Gwyndolin's crush
chapter 10
"Everything?" Gwyndolin asked, distraught.
"Everything." His sister Gwynevere confirmed, receiving a childishly disappointed sigh from him in return.
"Surely at least some moments of reprieve?" He asked.
"Nay... I understand thou took this child in upon a whim brother, but she is thy responsibility now, thou must be prepared to give thy everything in raising her and always be at her side. Especially in a home like ours." Gwynevere sighed, lamenting the nature of a royal family and all the politics. "And turn thy frown upside down lest thou upset the girl." Gwynevere scolded him, physically turning his frown upside down with her hand, though the sheer size of said hand hid the result from her.
"Gah, fine, fine. Here see, cheerful as can be!" Gwyndolin batted her hand away and showed his best fake smile, which seemed to work perfectly. "And besides, yes very well, I shalt devote my all to caring for Yorshka, even if it should impede upon mine studies of sorcery." As much as it upset him, this was not a lie, he couldn't really fake something like raising a child, at least not forever. At the very least he had a long life to live, so he would just have to wait for her to grow older so he could return to his studies.
"Ah good, a brave face will suit thee well. Even so I understand this shalt difficult for thee, and shouldst thou ever require aid I wouldst be glad to offer mine own assistance." Gwynevere smiled to him warmly.
"Mine thanks sister." Gwyndolin smiled back; she was ever so kind.
"Of course. Ah, one more thing before thou leaves, may I see the girl?"
"Very well. Do keep in mind she is quite shy."
"That is quite alright." Now finally with the glass of water he set out for, and his giant sister accompanying him, Gwyndolin returned to his quarters. Opening his door, he gasped in horror. His white dress was spread out across the floor, and Yorshka lay upon it, scribbling on it with charcoal, she herself was covered in soot and was dirtying the floors.
"Oh dear, it seems we left her alone too long. Another thing brother, never leave a child her age alone for more than five minutes. Twill only lead to disaster. Such as this..." She frowned, looking over to Gwyndolin and see a frown larger than her whole being. "I understand this will be difficult for thee..."
Gwyndolin was sure to carefully place the glass down on a table before screaming his head off about how unfair this had all been, Gwynevere had to restrain him with one giant hand as his snakes began to thrash about the room. Yorshka looked at the squealing man and the giant woman with wide eyes and sat still as a statue.
"Oh dear." Gywnevere sighed as the events unfolded. It would be difficult for him indeed.
Arias walked the bustling streets of Anor Londo, bored and scared out of his mind. It seemed Gwyn had not been kidding about him being relieved of his duties till the linking of the flame, no one showed up to his home when he didn't go to the cathedral, seemed as though he was truly free to do as he pleased till the day of reckoning. But you see that was just the problem. What did he want to do? So much of his life was spent in that cathedral that he didn't know what to do now that he was free of it. He wondered, would he go hollow before the burning? Which fate was worse? Probably hollowing actually.
But how to stop the hollowing? Think, what was he good at? He could swing a sword fairly well, in fact that was the very skill that got him in this predicament. Since when had he been so strong anyways? Sure, he could keep up with the legendary Artorias for a few seconds before but that shouldn't have gotten him to survive that encounter. Maybe battling with intruders every other day, despite their immense lack of skill with a sword, was still helping him grow stronger without him knowing.
He thought again about how he'd contested Artorias before. Maybe he could do better now? Maybe. If Artorias would allow it, that would be his new goal. Besides he owed him for getting him fucking killed. Maybe if he's fated to go down in flames, he can make a legend of himself while he was at it, to make himself stand out in the halls of those who burned for the age of fire.
Well, there was no point hanging around, staying here was just boring if not depressing.
Back in the golden halls of the Anor Londo cathedral. He felt strangely out of place; he wore his armour and carried his sword as always, but he wasn't required to be here. He greeted Solaire as he passed through, he 'congratulated' Arias with all the joy of a funeral precession. Of course, most of the Chosen Undead understood this fate to be unsavory at best, yet to acknowledge it as such within the cathedral would end poorly.
"You seen Artorias around lately?" Arias asked him.
"That I have. Last I saw he was headed to the courtyard, the one with the fountain, you should check there. If he's not there, then I am sure a maid could tell you where he's gone since." Solaire pointed down the golden hall.
"Aye, thanks friend." Arias waved to Solaire as he walked off.
"Of course. Be safe now."
"I'll sure try." That would certainly be difficult, what when he looked to challenge the kingdom's best greatsword fighter to a duel and all.
"Fetch!" Artorias yelled as he tossed a turkey bone high above the courtyard fountain. Sif happily bounded across the grass and stone and over the fountain, splashing water over herself but catching the bone just as it passed the fountain. She landed for but a brief moment as she skipped happily around in a circle, her large body causing the ground to shake before she ran back to Artorias.
She trotted beside him and laid down, gnawing on the bone in her mouth. It was from a large turkey, but it looked miniscule within her jaws, Artorias often joked that he'd need to fetch a dragon bone for something appropriate to her size. He was calmly petting the wolf when he heard armored footsteps on the stone path approaching him.
His gaze snapped up and he saw Arias almost before him, dragging his greatsword behind him. "Arias..." His smile fell into a frown. "Look... I..." He sighed, having dreaded this moment for a whole day now, he understood he was at fault, but for once this was a man he did not want to face. "I..." He trailed off in shame.
Arias didn't give him a chance to pick up his sentence, thrusting his greatsword into the ground and pointing to the legend confidently. "Abysswalker Artorias. I, Arias the Chosen Undead challenge you to a duel." Confidence in his voice and posture, he held his gaze firm on Artorias, awaiting his response.
