BALLAD OF HUA MULAN 》THE WEEPING MONK

chapter 11

chapter 11:
conflict.
Mulan

"Let's just keep the Green Knight bleeding out on Goliath, that'll be great," I sassed Lancelot in a hushed tone as we walked towards the black tent that held Carden and Wicklow.

"Why do you care?" He went from being so sweet and caring inside to being his old cold self when we entered the outside, and it hurt me.

This isn't even real.

It's all fake to keep eachother safe.

Don't expect him to act so different.

Yet I deeply misread this anger, as it was aimed towards Gawain and not me.

'Twas jealousy.

"Gawain?" I whispered to him, and he could barely keep his head up.

"M-Mulan. . .? What are you-?"

"You had us worried, my son. You took awhile to get here with your future bride," Carden nodded at me, acknowledging my presence to Wicklow, as he hugged Lancelot.

"Is this him? Is this the famous Weeping Monk?" Wicklow asked, staring at Lancelot like he was some kind of artifact.

"His Holyness has sent Abbott Wicklow to observe us in our campaign against the Fey," And even from a mere glance at his eyes, Carden couldn't stand Wicklow.

And for good reason.

"So, what have you brought us?"

"The Green Knight," He told Carden, pride in his voice and his eyes looked up at Carden like a puppy.

I know they are close, and Carden raised him, but. . .

He wouldn't. . .not after everything I told him, right?

"God smiles on us today," Carden chuckled, having Paladins lift up Gawain and present him infront of Wicklow.

"This one. . .this one likes to hide up trees and shoot my men. One of rhem died in my arms on a ride through the Minotaur."

Shoot your boys, if I may correct.

"His name was Peter, if I recall. Fourteen, a Butcher boy. Got a barbed arrow in the neck. Died swallowing his own blood," Carden may have been telling a grim story, but the smile upon his face said otherwise.

"Are you proud of that, Green Knight? No? No answer? We like that."

And I like cutting your throat open, but we can't have it all.

"We have Brother Salt and his kitchens for the quiet ones."

My eyes widened once he said Brother Salt. He may be blind, but he is precise and a cruel, cruel man to the Fey they bring him. They're strong, but they never last.

"Uncanny. He almost passes for human," Wicklow said, almost impressed.

"Some can, yes. That's how they spread. By fire, or by steel, you will sing to us. And you will tell us all we need to know about your Witch,"  Carden got up close to Gawain.

Nimue.

"You want my words, priest?"

"Oh, I do. I do," Carden leaned in.

"Are you sure? I know many things. Many secrets," Gawain glared at Lancelot, and only a hate-filled gaze like that told such a story.

He knows.

_________________

"How does he know?"

"He cut my wrists. When I touched the ground, my hand turned green and it healed," I grabbed his wrist and sure enough, not a sign of a scratch or even a scar.

"And. . .why are you like this? I mean, as of late," He squinted his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"This morning, your words were so harsh towards me, and yet you promise to keep me safe and slaughter anyone who wants to harm me?" I questioned.

"I-I'm-"

"And one of those people is Carden, who let it happen, and yet you let him hug you like a. . .like a son," I realized. It wasn't just mentor and mentoree, it was father and son.

"I really do hope I'm not marrying a man who considers himself a son to that monster," I crossed my arms.

"He is not like that-"

"Unless he found a way to get orders from the Pope within a few hours, I highly doubt he was ordered to rape me," I wasn't going to budge on my claims. Carden violated me just as much as those boys did, and he will not get away with it.

"And we aren't getting married."

I glared at him, "Oh, how fitting to point that out when it benefits you."

Lancelot got in my face, anger seething from the both of us, "Carden did not touch you. Those Paladins did, and you killed them. You got your revenge, so what is the big deal?"

What. . .what's the big deal?

"The big deal? The big deal is that he let them violate my body, touch me, put their dicks inside of me and use me like a fuck toy. Carden watched, laughed, and let them continue on for five hours. . .at that point, I was numb," My eyes started to tear up as I stepped towards him, and he stepped back.

"Murder doesn't just magically make all that they did go away, and everytime I look at that old man, I feel their hands all over me again, and again, and again!" My fists banged on his chest, but he grabbed my wrists. I looked up at him, my supposed protector, with tearful eyes.

"It takes something from you that you cannot get back. And if you cannot understand that, then I do not need your help," I threw off the fake ring.

"I just need the help of the forest. Because unlike you, they told me it was a gift from God - the way I can control the animals. It's another truth I learned while I was gone," I started out of the tent, turning to him with a hot tear trailing down my cheek.

"I'm a Fey too."