They rode in silence, the only noises being the dirt beneath the hooves of the trotting horse and the desert breeze. Eden appreciated the quiet, the lack of the constant jeering or whooping, the release and expanse she felt riding without the others. And though her body was stiff in control over the horse and awareness of her surroundings, a part of her mind relaxed, letting itself wander out to the horizon and back again, burying odds and ends of thoughts in shallow graves along the way.
The woman shifted uneasily on the horse, unaccustomed to riding this way. She began to feel every stone and dip in the road and desperately searched for something to take her mind off her hurting back and rear.
"I don't think I had a chance to properly introduce myself," she started and didn't see Eden roll her eyes when she extended her hand, "I am Arielle of Avignon."
"Arielle of Avignon." Eden simply repeated, ignoring the hand.
Arielle pulled her hand back after a while with a sigh. She waited a few moments, but finally realized that the rider had no real intention of carrying on the conversation and she bit her bottom lip lightly, trying to think of a way around the problem.
"Avignon is so much different than this place," Arielle tried again. "It's so far from these lands. It's a part-"
"Of the Holy Roman Empire. I know." Eden interrupted roughly.
"Oh, well, yes. Have you ever been there?"
"No."
Silence passed over them again. The storm clouds that had earlier only been on the horizon were now looming closely, threatening to catch up with them. The warmth of the now smothered sun was disappearing and the gathering breeze began to sneak through Arielle's dress. A cool gust sent a small chill up her spine and involuntarily made her move slightly forward against the warmth of Eden's back. She felt the rider jerk away at the touch and she pulled back immediately. After a moment or two, the rider returned back to her position.
"Which town," Arielle started, trying to escape the awkwardness of the situation, "are we going to?"
"Antioch."
"That's exactly where we were all headed!"
"I know." Eden replied with a disinterested sigh.
"In Antioch we were to split up. Some of us, myself included, were going to journey onward to Jerusalem. We were on a pilgrimage, you see."
"Ah, a woman of God..." Eden remarked.
"Well, yes." Arielle replied, knotting her brows, not knowing what to make of the comment. "Is that something strange?"
"No," Eden answered, shaking her head slowly, "you are one of many."
"Well, Jerusalem is the mecca for the reverent."
"Looking for God, finding those like Karas." Eden said absently.
"Well," Arielle explained with a hint of pride in her voice, "though I would have rather not met them, those raiders aren't going to make me turn back. Journeying down God's path is rarely simple."
"Naturally." Eden remarked, not even trying to hide her sarcasm.
"Are you a non-believer that you're mocking me?"
"First of all," Eden said, pulling up on the reins until they came to a stop and turning around towards Arielle which made her a little apprehensive, "I'm not mocking you...yet. Second of all, I know of God; we have a relationship the both of us can hardly stand; third of all, I think we might have to find shelter from the storm."
Arielle opened her mouth to comment that there was no storm, but was interrupted by a roll of thunder.
"See what I mean?" Eden added, raising one eyebrow and flashing a cocky grin.
Arielle only nodded silently and Eden turned back around and nudged the horse forward again. Arielle tried to decide what the rider did more, amaze or annoy her. She had a strange honesty in the way she was, but her insolence was much more than anything she was used to. A new, much fiercer gust of wind brought her out of her thoughts and she instinctively pulled the collar of her dress around her neck and cursed herself for having left her cloak behind.
The clouds made good on their threat and large drops of rain began to slowly fall. Fortunately, Eden knew the road well and remembered that there was an old, abandoned hovel not far off where they could seek shelter. She turned her horse and nudged her off the road and into the rocks and brush. Arielle began to grow a little nervous; she was in a thunderstorm in the middle of the desert on the back of a horse that was being ridden by a black bandit who was now taking them off the road. She held the saddle a little more tightly; the horse's trot quickening with the intensifying rain. A quick, but loud peal of thunder scared a small shriek out of her. Eden paid her no mind, focused entirely on navigating the larger stones and getting to the hovel as quickly as possible. They reached it just in time.
