Rhindeval

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Dawn Henderson and Lilith Evers
Hexcodes- #547B9 and #C71585

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We could hide away in daylight
We go undercover, wait out the sun
Got a secret side in plain sight
We could be heroes
- Alesso, Tove Lo

♪ Hexcode: #DAA520 ♪

6565D1

Benedicto was in his element. The atmosphere in the church was to his liking. It was mostly lit by candlelight. The only outside light coming in was through the stained glass windows high on the wall of the church. It depicted scenes from Ivelda’s rise to power, the scenes Benedicto had learned of, hardly a representation of what really happened.
The air inside was stale and represented the same smell as a cave. The dust was coated thick on the simple furniture inside the building. It was clear the building was hardly used. Certainly the day of worship was not celebrated as it should be. Benedicto had not said anything since he was inside the church. He had merely walked around the building, judging silently, while the preacher was almost constantly on his heels. He dragged his finger on the benches, silently looking at the dust he got even from the front bench.
Although the candles were burning, the chandelier was not, giving away that it had been done in haste. A clear panic move as soon as he had rode into town. Even a one day heads up would have made a huge difference.

The less Benedicto said, the more came out of the mouth of Preacher Antonio. It had started out as apologies, basically mentioning anything and everything the young man put his eyes on. After the apologies were done, the older man started his complaints, and not soon after came the accusations towards the other people in Grainburough. Although not responding with more than a soft mumble, Benedicto heard everything the man was saying.
”It’s the village elder, he is the reason no one sets foot in here. He cares nothing for his people, but only for the money he is making of the fields…. It’s not me, really, he doesn’t even let me do my work. And..and his son is turning out to be the same…, they don’t even thank Her Grace for the good life they have.”

The doors of the church flew open and with it sunlight lit up the space. The small gust of wind it caused saw the dust filling the air, Benedicto just being able to suppress the cough that was tickling his throat. In a hurried fashion a long table was being carried in by a number of slaves, clearly recognisable by the chains around their necks. With its entry, it was immediately the cleanest thing in the small church. Right after several dishes, pots, pans and pitchers were being brought in and placed on the table.
The smell was a welcome difference, but even though it smelled better, he could tell the food wasn’t much to write home about.

A small number of seats were being dragged in as well, all of them wide and cushioned. They were of good quality and clearly expensive. Probably dragged in from the village elder’s residence in order to impress Benedicto. Benedicto spoke to one of the monks. ”Get the village elder in here.” The monk made his way out hurriedly, when Benedicto remembered what the preacher had said. ”Actually… get his son too, there is enough food for all of us.”
While waiting Benedicto looked over the food and drinks and poured himself a goblet of wine. Instead of sitting down, he kept standing and now walked around, sipping from the wine.

Not much later the two man appeared inside the church. ”Take a seat gentlemen, please make sure to dish yourself some food, it’s not here to go to waste….” Clearly uncomfortable both of them sat down on the other side of the table as the Preacher. They started dishing up, while Benedicto was bale to observe them. The father was visibly nervous, probably having a better idea of the reputation of the young man observing him. The young man did not look particularly smart, his parentage the only way to a position of power. He was dishing like his life depended on it, a greedy look in his eyes. Both men looked physically fit, muscular men not scared of helping out in the fields.

They seemed to be honest men, at least as far as Benedicto could recognise. His mood had gone from amused by the prospect to make these people suffer, to annoyed at how these hard working honest men had a total disregard for Ivelda. He got worked up and every movement of the other men in the church annoyed him more and more. ”Don’t let the food go to waste, like you have done with this church.” The last words had come out like a whisper and with clear contempt.
Benedicto laid it on so heavy, the older two man stopped moving. The son had not caught on and continued stuffing his mouth with the stew he had dished himself.
”The Preacher here tells me, that you are stopping people from worshipping Ivelda like she is supposed to be worshipped.”
The temperature in the church seemed to go a few degrees colder as the man prepared to answer for his mistakes.

In a surprise move it wasn’t the father that started talking, but the son. ”Father always says that building the church had cost us enough profits that it guarantees enough of Ivelda’s blessings to last us well into my sons time as village elder.” It was hard to watch the confession as food kept flying from his mouth. His father’s jaw had just dropped at this stupid confession. The answer had been the most honest words Benedicto had heard so far.
Anger replaced annoyance and as he stood behind the table his appearance seemed to grow even taller, towering over the three man sitting at the table. His nostrils were flaring as he was inches away from an outburst. He let the words from the young man once again sink into him and replied in a way the older man had not expected.
”So you say you have a son…”
The man nodded, not looking up from his food, the other two men still sitting silently, scared to move. ”So you must be married then.”
The young man nodded again, not seeing the trap he was falling in. ”But your wedding ceremony was not fulfilled in church?”
Finally swallowing the last bits of his food, the man was leaning back against the cushioned backrest. ”No, not in church, father insisted we got married in the fields as per the old traditions. It was a lovely day, sunny too!” The man smiled from ear to ear, clearly still remembering the ‘best day of his life’.

