Neverquest – Part 159

"Can you help her?"

"Yes, of course. Lucilla will be fine."

"And the others?"

Aisha was silent as she continued to cleanse Lucilla's wounds with a damp cloth.

"Please, Sister Aisha. If there's something I can do..."

"Did you know them?"

"...No. Not personally."

"I did."

"What?"

Aisha lowered the cloth. "Their names are Kim and Isaac... I met them at the Abbey and traveled here with some of their friends."

"Oh, dear... Aisha, I'm so sorry."

"How did this happen, Cara?"

"It was that cursed Black Knight."

"You mean Roxanne?"

"Yes... Yes, I believe that is her name." Cara knelt down to be eye-level with the gentle Cleric. "Lady Lucilla did everything in her power to try to stop her, but the Black Knight is like something from a nightmare... I fear she could even be more powerful than Master Luna. And she doesn't show any remorse when she kills."

Aisha nodded. "Further proof that the Forsaken don't belong in our lands..."

"And Princess Isabella encourages her! She doesn't seem to understand the dangers of the Forsaken."

Fallon, who had been quietly leaning against the wall until now, decided to take this opportunity to join in the conversation.

"You mustn't be so quick to judge my lady," she said. "Isabella is young. She will make countless mistakes, but she will learn from them."

"She allowed two innocent people to be killed," Cara said, but it wasn't much of an argument. She knew one of those was a Man.

"One of whom fled from an open trial, where she was being prosecuted for the attempted assassination of a political figure, and then she violently resisted arrest in a public place," Fallon said. "Under our law, she was the one to put her life in danger—in addition to the life of that Man who was willing to fight alongside her."

"Are you blaming them for their own deaths, Fallon?"

"No, Cara, I am not."

"Then why do you allow Isabella to act the way she does!?" Cara stood up, feeling the blood rush to her head. "I never could understand you, Fallon. You're the only person in this kingdom Isabella will listen to, but you refuse to talk common sense with her. If I didn't know any better—and if you weren't such a good person inside—I might be led to think you support her antics. Maybe because you know you're safe from them. Maybe because you know she won't touch you!"

Fallon was silent.

Cara was silent too, but only for a moment.

"...I'm sorry, Fallon," she said. "That was too much."

"Don't ever apologize for feeling the need to speak your mind. It's a good change of character, Lady Cara...and it suits you."

"I just can't believe they're dead." Cara looked down at her feet. "And I find it even harder to believe that a Man would die for a Woman."

"Well, I don't think you're alone in that," Fallon said.

And she wasn't. The nosy peasants who had witnessed the fight from a distance were now crowded around the slain bodies, staring at each other in bewilderment and awe. Had a Man just thrown his life away in a useless attempt to save a Woman? Were the two of them really in love? Was this Ellewyn or a dream?

"...Perhaps people are finally ready to change," Cara said hopefully.

"Have you ever seen a stupider Man?" one of the Women asked. "This one was so dumb that he didn't even realize he was helping a Woman." The others laughed in chorus and a couple little girls—no older than children—spit on the fallen bodies. That only brought more laughter.

"What is wrong with you people!?" Cara cried. She drew her sword and pushed through the mob, shooing them away. But as they began to scatter, a few of them stepped—quite purposely—on Kim and Isaac.

By the time they were all gone, Kim was covered in dirt and shoeprints...and Isaac was little more than a black smear on the ground.

"...I don't think people will ever change," Aisha said, returning to Lucilla's wounds. "We're taught from birth that Men are filth and I doubt it takes them long to conclude the same thing about us."

"What made you think differently?" Fallon asked.

"About Men?"

"Yes. A Woman who supports the rights of Men is a rare thing, indeed... But a Woman who is also a devote servant of Dai Celesta? You're a strange sight to behold, Sister Aisha."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing..."

"I'm just curious how a patron of Dai Celesta, who professes that Men are little more than carriers of poison and disease, can take a liking to such an accursed race of people."

"Men are not accursed! I've met a lot of really nice Men who could be even greater people if they were given the chance."

