Fantasy Knights of Pine Shrew

[Calibutcher]

Eculind accepted the proffered hand and shook it warmly. She took her hands back and placed them on her hips. “Now there isn’t a question I hear very often. So often people ask me for help, not the other way around.” She tilted her head slightly as she thought about that. “That raises an interesting question. How can you help me? Would you really help me with something?” As a high mage to the king she could ask many things. She could even command many things. Yet now someone asked her how they could help. It was tainted, of course. She had shown her power. Yet could it be she would actually help her with something? She decided to try.


“Would you come visit me sometime? Just to talk. I won’t do any of…”She motioned behind her to indicate her earlier display of power. “That unpleasantness.” She shrugged. “I’m a bit crazy.. Sometimes. So people don’t really talk to me unless they ask for things. If you came back just to talk. I would be willing to owe you a small favor. Oh! I can show you my wardrobe next time too! We might even be the same size. Maybe we can get you ready for your next date with Kastor. Oh yes that would be fun.” She spun on her heel and snapped her fingers. Corrian startled awake and looked around confused.

“Eculind what did you do?” He stood up but nearly stumbled over. He felt weak still. He caught himself on the chair. Essie looked in one piece so that was good. “Essie are you ok?”

“Oh she’s fine! You must have warned her about me. Anyway I’ll need you to bring me some ice wraith venom when you get time.”

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda was glad Eculind had calmed down from her aggressive state and that Corrian was awake again. She walked over to Corrian and supported him up.

"I'm fine love," she replied walking him to the door, "Though I imagine Eculind and I will be seeing much more of eachother."

Esmeralda put het cover back on and turned to Eculind.

'I'll be back to see you next week, until then"

And she walked with Corrian out of there.

 

[Calibutcher]

“Bye Kastor, bye Esmeralda. Hope to see you soon.” She closed the door to her chamber behind them and went back to her alchemy table.


Corrian took his time going down the stairs. His body felt achy which was not unusual but she didn’t usually knock him out either. His brain was groggy but he still remembered to pull up his hood before they went outside. “Wait, you are gonna go back to see her? What did she do? Did you accept one of her crazy deals?”

 

[walkthewolf101]

"Eculind simply wants me to visit her, no strings attached," explained Esmeralda, "She apparently liked that I wanted nothing from her and offered my services instead."

She left him back into their apartment and laid him on the bed. Snuggling on his chest Esmeralda began to speak more on what she heard.

"Is it true you once dated someone named Jacklyn?" she asked tracing circles on his stomach, "Eculind told me she broke your heart."

 

[Calibutcher]

Getting back to the safehouse was a relief. Essie led the way more than he did. He was not fully in his right mind. He struggled to focus to watch for danger. Even as he walked he felt better but his mind was cloudy. Normally he stayed longer at Eculind until his mind was clear. He didn't resist though. Before he knew it he found himself being in a much better place. Esmeralda was in his arms and he felt at ease. As long as no one had seen them they were safe here. Then she asked her question.

"Oh, so you two did talk." He sighed and stroked at Esmeralda's hair for a moment. "Ya, there was a gal named Jacklyn." She wasn't a pleasant memory. He would have been happy simply forgetting about it. But leaving Esmeralda out of the loop didn't make any sense. "She left me without warning. She also took all my money."

 

[walkthewolf101]

"Sounds like quite the character," muttered Esmeralda back to Corrian.

The pair laid there for a moment until Esmeralda heard light snores coming from Corrian, indicating he was asleep. Getting up, Esmeralda made her way over to the kitchen and began to cook for Corrian, leaving him to recover from his groggy state. After setting the table, Esmeralda walked over to Corrian and gently shook him awake.

"Hey, after we eat dinner do you want to begin my training?" she asked him.

 

[Calibutcher]

He didn't even realize it had happened but he had fallen asleep. Next thing he knew he woke up to the smell of food. He felt much better simply having rested for a short time. "Well let's eat and we can start." He made his way to the kitchen and took his helping of food and devoured it. He was rather ravenous. He was sure he could only thank Eculind to thank for that.

