New! Rohan of the Ruin Comes to a Conclusion Today

Welcome back to the conclusion of the Rohan of the Ruin Writing Prompt Wednesday! If you’ve been reading along from the beginning, you’re probably ready for Rohan’s story to end. For any new readers joining us this week, see where it all began:

https://www.bluedandelionpress.com/writingpromptwednesdayherewegoagain/

This writing prompt ended up swerving into fantasy territory instead of following a more romantic path like I normally write. However, I’ve still enjoyed Rohan and his friend’s journey to save their people.

Last week left us on an intense cliffhanger, one I didn’t even see coming and now our hero will need to deal with the fallout of that revelation.

https://www.bluedandelionpress.com/onemoreweekuntilrohanoftheruinends/

So, here we go, the final installment of Rohan of the Ruin:

by Ray Bilcliff via pexels

The king stood before the door, that wicked grin spreading until his white teeth gleamed in the sunlight that streamed through Jonelle’s window. Rohan’s entire body froze with icy flame, burning and freezing his insides simultaneously. Behind him, Aesop growled and Faelynn nearly hissed at the king’s sudden appearance.

Jonelle practically skipped across the room, straight into the king’s waiting arms. Rohan’s stomach dropped, and something like horror settled in his chest, pushing on his esophagus until breathing became difficult.

“Honestly, you surprised me, Rohan.” The king sneered, “Risking your sister’s security is not something I thought you’d do.”

Faelynn stepped from behind Aesop, despite his attempt to pull her back behind him. She faced the king, weaponless beyond the fury pulsating around her. She stepped to Rohan’s side and bared her teeth at the king. Aesop joined them, his dagger still poised to cut the king’s heart out.
Rohan’s sister frowned, her youthful appearance fading ever so slightly with her annoyance, “Rohan, you and your friends are being incredibly rude. This is the king after all!”

Jonelle giggled, covering her mouth daintily with a slim-fingered hand as if something the king said was immensely funny. Rohan ground his teeth and clenched his fists, his power brewing just beneath his skin. It grew, rolling and writhing like hundreds of serpents.

That power of ruin and destruction wisped around him, covering the ground in a cloud of fear. Faelynn’s breath quickened, panic surging as she recognized the building wave of his power.

The king grinned, watching as the growing smoke of ruin built around them. He pulled Jonelle closer, a dagger appearing in his hand, dragging across her throat. She startled and tried pulling away from him.

“Akar, wha—,” she stopped, the dagger pricking her skin. A tiny droplet of blood spilled across her creamy skin, tracking down the column of her throat.

Rohan tracked that thin line of red, the rest of his vision turning hazy, “Aesop.”
“Yes, prince?” The other elvish male’s voice held a low note of deadly promise.

“Get Jonelle out of here.”

Faelynn and Aesop nodded, the other steel dagger appearing in Faelynn’s hands, “It will be done.”

A spear of ruin and pain shot toward the king, forcing him to release his hold on Jonelle. Rohan’s heart ached for the look of hurt and confusion that crossed her expression. In part, he knew he was responsible for the sorrow in her eyes, for the naivete that kept her caged as surely as the king had.
Faelynn pulled Jonelle to her and they retreated toward the window. A surge of power, different from his own, and from Jonelle’s coursed through the room. Rohan couldn’t afford a glance in their direction, though he suspected the power he’d sensed in Faelynn’s soul that first day had finally discovered a conduit in Aesop. Together, they coaxed forth a portal, right there in the middle of Jonelle’s beautiful prison.

The king’s eyes widened and a feral snarl tore from him as he lunged toward them, intent on halting their exit. Rohan stood taller, an immovable force blocking the king from his sister and friends as they crossed through the portal, disappearing from sight.

Rohan focused his full attention back on the king, a vengeful grin growing on his own face as he encouraged his ruin forward until it latched onto the king’s ankles and unfurled up his body. The king’s dark eyes broadened; the pupils blown wide as terror worked its way through his body. He began whimpering, the sobbing, and finally, his screams filled the room. Emotionless, Rohan stood by, watching as the king fell to the floor, writhing and then curling into a tight ball on his side.

The onslaught continued long into the day; the castle guards whose feeble attempts at breaking into the room remained unsuccessful. Blood spilled from the king’s eyes, his nose, mouth, and ears, pooling beneath him steadily. Eventually, the king’s body no longer twitched and his screams faded. Rohan welcomed the quiet that came after, though the pressure in his chest he’d expected to ease, remained.