"Well, how do the Apostles feel about your attitude towards Men?"

"...They don't approve. You know that."

"Then why do it?"

Aisha was stunned at first. "Well...because I like helping people."

"But you don't have to be a Cleric to help anybody."

"It's all I know how to do."

"I see..."

Aisha continued tending to Lucilla's wounds, but she could feel Fallon's eyes on her back and it made her uncomfortable.

"What about you, Fallon?" she asked, if only to ease the tension. "With your time and training under the Royal Queen, you can't possibly agree with all of Princess Isabella's ideologies. How are you able to look at your superiors and tell them that they're wrong?"

"You make me sound so old, Sister Aisha. You forget that Isabella and I grew up together."

"But you've always come across as so much more...mature. Sometimes I think you're more of a mother to her than the Royal Queen."

Fallon smiled, but there was a faint hint of sadness behind those lips. "...Isabella is a handful, I know. She treats human beings like she used to treat her dolls."

"How do you put up with her?"

"...Well, Sister Aisha, I suppose it's the same way you're able to heal your enemies as well as your friends in the battlefield. As a Cleric, you have to look past those subtle differences and realize we're all in need of the same care in this world." She removed the flapping red ribbons from her hair and held them like a precious dove in her hands. "After all, my friend...until we learn to care for each other, we're just animals searching for our next meal."

Aisha nodded. That was the sad truth of this world.

"Take these."

"What? Your ribbons?"

"To remember me by."

Aisha stared up at her. "Are you going somewhere, Fallon?"

"No." Fallon put the ribbons in Aisha's hands and closed her fingers around them. "I just want you to have them."

"Okay... Thank you, Fallon." Aisha drew her arm back. "Um, would...would you like my sash to remember me by?"

"You can keep your sash, Sister Aisha. I have many more ribbons at my room in the castle."

"Okay..." Aisha smiled. She tightened her fingers. "I will take good care of these. They are beautiful."

"...So are you, Sister Aisha."

With that, Fallon turned her back and walked away. Her rapier jangled against her thigh and her long brown hair flowed freely in the wind.

Aisha watched her, holding the ribbons in her fist, and tried to make sense of it all.

Did Fallon just call her beautiful?

Meanwhile, Cara had secured a perimeter around the bodies of Kim and Isaac.

"I'll see to it that you are both properly buried," she promised them. "If I was stronger, maybe I could've saved you..." She laid a cloth over their bodies. Then, realizing the cloth covered Isaac entirely, she picked the little guy up and placed him gently on Kim's chest, where she hoped he could rest in peace. "...I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"...Miss?"

Cara reached for her sword. "Get back, citizen! This is a crime scene." But she stopped when she realized it was a Man—not another Woman who had come to gloat at the slain lovers—looking up at her. "Oh... Hello there."

"...Miss, my name is Mundo. I'm Isaac's friend..." He stepped closer. "Is he really...?"

He didn't have to finish his sentence. Cara's face told him everything.

"...I'm sorry," she whispered. "I couldn't...do anything."

Mundo sank to the ground. "...What the fuck is going on here...?"

"...It's not safe for you to be here. You should go."

"Go?" Mundo laughed, but it was cold and he was mostly talking to himself. "I have nowhere to go. I'm stuck in this world and my best friend is dead. Why don't you just kill me now?"

"I'm sorry."

"I said, 'Why don't you kill me now?'!"

"No..." Cara shook her head. "I mean, I'm sorry. Your friend didn't deserve to die by that monster."

"Roxanne's a bitch. I told him he couldn't take her." Mundo cursed under his breath. "Dammit, Isaac, why didn't you listen?"

"I wish I could do something..."

"You want to help me?" Mundo laughed again. "Why don't you take your boot and crush my head into the ground?"

"Um... That's a strange request."

"Just pop me like a grape. Go on—do it!"

Cara blinked.

"Are you going to help me or not!?"

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said.

"Then I'll find someone who will." Mundo stood up. "I'm sure that won't take long."

"Wait!" Cara planted her foot in front of him.

Mundo smacked right into the iron casing. "Dammit... You were so close."

