Chapter Three

There is no pain so great
As the memory of joy in present grief.

. . .

«Just tell me where to GO!» Raziel growled. The priest only smiled, in that peaceful way of his that made the wraith want to punch him in the face. He was gathering supplies, clothes, blankets and such, as if he were really thinking he was going with Raziel.
«Our Lady doesn't like strangers» the boy said placidly. «She'll burn you to a crisp if you go alone. I am your safe conduct.»
Raziel hissed in annoyance, a hand going up and over his face to pinch his blue nose.
«Do you think-»
«Forgive me, my Lord,» -and the little bastard had the nerve to interrupt him- «but I'm not sure you understand just what you are getting into. You saw the windows. Our Lady's throne is made of bones. You do not want to become her sceptre, do you?»
Little shit, thought Raziel, unable to believe that a human had actually dared to speak to him thus.
«You don't want to become my enemy, either. My patience wears thin, boy -just tell me where this ghost town is.»
«Even if I told you, there would be no way you could cross the Labyrinth on your own. Your sins would find you, maul you, drag your soul straight down to Hell».
All this religious symbolism was starting to grate on Raziel's nerves and the wraith felt a growl vibrate in his chest, shaking his ribs and all that remained of his throat.
He slammed the boy against the wall, the impact finally wiping that insolent little smile from the human's face. Rohan's sharp intake of breath was music to the soul-eater's ears, but the fear in his breathing never reached his eyes.
«Do you entertain suicidal thoughts, filth?» Raziel hissed... and to his utter shock, Rohan sighed, as if he were dealing with a particularly stubborn child.
«My Lord, please» he said, and his voice was less insolent and a great deal more respectful. Well. At least he wasn't one of those people who fancied getting pinned down and dominated. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Raziel couldn't have born any more smart remarks. Unlike some, he didn't enjoy not being feared.
«I know all this must seem absurd to you» Rohan continued, his gaze soft. «But I swear, I speak no lies. My Lady is cruel and rules with an iron fist. If you go alone, you will surely perish. I'm going with you to ensure your own safety.»
«Look at me, boy» the wraith growled, long ivory fangs only inches from the human's purple neck. «Do I look like a naïve newborn to you? I have seen things that would make your skin crawl and your hair turn white. Do you still think I need protection?»
Rohan was nodding slowly, looking at him with a wistful expression. «I understand why you're speaking this way, my Lord. You appear to have been cruelly tested.»
A sharp intake of breath and the human was suddenly free again, Raziel taking a step back as if he'd been struck and staring with wide glowing white eyes. Rohan looked at him curiously, but didn't comment.
«We have an agreement with our Lady» he began explaining. «She protects us and, in return, we provide the blood her whole court need. Whenever a new vampire comes into our town, we welcome them at the best of our abilities and, if they so desire, take them to her. But to make sure her lands stay safe, our Lady surrounded them with the Labyrinth -a maze that extends for hundreds of miles, inhabited by the most hideous beasts on Nosgoth's fair land. They consume both flesh and soul, and they continuously roam the stone corridors to find whom to devour. There are safe routes, a safe section of the Labyrinth that closes its doors to them and safely leads to the centre, where her city lies. We will need the map to cross it and get safely to the other side.»
«A map?»
This woman must be stupider than he thought. Maps could be stolen. They could fall into the wrong hands. Besides, no vampire in their right mind would ever give such important information to humans.
«Yes, my Lord. Only I have access to it.»
«And I don't suppose you can give me this map, can you?»
«Even if I could, I would never betray my Lady's trust. But you see, the map is not a written one, and the safe routes change every day. My Lady will provide me with the knowledge we need once she grants us access -she will put it in my head as if it had always been there.»
Using the Whisper with a human?
 As Kain's lieutenant, he'd learnt it was forbidden. Twisted. Wrong. A vampire simply didn't behave that way. Humans were too weak, their minds too simple to allow such a bond, and a vampire could never be brought so low as to communicate like that with a mortal. It simply was not done.
«Do you think it's amusing?» Raziel snarled, disgusted enough that his muscles were rippling as if spiders were crawling all over his body.
«My Lord?» Rohan asked, his foolish confusion only making the wraith angrier.
«No vampire would ever allow a filthy human to establish a connection with their mind» the blue creature hissed, his rage quickly approaching unadulterated fury. «For you to suggest such a thing... it's one of the worst insults you could have come up with.»
