Four Clans to wander without guidance:
Shenyalya sought Tranquil Woods for the First Mother.
Arrahunya sought to Govern for the True Father.
Thenyarya sought Indominable Mountains for the Blessed Craftsman.
And Unyenthalya sought hope, for the Slumbering Child.
-The Book of the Abandonment 2;1-5
Gardinal sat in his chair seething with rage, the blood from his leg pooling on the floor around him. He needed her, where was she? Every shift of his body brought wracks of pain shooting through him. Where was she? It was late now, very late, and she wasn't here. He needed her. She was supposed to be here.
"Brother Gardinal, please you need to go to the temple for help." Valleresa begged him. Not for the first time.
"No." He growled through clenched teeth. "Those priests are all useless. I need her. Only her." He was broken, body and soul. Only the Prophetess could heal him. He needed her, needed her goodness. This world was wicked, broken, corrupted. He needed her. Where was she.!? A searing pain cut through him and he slammed his fist into his side table. The wooden table shattered in two, and he could feel his hand crack under the force. "Where is your brother?" He spat out through laboured breaths.
"I... I don't know. They were gone when I got back." she stammered. Gardinal breathed in thick heavy gasps. His lungs ached, a cracked or broken rib. It didn’t matter, the pain was nothing compared to her absence.
This was his fault. That damned lordling Vallerian. Everything had become a mess when he showed up. If Gardinal got a hold of the little wretched sinful little... He roared in pain. Where was she? He needed her now! So much evil. So much darkness. He needed goodness, he needed her.
He had stumbled for an hour in the dark to get to her. Pain ripping away at his mind with every step. All so he could get back here. Get back to her. She wasn't here. If anything happened to her, Gardinal swore he would end the life of anybody who dared touch her. And he would kill that bloody nobleman too. He needed her. The world was too black without her radiance pouring over him. Images of blood, war, dying children, all seared through his mind. He needed her to rid him of it all. Eight years he had stood by her, always there when she needed him. Now he needed her and she was gone, the shadows at the edge’s of his soul starting to seep back in. Was this divine retribution? For him not being at the temple when she was attacked? He blinked back tears of pain. Where was that girl? He needed her so desperately.
"Please Brother Gardinal, at least let me send for..."
"QUIT PESTERING ME CHILD!" He screamed, his bloody fingers tearing into the velvet chair arms. "Get out of here, you’re useless anyway." he spat poison at the girl. She had let The Prophetess get away. Just as bad as her wretched brother, she was. You could never trust a noble, not the men or the women. Sinners, all of them.
When Gardinal looked around again she was gone. Only darkness remained, pressing in on him now. The darkness of his own past, eating away at his thoughts. So many men dead, men he knew, men he loved. He needed her. He needed his Prophetess. She could make it all go away. She was the only light in this dark, dark world. He should go look for her. He needed to find her. He would break without her, his soul would be lost without her. Where was she? He was nothing without her. A hollowed husk of broken soldier. He deserved to die without her, without that most precious girl.
The door creaked open. Gardinal lifted his eyes to it, glaring. Count Vallerian, The Prophetess, and some Jöln girl he didn't know walked in. Some street scum they picked up?
"Where have you been?!" he demanded. His fist clenched so tightly he could feel his nails piercing his palm. Blood seeped from his hand, crawling down his thigh.
"Brother Gardinal?" The Prophetess gasped, her eyes widening at the sight of him. She tried to dash across the room but almost collapsed in the process. He knew that exhaustion. She had wielded the First Mother’s power, in public. His eyes darted to Vallerian, to that man he would kill in a heartbeat.
"Where. Have. You. Been." He repeated through clenched teeth.
"By the Gods man, you look terrible." Vallerian eyed him with that smug look he wore. Wretched Chaos-kin. The Jöln girl helped The Prophetess to his side.
"You. Shut. Up." Gardinal snarled at Vallerian. "This is your fault. If you never showed up then..." Gardinal fell silent as The Prophetess made it to his side, laying a gentle hand on his blistering arm. Tingles shot up his arm at her touch, like a newly lit torch in a dark dungeon, pushing out the darkness.
