| [it was only supposed to be another ordinary trip to providence point.
it was all well and good that count edmont arranged for haurchefant's body to be interred in the house fortemps mausoleum, putting the lone bastard son to rest among his forefathers when, in another life, he might have been consigned to a nameless burial outside of the city proper due to the ignoble nature of his birth alone. it was wonderful, really, that haurchefant was recognized in the annals of house fortemps at last — but this denied francel the privilege of a proper grave to maintain, so he raised the funds to purchase a humble slab of marble and had it engraved with a message that he alone would understand. and so, day after day, francel wraps a fresh bouquet of white lilies in white paper to take them to haurchefant's monument and lay them by the stone there. this is how he mourns: by putting his memories up on a pedestal, and only taking them down when he feels the need to cry.
today's trip was only supposed to be one more such pilgrimage to haurchefant's monument, but — but then the blizzard began to howl. quite without warning, in fact. of course francel knew that a storm was coming, just by the look of the grey skies above, but he thought he had more time before the clouds burst! he thought about turning around and going back to camp dragonhead, but then he heard the rumble of snow coming down the mountain. an avalanche. i am going to die here, he'd thought with sudden resignation as he watched the torrent of snow come down the cliffs above. then something hit him on the head — a piece of passing ice, perhaps — and he fell to his knees, he lost his grip on the bouquet, he felt something or someone cradle his head before he hit the ground —
then darkness, for a time.
when he comes to, he is... dazed. there is too much space around him, and he can tell by the sound of the air around his ears alone that he is surrounded by stone. a cave, francel realizes dimly. a cave, and while a proper fire has been lit at its center, the fire alone isn't quite enough to keep the cave from being rather cold. someone else must be in this cave with him. he pushes himself to a sitting position.]
Where... Where am I? |
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