Shadows Bleed

Gabriel's Account

Gabriel's Account

It was with much caution that Gabriel Tor stepped down and out of the carriage that had carried him far from Imperial borders. Sitting in the small clearing before him, on a patch of earth, scorched dry by the sun, was a quaint, well-maintained cottage. He squinted as the crisp winter air bit at his exposed face like it did the bare, withered trunks dotting the glade. Clouds gathered overhead, a dark, menacing omen.

The cottage again attracted his attention. All was still from what he could see which, he'd admit, wasn't much. Curtains were drawn and the front door was closed. No light broke free and Gabriel wondered if he was in the right place. Almost instantly he dismissed the doubt from his mind. Cottages, properly cared for ones at that, were not a prevalent feature of the Fell-Lands, entailing that this had to be the home of Aeriae Llewyn, the most wanted criminal in the Imperium.

"Approach with caution," he instructed Lodeth Grohl, his lieutenant. "She's dangerous and I can't imagine her coming quietly."

Grohl nodded and waved his men forward.

Gabriel watched with avid interest as they prepared to kick in the door to the hut but, right before they could do so, the door swung wide open. An auburn-haired Savari girl of about nineteen years stepped out, hands on her head.

Taking his cue, Gabriel stepped forward, steel shackles ready. His sword jangled harmlessly from his belt and he was relieved that it remained in its scabbard.

"May I?" he asked as politely as current circumstances afforded.

Aeriae didn't respond and simply placed her hands out toward Gabriel.

"I really do apologise for this," he said, forcing a smile and tightening the shackles.

She raised an eyebrow. "And yet here you are, Gabriel, still hunting us like savage dogs."

"Depends who you mean," he replied. "You and her, yes. The Savari? No, not anymore."

"I see," she said as he motioned her to enter the carriage waiting to take them both away.

A commotion came from inside the cottage; the sound of a struggle. Muffled shouting reached Gabriel's ears, alongside the loud scraping of furniture and shattering porcelain. Or maybe it was glass. He winced and Aeriae's face dropped as one of the soldiers wobbled out through the open door, bloodied claw marks drawn across his cheeks. They had found her.

Aeriae pulled free of Gabriel's grasp and turned back in time to see the guards haul out another girl, a few years younger than she, from the house.

"We've got her!" Grohl exclaimed. "She's a pretty one too."

"Keep your rutting hands off her, you whoreson!" she screamed with the ferocity he remembered her capable of. "If you so much as touch her I'll-"

"What?" the lieutenant sneered, stepping close and pressing a finger to her chest. "What are you going to do, huh?"

Her nose wrinkled as the lieutenant spoke, their faces mere centimetres apart. He'd been drinking again. Gabriel sighed but, seeing a spark in Aeriae's eyes, decided to wait. He wanted to see how she would handle herself before intervening.

What happened next was not what he had been expecting but it brought a smile to his face nonetheless; she was a clever one. Aeriae pursed her lips and whistled, a high-pitched note that stung the ears and, Gabriel imagined, felt even worse for the hungover.

Sure enough, the lieutenant reeled backwards, clutching his hands to his ears, his face knitted in rage and pain. Gabriel decided to step in as Aeriae silenced the whistle and the lieutenant angrily reached for his sword.

"Enough!" he roared, causing Grohl to wince once more. "If you so much as touch a single hair on either of my prisoner's heads, I'll see you drawn and quartered afore the morrow. Have I made myself clear?"

Grohl muttered under his breath and turned to go but Gabriel refused to stand for such insubordination. Scum like Grohl got on his nerves like only his mother could and needed constant reminders of who was in charge.

May she rest in peace, he thought as he grabbed Grohl by the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. Before the lieutenant could turn around, Gabriel rammed his steel-clad boot into Grohl's calf, forcing him to his knees. Gabriel leaned in close until his lips almost touched Grohl's ear and loudly repeated the question.

"Am I clear?"

"Y...yes sir!" he stuttered, all of his false bravado having been kicked to the dirt with his knees.

"Good," Gabriel spat. "And I don't want to hear of you ever touching another drop again!"

With that, he cuffed Grohl violently over the ears, sending him face first into the dirt. Aeriae wisely stifled a chuckle.

"Now, get up and see that girl to her carriage," he ordered the lieutenant. "Aeriae, come with me, if you will."

Gabriel pondered the words even as they left his lips; 'if you will'. It was amusing and hard to miss the irony in the statement for it implied a freedom of decision which she no longer had.

***

He offered to assist her getting into the carriage but she brushed him aside and insisted she would do so herself, managing to hoist herself into the carriage with both hands shackled and no problems. Gabriel was impressed.

She sat opposite Gabriel and the scribe the Emperor had sent along to record her testimony.

"Aeriae," he started. "This is Brealor Vemrel, he'll be taking note of our discussion today."

"Our discussion of what?" she asked. "And for whom?"

"We'll be discussing you, of course," he said.

"Right, why wouldn't we be," she said and he assumed this was her way of agreeing. "Where would you like me to begin?"

Gabriel had not expected her cooperation to come so easily. She could have refused to tell him anything and, quite frankly, there wouldn't be anything he could do about it. After all, the Emperor had strictly commanded she arrive unharmed. But, not only that, Gabriel liked Aeriae Llewyn and, while he trusted her about as far as a rat could throw her, he had no desire to hurt her.

"Well how about you start at the beginning?" he suggested. "Start when your life was set on the path to change an Empire."