Eleanor
Day 01
Journal Entry 01
Mary insisted I keep a daily journal chronicling my time here in the military. I don’t really have much to say so far. Oh wait! The wall! Of course. It truly is something else. I’m now positive that not a single one of the descriptions I’ve heard ever really did it justice. The food here is good and my fellow privates are accommodating. I even feel like I’ve started to make a few new friends!
One day. They were only one bloody day in, and already Jun had identified four, out of the nineteen new recruits, who unquestionably, without a shadow of a doubt, most emphatically wanted Eleanor dead.
Eleanor
Day 04
Journal Entry 06
Who knew so much of my time here would be spent waiting for something, anything to happen, in-between nonstop practice drills and unending busy work. It’s comforting in a way. Reminds me a bit of what my life was like not so long ago. Funny how things can go full circle like that. Much to my dismay, I’ve still yet to actually step foot on the wall. None of us have. Apparently, it’ll still be some time yet before any of us see action. I don’t mind it so much. It gives me more time to work on my fundamentals and discipline, or so I’m told. Out of all the chores, weapon maintenance is probably my favorite.
The would-be assassin got within all of five paces of the oblivious girl before Jun was forced to act—so singularly focused was she on the oiling of her blade. Well known throughout the camp to spend far longer on the task than most, it ultimately left only her, this assassin, and a supremely well-hidden Jun, present and accounted for within the army barracks tent.
The other, far more sensible, or else far less masochistic recruits choosing to spend their downtime on worthier pursuits. Something other than the chores normally dolled out as punishment, in other words. Fun things like brawling, drinking, or screwing, S. Jun added wistfully. Something their assassin was likely already aware of, seeing as they were here and all, while any possible witnesses were not.
Expertly creeping their way through the shadows, they’d just raised their blackened blade, and were beginning to strike, when, with a flex of his will, Jun shredded their, no, her, clothing to ribbons—leaving her standing there, stark naked, and without a single scratch on her.
The assassin froze, clearly bewildered, at which point Jun raised the figurative shutter he’d maintained over his ruby red irises—shining them bright enough to catch her attention. Once hers had locked onto his from where he reclined underneath the cot, all he did was give a slight shake of his head. Eloquently conveying through gesture alone what could have befallen her had he not shown such admirable restraint.
The assassin blanched, then, with a hesitant nod of thanks and acknowledgment, slowly backed away, exiting the tent through the slit she’d entered from.
Eleanor
Day 08
Journal Entry 11
Rice pudding served at mess this morning. Yum!
In the dead of night, four hulking shadows rendezvous—they’re meeting clandestine, rife with foul promise and sinister intent. Converging to loom over the cot of an unsuspecting private, their overly large cloaks and baggy attire are insufficient to hide the broad shoulders and bulging muscle that lay beneath. With practiced hands, they reach down, and grab hold of the sleeping recruit—stifling their struggles and any noise they might’ve made just as easily as one might snuff out a candle.
It doesn’t take much for the four far larger women to carry the kicking and screaming body from the tent, then take them to the predetermined location. Shoving the girls face into the dirt to better muffle their cries, this is normally when the beating would begin in earnest—within an inch of her life and then a foot or so extra, were their employer’s exact instructions. And, dutiful women that they were, they’d make sure to follow said instructions down to the letter.
They were experts, after all, and it payed to be diligent. Everyone knew it was the lethal hits that always payed the best anyhow. All things considered, it should’ve been simple, easiest job of their lives, really. Only, when the first steel toed boot came down hard, made to cave in the deader’s skull, a silvery mist lashed out to violently repel it—flinging the woman off her feet, and breaking several toes in the process. Slowly rising to a standing position, this despite the concerted efforts of four massive women working very much to the contrary, a voice that was clearly not that of their target, spoke up in a quiet, almost melodic tone.
“Reckon you shouldn’t have done that. Reckon you really bloody shouldn’t have, and isn’t that the gods’ honest truth. Still, figure I should be grateful, I suppose. Bout damn time I got to let loose.”
And then, it was they who were prevented from screaming. This in spite of the fact that they very, very much wanted to.
Eleanor
Day 08
Journal Entry 12
I’m not sure why but Jun insisted we trade cots for the night. Of course his is way comfier than mine is. So unfair! I hope he doesn’t ask to switch back again tomorrow.
image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]
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Meredith bit back a scream of frustration. It wouldn’t do to make a scene in the officers mess, no matter how warranted that scene may be. Fourteen failed assassination attempts. Fourteen!
It didn’t help that most chose to take their initial deposit, and then hightail it as fast as they could at the first sign of trouble. Cowards, grifters, incompetents, the lot of them. At least a few had the common decency to go down with the ship, ultimately leaving their deposit in a recoverable state, if a bit awkward to explain away to her superiors.
It meant that she wasn’t hemorrhaging money, so much as bleeding it profusely. Something she genuinely could not afford. She’d only been given so much gold to begin with, and already she’d burned through a full quarter of her sister in law's generosity in this endeavor. She very much doubted she’d be receiving any more either.
She could not fail here. There was simply too much on the line. She’d been circumspect so far. Acting from the shadows when possible, moving by proxy when it wasn’t. She’d played everything by the book and look how little it had gotten her. Well, no more. It would appear she’d need to be a little more aggressive if she were to have any hope of success.
image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]
Eleanor
Day 25
Journal Entry 33
This morning Lieutenant Carver instituted a mock dueling policy, though it’s only applicable for lance corporal’s and below. Everyone was ranked according to their performance, aptitude, and practiced due diligence in the line of duty.
