Eleanor Verse 4 . Returning to the Citadel

Eleanor

The air smelt of sunflowers and the golden sun always seemed to bathe this place in liquid gold. The mainlands were truly beautiful Eleanor thought, and it had always been her dream to tour these great isles alongside her son one day. A dark furnace of hatred and lost which she had been fueling for so long now was starting to change again . Instead, her cloudy heart was feeling something likened to hope once more. Hope that if he were to be alive as the mysterious note mentioned, perhaps those fleeting dreams of happiness might soon return to her.

The towering grey stoned walls finally lay in her view. Eleanor heaved a sigh of relief before she ordered her band to ride down the rolling hills first. Her gaze remained on the distant pale towers, the ribbons of victory sewn across the castle helms. The waving bands of the royals. And the untold mysterious evils sleeping in the shadows. ‘This place...why did I even come back here?’ she could still vividly remember what made her flee these same pastures all those years ago. Eleanor sighed defeatedly to herself, she rubbed the side of her head suddenly recalling what Rex had mentioned about the state of her body.

‘I should probably get this looked into as soon as possible. But I imagine I will need to journey back to the Azure Feather sect for the ingredients ill need to cure this problem.’ Eleanor understood an unknown poison spelt trouble, especially since she couldn’t shake away this feeling her recent outbursts of lust had something to do with it.

She heard soft footsteps of hoofs approaching her.

“Lady Eleanor are you alright?” a gentle voice sounded

“Ah J-julien, I’m ok thank you” she gave him a quick smile before purposely moving her eyes back to the near distant citadel.

“I...i just wanted to say. I’m sorry for my actions before. I don’t know what has gotten over me lately, (sigh) I guess I'm just finding it difficult to handle the burden of supposedly being...gifted? And then losing my best friend...I...I haven't been coping so well”

Eleanor could see the look of regret masked against his slightly childish features , she felt her heart warming again, remembering just how far he had come along his cultivation journey. She had almost forgotten she was dealing with such a young Elf, a boy who was around the same age as her only son. ‘This is probably the first time he’s gone through this much heartbreak in his entire life. I can’t abandon him, regardless of what has happened between us. He’s Thorjen’s...best friend.’

Eleanor reached out her gauntlet covered arm and wrapped it around Juliens neck. He looked visibly surprised by her sudden touch, recoiling away at first before slightly rubbed his face against her forearm. Eleanor felt her heartstrings stir, Julien meant well, but she could not allow their relationship to continue spiralling into the mess that she had already created. Worst of all, she felt herself getting aroused just by him caressing his face against her gloved hand.

Eleanor could feel that intense heat rising through her bosom again, so she retracted her arm away and subtly created some distance between the two of them. “Come on, let’s go and see if someone’s playing a cruel joke on us or if the guardians have bestowed a miracle upon us instead.” She said in a bid to change the sullen mood between them both. Julien creased a wry smile, but his eyes remained low, seemingly still in deep thought.

“Julien, what's wrong...”

“If...if its true and Thorjen is alive. What are we going to tell him?” He asked, Eleanor’s brows furrowed slightly. She had no intention of telling anyone anything. Her son near enough at the very top of the list of people she would never tell about what she had done with Julien.

Eleanor felt exasperated and gently exhaled a warm breath. She placed a long look against the expecting Elven youth. Then she parted her lips aside and replied.

“Julien...We...we cannot tell...anyone.” Her words drew the expected pained look against his round face, but before Julien was given a chance to retort. “What we’ve been through was...good. In truth I have never connected with anyone since Thorjens father...died.” Eleanor paused with purpose, examining Juliens changing facial expressions. His rigid brows loosened and a look of sadness appeared across his face.

“I need you to promise me this. What has happened between the both of us...yo-you mustn’t tell a soul?” she said almost pleadingly, but there was an air of seriousness hidden deep behind her eyes.

Julien looked slightly surprised for a few moments, but he soon understood something after pondering the matter. “I...I wont tell anyone. B-but does that mean we can conti-”

The sounds of neighing horses broke his speech, Eleanor noticed a group of riders advancing up the hillside. She knew the faces of a few of the riders leading the front, but she didn’t recognize the others riding closely behind her band members. ‘That armour...Crusaders?’