He finished his helping. "Well, nighttime is for Assasins. Let's begin. Weapon training begins now." He threw the table out of the way and rushed at Esmeralda aiming to grab her by the throat. "Defend yourself!"

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda was shocked to have Corrian begin training so abruptly. Sidestepping to the left, Esmeralda sent her fist out hoping to get a shot at Corrian's face.

"You know love, next time you wanna do this, remind me to finish my food first," she exclaimed in reference to the rice now sprawled around the floor. "Cleaning this mess up is going to be a nightmare."

 

[Calibutcher]

Corrian barely dodged the blow leaning back to avoid the impact. He smacked the fist away and stood up. He did a push kick at her and stomped forward.

“You have to be ready always. Assassins make messes.”

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda could feel anger flush over her face as Corrian smacked her fist out of the way, showing that he was simply better at this than she was. She parried Corrian's leg to the side, sending a punch towards his gut.

"That explains a lot about you actually, unfortunately for you, I don't like messes too much."

 

[Calibutcher]

A punch connected with his gut and a huff of air came out. Corrian staggered back a step. He nodded his head slowly. “Good.” He removed his hood and crouched slightly. “Again.”

He rushed at her, staying low this time. As he neared her he slid into her and began trying to drag her down.

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda let out a small squeal as Corrian dropped her on the floor, she recovered quickly and tried to sweep the leg.

"Getting serious now are we?"

 

[Calibutcher]

“This isn’t serious.” Corrian let his leg get swept and fell to all fours running into Esmeraldas legs and grappling her into a hold.

“Serious comes later. This is just practice.”

 

[walkthewolf101]

She tapped Corrian's shoulder twice, indicating he had won the round, Zathar never really taught her how to get out of a leg hold.

"How would I get out of that move you just pulled?" asked Esmeralda, getting up off the ground.

 

[Calibutcher]

Corrian was a bit tired after their short bout. He was sure it had more to do with the injection he had received earlier but all the same her asking was a good opportunity for him to take a break and slow down.

They went late into the night. Talking and wrestling as he showed her new moves. She caught on quickly and her desire to learn was strong. It didn’t hurt that she carried significant strength herself. The remainder of the week was spent with short trips outside and late evening lessons. He did avoid flipping over tables with food on them in the future. The mess had been unbearable to pick up after all. Corrian had only three days till his transformation so he had to see about getting out of town with Emseralda soon anyway.

“Hey weren’t you going to see Eculind again soon?” He asked over a bowl of hot food.

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda let out a small sigh at Corrian's words, "Yes I should leave to go see her soon, as well. I will be going alone, I hope that doesn't anger you too much."

Getting up from the dinner table, Esmeralda went to the sink and rinsed her dish off, and after securing her face covering left the apartment to go to Eculind's. Once reaching there, she was let it reluctantly by a guard and headed up to the Alchemy room.

"Eculind?" Esmeralda said hesitantly, "Eculind it's Esmeralda, we were supposed to meet today?"

 

[Calibutcher]

Corrian was not thrilled at the idea of Esmeralda going on her own. The idea did upset him. Yet he could not hold her back forever. He offered nothing in reply letting her go on her way. His silence was better than anything that came to mind. He only hoped she would be safe. He counted out a minute after she left. Then he crept out of the house as well.


Eculind balanced a vial in her hand holding it up to the light. In her other hand she held a dropper and added a single drop to the red connection she held. She held her breath a moment and waited, nothing exploded and the contents of the vial gently fizzed before calming down to normal. A voice broke her concentration and she nearly dropped the vial. She had no visitors scheduled today. Her mind halted. Actually she did. But she did not expect her to return.

She carefully placed the vial in a rack and turned to see none other than Esmeralda returned. True enough she could not see the girls face but only one other person covered their face around her. This was clearly not Kastor. Eculind tapped her knuckles together in excitement. “You actually came!” Eculind skipped over to Esmeralda and briefly hugged the girl. “OH! We must have tea! Then I’m going to show you outfits.”