Eden walked into the one room hovel after having tended to her horse just as the clouds gave way to a downpour that Arielle had never witnessed before.
"We'll wait out the storm here." Eden said after shutting the door behind her.
She saw Arielle standing in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do with herself and apprehensively looking at her.
"That is, of course, unless you want to continue." Eden drawled sarcastically.
"No, no." Arielle said quickly, trying to contain her nervousness. "We'll stay here."
Eden walked over to the table standing in the center of the room and slid her saddlebags off her shoulder,placing them on the tabletop. She dropped herself into one of the two dusty chairs and leaned back, resting her feet on the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Arielle carefully sit down on the other chair at the table, resting uncomfortably, her eyes falling everywhere, but not on the dark bandit. She looked so lost and out of place, like a puppy in the middle of a forest, that it produced a small inward smile of sympathy in Eden.
The storm soothed Eden. For a few moments, she rested her head on the back of the chair and closed her eyes. Nearly any kind of sound of water had this effect on her and she listened to the pelting rain, the rushing of the water cascading down the walls of the hovel and she relaxed as much as she was able to. It felt nice; she found a peace in the ability of water to wash everything away.
Another loud crash of thunder shook the hovel and Arielle let out another shriek and Eden opened her eyes, turning to her. Arielle covered her mouth, embarrassed by her outcry and looked at Eden timidly. Eden regarded the woman's face and the wounds on it with a look that made Arielle feel like she was being judged for all her past and future sins and she squirmed slightly under the gaze.
"You took a good beating." Eden finally mentioned.
Arielle's expression turned to one of acknowledgment; she had almost forgotten. She raised one hand to her cheek and touched it too roughly and winced.
"Yes, it seems so. Is it really bad?"
"You'll live." she replied roughly, but after a few moments' afterthought added, "You should see to that cut though."
Arielle could feel the large welt that had developed on her cheek and the blood that had dried around it. She looked around the hovel and found a small mirror lying on a little table next to a wash basin. She got up, took the mirror and brought it back to the table. She then took the bag she had slung around her the whole time and removed it, taking out a handkerchief before placing the bag on the table. She began to tentatively try to clean the scrape, but each movement she made seemed to send a flash of pain through her face. She shyly glanced at Eden and then gasped.
During this time, Eden had unwrapped her turban and stood, unbuckling her sword belt, leaning her sword against the table when Arielle looked at her. Eden regarded her harshly and was about to ask with annoyance what it was that had scared her now, but after a moment decided against it. She looked at the wound again and saw that Arielle had little idea of what she was doing. Yet, Arielle had forgotten the handkerchief in her hand and the scrape on her cheek; she was overcome again by the raider's presence. The removed turban had uncovered raven-black hair, straight as an arrow and down to her shoulders with shorter fringes over her forehead. It spilled over her head like a black velvet curtain and seemed again to only exist in order to emphasize her enrapturing eyes. Arielle finally closed her eyes and shook her head lightly. She opened them again to see Eden still regarding her closely and she swallowed.
"Could you...?" Arielle tried to ask shyly, raising the handkerchief in her hand lightly, "No matter what I do, it seems to hurt a lot."
She saw no change in expression in the raider and she sighed quietly, resigned to taking care of herself as best she could. Eden contemplated her internally. There was a pure innocence in those green eyes that made the raider take notice; she hadn't seen it for such a long time. She examined the woman looking up at her. A slim, elegant figure in a pale green dress with a fabric and cut that screamed 'gentry'. Her emerald eyes, sharp but kind, gleamed out from under blond hair that ran down the length of her back, a long braid running down the middle. Eden would have said she looked like a fairy of the forest if she believed in them. The raider couldn't help but notice how ridiculously out of place Arielle seemed at that moment, but felt a tiny ray of respect for the blond because, despite all the circumstances, Arielle hadn't given up unlike the other lady companions she had been traveling with. This rain calms me too much.
