And What I Found There - Book Two

43. Who You Are Is Not What You Did

"It's done!" I victoriously exclaim. "My cure is finished!" I excitedly brandish my syringe.

"Congratulations, Adara," Quill smiles brightly. "You truly are a genius."

"Well, thanks," I blush and bashfully tuck a curl behind my ear. "All that's left to do now is inject it and wait for -"

"Great," Adisonia interrupts. "So whatever stupid ingredient you needed for your stupid curse is working? Bloody brilliant. Now can we get home?"

"Um...I guess so. I-I mean, yeah." I smile a bit as I glance at Cornelius. He nods approvingly with a faint smile, and I feel my heart swell with happiness. I did it, I think as I administer the antivenom. I might be the only Blood Betrothed in history that has cured themselves! I really did it. For once in my story, I've saved myself and it's one hell of great feeling.

***

We're moving along swiftly on the backs of our spirit soul animals as we navigate through the spooky Hills and haunted forests. I'm doubled with Quill on his painted horse and Bishop is sitting on my lap, gazing up at me in concern. "You okay, lady?" He asks me yet again.

"Ummm...errr, what?" I blush, I'm too busy looking around, searching for Vyndren, to be paying anything else attention. My Dark Rider disappeared hours ago after Cornelius' scathing insult that apparently cut deeper than I thought.

Everyone else seems to think that he's gone for good but I refuse to believe it, even though...yeah, their spirit soul animals can't sense any Vampires nearby. Cornelius reminded me that we don't need him anymore now that my cure is complete and while yeah, I guess that's true, Vyndren would never just up and vanish without even saying good-bye...

Right?

"The cure!" Bishop squeaks. "Is it workin' yet?"

I frown as I absently rub my arm. Besides that being sore, I honestly I don't feel any different. But then again, I only felt different when the Thirst seized me. Too bad Vyndren bolted on me. I still need him! I think... "Fine." I smile. "I'm fine," I heave a sigh.

The rain has picked up and Adisonia starts up her loud whining. Again.

"I mean, this is disgusting," she shakes her head and summons a massive bright red lacy umbrella in a flash of golden light. "Completely nasty, I can't believe how vile this place is." The only one that seems to be listening to her is her Knave who is also perched on the back of her animal soul spirit, a giant tawny serval.

Quill's horse quickens its pace and now we're right alongside Cornelius and his polar bear. "Another word out of her and I may have made her rabbit go rabid," Quill mutters. I snicker.

"Come, come now, Quill," the White Knight shakes his head. "The Princess can't help that she's so -"

Adisonia's shrill voice interrupts him. "Is rain the only weather that exists out here?!"

"Okay yes, she is obnoxious," Cornelius finally agrees. Quill and I exchanged pleased smiles. "Would you mind scouting ahead?" He asks his apprentice. "There's something... well, I'm not sure, maybe it's just the nearing storm but I have an uneasy feeling. At any rate, I'd like you to check around up ahead."

"Of course," Quill hesitates, now asks. "You don't think... Vyndren is out there, do you?"

"No one can trust a bloody Vampire," he shakes his head. "Now then, Adara." His polar bear and Quill's horse come to a halt and now Cornelius helps me onto the bear. "You'll be riding with me for a while, My Alice. Do be careful Quill, report back before dark."

"Yes, of course," he smiles reassuringly and now his horse gallops away from the group, I frown thoughtfully as he vanishes.

"So..." I ask a moment later. "Why do you and Vyndren...errr, seem to hate each other?" I start rambling. "I mean, when I was with him the first time and asked about you, he seemed all like; 'whatever, the White Knight is shrewd and has a plan and what not,' and then when I first met you, you were all like, kinda indifferent too I guess, like; 'whatever, he's a Dark Rider, creepy comes with the territory.' But now? Well, ever since these Blood Dreams, you two have been like... at each other's throats. So what were you guys like before?"

Cornelius smiles in amusement at my fast-paced ramble. Now though he sighs. "Well, I do try to remain indifferent...especially when it concerns me working closely with someone I dislike, and...as far as our standing before..." He trails off briefly in thought. "We were never on a first-name basis, but his reputation certainly went the distance, everyone knew of Vyndren Von Vesymir, the youngest and the boldest of the Royal Riders."

"He sounds like a character," I smile faintly.

"Indeed, he was," he rolls his eyes. "That boy was a fiery tempered devil and was as wild and reckless as he was cunning and brave. He was more contumacious than what's healthy for a body, trust me, but he was brilliant," he admits. "Unorthodox for sure, but his innovations brought fresh life to the Court, I suppose. He could smell a rat ten miles away, that was something I often felt envious of," he grins faintly in thought. "For being so young, he wasn't afraid of anything...not even Announcement Day." Now he looks away grimly.

"So where does this grudge come from?"

"That day." He clears his throat and doesn't say anything else for several moments, now he carries on softly. "The Riders were framed and clad in chains so swiftly; I hardly had the chance to speak with them before the Court executed the Captains."

"His sister was a Captain..." I swallow the knot in my throat, remembering Vyndren telling me that the only family he ever had was his sister. My heart breaks. His broken heart was what drove him to Vampirism.

"He...managed to rally the Royal Riders the night before the execution. They'd planned to save their Captains but they never managed to escape in time to free everyone... These were dark times, my child," he says softly, eyes clouded with pain as he revisits these cold memories. "I was so beside myself in grief and guilt over the loss of my beloved Alice Adarina that I wasn't thinking clearly. I knew the Royal Riders were innocent, and I knew they were desperately trying to escape, so I did what I could... It was enough to get them out, but I don't think Von Vesymir appreciated my aid by then." He furrows his brow. "Not after the death of the Captains..."

"It's...not your fault, Cornelius."

"I believe he thought and perhaps still thinks that if I had only aided them just a few hours sooner than his sister would still be alive."

"He's just...heart-broken, it's not you he blames," I shake my head as I look away.

"No... He blames everyone."

I swallow hard. "I-I mean, I know, but this still isn't your fault. You were going through so much too," I insist, resting my hand on his shoulder. "When Vyndren's hurting, he just...lashes out. It's not right that he blames you."

"I shouldn't have freed him..."

"What?" I shake my head with confusion.

"That night." He looks around as if expecting to see the Dark Rider in the shadows. "I shouldn't have freed him. I should have known that he was desperate enough -and cunning enough- to have formed a terrible plot for revenge. But I just had no idea his wrath would ravage so many and for so long..."

"What...what do you mean?" I'm almost too afraid to ask.

"After he slain the Jabberwocky and drank its blood, he started pillaging the Red Country, trying to take everything the Queen of Hearts valued and destroyed it. For every crime he commits, it feels like I've help him commit it."

"You...you wish you would've let him die that night eighteen years ago?" Tears blur my vision as I stare at the White Knight with pain. "But he was innocent..."

"He's far from innocent now, Adara. Far from it..."