Furia's Peculiar Journey: Dragon Blood
CHAPTER 2
A Stormy Night
A horse-drawn carriage made its way down a dirt road. It was night, and there was very little light aside from the full moon and its light reflecting off the small gray clouds in the sky.
The stars were fighting their hardest to overcome the light of the moon.
A soft wind came across the land and rustled the leaves of the nearby trees of the large oak forest that surrounded the trail. A group of bats flew out of the woods, perturbed by the movement of the branches.
The horses neighed as the cold wind struck their bodies and slowed down. The driver of the carriage noted this and whipped the animals.
"Come on you stupid ninnies!" he yelled and kept whipping them, "Hurry up! It ain't that cold!"
The horses grunted and shook their heads.
"I don't want any backtalk!" the driver growled and kept whipping them.
The horses started to scream in rage.
"Ah shut up!" the driver threw a bottle of liquor at them, "Stupid nags… I tell ya, they never listen…" he shook his head. His vision was blurred and his head was bobbing to and fro, but even then he took the time to grab another flask from his sack.
The carriage gained speed and rumbled down the dirt path as it sloped down a hill.
"We'll be there in no time, Sir." The driver yelled into the carriage and then gave a hiccup, "Maybe this time you'll give me a damn raise." He wiped his lips of alcohol.
As the time passed, the clouds in the sky started to grow in number and come together, darkening everything in their path.
The driver grumbled.
"Now I can't see." He said, "We better get there faster before I'm drunk and blind…" he grunted and brought up his whip.
"Hyah!"
The horses screamed, now livid from too many whippings, and suddenly jerked and stampeded down the trail.
"What the!?" the driver yelled as he lost control of the horses.
The wind suddenly picked up and the clouds overcame the moon and the night sky.
KAPOW! A lightning bolt struck a distance away.
"What is going on out here!?" a man, a wealthy man by appearance, with brown hair and a curly mustache popped his head out of the carriage.
"T-T-The…" the driver stammered as he tried to hold the horses at bay, "The storm has riled them up!" he lied.
A downpour started to happen.
"By the gods, do you think we should stop?" the man asked as he noted the weapon was become poorer by the minute.
"No no! We're almost there!" the driver responded and pointed to a nearby hill, "Your estate is just over! I'll get us there safely!" he informed.
"You can hardly see in this weather, Charlie!" the man added as he covered his face from the rain, "I think we should stop and wait for it to pass!"
"It's alright, sir!" the driver hiccuped.
A sudden bump on the road made a flask come out of his trenchcoat.
"By heaven!" the man yelled as he grabbed it, "Have you been drinking!?"
"No!" the driver shook his head, "Damn it!" he yanked the horses back.
"How dare you drink and drive my carriage while my wife and daughter are in here!?" the man exploded in rage and grabbed him by the collar, "I'll have you arrested, Charlie!"
"What is going on here?!" a woman, dressed equally as well as the man, yelled, "I'm trying to put the baby to sleep! Brendan!" she looked at the man.
"Let go of me!" The driver cried out.
"I will not-"
The horses screamed and the world stopped.
There was the crushing of wood.
The violence of screaming.
Brendan felt as if his body was taken up by angels and saw that he was now facing the sky. It was a few moments that felt like eternity, but it all ended when he was submerged in water.
Then darkness…
A pitch nothing. No sound, no vibrations.
Then light.
But it wasn't the moon.
"We got him!" a male's voice yelled.
Brendan was grabbed from multiple places and lifted.
"Wha…" he grumbled and looked around, only seeing thick pieces of cloths and an occasional metallic shine.
The floatiness of being carried by six figures elated him for a few moments, but those moments ended with his body resting on the damp and muddy ground.
"Sir, are you alright?" the light from before returned, revealing itself to be an Enforcer from the Outer Tribunal holding a gas lamp.
"Sir Brendan, can you hear me?"
"What… What happened?" the man groaned and rubbed his head as he stood up.
"There's been an accident with your carriage, Sir Brendan." The enforcer responded, "It struck a wagon."
"No… That's impossible…" Brendan stood up with the enforcer's help and looked around, "We were only a few minutes from my home.."
He took a look and saw it.
The Scene.
