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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 4-1, En Passant

Evelyn's departure from Graddin Castle was no less hectic than when she had been taken from her father's home, but there were some very frightening differences as well. The young Ermine woman had never been out of Graddin... or even out on the road, for that matter. Her father had kept her sequestered away from the world and then, when she had been taken from him over a debt, she was kept in a cell... until the creditor discovered that she was with child. From there... Evelyn shuddered, wishing not to remember any of it.

The men of the Church had been rightfully disgusted when they discovered her child's origin. She was uncertain as to what would become of her when the Inquisitor and his men took her from her cell. They had paid the creditor's fee and brought her to the castle, and still she realized that her life was in their hands. There, she was left alone, visited only to be fed and watered... but in the strange, surreal comfort of a princess. It wasn't until after her child was born, in fact, that her seeming exile from company came to an end... but that made things only that much more stressful.

The young woman's first meeting with anyone other than a servant was the very Inquisitor that had taken her from the creditor's grasp. She was brought to a small room, scarcely the size of the cell where she had been held... the Dragon entered without pomp or announcement and she was afraid of him the moment he sat opposite her at the small table. The Dragon's wings were covered by a long, black cloak, but she saw that they wrapped around his shoulders beneath the covering, practically a cape themselves.

He sat looking at her for nearly a minute, his topaz eyes glimmering from beneath his hood, until he withdrew the cloth from his head, revealing scales as black as obsidian. The dragon's scales were somehow darker than the raven-colored robe he wore... and when he spoke, it was as if he were a predator addressing its prey, "I am Inquisitor Pyre... and you.... are Miss Evelyn Vinson..." he quirked a single, thick black eye ridge, "...correct?"

Back then, she knew almost nothing about how to speak to an Inquisitor, "Y-yes... sir."

"Excellency." The single word reply left no doubt as to the fact that he was correcting her, and she was quick to learn.

"Yes, your... your Excellency."

His expression suddenly and inexplicably softened, "Do you fear me, child?"

It was not hard for her to speak the truth, "Yes, your Excellency."

Inquisitor Pyre held out a talon to her, and, despite pulling back with a start, once she realized what he wanted she immediately and obediently placed her paw in his palm. The Dragon closed his digits gently around her fingers, "As it says in the Book of Salvation, Chapter 4, Verse 3, 'Let the righteous stand before my angels in joy, and the wrongful flee before their light.' Are you wrongful... Miss Vinson?"

She hesitated, his gentle grip on her paw scaring her more fully than when she used to see her father walk into the cottage drunk... but, at least with her father, she knew what to expect, "I... I don't know... your Excellency."

He smiled at her response, and gently returned her paw to the table before withdrawing his talon from it, "Do you know what an Inquisitor is, Miss Vinson?"

The small Ermine woman shook her head, "No... your Excellency."

The Dragon watched her, rotating his head to look at her from one eye, and then the other before he responded, his voice making her shiver as it rumbled, "We are God's angels."

Evelyn was pulled from her thoughts, jumping in surprise at she awoke from the memory replayed as a dream. "Are you alright, Miss?" her traveling companion inquired, features visible thanks to the single candle lamp within the darkened steam carriage.

She couldn't bring herself to answer the Templar's question, and instead asked one of her own as she looked out the window at the night time scenery, "Sir Umberto... where is Theo?"

The Wolverine, who had been nothing but courteous and kind to her during their almost two days of journeying, remained precisely that as he abandoned his own question to answer hers, "He is asleep in the mid-cab, Miss Evelyn... the ride is smoother there."

It was Evelyn's first time riding in a steam carriage... a large, three-compartment wagon that was fueled by steam rather than draft animals. The portion where she sat with the Wolverine had been identified to her as the passenger cab; according to Sir Umberto, her son was asleep in the cargo bay, the compartment between where she sat and where the driver controlled the carriage in what was called the conductor's cab. She could feel the Templar's eyes on her, and so she fought to come up with something to say, "Why is he doing this?"

The Wolverine shifted where he sat on the opposite bench, "Doing what, Miss Evelyn?"

"Why did the King send--"

"Prince Reagent."

The correction was kind, but insistent. The Ermine woman fidgeted, "Why did the Prince Reagent choose to send us to his sister? I thought they were... at odds."

The Templar's response was straight forward, but lacked the fervor of a thoughtless follower... he spoke with conviction, "Prince Reagent Thaddius' orders are to be obeyed, Miss Evelyn... not questioned."

He wasn't a difficult man to deal with, by any means, but sometimes it frustrated her how completely Umberto was devoted to... everything. "Can you... guess?"

The Wolverine adjusted one of his pauldrons; it was the closest she had seen him come to anything resembling a shrug, "It is not my place to guess or to assume, Miss Ev--"

"Please..." she pressed, reaching out to take hold of his paw, "Everything's changing, and I have to understand what I did wrong."

His response was immediate, head snapping in her direction with an expression of concern on his muzzle, "Wrong? No, Miss Evelyn... you did nothing wrong."

"Why did the kin-- Prince Reagent send me away?"

Sir Umberto looked as though he wanted to provide another non-comital answer but, after saying nothing for a few seconds, his expression softened further, "The Prince Reagent is concerned for your safety, Miss Evelyn... you are one of his subjects and one of his servants... he told me that you are not to come to harm, and so he is sending you somewhere you will be safe."

