Guardian(Part III): Desolation

Chapter 42: Gabriel

It had been a week since we arrived in Valedon. Lord Chambers had already attacked Chambers' Keep, killing everyone there at the cost of hundreds of his own. Rebels, Regulars, and civilians alike were killed. Who dealt the killing blows to the civilians, though, was unclear. Jonathan Chambers' rebels certainly weren't above such a thing, and neither were Lord Chambers' soldiers. This was exactly what Thulgrium had planned, and told me about in Illondas. Men destroying each other for reasons they didn't understand, and causes that they didn't believe in. Blood would flow as rivers and the dead would rise as mountains. More violence, more war, more death. Desolation. I could sense a feeling of guilt from Princess Meridia. She wanted nothing more than to stop this, but at the same time, she knew she couldn't, and that no one could at all, especially with the Guardians nearly dead, and the remaining ones scattered.

"Ser Gabriel?" asked Princess Meridia.

"Yes, my lady?" I addressed.

"Emma said she was told not to choose a side in the coming war," the Princess reminded. "But I can't stay neutral."

"You're the Princess, my lady," I denied. "The only side you are required to be on, is the side of the people's."

"How is that possible when the people are at each other's throats?" asked the Princess. "You know Lord Chambers is a bad man."

"So is his brother," I reminded.

"Exactly," Meridia agreed. "I know that I must do what is required of me, but I don't know what that is. With the power I have, perhaps I could stop this, but in whose favor?"

"That's something I don't have an answer for, my lady," I admitted. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be," the Princess excused. "But promise me this, at least."

"Anything," I swore.

"You are a Paladin, Ser Gabriel," Princess Meridia reminded. "You serve Chardan's people as much as its King, but the King is dead. Whatever happens, Gabriel, promise me that you will not forget what you have sworn to do, and that is to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Never turn away those in need. Never draw your sword on the innocent, and draw it only in the service of others, because Chardan is their country as much as the King's, no matter what happens."

I wondered why she was asking this of me. Everything she had said, I already did. I was a Paladin. A defender of Chardan's people as much as its King. From how Princess Meridia was asking it, though, it could only mean one thing. War was coming, and she had no hope that she would survive, or that her country would survive. I wanted to convince her otherwise, but it would do nothing to comfort her.

"I promise, my lady," I said instead.

"Thank you, Ser Gabriel," the Princess sighed. She threw my arms around me, squeezing as tightly as she could. I hugged her back, to provide her at least a little bit of comfort, but there was still that feeling of hopelessness seething in her. She truly had no hope for the future. It was easy for me not to as well. The only thing that would follow the Battle of Chambers' Keep was more bloodshed, until there was no one left to kill, or be killed. Princess Meridia went to bed a few hours after our conversation, with that cold thought on her mind. It pained me to see her like that, but when someone's country was on the brink of civil war, there was nothing else that could even come close to their mind. Especially the mind of the one who was supposed to keep a civil war from happening in the first place. Only, how could she do that if no one knew that she was the rightful heir to Chardan's throne? I asked Emma that same question, and she had no answer, other than the fact that the Princess simply couldn't. There was nothing that anyone could do to stop this war from happening.