were positioned by the doors and windows in case an unsuspected attack were to happen in our meeting. Only the queen and I were seated facing eat other while the princes stood behind me and the king stood behind his queen. Custard slept on my lap as I told the queen what I now know. That a dangerous spirit lives inside of the rogue king.

When I mentioned that the rogue king is actually a tamer, only the princes were surprised. Of course, the king and queen were not since they lived through that era. Apparently, not much of the fall of Gija was written in history books. Moreover they made it brief and undetailed as possible. It only said that the rogue king was a vicious man, so everyone who were new to the story thought that Ferius is either a vampire or a beast man. And those who actually knew, who he was were sworn to secrecy so as not to bring up the dark past and was made a taboo.

"Your highness, I do not mean to accuse you of anything, but all this time you knew what Ferius is, but you did not tell us?" Dan asked. And for the very first time, I heard him ask a sensible question.

"I did not know that it would matter." The queen shamefully lowered her head, not knowing how to respond to all of it. "But if what Rose says is true, then she must be heavily protected from now on. I never knew that the chimera was still alive and only their blood relative is the key to destroy it. If only I have enough power to bring Rose back to her world, then I would."

Silence had fallen into the room at the mention of bringing me back to my world. Somehow, I was not ready to depart yet. This was my family's history. A dark and dangerous history that could destroy this world as we know it. But can the danger in this world affect our own?

As if reading my mind, Nate asked. "Even if we can send her back right now, won't the King look for another way to enter her realm and kidnap her? I mean, now that he knows that he can undo the spell on him."

"There is that possibility. I never thought about it." The queen seemed concern and it was so out of character for her to look troubled like this. "Perhaps it is safer for her to remain with us for a while. Rosalie, what do you say?"

"I want to stay until all this is over. I have a younger sibling back home and I can't let the rogues target her instead of me. And I can't let him know that I have a family back home." I whispered, enough for their adept ears to pick. I delicately stroked Custards fur. Right now I know that my family is safe as long as I am here. King Ferius would not think of going through the trouble of locating my family from another realm. At least, not when he knows I'm here. "I don't want to involve my family so I'll stay."

The queen nodded at my resolve. "That's very brave of you." She smiled kindly. "And I do apologize that if it were not for me, then you wouldn't be in this predicament. But all I can say is that I am still happy that I have met you." Someone sniffed behind me and I turned to see Dan and Ren whipping tears from their eyes. When they saw me looking, Ren blushed while Dan glowered at me. "What? Haven't seen a grown man cry before?"

The queen and I both laughed at how silly the twins looked. They always have a knack for lighting the mood, no matter how serious it is. The queen decided that it was about time for her to discuss the next course of action of their new found knowledge, so she dismissed us saying that I need not stress about this matter anymore even if it involves me. I didn't even argue about it this time. I have enough scare about the tamer's history and enough mentions of king Ferius and his Chimera to make my eyes bleed.

The princes and I quietly left the queen in her study. Well, by princes I meant all except PRINCE Ace, who wanted to discuss something to the queen. Custard woke the moment we left the room and was running around ahead of us. Often times looking back to make sure that he still can see me.

Ren cleared his throat beside me and I looked up to see him giving me a disapproving look. "I hope this will be the last time that you put yourself in danger like this again."

At that statement, Nate laughed. "We all know that this won't be the last. It doesn't matter what we say, Rose is just not a proper lady who would sit and look pretty all day."

I scoffed. "If you guys already knew that then why would you still insist in having me locked up in my room."

"It's for your-"

"-my own good. I get it." I cut Ren off and sighed in frustration. "But if it wasn't for my rebellious action, then we might never have found out about the King's true purpose. And besides, keeping me in one place is more dangerous since the enemy would know which area to target. Have you guys ever thought about that?" Ren shared a look with Nate as if I have slapped them both with a cotton glove. It was Dan who broke the silence with his laugh. "My sister is amazing, isn't she?" Then he came up beside me and pulled me close to him. Ren starred at his hand on my shoulder, which made Dan's smile grow. "Tell you what, sis. I have an idea that would benefit us both."

I was standing too close to Dan that I had to push him off. "Stop calling me sis. I don't want a stupid brother." I told him and earned a snort of laughter from Ren. "And what kind of plan is this?" I said and immediately regretted it when I saw Dan's smile growing. As if sensing my fear, Custard bark somewhere ahead and by the sound of his nails on the ground, he was running towards us.

Before I could react, Dan grabbed my hand and together, we were running down the hall. Ren and Nate were curious too but they followed us silently. He took us to a very unfamiliar part of the palace just near the palace door where the corridor was lined with steel armor holding war weapons that I don't know of.