He left through the window, the castle guards still banging on the door to Jonelle’s rooms. Rohan didn’t claim to be a good climber but he knew how much pain he could endure so he let himself fall, the stones of the castle at his back. Keeping his head low, Rohan walked carefully toward the line of trees on the other side of the wall, where they’d spent the previous night camping. A kind of peaceful quiet settled in Rohan’s mind and heart and he breathed deeply for the first time in what seemed like forever.

At the clearing, Rohan took in the sight that greeted him before stepping toward them. Jonelle sat with Faelynn, the former’s hands clutched together with anxiety. Aesop watched the forest, listening to each bird song, focusing on every rustle of the undergrowth.

“Hail,” he said, catching sight of Rohan, “the elvish prince.”

Jonelle surged to her feet before running to her brother, “Rohan! I’m so sorry brother. I had no inkling – Akar always called you his most faithful employee. I didn’t realize he held you with invisible bonds.”

Sobs shuddered through her as she threw herself at her brother.

Rohan caught her and pulled her close, “It was my choice sister. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Faelynn and Aesop watched the reunion from afar, each lost in their own thoughts revolving around what the fall of the king meant for them. Aesop had nowhere left to go, the great Herrowood Forest had been burned. Faelynn had helped send her people away through a portal they guarded in their homeland. She doubted any of them would be eager to return to the near desert they’d inhabited before. Where did the king’s death leave them? Would someone new and equally as horrible claim the throne for themselves? The woman and the elvish male let the siblings have their short reunion, bittersweet and filled with everything that had passed in the years since they’d been taken.

Faelynn stepped forward, at last, unable to contain her concern a moment longer, “What do we do now?”

One year later, Faelynn stood beside Aesop as they bid goodbye to Rohan. The Agradell castle at their backs loomed, now with less dread and an even more imposing mission: the rejoin the peoples of the land. Together, Faelynn and Aesop worked toward uniting those they found, rebuilding what had been destroyed, and in establishing a new court that welcomed all and represented each faction of being in the realm. Fae, Elvish, humans, magicians, they were all welcome at the table. Jonelle hugged her brother closely to her before releasing him, reluctantly. She pulled back toward Faelynn and Aesop where they stood on the stone steps, the thin, simple circlets the only sign of their positions in the new Agradellian ruling system.

In the months following the death of King Akar, the Last of His Name, Faelynn and Aesop had been vital in bringing people to the table, to meet and discuss the new world order and what that should look like. Rohan, for his part, remained apart from the others, speaking when necessary, watching from the shadows. Even when Faelynn and Aesop approached him about their relationship, he’d simply smiled and congratulated them before sauntering off to some other dark corner of the castle.

Now, he’d made his decision, one that splintered his sister’s newly healing heart, but they hoped this might help mend his own ruined one. The fading sun cast Rohan in shadow, his favorite place to be, as he turned from the castle and started toward the woods that had sheltered them only one year before.

He didn’t know how long he would be gone, had given no indication of ever wanting to return, stating only, “If you need me. I will be there.”

Faelynn strode to Jonelle and took her elbow, walking beside her as they reentered the castle, Aesop coming in behind them. While Jonelle retreated to her room, Faelynn and Aesop made their way to the dining room, seating themselves at the rich, dark wooden table with high-topped, throne-like chairs.

“Do you think we’ll see him again?” Faelynn asked.

Rohan had been the linchpin after all, the one who found and brought them all together until they achieved a common goal.

Aesop stared at his empty plate. “Who knows? Rohan endured a significant amount in his years of servitude. His power made him valuable, but that didn’t mean anyone actually cared for him. I want to think that by now, he recognizes he has family who cares for him. Maybe we aren’t a traditional family, but we are that nonetheless.”

“And Jonelle?” Faelynn worried her lip.

Aesop shrugged, “The same, I imagine. The girl is naïve, but she’s learning what all her brother endured for her continued safety, and I think that it carries its own type of guilt.”

Faelynn nodded, allowing herself to be swept away in her own swirling thoughts until Aesop’s strong hand rested atop hers, bringing her back from the darkening edges of her mind.

“Are you ready for dinner?” he asked quietly, gauging just how far down the rabbit hole of her thoughts she’d fallen.

Faelynn did her best to smile as she squeezed his fingers tightly, “Of course. I’m hungry. So go get me food.”

His lips twitched, and he raised a brow expectantly.

Her cheeks heated, “Please.”

Aesop chuckled and kissed the backs of her knuckles, “As you wish.”

So that’s that! Rohan’s story comes to an end and Writing Prompt Wednesday goes back into the closet for a time.

It’s time to focus on finalizing the line edits on my debut novel!

Happy Reading!