The Lost Scholar

CHAPTER: 06

THE TOWER

There weren't any signs of forced entry. Gabriel climbed into his window and snuck into his mother's bedroom. The boy stood by the door frame and noticed her outline was a muddle green. Gabriel walked over to his sleeping mother. It is sad to think about how big the bed was, despite her lonely nights she had a peaceful look. Gabriel sighed and kissed her forehead before he climbed the bed to join her in his father’s stead.

“Gabriel…?” his mother whispered. “What troubles you?” The little boy did had many problems, but his number one concern is his beloved mother. “I want to sleep with you tonight, is that all right?”

“Of course, my sweet little Gabriel.” His mother wrapped her arms around his little frame and covered his entire skin with loving kisses. Her warmth granted a sense of safety and protection. They drifted soundly till the Sun rose from the horizon.

The next morning was a new day and the previews events were a sign of a new journey and mystery. “Good Morrow, Mama,” Gabriel greeted as soon as he finished his morning chores.

“Good Morrow, sweet prince.” His mother sliced oranges and prepared his favorite creamy milk: coconut milk and brown sugar. “How are you feeling…?” She was different, she always looked tired in the morning, but her permanent scowl was now a frown. He could still see her outline and it was a constant murky green. Perhaps she misses her spouse just as much as Gabriel did. “I am all right, mother, I woke up early so I could make up for lost time,” he said as he dipped the orange slices into the creamy substance and suckled on the mixed juices.

She forced a smile. “Do you feel any different…?”

“Not more so than any other day.” Grizelda is acting strange. She wasn’t this gentle unless something was eating away her peace of mind. “And you, mama? How are you fairing?” he asked his mother watching her carefully, noting everything she does.

“I am just exhausted, little prince.” She smiled and sipped from her ceramic bowl, later putting the bowl down in the sink behind her. “I will get dressed,” she said and walked by her son. “I love you,” his mother said before kissing his forehead.

Gabriel hadn’t realized how long her hair was. She always kept it in a braided bun so it won’t drag across the floor once they now dominated the rich dark chocolate brown with thin silver threads. The color drained from her face, her eyes once saturated with cosmic blue hues are now watered down to a pale, almost nonexistent shade. Grizelda looks as if she had given up, even if she looked tired, she was still radiantly beautiful. Her decaying beauty only added to her motherly charm. Little Gabriel always envied her beauty and thought of it a cruel joke from God he assigned a boy. Perhaps he will inherit such a phenomenal aesthetic later.

Gabriel heard a frantic knock on the front door. He stood up to answer but his mother was already there, speaking to the lady in black, Lilian.

“Grizelda…” She had a handkerchief made of the finest satin cloths to catch any fake tears. “It’s horrible…”

“Lady Lillian you look terrible. Please come in.” Midwife Grizelda invited the black witch in to his home. Gabriel could smell her toxic scent competing with the perfume she bathes in. He crossed his arms and glared at her when she glanced at him. “...Careful, I finished polishing,” he spoke loud enough for Lady Lilian to hear, he referred to her own presence damaging the floor boards. She only responded with a simple, quiet sob, “I am so sorry, I am glad you finally awakened,” she smiled and reached to touch his face but he moved away.

Grizelda served tea and orange slices in the living room. Lilian sat down on a chair and sobbed quietly. “Grizelda, Lady Matilda is missing…” Gabriel stood by the door frame when he felt a chill run up his spine when he heard her name. “What was this woman up to…?” he whispered.

“Another child missing? Did you tell the mayor?”

“Yes… She was in the winter feast with me last night. Last time I saw her she said she needed fresh air…” Gabriel was getting nervous, the last to see her alive were, Lilian, Roy and himself. He should observe before he speaks, she didn’t look the type to make a dumb move so it would seem both were in the clear. But now he thought of it, his mother said she was a child, “how old was this girl?” the child wondered.

