1.12 Catch The Wind

[Madeline Merri]

In her hand, she let the shells fall between the cracks in her fingers. They lingered in the mid-air for a moment before landing back into the pouch with a soft clatter, muffled by the well-worked lambskin leather. With a cinch of wound string, she tucked the pouch back inside of her coat, nestling it close by to the nickel-plated weapons that she treasured so completely now. 36 shells. She had counted them twice, and almost a third before realizing that there was no way she could have stayed in the company she kept. In the middle of the night she fled, away from the caustic nature of the troupe, away from those eyes that glowed in the night, away from all the death. Weeks passed, and there were none to pursue her, none even to clip at her heels, which was strange to Madeline, since she had no rest in the past year, nothing but the road, and working to keep her stomach full and a soft bed underneath her at night.

The Vaults had proven a hard task, especially without a map, but moving southward towards Tilea, she followed paths and caravans through that cold rocky pass, where the wind lashed in through every stitch and seam in her clothing. She found little rest, and so tried to take none, trudging her way towards a land that was spoken of in the most fantastic and extravagant manner. The caravans that did kept her moving along, lending stories of the south, food and water, all in exchange for songs, which she was told would earn her far more money in Tilea than in the Empire. As the days passed, her eyes brightened, the weary rings around her eyes began to fade as the nurturing countryside worked it's way into her blood, the spring beginning to fill her cheeks with a soft rosy glow that she never found in the darkness of Sylvania.

"Do not worry, little traveler! This is a country that will welcome those of your mind!"

The kindly man doffed his wide brimmed hat at Madeline as he turned his cart towards the eastern fringes of Tilea, aiming her towards the southern horizon with a gesture of his whip handle. The two-mule cart trundled away, leaving her to look down towards the open fields, rolling with the subtly-greening color of spring peeking through the worn and broken brown of the winter. Her feet fell on the paths with a little more ease as the foothills urged her away from the darkened peaks that ran a natural barrier from the harsh country of Bretonnia. In her mind it was easy to paint a picture of wheat fields bending to the winds, yet still standing tall and strong up to her waist, and it would soon be like this, but for now she painted those images in her head, it kept her chin up.

The sun slowly set on the countryside, and just a ways down the road an hour or so, she saw the lights of a small village, the windows gleaming with an inviting orange huge that spilled out towards the fast-flowing creeks, verging with the melting snow. It was like something out of the paintings that hung in grand castles, only much brighter since paint fades and colors die out. She readied her coin purse in hand, jingling it to feel the heft of many coins. She bobbed it about like this in the comfort of the countryside until she rounded the next copse of cypress trees on the path.

She was leaning against a fence, beneath a lantern to keep travelers on course. There were no nightmarish beasts of some forgotten tale, no bravado of a bright red cloak. Odetta's shoulders slumped forward, as if exhausted. Madeline could not resist the urge to increase her pace into a trot as she came upon the woman. With sisterly concern, Maddie placed a hand on her shoulders, unafraid. Odetta's head lifted up somewhat, smiling to see her sister again after many weeks. In the downcast light, she saw the vampire bearing many horrific wounds and scars accented by the baroque lighting of the flame.

"You are becoming a harder woman to find, these days. It makes me proud to see this." The elder's eyes welled a bit, examining her younger.
"What happened? What did you do?" Madeline could not avoid the obvious question.
"Inside, let's go inside."

They continued down the path towards one of the inns that was still open. Keeping her sister out of direct eyesight, Madeline found a quiet table in a corner of the room just off the commons. A barmaid stepped up chipperly to take their orders, but with a court wave of her hand, Madeline dismissed them as she helped her sister to a chair. Odetta barely made it to the well-worked wooden chair, slumping heavily down into it. Madeline took a seat cautiously across the table from her, hushing her tone away from the soft hum of someone playing on a fiddle in the background.

"Tell me, sister, what has happened?"
"Love happened. His love." There was a heavy cloud of regret hanging overhead, and she shook her head to fight off a choke in her throat. "Anton and I were waiting at the village as we said.. and when you did not show up, he stormed off to find you. He.. was motivated, and I couldn't convince him otherwise. There is something about our blood, when we desire something..." She shook her head again. "When we reached the camp, there was no consoling him. His questions were not meant to be answered. Your friends, they were caught unaware, still trying to figure out where you were. When they saw us, they also drew conclusions."
"What happened to them, sister?" Maddie's voice firmed up, trying to keep her sister on track.
"There was a fight, flame.. sword.. I tried to stop it, but I was an enemy in everyone's eyes. Anton could not be stopped - I tried, sister, I tried...Andrei, he used every single art in the fire lore he could, on both of us. When I regained my senses, Andrei was split wide, lying cold.. And Anton was on top of the other one, Ekaterina?...She was in bad shape.. but I fought him all the same." Odetta looked to her hands, the once immaculate velvet gloves burned and torn, fingers underneath showing vicious burns that not even the vampire's blood could heal since then.
"I could barely hold him back, he was so enraged and full of fury. I did not expect... I managed to cripple him, drained him dry and left him on the plains. To drink him was like drinking poison, full of toxins.. full of death and rage... and that's where I left him."
"And Ekaterina?"
"I could not bring her back to the city.. so I brought her here. She is getting cared for at the mission around the corner. She is built far stronger than I gave her credit for. We will go see her in the morning, she needs more rest than I do, sister."

