“What idea?” Eleanor asked curiously, moving closer to her.
“Well..” She scratched her head nervously before speaking. “Well, you can speak to our king, maybe he might give out some soldiers to you.”
Nikolai and Luciano stared at each other as if deliberating if that was a good plan. “He might refuse you know? Not everyone wants a problem with Cordenia.” Luciano spoke, knowing well that most of the kingdoms avoided troubles with them, ever since what they did to Narva. Now Daekhram is one small village with very little number of people, that would definitely be the last thing they’ll want to do.
“You can try and see what he says.” Eleanor said, trying to encourage.
“Sure. Let’s see what happens then.”
*
“How'd it go?” They all stood up when the door opened and both brothers stepped in.
“How did it go?” Eleanor held so much hope in her eyes as she asked.
“Well, nothing. He refused.”
She breathed out a small sigh, feeling quite hopeless again. “So what do we do now?” She wrapped her hands around herself, rubbing her arms softly.
“We do it ourselves?”
“What?” Her eyes widened a bit in disbelief.
“Yes Elly. There’s no point looking for another alternative.” Luciano explained, breathing out a small sigh. He walked past her to the room, coming out with his bag.
“What are you doing?”“Preparing to leave.” He dropped the ground to the floor, turning to look at her. “If we leave now, we will arrive by late evening. And it'll be much easier to sneak in.”
“Okay….” Eleanor nodded her head unsurely.
“Come on go.” Luciano urged.
“Can I come with you?” Nalia suddenly asked, staring at all of them with hope in her eyes.
“Nalia no.” Eleanor replied, shaking her head. “We can’t endanger you okay?”
“But-”
“No buts, you’re staying okay?” She moved closer to her, placing her hand on her shoulders. “Besides, you have to take care of Kyla, remember.” A sudden gush of emotion washed over her when she said that name, that familiar name. “Okay?” She shook her head slightly, pushing away those emotions.
“Okay.” Nalia nodded, looking down at the floor with a sad look.
“If everything goes well, I’ll come visit you okay?”
“Sure.” She nodded, this time around with a smile. Eleanor patted her shoulders one last time, moving away to get a few things.
In no time they embarked on the journey back to Cordenia. “You think this is the right time?” Eleanor still felt afraid they might actually get defeated by him.
“Yes, he wouldn’t expect her back so soon. He’d definitely not be prepared.” Eleanor only nodded, not having the right words to reply.
“Hey, we’ll be fine okay?” Luciano held her hand into his, squeezing it reassuringly. “We still have soldiers at the castle, they’d join in. We’re not as small as you might be thinking.” She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.
.
“You stay here okay, we go in alone. You can’t come with us.” Luciano said to her as they stood in the woods, not too far from the castle.
“No, it's fine, we can-”
“No Elly, I’m not putting you in danger again.” Luciano bluntly refused, shaking his head.
“Stay here.” Eleanor looked like she wanted to say something but stopped when Gwen placed her hand on her shoulder.
“No worries, we’ll stay right here.” Gwen said to him with a wide smile on her face.
“Gwen don’t do anything silly.” Nikolai warned, pointing his finger at her as he walked away with Luciano, Killian and the guard who rode the chariot.
When they were already out of sight Eleanor turned to Gwen and asked. “So what do you have in mind?” She definitely knew Gwen was up to something with that smile.
“We have our parts to play as well, besides we never liked them.” She said and moved to the chariot, to bring something.
“Who?” Eleanor asked confusedly.
“Elliot and Sabrina of course.” She replied, dropping a bag to the ground.
“What’s that?”
Without replying, Gwen opened the bag to reveal arrows and just two bows stacked in it.
“You had that all this while?”
“Well yes.” She replied with a wide smile. “Come on, let's get ready.”
.
They walked into the castle quietly, their swords held tightly in their hands. They made a successful entry into the castle, killing every one of Elliot's guards that tried to stop them. “Where do you think he’ll be now?” Nikolai asked in a whisper as they stood against a wall.
“Throne room, he’d definitely be there.” Luciano replied and with a nod from him, they all ran up the stairs, heading to the throne room. Luciano raised his sword, ready to strike when they bumped into a guard, but stopped mid air, recognizing the voice of the guard. “My prince.”
“Evander.”
“Thank goodness you’re here.”
“Where’s Elliot?”
“In the throne room my prince.” Evander replied with a bow.
“Gather men, kill off the invaders.” Luciano instructed before adding. “We’ll deal with Elliot.”