There was no mistaken that emblem, the most famous company across the lands were known to all. Not only did they have an exceptional record for producing the strongest knights, they also carried a not so impressive reputation for dastardly dealings which tend to go unnoticed by the royals themselves. On the count that the crusaders generated a lot of wealth by the amount of high-profile knights working for them. As a result, most of their infamy went unchecked.

“Julien. Remember what we spoke about...we’ll continue this later. But be alert” she spoke quiet enough for only his own ears to hear, Julien dutifully nodded, that helpless look he was wearing moments ago had gone away. And had been replaced with a more serious glare. A slightly powerful aura was stirring around the young Elf. ‘The more he matures the more he looks just like his father. I just hope he doesn’t follow in his footsteps.’

Once the group arrived, both Eleanor and Julien rose from their seats along the grassy hills and went down to meet the group.

The tallest rider craned his neck to one side. He had half of his shaven, with long tow locks flowing down one side of his face. His eyes were shaped like an eagles own, with a menacing red scar covered in thick tissue drawn from his left eye down to his chin. Once he laid eyes on Eleanor his shifty eyes turned into heart shapes.

Licking his lips he smoothed his hair over his scalp and said, “You must be the beautiful Lady Eleanor?” His coarse voice carried a slight accent to it.

Eleanor studied the faces she had never seen before, they were definitely part of the crusaders. Her eyes moved away from them and casually beheld the members of her band. Judging by the reserved looks drawn across their faces. They held no confidence being around these fellows.

Eleanor kind of understood what was going on, she only didn’t actually have the time to deal with these issues for now.

“What do you want?” she asked them all in less than friendly manner, making sure she released a gentle amount of her aura as she spoke.

The air around her stirred rigidly and the riders swiftly drew dark gazes whilst attempting to quieten down the bashful mules beneath them. Surprisingly the tallest rider with that unmissable scar was the only one who looked untroubled by Eleanor’s aura. He even creased a friendly smile. “Forgive my rudeness oh great tempest from the Azure mountains. But me and my friends here have been sent to escort you to the Guild Halls of masters. The company heads await your arrival.”

Eleanor studied his obvious faux pleasantries, she sensed something strange was going on. The company heads he was referring too would likely be none other than the head of the crusaders. ‘Why weren’t the white tusk members not sent instead ?’ Lady Brumhilde would never allow anyone other than her own knights to escort any one of her knights back without sending her most trusted people.' Eleanor sized up the powers around her, if she went all out, she could perhaps dispatch them without her own side suffering too much. But then what?

She thought of the best option at play at this moment. ‘I wont go anywhere without confirming thorjen is alive.’ Her resolve remained focused to the task at hand, the main reason she had spearheaded this temporary band from the north. With a chilling smile she lifted her gaze towards the tallest rider. His eyes flinched sensing something was off within her. But before anyone had a chance to react.

“Tell your master I'll make my own way...my son needs me.”

*WHOOOOSH*

A blinding gale erupted out from her body. Eleanor released her pent-up Qi and surged forwards with an unstoppable **** which blew away anyone unfortunate enough to be in her way.

By the time she was halfway down the stretch of meadow laid between her and the gates of Lucien kingdom. Lady Eleanor heard the cries of the men her aura had violently torn past in her wake. She held no time for pitstops or useless talking at this moment. Until she discovered the truth about her beloved boy. Nothing else matters.

Eleanor found her abrupt entry into the citadel relatively untroubled. She did make sure she purposely lowered the density of her aura to give the guardsmen the chance to at least recognize her before she resumed her earlier pace. Eleanor ascended the tall buildings and continued her search from the skies. ‘Where do I even start?’ she was feeling anxious as well as slightly annoyed about the chances the note she received was a trick. But what she couldn’t grasp hold of was who could’ve sent it, other than the royals and maybe the white tusk leader. No one else could’ve identified her band's locations other than a high ranker. Eleanor rubbed her temple again out of frustration. She continued scanning the busy ground below her, she was moving quick enough to be mistaken for a homing bird, not even silver ranked knights could predict her movements in this state.