"What happened?" She asked him, her face looked so tired. Her eyes were barely open. "Dear Gardinal, something has broken you"
Gardinal set his jaw as he finally got a good look at her through his blurry eyes. She had a cut across her cheek, and some swelling on her brow. A burning fire ignited in his gut. "Who did this to you!?" he asked, seething with a dangerous rage.
"It was a misunderstanding, I am fine. It's you I worry about. Sit still." The Prophetess begged him.
"WHO DID THIS TO YOU." Gardinal rose to his feet with a howl. His chair fell back behind him with a crash against the wall. He would kill them. He would crush their skulls in his hands. "You will never leave again! Do you understand!?" He shouted at her. "Not as long as I live you will..."
Gardinal was cut off as pure bliss flooded his body. A torrent of intoxicating warmth left him collapsing onto the floor. Sitting on his knees, he revelled in its soothing power. That incredible, invincible energy pulsing through his veins. It was the song of life itself, the river of peace eroding his pain. It was the calming light of the moon, washing away the darkness within him. It was everything he could want or need and it flowed in him now. She was here. She was safe. She was next to him, where she belonged. He couldn't even feel it as his muscles reknit. His skin scabbed, flaking off in thick sheets, his bones formed back together with snaps. What should have been excruciating, was simple ecstasy. He felt alive once more. The suffering was gone, and all that was left was bliss. That serenity that this girl brought him lingered.
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Leaving a deep sense of longing, small cool hands left his arm. Gardinal was left panting in a pool of his own sweat and blood, with Celeste still next to him. With shaking fingers he grabbed a corner of her dress, just to feel her presence still.
She collapsed to the ground.
"Valleresa! Get in here!" Gardinal shouted, sweeping her up in his arms. Before the handmaiden could get to the room, the odd Jöln girl was at his side, fussing over the Prophetess. "Who are you girl?" Gardinal asked the girl. With Her Radiance close, he was calm now.
The girl looked up at him, with those big Jöln eyes of hers. "The name’s Arabella, Master Khazimi. Her Ladyship she's taken me into her service she did." She bowed to him.
"Did she now?" he asked. "Then you will address her as Her Radiance, or The Prophetess." He commanded her, and the girl's eyes grew somehow wider.
"Sh... She's her?" The girl seemed gobsmacked. Gardinal's guess had been right, this girl had no idea what she had gotten herself into. Gardinal looked to Vallerian.
"What in the Chaos happened? Who hurt her?" he asked.
Vallerian told him everything, as Gardinal fixed his chair, and sat in it with the small form cradled in his arms. He listened with growing tension. The cursed man had just taken her outside! Without any care or effort to conceal her identity? What was he thinking? This boy was reckless at best, and dangerous at worst. He looked down at her frail body in his big arms, she was so precious.
"So, the men who attacked her?" Gardinal eventually asked as Vallerian finished his tale. Vallerian glanced at the unconscious Prophetess before responding.
"I took care of them, they won't be a problem again." Vallerian's voice was cold as he spoke. Gardinal eyed him warily. This man was more dangerous than he had thought. That could be good if he was truly was on their side.
"Where have you been Vallerian!" Valleresa stormed into the room. "Just disappearing with her like that? Who do you think you are?" Valleresa seemed as livid as Gardinal had only moments earlier. But now, as he slowly felt the smooth silk of her gown in his hand, he carried her serenity.
"’Ressa! I was just... uh..." Vallerian stammered in front of the force that was his sister.
"Don't even try. I’ll deal with you later" She snapped, falling to Gardinal's side to look at the Prophetess. "Who are you?" She asked, turning to Arabella.
"A... Arabella." The poor Jöln seemed rather overwhelmed. “I work for her la... Her Radiance." Arabella corrected herself quickly. Smart girl. Gardinal shook his head.
"Why did you even go out in the first place?" he asked, ignoring the two women for now. They tried to pull Her Radiance from his arms, but he waved them off. The Jöln seemed honest enough, and he trusted Valleresa, but he needed her still.
