The Crimson Magister

The camp has never been more silent, after all, only a handful of thorns have been left to guard it as their leader headed out to deliver the captive personally.

Most of the tents were disassembled at were ready to be transported once the order was given, horses were fed and morale was high even after the recent disaster.

It would be a maximum of an hour before they were on their way to catch up with Golden Fang.

While most of them enjoyed the ambiance of the Ebon Forest, not many wished to stay for longer than necessary, especially with what they knew was a blessed child on their trail.

While many of the thorns panicked and wished to leave as soon as possible did not sway their loyalty.

After all the order from Golden Fang was clear, buy the time for the transport part of the mission and then run away towards the City of Razul.

While most people would be scared, someone with the prestigious rank of Golden Petal would not fear, after all, their leader was quite capable of creating perfect plans for any situation.

He was not so respected for no reason, every single thorn that worked under him started with nothing, and only thanks to his cunning and power was he able to make all of them into formidable force.

Most of the thorns consisted of Orphans and Low Life People that society rejected, but each of them was taken into the Golden Rose, and trained to become powerful warriors or casters depending on the discipline they excelled at.

After finishing their training Thorns had an opportunity to leave and make a new life for themselves with their newfound strength, and yet almost all remained by Fang's side.

After all ultimate loyalty has to be earned, and if anyone has earned it was the leader of the Golden Rose.

Each thorn was loyal to its core, after all, who would not show loyalty to the only organization that took you in after everyone else threw you on the streets?

And their loyalty was well awarded, they all lived in comfort due to their cooperation.

Eventually, when thorns have earned enough merit, they would be promoted to a Golden Petal, while someone of this rank was not necessarily more powerful in battle than the rest of the thorns, their skills in other areas let them differentiate themselves from their brothers and sisters.

Some of them were great leaders and strategists while others were able to use divine magic like it was second nature to them.

One more thing differentiating them was that they rarely wore the classic masks covering the faces of many thorns, instead, they used gilded crowns in the shape of rose petals with their faces uncovered.

The only Petal that was brought on this mission was Laura, the main strategist and advisor to the Golden Rose's leader, Golden Fang.

She had short brown hair, with soft green eyes, while standing at 177cm tall her build was quite muscular for a woman but still considered quite attractive among her brothers and sisters of Golden Rose.

But any relationship inside the organization was strictly prohibited, it was not wise to bring the romantic personal life of the thorns inside the organization where efficiency is most important as the wisdom of Golden Fang dictated.

Laura's strategic mind could rival Golden Fang himself according to many, but even with her skill, she could not understand what the man was thinking for the most part, as she would only be able to interpret his plans and make adjustments.

Power wise she was much weaker than even the weakest thorns in the Golden Rose, and yet her mind allowed her to rise to the rank of a Petal.

With her strategies, and with her bits of advice to the Fang, she was able to secure victories where it should not even be possible.

Her most impressive achievement was leading a successful attack on the Inquisitor of Water's Slave convoy.

With that raid alone she was able to fund Golden Rose operations for years.

Slaves were mostly elven which made them quite valuable and they were able to smuggle them to less than loyal nobility of Red Dawn and gain a significant sum of crowns.

She only hoped that the inquisitor of water would not find out that it was them, while she took precautions an inquisitor coming after them would possibly cripple the Golden Rose.

While Golden Fang liked talking about how Golden Rose thorns could fight off an inquisitor, she knew it was not true.

'Even the strongest thorn would instantly be vaporized by any of those monsters' She thought to herself.

They were all powerful and yet against them it meant nothing, Laura witnessed the power of an Inquisitor of Earth when she lived on the streets of the City of Iris.

A rebellion of slaves took place there and yet, even with thousands of slaves rising, the Inquisitor of Earth cast a strange spell that turned them all into stone statues, and with a mere flick of his wrist entire slave army was turned into dust.

She did not want to draw Ire from any of them, particularly the more ruthless ones like Inquisitors of Death, Space, and Fire.

Her beloved Golden Rose would be destroyed and equally beloved Golden Fang would suffer more than just death, and there would be nothing she could do.

She did not wish for it and he did not deserve it after all he did for them all, so she did all in her power to make sure her strategies would not antagonize any of the Inquisitors of the Red Dawn.

And she was certain she never antagonized any of them, but an angry blessed child was equally bad for them.

A blessed child that they angered when they committed to a job that would pay enough to make everyone live like lords for a long time.

It was worth the risk, and yet a single blessed child should never have been able to kill so many of her brothers and sisters, which meant that the enemy that was chasing them was A Greater Blessed Child, being that was more akin to demigods than anything close to mortal level.

"Everyone, we will be moving out in minutes, anything that remains will be discarded!" She shouted for the rest of the thorns to prepare to move out.

'At least everything was proceeding to her and Fang's plan' She smiled in her mind as she thought of her leader.

She looked at the thorns running around as they prepared to leave, as she was about to meet up with them and order the convoy to go towards the city of Razul she felt a presence behind her, a presence as hot as hell and in the same time as cold as the primal frost itself.

"Where do you think you are going young lady" A young female voice came from behind her, while she might have been weak she should have noticed someone.

And yet all she could do right now was to freeze as the voice continued as she felt someone put a hand on her neck.

"I have some questions to ask of you, you see I am searching for a very important person and you seem like someone important'' she felt a mocking tone in her voice.

But she could not turn, whoever this is, one thing was certain it was the blessed child chasing them.

She felt a hand on her neck before being forcefully turned to see a beautiful young elven girl.

"You may have a chance to live if you collaborate" the red-haired elven girl smiled at Laura with a creepy smile.

Laura tried to trash and punch the elven girl before her and yet each punch and kick did nothing.

As she felt the squeeze on her neck grow stronger almost crushing her neck before releasing her and letting her fall to the ground she knew 'So it seems it is the end for me, all I can hope is for Fang to succeed in the transportation so that he may live comfortably, that was all she wanted'

She smiled as she kept Golden Fang in her mind, not even death would take away her admiration and love from her.