“What if something terrible happened to her…? Oh, mercy, I shouldn't have let her go alone… God, protect my dear Matilda.” She covered her face with her handkerchief as she sobbed as Gabriel’s mother comfort her. She was good at manipulating, even he swooned by her drama and he knew exactly what went down in those woods.

“We will conduct a search for her. I’ll assemble the comity personally,” Grizelda said.

“Thank you…” She cried harder.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, he didn't feel like listening to her sobs any longer. “I will help you find Matilda. I refuse to let anything happen to her and I prevent any more casualties…”

Something struck him, Lilian’s expression of relief and joy “Will you, little Gabriel…?” she kneeled before him and held his hands. He felt something different from her warmth. “I look at you and I see her… I miss her so.”

“This was the same woman that threatened me last night…?” Gabriel wondered. “I will find her…” he threatened. The woman smiled brightly before speaking, “You have my blessings on behalf of the Nightshade Family…”

“Nightshade…?”

“That’s my last name,” she chuckled.

“It's not Stonehart?”

“No, child,” his mother said. “Why do you seem so surprised?” He stared a thousand miles into nothing as dread pooled at the pit of his heart. “Gabriel, what’s wrong?”

Right then, the Magistrate burst in the home with soldiers. “Good morrow, ladies,”

the stuck up man said. The soldiers grabbed Grizelda by her arms. “What is the meaning of this!?”

“Midwife, Grizelda Amesthyn, you are charged with multiple counts of murder and the indulgence of witchcraft.”

“What?!” Gabriel, his mother and Lady Lilian were outraged. “My mother is not a killer!”

“I barely have time to leave the premises!” Grizelda shouted. “No one said you killed them outside your home. Where is your husband, Grizelda…?” The Magistrate asked with a sly smirk on his face. Grizelda’s expression was grimm, all the pressure building up to this moment is becoming slightly overwhelming. “H-he…”

“My dad left us!”

“You shouldn’t be defending demons, Gabriel. Wasn’t Amelia enough of a lesson for you?”

“Leave the boy out of this!” Lilian shouted.

“I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the gallows. Take the child--” before he could finish, a shoe slapped the Magistrate in the face. “Gabriel, run!” Lilian said holding her other shoe ready to throw it. Gabriel was a horrible child, he couldn't leave his mother behind, much less when it came to her possible fatality. His mother gave him a pleading and apologetic look before the small boy made a run for it. He didn’t want to think he would lose his mother too. The little boy didn’t understand where he was running to but the second his face collided with the door of a carriage he realized he made it to where it had to be.

The door opened and Gabriel’s eyes widened. A powerful aura surrounded the godlike presence, the heat coming from the Persian sultan could melt the tension pooling and blooming in the pit of his stomach. Long legs chiseled by a great Greek artist in love with human anatomy; obsessed with every line and crevice, ignoring no angle or curve in his entropic being till reaching perfection. They packed his torso with tight muscle under pale thick durable hide peppered with scars and hair. His face was angular, perfect nose and high cheekbones he wishes he could touch. Eyes as blue as a spring sky, mirrors reflecting and endless sea of cerulean. Tresses smith'd from iron and silver cascades down his broad shoulders. This beauty was not human, this was Lucifer in disguise, or, he was half asleep and he hoped it was not a dream. “Are you just going to stare?” Words coated in thick melted sugar pooled down the Egyptian prince’s lips.

“I want to be with you— I want to be like you!” Gabriel stammered. “Y-you promised!”

“I don't think I'll ever be drunk enough to marry a little boy.”

“T-that’s not what I meant!” Gabriel shouted as his skin prickled with rouge tones.

“Make it quick, boy. I am busy…”

“they took mother to jail!”

“On what counts?”

“Murder! She allegedly killed the missing children, Matilda and my father!”

“I’m… I’m sorry but there is nothing I can do to help.” Somehow all the beauty he embodied crumbled to the ground at the very mention of how useless he was.

