Castlevania: Awakening

Chapter 10

Laeleth found it rather difficult to keep up with Gabriel as they escaped the chaos of the village.

He was much faster and knew his way about the forest better than she did. She felt like a frightened deer crashing through all the over growth; the autumn leaves crunching loudly beneath her aching, bare feet. She had lost her leather slippers in all the commotion and was sorely missing them.

Laeleth glanced around hurriedly for any sign of Gabriel, but she could no longer see his gold and scarlet robe. The woods were dreadfully dark and it was difficult to see more than a foot ahead of her.

Stopping only momentarily to catch her breath, she clutched onto the rough bark of a tree.
The late autumn air was crisp and chill. It burned her lungs as she breathed in sharply.
Laeleth was surprised that she had any energy left to even move.
Her muscles screamed in every inch of her body. She could not remember the last time she had had food or water, let alone any true sleep.

Her mind was racing with all the events — the revelations.

Where were they going? Were they being followed?

No sooner had this thought flashed before her mind than she felt a firm grip on her shoulder.

Laeleth panicked - instinctively thinking Zobek had caught up to her.
She stiffened in fear and dared not move. Her heart was pounding frightfully.

“You are falling too far behind,” a low voice was heard behind her.

It was only Gabriel, and as she realized this her body immediately relaxed.
“I am sorry. I cannot keep on like this,” she admitted with an exhausted expression.

There was a frightened look in her wide eyes and Gabriel instantly felt a slight stab of guilt.
It had been so long since he had cared - so many years.
So much bitterness and hate had hardened his heart over time.

“Laeleth, forgive me,” he said softly as he caressed her cheek briefly.
He looked remorseful, and she immediately forgot all that had troubled her.

His words were different - so simple, and yet so beautiful.

While it may not have seemed all that unusual to anyone else, she was astounded.
He was apologizing to her?
This was so unlike the angry and withdrawn vampire she had first met.

What was beginning to change in him?
What had made him care about how she felt?

He did not press her to continue any further and walked a few steps away.

Laeleth waited in breathless anticipation as she watched him shut his eyes. He seemed to be listening or perhaps thinking very intensely.
He stood as still as a statue, his chin raised slightly in the air. His long, layered hair was swept back by the wind as it drifted throughout the hushed forest.

Not a minute had passed before she heard hoof beats drawing near. She gasped in amazement at the sight that now met her eyes.

A coal black stallion with a thick, flowing mane was standing before them.
Incredibly tall, his frame was both powerfully muscular, yet lean. His nostrils were wide and his coat glistened with sweat as though he had just run a great distance very quickly.

He neighed loudly and stomped the ground triumphantly.
The horse had seemed to materialize from thin air, much like Gabriel had the habit of doing.

Gabriel reached out his taloned hand to the magnificent animal and stroked the muzzle gently.
The horse shook his head in a sort of greeting as he gazed at Gabriel with his black, liquid-like eyes.