Bologna, 1093
Constance was half-dragged, half-carried out in the paved streets of Bologna. The late afternoon sun glimmered over the horizon and already lampposts were being lit on the street. Once in the open, the princess moaned softly and averted her eyes from the light, parts of her face were bruised and her bliaud was nearly in tatters.
A minute later, Raynaud de Xaintrailles strode out, this time without the assistance of any Imperial guards. While he was physically in much better condition than the Princess, he was still lost in his own thoughts after his conversation with the Kaiser and thus paid Constance very little heed, if any at all. The two of them walked silently through the streets of Bologna to where they would eventually emerge and head for Rome, Raynaud in a little shuffle and Constance in a perpetual stumble as she tried to make the sudden adjustment to her freedom. Both of them were far gone in their own thoughts. There would be conversation, but not on the first day.
For the better part of the evening, she mutely followed him, stealing a few glances in his direction, but mostly keeping her eyes on her own feet and concentrating on every step. Even with her blurry red eyes, her burning forehead and her exhaustion, she never once complained. Constance walked when Raynaud walked and rested when he rested. On the next morning, when she rose, she collapsed to the ground and remained deathly still.
Raynaud, who had risen only ten minutes prior and, while in a better mood than the previous day, was still groggy, emitted a soft groan as he saw the princess faint. Trudging over to his water skin, he took a short swig, paused, and then emptied it over Constance's face. It was enough to wake her, as she started cough and sputter, her hands waving wildly in the general direction of her face, bracing for another impact of water that did not come. Eventually she let her guard down, and for the first time, Raynaud got a look at her face. The bruises were still there, but they did not totally hide who she was. His eyes widened in shock.
"You..." he muttered. "In the church..."
"Yes." She replied with some measure of shame before propping herself up with great effort. Her feverish eyes seemed glazed over and yet they bored right through Raynaud.
"Why did you come?" Constance queried in a raspy voice.
"My reasons for doing so are my own," said Raynaud. "However, chief among them is the fact that I felt I could make a difference in this situation. My presence on the Iberian front was not critical, and the Seneschal's other diplomats were otherwise occupied. I felt that this would be a better use of my time. I also believed that I would be able to connect with the Kaiser on a level that the diplomats would not be able to, as they are apt to forget their roots, lost in the foppery of eternal pampering. Unfortunately, I did not realize exactly the level that the Kaiser and I would connect on, but that is a story for another time." He paused, making sure that the girl was still coherent, probably his first act of compassion in a long time. Then he continued.
"Your disappearance has been greatly discussed in the Conseil. Tell me, Your Highness, how did you come to be in the Kaiser's possession?"
"Hermann... He wanted me and he..." She choked on the word before sobbing and collapsing back in the dirt. "You shouldn't have come." She muttered in between the sobs.
Raynaud just stared at her. "Evidently I should have, considering the state you've been in ever since you were released. You are a Princess who, frankly, looks like a mess, and I need you to be more helpful than you currently are for everyone's sake. Your Highness," he added on hastily at the end. "Now, you were mentioning a gentleman by the name of Hermann. Did he violate you in any way?"
For the first time her eyes focused and her plaintive voice turned sour. "Everyone will just have to find someone else. I am..." At that moment her body was wracked by a violent series of cough. "I am dying and I do not care anymore. There is nothing left for me in this world."
"Snap out of it," Raynaud said, now more annoyed than anything else, despite the Princess's predicament. "You're not dying, you've just been mistreated, and I need to know the extent of this mistreatment. You may continue to moan and feel self-pity, but then all you will get is more of the same. Your Highness. Or, you could tell me exactly what happened, and I can help you feel better. The choice is yours, although I hope for your sake that you choose the later, for if you don't, so help me God, I will leave you here and go back to Paris myself, and good luck finding anyone else that will get you where you need to go. What you are doing now amounts to suicide, and I have no pity for those who would so quickly forsake the Lord's ultimate gift. So, Princess, what will it be?"