“What do you mean?! You promised to train me and now that I need to help my mother I can’t?!” The little boy was understandably outraged.

“Your mother has done nothing she will be fine--”

“Don’t you understand, you useless piece of garbage?! We are all targeted! They wanted to kill me yesterday and they want to hang me and my mother today!” Gabriel shouted, the pain of his throbbing body increased with every word. “I bet if I were the woman in distress anyone who's anyone would jump to my aid! But I am a bastard child that hides in the bosom of his mother!” The cleric stared wide eyed at the boy spoke his mind. “My mother has no one but me! I help her in any way I can because my stupid father left us!” The poor child sobs. “Everyone talks about it and it hurts my mother more than it will ever hurt me! No one cares, and neither do you! Next time don’t make promises you can’t keep!”

Angry, little Gabriel stomped away back to his home, but he stops and falls onto his knees that could barely hold him up any longer. He felt so useless and small as he wept in the comfort of the snow in the middle of nowhere. the little boy is afraid of losing his mother, he barely remembers his father, he rather keeps it but his mother sparked the joy in his heart whenever he sees her, he thought about the outcome, if he can’t save her, then he won’t survive on his own. He rather die with her than without her.

He can’t imagine a world where her mother hangs in the middle of a town where it was okay to see her humiliated at her last breath. He looked up at the sky, with the corner of his eyes he could count the crows perched on the dread branches looking down at him, watching closely. He wailed away his fears, “You are an asshole! Where the hell are you!?” Not a single crow flew away, more Crows surrounded the boy as he cried. He knew he sounded like a normal child during a temper tantrum, but that’s what he is, a child. “If you take away my mother, I will rain war on you and your children!”

“You can barely handle the stress of a normal inquisition, how will you handle war?” Spoke a voice from behind the distraught child. Gabriel turned his head, Roy stood in his cleromancy armor. Gabriel didn’t speak, he just glared daggers at the drunk. The boy furiously wiped his face and walked away without a word. The cleromancer walked a few steps behind him and the child didn’t like it. “Go away…” the boy whispered. “You burst into my home, screamed at me for help--”

“I don’t want your help anymore! If you didn’t accept it when I begged you before why should I accept it if you feel obligated now? Do us all a favor why don’t you go drown in a barrel of wine and leave me alone?” The boy said before continuing to trek away.

“... Ouch. That is brutally harsh coming from a child,” the drunken fool said. “You know, walking in to that court house will only land your mother in the gallows.”

“No one asked for your opinion…” Gabriel whispered harshly. “I have a god that will back me up…”

“Didn’t you wage war on Christianity?”

“You're deaf and you're stupid… My god is nothing near that wreck of a sky father…”

“Yeah and who is this god, Satan?”

“Crow,” Gabriel figured he would just say it for the sake of just getting him of his aching back. He heard his hard footsteps come to a stop. The boy looked back, seeing the cleromancer’s face of surprise was somewhat startling.

“W-what did you say?” The man swallowed thickly.

“Crow,” the boy said before he continued to walk.

“You mean… the monster living in a library near the edge of the universe…?” Gabriel stopped in his tracks. He whipped his head towards Roy silently taking what he just said. “Yes…” Gabriel whispered afraid.

“And you were just going to babble that in church? Are you insane?”

“What do you care?”

“He is my god, too,” Roy confessed.

“What?” He didn’t expect for anyone to know about him, much less a stranger in his hometown.

“And I did promise to help you, I might as well keep it.”

“I will make sure you do…” Gabriel said in a serious tone. He walked back with a witness, he will be able to free his mother and Lady Lilian from the mess they were tangling in. The child just hopes he can save his mother in time. “Didn’t you can’t you can’t help me?”

“I can’t participate in the trials because I am an outsider, however I was a value member in the court… You will be my vessel.” Gabriel wasn’t sure he understands but clearly Roy did. And if he was going to help him, he should just accept it.