"I'm not going to let you kill yourself."

"Well, isn't that great? I'm so glad I have the same kind of protection as Isaac did."

Cara's eyes began to swell.

"I don't mean to take it out on you. You didn't do anything."

"I KNOW I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Cara screamed and the whole town seemed to be gawking at her. "Goddess, I'm sorry... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I wanted to help. I'm not fit to be a Paladin. I'm not fit to wear these boots or these armguards or this breastplate or this sword or anything!" With each item she said, she began hurling her gear to the ground, until she was standing there in only pantaloons and an undershirt.

"...Whoa, hang on now," Mundo said. "You're making me want to stay alive."

"I'll never be like Lady Lucilla. I'm weak and I'm afraid of my own shadow. How did I ever expect to be a Paladin!?"

"Calm down, Woman! People are staring."

"Let them stare! They know me." She twirled around. "You all know me! Two good people are dead and it's all my fault."

"We don't care!" one of the peasants shouted.

"Yeah!" bellowed another one from her window. "One of them was a Man, so shut up!"

"Men are humans, too!" Cara cried.

Laughter erupted from the marketplace.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" Cara spun around again, but there were faces mocking her from every direction. Their mouths were twisted and their eyes were changing in size all the time, like puppets or goblins. "You...you're all ignorant little pigs!"

"Captain?"

"What!?"

"Captain..." an armored knight said, picking up Cara's sword. She studied Cara's face for a moment before she spoke again. "...We've been ordered to arrest Lady Lucilla for treason. As our second-in-command, we've been placed in your charge." With a bob of her head, she surrendered the sword to Cara.

Cara stared at the blade and then pointed it at the soldier. "Then I order you to release Lucilla."

"I'm sorry, Captain. These orders come straight from Queen Isabella."

Cara watched helplessly as Lucilla's body was taken away from Aisha and dragged unceremoniously down the street, in front of the still-laughing crowd of peasants.

"I hate each and every one of you," Cara thought to herself, but it made her feel sick inside. She wasn't a bad person. They were just evil. Were they all like this?

Had this town always been so cold?

"...I will be strong," she said, clutching the sword's handle. "For you, Lady Lucilla... I swear I will be."

Looking up at her, Mundo suddenly realized she wasn't at all like the other girls in this world.

"You're not at all like the other girls in this world," Mundo said.

"What?"

"Look..." he said. "I won't try to kill myself if you won't blame yourself for their deaths."

"But I—"

"I wanted to stop them, too...but I couldn't hold Isaac back." Mundo glanced at the bodies under the cloth. "But let's be honest. It's not our fault they're dead. It's not even their fault for being so careless and stupid... It's Roxanne who killed them. This time, the bitch is to blame."

Cara bit her lower lip. "Yes... The Black Knight... Lucilla sensed the darkness in her from the beginning."

"It's not like she tries to hide it."

"But what can we do?"

"'We'?" Mundo chuckled. "You make it sound like you actually care about my people."

Kneeling down, Cara laid her blade atop the rest of her armor and let her hair down. "...I've been led to believe that Men are the true enemies of Dai Celesta, but it's the Forsaken that I fear. They frighten me in so many ways. But..." Her large brown eyes zeroed in on Mundo. "You Men have always found ways to make me smile... I don't understand how anybody could be frightened by you. You're adorable. You couldn't even hurt a fly."

"Oh, thanks. That makes me feel a lot better."

"I mean it," Cara said. Then she opened her palm. "Please, let me help you out of here. I can take you wherever you want to go."

"Can you take me home?"

"Just show me the way."

"Something's wrong," Lord Dartemus said.

Frankie glanced up from where he was hugging his knees into his chest. "What do you mean? They only left a couple of hours ago."

"I can sense it, boy." He moved away from the grate. "They're in trouble."

"Um...okay."

"I knew I shouldn't have let them go alone."

"They'll be back. I promise."

Dartemus scrubbed his face with his hands and laughed. "Yeah... Yeah, okay, boy."

