Italy
The Year of Our Lord 1096
" Lo ti amerò per sempre ."
With the arms of her true love wrapped firmly around her body, Regina felt safe for the first time since the death of her father. She held him close, eyes closed.
"Certo, ma cosa di domani?" she whispered in his ear. "You are leaving, are you not? And you and I, we are not married. The Church will hardly approve."
"Non preoccupatevi per il domani, we still have tonight. And for all we know, I may not survive. But I swear to you, prometto, when I return we will wed." Their lips met. His mouth was warm like a fire against Bella's smooth, cold skin, and she reciprocated gladly.
"Think of the consequences," she whispered after pulling away. "Peccato, disonore, disgrace. You are a man of the Church, to be caught outside of wedlock like this..."
"Would I have survived this long if I did not know how to avoid the rules?" He smiled and it was seductive and handsome and perfect. "Non hanno alcun dubbio, have no doubts."
"Indeed."
"I must go soon, my love," he said quietly. "We have only tonight."
"I will wait."
"I know." They clung to each other like the other was life itself, and Bella's perfume wafted gently on the air as they whispered their promises.
"You will come back, will you not?" she whispered, her voice quavering like a willow's branch in the wind.
"I love you. Not ever could I leave you, my darling," he assured her. "You are my beautiful, my precious, my gem of the night. Io prometto."
When the dawn came and the birds sang their songs in the eaves, they did stir from their bed. The church bells were ringing—it was time.
"I must go, my beautiful, my bella. The Promised Land awaits," he said, arming himself in his chain mail and tunic, the sword he had forged himself hanging at his side.
"Return to me," she gasped, as a dying man would. "Promise, my love, return to me."
"I would not leave you with nothing," he said. "Marry me, Regina, mio bella. When I return, marry me." She gasped.
"Oh, Joshua," she whispered. "I shall, I shall, I shall…" They embraced, and she breathed in his scent knowing that they might never meet again.
"The bells are ringing; they've called out the forces. Goodbye, my love."
"Goodbye, my dear. I shall love you forever," she called as he left to the street, to join in the throng. "Forever, I promise! I swear I will wait!"
"Goodbye," he shouted, and the call went up, and they left amid cheers and applause on their journey.
"Mi amore," she whispered as they faded into dust in the distance. "Mi amore."
They wandered for years, and he was among them, walking all the way across the world and towards a whole new sphere of reality. He and his companion, a tall man called Peter, fought valiant in their desire to reclaim the Eden they believed they were promised.
And then came the battle that changed their fates. The barbarians came from across the plain like a scourge of locusts, burning and destroying all that laid in their path, and what was left of the party was taken by surprise by the horde.
Joshua fought, but his sword was then snapped, and he could not find Peter, and it seemed like his fight was doomed to failure.
They attacked, and they stabbed him, leaving a hole through his heart, and deserting him alone in the fields to bleed to his death. He was not rescued, nor found. And when his vision began to fade black, he prayed.
"Dear God in the heavens, please save me, I beg of you. Save me," he whispered, as he laid there to die. "I know Heaven awaits, but my love, she is waiting. Don't leave me to die all alone—I have promised her life, I have promised her love."
His breath faded—but then, he was answered, and a great beam of sunlight shone down on his body to bring back the blood and the pulse in his veins. And the scarlet of his blood seeped back up from the ground and returned to his body, rearranged.
And he breathed.
Hhhhh and here is the first of the three intermission chapters. I actually really like the way these came out...