Amidst her scanning the area below, her eyes suddenly widened as she caught the sight of a large bronze stoned building with a half a torn clock etched on its front. The building was famous to most knights as the hub for public quests for knights looking to form temporary parties with others who didn’t enjoy attaching themselves to a company. Sellswords mostly.

Eleanor wasted no time and descended promptly. She dusted her leathers before she casually strolled into the building. Inside the place was bustling with heartly noise and countless knights draped in their wears according to their company of choice. The golden ceiling lights shone a majestic glow against the spacious room. Eleanor scanned the area before she made her way towards the front desk where a lady dressed in skin tight armour was handling a stack of papers.

The short dark-haired girl pealed her eyes away from the pile of forms stacked in front of her, she took her a few moments in silence to inspect Eleanor before a look of delight brightened within her soft gaze.

“Oh my” she said spiritedly, “are you-you...the tempest?” Eleanor creased a pleasant smile in response trying to remain as polite as she could despite the adrenaline rushing through her veins. “I need your help with something. I’m looking for a kni...no, potentially a squire. Would you be able to pull any records out for the list of new arrivals to the citadel?” she asked the young girl

“Hmm, I don’t believe so. Although there might be a list of newly ranked Bronze tier Knights. B-but...I wouldn’t be able to obtain such information so easily. Perhaps if you checked back in a few days time, we may have the full list of newly ranked knights and the companies they’ve joined.” The girl replied in a polite tone. Eleanor felt her excitement waning again, her trailed down for a while, trying to piece together anything else she could try.

“S-sorry mi lady but there is usually a delay with the companies submitting the newly formed contracts between themselves and the squires or new ranked knights.” The girl added. Eleanor knew this might’ve been a waste of time but she still dared to dream nonetheless. She gave a slight nod to the girl before proceeding out the same way she walked in.

Eleanor was still lost in her own thoughts when she heard a sudden voice noisily barking towards her.

“HALT! Lady Eleanor, you have been summoned to appear at the Guild Hall of masters immediately!”

Eleanor lazily lifted her sunken gaze to meet the voice. A small group of armoured woman with noticeably endowed figures stood in her way. Their armours were cut purposely in a revealing manner, especially the one who raised her voice, her large assets were barely contained by the silver armour. She took a single glance at their attire and understood who sent them.

She chuckled mockingly, “ I wasn’t told the crusaders desire to meet me this much. Tell your leader I'm not interested in old women. She might have better luck chasing the tails of the more impressionable Elven girls around here.”

Eleanor heard a slight gasp beneath the closed visor “H-h-how dare you” the woman muffled. Her hand instinctively lowered towards her hip. Eleanor could see her every movement and without another second wasted she allowed her Qi to move swiftly throughout her body. She vanished from her spot and appeared right in front of the knight. Catching her off guard in such a way gave Eleanor the full control of deciding what to do with her, in the end she chose to show somewhat mercy and used a fraction of her power infused around her fist. And buried it deep into the knights open gut.

“Ooooof...glergh!” the knight made a horrible sound before she was blasted away, landing harshly against the solid ground 30 feet away. Eleanor had used enough Qi to shatter the iron breastplate covering her obscene breasts.

“Tell whomever it is that needs to hear this. I will come on my own terms. Do not send for me, nor send any orders fourth. Else...I just might spill blood next time.”

Eleanor felt a little guilty she had to result to such means. But it worked, since as the daylight faded, she hadn’t encountered anyone from the Crusaders since. She only wished she found better luck searching for any clues about Thorjen, but there wasn’t much luck considering most of the towns folk either paid little attention to the festivals occurring around the citadel during the last few days. Or were too drunk on elven wine to remember anything. She searched the barracks, the hospitals and most of the districts where the young hopefuls tended to hang around. No signs of Thorjen anywhere. Eleanor was beginning to lose her faith, she blamed herself for hoping that perhaps that note spoke truths.

For the next few hours Eleanor spent her time busying from one place to another, she found no clues on the newly welcomed hopefuls and a lot less positive responses in regards to Thorjen’s whereabouts. Feeling dejected by the whole ordeal, Eleanor ended up aimlessly walking through a narrow street flanked by drinking holes. ‘Thorjen…forgive me for not protecting you. I’m…so-sorry my beautiful boy.’

