A Plague Tale: Family

Remembrance

Chapter XV of A Plague Tale: Innocence, Chapter I of this fanfiction.

Helped by his mother, Hugo has become able to control the rats. Vitalis, who injected himself with the boy's blood, tried to force Hugo through the First Threshold. But, protected by Lucas' elixir, Hugo resisted. The de Runes are still the Grand Inquisitor's prisoners, and he intends to continue his experiments.

Château d'Ombrage, Kingdom of France. January 1349 AD.

It was hell. Literally. The ancient Château d'Ombrage, despite being built specifically to keep its inhabitants safe from the swarming hordes of rats, was seething with those rats. They had breached the defences of the castle and were now everywhere where there was no fire to keep them at bay.

Amicia de Rune, a beautiful teenage girl of age fifteen, despite a few scars on the bridge of her nose, lower lip, and chin, with her brown hair falling to a single braid down her back, was crawling down the courtyard of the Château, away from a towering knight in heavy armour. His face was covered by a helmet, which was hooded. Right beside him was a little boy of age five with brown dishevelled hair, and dark veins on his face. Wearing a black tunic with gold embroidered into the hems and red stripes, a red shirt beneath, and black pants with boots, the boy, who was Amicia's cursed brother, Hugo de Rune, looked at the girl as if he was brainwashed.

Amicia whimpered in fear, crawling away from the approaching knight, Chevalier Nicholas, the commanding officer of the Inquisition tasked with hunting down Hugo de Rune in order to control the power within his blood, the Prima Macula, or the First Corruption, as the alchemists called it. The Inquisition were spying and pursuing the de Runes for a long time. They murdered Chevalier Robert de Rune, their father, and had their mother, Béatrice de Rune, captive.

Nicholas ordered Hugo to kill his sister, threatening to kill the Lady de Rune right in front of him. Yet, the boy hesitated, despite the hatred he was filled with towards his sister. She lied that their mother was alive, and he was mad at her. Pushing the boy away, Nicholas decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Hugo, I've been looking for you everywhere!" Amicia cried, while paying close attention to the menacing knight. "Don't touch him you bastard!"

"Bastard?" Nicholas' voice boomed incredulously. "He gave himself up because you betrayed him!" he then added. "Thanks to him Vitalis will soon be the sole Carrier of the Macula."

"What? No! Hugo is the only Carrier!" Amicia protested as she finally reached a dead end, with Nicholas cowering her.

"Was! His blood now flows through the veins of the Grand Inquisitor!" Nicholas explained, declaring as he unsheathed his sword. Nicholas pointed the blade directly at the girl, ready to strike her down. Desperate, Amicia saw Arthur, the hooded auburn 15-year-old boy and one of the friends she and Hugo found on the way, hiding behind a pile of masonry. Yelling out the word "Die", Arthur pushed the stones right onto the inquisitor.

"You burn in hell!" Amicia yelled as the masonry fell onto the knight, apparently crushing him. Arthur then approached her, helping the girl to get up before something caught his attention.

"Amicia..." he whispered. The girl looked and saw her little Hugo, surrounded by rats that were encircling him. As if he was the one leading him.

"Arthur... Go make sure he's dead... I have to... I have to speak to Hugo..." Amicia told the auburn, not losing eye contact with her brother. Nodding, Arthur returned to the unconscious body of the bloodthirsty knight. With caution, Amicia tried to approach Hugo, only for the flesh-eating rats to stand in her way.

She gently called out to him. "Hugo? I just want to talk to you! He can't hurt you anymore Hugo! Look!" Amicia pointed towards Arthur and the body, with the hooded boy picking up a stone, ready to strike Nicholas' head, finishing him off.