Legend of the Iron Flower Box Set (Books 1-4)

by Billy Wong

  "What do you want? I don't want to go home."

  "I didn't come to make you. Here, give me that scroll."

  Before Rose could protest, her mother took the scroll and began to work at it with a wet quill. "What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes wide.

  Lise smiled. "Letting you go."

  "Really? Why? I thought you said it was too dangerous."

  "I'm scared for you, but don't you think I know my daughter's something special? You're strong as an ox and twice as tough. If you were my son, I wouldn't think twice about letting you go, so I suppose you at least deserve a chance."

  Rose let out a grateful sigh. "What about Dad? Won't he disapprove, try to make me come back?"

  "I'm sure I can talk him into letting you go. He's not a hard sell, for me at least."

  "Thank you so much, Mom. I know this is hard for you, and I really appreciate it."

  Lise took Rose's face in her hands. "If it ever gets too hard, remember you can quit at any time, alright?"

  But that wasn't true. Watchmen weren't supposed to quit whenever they wanted. She promised herself she wouldn't allow herself to find things "too hard." "Take care of yourself, Mom."

  "You too, Rose. I love you." Lise kissed her on the cheek.

  She returned the kiss. "Love you too. Let's go home."

  #

  Tucking the contract away in her belt pouch, Rose went home and passed the next two nights. She didn't mention the watch again, and Rick acted as if everything was normal so that Rose wondered if Lise had told him what she'd done. Then, morning came and she prepared to leave.

  When she walked out the door, she found Ed waiting outside. "Good luck!"

  "Thanks, Ed. Take care!"

  She made her way to the constables' office again, and found herself alone with Merrick as he leaned comfortably against the rain-worn wall beside the door. "Where is everyone?"

  "They'll be here. You're early."

  Three young men arrived to join them, only one of whom she knew—Jasper, she was surprised to see. The giant was also there, and another Rose had glimpsed but not really noticed during testing, a muscular boy with straw-colored hair and a stubbly beard.

  To her surprise, Merrick said then, "Let's go."

  "This is it?"

  "We don't recruit in bulk. We only take the ones we think will turn out the best."

  Rose looked to Jasper, who was sneaking glances at the rest of them as if afraid they would take offense at his gaze, and wondered at that statement. Nonetheless, she could find no obvious fault with the other two, and followed Merrick into her new life with pride.

  Chapter 2

  "So where's your letter?" the straw-haired boy asked Rose as the group walked down the muddy road. The rest of them had all been holding their acceptance notes when they'd arrived.

  "I didn't get one," she answered after a pause.

  "Why not? He pick you early or what?"

  She nodded sheepishly, hoping she wouldn't make the others jealous. The giant turned to look at her. "I can see why. You're pretty enough."

  It would have been a compliment if not for the contempt in his eyes. Rose frowned and looked down, watching the mud squish under her heavy leather boots. "I did pretty well in the tests."

  "Winning a wrestling match doesn't mean you're ready for real combat."

  Rose didn't think any of the boys knew much more about fighting than her, but she didn't want to argue about it either. "So what are your names?"

  "I'm George," the straw-haired boy said, "and that's Bert. So do you know anything about where we're going?"

  "No. I've been told no more than the rest of you."

  "If you want to know, why don't you just ask?" Merrick said without turning to look.

  "Where are we going?"

  "To the Watch House, where else? You're going to learn to spot danger and to fight, and when you're ready you'll be assigned to your duties. You don't get up to par, you don't work. We don't tolerate weak links in the watchmen."

  Jasper glanced nervously around. "Don't worry," Rose told him. "The rest of us will help you out."

  "Speak for yourself," Bert said. "We'll probably be working too hard to worry about anyone else—though maybe you won't."

  She ignored his implied accusation of favoritism and walked on. A few miles later, she heard a rustling in the bushes, and whispered, "What's that? I heard something..."

  "Relax," George said, "it's probably just an—urk—" An arrow sprouted in his neck.