The room fell silent, just small sighs filling the air. As the son was finally done with his food, he could see the wide open eyes of his father. The eyes that told him to shut his mouth for the last 10 minutes now. Finally, he got the clue and stopped speaking all together. Benedicto’s mind was thinking rapidly, going through all the options laid down in front of him. The confession he just received would normally only be dragged from a suspect after days of torture.
The silence dragged on, and Benedicto could feel the eyes of all others were avoiding his.

Abruptly, there was banging on the door. Especially the Preacher jumped 2 metres in the air upon this unexpected sound. The door opened and one of Benedicto’s monks put his head inside. ”Sir, your carriage has been fixed. It is here in the village, stocked to leave again upon your say so, Sir.”
The tall young man urged the monk to wait outside. ”Well…., it seems our precious time together has been cut short…, shame. Please all join me to the village square.”

Knowing they would follow, he put a heavy step towards the door. As he opened them, he welcomed the clean air outside as the sunlight pierced his eyes. He kept a steady pass towards the square, where people seemed to have gathered to see him off. He noticed how a young, pretty woman was carrying a young baby in her arms. He saw how pale she looked, and how she tried to get a glimpse of her husband behind the young tall preacher walking in the way.

He cleared his throat, while turning his body around to address the crowd. Any sound coming from them before seemed to disappear within seconds. ”Dear people of Grainburough, it seems our time together has been cut short already. For that I wish to apologise. Your work for this great continent and for the great Ivelda has been immense and worthy of such fine people.” He enjoyed their attention, the way they hang on his lips, waiting for every word.
”I also want to apologise for what has been done to you here. If only you were allowed to worship the great Ivelda as it is intended, her blessing upon you could have been that much greater. Instead, you have the rotten luck to live under the tyranny of a cruel and Godless man. He could not even stop his own quest for self-importance, so that his sons marriage could have been a blessed one.”
Benedicto could see the colourless tears streaming down the face of the village elder, almost as if an admission of guilt. They streamed into his beard as his nose started to water.
”It is my task to weed out the evil from this village. It must have been the will of Ivelda herself that my carriage broke down so close to your homes. She has been able to see the injustice that was thrown upon you, the evilness with which you have filled your homes. The lack of prayers causing you to live in sin, like you have. But… it is in Ivelda’s nature to forgive. It is upon her Grace that we are all forgiven, upon her Grace for us to live on, without sin, but with the sound believe that we can improve ourselves in front of her.
Ivelda will rid you of the disease that has been plaguing your lives. I, her most loyal disciple, will take your village elder to her, so she will be able to make her own judgement upon this vile man.” The people reacted, a soft noise from each one, culminating in one short uproar. As soon as the sound began, Benedicto’s monks came to action and punched some of the attendees to their knees. The sound was quickly muffled.
”Pray for Ivelda’s wisdom. Pray for your village elder as he should have prayed for you. I can only thank Preacher Antonio for the leading task that is now thrown upon him. My hearty well-wishes, my brother. May this town prosper under your guidance. I am sure that together with the village elder’s son you will be able to turn things around. I only wish that I would be in attendance when the wedding ceremony begins.”
The crowd looked confused, thinking of the festivities they had only a few months earlier. ”As your father has misguided you, your wedding has never received the blessing it should. As I mentioned, Ivelda’s forgiveness knows no equal, and she will accept a new ceremony, properly celebrated.
All of our hearts are touched by the love we can see on your faces…..” Benedicto turned to the mother with the baby.
”It is so sad that this child will never know the benefits of a blessed parentage. It will forever be a bastard in the eyes of the Almighty Ivelda. It is not a way for a young and vivacious couple you are to start your life together. I will accept the care of your son, albeit with a heavy heart. I will see to it, that it will repend for the sins of the father. I will see that his life is a life full of sacrifices to Ivelda, for him to be trained as a man of the cloth. ”
The young mother sank to her knees. Silent at first, but screeching as soon as her knees hit the ground. Benedicto snapped his fingers, pointing at the older man and the baby. His monks jumped into action, the first binding the older mans hands behind his back, while the second grabbed the baby away from the mother. Some villagers were about to rise up, but before they could do anything, the rest of Benedicto’s bodyguard was standing in between.
Not willing to stay behind for the show, he put himself back in the saddle, instead of stepping into the carriage. It was a good thing he was able to help out today. He would thank Ivelda in prayer later that evening for guiding his way so clearly.