"The little one is right," Grandpa said. "Have faith, my troubled lord. We will see our friends again... Sooner than you may think."

"What makes you so sure?" Dartemus asked. "Are you a prophet now, too?"

Grandpa raised his pipe and smiled—a sly sort of smile—between the wrinkles of his gray beard.

Suddenly, a shadow washed over Dartemus. He spun around, but it was too late. They had been found! Ten large fingers—snakelike digits of one of those vixens—had seized the bars of the grate and ripped it from its bindings. Like a behemoth, she tossed it carelessly aside and her horrible visage filled his sight.

"Demon!" he screamed, grabbing Frankie and pushing him into Grandpa's lap. "Take the boy and run, old man!"

"Whoa, hold on!" someone cried out.

Dartemus slowly looked up, only to see Mundo—riding on the monster's shoulder.

"Vile fiend!" Dartemus bellowed, grabbing one of the vixen's fingers. "I will grind your fingernail to the bone if you don't let the poor Man go!"

"Dude, stop it!" Mundo said. "She's on our side."

The monster waved hello.

"Hi... Um... ...I'm Cara."

Dartemus' eyes went cold. "...What are your intentions, Woman?"

"I'm sorry. I...didn't mean to scare you."

"We weren't scared of you, Woman!"

"You looked scared."

"Maybe we're just scary. Maybe you're the one afraid of us."

"Um... I'm not sure that even makes sense..."

"Maybe it doesn't," Dartemus said, releasing her finger. "Or maybe that's just what we want you to think."

"What...?"

"That's right. I'm too clever to fall for your Womanly tricks."

Cara tilted her head and blinked.

"Ignore him," Mundo said, sliding down Cara's arm. "Everybody, gather your things. We're leaving tonight."

"Wait a second," Dartemus said. "You're not commander of this army."

Mundo broke away from his grasp. "No, I'm not. You and your 'Bucket Brigade' can do whatever you please. I'm taking Frankie and the old geezer and we're getting out of here."

"What about me?" Quentin asked. "We came together. We're a team!"

"...Yeah, you can stay."

"Oh..." Quentin twiddled his thumbs. "...Do you want something to remember me by?"

"Stop talking." Mundo stopped in front of Frankie and helped the boy to his feet. "This is going to be hard for you to understand, but I need to take you away from this place."

"But what about Siarra?" Frankie asked. "Where is my sister...?"

"I don't know."

"You said you were going to—"

"I know what I said. Forget it, kid."

"What's going on?" Grandpa asked.

"It's not important."

"If it involves taking me and my grandson away from our new companions, I believe it is."

Mundo sank his teeth into his fist and looked at Cara. "...Isaac is dead. So is Kim."

There was silence for a moment.

"....Where is my sister...?" Frankie asked again.

"...I'm sorry, kid. I don't know if she's still alive."

Frankie's eyes began to swell. "W-what...?"

"Roxanne has become too powerful. We're dead if we stay here."

"Noo..." Frankie stumbled back until his spine hit the wall. "Sis, I..."

Grandpa caught him before he fell to the ground.

All Mundo could do was watch.

"...We need to go," he said. "Lord Dartemus, you and your army are welcome to join us."

"You forget," Dartemus said. "Without your Woman friends, we won't make it out of this city, let alone to Penee."

"We have what we need."

"If I heard you correctly, what we need is dead."

"I said we have what we need!"

It was then that Dartemus noticed Mundo was referring to the monster still lingering about. She was sitting in front of the open grate, hands behind her back, smiling timidly at them.

"...No."

"I want to help," she said.

"Help yourself to breakfast, lunch, and dinner!"

"Sorry?"

"Which one of us were you planning to eat first?" Dartemus seized a numb Frankie's arm. "The little one? Thinking about having him for an appetizer, huh?"

"I'm a vegetarian..."

"A WHAT!?"

"I don't eat meat."

"HAHAHAHA!" Dartemus threw back his head and the tunnels of the sewers boomed with his insane laughter. "A Woman who doesn't eat meat! What do you take me for—a fool!?"

"No... But you are rude..."