The sounds of a blunt object beating against iron filled the air, the tips of Eleanor’s ears twitched. Her eyes shifted towards the area of disturbance. ‘A smithy?’ Her intrigue was piqued a little so she begun making her way towards the place, in her peripheral vision she noticed an imposing figure walking by, carrying a stack of heavy looking logs in her arm. Eleanor finally placed her attention on the tall woman. And her eyes could hardly believe who she was currently looking at.

“Sk-skaldi!” She said loud enough to be heard from across the street.

“Huh! Who are…wait! Eleanor? Ahaha by the guardians it is you. What in the world are you doing here?” The lady known as Skaldi swiftly placed the logs in her grasp down before quickening her steps towards her. The pair shared a warm embrace soon enough. Eleanor could hardly believe she was reunited with one of her old friends this way, Skaldi was part of her party so long ago. At one point the pair could hardly stand one another, due to their wild nature and what others dubbed as an inhumane natural strength which they possessed. They were so similar that a rivalry had naturally formed between the two. Skaldi was still as tall and curvaceous as she remembered. She had very long fiery red hair which trailed down her back, and continued dressing in the slightly revealing nature as always.

“You were the last person I was expecting to be finding skulking outside my home today. Come inside, we’ve got some catching up to do.” She said whilst she held Eleanor by her wrists and led her towards into her home.

Inside Eleanor was met by a surprising cool air clutching towards the ceiling. Judging by the anvil, the work hammers and all the many cuts of iron around the room. She was certain that this place was in fact a smithy. But she couldn’t quite place her finger as to why it felt colder inside here than it did outside. Skaldi happened to sense her thoughts it seemed. She erupted into in a heartily chuckle whilst gesturing towards a peculiar large sized blue jewel sat on a bronze stand, placed just in one corner of the room.

“It’s powered by magic, cools the air once the temperature in the room exceeds a certain level. I tell ya what those mages know their stuff these days when it comes down to all the nifty gears and things they’re coming up with.”

Skaldi was fetching for two tall mugs sat on higher shelves. Eleanor was still intrigued that her old friend owned a smith now. ‘It’s definitely a far-cry from her lofty dreams all those years ago.’

“Here El, this one is for you. I can tell there’s a lot more going on behind those wavering eyes of yours. Its been years since we last met, so tell me everything.”

Eleanor felt a warmness encircling her gut, one she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She spent so long alone and mourning she forgot what it was like to have a friend. She stared at the strong scented auburn coloured liquid swirling inside of the mug. Eleanor wasn’t usually one who enjoyed indulging in the bittersweet elixirs hidden within a mug of Elf wine. But tonight, she felt so detached from reality she decided that perhaps it was alright to let go…for tonight.

“Bring the entire bottle then.” She said with confidence. Skaldi was shocked at first but eventually started laughing whilst nodding her head in agreement.

“You’ve definitely changed El Ahaha-I like it.”

The day gently faded away and both of the two women had already uncorked their third bottle. Eleanor was halfway down her mug when she felt the abrupt need to hiccup.

“Puahaha still a light weight? Some things never change ay *Gulp gulp Gulp* Puah!” Skaldi wiped her mouth before setting aside her empty mug. Her fair cheeks were completely beet red, whilst her eyelids remained half closed. “I’m...I’m never been good at it...hahaha remember the first time we got drunk together, it was...it was that one time...when was it...remind me again.” Eleanor urged her friend still slurring her words as she felt the room spinning each time she moved her head a little.

“Hmmm, oh wait you mean the time we were looking for Santaro’s camp? And ended up spending the night with those...b-bandits?”

A look of shock flashed across Eleanors eyes, “n-no th-that’s not what I was talking about...b-but now that you mention it.” Her mind wandered towards that time, she still couldn’t believe they had both done that just for the slight chance they could get information out of those barbarians. Eleanor squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Trying to mask the obvious show of horniness slowly surfacing against her face. ‘That was the wildest thing I had ever done.’

She sat there with half of her mug filled contemplating if it was worth reminding herself about such a time...