The Capture
Ellina meets Nilsa for the first time
The Capture
At the earliest signs of sunrise Port Ralifrae begins to wake. Fishermen race towards their boats and hurriedly begin claiming their spots in the Oribes Ocean. Artisans rush to stock their stalls with local delicacies, various trinkets, and others prepare for the first catches of the day.
Among the travelers that pour into the city, a young woman deftly weaves through the crowd. Whereas most are dressed in clerical garb or light clothing, she’s fully concealed under a black cloak that seems to blend in with nearby shadows. An astute guard spots her and approaches with a hand on his sword.
“You there, in the shadows! Step forward and show your face! I don’t want to cause a scen-”
For a brief moment, the shadows obscuring her face fade and the guard immediately scrambles to adjust himself. He quickly raises his hand in a salute and begins to bow, but the woman frantically shakes her hands, stopping the guard before drawing too much attention.
“I-i apologize for not recognizing you, your highness! It is an honor to have you visit Port Ralifrae!”
The woman suddenly feels a sharp pain in her head and fights the urge to clutch her head. A familiar voice whispers directly in her mind, “Foolish boy. Can't even recognize my Ellina. Lousy excuse for a soldier.”
Aloud she responds, “He's just trying to do his job! You don't need to be rude and hassle him.”
“Please forgive me for my rudeness your highness and you are most certainly not hassling me!”
The woman simply sighs and shakes her head at her mistake.
“Would you just point me to where the docks are? I'm looking for a ship and I wish to travel there discreetly”
The guard lowers his voice, “Certainly. I will accompany you there as well.”
The guard waves his hand and gestures to his troop, and they return the gesture. He makes his way towards the docks with Ellina following closely behind, her figure still fully cloaked by shadows. The walk takes them through the bustling market and past several rows of houses. There are a few curious glances towards the pair, but the guard waves them off with a reassuring smile. Ellina makes no movements to prompt further conversation with the guard. As they reach the docks she is greeted by the sight of numerous ships and their respective crews preparing sails, food and drink.
She thanks the guard and circumvents his offer to further accompany her by giving him a few gold coins. Continuing down to the end of the docks she finds a medium sized ship named The Lamoranian, adorned with a symbol of twelve bands of light. She pulls a small paper from her pocket and unfurls it, revealing the words The Lamoranian and a matching symbol.
The voice whispers again; however, it isn’t accompanied with any pain. “Ellina. You don't need to do this. You've already brought me back to this state, we are together again… and there's surely other ways that don't involve journeying to a foreign land.”
Ellina casually covers her mouth, “It isn't enough Orpheus and I've made up my mind. We're going to follow this through and find a way to bring you back. No matter the cost.”
“... Then no matter the cost.”
Ellina nods and smiles. As she approaches The Lamoranian she drops the darkness obscuring her being, revealing her long ashen hair and slender form. The shadows around her eyes fade, gradually restoring to a familiar dark green. She runs her fingers over her nasal bridge, feeling the three distinct scars that mark her as a Branded. Resisting the urge to will the shadows back, she crosses the gangplank and boards the Lamoranian.
Several of the crew members warmly greet her and tell her the captain is on his way. In a few moments the captain emerges from beneath the deck and approaches her with a large smile.
“It’s truly an honor to have been selected to join ya in ya journey Princess Ellina. And uh. Good to be in ya presence Orpheus, sir.” He leans in closer and drops to a whisper, “However, there might be a slight problem. There's a woman waitin’ for ya in the waitin’ room. She… she knew about Orpheus ya highness.”
Ellina cautiously reaches behind her back and produces a four foot long spear covered in a blue cloth. She begins unraveling the cloth. “Is there a chance she's an acquaintance of my mother or father?”
“Nay. She refused to show any credentials ‘nd further refused to speak to anyone but ya. Haven't told any of the crew yet, cause she ain't done nothing yet. 'Nd I searched her and didn't find any weapons.”
“If she knows about Orpheus I need to speak with her. There's a chance she might be able to help us… Don't think we need to notify the crew yet, just come with me and stand guard outside the door.”
“Sure thing ya highness. Right this way.”
The captain leads her below deck to one of the rooms. He quietly draws his cutlass and stands by the side of the door. Ellina, now with her spear fully unraveled, cautiously opens the door. The room is a simple, small cabin, with two wooden benches secured to the sides of the room about six feet apart. On the left bench sits a woman of similar height to Ellina, in a dark gray cloak covering her face and body. Her gray gloves rest on her lap, and one of her gray boots idly taps against the floor. She gestures to the opposite bench. As Ellina takes a seat her gaze never leaves the stranger and her grip on the spear tightens.
The voice in her head whispers, “Dressed to easily adopt another guise. Assume she came prepared for a fight and has armor. High possibility she has a weapon concealed beneath her hands or feet, Captain Eberhard’s a good fighter, but a lousy detective. Prepare your shield.”
Ellina slightly adjusts her posture and reaches behind her back, and tugs at the straps holding her shield to her back. She pulls the shield forth and rests it on her lap. The round buckler shield has a royal blue outer edge and a dark green boss. Embroidered on the boss is a symbol of a tree with golden petals and crimson vines connecting them all. When the woman sees the shield her foot stops tapping.
“Sooo… You bare the crest of the royal family, but in all honestly anyone could replicate one. Show me something that proves you are, indeed, Princess Ellina and I'll tell you what I know of your friend Orpheus.”
Ellina slightly bounces the shield on her lap. “This should suffice to confirm my identity. Revealing you know of Orpheus has already significantly raised your threat level. If you want to build bridges of trust, I suggest you start doing so now, as I have shown you trust in meeting you here in private. Perhaps start with your name?”
The stranger is silent aside from her tapping for a few minutes. Eventually she responds, “Very well. My name is Nilsa and I can be a friend. I know Orpheus is dead. I know the remnants of his soul reside in your mind. And I know that he is responsible for the massacre that occurred at Tanus, and the following destruction of the towns, Talrega and Elipis.”
With the recounting of each incident Ellina feels a growing anger inside her mind and clenches her fists and bites her lip to suppress the swelling rage that begins to overwhelm her.“Ellina this is not good. She knows too much and she’s baiting me. We need to alert the captain!”
Nilsa brings her hand up to her face and stealthily adjusts a mask to cover her mouth and nose. She leans forward and continues, “I know you’ve visited sages of this land, seeking out a means of true resurrection. I know you struggle to keep him contained and the towns that were destroyed are a prime example of your lack of control. Even now you struggle to contain him.” She pauses for a brief moment. “And last but not least, I know about Orpheus’ weakness to silver.”
Nilsa punctuates her last statement by throwing a large pouch at Ellina. The voice shouts, “SHIELD!”, and Ellina instinctively raises her shield to block the projectile. As the pouch hits the shield it bursts open and floods the room with a silvery mist. Ellina immediately drops to her knees and chokes on the mist. As if broken by a spell, her feelings of rage dissipate and the presence of the voice fades leaving behind fear and emptiness. Nilsa easily rips the spear and shield out of Ellina’s hands, and in several more seconds Ellina passes out and the mist fades without a trace.
Nilsa lets out a sad sigh and mutters to herself, “Hopefully you’re worth all this trouble Princess. If we survive this, I truly hope the both of you finally find rest.“
She pulls out out two worn pieces of parchment and inscribes several symbols into the first. It slowly smolders until there is nothing left except the quickly dissipating smell of ink and smoke. She reads the remaining parchment for the umpteenth time before pocketing it.
“Guess it’s Princess Elisa’s turn.”