She remembered a similar statement told to her by Inquisitor Pyre when she was first put to work in the castle... but at least she had still been in Graddin, "But... but Newport is so far away from home."

The Wolverine slowly toyed with the hilt of the enormous two-handed sword resting against his bench, "You are safe; your son is safe; as long as that stays true then what will stop you from making anywhere home?"

The Templar's blunt assessment of the situation caused the realization of her own thoughts to sting all the more. Why DID she consider Graddin home? The answer disgusted and repulsed her, but it escaped her lips nevertheless, "...my father..."

Sir Umberto's response was somewhere between a wince and a snort; Evelyn realized that there were very few people in the castle that didn't know of her past, and it embarrassed her to no end. He opened his muzzle to say something when he saw her tears, but shut it audibly, and gazed out the window as he released a breath through his nose with a faint growl. He took one more steady breath, and his next words were mellow and calm, "We will stop soon so you may attend your son, Miss Evelyn."

A long silence followed as they each stared out their respective windows. A number of thoughts fought one another in the Ermine woman's head but none of them resolved themselves without creating twice as many. In the end, she covered her face in her paws, trying to steady her breath and keep from crying... she had been crying a lot lately. The self-loathing came to an end about the same time the carriage slowed and she asked the obvious question, "Are we stopping?"

The Wolverine pulled his sword closer, "Yes... but prematurely."

Her eyes glanced to the weapon, "...is that necessary?"

Sir Umberto looked her way, "It's too early to say, Miss Evelyn... but we are outside the capital, so it is wise to be ready... just in case."

The carriage came to a stop, and a shout from outside answered the Ermine woman's question for her, "Thank's fer stopping... We'll make this easy so no one has ta get hurt."

The Wolverine looked to her, expression severe, "Stay here... do NOT leave the carriage." and, with that said, he exited, closing the door behind himself; Evelyn didn't miss the fact that the Templar took his sword with him.

Despite having lived her whole life in a house, a cell, or a castle, the Ermine woman was not so naive as to miss the fact that there was trouble. There were two small wooden doors that separated her cabin from the compartment where her son was sleeping, and she moved like lightning pushing the bench cushions aside. When the sound of metal-on-metal signaled an escalation of violence, she climbed into the small void between supplies and a collection of blankets.

"...mama?" a soft, small, tired voice murmured.

She quickly took hold of the boy and held him close as metal struck metal again, "Yea... it's me, sweety... shhh... go back to sleep."

The little kit fidgeted in her grasp, "Is that..." he yawned, "... a dinner bell?"

She swallowed a whimper, staying strong lest her son grow afraid and cry, "No, my heart... but we'll eat soon... shush... right now we're going to sleep a little more."

Theo continued fidgeting, "I'm hungry NOW."

Evelyn did the only thing she could think of that would gain the little boy's obedience, "You know... your uncle always told me that I would grow wide instead of up if I ate when it wasn't time to eat."

The kit's eyes glimmered in interest when he looked up at her in the darkness, "Uncle Theo?"

She smiled, hiding her fear behind a smile, "That's right... Uncle Theo."

The little boy cocked his head to the side, ears up, "Are you crying, mama?"

She sniffled, "No, sugar ball... I--" and she barely suppressed a scream when the carriage door opened.

"Miss Evelyn?" Sir Umberto called.

She quickly untangled herself from her son, "Wait here, Theo." and she climbed back into the cabin, recoiling when she saw the Wolverine's flawlessly clean presentation marred horribly by blood... some of it obviously his, "You're hurt!"

The Templar nodded, "And you are not... so I was successful in my duties."

The Ermine woman scrambled out of the cab, grabbing a bolt of silk with the intent of turning it into bandages, but she came to a halt the moment she saw the bodies, unmoving and bleeding within the illumination of the outside lanterns on the carriage, "They're... dead?"

The Templar focused on her, leaning against the carriage as he bled. Her attention was drawn back to the Wolverine, who took a steadying breath, still bleeding, "They would have killed me... and done worse to you, my Lady." She wasn't sure whether the title was more to placate her or to reaffirm his position as her guardian, but she didn't bother asking for clarification-- besides, she was more focused on what he had said before that; she knew there were plenty of fates worse than death.

The Ermine woman jumped in surprise as a voice spoke up from the side, "Ah, my friend... NOW I see why you fought so valiantly."

The accent was foreign, that much Evelyn knew for certain. Turning, she watched a relatively tall, thin human step into the light. He wore clothing that was indeed not from Lehsunia; it wasn't of noble quality but it was certainly a far cry from the garb of a commoner. His long, wavy, dark hair in conjunction with his closely trimmed goatee framed his steely-gray eyes, which remained focused directly on the Ermine. He took a step closer, sheathing his two swords but Sir Umberto interposed himself and the Wolverine's statement was direct and to the point, "You have no business with Miss Evelyn."

"And after I came to your aid... and her rescue?" The human flashed a winning smile at the Ermine woman before speaking up, "Miss Evelyn, is it?" he glanced to the Templar, "You are quite mistaken, my fine friend... the ravishing creature behind you is too gorgeous to be kept from sight... I would dare say that every man should have business with-- ah..." his words slowly faltered, "no... wait... that is FAR from what I had meant... to-- dash it all... please... allow me to try again!" He cleared his throat and bowed to her, "Sandoval DeLaRocha... at your service."