She saw Arielle put her hand with the handkerchief back down with resignation, sighing and slumping her shoulders.
"Here." she said shortly and picked up her chair and moved it next to Arielle, who sat up straight in excitement.
She sat in the chair, sideways to the table and then turned Arielle's chair to face her with little effort which produced a look of shock from the blond.
"First, you need some water." Eden instructed dryly and reached over to her saddlebags and pulled out a waterskin.
She stretched out her hand for the handkerchief which Arielle gave to her. Eden dampened it with some water and turned back to Arielle when she suddenly stopped. Arielle looked at her in confusion, watching her eyes rapidly dart into the corner of the room and twitch in what seemed to be anger. Before she could react, Eden took a deep breath and looked back at Arielle with unnamed purpose.
"It still might hurt a little, alright?" she said quietly and with an unreadable expression.
Arielle looked at her curiously for a few, very brief moments and then lightly nodded her head.
Eden then leaned in a little and began to carefully clean the wound with precision and concentration, touching her as little as possible. As Eden's hand danced around the swollen scrape, Arielle wondered how this person who seemed to be just another lost, ruthless ruffian could be so gentle. The same hands that had no doubt reeked much violence were now covering her face ever so lightly and trying to heal. This simple exchange between lady and raider was beyond anything she was able to fully grasp. There was tenderness and death in the same hands, regard and apathy in the same eyes. Arielle's mind wandered into the realm of her vivid imagination and she began to paint Eden in the shades of some kind of light and some kind of dark, wondering if such a being could exist in reality.
"Arielle?" Eden said in a low voice.
"Yes?" she whispered back.
"You're staring at me."
"Oh," Arielle said with a jolt, snapping out of her somewhat dreamy state with embarrassment. "I'm very sorry."
Eden continued her task, concentration etched on her face.
"There." she said, leaning back and placing the handkerchief on the table.
She reached over to her saddlebags again and took out a salve. She looked at Arielle and again the blond saw the strange, anger-like look in the raider's eyes. Eden cast them down.
"This will help it heal faster. It might sting a little at first, alright?" she said to the floor and only looked at Arielle when she was done speaking.
The blond nodded and again Eden leaned in and applied the salve skillfully.
"Done." she said and turned to put the salve back into the saddlebags.
"It didn't sting at all." Arielle said quietly, in genuine amazement of how the raider had treated her wound.
"The cut on your lip just needs cleaning." Eden added, betraying no emotion.
Arielle nodded at little absently and took the damp handkerchief and cleaned the cut on her lip, noticing that it hurt and wishing that the bandit could treat it too, but she quickly shooed the idea out of her head.
Eden got up, walked to the window, and watched the storm raging outside.
"This will still last for a while. Maybe rest." she suggested absently.
After a while, she walked back to the table tiredly, sat down, and began to take some food that she luckily had out of the saddlebags. She noticed Arielle looking pitifully at it. The woman didn't say a word, but her stomach growled instead and she covered it embarrassingly with her hand.
"Or eat something." Eden remarked with a disgruntled sigh and pushed the food into the middle of the table and motioned for the blond to help herself. Arielle almost jumped at it, but still tried to keep herself under control. After eating a few mouthfuls and washing it down with water, Arielle looked up at Eden who was quietly sitting, looking at the table, and picking at her food.
"What will happen to the squires if those marauders catch them?" Arielle asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"You mean when, not if."
"Alright, when?"
"I don't think you want to really know, duchess."
"They're going to be killed, aren't they? And the women?"
Eden didn't answer which was an answer in itself. Arielle sighed and leaned back in her chair a little, much less agitated now that she had something in her stomach though when she thought about her traveling companions, her stomach threatened to revolt.
"And you travel with these people? You condone this?" she asked, shaking her head with some agitation and automatically saw that she had overstepped her bounds when she met Eden's glare.
