Castlevania Nocturne: A Guardian's Tale (Part 2)

The Lion and the Mouse

Shaft cantered his horse through the countryside, letting the wind in his face blow away his conflicted thoughts. Riding always put him at ease. As Erzsebet's divine right hand, he barely had time for himself, to just ride accompanied only by his faithful steed. Even he needed time for privacy, not concerning his mother's tasks or the squabbling of her acolytes. As long as he returned, his Mother Messiah didn't mind.

I don't think I can return after this. Shaft thought frustrated. Once again he failed to capture the Nephilim, and worse! Let a faithful disciple die under the morning sun! Erzsebet would be ashamed of him. She would beat him again, or worse, let Drolta give the punishment.

Will you return to her Lyudmil? Or will you run? Questioned a voice in his mind that wasn't his.

"Of course I'll return." Shaft spoke frustrated, slowing his horse to a brisk walk. Snowball snorted and tossed her head from her rider's agitation. He should not have let Vaublanc die! Though repulsive and arrogant, the vampire was still a loyal disciple. A loss was a loss. I should have interrogated the slave girl and forced her to bring me to the Nephilim.

What's done is done, you cannot change the choices you've made.

"I know that!" Shaft snapped.

What will you do now?

"I don't know." Shaft snapped. "If you aren't going to say anything useful, get out of my head."

A chuckle echoed in his mind that was oddly familiar. You sound like her. Shaft snarled, he had enough of this mysterious vampire's irritating prattle. He stirred Snowball into a gallop, hoping to get distance from Machecoul and the enigmatic speaker.

Snowball halted to a stop, nearly throwing Shaft off and sending him flying. It took all his experience to hang on, calming his spooked horse as she snorted and anxiously pawed the earth. She refused to go forward despite his rider's urging. "Easy." Shaft patted her neck soothingly, dismounting to investigate. The small clearing appeared plain and uninteresting , yet Snowball hung back, pawing and whinnying nervously watching her rider approach it.

"I smell... blood." Shaft's pupils shrunk from the enticing scent wafting from the glade itself. His instincts clanged in alarm and Shaft listened to them, burning the entire clearing. The flames subsided, revealing  a spike-laden pitfall that had claimed many victims. The stench of impaled vampire corpses mingled with the lure of human blood.

"Khonsu's beak." Shaft snarled viciously. A trap set for vampires. If it weren't for his trusty steed he would've ridden right into it. "Good girl." He petted Snowball's muzzle. "Good girl." He turned her around and mounted up.

"When there's one trap, there's more lying in wait." Shaft patted Snowball's neck from the saddle. "Let's go back." As much as he detested returning to his mother and master empty handed, he wasn't going to risk another pitfall.

Shaft rode back the way he came, pondering his next plan of action when he caught another scent on the wind. A human female. He sniffed the air, eyes glowing red recognizing the scent. The Speaker. Shaft turned off the path, slowly walking his horse on the game trail until he saw his quarry by the stream. Maria brooded at the bank, angrily throwing rocks into the stream completely oblivious to him.

Shaft's eyes flickered. He dismounted his horse and prowled silently through the trees. He'd do what he should have done with Annette; capture the girl and interrogate her into revealing the Nephilim's location. All wasn't lost.

Closer he crept to the unaware human, until he was a hair's breadth away from her. Maria's heartbeat was music to his ears as he flexed his claws, ready to grab and subdue her.