“She’s the Prophetess.” Vallerian reasoned. “I didn’t particularly feel like I could argue with the voice of the First Mother.”
Gardinal gave him a deadpan look. The serenity she had given him did have its limits. For now though Gardinal knew he still needed this man, as much as he might regret it later.
“I would toss you out on your arse boy.” Gardinal shook his head but continued against better judgment. “But I still need you. For now at least. I have a lead on the cult that I have to investigate.”
Vallerian raised an eyebrow at that. “A lead?” He smiled. “Do go on.”
Gardinal ground his teeth. “Nothing worth bothering a count over, not yet anyway.” He wasn’t about to rat out his brother without facts. Especially not to this man. “But I need to go look into it tomorrow. So, I’ll need you to watch her.”
“That can be arranged I...”
“Good.” Gardinal cut in. The young man seemed about ready to say something terribly clever. “But you will not be going out. Do you understand me?” Gardinal narrowed his eyes, this man would not bully him out of this one.
“By Feren's roar, I agree with you.” Vallerian let out an exasperated sigh. “Believe me, for someone chosen by the Pantheon the girl seems a conduit of destruction. I thought I’d be protecting her from other people, not herself.”
Gardinal smiled at that. She was a handful, but such a wonderful handful she was.
With her protection agreed upon, Gardinal set to work preparing the household for this growing number of guests. He would have gotten the housekeeper to do it but The Prophetess had suffused him with so much vitality that it felt as though he had slept for three days. He carried the Prophetess to her rooms with the care of a holy artifact being placed in a reliquary. When she was safe in bed he showed this new Arabella girl her room. It was a small servant’s room, but Gardinal had a feeling it would be only a few days until the girl was sleeping next to Celeste and Valleresa.
“What’s the point of owning all these rooms if everyone sleeps in hers.” He grumbled. It was a good grumble though. His mind felt clear now, the cloud of pain and worry gone. He never felt his self when Celeste was far, a problem he had learnt years ago.
“So.” Vallerian spoke from behind him. “Where can I sleep?”
Gardinal turned on him. “Don’t you have a manor house or something you can run off to?”
Vallerian chuckled at that. “Yeah, I have a few of those. Unfortunately none of them are close at hand, and I think I’d rather stay close for now.”
Gardinal sighed but showed Vallerian to one of the guest rooms. Mothers Mercy the building had enough of them. It was one of the smaller rooms, being a count didn't get you any special consideration here. It was however, well decorated. A large four-poster-bed with fine silk hangings filled most of the room. And a masterful painting of Ethinia’s first tear hung next to a wardrobe. Nothing special, but clean and well put together.
“That’s an original Selethan.” Vallerian remarked, looking at the painting. “How in the world did you manage to get a hold of that?” Vallerian turned to him, an honest curiosity on his face. “Or are you also an art thief, on top of being a priest and a soldier?”
Gardinal knew what he meant. How does someone who’s not a noble own a masterpiece? Gardinal sighed, try as he might he could not escape the reputation of his Kin. It seemed the figurative ingot was out of the forge.
“My name is Gardinal, Gardinal of the Kin Belnur.” He explained, and Vallerian nodded in understanding.
“A cousin then? Of Master Origdal, the legendary merchant?” The nobleman asked.
“Brother, actually. He’s the oldest.”
Vallerian actually seemed impressed at that. Odd. Most nobles hated meeting a commoner who was richer than they were.
“Your brother tricked my father out of tens of thousands of gold lyra with a cleverly worded contract.” Vallerian eyed him, and Gardinal swallowed. Not good at all, he knew the contract the man spoke of. “Could have kissed Master Origdal that day. Your Kin speaks well of you Brother Gardinal.” Vallerian said with a chuckle.
Gardinal shook his head, then bid the count goodnight. He was an odd one and Gardinal was not yet sure he could trust him. But there was certainly a charm to the handsome young man. He almost went back to Her Radiance's room after that, but thought better of it. He ached to be next to her, but she needed rest. Instead, with his bountiful energy, he retired to his chambers to pray until the morning.