The sun was at high noon when the coachman had driven Melusine off on her grand adventure. An adventure that Melusine had so desperately wished for— but now that it was dragging her from her shoddy home, she couldn't find it in herself to be happy. She wept throughout most of the day's journey until twilight had fallen upon the land. The carriage turned off of the road and came to a stop for the night.

"Miss, it's time to set up camp," Baugulf called with a knock on the carriage door. Rubbing at her eyes, Melusine emerged from within. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, her nose cherry red, and wrinkles were between her eyebrows.

The knight leaned back with an expletive, the aftereffects of a long journey spent crying shocking him to his core. She felt like kicking the knight for his rudeness.

"Why are you cussing all of a sudden?" Melusine grumbled, a hiss to her voice.

"Sorry, sorry... it's— ahem, surprising. Are you alright? I didn't think you were the sort to cry." A bloodshot glare was thrown at the blonde knight. Her mother's gift, rewrapped to avoid any damage on the journey, was clutched close to Melusine's heart.

"Yes, it happens every evening. Water leaks out of my eyes and I can't stop it." Even with the driest monotone possible, Melusine's sarcasm seemed to fly right over Baugulf's head.

"That must be awful," Baugulf sympathized. "I could give you my handkerchief when night starts to fall?" 

"Forget about it," the teenager spit out. She hopped down from the carriage, ignored the running board, and landed on both feet. She brushed her skirt down, and patted the dust from her legs. "Trying to explain to you would be a waste of time."

"I was joking, Miss Melusine." Baugulf chuckled, the sound warm and muted, like he never wanted anyone but his current company to hear. "I understand that this must be difficult for you, but you don't have to feel like you're alone. It's my job to look out for you, even after we make it to the capital."

"Oh." Rubbing at her neck, Melusine avoided eye contact with her knight escort. "Again," she murmured under her breath. Oftentimes Melusine would struggle to register another person's tone, and it would lead to embarrassing moments such as this one.

It had also led to painful memories, like the time Melusine had been tricked into believing she'd made a friend. Shortly after her father's guilt had been declared by the village head, a girl Melusine's age had pretended to be sympathetic. Melusine had confided her private fears and thoughts, only to be mocked behind her back.

"The offer for my handkerchief is still on the table," Baugulf lightly teased. Startled out of her reverie, Melusine turned her nose up into the air.

"You're so irritating," Melusine grumbled.

The coachman was the only other person in their traveling party, but he seemed to be more interested in untacking the horses than making conversation. A glance around revealed that they were stopped near a small alcove carved out of the forest. The walls of a decrepit chapel jutted out from amidst the thick foliage of ivy choked trees. Stone pillars lay crumbled and abandoned on the shallow staircase leading up to the ruins. Grass invaded every crevice of the floor and created more cracks still. "We're camping here?" She asked.

"It will provide you with more shelter from the elements if we set camp here." Melusine stared up at the ruins with a dry and blank glaze to her red jadeite eyes.

"My home has more protection from the elements than this dump. And I didn't exactly live in a castle," Melusine reminded her knight escort. Baugulf responded with a tense laugh. "Why are you treating me like a delicate flower? I'm the child of a pig farmer, not a hoity merchant."

"Even merchants don't raise children that snub their noses up at a warmer place to sleep," Baugulf scoffed. In moments when Melusine's pride and snark reared its ugly head, a half-smile would quirk up Baugulf's lips and his eyes would become exhausted. It was the expression of a service clerk tired of having to deal with snot-nosed children for the sake of his job.

"I'm not snubbing my nose up at it." Her voice trailed off as she stepped closer towards the ruined chapel. The now familiar tingle on the back of her neck sparked to life— like someone had chucked a glass of ice water under her collar. "We can't stay here," she stated, her tone commanding without realizing it herself.

"Miss Tepes, please. The sun is already setting. We need to camp, and I don't know these roads very well. We were lucky to find a spot with shelter at all."

"You don't understand—" Melusine spun around, only to come face to face with Baugulf.