"I think I just figured out your brother's intentions and I don't like it." Nate told Ren grimly so I looked back and I saw that Ren was fuming in anger at his brother. I was busy looking back that I bumped into Dan's back when we stopped. "Here we are! The weapons room." He announced and threw his hands in the air for dramatic effect. in front of us was a huge wooden gate that was reinforced with metal to keep it all together. The door handle was made of black steel and looked like a snake biting it's own tail to form a circle.

I did not get it at first, but when Dan turned to give me a wicked smile it suddenly dawned on me. I squealed, "Am I going to get a weapon?" I asked excitedly. All worry seem to vanish immediately.

I heard Ren clicking his tongue behind us in disapproval. "I thought she would be against this."

In response, Dan winked. "But of course. Just in case we aren't around and you are forced to fight, at least you have a means to defend yourself." With that said he pushed the door made of oak wood open. It made a loud creaking sound as it burst open. The inside was lit with the same glowing orbs that light the castle. As soon as the glowed they illuminated hundreds and thousands of silver and metals that made me took a step back. The walls were lined with armors, battle axes and shields. There were racks filled with swords of different shapes and sizes. Thick wooden tables lined the center filled with bows made of different materials. By their design I'm guessing that they were made by different blacksmiths. There were more weapons that I don't recognize, but I am sure that they are deadly as well. Um....well all of them are deadly anyway. But one weapon winked at me that made my heart flutter.

I gasped. "Oh my gosh!" I screamed and ran instead before Dan can stopped me. I went to the center rack and picked up a sword that has 3/4 of it's blade curved. "It's a khopesh!" I said, more hyped about it since I read about it in a book.

"Brother-you-better-stop-Rose-right-now." Ren was talking to fast for me to decipher his words. Nonetheless I brought the sword in front of me and faced them. "Look!" I held it out towards them. The pointed edge pointed at the prince. Dan quick draw a large shield from the table and the three of them hid behind it. Dan poked his head out and laughed nervously. "Yes, Rose. You are correct. That is a khopesh. A very deadly weapon that can skewer our heads. Now please put it back."

"Can I keep it? It is a little heavy though. But maybe a few practice swings can help me get used to it's weight. Don't you think?" I said and swung it left and right like a gold club. It was not the move I was aiming for but since it was a little heavy for me, that was all I could do.

By now, Ren and Nate kicked Dan off the protection of their shield, so Dan quickly got a dagger nearby and pointed it at the khopesh. "Rose, you are going to cut your legs if you keep doing that!" At his warning, a gruesome picture of my legs being chopped crossed my mind and I immediately released the khopesh. The khopesh went flying and the three princes scrambled to their feet in panic. The shield was forgotten and they run around with their hands protecting their heads. But the khopesh wasn't headed for them, it was headed for me.

"EEk!! I yelped and I was suddenly tackled by Nate to the side as the khopesh dropped harmlessly on the floor. My back was against the table and I was locked with Nate's hands on either side of me. He glared at me and all I did was give him a sheepish smile. Suddenly a dagger flew in between our faces, but it was closer to Nate's than mine, and it struck the armor obstructing it's trajectory. Nate suddenly moved in front of me to face our attacker, but it was only Dan who was giving him a sinister smile. "Oops. My hand slipped when I saw you touching a Rutledge."

"Are you crazy? That could have hit us!" Nate bellowed.

"Really? I was only aiming for you."

"I thought you said it was an accident?"

"Oops." Dan innocently placed a hand on his lips. Nate growled when another dagger flew to our side and cute a few of Nate's front hair. He gasped and gave Ren a murderous look. Ren has a same smile as Dan has, but it was twice as sinister as his brother. "For some reason my hands slipped." He says. By now they were exchanging profanities that I could not hear because my attention was elsewhere.

The dagger that Ren threw was much smaller and rounder so I went ahead to go and search for it. It was stuck on the stoned wall and I cannot tell if it was that sharp or Ren's throw was just that powerful for it to puncture the wall. But all I care about now is the flat star shaped disk embedded in the wall. With a hard pull I was able to pluck it out and I stifle a gasp as I recognized it.

"Both of you! Get off of me now! I am serious." Nate shouted at the twins angrily.

"Oh but we are serious. YOU DARE RUIN MY FUTURE PLANS FOR MY BROTHER!?"

"Shut up brother. I cannot think of ways to torture him with you yelling."

"You idiots! Let go of me."

"Why should we?"