Large fragments of wood were strewn about the ground. Pieces of the wreckage were clearly the decorated and carved rosewood from his carriage, but others were what appeared to be cheap pinewood.
His horses were scattered about on the ground in the middle of the wreckage, but there was also a mule, all of which the enforcers were readily examining.
"Sir, we speculate that this wagon belonged to one of the local farming families that surround your estate." The enforcer interrupted, "They appeared to be stationed under the tree to avoid the weather… However, that is only our guess. We need you to help us as a witness."
"Ok- Wait…" Brendan's eyes widened, "Elaine. Elaine!" he snapped and looked around.
"Sir! We need your help on this accident!" the enforcer yelled.
"Where is my wife!?" Brendan fought the enforcer's grasp as he tried to run to the wreckage, "Elaine!"
A cry of sorrow sounded in the area.
A familiar voice.
"Mother!" Brendan said and overpowered the enforcer holding him back, "Mother!" he avoided two other enforcers before reaching the site.
There, by the wreckage of the carriage and surrounded by a group of three enforcers was an elderly aristocratic woman in a fanciful nightgown.
"My daughter in law!" she cried out.
"M-Mother…" Brendan slowed down, soon capturing the dreaded scene.
"I'm sorry, Brendan…" the enforcer with the lamp came up and solemnly stood next to the man, "She was ejected from the carriage and impacted one of the horses… She did not make."
On the ground was the woman from before, sprawled out and covered with a white sheet from the neck down to honor her dignity.
"ELAINE!" Brendan ran to her side and knelt by the old lady.
"How saddening…" the head enforcer spoke as he removed his wide-brimmed hat, "What of the others?" he turned to his subordinates as they rummaged about the wreckage.
"The driver of the carriage was killed on impact with the tree." One of the enforcers reported, "The farmers… a full-force carriage with four horses…. They didn't stand a chance." He choked on his words.
The head enforcer sighed as he saw two white cloths covering something on the ground nearby.
"We found this on the driver." Another enforcer came up with the driver's bloody trenchcoat and three flasks, "Seems he was intoxicated and may not have noticed the wagon in the weather. Thankfully the rains have stopped now and we can proceed searching for more."
"Very well." The head enforcer nodded and turned to Brendan and his mother.
"Sir Brendan."
The man ignored him.
"I know you are grieving, but we just want to inform you that you are free from all charges. It was your driver who was the cause of this." The head enforcer informed, "He was intoxicated and collided with the wagon in his folly."
"Damn him!" Brendan beat the dirt, "I told him not to drink when I was riding with my family!"
"Rest assured he had the Law reach him." The head enforcer pointed to a white sheet underneath the large oak tree nearby.
"We cannot try a dead man, so perhaps his fate is a worthy penalty for you."
"Elaine…" Brendan's mother mumbled as she caressed the woman's blood cheeks, "You were too young… You and my son were the pride of my life…"
Brendan stood up and looked at his wife, then said not a word.
"I think we have everyone accounted for." The enforcer with the lamp informed his superior, "Is there anyone-"
"Sarah!" Brendan gasped, "No- Sarah!"
"Not Sarah too!" his mother stood up and grabbed his chest, "Please! Tell me you didn't bring Sarah to this!"
"Where is Sarah!" Brendan turned to the head enforcer.
"I'm sorry, who?" the man responded.
"My daughter, you imbecile!" Brendan exploded, "My baby! My sweet angel!"
"There's a baby!?" The nearby enforcers gasped in shock.
"Alright Everyone!" The head enforcer thundered, "I want all hands in searching for Sir Brendan's baby!" he pointed at the wreckage of the carriage.
However, before all the men could mobilize one of the enforcers already rummaging about piped up.
"Sir! Look!" he proclaimed as he removed a large piece of wood and lifted something up.
A baby's crib, completely intact save for a few wood shards sticking through.
Everyone in the area turned and widened their eyes in shock.
"There's a baby in here!" the same enforcer gasped as he opened the covers. He brought out a baby and threw the crib aside.
"She's not breathing! Get out of the way!" he commanded the enforcers who were nearing him and ran to clear ground.
The enforcer, a dark-skinned man with white hair and a black beard took control of his immediate area and started to preform CPR on the baby.