"Oh, excuuuuse me..." Dartemus moved closer. "Maybe I should try to be more polite. I wouldn't want you to get the wrong opinion of me. Oh, no, we wouldn't want CARA to be upset. CARA doesn't eat meat. CARA is a nice girl."

"Yes..."

"And I'm sure CARA wouldn't take a great big bite out of my arm if I put it out for her!"

To prove his point, he stretched out his arm and pretended to look away...even though he was watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Cara stared at him.

"Yeah, that CARA..." Dartemus said, edging closer. "We can really trust her! She won't eat us all when our backs are turned."

Before long, he was starting up her arm. It wasn't until his hand was pressed up against her face and nudging her a few times that she spoke up.

"I don't want—"

"HA!" Dartemus screamed, retracting his arm. "You just tried to bite me!"

"I was just opening my mouth to speak..."

"I know how you Women operate. For every ten words that come out of your mouth, one Man goes in!" Dartemus turned around. "Cover your ears, Men! If she speaks anymore, she'll consume us all!"

Cara sighed. "...Don't you know who I am?"

"I know who you claim to be—CARA, the nice girl who doesn't eat meat."

"I work under Lady Lucilla...or used to..." Cara lowered her eyes. "I know all about you, Lord Dartemus."

Dartemus gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and glared at Mundo with all the rage of a madman. "...You brought...a Paladin...to our super secret hiding place? What were you thinking, man?"

"Secret hiding place...?" Cara asked. "You're in the sewers..."

"A bit premature for you—CARA? You want to chew us up and digest us before we wind up here?"

"...That's disgusting."

"They're your thoughts! Behind all that fluffy hair—I know how you Women rationalize your actions!"

"I wish I knew how you rationalized anything."

"It isn't easy."

"...I'm not sure how to respond to that."

"Uh-huh..." Dartemus scratched his chin and did a walk across Cara, from one shoulder to the other. "So, Cara, the nice girl... How does a scrawny thing like you become a student in the Paladin academy?"

"I wanted to protect people. You don't need to be strong to do that."

"Oh, sure, sure..." Dartemus pinched her arm. "Still, you have some muscle hidden under all that skin, don't you?"

"Um, I guess..."

"It'd be hard to get muscle like that without some protein in your diet."

"I train hard."

Dartemus bobbed his head up and down.

"Interesting..." he said. "So, tell me.... Do you kill your prey before you consume them?"

"No!"

"A-HA!" Dartemus cried. "So you admit it! You admit to eating Men!"

"What? No!"

Dartemus raised his hands. "Let it be known on this day that Cara, the 'nice' girl, does, in fact, eat meat—and it's OUR meat she enjoys!"

"This is ridiculous," Cara said. "I don't know what the princess did to make you distrust Women so much, but I have no desire to eat, crush, or otherwise harm you in any way."

Dartemus raised his eyebrows. "I never said anything about crushing..."

"Believe it or not, not every Woman around here wants the same thing."

"...Then what is it that you want, Cara, the nice girl?"

Cara cupped her hands around Dartemus and gently placed him on the ground next to Mundo. "I want to help. I wasn't lying. You need someone like me to make this all better..."

Dartemus looked around. Mundo was inches away from the wall, staring at the solid stone and trying to forget Isaac and the vicious slaughtering he had seen. Frankie was crying into Grandpa's robe, and Grandpa was trying to comfort him. Both Cid and Quentin were quiet, but they nodded when Dartemus' eyes met theirs. The other members of the Bucket Brigade seemed to agree.

"...It won't be easy to trust you," Dartemus said.

"I know," Cara said softly. "But I'm in a position now where I can do something to help you."

"What do you mean?"

"I have recently been appointed to captain of the Paladins. I will find an assignment that gets me out of this kingdom. I will volunteer to do any task, or I will take leave for two weeks. But I swear, I will find a way to get to Penee—and I will take you all with me." She bit her lip and dug her fingernails into her palm, trying not to reveal the emotions that were bubbling inside her mind. "I promise you will be safe... I will do what's right. I will protect the innocent, this time and forever more."