Brighid of Gauwynn
Lord Hawke was not Brighid’s largest fan. Especially not after the previous evening’s investigation and definitely the morning after an intruder destroyed a large portion of her beloved fort. Brighid realized that even ruling out Virgil’s involvement , she and the lady of Fort Hawke would never be close, or cordial even. The lady had awoken from all the yelling and found a small squadron of her personal guard, Virgil, Brighid and Correl standing in the wreckage of the halls, covered in black blood. She was not amused, by far.
Virgil, being the saint he certainly must have been in a past life, soothed his lady’s fears and allowed Brighid and Correl the time and space to clean up after themselves and rest. Not that Brighid could sleep anyways, too many questions turning in her mind. And even though she could safely say that at least Virgil wasn’t involved (at least for the moment), she wasn’t entirely willing to talk with anyone about her newest discoveries. Well, except for perhaps Correl, but she was tired, and was sleeping. Brighid didn’t want to bother her just yet with this. One of them should be able to rest when they needed to.
After cleaning and recovering many of their belongings, Brighid and Correl were put into another room, a somewhat larger one, with no windows. Correl rested in the bed while Brighid slumped against the wall opposite to the door, keeping her usual watchful eye out. With Correl sleeping away peacefully, Brighid tentatively raised a hand to her neck. If she could teach Correl anything, it was that every swipe of the sword should have power and control. She had the former in droves , but the latter…
It wasn’t too deep a cut, and so long as she wore higher collars, she’d be fine. No one would even notice.
“…Did I hurt you?” Correl’s voice was muffled, and sounded incredibly strained. BRighid turned to face her for a moment, taking a few moments to adjust to the darkness of their room and realizing that the girl was still asleep. Must be the guilt talking… reasoned Brighid, and she considered not answering so as to not wake her, but whispered into the empty room, “No…no, I’m fine. But I definitely felt the power of those swings. Wonderfully done, my lady.”
For a moment there was nothing, then soft snoring. So either Correl had actually been awake slightly, or she was sleep-talking, either one was possible. She went back to stewing in her own mind after completely making sure Correl was asleep. What would they do now? They could continue their investigation as normal, but it… honestly it would make since that they were waiting for her at every place she was meant to go. Even though her eyes were already closed, Brighid squeezed them shut as tightly as possible. Fire and iron, it was fire and iron over and over and over again. Everywhere she went.
She wanted to go home.
Her mind was made up. Originally they were supposed to go towards Carneggan, near the seaside to meet and speak with Lord Pellican and the magician Dahlia, but that would have to wait. She wanted to go home, to Gauwynn. She needed to go back anyway and was putting if off at first to go and meet Correl and head towards Odessa, but she couldn’t put it off much more anyways. Especially not if they were going to be attacked again. She hissed, immediately turning to Correl to make sure she hadn’t woken up.
Of course there were multiple assassins, there were too many targets killed around the same time in vastly different places, where there simply wouldn’t have been anyway to get around to them in the time frames Brighid had been given. That and the scarring. That Duhlmor had been a brute, and relentless too, if the tiny nicks in the sides of her neck where he grabbed her where any indication. But he hadn’t killed Lady Tor of Caldune, and certainly not Sir Jericho, there was magic there, not just brute strength. Fire specifically. Brighid had been given the distinct displeasure of looking at the bodies.
The hair on her arms bristled, once again tensing up. She tried her usual technique, clenching and unclenching her fists, but it felt like no stress was being released. Which only served to make her more anxious. This wasn’t going away, no matter what she did. She wanted- no, needed to go home. Maybe she could afford to rest when she was there…
Her mind still raced, and she spent the better part of that night thinking of her mission, thinking of the monster that attacked them, thinking of going home… By the morning she looked right dead on her heels, having begun pacing back and forth across the floor of the room. Correl woke up by morning’s light (though it would have been very hard to tell in a room without windows) and looked at her, very confused.
“Did something happen while I was asleep?” She asked, earning a shake of the head from Brighid.
“I was just… thinking.” Brighid mused, stopping in her tracks, “Correl, we’re going to Gauwynn. Gather our things please.” She hopped out of bed and went straight to it, gathering their things together and carrying them on her shoulders. Brighid almost offered to help, but Correl gave her a look the moment she moved to carry something, Right Brighid thought, let her do her job, dumbass.
