"Your minds made up already, you must have forgotten that my father was never with us when we decided to come to Settlescore" Celiona did with a feat of rage that made the two men stared at her in awe.
"Apologies, but does it mean someone overheard us talking" Vandorr stroke his beards gently. The forest soon dimmed as the once radiating sun was beginning to set.
"We must be on our way to the castle! I do take my words on me that your family ever be dead" Vandorr spoke again this time signalling them to follow him.
As the sun set, they had approached the cliff which was already flaring off the cold breeze from the sea ahead of it, the noise of the water hitting the rocks below couldn't have been less as it grew mightier as the wind blew. "Look! You might as well have been wrong Vandorr!" Armando said sharply, pointing to lights from within the castle rooms.
"Stop right there... !! Who do you seek?!" Two guards from the outside gate walked up to them. "My Father must have been really frightened" Celiona whispered to Vandorr. He knew exactly what she meant. Hermis had had Imperial guards of the Church placed in front of the castle in order to protect his family.
"But just two?!" Vandorr whispered back. "You'd be surprised to see many more within the walls. He once did the same during Arein Kirzner's coup" She replied him back in the same manner. "Please inform my mother that I'm here" Celiona said as the guards soon got to meet them where they stood. "And you might be..?!" One of the guards asked with a firm strict voice.
"Celiona Serth...!" She responded back with authority and class she had not used in a long time. The two guards looked at each other with amazement, unable to talk, one of them walked back hastily before breaking a run into the castle and in no time was with three other persons.
"Mother...!!" Celiona broke out into a run approaching a silhouetted figure of a woman from a distance. "Celiona...! Good heavens!!" The woman had approached in same manner, hugging her daughter both bursting into tears. The remaining two figures soon approached, a man not more than twenty years of age and another girl who appeared to be younger. "Thomas! Dianne! You were only but kids when we last saw!" She hugged them both, still sobbing.
"Vandorr bresk!! Have I pronounced your name right?!" Marrionetta, Celiona's mother had finally noticed the two men standing not far away. She had walked up to them, cleaning off the tears on her face. "You've never for once failed to.." Vandorr cracked a smile across his bushy face. She let a soft smile leak across her face before turning to Armando, she sniffed. "Armando Indie..." The smile on her face disappeared.
"Marionetta.." Armando said as well with a blank expression. "My brother has still failed to teach you manners, I see. You must address me as your Aunt.." Marionetta turned away leaving him awestruck. Vandorr's eyes grew wide, for the very first time, something he never knew. "You're an Indie?!" Celiona immediately turned to her, she had overheard their conversation.
"Why don't we step inside first...?" Marionetta signalled them to follow her.
"Mother, Are we related to the Indies?!" Celiona asked again as they all sat at a dinning decorated with royalty. "Calqués Van Stromme is my brother by blood, nothing more. That man has failed to be more than that" Marionetta replied as she dug into the feast the servants had served in front of them. Vandorr's gaze soon shifted to Armando, he knew him to not be silent in situations like this now.
"I'm not my father's man, you ought to treat me differently" Armando had not disappointed him, he had spoken up immediately. "Nonsense! I watched you grow up seeking your father's approval" She said again as she cut a piece of meat from her plate and ate it.
A soft and cold breeze blew across the room as the tension grew tense stylishly. It wasn't uncommon to not see such strife amongst royal family but this feeling was different, it was dark, anymore like a presence amongst them. The room had fallen silently strangely, each of them feeling what he felt.
"Mother..." A voice had called from somewhere, seeping through the air in a dark cringe that seemed soul-ripping.
Everyone's attention had diverted almost immediately to a figure standing outside the line of illumination from the fairly burning candles on the brick walls. It was so cringe-filled that Celiona let out a yelp.
"Aretha....come. You should eat.." Marionetta had stretched her hand out.
Celiona immediately stood to her feet as she watched a little girl walk out of the darkness towards them.
Vandorr's hands shivered as he made to take of his soup, what feeling was that?! It reminded him of something, someone he had encountered during one of his expeditions.
Shamal Hades, the man who sold his soul to the devil.
Vandorr looked around him to see if the others felt what he felt but their expressions showed nothing more than the usual fear. The girl was nothing more than ten, darkened eyes and a pale face not so revealed as her black hair gelled around it. She was dressed in a pyjamas. Celiona looked at Vandorr immediately, maybe hoping he had something but he stared back, only absentminded as memories of his past flooded in in a manner of reminiscence.
"Aretha, your mother-"
"I know who you are. Your shadow lies wait in the light" Aretha looked away from marionetta who had tried speaking and turned to Celiona slowly as though singing a nusery rhyme. The atmosphere in the room grew more tense, each person looking at the other unable to speak words that the only sound that could be heard was the blazing of the fire on the candles blowing according to the wind's influence.
"Wha- I-I don't underst-"
Aretha had turned away from her this time looking at Vandorr curiously. "How have you lived this long?!" She finally spoke in a way that everyone had looked at him in same fashion. Was he supposed to say something?!. He stared at her, four eyes locked together as though fixed in a staring contest and as though pulled into a trance, pictures of him from his past flashed in his face. He had even seen himself tied and hanging from a wall upside down as rods pierced deep into his body from different angles.
He convulsed immediately as though experiencing what he had seen. He soon pulled himself together, breathing heavily. He stared at the spoon in his hand, he had broken it unconsciously. "What did you do to me?!" He stared back at the little girl.
"Control yourself, Vandorr..." Armando had held him back as he grew restless. His breathing had become faster, his heart beating faster as his world drown.
"Vandorr! Vandorr!"
He gasped and shook a little. The others looked at him immediately. Nothing seemed to have happened as everyone sat still and unaffected by anything, the little girl sat where she was. Everything seemed normal. What had he experienced?! "What's the matter Vandorr??" Marionetta decided to speak since no one particularly did. "Uh... Nothing, Nothing" he replied taking a sip of the wine in his goblet.