The Echoes of Forgotten

Chapter 7: Lady Aeternum. (I)

Elara struggled against the tight hold, her breaths ragged and labored. “Let go of me!” she snarled, thrashing in the man’s grip, but her strength was failing fast. She could feel the heat of her blood soaking into the bandage on her shoulder, the relentless throbbing in her body a cruel reminder of her vulnerability.

The air around them crackled in tension as she fought against the man holding her. Their reassurances fell on deaf ears- her survival instincts screamed louder than their words. Every muscle in her body strained against the grip on her hands, her mind racing to find an escape.

“Calm down! You are only going to make your injuries worse!” one of the men said urgently, but Elara glared at him in response, her movements growing more erratic. She tried to kick the man holding her hands in place but he skillfully avoided it too.

“Calm down?” she snapped, “You expect me to trust a group of armed strangers dragging me off against my will?”

One of the men stepped forward cautiously, he was taller than the other two, hands raised in a gesture of peace. “We’re not here to hurt you, My lady. If weapons are making you not trust us we can get rid of them.” He looked at the man beside him who nodded in agreement and the two of them unhooked their swords from their belts and threw them to one side.

The swords made clattering sounds on the cold stone and rested there, abandoned.

Elara finally stopped thrashing around, her eyes still filled with distrust resting on the man with a deep voice. “Why are you here then? And why do you keep calling me, My Lady ?” her gaze lingered on his clothes.

The men wore what could only be described as medieval attire- black cloaks draped over leather armor underneath which they had worn loose greyish black shirts and pants with long boots, and swords strapped to their belts. Elara blinked, convinced her injuries were making her hallucinate. Who the hell wore costumes like this in the middle of nowhere? But her mind went to her own clothing, making her inner self shut.

“We were sent to find you- of course, it was not to hurt you.” The man answered, his voice not urgent but had a hint of something Elara couldn’t understand.

“By who?” she demanded, her tone sharp, her mind still grasping at the situation.

The men looked at each other, though their faces were still not visible, Elara could feel the confusion in the air around them. “House Aeternum.”

Elara stood in silence, the name should have meant something, but it didn’t. Was it some kind of secret code or something? She had never heard of any House Aeternum, and her confusion and distrust only deepened. Before she could say anything the taller man added, “Your knights have been looking for you for the last 4 days. They were lucky we were in the area, so they commissioned us.”

If Elara was confused before she was totally out of words now. Knights? And not just knights- Her Knights? What the hell were these people talking about? Were they playing role-play here? But she wasn’t sure if she should ask them about that, not when the situation was not clear to her yet. Masking her bewilderment with hostility, she spat, “My knights asked for your help? When you were coincidentally passing from the same area?”

Though the terms Knights and House Aeternum were strange to her, their story if anything was absurd.

Her supposed knights were looking for her and these people were conveniently passing by and were commisioned to find her. In this place, where people only came once a year for tracking and these people were here in this cold?

“Ahm!! We are mercenaries, my lady. We travel from place to place with no actual resting place.” The taller one answered awkwardly, making sure to not directly look at her.

Mercenaries? What was going on? Elara’s head started buzzing with all the absurd information. The men looked too polished for mere mercenaries. She had heard about mercenaries of course, but looking at their clothing and weapons, the way they spoke, and what she heard before they entered the cave. She was sure they were more than they were pretending to be. But one thing was certain, they were not going to hurt her, at least not now.

Elara looked down at her hands, carefully held in place by the most quiet one. He had been observing her from the start, his grip on her hands, though strong but considerate so as not to hurt her.

“I never heard of mercenaries that travel from place to place, that sounds more like bandits or even rogues...” Elara commented, testing further. These people were mistaking her for someone else so she’d play along until she knew her situation exactly and if role-play is what they want she can do that too. She would mimic their way of talking and try to get information out of them.

Why had her hair turned silver? Why was she wearing different clothes but with tears and cuts at exactly the same places where she was injured? Who was this lady they were looking for and why were they confusing Elara with this Lady? Was it just her hair and clothes that changed or had she changed entirely and when?

The phenomenon was absurd but that was all she could think of now. She had been through enough shocks in the past day that she no longer cared about how weird her inner thoughts sounded.

“Especially with such expensive gears,” Elara added, sensing the unease her questions were inflicting on these three men. Her body was getting exhausted from the continuous throbbing in her shoulder and ribs but she persisted. “Please, do enlighten me, what circumstances made you work as mercenaries? People don’t easily choose that kind of work and once they do they don’t splurge money on such expensive stuff.”