"Nobody is watching Rose!" At Nate's words, the three princes looked at me as I waved the weapon I held in my hands.

"Guys look! I found a shuriken." I said in excitement. I gasped. "Does that mean ninjas are real!? Can I learn a shadow clone jutsu!? Imagine hundreds of me running around. Oh! That is just marvelous. Maybe I should practice my N*r*t* run."

"Ah ha..." Ren said nervously. Sweat was forming on the young werewolf's forehead. "I don't know what kind of weapon is a jutsu or a N*r*t*, but don't throw that thing if you don't know how to use it."

At his words, I was slightly offended. "Hey, I have watched all season's of Nr*t* to know that they throw their shurikens like this." The prince suck in their breath when I raised the weapon, preparing to throw in.

"No!!" They all yelled in unison as they ran towards me to grab the raised weapon, but it was too late. "Shuriken power!" I announced my attack as I threw the star shaped dagger. But instead of it going straight like I wanted it to, it suddenly made a curve and hit the tip of the battle axe held by an empty amour. When nothing happened, we all sight in relief and the princes glowered at me.

"I think you have had enough tour of the weapons room." Ren said. I was about to protest when we heard a cloud clash and turned to see that battle axe colliding with the alight set of spears hitting it and forming a domino effect as it hit rows after rows of armors, spears, swords and shields. Then as it ended, the last axe hit a very large double edged sword that was headed towards us. Every one of them dragged me in opposite direction, so instead of moving, we were stuck and all I could do was close my eyes until I heard a cloud metal collision. When I opened them, I saw that the princes grabbed nearby swords and deflected the weapon headed for us.

"Who the hell made that large sword!?" Nate demanded and glared at the fallen weapon. "Nobody even uses them."

I shyly tugged at Ren's sleeve. He looked surprised as looked at me. "Are you okay?" He asked, concern in his eyes. I nodded in response. "I do think I have had enough tour here. Can we leave?" At my words, they all let out a sigh of relief and place the swords on the table.

"You know," I started as we were headed for the door. "I do think that ninjas exist in this world since none of you denied it."

"What are you-" Nate started to say but was cut off by an even larger and angrier voice.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED HERE!?" At the sound of the angry PRINCE'S voice we all stopped and looked fearfully at the exit. There stood a very angry looking Ace with Custard cowering at his feet. When he saw me, he immediately ran hid behind me.

"Custard, you're the one who's suppose to protect me!" I hissed at him.

"I want answers!!" PRINCE Ace yelled again making us stiff up. Only Nate had the courage to answer to him. "Well, Dan had this idea of giving Rose a weapon of her own so she can protect herself if we cant." Ace raised a questioning brow at him, urging him to tell him more. "Well, Rose got too excited and.....well, let's just say that she wasn't ready yet. It was a bad idea."

Ace was contemplating his words and as soon as he saw servant pass by he called him. "Gather the soldiers and have them clean this mess up. It is their punishment for leaving this room unguarded. I do not tolerate slackers." He says.

"It's okay. We can clean this up. It's our fault that we made a mess in there." I said and the other solemnly agreed with me. Ace was not convinced though.

"Oh don't worry, you will have your own punishment. I do agree that you should learn how to defend yourself. You cannot rely on your Familiar alone. So I suppose that in order to learn, you need proper teachers who can teach you the basics. Ones who are capable and have experiences. You three!" Ace called for the princes, who were secretly sneaking away. They flinched when Ace caught them in their escape.

"Y-yes?" Dan batted his eyelashes at him innocently.

"You all have you wish. The three of you will be tasked to teach this barbaric girl how to fight as your punishment."

"Barbaric!? I'll show you who's barbaric!" I grabbed a fallen mace nearby and as soon as I raised it over my head, the three princes gathered and grabbed the raised mace, stopping me from killing the demon elf PRINCE.

Ace seemed unfazed by my action and regarded me with a look of disgust. Oh, I so want to headbutt him so hard that his eyes would roll back in his skull. "I will go and inform this to the queen. You can expect that your training will start tomorrow." He says and regarded the damages we caused in the weapons room. "Tomorrow at dawn since you all seemed excited about it. If I don't see you all at dawn then expect a far worse punishment." With that said, PRINCE Ace left us dumbfounded.

"I do hope he is kidding." Ren murmured.

"I don't think he is, brother." Dan replied. Looking defeated.

"Great. Training at dawn. We'll show him the fruits of our labor. How hard can it be?" I said enthusiastically. It's probably like gym class anyway or martial arts class, right?

Three sets of eyes stared at me and the longer they did, they seemed lifeless.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Nate whispered.