  Rose felt a sharp pain in her left arm, and looked to see an arrow stuck in her bicep. She cried out, but drew her sword and turned towards the shooters just as Merrick did the same. Jasper looked around frantically as if searching for a place to flee, while Bert roared and charged the bushes. Men dressed in dirty cloaks over clinking chain mail burst from their hiding spots to meet him, swords flashing in the sunlight.

  Rose ran to Bert's aid, parrying a high slash and countering with a cut to the wielder's neck. He fell, and another man replaced him. She took a step forward and clove through his ribs before he could attack, not trusting her own defense as much as she wished she could. A third man charged her, and she backpedaled as he came at her rapidly slicing with his long blade. Her heart skipped a beat when he opened a gash on her shoulder, but she stabbed him in the leg and twisted the blade as she withdrew it. He fell to one knee, and she took his head.

  A warrior ran past her, and she cut him down from behind. Wait. From behind? Looking around, she realized the battle was over. The enemy was fleeing, and she had survived. The same disgust she'd felt the first time she'd killed filled her gut, and this time there was no blood in her throat to stop her from retching. She fell to her knees and threw up.

  These had been evil men, but they'd still been people. Did bandits have families to feed, kids to raise? She knew some must, and hoped these didn't. When she was done vomiting, she looked around and grew more sick. Merrick was covered with blood, as she knew herself to be, and Bert had suffered several shallow cuts. Jasper curled up on the ground, hugging a wounded arm. George gurgled pathetically, an arrow in his throat.

  She watched frozen in horror while he choked on his own blood, kicking weakly as he clutched at the shaft. What was he trying to do? It wasn't anything that could help him. Merrick walked over and plunged his sword down, stilling him. "The rest of you all right?" No one replied, though Rose heard Jasper whimpering. "It doesn't look like any of you are hurt too bad. Let's get those wounds wrapped up."

  "What about him? Are... are we going to send him back home?" Rose asked, unable to take her eyes off George's corpse. Though she'd killed before, even killed four men just now, her sadness for George was far harder to bear than her guilt had ever been. All the ones she'd killed, she'd been able to justify. But she'd never seen an ally die before her eyes, and for no better reason than whatever evil motives their enemies had held.

  "We'll bury him here. He was a watchman, and the road is the watchman's home."

  Already? But he'd just left his family. Before she could think further on it, Merrick yanked the arrow out of her arm. "Ow!"

  He wrapped her wounds with tight strips of cloth. "You did well, Rose. Four men... are you sure you haven't had sword training before?"

  "No, not formally."

  "You will be a great warrior," he concluded with a thin smile.

  Just then, Bert fell-sat heavily on the ground, and Rose rushed to his side. "Are you alright?"

  "I'm fine, just a little dizzy from the pain. You... you were amazing."

  She shrugged, and began to help Merrick wrap Bert's wounds. The captain met her eyes. "I've got him. Go take care of Jasper." Nodding, Rose trotted over to help the crying boy.

  "Who were they?" Jasper asked, cringing in pain.

  Rose had no idea, but Merrick answered, "They were bandits who wanted to make their lives easier by keeping us from getting new members." And they'd been more successful than any of them would have liked, though at least t
here were more dead bandits than future watchmen. Rose counted nine, and could barely believe nearly half of them were hers. What kind of monster was she? Apparently she was a natural killer, huge and strong and unrestrained in a fight. The thought hardly pleased her.

  Standing with Merrick's help, Bert cursed and kicked a bandit's corpse in the ribs. Rose heard a dull crack and looked away. She caught the fright in Jasper's eyes, and smiled reassuringly. Right now, for all her strength she felt more like him, than any great warrior she might be.

  #

  They reached the Watch House a few melancholy days later, whereupon Rose was surprised to see how humble it looked. It was just a log cabin of fair size, with a man-made clearing behind it where a few men practiced with swords and shields. She'd been expecting a fortress, or something like that. "This is it?"

  Merrick nodded. "What, you want a palace? We learn to be hard, by living hard."

  It made some sense. "But wouldn't it be easy to attack, if someone decided to do it?"