Rohan paled at Raziel's words, grey eyes going wide and scared. It was the first real fear Raziel saw in him and he reveled in it.
«My Lord, I did not mean to offend you» the boy stuttered. «But I do not lie, I assure you. Our Lady does this to keep her court safe. This way, since no-one knows how the Labyrinth will change, it is rare that her city gets attacked. Those who attempted either gave up or died in the maze.»
«Even so, I cannot fathom why a vampire could have sullied themselves with this» Raziel spat, sickened beyond measure. «Your Lady is not worthy of the title you gave her. Whoever she is, she is an outrage, a disgrace -she doesn't deserve the respect accorded to a common whore.»
Rohan gasped sharply at that and shrank back, furiously shaking his head. His eyes were staring at Raziel in shocked silence, his lips a thin line and hands clasped behind his back. The blue wraith could see his bruised throat bob with his swallow.
«You know not of whom you speak, vampire» he said, smile gone from his voice. «I have no idea where you come from, but rest assured no one here will ignore such insults to our Lady. Our loyalty lies only with her and we will defend her, be it her honour, her wings or her name.»
That was the kind of boundless devotion Raziel had seen in his own days at the head of Kain's armies. A pang of nostalgia made his non-existent heart ache. He missed those days of golden glory, although he was conscious he'd never go back to them without modifying a few things here and there -exempli gratia, Kain's presence.
«You have some nerve, boy, I'll give you that» the wraith muttered. «Not many have spoken to me that way and lived.»
Rohan bowed his head, a small smile beginning to bloom on his lips again. «Killing me would go against your best interests, my Lord.»
«Tch. Very well. How long will it take for us to reach the citadel?»
Rohan straightened up, his smile widening a hair. «Three days, my Lord, if the conditions remain optimal, and then another to cross the Labyrinth.»
Raziel nodded slowly, long clawed fingers drumming on the windowsill. Outside the church, the little town was bustling with activity -farmers carrying supplies for their animals, women with huge baskets full of clothes that needed washing, children guarding geese and other small animals. He was quite visible from the window, but even though some noticed him, no one said a word. They simply went about their day without another glance at him.
«If it is so disagreeable to you» Rohan said after a long pause, «you could wait here for the next collecting party to arrive and leave with them afterwards. They're all vampires.»
Raziel turned his eyes towards the young man, though the human didn't notice due to his eyes being completely white. The glowing effect, though present, was less evident now that the sunlight was streaming in through the tall windows.
Rohan understood the unspoken question easily. «Three weeks, my Lord. The last collection was only two days ago.»
Raziel had never been a patient man.
«No. You'll lead me there.»
The human's smile was so sincere and gleeful that Raziel was struck with a sudden realization -a piece of information the boy had carefully kept from him. He had to take a deep breath to calm hmself and avoid strangling him.
«Have you ever been there, human?» he asked, despite already knowing the answer.
Rohan's cheeks flushed red and Raziel raised a non-existent eyebrow at him.
«Well... I am fairly new, my Lord» the boy confessed, looking away. He looked painfully young in those white monkish robes. «The last intermediary died about one year ago. He poisoned the blood we'd donated and a vampire from our Lady's city fell victim to it. She burnt his house down with his wife and children in it.»
Ah. So that was why those incinerated ruins still stood -some sort of memento for those who survived, to remind them what happened to those who crossed the winged woman. She kept reminding him of Kain more and more every time Rohan spoke of her.
 And what had been Kain's memento? Or better still, who had it been?
Raziel closed his eyes for a moment. He was getting tired of those unbidden thoughts.
«You seem very eager to enter in a city full of vampires. Most would run for the hills screaming.»
«They will not hurt me, my Lord. It is forbidden to harm the inhabitants of the towns our Lady protects. It's part of the pact.»
«And will they respect it? You are still a human -still food.»
«You didn't try to kill me.»
But Raziel was no longer a vampire. Rohan didn't know that. His unshakeable trust sounded foolish to the soul-eater, but after all, it was the human's neck.
«They will respect the pact, my Lord. They will burn if they don't.»
The wraith had enormous doubts about that. The life of a human, as talented as they may be, wasn't worth that of a vampire. He didn't say so, though, and only nodded with surprising calm.
«Very well. I wish to depart as soon as possible. If you're coming with me, you better get ready.»