"What is going on here!?" Brendan tried to intervene, but was stopped by some enforcers, "What are you doing!?" he yelled at them.
"Do you want your daughter to live?" they responded, "Leave Enforcer Lucian alone while he does this!"
Brendan reluctantly stood down as he saw the enforcer aid his daughter.
"Sir, sir!" another enforcer came up to the head enforcer, "You have to take a look at this!" he said as one of his comrades came up.
"We found this by the river about a hundred meters downstream."
The group of enforcers were holding a wooden basket in their arms.
"A stupid lagodile bit me as I was trying to retrieve it." One of the enforcers pointed to a bloody bandage he had around his arm.
"What is this thing, Sarge?" the initial enforcer asked his superior.
The head enforcer said.
"It looks like a reed basket, and I think I know what it was used for." He said and opened it.
"What the…" the enforcers holding it gasped.
There was a baby inside, sound asleep as if nothing had happened.
"I think we have another thing to add to the puzzle." The enforcer with the lamp spoke, "Do you think the poor farmers were…"
"They dumped this baby into the river." The head enforcer spoke, "Hoping it would float towards a better family… That river leads to the town…"
"So that's why they stopped…" one of the enforcers pondered.
"Damn it!" Lucian, the enforcer giving CPR to the other baby, yelled and punched the ground, "Come on, darling, wake up!" he tapped her cheek.
"Sarah! Please!" Brendan cried out, "Please, sweetheart!"
Lucian continued his actions.
No results.
"I won't give up!" he yelled.
Again.
Lifeless.
Lucian looked up to the heavens, "The Law grant me strength!" he cried out.
"Lucian!" the head enforcer called out, "Enough! The child is dead."
"No!" Lucian responded, "She can't be!" he yelled and gave out tears from his eyes.
This commotion, however, brought another baby to life.
The baby in the basket started crying when it woke up from all the yelling.
"What the?" Brendan turned.
However, another set of crying completely shook them.
Sarah was crying as well.
"Ah…" Lucian gasped as he saw the baby kick, "By the Law!" he picked her up, "She's alive!" he ran to Brendan and handed her to him.
"Sarah! My Sarah!" her father cried tears of joy.
"Oh she's alive!" Brendan's mother joined in and hugged them both in pure joy.
The enforcers smiled and turned to the other baby, who was still crying by herself in the basket.
"What will we do with her?" the enforcer with the lamp asked.
"The Law commands us to turn in abandoned children to the lord of the nearest town." The head enforcer said, "I believe you all can do that while we finish combing through and escorting Sir Brendan and his family back to his estate. Lucian, I want you to lead a party to give these farmers a proper burial and scour the nearby homes to find out who they were."
"Yes sir!" The enforcers saluted.
One of the enforcers pulled out the baby and placed them in his arms.
"It's a girl." He notified his comrades, "I can tell because my own daughter looked like this. Sarge, I will lead the party to the lord's castle." He informed his superior.
"As you wish." The head enforcer said, "Just make sure she gets there safe."
"Wait." A voice interrupted them.
It was Brendan, who was holding Sarah in his arms.
"What is it, Sir Brendan?" the head enforcer asked him.
"I feel indebted to that farmer family after all the trouble this accident caused them." Brendan spoke, "Had I not been wanting a late-night excursion, they would still have been alive. Knowing that they were out here hoping that their daughter would have a better life, I wish to fulfill that hope."
"You don't mean…"
"I wish to take that baby home with me." Brendan spoke, "In memory of those farmers…. And… of Elaine…" he mumbled, "It's what she would have done if she was still with us."
"Son…" Brendan's mother spoke, "I…. I am so proud of you."
"Do you desire it?" The head enforcer asked him.
"I do." Brendan nodded, "I will raise the child."
"Very well." The head enforcer turned to the enforcer holding the baby, "Hand the baby over to him, please."
The enforcer saluted and walked towards Brendan
"Here you go, Sir Brendan."
Brendan turned to his mother, who understood his message and took the baby in her arms.
"What will you name her, son?" she asked him.
Brendan stood silently and glanced over to the body of his wife.
"Abby. In memory of my wife, Elaine Abby…"
The rain clouds gave way to the moon and her light.