  "Nobody dares to come after the watchmen at home. Those wolves only attacked when there was just me and you rookies, didn't you see? Even evil men don't want to face all Kayland's wrath, if they get caught assaulting servants of the realm." He looked around at the recruits and smiled. "But it's a good thing you're as good as you are, or we might not be here now."

  "So why'd you pick me?" Jasper asked. "I'm no good to you. Maybe you should just let me go."

  "I see something in you. You'll be a good warrior, don't you doubt it. Things just take time, that's all."

  Rose hardly saw anything in Jasper that could be mistaken for fighting potential. But she knew she was an amateur in such things, and kept quiet. So it was Bert who said, "He is useless. He didn't do anything for us, but lay there and cry. I'd rather have Rose by my side."

  "Leave the thinking to me," Merrick snapped. "Come on, let's go inside." Before Bert could reply, he opened the Watch House's door and entered.

  Stepping into the dark cabin, Rose bit her lip while the ten or so men inside—all men, of course—stared at her and began to mumble amongst themselves. She wondered who would feel worse—her, or Jasper once the story of the ambush was told.

  "What's a girl doing in here?" one slim watchman yelled. "She satisfy your taste for big brutish women, Merrick?"

  To her surprise, Bert shot back, "Shut up, you tinder twig. I'd bet my club that Rose fights better than you."

  The man who'd taunted her was in the giant's face before she could blink, a dagger bare in his hand. "Call me tinder twig or anything again, and I'll gut you."

  "Anything."

  Rose grabbed his wrist when he stabbed at Bert, and he cried out as she twisted, bringing him to his knees. His dagger fell from his hand, and a loud crack split the air. She gasped as she realized what she'd done and released him. "You broke my wrist, you monstrous wench!"

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it..." The jeering towards her had stopped, and she looked around awkwardly, tears in her eyes. She'd been so stupid, and now she was going to get kicked out, and all her mom had done for her would amount to nothing...

  Merrick patted her shoulder and laughed. "Gods, girl, you're a strong one. Huey, how much have you been drinking? You know better than to attack a recruit on their first day."

  "Recruits should mind their place," Huey replied, cradling his limb.

  Merrick bent and smelled his breath. "Drunk as a dog. Somebody take care of him." Another watchman came and led him away, and the captain looked at Rose. "Don't you worry, he's just a drunk, and an ass around novices. It'll be fine. You've earned my respect; already impressed me more than any fresh recruit I've had."

  She frowned. "He's going to hate me."

  "It doesn't matter. We're professionals here."

  Merrick seemed nice enough, but Rose didn't think it had been very professional of Huey to try and stab Bert over a few angry words. Her pulse was still pounding. "O-okay. Where do I sleep?"

  He indicated the bunks lining the sides of the cabin, and Rose sighed inwardly. She supposed it was too much to ask for separate quarters for one lone woman.

  #

  To her surprise, while there were quite a few watchmen who wanted nothing to do with her, Bert made it so that she could hardly complain for a lack of conversation. The giant seemed to have completely lost his initial reservations toward her inclusion in the group—as anyone who'd watched her fight probably should have, she supposed.

  "How the hell does a girl get so strong?" he asked with a smile as he looked at her from the next bunk.

  "I'm big," she replied with a shrug. She was a freak, too, but that hardly needed saying. "How did a Hullel boy like you get a hold of a club like that?" His favorite weapon was a hunk of wood with sharp metal bits stuck into its front, a great bludgeon like nothing Rose had ever seen before meeting him.

  "Made it myself. My dad's a carpenter, so it's natural for me to work with wood."

  "Mine's a blacksmith. Don't know if that has anything to do with my preference for a sword, though."

  "So where'd you get that thing?"

  "I killed a famous criminal."

  Bert fell briefly silent. "Do you have nightmares too?"

  "About what?"

  "George. How he died."

  Rose nearly burst into tears. She hadn't known the boy at all, had never really had the chance to even get a distinct impression of him, but one moment he'd been there, and the next... "Yes, I do. I can't help but think what it would be like to die like that. I don't want to die like that."