"Who are you to judge me?" she hissed through her teeth in a voice so low it was barely heard and with eyes that housed an igniting blaze, "You have no idea who I am. Or what I can do."
Arielle swallowed and found herself to be completely mortified.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I meant no offense." she said quickly.
"Really?" Eden coldly snarled, her eyes narrowing.
"You just strike me as different from those raiders." Arielle rushed in her defense in almost a whimper.
"Oh, amuse me. How?" Eden challenged, crossing her arms on her chest.
Arielle realized that those arms could probably grab and break her in two if they wanted. They just lingered there for her to see, almost daring her to say something stupid so that they could show her the extent of their power. She could feel her own arms going limp and her heart beginning to race faster and faster. She is truly terrifying.
"Better." she simply said.
Prepared for a barrage of flowery words that carried little meaning, Eden was caught off-guard by the simple statement. In a fluttering moment, Arielle saw a stunned look cross Eden's face only to be quickly covered again by her stone mask of no emotion. And in a quiet moment, Eden noticed something change in Arielle's eyes, almost as if a different, wiser and more knowing person emerged from her to peel away the layers of the marauder and speak only truths. It made Eden want to physically draw back and evoked discomfort and anxiety within her. Arielle eased back in her chair a little.
"I really am sorry." she added and Eden just waved her hand, looking to the side and out the window.
The downpour had lessened somewhat, but it was still raining hard and the sun was setting over the horizon.
"We're going to have to sleep here tonight." she mumbled to the window.
They continued to eat in silence. Nibbling away contentedly, Arielle didn't notice Eden picking at her food only to finally push it towards Arielle with a hint of disgust. Only after she felt a pleasant heaviness in her stomach did the blond finally look up and notice that she had eaten a lot more than courtesy would allow. She blushed, embarrassed and rushed over several different excuses in her mind until she finally realized that Eden didn't seem to have noticed or cared. She sat with her elbow propped on the table, her chin resting on her hand, staring out the window into the growing darkness. At that moment, she looked quiet, thoughtful, and wise. Almost fragile.
"You know," Arielle started, breaking the silence, "I never thanked you for helping me today. With the raiders...and everything."
Eden only waved her hand again.
"No, really. It was very...brave what you did. And I know that you didn't have to. When we reach Antioch, I shall see to it that you are properly rewarded."
Eden turned her head slowly and Arielle suddenly remembered the comment she had made in the desert about giving her riches.
"That is," she said quickly, raising her palms up slightly in the air as a sign of no ill will, "if you want. I just want to show my appreciation."
"No need."
She frowned slightly, but in her mind Arielle decided that she would find a way to reward the marauder for her trouble.
"We should get some sleep," Eden finally said after some time, "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."
Arielle nodded and they got up from the table. Arielle had no bedclothes to change into so she simply removed her belt and shoes and lied down on one of the two straw beds in the hovel. She did so cautiously, but was too tired to pay enough attention to her out-of-ordinary circumstances to complain. Besides, Arielle treated it all as an adventure, like the ones she had read about or recited herself; she had finally broken free of her constraints. On the other side of the room, Eden had carried over her unsheathed sword and propped it up against the headboard. She took off her leather armor and boots and finally stretched herself out on the straw bed. With no fire, the room had become just as dark as the desert night and Eden closed her eyes and listened to the quiet falling of the rain.
"Sleep well." Arielle whispered timidly into the dark room.
Eden wanted to snort. Exchanging well wishes before sleep was just as common for her as straw beds in an abandoned hovel were for Arielle.
"Goodnight, Zauba'a." Arielle added, thinking the raider hadn't heard her before.
Eden frowned at the mention of the name even though she knew she hadn't told Arielle what her real one was.
"Zauba'a doesn't say goodnight. It always means goodbye." Eden murmured in a low voice, with a hint of sad recognition.
Arielle was so tired that her eyes had already grown too heavy to keep open and she fell asleep before she was able to wonder why the marauder had spoken of herself in the third person.