Evander nodded and left, while they climbed up the stairs to the throne room. Bursting into the room unexpectedly, Elliot was found, sitting on the throne seat with just two guards with him.
“Luciano?” Elliot sat up well, his eyes widened in shock.
“Elliot.” Luciano called, walking further into the room. “Surprised to see me?” He asked with a smirk.
“I’m not, Luciano, I expected you.” Elliot replied, walking down the throne seat.
“Unprepared?” Luciano smirked harder, with brows quirked.
Elliot stopped where he was and turned to the guards behind him and ordered. “Kill them.” Luciano scoffed as they walked to him, pulling their swords out from its sheath.
“Seriously.” Luciano turned to Elliot after killing them off. “Killian.” He called, turning to him. “Check the entire castle and kill every one of his soldiers you come across, Evander might need some help.” He ordered and turned back to Elliot, a deadly look on his face.
“I never liked you Elliot.” He said walking closer to him, Nikolai right behind him.
“The feeling is mutual Luciano.” Elliot replied with his usual smirk plastered on his face.
“So be it.” Luciano said lastly before launching towards him, together with Nikolai.
*
“Come on.” Eleanor grabbed her hand, leading her up the stairs. They stopped when they suddenly bumped into Sabrina.
“Get out of my way.” She tried pushing them away but Eeanor was fast enough to grab her hand, pushing to the floor.
“Where do you think you’re running to, your highness.” Eleanor asked sarcastically, her lips stretched into a smirk and raised her hand, smacking it hard on her face.
*
In the dungeon
Arie leaned against the walls, staring into space. Every slightest movement she made caused the chin around her hands to shake noisily. “Ariel.” She heard Axel call from the cell next to her.
“Ariel, are you okay?” His worried filled voice asked, but she couldn’t reply, she had no words to. “Ariel??”
“I’m alive Axel.” She answered, heaving out a deep sigh. She felt so weak and tired, fear consumed her so much. “Do you think they’ll be fine?” She asked in a shaky voice, afraid that Elliot might hurt her sons if they returned.
Axel had no reply to her question, he would be lying if he told her he wasn’t worried as well. “I feel terrible Ariel, you have no idea.” Guilt has eaten him deeply, he regrets every of his past actions.
“I know that, I feel that way too. Everything that happened is all our fault, we gave Elliot the chance to do this.” She stopped and sniffed as tears filled her eyes. “I don’t think Luciano would ever forgive us for this.”
Axel exhaled heavily and palmed his head, looking down at the floor. “He has every right not to, we brought him into this mess.”
“We did, no-” She stopped mid sentence when she heard noises outside. “You hear that?”
“Yes, what do you think?”
*
Luciano grunted when Elliot suddenly used his elbow to hit on the side of his stomach, pushing him to the ground, then he swiftly turned to Nikolai, bringing out a pocket knife using it to stab him unexpectedly.
Luciano gasped in shock and stood up from the ground, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. Then launched at him, his sword in his hand. The clanking noises of swords hitting each other filled the throne room, while Nikolai moved away from them, trying to catch his breath. It wasn’t easy fighting, he’d give to it he's a good fighter.
He looked back at them to see Elliot, hit Luciano’s hand making his sword fall and kicked him to the ground. “You are no match for me Luciano, you should know that.” Nikolai’s eyes widened as he raised his sword high, obviously to drive it into Luciano’s chest. “See you on the other side of the world, lad.” He smirked, ready to stab him, but then an arrow flew from the door right into his chest, giving Luciano a chance to escape.
Elliot gasped, looking at the arrow buried in his chest, he looked up to the door, to see Eleanor standing there with a bow in her hand. “You..” His knees went weak and the sword fell from his hands before he fell to the ground on his knees. He grabbed his swords again, trying to stand up when another arrow flew into his chest.
“There’s no point in struggling Lord Elliot.” Eleanor said in a firm voice, walking into the room. “The arrow is poisoned, you’ll die anyway.” She added with a smirk.
“Elly, are you okay?” Luciano rushed towards her, holding her shoulders.
“Of course I am.” She replied with a smile and walked away from him to Elliot. “Such a shame you had to die by the hands of a slave, Elliot.” She said and moved away from him back to Luciano.
They all looked to the door when they had movements, seeing Killian walking into the room with Luciano’s parents. Their eyes widened when they saw Elliot on the floor. Ariel looked at them one by one and when her eyes landed on Eleanor, there was an unusual softness in them. Then slowly, as if counting her steps she walked closer to her, and to the surprise of everyone in the room, she wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a hug and whispered into her ears. “Thank you.”