Chapter 8 (Unfamiliar place)

Within an unfamiliar place on an unfamiliar silky bed the girl with red hair had finally awoken. It took a while for her to capture the scenery of the room from the laying position. She had a tiny sensation of lingering pain in her head and to that she just wanted to hold it with her right arm and as she was about to do that she felt resistance, and she wanted to get up to check what the matter was. Tilting her head she could see that her whole body was covered in white cloth like material. It was as if she was enveloped in a cocoon. Unable to understand what was going on she panicked. 

“AAAAAAhhhhhhhh……ack” she screamed but it didn’t reach till the end as her lungs had sudden stinging pain. 

Only then did she remember what had happened. 

‘Troll……..’ an unwanted flashback ran through her brain.

“The princess is dead….” 

The sudden realization had made her depressed. 

Although the last moment with the princess was unpleasant, she had made memories with the princess and she liked her quite a bit as the princess was a bit different from the rest of the royalty as far as she observed.

The unfinished scream was still loud enough to bring attention to certain someone that had the duty of taking care of the mansion and it was none other than Matilda. 

She rushed to check on the wounded soldier whom her highness had brought in a few weeks back. While rushing toward the room Matilda remembered the night where Eric had brought in the wounded soldier covered fully from head to toe in ragged clothes. After confirming the identity of the soldier as a human kind she had understood why he had done so. It was to hide her from observing eyes and sneak her inside the mansion. 

Upon learning the identity of the injured person that is confirming her race, Matilda had refused to help her.

“Your highness, humans are forbidden in the Elven heim and if words were to get out that you brought in one it would create chaos.”

“I know Matilda, but she is on the verge of death. Help her please and I will sort this out as soon as possible”

Helpless to the plea of the prince, Matilda hesitated at first but gave up soon after and checked on the condition of the injured soldier. 

“She is in a dire state, please bring her to the room upstairs” 

After laying the girl on the bed Matilda had gone out of her own way to bring the elven medicine potent enough to help the injured. 

“I can’t guarantee her safety as humans are too frail and her body is too damaged.”

“It is fine, try your best. If she doesn’t survive this, then that’s all there is to it.” 

So the long painstaking effort for healing started and it lasted for more than 4 hours and Eric had been by the side of Matilda the whole time helping her bring all the necessary medicine and bandages. He had to go and bring in 5 warm water buckets to clean the wounds. And Eric had no issue in doing the chores as that is how he grew up and even in royalty no work was ever looked down upon. 

Present day: 

Matilda checked up upon the recovered knight. It took at least two weeks because of how frail the human body is. 

When Matilda appeared in front of her…

“Who are you? Why am I here?”

……………………………………….

“Why aren’t you answering?”

The female knight asked Matilda for answers but to no avail did Matilda open her mouth. 

While checking up on her she had a disdain on her face and even with such feeling Matilda did not say anything to her. Realizing that she was being taken care of, the knight gave up on asking questions and quieted herself down.

Later that evening, Eric heard about the female knight’s being conscious but did not go to meet her yet and gave her time to rest up. 

The next few days, her bandages were opened and she had recovered fairly to move around. 

She had moved around the mansion and fairly familiarised herself with the blue print where she was staying. For her safety Matilda had warned her not to go out and she heeded those words as those were the first words from her carer. 

When she was roaming downstairs she heard noises coming from the basement of the mansion. Curious, she went down the basement and what she saw astonished her. She was secretly observing the scene in the basement.

There, a lone Elf was taking on twenty mens and the medium was hand to hand combat. With ease Eric subdued them and impressed the female knight. She had seen this elf one other time in action and that was inside the dark forest where the princess died to the Troll. Though the interaction was very vague in her memory due to her colliding with Troll and having a concussion.  

Eric, understanding the presence had shortened the time of his training and dismissed the soldiers. 

Then by turning back to the secret observer, he called out to her. 

“I am called Eric, the second prince of the Elven heim and the first in line for throne” he said those words in broken human language enough for the female knight to interpret. 

