An outpost of the Church of the Twins
At the fringes of...
Windy Fir Woodlands
.......
Lovell stood by the lady in red who for some unknown reason had a faint smile on her face as she peered down at the three individuals bound and blindfolded on their knees at her feet.
She had been with her master, learning and growing under her tutelage now for nearly over a year ever since she lost her family and everything she ever had to her name.
Lovell had once been the young lady of a high noble family in the kingdom of Tequila blissfully living her life as a young miss under the protection of her powerful parents without a care in the world...
Well, that was until one tragic day her parents were accused of treason against the royal family of Tequila and crimes of harbouring heretics of the Church of the Twins. Given the weight of the charges against her household, the Royal family issued a decree which became the tipping stone to her household's damnation.
When the verdict of permitting the annihilation of her family was issued and signed by the royal family, to her utter surprise and disbelief both her parents didn't seek reprieve and beg for mercy neither did they denounce the Twin gods to save themselves, but instead silently accepted their fates while trying their best to use what little power they had left to buy more time for their only child to escape.
During the last moments she had with her parents she finally discovered that both her parents were undercover members of the church with her father serving as part of the Faceless and her mother a Prophetess of the Church.
It was then they finally disclosed the truth of her eventual fate as a priestess of the Church of the twins which they had kept hidden for many years in a desperate bid to protect her childhood.
That was also the very last time she ever saw her parents again.
With her life at stake, after the desperate pleas of her parents, Lovell attempted to flee from Tequila under the protection of members of the Faceless entrusted with her safety but they were mysteriously tracked down multiple times over several days until she was eventually forced to separate from her entourage and flee Tequila alone.
The young woman was confused, angry, scared, and depressed. Suffering from a myriad of negative emotions, all alone in a dangerous world, She slowly lost her warm smile and childish innocence, eventually experiencing a drastic change in regards to her personality and worldview.
She went from a cheerful young damsel to a cold reserved individual after several months of struggling to survive alone. And cursed by her the beauty she was once proud of, she unintentionally sought trouble wherever she went and only by a hair's breadth and several strokes of immense luck did she escape the vile, fiendish claws of both brutal bandits and lustful young masters alike.
Lovell tried everything from dirtying herself with cow dung to cutting her hair short in a desperate bid to attract less trouble but it was all to no avail as she was forced to commit her first murder, taking the life of a half-drunk mercenary who wanted to force himself upon her.
She struggled for many weeks while scavenging to survive, penniless, and without a morsel of bread to her name she finally arrived at Algrim's border, starved and frail from her gruesome journey.
This was her last hope and only chance to avenge her parents so she couldn't give up. She could only reach out to the church of the twins for aid now as nobody in their right minds would aid a little young Missy such as herself to take revenge against one of the royal family of the seven kingdoms.
And since the congregation of members of the church of the twins is banned in Quilton the closest place she could go to was Greystones because was where the closest publicly known branch of the church was located.
But the journey to Algrim had cost her everything, physically, financially, and even psychologically.
She possessed no more money to spend, no strength to continue trekking, much less to do little menial labour to earn a bit, was on the brink of starvation, even lacked basic vocational skills to at least work to earn something to eat and too proud to resort to whoring herself for a meal.
By the time she arrived at Greenfields she was on her last leg and couldn't go any further. As she was just about to give up hope and succumb to her fate, her lucky star came to her in the form of an absurdly beautiful young man who looked so frail he probably couldn't even wrest a common chicken.
At first, she assumed it was another young master who wanted to take advantage of her like all the others she had come across had all tried to before, but he just crouched there curiously looking at her without making any moves.
He scooted closer and inadvertently caused her to flinch a little as she discreetly scooped a little mound of dirt in case he tried something funny like they always do.
After staring at her briefly, he pulled out a small pouch and started counting out some copper Junes before glancing back at her as if trying to gauge something.
Scrunching up his face for several moments he sighed before resolutely stuffing it all back in whilst looking over his shoulder as if trying to avoid getting caught doing something bad.
When he was certain no one was watching he immediately shoved the little pouch in Lovell's arms with a faint smile as he whispered in her ear.
"Don't spend it all at once, that's all of my saving's from last month and I don't have anymore. Oh and try to get something to eat, miss Grane roast beef taste great and it's just down the street I'm sure you would love it."
She was baffled by the young man's sudden act of benevolence before noticing he was about to leave, so with shaky hands, she grabbed the hem of his tunic to stop him from leaving.
"Why?" Lovell croaked in a hoarse voice.
"Hmm?" He hummed seeming genuinely puzzled about her question.
"Why did you help me?" She croaked again.
"Oh... that?... Nothing really I guess, I didn't have anything to do with the money as of now, and since I had already gotten what I wanted I decided to let you have it." The young man said waving a bunch of scrolls which she assumed he just purchased.
"Besides even if I wanted something presently, I am of the assumption that you might need it more than me looking at your condition, so why not..." he added but the usually prideful Lovell wasn't the least offended by his misuse of words but was instead stunned by his nonchalance.