Constance gave out a hoarse laugh which ended with another series of coughs. "I am tired, battered, sick, defiled and I have blood on my hands. Face it, I am damned." She paused and asked earnestly. "What would you have me do?"
"I would have you answer my original question," Raynaud said, "and then I will deal with the matter of you being damned or not. What happened to get you in this state?"
"Hermann took me as his... thing." Disgust crept in her voice before she continued with downcast eyes. "I wasn't strong enough to get away and there were consequences to my attempts."
"So he violated you," said Raynaud. "Do not worry about it, for he is a sinner. He will eventually burn in the fires of Hell for all eternity for his act, but he will get his justice even before that. Not now, though, for this is a cursed land for you and it would be best for everyone if we departed it immediately. There is a patch of woods about fifty yards to the right. If you can make it there, we will rest there for one day. Do not do anything; I will see to feeding you, setting up shelter, and the like. Just relax and regain your strength. Do not worry about your tormentor. The Lord will see to his destruction. Does this sound acceptable to you, Your Highness?"
"For now..." Constance struggled to rise and on shaky legs made her way to the woods where she sat, her back resting against a tree. She watched Raynaud in silence with some fascination before speaking up once more. "You never gave me your name, and please drop the formalities, I am not the one here who deserves respect."
Raynaud gave her a short, sharp bow. "I am Raynaud de Xaintrailles, Knight of the House of Aquitaine."
Upon hearing this, Constance lost her short-lived mellow attitude and looked at him sharply. "My brother sent you didn't he? I should have known... We are heading back to Rome after all. You are taking me back to that prison and here I thought you would be the one to save me. All along, I should have realized..." By sheer force of will, she stood up on shaky legs, using the tree as support, she continued with a grim determination to her tone. "...only I can save myself. I was weak Raynaud de Xaintrailles, but never again. I am not going back there, no matter what."
Raynaud looked at her and shook his head. "The Dauphin did not send me here. He is preoccupied with other matters that I will not relate to you out of respect for my liegelord. I admire your resolve, but you are still, as you put it, 'tired, battered, sick, defiled,' and, if you continue with this course of action, alone. Now, I can help you out, as I mentioned. I can make you strong, and eventually, I could perhaps assist the Lord in His work of disposing of your Hermann. But first, you need to come along with me."
Constance narrowed her eyes and seemed confused for a moment. Her mind told her that Raynaud was bad news, that all this was some sort of ploy and yet, her instincts screamed at her to trust him, that this man, unlike the others, would not betray her trust. Slowly she sat down and took a deep breath, oddly enough she seemed better. There was no more coughing and her pale visage had regained some color. She looked at him with genuine regret.
"I am sorry. Yes, I will come with you."
"All right," said Raynaud, still without the hint of a grin on his face. "But first, we go over to that patch of woods and rest up for the rest of the day." She nodded reluctantly, and he slowly helped her along to the woods, where they spent the rest of the day. In spite of the turnaround/breakthrough compared to the day before, there was still very little talking, mostly because of Raynaud's usual demeanor. The following day they set off for Rome, where they would charter a ship back to France.
...
Rome
Ever since the two of them passed Florence, Raynaud felt as if they were being followed. Now that they had crossed into the Eternal City, where a ship was waiting to take them back to France, he was sure that something was going to happen. Constance, although mostly recovered from her ordeal, was still not at full health and thus vulnerable. By this point in his life Raynaud knew better than to distrust these flashes of intuition, as he viewed them as signs from God. In a small village about halfway between Florence and Rome, he had exchanged his fine diplomat’s clothes for less-obvious earth tones for himself and Constance. He still wished he had his skulls with him, but they were lost somewhere along the journey to Bologna.
