It was a stormy, windy night, exactly sixteen years ago. Thick, black clouds had completely swallowed all of Doggenband in a sorrowful, heavy rain, and trapped in the middle of it all there was a much younger Father Enrico. He was soaked, running under the rain and trying to cover himself as well as he could with a fluttering black cape. His errands that day had expanded for a little too late, having to dispense blessings and perform rites in Gwynedd to stay in the good graces of its people. All to keep his front in place…
Not that he minded it that much, to be fair. Despite his “scientific” proclivities, Enrico was first and foremost a man of faith, so looking after his congregation was a bit of a pleasure for the young priest.
He passed the city gates and into the forest proper, hiding for a moment under one of the trees to recover his breath, and then he saw it on the side of the road. The earth had been recently moved, someone had dug an impromptu grave, so close to town! These sorts of unauthorized burial places weren’t exactly uncommon in Doggenband, or in Jericho in general, but that didn’t make them less grissly to see.
What made it worse, the grave looked small, too small for an adult…
The man could have just left the grave be, let the rain clear the hastily moved dirt and expose the little body underneath. But no, for an upstanding citizen such as Enrico, this came off as unnecessarily cruel, especially considering he had already seen it. Even while rain poured down, he walked to the burial site and with his own hands he dug in. It was tiring, but he endured the cold winds on his back and the harsh dirt on his hands as he worked, thinking that maybe he could use the body on his studies and no one would ever know.
Under dirt and pebbles, he found the laying body of a newborn child, a little girl covered with silky white mantle. Her little head already showed the start of bright, red hair… The man stood back up, looking at his discovery from afar.
“Sweet Saints have mercy…” Enrico sighed, shaking his head slowly while making a T sign on his chest. A stillborn child? Even if her hair showed an unclean soul, such a young death was always a tragedy. “Please receive this little girl back in your embrace, Saints. May her next life be one of joy and discovery. Please receive…”
The man realized this child probably didn’t even have a name. He couldn’t just perform a rite for a being with no name! So, in his infinite mercy, the man raised a hand towards the child.
“Gabrielle. Please, receive Gabrielle back in your embrace, and guide her in the way to join you in your golden thrones forever more. Amen.”
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Silence. Once he had waited a moment to make sure his prayers had been heard by the Saints, Enrico kneeled to reach for the little creature… when suddenly, he noticed it moving. Her little hands wiggled their fingers slightly, her filthy face grimacing and her little eyes opening. The priest had to use all of his will to not fall on his back right then and there. A miracle!? Or something more insidious…?
The old man had told that story so many times that the nuns had memorized it by then. How he had found a dead child and how it came back to life by the mercy of the Saints… it was the only reason they allowed the “wicked witch” to live with them, out of a feeling of obligation to preserve such a miracle. Years later, so far away from Doggenband, Arianna couldn’t help but reminisce on such tales while watching another ship leave Caen’s harbor.
At times she wondered if the girl’s cruel, painful life had really been a blessing of the Saints, or if something different had a hand on it all.
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When Gabi’s eyes opened once again, she was moving. Her arms were crossed, hugging the neck of the taller Lucrece while she carried her around in the city. She thought of asking what happened, but she knew it too well: once again she had fainted after exerting her body beyond all limits. The redhead let out a sigh of frustration, eyes looking at the many houses surrounding them and only then realizing they were out of the sewers. The air no longer smelled rank and dank, it now carried the scent of burning and blood, but very faintly… they were moving away from the gates.
“When did you get me…?” She asked, almost making Lucrece drop her on the spot out of surprise.
“Argh! You spooked me, creep!” Luci turned to look at the girl with a tired smile. Carrying her had been quite the ordeal. “I found you floating face up like a dead fish. Thought of carrying you around, knowing you never seem to stay dead.”
“Thank you for carrying me.”
“Ah, it’s nothing! But do you think you can walk on your own now? My legs are about to give, really… you’re quite heavy, woman!”
Gabrielle thought it long and deep for a moment, she did feel ready to get back up, but she also felt quite comfortable being carried. Oh, but she didn’t have the time to feel comfortable now, did she?
“Put me down.”
“Aye aye, captain.”
With a deep and loud sigh of relief, the lancer allowed Gabi to stand once again. The redhead stretched and spun her arms around for a bit, while Lucrece enjoyed the lack of weight on her back for a few moments before putting her halberd back in place.
“Alright! Oof, you really are putting on some kilos, Gabs.”
“It’s mostly the sword…” She wasn’t sure why, but being called fat kind of irked Gabrielle the wrong way. She looked at the blade on her back, a huge chunk of its tip was missing, taking away the blade’s beautiful shape and a bit of its prodigious length. “It broke.”
“Oh yeah, it was like that when I found you. Sorry, girl.” Luci tapped her hat and sighed, shaking her head slowly. What a waste of money.
“I will need a new one.”
“How much did this one cost you?”
“Fifty Empires.”
“Did you seriously get scalped the moment I left you alone!?” Lucrece shook her head again. “You really need to take better care of your money, Gabs.”
She was complaining but, at the same time, her nagging didn’t really feel malicious. Gabrielle could see the blonde lancer smiling all the time she spoke.