She had begun to experience the darker side of humanity ever since her family was annihilated.
Those noblemen and knights who once courted her all had a 180-degree change in demeanour when a bounty was placed on hers and her family's heads, And even those simple peasants who were supposed to be more compassionate all tried to take advantage of her situation when she had lost everything.
All the things she had experienced had made her become apathetic to life as a whole and no longer believed there could be good people out there.
So suddenly seeing so much sunshine, care, and compassion bundled together into one person made a throbbing feeling suddenly erupt in her heart as she gazed absentmindedly at this young man's angelic (*cough* *cough*) visage.
When the youth realized that she was lost in whatever thoughts she might have been having he shrugged and decided to continue towards his destination.
A few seconds later, Lovell finally broke free of her disarrayed thoughts and discovered that the young man had left.
She stood up despite her shakily legs and ran off after his profile but the distance didn't ever seem to shorten in the slightest. She continued until she finally saw him enter a Noble residence that was a tad smaller than what she used to live in Tequila as she finally stopped her pursuit.
She was once a noble and was very well aware that with her current image and dressing she would never be allowed even close to the gate of that place. knowing this she stopped and just stared for a while before turning to the vendor selling walnuts by the side.
"Dear sir do you know the name of the young master residing in that castle, the one who just entered?" Lovell asked in a respectful voice while also removing a single bronze Tehs from the pouch given to her just a little while ago.
The vendor had almost shooed her away when he heard her talking to him, well that was until he saw the money Lovell was discreetly sliding towards him.
He swallowed what he was about to spout from his mouth before flashing a benevolent smile. A Copper Tehs was more than the amount of money he earns in a day. Given his apparent money-grubbing disposition, he wasn't planning on refusing such an easy amount of money as his attitude suddenly became more amiable.
But it wasn't Lovell's generosity but the fact that there wasn't any coin of lower denominations in the pouch. She knew that the vendor most probably couldn't earn more than a few dozen iron Lins in a day but she had no choice since that young man only left a bunch of copper Tehs with a few silver Thales in the pouch.
Normally doing something like this was only looking for trouble since the fact that a defenceless young lady had so much money was enough to evoke the greed of others, a fact she knew from first-hand experience but right at this moment she couldn't care less about such 'minor' details and was only interested in finding out about her benefactor.
"Erm, cough, him?... how can the young miss not know young master Levi! The young man who just entered is the second young master of this entire town!" The vendor exclaimed drawing the attention of a few other people.
"Who doesn't know about the young master, is she a visitor?" A pumpkin seller asked from the side
"The young master is so handsome, I wish..." A young lady about Lovell's age began in a dreamy voice
"Uhm, the young master is so handsome but if only he was half as talented as...." Another woman mused while a few others gave their own inputs and opinion regarding Levi but Lovell had already stopped paying attention and quietly slid out of the group after she got the info she wanted.
"Levi..." She muttered softly as a soft blush crept up her smudgy face.
She turned around one last time to gaze at the gates to the residence before clenching her fist with a determined expression on her face as a fervent light glowed in her eyes.
"I will be back..."
. . . . .
After visiting the roasted beef parlour and enjoying her meal, Lovell left Greenfields by sail to Greystones thanks to the money Levi handed over to her after which she finally reached the church and validated her identity as a de facto member of the church.
As she would have it seemed the world was taking pity on her for all the hardship she had gone through over these several months when luckily for her though the High prophetess of the church happened to be present in the church at the time she arrived.
When the lady came up to her they discussed for several minutes before it was revealed that Lovell's mother was a close cousin to the High prophetess who then decided to take Lovell under her wing.
After a year of training under other Priestesses and High priestesses and with the help of her aunt/master Lovell quickly rose in ranks from a little Priestess of a small relay point all the way to becoming a prophetess of the church just like her mother was preceding her death.
While her master's shadow was clearly evident on her stunning rise to power, none of that still would have to be possible without her own talent, determination, and hard work in place.
Lovell stood by quietly as her master gestured to one of the faceless to remove the sackcloth hoods when three fatigued faces reflected off her eyes.
She gazed silently at the three individuals who had once controlled the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people and possess immense power, although right now they looked nothing like their former noble selves.
Covered in grime and dirt they look no different from refuges and having fallen from grace it was evident in their hearts that the queen and princess were still trying hard to adapt to their new identities, a situation Lovell could relate to and sympathize with.
The royal duo was not unfamiliar to her since she had seen them several times at the capital before this incident, although they were never aware of her presence during those times. So she after checking on their conditions with a glance she looked away again, uninterested.
But when she turned to Aden she was somewhat baffled. This was definitely the first time in her life that she had seen him. Although she had heard of his accomplishments even when she was two kingdoms away, she had never really known how he looked.
And since he was banished from the capital and rarely visited the capital she never had the chance to see him, though she had to say despite all the grim on his face he was still very handsome, just like the rumours say... but for some odd reason, she seemed to find this middle-aged man faintly familiar even when they had never met before prior today.
"Why?...
Have we met before?" She mused under her breathe.