"Immediately?" Artorias asked. Arias did not respond but held film his grip on the greatsword buried in the dirt. Artorias understood and rose from his seat, telling Sif to go see Ciaran. She bounded off down the courtyard, a worried look in her face. She knew he was about to fight Arias; she'd seen them fight before. Though this challenge did not seem quite as friendly. "Chosen Undead Arias, I, Artorias the Abysswalker, accept your challenge." He took greatsword and greatshield in hand and readied himself. Arias nodded and withdrew his own greatsword from the dirt, taking his shield from his back as he did.
They held still for a time, each reading the other, planning action. Artorias finally struck first, a downward slash that would surely cleave Arias in half if it landed. it struck his shield and tore it to splinters, though the wielder was nowhere to be seen. Arias had run low to the ground and caught Artorias off guard with a strong upward slash, aiming to cut off his arm, seems there was no holding back here. The blade cut deep into Artorias' sword arm, but it didn't take it off, his armor was too solid to allow that, the fact that the sword cut as deep as it did was impressive. Artorias retaliated with a bash from his greatshield, but Arias fell to the ground, barely avoiding the end of the shield, then he kicked off Artorias' leg, using the force to bring himself back to his feet and dislodge his sword. Though he was now short of breath, seemed he had planned on the fight ending in a single blow. Insulting.
With his sword arm damaged, Artorias couldn't take much advantage of his opponent's short breath, at least not yet. Intent on keeping up the offensive, Arias struck repeatedly upon Artorias' shield. It seemed his plan was to prevent Artorias from fighting back, from the slash on his sword arm to this constant offense. Smart plan, though he did seem to have failed to account for one important thing. Artorias held fast as Arias continued his assault and braced his shield arm, waiting until Arias' sword to again hit the metal before violently thrusting the shield forward, bashing his opponent's sword back into his own face, the force was enough to crumple the visor and he heard a loud reverberation from the helm, resulting in a harsh groan from Arias. Though of course this fight was far from over. Arias was an undead after all and it seemed he wasn't intent on holding back, so why should Artorias? He bashed the shield into Arias again, and again, relentlessly pummeling him until fell to his feet. He felt the primal urge to kick him until the final breath left his battered lungs as the rush of battle flooded through him, yet he refused to stoop to that bloody level. Instead, he flung his sword down onto the prone man, utilizing the speed of the movement to deliver the finishing blow.
His eyes opened to a view of the sky through his crumpled visor. Alive again. Seemed he needed to work on his tactics and strength and reaction time and wow he really was not as close to victory as he thought. He heard a snuffling sound close to him and suddenly his vision of the sky was overshadowed by a giant wet nose. "Hello Sif" He sighed, reaching out to pat the big nose. Sif barked and nuzzled him, much to his dismay. "Ah! Down girl down!" Arias cried out, trying to bat the giant wolf away, though she only became more insistent, seemingly convinced this were a game.
A hearty laugh came from across the courtyard as Arias struggled with the oversized hound. "I see you're back from the dead yet again." Artorias chuckled as he approached. Arias called for help when he heard him. "Alright, down girl, come, let him be." Sif did as told and allowed the human to stand.
Arias sighed and sat down on a bench. "Not my most pleasant resurrection." He huffed, earning another hearty laugh from Artorias. Arias sighed and check his gear, his visor was crumpled and there were some serious gashes in his surcoat and chest plate, his sword was still in one piece, though it had sustained some serious nicks, and his shield... There wasn't much of a shield left, only splinters.
"Ah about the shield, here." Artorias spoke up when he saw Arias cast a glance to the pile of scraps and tossed a heavy metal shield to his feet. It was the shape of an emerald, just shorter than Arias's greatsword in height and had an elegant gold frame. "You made a strong gambit with that opening move, impressive but flawed and very costly." Artorias sat beside Arias as he picked up and inspected the giant shield. "So, thoughts on the new one?"
"This shield's for me?" Arias turned his gaze to Artorias for a moment, perplexed.
"Yeah of course. I don't need a new one, you barely dented mine." Artorias chuckled again. "Besides, the gold goes with your armor." Arias couldn't help but laugh at the man's generosity.
"I just tried to kill you and you're gifting me a new shield?" He asked in disbelief.
"I've already gotten you killed so I think we're close to even now."
"Fair point." Arias nodded.
"...Look friend." Artorias started hesitantly. "I'm sorry about what happened. I- I should have thought about what I was saying, about who I was talking to but..."
"It's alright." Arias sighed. "I know this wasn't your intention." Despite his intent to comfort the man's guilty conscience, his downtrodden voice only worsened it.
"Gods I just wish there was something I could do for you."
"You know, you could..." Arias trailed off, thinking about Gwynevere. "No never mind, that's a terrible idea."
"Hrm?" Artorias cocked his head to the side, eager to help in any way he could.
"It's... about someone but it couldn't work, and especially not now." Arias clarified, hoping his obvious discomfort of the topic would convince Artorias to drop it.
"Right." Artorias turned his gaze back to the grass. "You know... that reminds me, there is a secret many of us knights have kept from you for some time now..." Artorias cupped the chin of his hidden face in his hand, seemingly pondering if he really should go ahead with what he was about to say.
"A secret? From me?" Arias asked in disbelief, did he, some random cathedral guard really warrant a secret against him. It wasn't until last week that anyone important really knew about him... Right?
"It's about... How do I put this. Lord Gwyndo..." Artorias trailed off and cocked his head slightly. Arias sat still and waited in anticipation. Artorias seemed to be heavily considering something, then he lurched back as if a lamp had just lit in his mind. "THAT'S IT!" He exclaimed, turning to Arias and grabbing his shoulders a bit too tightly. "My friend, I know how we will save you!"
A/N aaaand cliffhanger ending haha. Place your bets everyone, how is Artorias going to save his good friend of almost the same name?