  "Me neither. You think you could help me learn... how to fight better?"

  "Isn't Merrick already teaching us?"

  "Yeah, but in our spare time, maybe we could practice a little more?" There was a tiny tremble in his voice, and she knew he wanted to do everything he could to avoid ending up like George.

  She smiled. "I don't know that much about using a big old club. Never even tried."

  "Maybe you could teach about the sword, then. How to fight against it."

  "You got something to offer in return?"

  After a bit of silence she took to be thought, Bert suggested, "How about I stop looking at you while you change?"

  She didn't think he'd actually keep that promise, nor would it keep the other dozen and a half men in the cabin from continuing to do the same. Rose shook her head. "Forget about it." As he frowned, she added, "But I'll be happy to spar with you. I'm sure I'll learn something about fighting against a club, too!"

  #

  Rose and Bert trained with the rest of the watchmen during the morning and each other in the afternoon, and Merrick took notice of how quickly she improved in skill with the blade. When she'd first arrived, she'd been a clear underdog against the veteran warrior, but weeks later, they were nearly evenly matched.

  As she tucked her sword away after a tiring match, he commented, "You're quite the prodigy, you know?"

  "I... guess. That's a good thing, right?"

  "Some of the men are talking about you, saying you're strange. Abnormal."

  Rose wasn't surprised. She flexed a thick arm and giggled. "Isn't that obvious?"

  "It is, but not everybody accepts it as easily as your friends."

  They walked together to wash the sweat from their faces, and after splashing herself Rose asked, "What about you? Do you accept it?" She had felt a tension in him around her in recent days, and hoped he hadn't found a reason to dislike her. He was one of the nice ones.

  "I've never had a student catch up to me so quickly."

  "You're still the best here. You know a lot more than me."

  "But I don't do much better. You're amazing."

  It didn't sound like such a good thing the way he said it. "What should I do?"

  "I don't know. I suppose I should be proud to be training a future legend. You're going to accomplish great things."

  Why would he say that? "That's crazy talk. I may have talent, but what makes you think I'm going to be a legend? I
don't have much in the way of ambitions, and my plans don't involve fame. I'm just a strong warrior, but hardly song material."

  "I can feel it in you. Something... destiny."

  She'd never expected him to think in such terms, and thought it a bit silly. "What destiny do you see for me?"

  He stood there looking into the horizon for a while and smiled. "It's the way people react to you. Everybody either loves you or hates you. There's no in between for you—and I suppose there isn't in other regards, as well. You're such a nice girl, but when you fight—damn, do you fight! You're a person of extremes, and I think you'll have a lifetime of them, as well."

  "No, Merrick. I'm going to have this life of adventure, but then I'm going to settle down and live the rest of my days out in peace. I don't want to spend my life trapped in unending battle and strife, not like the people you mean by legends these days."

  He shrugged. "You sound so sure of yourself—like there's no uncertainty in life."

  There was plenty of uncertainty in Rose's life. She just tried to ignore it, in hopes that things would work out the way she'd like. "I know there is, but I don't like to think about it when I can. It's more comfortable thinking you're the one who controls your fate."

  Merrick nodded. "It is indeed."

  "So do you love me or hate me?"

  "Who do you think is my favorite student around here?"

  "Me, really? I'm not as special as you think I am." But then again, Rose did feel quite different most of the time, though not always in a good way.

  "Promise me one thing. When you're better than me, you won't try to take over my House, all right?" It took her a moment to realize he was joking, and they shared a laugh.

  "Why did you pick Jasper?" she asked. "You said he had potential, but I don't see it. To watch him in training is almost painful. He looks like he might hurt himself anytime."

  "On the first day, when I was doing the tests, I thought the same thing. So I talked to him, and asked him why he wanted to join the watchmen. He told me about how much he wanted to help people, how he hated men who abused the weak. It may not seem like it, but he has a hell of a fire inside. He wants this, and it's all I can do to give him a chance."