The two of them had moved as quickly as possible through the city on Raynaud’s orders, not bothering to stop and hear the latest gossip (that Kaiser Heinrich had rode north for Frankfurt and was now under siege). It was a beautiful city, with equal wonders from classical and modern days, but Raynaud was in the mood to see none of it. In rudimentary Italian, he asked for and received directions to the docks. Constance, keeping with her ordeal as well as her disguise, said nothing. Twice, Raynaud has stopped abruptly, turning around and drawing his sword, but he quickly realized there was nothing there and moved on. After the second time, the city’s denizens started to give the both of them a wide berth.
Finally, the docks were in sight. When Raynaud and Constance saw their designated ship – really, just a large boat – the two of them broke out into a jog. The city had just been too spooky for them to be there any longer. But they abruptly skidded to a halt as five men appeared, blocking their path to the ship. While they didn’t look German (in fact, they looked just as Italian as everybody else in the city), Raynaud still saw their eyes on the Princess. Turning to Constance, he said very softly, “Run, but eventually lead them back to me. Do this now.” She nodded, and took off in the opposite direction, back into the city. Raynaud turned back, seeing that all five men had already drawn their swords. They now ran directly for him.
Not having enough time to draw his own sword, Raynaud instead dropped into a crawling position. This maneuver partially worked, as it sent two of the kidnappers sprawling into the hard stone ground. However, that still left three men to pursue the princess. Praying for a miracle, Raynaud got up and drew his own sword, preparing to face down the men he had drawn away from Constance.
He feinted left, and then went right before abruptly drawing back to parry a blow that never came. The trick was in the opening phases to keep the enemy off-balance, after all. A split-second after the phantom parry, he went forward again, raining a flurry of blows, before drawing back momentarily. While the two Italians were stopped, trying to figure him out, Raynaud want low, causing the two of them to stumble back and lose their balance once again. Quickly disarming them, Raynaud grabbed the two of them by their hair and bashed their heads together once. They were out cold, hopefully unable to remember anything that had gone on. Raynaud ran to the ship to prepare for departure in case it was a footrace between Constance and her pursuers.
Meanwhile, Constance, quickly realizing that she wouldn’t be able to outrun three physically fit men, dodged into the first door she could find, praying that nobody would throw her out or take advantage of her. She was fighting a desperate battle with her emotions, hoping that they wouldn’t overcome her, hoping that all the bad memories she had accumulated with Hermann wouldn’t come washing back in a tide, threatening to break her down once and for all.
She won the battle, her breathing slowly returning to normal… until the door crashed open. Unable to help herself, she screamed and darted to a new hiding place, overturning a table and crouching behind it. She could hear Italian voices laughing, saying something, “ bella principessa”, drawing ever nearer to her.
Finally, they entered the room she was hiding in.
Summoning all of her strength, both physical and emotional, Constance took a deep breath and broke all four legs off the table, one by one. Holding two in each hand, she threw them as hard as she could at her three pursuers, and then jumped out and started running low.
It bought her just a second of time as the Italians swatted at the table legs with their swords, but it was enough. She cut between two of them, darted out the door, and then broke into a full sprint back to the docks. This time, she knew, she had to make it. This time, it wasn’t an obsessed Imperial suitor that she had prior experience with, this time, it was a group of Italians, purpose unknown, and Europe was a very large continent. She had to get to the docks, to the ship, to Raynaud, or otherwise she knew she could kiss any chance at seeing France again goodbye for a very long time.
And there Raynaud was, on the ship already, spotting her and screaming, waving his hands in exaggerated motions, “Venez! Venez! Venez!” and somehow, she found some extra speed, for the Italians were right behind her and still gaining…
She dove onto the boat just as Raynaud was pulling it away from the docks, but one of the Italians was right behind her and also managed to get on. She screamed, but Raynaud was there, grasping the man on the head and them kneeing him right back into the sea. The two dry, conscious Italians could only watch as their prey was sailing away, sailing back towards France. They were going home.
Re: Stories Thread
Originally Posted by TosaInu
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