Rose shivered. A cold had settled over the place and made it more ominous. The stench of death and fear was overwhelming. Rose swore that she saw skulls impaled on some of the longer thorns. There were shattered swords littering the area and she could barely see anything through the fog.
"The dagger of light is in there?" She asked.
"Yes. You will need to travel through the maze of thorns to get there. You will be faced with the challenge of defeating a frost demon without weapons or help. Only then will you be able to open the heart shaped box and wield the dagger of light." Leaf explained. Rose took a deep breath.
"Okay. Are you sure that I'll be able to kill a frost demon without weapons?" She asked. Leaf nodded.
"If you are quick on your feet like I know you are and you dodge it's frostbreath." He answered. Rose sighed and nodded.
"Just in case I don't come back, tell my family that I love them. Tell Oak that he can win the war without me." She said. Leaf shook his head.
"That won't be necessary. You will come out alive." He said. Rose was still uncertain but hugged her dragon friend and disappeared into the fog.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Valley of Thorns was like Leaf said- a maze. Rose couldn't even see two inches in front of her face.
"How am I ever going to find the frost demon?" She thought aloud. Rose almost ran into a thick wall of brambles and hissed irritably. She kept walking til she came to a straight path. Rose took a deep breath and kept walking. It got colder and colder as she got further in. Rose's fur instinctively bristled and she felt the tips of her fur frost slightly.
There was a dry laugh and Rose looked up to see a dark scaled, tall, dragon-like creature with ice crystals sticking out of it and beady red eyes. Fear settled over her and she unsheathed her claws. The frost demon was munching on a carcass. Rose shuttered as she saw that it was a cat. She then realized that her dagger had disappeared.
Just as Leaf said. Rose thought. The creature finally noticed her presence and swallowed the last bits of the carcass.
"You have come." It rumbled. "Rose of Woodburrow."
"How do you know me?" She asked.
"Terrath told me that you'd come eventually." The frost demon answered. "To be honest, I wouldn't mind eating another cat." Rose bristled.
"Well you're not eating this cat!" She hissed. The frost demon narrowed its eyes.
"We shall see." It growled. The beast quickly opened its jaws and struck it's head down. Rose dodged and climbed up the beast's nose. The creature growled and clawed at it's nose. She jumped up and hooked her claws into one of it's eyes. The beast screamed and grabbed her in its talon, ripping her off it's eye.
The eye came out with her and she pulled it off her claws. Blood poured out of the empty socket.
"Arg! You cursed beast!" The demon snarled, tossing her into it's mouth. Rose began to panic as the beast's cold tongue touched her. She snarled and scored deep marks across it's tongue. Blue blood gushed out of the wound and the beast spat her out. Rose shook the saliva and blood off her and licked the blue blood off her claws.
It tasted like cold metal and she found it satisfying. The demon growled and lashed it's tail. It then struck out with it's tail and caught her off guard. The tail hit her in the abdomen and she let out a grunt, falling backwards. One talon came down and pressed her against the hard earth. The demon's face looked over her and grinned.
"Not such a special cat now huh?" It mocked. Some blood from it's eye socket dropped onto her chest fur. "I'll enjoy killing you a lot." Rose squirmed and kicked out.
"That won't save you now." The demon grunted, shaking it's head.
How will I escape this!? She thought. Then she saw how big the beast's talon was. Rose wriggled through the gap between it's fingers and quickly sliced at it's neck. Since the frost demon did not have the protective neck scales of a dragon, the claws cut right through. Though, a sword could have made a deeper cut. The beast howled in pain and stumbled back. It fell over and writhed. Blue blood leaked from the fresh wound.
The frost demon made gurgling and choking sounds and both blood and saliva trickled from its slightly open jaws. It glared at her with its one eye. Rose narrowed her eyes and climbed onto the beast's pale blue chest. She approached the creature's neck and stopped. The wound was so small but it had done so much damage.
"Do it." The beast rasped. "Kill me, get your weapon." Rose leaned over to finish him off but stopped and looked at him.
"What are you waiting for!?" It snarled.
"I can't do it." She answered, standing back up. "You May be evil, but you deserve life just as any living thing."
"How do I deserve life!? I kill animals and I guard the dagger of light! I even work for Terrath! He created me!" The frost demon snarled. Rose had flashbacks of Shade's death and her cries ricocheting off the volcano.
That was the past. I'll never kill another. Except Terrath. She thought.
"I forgive you." Rose said. It let out a cry of disbelief and stood back up. She clung to it's chest and scrambled onto it's shoulder. "You must let me forgive and let you live."
"No!" The creature hissed, shaking her off. Rose's back hit the ground and she hissed in pain, stumbling back up.
It grumbled. "Will you kill me!? I'd rather be dead than come back to Terrath while you're still alive."
"No." Rose hissed. "I swore I'd never kill another." It fell back down again and broke out into a series of coughs. He then was still and his body dissolved into blue flower petals. She walked forward and pawed through the petals. At the bottom was a heart shaped box carved from birch wood.
Rose lifted it up. It was warm and had small carvings of vines and flowers on it. She lifted the lid and was amazed. The dagger of light sat in the box surrounded by pink petals. It was a beautiful gold with carvings of vines and a ruby on the handle. Rose lifted it out of the box and felt a strange power emitting from it. She closed the box and put the dagger into her empty satchel.
I hope I'll still have the dagger that Bramble gifted me when I come back out. Rose thought. She turned around and the midnight colored fog had lifted and she could see the way out. Rose walked back through the maze of brambles and thorns.
Look out Terrath. I'm coming for you.