Chapter Eight

Signum Fortunae

A few weeks passed by since the night of her escape attempt. The days had grown colder, the winter was approaching, but not only were they colder, they felt… emptier. Vacant of some sort of vibrant energy it always seemed to have, energy that you only missed when it was gone. The liveliness of the wind had died. Like the silence before the storm. It might have been the upcoming winter and the cold and darkness that it brought along, but fact remained that something was changing in the air. Everyone noticed. People talked about it. Whispered of a silent force that governed all and that seemed to be out of balance. There was a collective depression under the inhabitants of Vegeta. People feared what they could not explain, as they always do.

The animals felt that something was off. They were anxious and restless. The horses in the stables were surly and whined all night. The birds of the gardens were not at place wherever they sat. The dogs were barking at the strangest moments and the cats were remarkably frightful and alert.

They say that you can predict an upcoming disaster when the animals are acting in contrast to their nature. Everyone knew this and this fed the depression and the fear that this was an omen.

Videl sensed too there was something in the air as she walked in the gardens of the palace. There was an unseen uproar. Hidden behind the circumstances of daily life. When she walked across the stables, she saw some of the guards struggling with a brown stallion. The horse looked furious through its dark eyes, foaming with rage as it kicked and fought with the Saiyans. The men, despite their strength, couldn't take control of the animal. One of the Saiyans suddenly grabbed the horse's head and snapped it to the left viciously. The sound of the breaking bones was horrible. Videl averted her eyes, shocked as the horse's corps slowly fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" One of the guards yelled at the man who killed the horse.

"The beast was mad. I had to finish it off." The responsible replied.

"I don't understand it. It's has always been a gentle horse. How could he change into such a vile creature overnight?" One other asked.

The guard who snapped the horse's neck grunted. "It's not the first animal who has gone completely wild. They're responding to something we can not see. Something's happening."

"What's happening?"

"I'm not sure." He sniffed. "But one thing is certain; they feel more than we do. This is a warning."

His gaze went from one man to the other. Videl shivered.

Suddenly one of the guards started laughing. "Halden my old friend, you are seeing things. It's just a dumb superstition that's scaring the hell out of people who can't think for themselves."

"Don't mock the forces of nature!" The man called Halden hissed. "These are matters you don't understand!"

"And you do?" The other guard questioned before he started laughing at Halden. "Come on," He said to the other men. "We have more important things to do than listening to the idiocy that's proclaimed here."

The other Saiyans followed him and they left Halden alone in the stables.

Videl had watched the scene with growing uneasiness. She didn't know what it was, but that Saiyan Halden had frightened her with his warnings. Not that she believed it, but the man had uttered them with such awe and alarm that it had made her feel uncomfortable.

Suddenly the man noticed her standing outside the stable, watching him.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Ivory Lady of Earth." He said with a sly grin as he walked to her. Videl unconsciously took a few steps back.

"What brings you here, Lady with the veil?" Halden asked with a smirk as he approached her. Videl felt the queasiness in her stomach grow. Without saying a word she turned around and walked away from the Saiyan called Halden.

Halden burst with laughter. "You run away pumpkin! Run away!"

With tears in her eyes she walked to the entrance of the palace. This place was harder and harder to take every day. The coldness of the castle, the hostility of the people, the loneliness. She wanted to run away like Halden said. To leave this place for good, let it burn in the circles of hell. But her attempt to run away had been disastrous and brought her in a situation that was even worse than the one she used to be in.

Her thoughts wandered to her nightly guardian. She felt a huge knob in her stomach as she thought of him. He had been distant as of late. Ever since he had kissed her and she pushed him away, he had been bitter and uncaring. He didn't lie next to her at night. He didn't ask her to enter the darkness. He's done nothing, actually. Hardly spoken a word. Not one soothing word in his velvet voice. Even a hiss would be enough for her, but he hadn't even given her any notion.

She felt the resentment whenever he was in the room. If she didn't feel his presence, it was the resentment that told her senses that he was there. It felt so hostile, so unwelcome. So cold.

She once entered the darkness on her own encouragement. She expected that he would come to her, like he always did. But as she waited for him to seek her out in the darkness, she felt no movement in the room. She didn't hear his breathing, she didn't feel his touch. Her hands searched for him desperately, but whenever they went, they could not find the Praetorian. With tears in her eyes she left the darkness and went to bed. In her sleep, she would forget everything.

Every night she was crying again. The loneliness had never been this great, not even in the first weeks of her stay here in the castle. Now the Praetorian refused to speak to her, she had no one. She was completely alone. She wanted to be comforted, but no one could. No one could whisper her words of encouragement, no one could touch her tenderly, no one could hold her while she was crying. A world without comfort is an empty world. A lonely world. It was maddening her, it made her feel more miserable than she has ever been.

There was one bulb of light in the darkness though. She wandered the castle from time to time, looking at the art that reminded her of Earth, her home. She could spend hours just sauntering the great halls, paying attention to every detail of every piece of art. One day she was looking at the tympanum of the great hall, when she heard footsteps behind her.

When she turned around she saw a young man walking in her direction. He was hardly older than her. One, maybe two years. He wore attire that made the suggestion that wherever he came from, he was a wealthy man. As he approached her she looked into his eyes. Dark, intense, hard.

He stopped before he walked past her and made a small tribute to her as he lowered his head and his eyes out of respect. Then he met her eyes again, very briefly, and he walked away with the flair and bearing of a nobleman.

She smiled a bit at the thought of him as she dried her tears. She had seen him a few times in those weeks. The encounters were very brief and always the same. He made a tribute to her, stared into her eyes and walked away as if nothing happened. His eyes were never friendly, never warm, never reassuring. They were hard every time she saw him.

This was the only person who gave her notion she liked. This was the only person she looked forward to see every day. She'd wander the Great Hall far more often now that she knew he made his way through there. Why he came to the palace, what his function was, she did not know. She only knew that whenever she saw him, her day got just that much better.

She sighed and hoped she would see him soon.

As she entered the Great Hall and made her way through the castle, she didn't notice she was being watched by two persons. She didn't notice that a beautiful woman was following her with her eyes, contemplating over Videl's situation. And she didn't notice the Saiyan guard Halden was behind her at a safe distance.