A different kind of Knight

Chapter 19

I am not grieving the death of someone close to me but she is. I will double my efforts to make her feel better. Perhaps I should try to make her think about the happy moments of her life with Trelbjor! Surely. It will make her feel better! "Maybe you could reminisce about your time together?" And so I fired the first question of many! "Why?" Alice questioned my questioning questions but I honestly expected that since it did come out of nowhere from her perspective. Thus, I was able to procure a response immediately. "So that I may know the great

deeds of kindness bestowed upon you by your red scaly dragon friend! That way he shall continue to live on! Not just in your memory but in mine too! It is the least I can do to earn his spirit's forgiveness, wherever it might be residing!" I stood proud as I looked off towards the distance. The cat was completely enthralled with my magnificent speech that contains the purified and pasteurized spirit of nobleness! After that display she must think that I must be

full of pride, but I am not because I have humility. I reverted back to my previous position and gave her an ultimatum with a somber and care for her grief. "So, will you honor me with your memories about him or shall I just let him be nothing more than an enemy that I vanquished under my blade?" Alice only stared into my eyes with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Sure? I guess?" She said she was 'sure' but I do not think that 'sure' of hers is absolute. But it will do. "What was your first question again? I think you were asking about how we met each other, yeah?" A silent confirmation was given to her as the head of a boy bobbled up and down vigorously. "Right! So I met him shortly after running away from a city since I did a crime or something they think is a crime cause I was chased by guards who were looking for me while looking threatening. Swords out and all tha-" I interrupted her since my desire to know what offense she did was very intense and it could be a huge hindrance to us or death. "Alice, what did you do?" She only shrugged her shoulders as she gave me her answer towards my desire to know her offense/s. "I dunno? But they did start to do everything the city guards or what I think

is their city guard doing everything I said earlier. It was after I helped an old man with a missing leg to stand up." This interests me greatly. However, I am here to hear about Trelbjor and not about Alice's troubles. But, I will take note of it and ask more at a much more appropriate time instead. Anyways, I think we should focus more on Trelbjor. "Alice. Err, forgive for accidentally driving us both off topic and I think we should shift our focus back to..." I gave a long pause as I awkwardly pointed back to the corpse with two head tilts. "Him." She only turned her head back to the cadaver slowly. "Oh. Yes." She whispered to herself. She might be holding some bitter feelings towards a specific someone. A Luke Tan Phaeron to be exact. "After that, I ran out of the city and escaped into the wilderness. And for six days I ate nothing and drank stank water puddles. During a storm I stumbled around Looking for shelter and saw the cave from afar. So I thought to myself; 'Why not go in there?' Then I ran towards the cave with my last bits of energy left in my body. I shortly passed out later after making like, five steps inside the cave. I was pretty sure I was gonna die. Well I was okay with dying back then. But I didn't. Instead, I woke up next to a comfy fireplace, all dried up, wrapped in a blanket, and then he talked to me. His voice was incredibly deep and bassy and it made me feel kinda nervous because I thought I would be used by a bad guy or something like in those movies." She stops for a while to wipe a few stray tears that she noticed. She seems to have a unwelcoming existence and she could've died if he had not intervened. I will take note of some strange words and habits of hers. Everything about her is strange, other than the fact that she is not, well, human. "Hoooo. Okay," She exhaled and straightened her posture. She looks at me and I nod at her.

Giving her the confirmation that she can continue. "So the first thing I did was run away and hide. I ran towards that rock." She paused and slowly scanned the surroundings. There is no need to know where she hid after being scared nor will it provide any sort of intel that could be utilized in future actions. But have my manners and I shall not interrupt her. a The massive entrance was able to provide light inside the cavernous space of the cave, but it is still rather dark in here. "Somewhere overrrrrr" She draws out the 'R' as she squints and looks into the distance. "There." She points somewhere to the left and I see the silhouette of the jagged shape of it. It is small, but Alice can definitely hide behind it. She lowers her hand back to resting it on her thigh. And so her story continues. "So there I was, hiding with fear in my heart, That was until I took a moment to remember what he said, Which is: " She takes a

deep breath as she took in the biggest amount of air her body could take. The chest of her robed form balloons and so does her cheeks. I wait in anticipation. Seconds pass, then a minute, then two minutes. Then I began to ponder if she was giving me her account of her experience with her recently dead dragon friend or was it all an elaborate plan to show off her breathing capacity. At this point it began to irritate me so I decided to ask if she's still planning to continue to hold her breath. "What are you doi-" I Wasn't able to finish my question on the less than amazing display of breath capacity from her as she deflated and confessed her reasoning on why she decided to inflate herself with air then do nothing for the next three minutes. "HUUooo! I'm sorry but I can't do it and I do not want you to laugh at me." That's it? That's why she was holding back? Well then, I must let her know that I am taking this solemnly and that I would never dare to mock her grief. "Alice, I will never dare to laugh for I know that this is very tragic, quite so even. Please, continue." She nodded, closed her eyes before taking a deep breath. Hopefully, she won't reenact the silly display she did earlier. This is supposed to be solemn for the Emperor's sake! "WOMan! ARe YoU Awake? THanKs THe g0ds ABove! I ThoUghT I WAS to0 LatE To SaVe YoU!" She tries to emulate or at least give her best impression of Trelbjor. Unfortunately, she was struggling, hard. She had enormous difficulty trying to reach the vocal range needed to give a good impression as her feline face began to contort weirdly as much as her tone. The voice breaks spontaneously appeared as she flexed and winced her facial muscles to the point where I can even see the flesh bulges under all of her skin and fur. It was a very raggedy display as her voice constantly shifted from an impression of a woman pretending to have the voice of an exaggeratedly manly man, to a voice of a teenage boy on the doorstep of their teenage years. And also what is with that pose? Fists balled and pointed downwards, elbows bent at a right angle while being aligned with the shoulder, and chest puffed; quite unusual if it's not comedic. "So, how did I do? She asks while I try to stave away unwanted emotions. I can already feel my muscles moving without my consent. Tongue biting, pinching myself, rapidly blinking were the tactics employed to prevent laughter. But it is not enough! UGH! Do not laugh. Do not laugh. Do not laugh! I shall condemn myself to the fires of the warp if a single giggle or snort escapes from me! "That was uuuuhhhh... hihihiIIIT'S WELL, DONE! BRAVO!" A small giggle escaped from me but I tried to blend it in and hope that she won't be able to notice the offending noise. Beads of sweat began to rise out of my glands and my mouth stretched into an incredibly crooked smile. She only looks at me with a bewildered gaze as if there was something wrong with me. Even though she just recently did a display of utter strangeness. Her vertical slits of pupils move up and down slowly. Scanning for any cracks, pits, and holes in my armor. To see if I'm true to my words and perhaps... To her.