"Listen to me. We aren't changing location." With a firm and unyielding tone, Baugulf gripped onto Melusine's upper arms and stared straight into her eyes. For a moment, Melusine was reminded of how her mother would put a stop to her willfulness with her mere tone of voice and a hard gaze. In addition to the chill on her spine, an uncomfortable itch in the back of her mind forced her to avoid the knight's eye contact.

"Maybe you're right. It could... simply be paranoia..."

"Good." With a nod of his head, Baugulf released his hold on Melusine. He side-stepped around her, and went in first to check out the inside of the ruined chapel. Melusine pressed a palm against the back of her neck, and tried her best to ignore the tingling sensation while she followed her knight escort.

The chapel had no doors or glass windows, only high arches and square holes in the walls. Melusine ran her hand along the edges of one of the windows, and felt the rough material battered by time, rain, and perhaps shoddy carving. Vines traveled up the bare rafters like sinners desperate for salvation. Wood floor panels hung from the ceiling by a few rusty nails or were completely fallen to the ground. Large stone slates served as flooring, their corners and edges crumbling to dust, giving way to the roots of weeds. Pew benches were tipped over and pushed up against the walls despite being made of solid stone. The teenager paused in front of a single bench that had somehow been propped up on one end, the other leaned against the eastern wall. Four jagged marks gouged a thirty centimeter long line up the underside of the bench, and curved to the edge. Melusine stepped closer to examine the peculiar vandalism, wrinkles forming between her eyebrows.

"Do you have any idea what happened here? Why it's been abandoned?" Melusine questioned, glancing over her shoulder at the knight. Baugulf was wandering around the perimeter, growing increasingly concerned the more he took in the state of things. He came to a stop by Melusine's side and pursed his lips, staring at the claw marks.

"I don't. I've never traveled to Hathorn before in my life. You might've been right to be worried. Stay here, I'm going to secure the area. Hopefully whatever might've been here isn't around anymore." Melusine nodded, and watched Baugulf leave her side. He jumped up, grabbed hold of a hanging rafter, then hoisted himself into the upper floor of the building.

Once he was gone from view, Melusine sat down on the floor with her back pressed against the odd bench. The packaged tunic was set down in her lap, some wrinkles in the burlap covering smoothed out with trembling fingers. Melusine's ears twitched, picking up on the sound of dampened footsteps above her. The sensation on the back of her neck hadn't subsided, but it suddenly intensified. A hushed cry of distress escaped Melusine, and a hand slapped down against the back of her neck like she was smacking a mosquito. She whipped side to side, peering around at her surroundings in the dimming light.

Nothing was there, nothing was lurking. But everything in her body was screaming at her. Not to run, but fight. Fight whatever her new heightened instinct told her was waiting to strike. Melusine tried to calm down, tried to tell herself that it was all in her mind. She ran her hands down from the top of her head to the ends of her long hair. Her knees were pulled closer to her chest, her burlap wrapped gift nestled safely between thigh and stomach. She hugged her legs and rested her forehead on her kneecaps.

"I can't find anything," Baugulf announced after he'd leapt down from the rafters. Melusine was startled, but managed to keep her body still. She hummed in response. "Miss Tepes, what's wrong? Are you frightened?"

"No," Melusine denied with a more petulant tone than she wanted. Her head lifted, and she tried to force her body and mind to be at ease. "Are you sure that you couldn't find anything?"

"Something clearly happened, and there have been victims," Baugulf admitted. "I'll spare you the details, but there are human remains up in the rafters. I can't be entirely sure when they died, but I can't find any evidence that whatever did this is still here, either."

"How are you so sure the culprit is a creature? Do you know of anything that could be responsible?"

"Several," Baugulf answered, and sat down next to Melusine. He rested his back against the wall, and laid his shortsword down by his side. "But discussing the possibilities won't do either of us any good. I wouldn't want to give you nightmares." A sardonic smirk quirked the corners of Melusine's mouth. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Deciding that it would be better to change the topic, Melusine's thoughts went to their third traveling companion.

