Neledh || ONC 2023

Chapter 5 | Nadine

Author's note

I changed a minor detail in the previous chapter.

Time was weird when it no longer had any meaning. Some days felt like years and some decades as mere hours.

She and Eira had stayed with Themis till Nadine had been able to take care of herself again. After that they left the house and tried to find their way back to the world of the living.

It was difficult.

They would live in a village for a decade and then leave again when the villagers became hostile. Two unmarried unchanging women weren't wanted, what if they would steal or taint their children.

Themis would fade in and out of their life only to appear again with a request.

That was how they travelled with Hugh the Great, the first Count of Vermandois to free the Holy Land.

Apparently it was important they followed the man and retrieve an identified object Themis didn't want to tell them more about.

That excursion ended in a bloodbath.

Nadine had woken up under the light of the stars with Eira's full weight pushing her against the ground. They had been left behind with the other dead travellers, their body had gone into a comatose state when it should have died. Using blood to revive them once all wounds were healed.

Luckily, there was an ample supply of blood around them. They quickly drank their fill and travelled in relative solitude to the meeting point.

Themis had been waiting for them. And though they appeared disgruntled by Nadine and Eira's  inability to show the object, nothing more was said about it.

Before their crusade, Nadine had lived her entire life in the North of France. The change of scenery was good, far away from the ghosts that hounded her nightmares.

They had wandered from town to town settling only to be uprooted after a few years. The last town they had settled in was called Balma and they lived in the same house as the widow Katell.

Life was good in that house. The village was the smallest Nadine had ever lived in. Five houses and a farm a bit further away.

Katell had lived on her own since an incident that had happened when she was young. Though she immensely enjoyed the other two living with her, to scare away the silence, they never really talked about the things beyond the surface.

This changed one day, after Katell came back from the market in Toulouse.

Pope Gregory IX had established an inquisition in Toulouse to prosecute heresy. Technically no one in the village had something to fear or hide, but no one actually trusted on their innocence. People in power, could not necessarily be trusted with their lives.

Depending on the people coming to the town, Nadine's eyes could declare her guilty.

Maybe the punishment would merely be a fine.

Maybe only a strong reminder of the legality of the matter.

And maybe their houses would be burned down with them locked up in them.

Nadine and Eira didn't stay to find out. Themis hadn't shown themselves in years, they wouldn't be able to help. So Eira and Nadine disappeared in the woods behind Katell's house.

From a distance they kept watch on Balma and its inhabitants. As soon as the coast would be clear once more they would return.

Little did they know the universe had a different plan for their life.

-

"Nadine."

A hushed whisper woke Nadine from her slumber. Eira had gone to hunt and left her behind to protect the village and Katell.

Katell who was squatting next to her and waving her hands for Nadine's eyes.

"What is it, Katell."

Nadine sat up and untangled her long hair from where it had escaped from her braid.

"I'm leaving for Blagnac, the inquisition will execute someone I care about there. And I want to be there for them."

Her fingers which had been nimbly rebraiding her hair, stopped in their tracks.

"What?"

Nadine's hair fell from between her fingers and she hurriedly redid her work. Trying desperately to focus on anything else than what Katell had said.

"You heard me, you can follow me from a distance to keep an eye. But I'm going, you aren't the only person I feared for when the news reached us."

That could all be nice and true, but this other person wouldn't want her to die either. And showing up in a different town for an execution would draw attention.

"At least wait till Eira is back, then we'll travel together."

Nadine didn't necessarily want to stop Katell from going, but if she wasn't be present at her friends execution, it would be a plus.

"No, I won't be on time that way. I'll see you there if you want to travel after me, otherwise you'll see me again in a few days."

With that Katell was up and gone, leaving Nadine sitting on the ground.

-

When Eira came back an hour later it took little persuasion for Nadine, to have them ready to go.

Katell didn't have a lot of time on them, but when they arrived at the other side of the river Blagnac was situated at, the execution had already started. She had been right in saying, waiting would take too much time.

Nadine watched as Katell stood among the other grieving villagers who watched the seemingly young woman be bound to a stone.

Nadine watched as Eira took her hand in quiet support.

Nadine watched as her feet crushed the red primroses blooming in the field.

She watched as the woman got pushed from the bridge into the water.

Eira pulled her away from the scene. They rushed through the field, a trail of crushed red primroses following in their wake surrounded by their yellow sisters.

Behind them the bushes rustled in the wind, but were unable to block the sound of crying people behind them.

-

March 21, 2023