As any good host would, they went to inform the Lord Hawke of their leaving. They found Virgil outside the fort, who bid them goodbye and offered to give them supplies for their journey, but Brighid refused anything more than some food and provisions. She asked for the lord of the house and was informed that Lord Hawke was sleeping, “She has a long day ahead of her with the repairs to the fort, after all.” Virgil mused, laughter was obviously caught in his throat but he smoothed it out like the professional he was.
“As a sign of good faith, you should let Lord Hawke know that House Gauwynn is more than capable of assisting with the cost to fix Fort Hawke, this was our fault after all.” Brighid suggested. She could see structural damage from where that monster had scaled the wall, taking chunks out of brick and stone and tossing it to the ground. She tsk-tsked her tongue, and for the first time since entering Odessa was incredibly happy that the townspeople all seemed to disappear into their homes at night. Otherwise more people would have been hurt.
“We will take you up on your offer, Lord Brighid. Safe travels to you and to Sir Correl.” Virgil responded before returning to his own, equally important tasks.
They were reunited once again with Trillion, who Correl led as they left the vicinity of the Fort Hawke and made their way back into the main roads of Odessa. As thankful as Brighid had been about the sleepy town of Odessa at night, she remembered with a grunt that daytime Odessa was busier by far. And people were once again flooding the streets in droves. On instinct partly, and out of annoyance mostly, Brighid reached out and grabbed Correl’s hand tightly, leading their party through the busy streets.
She would smile and wave of course if people saw or recognized her, but she was not about to be stopped by dozens of people when she wanted to leave town. She was wearing a sterner face than usual as well, so most folks seemed to gather she meant business and stepped out of her way. Their party squeezed through several roads through town, and narrowly escaped the morning hustle and bustle of the morning square, but were finally rewarded with the shade of the large stone gates that marked the entry and exit to the front of Odessa. The crowds once again thinned around them and Brighid let out a light, jovial laugh.
“There we go!” She cried out happily, “Now it should be a week’s worth of travel west to Gauwynn. We should get started while the sun is high, Correl!”
Correl made a noise that sounded like high-squeaked approval, and Brighid led their group out of Odessa’s towering shadow. After a few hours on the main road, Brighid remembered that they could travel on Trillion’s back, well not the both of them, but Correl at least, and offered her squire the option.
“Yes, I suppose I can, but…can you let go of my hand first? Otherwise it’s just going to look…very odd.” Correl finally muttered after a stretch of silence. Brighid had actually completely forgotten she still had hold of it. “Oh yeah, right. Sorry.” Her ears burned, not in the usual way that her arms often did. Brighid helped Correl onto Trillion with almost no other words uttered.
Trying to break the uncomfortable settled silence, she did finally comment, “Have you ever ridden on horseback before meeting with me?”
At first Correl kept looking towards the road, then she turned to face Brighid, “No? It was never a requirement, and horses tend to spook me.”
“Oh. I didn’t know, I’m sorry.” Brighid could have eaten her tongue, she wanted to disappear.
“Well, Trillion is very different!” Correl quickly waved off the apology, “Very calm and gentle, I think the other pages at Caer Wren were spooking the horses before I got on them, personally. Or after I got on them… So, uh, this experience has been much better!” Correl, began to look at everything on the road that would not have been in Brighid’s direction, “…You must have trained him very well.”
“I must have…” Brighid sighed, before stuttering out, “I-I mean, yes. Trillion is very good. Just a wonderful horse, for all the time that I’ve k-known him.”
There were faster deaths, Brighid assured herself, shaking her head. Their pair fell into silence again, which only emphasized exactly how long the trip back to Gauwynn would be. Not that traveling to Carneggan would have been in any way faster. And at least they could enjoy the road for as long as the sun allowed them to travel.
“Are you alright?” Correl’s voice snapped Brighid out of her head before she could settle into her thoughts, she looked up at where her squire sat, the woman’s eyes bore into her own. It felt like a challenge to try and lie. Brighid was taken off guard, and for a moment happy that it was only midday. Correl’s eyes were suited to the dusk of day, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to lie or counter the question if she looked into them at that time. It had to be a power of hers.
