BLOOD BOUNDED - THE SHADE - English - Castlevania Lords of Shadow (fanfic) PII

Chapter 34

Perhaps it was the hurried creak of the gate closing that kept him conscious. It may have been the pain in his muscles, or the hubbub going on around him.

"Look, the branches that entered have turned to ashes!"

"Quick, girls, a little more!"

Then a dull sound echoed and the shrieks got higher and higher until they faded away.

"We did it!"

A slight bark.

"Ponvi!"

"You led them here!"

"You don't know how glad I am to see you, fur-ball."

Another bark.

"You see? I told you he could!"

Lying on the ground and panting, it took him a while to regain control of his aching body. But then, the voice came from behind him:

"Gabriel."

His eyes widened and he sat up abruptly, shaking his head frantically in search of her.

"Marie?"

"I am here."

He stopped. She was at one end of the gate, together with her sisters and with the puppy in her arms. And she smiled at him: like a miracle. He smiled back, ready to get up to go with her...

"Gabriel!" Someone pounced on him, returning him straight to the ground. "That was amazing! You are my hero!"

"But what...?" It took him a couple of pushes to realize that it was the girl they had rescued, the one who was squeezing him. Again. "Hey, I already told you not to grab me! Let go!"

"Tell me, tell me, don't you want me to be your wife?" She told him, still clinging to his shirt.

"What the...? Let go of me!" This time he pushed her away mercilessly, without even caring that he had hit her. The entire journey had been the same and he was already fed up.

"Oh" he heard her say "how cruel you are."

His brother was complaining, again.

But he ignored them both and went back to find Marie.

She was no longer looking at him. Instead, she was limited to holding the animal, with her face turned away.

He hurried over to her and crouched down to face her, but he still couldn't see her expression.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked.

Her response was to shake her head a little in a gesture he couldn't decipher. Ponvi gasped and licked her arm at her sudden change. Dismayed, he wished he could be the pup, who at that moment, had more access to her emotions than he did. He was about to ask her to look at him.

"So you're Gabriel" he turned to the woman, whom he recognized as one of the shelter's guardians. "I'm glad my hunch wasn't wrong. It is a true miracle, or at least so I would say." She put her hands together in front of her chest. "But I know that everything has been His will."

"A truly fortuitous meeting," the older girl murmured. "Don't you think, Marie?"

She responded again with the same gesture as before, and clung even more to the animal.

Her sister made a face, obviously just as worried as he was.

"Tell me, young man" continued the woman "do only you know our situation?"

"No," he answered. "Our brothers went to tell our teachers."

"That's right!" Manuel came closer. "Surely they will alert the soldiers and they will come shortly. "Meanwhile" he hit his chest "we are going to protect you."