Eculind walked away strutting and all the furniture in the room dissolved into smoke, reforming into a grand table with a tea set and all sorts of cakes and delicacies to snack on. Eculinds outfit changed as well into a proper ball gown in a dark emerald green. She looked back at Esmeralda who was still wearing assassin's garb. “You don’t need that for tea.” She shook her head and snapped. Smoke formed around Esmeraldas body before resolving into a purple dress gown. “That's better now.” Eculind sat down at one end of the table and began pouring tea for herself. “Now what would you like to talk about?”

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda stood rooted to her spot as Eculind began to notice her, suddenly regretting coming to meet with the woman in the first place. However, such discomfort was soon replaced by joy as she saw how elated Eculind was to see her, evident by the changing room and dress Eculind now gave her. It had been a while since Esmeralda had attended an event in such a formal dress, and she spent a few moments admiring the simplicity of it, it was as if Eculind knew Esmeralda's style better than she did herself.

"How has your day been," asked Esmeralda, sipping down some tea, "I imagine being High mage for the King of Cretos is a busy line of work."

 

[Calibutcher]

Eculind huffed. “Yes, working for the king is often busy.” She looked down at the table for a long time. “Maddening even…” She shook her head and looked up. Quickly grabbing her tea and taking a sip. “Interesting to see you here without Kastor. I’m surprised he let you out with a price on your head and all.” She took another sip. “He can be pretty nosy. Very hard to lose a wolf that has your scent. Not thinking of leaving him now are you? I do not think I could bear to hear of another break up from him.”

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda was surprised at Eculind's words, slightly offended by her words. She would never even think of leaving Corrian behind, he was too important to her. Though Eculind's words held some weight, showing that Eculind had a past with Corrian.

"I don't plan at leaving Corrian anytime soon," she replied, "I love him too much to ever hurt him in that way. Besides, Corrian trusts I can handle myself, I did survive 21 years without him you know."

 

[Calibutcher]

“Yes, you have survived that long but you did not have Assassins and the like after you.” Eculind looked at the girl intently. “You seem to be pretty independent but I wonder what you will do to satisfy the price on your head?” Eculind grew bored with tea and strode across the room to her wardrobe where she began to rummage through clothes looking for something more exciting to wear. As she tossed clothes over her shoulder she added. “Unless you would want help from little ol me!”

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda nodded in agreement at Eculind's words, hurtful but true. All she had done in the three weeks of a bounty being put off was kill off one assassin and assist in the killing of another. However, she was hesitant to accept Eculind's offer, but a burning question was stuck in the back of a mind, a question she was certain Eculind would have the answer to.

"What is happening in Pineshrew, its been three months since I've last heard from my father and I am very worried about him." she asked with desperation lining her voice.

 

[Calibutcher]

“Aha!” Euclid stood with a new dress in her hands and stepped behind a panel to change into it. Only after putting on her rather revealing satin dress did she step out and walk over to Esmeralda. “I will tell you what is happening at Pineshrew when you tell me what you think of this dress.”

 

[walkthewolf101]

Esmeralda let out a sigh and took a good look at Eculind's dress, slightly shocked at how revealing it was. It was cream-colored with a large slit on the right side, meaning that Esmeralda could see up the lady's leg. She was to put it simply, very uncomfortable.

"A little too revealing," Esmeralda replied hesitantly, "Though it is a very good color on you."

 

[Calibutcher]

“I like the cream color too.” She pulled her leg back; the dress did show nearly all of her leg after all. “Huh well I could try other options of course.” SHe strode back to her wardrobe and began digging again. “As for Pine Shrew and your father, they have been under siege now ever since you left. Your father is fine but no one is able to get through the land of PIneshrew now as monsters roam the land there unhindered, the king here is looking to respond soon if his son cannot get the situation under control. Argos has been sighted as well which really has the kings attention.”