Looking back after a few miles, he could see one horse with an old blind folded and bound man, and another with a monk carrying a baby. Looking forward again, he smiled. The young boy would make a fine monk in a few years. Seeing the size of his father, the little boy might be able to join his bodyguard and serve Ivelda in that way.
He spurred his horse forward and increased the speed of the small caravan of people, back to her Grace, back to Ivelda.

18D10A

No matter how used to horse riding the man was, his ass started hurting after almost a day of it. He left the mountains behind him to arrive in a small settlement. It was a trading post, close to the sea with a small harbour. The air was filled with the smell of fish, and Raiden couldn’t say if the sea creatures were still fresh or not. He had never liked the sea much, and the air made him close to throwing up. He kept a slow pace on his horse until he got closer to the market. The market sounds could be heard from far away. People were shouting back and forth, each trying to sell their items to the highest bidders.
When Raiden stood near the markets edge, he got off his horse. He slid the hood over his head in order to hide his clean colourful coupe. It wasn’t completely abnormal to have his hair color, but the market vendors would at least be able to see he had money and they would focus all attention on him alone.

Before entering the market he fastened his horse and paid a decent amount of coin to the stable boy to keep an eye on it. Looking around to make sure no one watched him, he opened his saddle bag and checked on the Nexu. It hadn’t made much noise on the ride over here, and even now seemed to be fast asleep. Raiden stepped onto the market, walking slowly and inspecting an item when he felt the need to. He bought a few arrow points from the blacksmith, after being advised of the alloy it was made of.
Raiden could tell, of course, but it wasn’t bad to keep up appearances when you wanted to go by unseen.

A few stalls over saw the selling of animal produce. He was a fan of the smoked meat that many places in the continent seemed to have. One town made it spicier than the other with some of the local herbs, but it would all be tasty in its own right. He also brought down the price of a canteen of milk. He didn’t enjoy it much, but they still had some distance to go, and he had to give the little Nexu something before it would die.

Even the captains were trying to sell passage while being at the market. Although some had interesting offers, he was not ready to switch his horse ride to a sailing trip. What do I look like, Korgan? He wasn’t about to say it out loud. Sailors would definitely not know Raiden, but Korgan was something sailors told their kids nightmares about. Thinking of the outrider, he pulled his hood a bit further over his head, making sure not a single pink hair would show underneath.
He made a good deal on a new belt and after spending a good deal of his purse, he made his way back to the stable.

The stable boy was nowhere to be found, even though his horse was right there. Just as he was about to walk over, he saw another kid, maybe 14, walking over to the abandoned animal. The saddlebag had been moving and the curiosity of the teenager had gotten the better of him. He looked around, and not seeing Raiden or anyone else, he opened the strap of the saddlebag carefully.
Raiden hurried his pace over and just as the kid was about to lift the flap open, Raiden put his hand on the boy’s to make sure it stayed closed. ”Move your hands or lose your hands, your choice.”
The boy removed his hand and turned around, mouth wide open in shock. He looked up into Raiden’s eyes. Colour seemed to drain from the boy’s face as his lips started quivering and tears started to form in his eyes.
”You don’t have to cry about it, just beat it. And keep your hands to your own stuff from now on.”
The boy seemed frozen, so Raiden gave him a small push to the side, after which the boy went running. Raiden opened the saddlebag to find the Nexu still in there. He would ride out of town before he would feed it, too many nosy people around.

After he packed all things away he got up on his horse, and slowly made his way out. He stuck to the coastline while continuing on his way home. At the first sign of a forest he basically dived in, feeling more at home there than anywhere else. He was miles away from the nearest town now, so he decided to stop and feed the Nexu before it would starve. He opened the bag and took the tiny creature out. He didn’t know how to hold it, so he placed it on the ground, onto a pile of leaves. He took the canteen of milk, held it in front of the creatures mouth and tried to pour some in. It clearly didn’t like it, most was dripping down and the rest was spat out.
”This cost coin you little shit, you want to starve to death?” He tried again, with a bit more force this time. As he tried to pour in more milk, the little thing scratched his hand with his mini-claws. ”Damn you! Ungrateful little…..”
Raiden stood up, putting his other hand over the injured one as the canteen fell on the ground, spilling the rest of the milk. His hand still covered he started to make an attempt to kick the little creature. He stopped himself just before doing so, realising he already got this far with it, it would be a waste to kill it now.
His hand was bleeding, but not too much. The scratch was not deep, but hurted like hell.

