-A Tale Caught Up-
Anduin lies, his back to the fire, snoring softly. I watch a little drool drip from the corner of his mouth, as the sun rises behind him. Like a younger brother. I chuckle to myself.
His rest is cut short, as I hear the sigh of his summoning. I run over to him, shaking him awake, thrusting his sheathed blade and his shield into his hand, and sitting his helmet on his lap. He looks at me warmly for a moment, realizing why I'm throwing equipment at him.
"I'll be right back Lupa. Maybe I'll have a story to tell you!" He jokes groggily.
He fades, as he is pulled to the world of an Adherent, deeply in need. I speak under my breath.
"Come back to me, old friend." My worries will not yet subside. I know he's tough, faithful, and proud, but he is also predictable, stubborn, and impulsive. If he comes back in the condition he was last time, I don't know how I'll handle it.
The seconds turn to minutes, the minutes to an hour. I hear a sigh, accompanied by a second not a half second later. Panic sets in, is it Anduin? An invader? Has a Finger tracked me down? Or a Madman? I turn to the sound, to see Anduin, and an unfamiliar knight. In the arms of the knight, a young girl, silver in hair, fair of skin… And wearing bloodied saint's robes.
A nun, from Carim? Here? This young? Gods, she's hurt. I stand and approach the stranger.
"How can I help?" I ask the stranger, frantic in my speech.
"Clean clothes, a bit of rest, maybe some soup? The girl is fine now. Was mumbling till she fainted. She'll have quite the story…" The stranger rambles a bit. His face is fully concealed behind his helmet, the red and black tones of his armor are foreign to me, yet all too familiar.
"Stranger, might I ask your name?" My voice raised in curiosity. The strange man has a peculiar demeanor.
"Would it be strange if I told you that I'm not sure of the truth of it? I'm a Hollow you see, close to the edge, but never quite able to fall over. What do they call you?" He speaks with sorrow in his voice, but a glibness I cannot comprehend the source of.
"I am Lupa, of Carim, Sentinel of the Way of Blue. I am pleased to meet you." I give a deep bow, my hand out near my stomach.
"Lupa, huh, a wolf. Lovely name for a Sentinel. You'd make a good tale someday. Anduin there said the two of you can keep the girl safe, I've a destination to leave for. She's no adherent, but I figure your hands are better than mine, more story to be told here." He sets the young girl down, onto Anduin's bedding, pulls a Black Separation Crystal from his pouch of scrolls on his back. The crystal glows with a purple aura, and the strange man vanishes, as the sigh of a desummoning rings in my ears.
Anduin places a hand on my shoulder. His touch is gentle, but I can feel his hand shaking. He's unnerved.
"Anduin, what's troubling you?" I ask with a touch of uncertainty.
"The girl. When I found them, she was mumbling. One word, over and over. Cara… Cara…" He looks distressed, shaken. His voice is uneasy. This is my friend terrified.
"It's okay, Anduin, we're safe here. Who is Cara?" Who, or what could frighten a veteran Sentinel so badly?
"She was the one… That mage… That savage… She was the one that left me like that. This girl encountered her. She must be stopped." His fist clenched tightly. I take my Sentinels symbol off of my belt, the small cloth badge shows a crescent and a sword, faded blue on a brown cloth. I slip the badge into my equipment pouch. Anduin does the same.
"We'll have to learn more when this girl wakes then. Sleep in shifts?" My voice almost shaking from my urge to begin. This is justice. This sin is unforgivable.
"You rest first, you need it more than I." His voice is frail, as though he were small as a mouse. A far cry from the man I've known so very long.
"Okay." I lie on my bedding, near the girl. Close enough that if she should move I'll know. When she comes to, we'll make her feel welcome, and learn what we need to know.