There was a silence that hung over the table. Madeline sat there for a while, stunned at the story. The guilt flowed through her mind and into her hands, urging them to shake with a sadness and anger that was so well mixed that it froze her in place. She could only watch the eyes of her sister, who simply sat and watched back from behind a myriad tangle of scars, burns, bruises and matted hair. If there was one thing that Madeline could count on in her sister, it was the genuine nature, the honesty which she harnessed even in life. It remained there even now, her green eyes glowing with a dull emerald hue. The morning would come in a short few hours, and though she knew everything Odetta had said was as close to the truth as she could recollect, Madeline needed to see Ekaterina, needed to see that the story was true.

-----

The chapel was of comfortable design, the many pews dedicated to one of Tilea's many deities and seasonal shifts. There were people sitting sparsely on the quiet Monday, each of them offering and asking something to help their daily lives continue on as it always did. Madeline passed by each of them, Odetta in tow as they worked their way to the rear of the building. An aged woman stepped in front to greet them, recognizing the elder sister, drawing aside a thick velvet curtain to allow them into a wide room full of beds, all empty except for one. A nurse sat beside, holding a bowl of some steaming soup or stew, offering it up to the woman curled up on the bed. She made only soft noises of displeasure, not wanting to eat, pushing the spoon away each time, offering up the Tilean word for 'No!' Seeing the approaching companions, the woman set the bowl down beside the bed to excuse herself.

There is always an uncertainty that comes when seeing someone injured, or in pain, especially someone that played an important role in one's life. This thought crossed Madeline's head as she cautiously turned the corner in the bed to face the woman, who still hid her face. She took the chair offered by the priestess, and sat to examine her friend. Ekaterina still made the soft noises of displeasure until she realized that there was no spoon being held in front of her face. Opening her eyes sorely one at a time, the fog seemed to clear, and the light of day played on Madeline's face, smiling cautiously to the older woman.

It took some time for Ekaterina to examine Madeline's face. But at the end of it, her face held her gaze for a few long seconds. She was well-bandaged, but there were still scabbed wounds on her cheeks, bandages working around her neck dyed pinkish from the wounds, blackened eyes and a split lip. There was no doubt that she was beaten near-death. Ekaterina breathed in a few times, stutteringly so as she was overwhelmed to see a friendly face. Lunging forward, she wrapped her arms around the fiddler, embracing her tightly, a groggy and tired voice working through the tears, 'Madalina..' The gesture tore the younger girl apart inside, as she also started to well with tears. Odetta kept her head held low, brushing some hair back behind her ears as she did her best to hang to the side of the bed.

Madeline could not get more than a word here or there out of the dancer, who seemed more than happy just to see her old friend nearby. Madeline took the bowl of stew up in hand, and suddenly it seemed like Ekaterina's stomach could handle a little bit of sustenance. Still weakened, the girl fed Ekaterina a spoonful at a time, letting her chew it thoughtfully, and pick the gristle of fat out of her mouth each time.

"The priestess says she has seen far too much.. that she does not truly know what happened.. she speaks little, and what she does makes no sense."
"Will she be fine, though?"
"They cannot say, it is a matter of time, her wounds will heal over, the energy will return, but it is hard to say whether or not what is afflicting her mind will ever disappear."

Ekaterina ate a few more spoonfuls before pushing the bowl away, using the Sylvanian word for 'Thank you.' with the softest of whimpers. She strangely laid down to her back, looking over towards Odetta with a smile. The oddity of it struck Madeline with disbelief. There was a time when the woman had the steeliest of expressions, and rarely spoke with anything more than the most business-like of tones. To see Ekaterina genuinely happy and pleased to view a dark-blooded vampire by her bedside was unsettling, to say the least. In that moment, she also spoke to Odetta a word of thanks.

"How many more days does she have to stay here?"
"The priestess told me two more days, I suggest we make a donation to this temple, we have stayed here for nearly ten days." Odetta gave a soft smile as Ekaterina held up ten fingers before curling back up to watch at Madeline with a wide smile, holding her hand tightly.
"We should go and speak to her about that, I have more than enough coin for that and then some."

As Madeline tried to stand, Ekaterina's hand held her down, shaking her head 'No.' Giving in to the elder, Madeline tossed the coin purse to Odetta, who nodded and went back out to the main room of the temple, passing beside the curtain and speaking with the priestess as she left. Madeline quietly petted and stroked at the curly copper mane of the dancer, helping her settle back to a sleep with a soft song, which drew out the most comfortably pleasant smile that Ekaterina had shown in months.

In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty,
I wanna be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.

To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand,
Along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while,
Behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.

For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing,
T'would make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near,
To kill my fears,
To help me to leave all my blues behind.

For standing in your heart,
Is where I wanna be,
And I long to be,
Ah but I may as well try and catch the wind.

[Arellion Sapher]

There's something a little strange about the Old World Priesthood helping a Vampire, but we'll run with it. I haven't read your previous work but this is quite interesting. I like the dialogue, I think the story is good... but the Undead thing is sort of inappropriate for the Warhammer World. That's how it seems to me. I could be wrong.

Interesting, though. Nothing wrong with the piece in principle.

[Madeline Merri]

Hehe, you've begun to stretch into the next installment already. There are going to be many developments as far as a vampire goes - notice that Odetta had remained far away from the city when she was meeting Madeline. Hopefully I can get the next installment ready for the next week, as now some free time has started to open up.

-Maddo