Eric had learned the human language these few days for the purpose of communicating with the human knight. 

Shocked at being found out and an elf speaking human language, she gathered herself. 

“I am Ela, commander of kingdom of Eli-za and was attending the only princess Elise to the kingdom as her attendant”

“I thank you very much for saving me from my inevitable death”

“Please think nothing of it, you were brave for standing up against such creature even though you are weak”

She was perplexed hearing both compliment and criticism in the same sentence. But thought about no rebuttal as it was the truth and she was aware of it. 

“Please let me know how I can repay such favor and I will do that”

“You are very well spoken, and here I thought the humans were a barbaric race that only craved authority.’

“You don’t owe me anything and nor should you feel like you do. Saving you happened on the spur of the moment and it was far from my intention.”

“However, if you still insist I would like to know about how your kingdom and its people operate on a daily basis and of your adventure.”

Hearing a way to repay the favor her face lit up with joy. Because Ela didn’t like being indebted to others. While the exchange wasn’t on the level of saving someone’s life she was just relieved for the opportunity.

“That shouldn’t be any problem, but I can not divulge any military information.”

“Well that is quite fine by me, the strength of your military I will gauge someday with my own eyes. But so far that I have seen it is not as impressive.”

“But I must warn you, while being in my abode you should refrain from being seen by other elves. Otherwise I can not guarantee your safety and we elf can have a keen smelling sense which will give away your nature. So, refrain from going outside this mansion and inform Matilda of your needs.”

“Thank you and I will keep that in mind.”

While the demeaning remarks of her race made her face downcast, she still knew how much she was lacking compared to her savior and she was truly grateful for being saved from that horror. 

The next few days she focused on being recovered, ate food, watched the view through the window and slept. The only entertaining thing during her recovery was watching Eric train, otherwise she was alone most of the time as Matilda barely talked with her. She only informed her when her meal was ready and they ate together. 

Eric had conversations with her on a few occasions asking about the human society, how they operate and how developed their technology was, what her day to day life was like. Her describing these details made her reminisce of her past and get lost in thought sometimes. 

She only talked with Eric during his break from training and when they were having food at the lavish dining table. She always gets side eyed by Matilda during those times. She tried to inquire why Matilda was like this with her. But then she thought about her position from Matilda’s perspective and felt it was reasonable suspicion and caution one must hold against their enemies. On the other hand Eric was very different. He was mostly curious about knowledge and where it came from didn’t matter much. 

A few days after her partial recovery. Ela sat in the training room watching Eric swinging his massive sword. When he had tired from his swinging she in a daze asked Eric. 

“Is it too much for me to ask to look around your city? I know my position here, but I have always wondered about how elves live their daily life.”

“And I am getting really bored just walking around this big mansion without anyone to talk to.”

Surprised hearing her request, Eric questioned back.

“We talk don’t we?” 

Hearing Eric’s question Ela puzzled and titled her face.

“We don’t talk, you just want to know about my race. And it is no fun at all.”

Hearing the rebuttal Eric thought about her request one more time and imagining the consequences he said the following words to stop her in her tracks.

“Well you can leave in a few days when you have fully recovered, that would be the end of your boredom.”

Hearing those words made her look up at the ceiling and made her ponder what had awaited her at her home. Her mother's face had floated in her imagination. Also the situation regarding the failure to protect the princess needs to be explained and that worries her. 

Seeing her dazed state Eric thought she had become sad because he denied her such privilege. 

‘Well she did provide me a lot of information regarding  human society, and I have benefited by practising human language with her’ with folded hands he pondered. 

“Sure, I can take you to visit the city. But you can’t draw attention to yourself and be vigilant.”

Her eyes lit up. “I promise!” She said those words enthusiastically. 

Having her mood lit up Eric chuckled lightly. Their talking session ended with some more small talks. 

After having dinner just like a child she rushed to her bed excited to see the elf kingdom with her own eyes. But the excitement had kept her awake till late night and finally the curtain of her eyes closed and a new morning full of sun rays had presented itself.