Loosely scattered notes [4]

Julianne remembered nothing in the very first moments when she woke up. It was an experience that, in spite of her memory failing her, caused her stomach to drop in that most familiar way, an ache overtaking her entire body in fear and frustration as she quickly sat up to assess the situation she found herself in. Julianne was carefully laid upon a bed dressed in warm, white sheets, and it was when she sat up she noticed that her head was wrapped in a similarly ghostly-white bandage which squeezed almost uncomfortably around her head, her raven hair made to fall patchily over the wrapping. The room itself was immaculately clean, with not much furniture outside of her bed, a desk and chair, a small fireplace, and a tall cabinet in the distant corner. Dressed in a white robe, Julianne grunted as she forced herself to leave the bed before falling forwards with a slamming noise to the wooden floor, looking back to notice her leg tightly-bound in what seemed to be a cast; she wouldn’t know, with the most medical knowledge she ever had being delivered from her mother during her childhood in a poor town without a resident healer or doctor.

Julianne grit her teeth as she heard hurried steps outside of the door which presumably led out of her newfound prison cell. Unsure if it was fair to interpret the room as such just yet, she nevertheless struggled to find some way to hide before the door opened to reveal not a kidnapper, nor a madman. Instead, it was a woman, about her age, wearing black and purple robes denoting her position as a nun. Unlike nuns in Julianne’s homeland, however, this blonde woman’s hair flowed freely, unconcealed by a cap. Julianne wondered then just how far she truly was from home.

“You’re… awake!” The woman’s voice trembled with what seemed to be excitement. “Oh, I dreaded that you would never come around… I told everyone else, “Give her a chance,” but… my faith was waning, if I’m being honest.” She laughed a bit. “You’re… probably confused, aren’t you?”

She had hit the nail on the head; Julianne WAS confused, baffled, even. “W-Where…”

The nun shook her head worriedly as Julianne began to stand to her feet slowly, avoiding putting weight on her hurt leg. Moving quickly, the nun guided Julianne to instead sit down, and the woman for some reason did as she was indicated.

“You are in the Cathedral of Her Grace the Maiden. Do you remember anything? I found you, out on the road. Your horse’s leg was broken, and you had fallen and struck your head on a rock.” The nun felt at Julianne’s forehead, and the woman pulled back quickly, affronted by the contact. “It was a terrible storm that night, and a bolt of lightning struck a tree nearby, it must have given the beast a terrible fright… enough to toss you away before collapsing, at least.” The woman frowned in remorse. “We had to put the poor beast out of its misery, but I wouldn’t let them do the same to you. It took help from one of my sisters to help me carry you in all of that armour, my lady!” She giggled a bit, her sweet laugh echoing in the barely-furnished room.

Julianne’s memory returned to her, hazily, as the nun spoke. She remembered her knighthood, her vows and her duty… and her vital mission in the name of her lord, Absolon LaChapelle. Even then, she remembered his words to her as she knelt before him on the verge of the battle that day.

“Lady St Claire… retreat back to Marciennes. Return to me with an army, and this war shall be won in three weeks’ time.”

If Julianne couldn’t return with reinforcements, and return with them soon, then her lord’s safety, and the security of his entire family, was at stake. With a grim expression spreading upon her face, she lifted her pale blue gaze to her well-intentioned captor with a dark determination.

The nun, in spite of the glare, spoke cheerily. “My name is Violetta. But, if you like, you may call me Violet…”

“I have to go,” Julianne interrupted, willing herself to stand from the bed with a grunt of exertion which caused Violetta to shake her head chidingly, pulling on Julianne’s arm to bring her back down to sit.

“You’re not going anywhere. Look at yourself. Your head was bashed in, your leg is still hurt, and you surely won’t be able to ride a horse. At least stay for one day until you can prove you’re better. Can you grant me that?” Violetta spoke with sincerity which Julianne failed to find some insidious intention behind. The knightness sighed in relent, nodding her head in frustration.

“One day,” she demanded. “But then, I leave as soon as possible.”

“One day,” Violetta repeated playfully. “Now, let’s start slowly and have you prove to me you can dress yourself at the least. Your clothes are here in the cabinet, alongside your armour and your sword— it’s a beautiful weapon, may I say.” She pursed her lips in thought. “The markings upon the blade, they—“

“The blade is demon-warded. Regular steel and silver does not harm the things, so necessary blessings are required.” Julianne explained it flatly, standing again this time unhalted as she limped her short way over to the cabinet, opening it to find her clothes folded and clean within. “Demons aren’t my typical foes. But… ever since the eclipse…” Julianne trailed off, sure that Violetta understood her implication. Eclipses always heralded one thing: the rise of demons from their abhorrent realm, to possess dead bodies and dying men to attack humankind.

“Well, nevertheless, I am happy to have a demon-slayer here, now. My sisters have departed on a mission, and I stayed behind to watch the cathedral, and ensure your health.” Violetta smiled, standing up and walking to the door. “I’ll grant you privacy, my lady.” She shut the door with a quiet click behind herself, and Julianne took her time in dressing properly in shirt and trousers rather than light robes.

Julianne’s emergence from the chamber was met with an approving smile from Violetta, who was waiting outside and sat upon a chair which looked upon the small interior courtyard next to Julianne’s room. The knightess regarded the woman curiously. “You… sat here the whole time?”

Violetta winked a green eye slyly. “I was protecting you.” Her cheery nature wholly uncontested by Julianne’s dour behaviour, the nun stood and slipped an arm into the knightess’, walking alongside her as the chilly autumn air blew through the passageway leading to the proper interior of the cathedral.

Julianne, for the moment, was trapped. It was the worst feeling she had experienced since her first brutal experience in true combat; though instead of a blade at her neck, there was now a nun at her arm. She couldn’t contest Violetta’s assertion, and it was true that she needed her rest before she could safely continue on to Marciennes. The gloomy woman silently prayed for salvation from her saviour.

“Here we are…” Violetta muttered, opening a door leading into the grand main hall of the cathedral proper. It was ornate and beautiful, even for such a small place of worship in comparison to the grand cathedrals of places like Naphos and Marciennes. No matter where it was, it seemed, a house for the gods was always well-provided for.

“As I said, I’m the only sister here for a few days. After all, there—“

“There must always be a lady of the maiden in the cathedral,” Julianne finished with exasperation. She glanced at Violetta with a shrug. “My sibling joined the clergy, while I joined the knighthood. Seemed fitting, you know?” She weakly smiled, even if only as a gesture rather than out of genuine amusement or joy.

“Oh! Well, I am sure they are truly blessed, my lady.” Violetta sighed, a gloomy look not appropriate for the kind woman’s countenance upon her face. “May I ask, my lady… W-Who are you, really? We found that sigil upon your armour. Two swallows on either side of a holy star.” Violetta’s description indeed matched the mark of the LaChapelle family, and so Julianne huffed, separating herself from the nun and making a stiff courtly bow which failed to deliver upon the necessary flourish. “My name is Julianne St Claire. I am a knightess in the service of his lordship Absolon LaChapelle, Lord of Marciennes and Avraan.” With a sigh, the woman followed up her introduction by slumping down into a pew, where Violetta quickly followed, sitting politely next to her.