The Tale of The Frenzied Maiden and The Knight of The Three Fingers

Chapter 10

It had happened all too quickly.

Before the two reveling lovers could even begin to react, it was already far too late. Raising from their bedding of hay, perspiration and secretion trickling down her figure, the knight was on her knees before the flame which had regained the humble form that had time and time again soothed her. The modest, faint light of Grace...

Disa was gone.

As the realization truly struck her, the spell that had bound her and enriched everything around her hastily faded, and soon all that was left was the scarce, somber comfort the timeworn shed offered. Body beginning to tremble and eyes wide open she leaned on her knees as her head hung low, the fantastic sensation of Disa's touch gradually leaving her as another reared its ugly head, as familiar as it had just been forgotten. Despair. However, much like that time months ago looking out over the snow-covered mountains, she could not scream or even cry.

She understood what had happened all too well. How she had yet again failed to be heedful of the forces that had long since begun infecting her and how her ceaseless carelessness had forcefully ripped her beloved friend away from her. She should not have read that letter. She should not have begged for Disa to save her. They should not have set their suppressed lusts free under the influence, they should not have-

She shook her head. This internal debate would get her nowhere. It could not have happened in any other way. Disa was gone, but she could not be... Gone. She would know. She would feel it. And what if the knight herself would have been the one who was taken, leaving Disa all alone with nothing and no one, not even Moonveil to carry her back to port? The mere thought was terrifying. Furthermore, it would make no sense for the demon to kill Disa. Not now, nor before the eyes of the knight herself. He must have sensed their bond, he must have understood its exact nature and now she would have to get past him once and for all without being fooled by his deceitful proposals.

'Disa', she spoke lowly, gaze fixated at the flame before her as if it would carry her voice to the distant place where he held her. 'Disa, please wait for me. I know where you are, so please just... Wait for me. I won't be long.' She fell silent as something in the depths of her eyes shifted, devotion overtaken by resentment just as adamantly resolute. 'And you, Shabriri...' her voice remained calm, yet it's edge was sharp like that of a knife.

'You are not getting what you want. She has already made sure of that.'

The Grace flickered.

Without rest, she silently dressed, packed and rode out into the night. Her focus much like back then, climbing down the shaft behind the demon's throne to meet with the three-finger hand, the very same conviction that other than bringing Disa to safety, there was something waiting there for her, for them...

The following nights were deeply imbued with maddening desire, yet she did not once resort to self-gratification. Oh, what she wouldn't give to touch Disa's velvety skin, how she would gladly burn that tree to the ground just so she could once again lose herself in the warm, welcoming wetness of that between her thi-

A hand flew to cover her mouth, her lascivious fantasising instantly smothered by shame. What utterly reprehensible reasoning! How could such a disgraceful thought even have come to mind? No wish could be more blasphemous than to wish harm upon the sacred embodiment of Order! And yet she strongly felt, that no thought could ever be as blasphemous as one that rivalled her insatiable yearning for her stolen lover.

Day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment it became increasingly clear how her mind had ultimately been tainted, the strongest indicator of this being how she suddenly had ceased to regard it as such. For a time it just was, and though she did not denounce the Golden Order and the Gods again, her formerly so unyielding faith was reduced to something idle in the depths of her mind. However, her infatuation in a single individual could not justify such sacrilegious endeavours, only worsen. Never before had desire and pleasure disturbed duty, always had she saved such acts strictly for leisure, not even when she had thought to hold love for her former maiden had she ever planned on letting it interfere with their holy mission. It was as if Disa had become the very manifestation of Linnae's own strength and motivation, the other half of what she herself had been lacking, a goddess of her own...