The young priest had been a man of his word. No one had been out when they had left Dellmeadow, and the one who had seen them off -a burly man who had been taller than both Raziel and Rohan- had kept his eyes glued to the ground, 'so as to comply with your request of not being seen, my Lord', as the boy had explained. Raziel had honestly been surprised with the lengths they'd gone to ensure his comfort, their quiet obedience a painful reminder of his time as a Lord of the Razielim Clan.
Of course, there was always the possibility of this being a trap. Raziel found himself going over that course of events as the boy drove the chariot through Nosgoth's landscapes. The horses had kept calm and tranquil even as they smelt Raziel's by now dead scent. That calm spoke of long habit and Raziel -between a thought and another about whether or not he smelt of cadaver- wondered wheter that woman had her own stables in her city.
So, what if it was a trap?
He'd kill the boy, of course, but what after that? How to get into the city if he couldn't cross the Labyrinth? The boy could have lied about that as well, but what if he hadn't?
But all these questions didn't have an answer, not yet at least, and so it was quite pointless to go over them again and again in his head. He would face every problem as it came up or he would die. That was the ultimate truth of things.
Rohan was chattering in a quiet, cheerful way that didn't fail to put Raziel in a good mood -or as good a mood as he could possibly be put in. Even though he didn't pay attention, nor did he pretend to, the sound of someone else's voice apart from his own made him feel slightly better.
«Tell me more about your Lady» he said suddenly, interrupting Rohan mid-sentence. The human didn't seem to mind, happy to have awakened a reaction in the wraith travelling with him.
«There is a lot to tell, my Lord. What would you like to hear? Fire and blood, or music from her lands?»
«Both. Who is she?»
«Oh, she came to be more than two thousand years ago. She was the spouse of the late Janos Audron.»
Raziel looked up sharply at that. Rohan didn't notice his sudden discomfort, grey eyes focused on the road and words falling effortlessly from his lips.
«They say she was a human maiden once, many centuries ago, whose beauty could make any man kneel at her feet. She had dozens of suitors who wished to marry her, but she rejected them all, hating their weakness and human nature. She was as beautiful as she was cruel and her thirst for blood drew the ancient Janos Audron to her bed. She seduced him and tricked him into turning her into a vampire, and when he ran out of usefulness, she struck a deal with the Sarafan -she would sing a lullaby to the Ancient so that he fell into a deep sleep, and then opened the passage into his ancient retreat. After the warriors killed Janos Audron, they turned their weapons on her. Blinded by rage, she made the whole Aerie collapse atop their heads, burying them beneath debris forever, and flew away to start her own kingdom.»
Tragic and beyond cruel, as was the humans' fashion. By now, he doubted she even knew Janos -the Ancient would have told him if he'd had a spouse-
Would he?
Would he have, knowing Raziel had come with the Sarafan in tow?
No. Only a fool would have done so. Besides, Janos had only known him for, how long, half an hour? A whole one at best? Why mention someone so important to someone so insignificant on a personal level, to his own murderer?
Raziel lowered his head once more, blinking rapidly, hands dangling between his knees. Rohan glanced at him with gentle grey eyes.
«It's a foolish tale» the wraith breathed. «It wasn't like that.»
«My Lord?»
«She didn't draw the Sarafan to Janos' retreat. She wasn't even there when they came.»
«How do you know this, my Lord?»
«That's for me to know.»
Rohan didn't push, although his eyes remained doubtful. He continued his tale without further delay.
«Once deep into the mountains far north, where the snow is sovereign all year long, she brought her castle up from the rocks deep beneath the surface of Nosgoth. The core of the land is hellishly hot, my Lord, and she used the molten rock to build her home. But as she was doing so, the flames caught her great wings and plunged her into the lake of fire: she emerged with charred flesh and fire in her hair, and from then on the flames bent to her will. When the city was completed, vampires from all over Nosgoth found solace and refuge there. One day, new wings came. Hundreds of winged vampires that had come from overseas, their wings like leathery sails spread over the lenght of graceful fingers, looking for shelter. She accepted to keep them beneath her wings, at one condition: they had to shed the banner of their previous Lord, and wear her own upon their very skin. Their leader accepted to bear the mark in all his own's stead and now they live in the city with her court, warriors and ruthless killers ready to defend their Mistress. Instead of warring for sustenance, our Lady then chose to offer the towns nearby a deal. She would ensure them wealth, riches, food and whatever they could possibly need, in return for the blood, freely donated, that her court needed. Hence, here we are.»
Curiosity now awakened, Raziel asked Rohan to tell him more about the vampires with wings of leather. The young priest complied with a happy smile.
«No one knows much about them, actually. They just... arrived, from one day to another, esotic, beautiful and very, very powerful. Most were warriors, they knew how to fight and they did so well. Our Lady knew she'd need such power if she were to become the most influent of Nosgoth's vampires -more powerful than even the ancient Vorador-, and so she took them in. They've been living in the city ever since.»
«You never told me the citadel's name. Nor your Lady's. Why is that?»
«Oh! That. We tend not to use the name of the city or that of our Lady when we're outside the Labyrinth. It's an old superstition, and nothing that was ever really proved, but... there is a saying. They come when called, our mothers used to say, and to call their names for no reason is to bring misfortune to your whole family.»
Raziel snorted in disbelief. Rohan looked at him apologetically, but didn't offer to tell him either name. The wraith wouldn't be who he was, though, if he'd ever pulled back once given the chance to push. He looked at the human expectantly.
«Our Lady's name is Nerissa Graves, meaning 'from the sea'. Her citadel bears the name of Scarborough, dubbed the Fair due to the beautiful buildings beyond the walls -and so it is commonly referred to as Scarborough Fair.»
«There was a ballad about a town with such a name» Raziel said for no reason, and Rohan smiled, nodding.
«Yes. It was composed by one of the vampires that live there. He sang it for his dead lover, killed by hunters many eons ago. This is why the 'true love of mine' the song is about asks him to perform impossible tasks.»
«A symbol of death. The impossibility of reunion.»
«Yes, my Lord.»
The kid was peaceful when he said that, lost somewhere in the romantic haze this kind of stories never failed to create. Raziel couldn't really blame him. He himself liked that ballad immensely, if just for the melody.
As if on cue, Rohan began humming the ancient tune in the back of his throat, his quiet tone distracting Raziel long enough that he didn't notice when his focus shifted from the priest to the landscape around them.

. . .

Authoress' note:
Thank you for every note/comment/kudos you've left here! I love you all soooo much!
I do not own in any shape or form the characters featured in this story -this also applies to the story's image cover and to the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I only own my OCs and the story's plot.
Comments please!
Have a nice day/night and love Legacy of Kain!