[ TT ] An angel keeps watch over an adventurer in a traditional fantasy setting .


 
 
... 
 
 Custos dea, was the inscription on the sword he had elected to pick from the treasury of the King. He had been laughed at by the other Knights at the time for this unusual choice. 
 
 At first glance, the sword was not much of a sword by the standards of the Knights. The fuller carved in its centre was a simple pair of twining branches, its edge was only sharp on a single side. It had no guard at all and its hilt was worn with age. But he liked the way it shone in the light. 
 
 He liked the brief glimpse of crystal blue eyes he had seen in the golden reflection of the blade. He took the blade, endured the shoulder patting and unfunny jokes and brought the blade back to his castle. 
 
 She appeared to him about a week or so after he had brought the blade back, as he set out with his men to scour a bandit camp from the nearby woods. 
 
 He had been riding quietly, alone through the woods. His men were circling around some distance away as they slowly tightened the net around their prey. 
 
 He was quite surprised then, to have a pair of slim arms wrap around his shoulders. The touch felt like morning mist, refreshing and ethereal. 
 
 `` Brave knight, what do you seek in this forest?'' 
 
 He had been quite certain she was a hallucination at first, but he observed the golden hair pulling past his shoulders in the wind. A familiar shade of gold, he thought, like the twining of branches on an odd, ancient sword. 
 
 `` Who are you that you would ask this of me?'' he replied. 
 
 `` A wise one who warns you of danger.'' she replied, `` Your sword, dear knight, will be stained with blood today.'' 
 
 A small smile slipped onto his face, `` My lady, is that not the natural consequence of using a fine blade?'' 
 
 `` You flatter me.'' she said, `` And again I warn you.'' 
 
 She vanished before he could reply, like the weight of a cloud lifting away from his shoulders. Later, when he slew the bandits, the sword seemed to gleam brighter than ever. 
 
 Since then she appeared to him on the eve of every battle. No man saw her but him. Again and again she spoke only to warn him. Custos dea, a guardian goddess indeed. 
 
 Then the war with the barbarians began. There was no time for mystic warnings for he spent his days in frenzied preparation with his men. There was no free thought to dream visionary dreams in many nights of exhausted slumber. 
 
 One day, as he lay on a cot, recovering from a long battle, she appeared sitting by his side. 
 
 She was a surreal sight amidst the dirty unwashed tents. Her form was lit in sunlight despite the pale wintery cast of the day and her eyes, cold and blue as a winter's morn were affixed upon his form. Her features, elfin and plainly adorned, held the simple beauty of a sunlit forest. For a long moment she did not speak. 
 
 `` Are you here to warn me again, fair maiden of the sword?'' he asked at last. 
 
 She tilted her head, `` Will you ever heed my warning, brave knight?'' He sensed that she had more to say and watched her intently where he lay. But she remained silent. 
 
 `` I sense you have something else to ask of me,'' he told her, `` For you know by now that I will go forward into battle regardless. Speak freely... after all this time, are we not comrades of a kind?'' 
 
 She bowed her head slightly, `` Brave knight, I am indeed troubled by a small matter. I simply seek to know... why? Why do you seek further battle?'' she paused, a sorrowful tilt to her brows, `` Have I not been diligent in keeping you safe? Have I not defended you when you were set upon? Why are you so intent to part from me as so many of my wielders have before?'' 
 
 `` You have indeed been faithful to me, Custos dea.'' he said immediately, `` I am not seeking to cast you aside.'' he paused, `` But perhaps you can not understand...'' 
 
 She watched him with icy eyes. Her hands, perfectly shaped, were unwrinkled. Her face was smooth and ageless. 
 
 ``... I am mortal.'' he said, `` And you are not.'' 
 
 `` This I understand.'' she said, `` Knowing this, why would you seek battle?'' 
 
 `` I am mortal.'' he repeated, `` Your chances for glory will ever be eternal. Your great deeds for home and hearth will succeed for there will always be a wielder for you. Not so for me. Not so for a simple mortal man, encumbered by flesh and blood.'' 
 
 `` You are saying that you seek death, unrepentantly.'' she said grimly. 
 
 `` Not so, fair lady.'' he said, `` Not so.'' 
 
 `` I can see that it is no use to warn you.'' she said at last, `` For you will certainly do as your honour has determined.'' 
 
 She rose from his side. He watched her go. She did not appear to him again. But his sword gleamed with sunlight as it always had, even in the darkest of places and sometimes, on a moonlit night, he'd see icy blue eyes in the reflection of a golden sword. 
 