"Where's the coachman? Will he be sleeping here with us?"

"No, he told me that he prefers to keep watch over the horses on trips like these. He'll be across the road by the river."

After another hum and nod of her head, they let the silence hang until eventually Melusine relaxed and worked up the courage to ask a question that had been simmering since the start of the trip. "What is a Dragon's Proxy? You never actually told me what it is, or what it means."

The knight chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, it isn't my area of expertise. But the person in the king's court who does know about the history gave me a book you could read. Hold on, I left it in the luggage compartment."

"Uh... huh," Melusine murmured, for the moment trying to keep her illiteracy as close to the chest as possible. She watched Baugulf get back up to his feet and jog out of the chapel. "For a man who says there are corpses upstairs, he sure is willing to leave me on my own," she thought out loud to herself.

Baugulf returned with a leather bound book in one hand, and two bundled rucksacks carried in the other. He set the bedding down and handed Melusine the tome.

"This should tell you all you need to know," he declared.

Melusine reached out and accepted the offering. She felt awkward, having never touched such a thing in her life—what with there being no reason to. Its covering was a plain, warm brown leather, with a buckled strap to secure the yellowed parchment. Feeling the knight's expectant eyes on her, she opened the book to the first page and was relieved to see that there were pictures. In fact, the majority of the pages were devoted to visual depictions, and told a clear story through each new image. Melusine turned the pages, her attention rapt and eager to glean some sort of answer.

A silhouette of a man with a crown on his head was on his knees in front of another male figure who sat on a large imposing chair. The crowned person had his hands clasped together, begging the other for something. The character that Melusine assumed was a prince lamented to a female in guard armor, his diadem held in his hands. The female turned away, head held high and fist clenched.

An army colored in white, gray, and gold stood up on a hillside, teeming and extending into the horizon. A dragon with scales a deep shade of green stood next to the female guard on an opposite hillside, wings spread and blotting out the sky. The army charged towards them, spears and swords held high. The guard thrust her hand out, a glimmering silver star held in her open palm.

The enemy forces lay wasted, rust on their once immaculate armor and weapons. The royal figure then sat on the same chair from the first page, the guard standing by his side. The last image in the book was a picture of the man's crown with two dragons flying in a circle around it.

"Do you understand now?" Baugulf asked, a sparkle to his blue eyes.

"I think so... but I can't read," Melusine admitted with a dry tone, her expression bland. She hadn't gotten an answer to what a Proxy was, but she at least had some idea now why it was so important that she go to the king. Baugulf gawked and his jaw dropped.

"Why didn't you say something? I would've read it to you...!"

"I was able to gather enough information to know what the book's about. The girl in the armor is a Dragon's Proxy, right? So I'm supposed to fight for the king using some... kind of star?"

"No, I'm fairly sure that the star is only a representation of power— but honestly, why didn't you tell me?"

"There are pictures, and you seemed to expect me to know how to read." Melusine raised an eyebrow at the knight. "What were you expecting? There aren't any schools in the outskirts, and even if there were, my mother could never afford to send me."

"No, I—" Baugulf cut himself off, then covered his eyes with his hand. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Melusine parted her lips to respond, to tell him that she didn't care.

The nerves on the back of her neck went haywire again, and her body moved on its own. She dived to her left and rolled out of the way of an attack. This time, her instincts proved to be right.

A clawed hand twice the size of her own struck the floor where she'd been moments before. Attached to the hand was a long limb covered in coarse black fur. Extended out of the underside of the propped up bench right over where Melusine's head had been, shadows swirled around where the elbow met the stone. Its talons scraped against the ground as if frustrated to have not made contact with something flesh.

Eyes widened, Baugulf snatched up his short sword and struck at the terrifyingly long arm. Unfortunately, it was too quick, slithering back into its unseen and inaccessible hiding place. Cerulean eyes narrowed into slits, and foul profanities passed Baugulf's rose watered lips.