"Partner, I'm glad you understand Ranni so well. To think you've barely spent time with her, yet you see right through her," Blaidd said, his tail wagging slightly. He was genuinely relieved Ranni had found a companion who wasn't just a sycophant.
"You think I provoked her just for fun?" the Tarnished joked.
"Didn't you? I've never seen her that furious."
"Look at the essence of things, Blaidd. Ranni still has the temperament of a princess," the Tarnished laughed. "A bit of a sharp tongue, but a soft heart underneath."
"Ah, you mean she's... 'all bark and no bite'? I get it," Blaidd chuckled. "But careful, don't say that to her face. I remember saying something similar when we were children... she didn't speak to me for an entire week." His ears drooped at the memory.
"Enough talk for now. Are we heading straight for Radahn?"
"Well... normally I'd ask Ranni, but she's in her slumber. So, I have a personal favor to ask. Would you join me for a hunt?" Blaidd then explained that when Ranni cast aside her flesh, many thought she had perished. She kept only a few confidants: Iji, Seluvis, and Blaidd.
But there was another: Bloodhound Knight Darriwil. Bloodhound Knights were known for their absolute, wordless loyalty to a single master. Yet, Darriwil was the exception. When Ranni went into hiding, he turned on her. Blaidd had chased him off, and recently tracked him to an Evergaol in Limgrave.
They reached the hilltop Evergaol near the border of the Weeping Peninsula. As they entered the violet-tinged pocket dimension, a hunched knight with a long, curved greatsword stood waiting.
"Darriwil! To think a knight like you would rot in a cage... you shouldn't even exist in this world!" Blaidd raised his royal greatsword.
"Nonsense, Blaidd! Stop your yapping, you traitor!" Darriwil's voice was raspy and crude, echoing through his pointed helm.
"Traitor?" Blaidd growled. "My master has only ever been Ranni. I served her then, and I serve her now!"
"Lies! Die!" Darriwil lunged, moving with a beast-like skittering speed that forced Blaidd back several paces.
The Tarnished watched from the sidelines, leaning against the invisible wall of the gaol. He noticed Darriwil's low-slung, feral stance. Hmm... that's my old technique. Someone actually inherited it and passed it down? Not bad.
The fight was fierce, but Blaidd eventually caught Darriwil with a heavy vertical strike, shattering the knight's guard and sending his Bloodhound Fang flying. As Darriwil lay defeated, he didn't beg for mercy; he kept cursing.
"This guy is... intense," the Tarnished remarked. "Even for someone locked in a cage."
"He's always been like this. Head injury, supposedly," Blaidd sighed.
"Blaidd, Iji, that old pervert Seluvis... all of you are traitors! Serving that blue-skinned monster!" Darriwil spat.
"What did you just call her?" Blaidd's fur stood on end. "Is that any way to speak of your Lady?"
"She ain't my Lady! My Lady was the noble, red-haired Princess Ranni! That blue thing is a fake! A mockery!" Darriwil roared.
"I've told you a thousand times, that is Ranni! She just... changed!"
"Quiet down, both of you," the Tarnished intervened, walking over.
"And who the hell are you? Scram, or—ACK!" Darriwil's threat was cut short by a backhand from the Tarnished that dented his helmet.
"My patience is thin. Listen up," the Tarnished said, gesturing for Blaidd to lower his sword. "Darriwil, you say you serve the red-haired Ranni?"
"Yes! The beautiful, brilliant Lunar Princess! Not some four-armed puppet!"
"Tell me, little doggy..." the Tarnished knelt down. "Have you ever heard of soul transference? Her body died, so she moved into the doll."
"Do you think I'm stupid?! Why would she choose a blue doll that looks like a Royal Revenant? Ranni had standards!"
"Did you happen to notice," the Tarnished asked like he was talking to a toddler, "that the doll has a ghostly, spectral face floating right next to its right eye? A face that looks exactly like... oh, I don't know... a red-haired princess?"
Darriwil blinked. "Yeah? What about it?"
"Don't you think... that might be her?"
"Impossible! No way!"
"Enough!" Blaidd shouted, losing his temper. "Darriwil, you moron! You want proof? Look at this!" Blaidd pulled out a silver medallion shaped like a full moon, though its light was dim. "This is the sign of Ranni's retainers. It glows as long as her soul persists."
Darriwil stared at the faint, cold radiance of the medallion. "The light of the Dark Moon... why don't I have one?"
"Because the day she handed these out, you tried to stab her!" Blaidd yelled. "You didn't stay to listen! You just started swinging!"
Silence fell over the Evergaol. Darriwil went limp. In that moment, he realized the truth. The 'monster' he had been trying to 'avenge' Ranni against was Ranni herself. He hadn't been a loyal defender; he had been a domestic abuser to his own goddess.
"I... I..." Darriwil's voice broke. "Blaidd, kill me. I have no face left to show in the Lands Between. I have stained the name of the Bloodhounds."
"Gladly," Blaidd said, raising his sword for the finishing blow.
CLANG.
The Tarnished caught Blaidd's massive blade with a single hand, his arm unmoving. Blaidd gasped, both at the intervention and the sheer, casual strength required to stop his overhead strike.
"Easy, partner," the Tarnished said. "Handling a traitor is usually the master's job, isn't it?"
"You mean..." Blaidd's ears perked up.
"An extra sword is always useful. Especially one this loyal, even if he is a complete idiot. We should let Ranni decide his fate."
•
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