“In honesty, I am perplexed. There’s a lot coming to light for my quest in the past few days, and it’s… it feels, darker. That assassin, had a motive that I cannot discern yet, and I worried I would lead us into a trap, so I’m going home. I feel like a coward.” That was a lot more than Brighid had meant to share on the open road. Maybe her fault was looking at Correl at all, when answering the question.
“You are not a coward, Lord Brighid.” Correl countered assuredly.
“I… I truly am, Correl.”
“You aren’t.” She said more forcefully than last time. “You were brilliant when we were attacked by that assassin, and had it not been for my lack of field experience it would have gone infinitely better.”
Brighid made sure she looked Correl straight in the eyes this time, “You were the one who managed to kill that… monster. I was merely good bait at the time, don’t try to sell short what you’ve managed to do. No matter how long you’ve been out in the world.”
Brighid watched Correl seemingly set her jaw and her eyes seemed to flare up as if expecting to draw this out, but instead she shook her head and watched the road in front of them again, “Fine. But I will say the same to you. You’ve done so much good, and finding a better strategy so you don’t run into a trap, is not being cowardly by the way, my lord.”
Brighid snorted, she hadn’t meant to laugh but she could see Correl trying not to argue and it was… the word she wanted to use was adorable. And the added “my lord” sent her over the edge. She allowed herself to stop a moment to laugh, almost doubling over. “I’m sorry Correl… and thank you. Again.”
Correl just nodded, practically their shared code for acknowledgement and acceptance.
“You’re can be very mean when you’re trying to be nice, you know. You look like you want to hit me.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Lord Brighid…. I’m not being nice.” Correl smirked, trying to keep laughter out of her own voice and keep the stubborn frown on her face in place, “I…I just want to hit you.” She burst into laughter shortly after, using Trillion’s neck as a rest. Brighid rolled her eyes, “Alright sure, sure.” She mused. The small moment of brevity carried the duo for another few hours, until the sun began to dip back below the land and drew all the colors down with it.
When they settled into camp, Brighid made bedrolls for them to use, but she simply sat on hers while Correl began to set her own up. Instead, she tended to the fire in front of her. “Are you going to forego sleep another night?” Correl asked, immediately causing Brighid to flinch and turn away. It was easier for her to answer her this way, “I could try, but… someone needs to keep watch, and I can’t ask that of you yet.”
Correl’s voice was abrupt, “This is why you feel like shit. You need to sleep more.” Brighid laughed out loud. “Are you my mother now Correl?” She responded, then stoked the fires again, “I don’t sleep well, haven’t for a long time. I don’t need to be preoccupied with night terrors.”
Correl grunted her disbelief, “No you don’t, but there are several ways to sleep soundly.” She had finished her bed roll and walked over to stand in front of Brighid, “You’re doing yourself a disservice, my Lord. Please, I can handle a watch, especially for a few hours.”
Brighid looked away again, “No, I won’t risk it, I would rather you get some sleep in.”
Correl huffed, like earlier her jaw was set stubbornly, “Do you really believe we’re going to be attacked again tonight? Because if you do, and if it’s something like that monster before, then we both need to be top form.”
Before Brighid could respond, Correl blocked her vision, stepping in her way. “Go to sleep, Lord Brighid. I won’t let you hurt yourself like this.”
Brighid hissed, backing up slightly, “You’re incredibly persistent about this issue.”
“You must not know how these knight and squire relationships are supposed to go.” Correl countered.
Brighid could feel the air becoming tense, and with a snort she got up from her bedroll, and began to fix it up, “Fine. Fine! Always so mean and nice all the time…” she muttered, ignoring the small smile that crept onto Correl’s face in light of her victory.
“I promise a few hours at most, then I’ll wake you and go to sleep.” Correl held up one hand as if swearing to God, the other resting on her chest. Brighid stuck out her tongue, before laying down, “You better.” She grumbled, and for a moment she just rested her eyes, trying to ignore the tension headache she was developing in fear of what she would dream, what she would see.
It was just for a few hours, then Correl would wake her up.
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