It took few minutes to stop the bleeding. ”Tyann will know what to do with you, best get home quick.”
He picked up the little pup, careful to avoid any more scratching, and placed it back in it’s temporary home. Before going, he picked up the canteen to put it away as well. When he did he saw the smoked meat. ”Maybe…. This could be more in line with his diet.”
He grabbed the meat and held it in front of the Nexu. With a soft purr it reached for it and eagerly put it in his mouth. ”Ah…okay..there we go.”
The little thing was starving. He ate all of the meat Raiden had bought. ”fine, take all of it. On our next stop, let’s try raw meat.” Raiden smiled.

They got going again. It was another day and a half travelling, but it went very smooth from here. On the next stops Raiden was able to catch a few hares. He put one hare over the fire for himself and skinned the other to give the raw meat to the eager little Nexu that seemed to like Raiden more and more. His hand was still messed up, it stopped bleeding a long time ago, but it was swollen and still hurt like hell. He suspected there might be some poison in the claws that made it react this way. It did not lower his speed and he went through the forest in almost a record time.

At last, he reached one of the hills surrounding Lostein. He held the reins to grand himself some time to observe it. It seemed the whole island in the middle of the lake was part of the palace, all colours and materials just ran into each other in a very smooth way. ”Almost there, Clawbreaker…”
He put his boots in the side of the horse to tell it to start running again. In a few minutes he reached the bridge that would take him to the island. He went across it rapidly, some citizens only able to avoid the racing young man by a hair. He did not hear any comments or complaints though. He had removed his hood and the bright pink hair made sure everyone knew who he was.
He went for the stables first. Clawbreaker had been a welcome companion in the second part of his trip, but he was anxious to get rid of it. Things were just easier when you are on your own.

When he arrived at the stables he saw two young man looking sweaty and uncomfortable. He saw a big wet spot on the ground making it muddy. A bucket was standing up straight next to it, but it was clear somebody had been clumsy. He got off his horse and gave the reins to one of them. ”Take care of her” he moved his head around to show the stable boy Raiden could see the mess that they made. ”I hope your better at that than at carrying water…”
He saw some commotion a bit away from the stable. He immediately recognised the towering Korgan, who he was not the biggest fan of. Looking a bit closer, he also recognised the mask of Tyann. He walked over to them to greet them and tell Tyann of his present.
After 3 metres, he turned around, looking at the stable boys still standing there. ”Oh yeah…, and if you even so much as look at the saddle bags, you’ll be the next trophy on my wall!” he said it in a very casual manner and with a smile on his face. But they should know he was absolutely serious.

As he neared the small group, he did not recognise the blond boy, but he didn’t really care for him much. Too pretty to be a stable boy. he thought, nothing like the two mongrels back in the stables.
”Tyann, I see you finally got the courage to start training the foulest beast of all.”
Raiden looked at Korgan as he said it. ”Be careful with this one though…, there doesn’t seem to be too much brain to train, people have been talking for years, you know…” He finished off his sentence in a whisper to Tyann, but still loud enough for all others to hear.
Raiden looked at the drake. His mind being wired as it was, he looked for weak spots. Where would his arrow need to go in order to stop an animal like that. Somewhere in the neck would be best, but its armer was thick, a normal arrow probably wouldn’t do.
As he kept looking at it intently, he spoke to Tyann again. ”I brought you a present. It’s with my horse at the moment. Can’t be more than 2 weeks old, but if he’s going to take after his mom, it will be a force to be considered. Don’t try and give it any milk, it seems to be a big fan of raw meat… I thought you’d enjoy it.”
He pointed at the drake. ”Although I am not sure if it will match up to this splendid creature.”

He rubbed his hand again, it was itching and hurting like crazy. Maybe he should get it checked out. He turned around, facing the stables again. He put his hand on the shoulder of the blonde stable boy, who was still standing there. ”Hey, pretty boy, I would appreciate if you could take care of my horse. I left it with those two bumbling idiots and I am not sure if they are qualified if they can’t even carry a bucket of water. ” He again moved to a softer voice.
”Plus, you probably want this horse and yourself away from Korgan. I mean…, the smell of fish is just unbearable….”