P.S. Wow! I was ranked #1! Can you believe that?!
During off hours, anyone can challenge anyone else, and depending on where you place at the end of the month, there are all sorts of prizes and privileges for the top rankers. I’m excited to see how I stack up against my fellow soldiers, and whether I can really prove I deserve the number one spot!
P.P.S. I hear they’ll be serving rice pudding again tonight! Double Yum!
Eleanor has effectively spent the last week with a target on her back. Jun, for his part, while initially concerned, has since resolved himself to sit back and watch the show. He wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with his attunement or not, but the girl was truly a monster where martial ability was concerned. She seemed to pick up new weapon arts like she’d mastered them in a past life, often knew how best to wield a weapon immediately upon contact, and only seemed to grow in ease and proficiency from there.
In the little over a month since they’d been there, Eleanor had taken what little the academy had taught her and expounded upon it exponentially. It’d been funny at first to see the initial trickle of ambitious challengers throw themselves at her in ones and twos. Now, it was just plain terrifying.
Every group challenge intended to unseat her reign an overcrowded affair widely spectated by all.
Not that their numbers ultimately made a difference for said challengers. Truly, out of all the meager natives he’d come across thus far, this girl was quickly becoming one of the very few for which he had cause to take seriously. He didn’t even think she’d noticed that not a small number of combatants, had actually been using sharpened blades.
Eleanor
Day 39
Journal Entry 51
I’m writing this just before I head out beyond the wall to brave the untamed lands of the true frontier. I know right?! I couldn’t believe it either! I must have really impressed the Lieutenant with my mock dueling performance, because she’s set me a special and dangerous task. One of the gravest importance imaginable, which she only feels comfortable entrusting to me. I am to brave the dead lands in search of an all-powerful artifact that was tragically lost in the heat of some previous battle. Truly, it is a weighty responsibility she’s set before me. I only hope I can live up to her expectations.
The second the gates slammed shut and audibly locked behind them, Jun knew that they’d effectively been left for dead.
image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]
She’d done it! She’d given it a week just to be certain but-! Oh, by the Queen’s saintly grace’s, she had actually done it! More than once, Meredith had to actively suppress the urge to pump her fists or break into a skipping lope down the glowing stretch of tunnel, like some delirious schoolgirl in the wake of her first kiss.
Flanked as she was by the stone faced, perpetually hard assed corporals who’d helped facilitate this final phase of the plan, she was understandably hesitant to do so. Exuberance tempered by the cultivated image of the dignified officer she still needed to uphold. Not that their opinions of her would matter for much longer.
As soon as she’d retrieved her property, she’d be out of there faster than you could say household amenities. All of this dirt and filth. The dreadful conversation, backwards living, and the food! Don’t even get her started on the food! With how drastically even her basest standards for accommodation had fallen, she was perpetually surprised she had lasted this long.
No more. No more would she be made to suffer. And as she and her two companions approached the imposing soul fire gates which marked the end of the underground, or she supposed, ‘under-wall’ passage, Meredith truly felt ready to leave this unenviable chapter of her life behind. And was already making sweeping plans for the future. Mostly involving what purchases she would make.
Now, as her two minions made to open the semitransparent gates, akin to tempered glass but chipped obsidian like in texture, Meredith thumbed the dousing rod she’d purchased for just such an occasion. Already she could feel the subtle pull of the thing, guiding her in the direction of the binding stone she’d commissioned. That simple act of commerce more than enough to establish a traceable connection between them, or so that back-alley witch had assured her.
It was all looking up, everything going to plan, until the looming doors groaned open at last, and on the other side was revealed… something that should’ve been impossible. Atop a mound of rift spawn corpses—one of only several made visible from her low vantage point, each of which had to have risen more than a story high—sat a blood-spattered girl and her stolen familiar. Barely a scratch on either one of them.
And at the foot of the stinking pile of bodies…?
To her horrified astonishment, not fifty paces away there was what looked to be a small armory. Blades, axes, helmets, pauldrons. She even thought she saw a jewel encrusted cuirass or two! Heaps and heaps of dented armor, gilded daggers, and expensive looking weapons practically shone in the midafternoon sunlight.
The thump of a salute brought Meredith’s listless eyes back up to the girl. Standing at attention, she spoke.
“Apologies ma’am, Lieutenant ma’am! It only occurred to me after the fact that I never actually asked for a description of the fated artifact you mentioned, ma’am! For lack of a better alternative, I made the executive decision to collect as many of these lost artifacts as I could in the time I was allotted!”
Meredith felt sick.
“Thankfully, the Lieutenant predicted my predicament and so allowed for the time I needed to accomplish this task to the best of my abilities. I must also thank the Lieutenant for informing my familiar of the Lieutenants plans ahead of time, and so ensure that he brought enough food to last the week!”
She shifted her gaze, catching the glinting red eye of the smirking demon, where he lounged atop the mound behind his illegitimate master.
“Furthermore, if the artifact you requested is not among those items I’ve already collected, ma’am, please do not hesitate to deploy me yet again! Although I would appreciate an in-depth description this time around, so that I might better accomplish my task! Ma’am!”
Meredith thought about accepting the offer. But then… what would be the point? She once more swept her gaze over the massacred rift spawn sticky with congealed blood. Feeling like all the wind had been forced out of her, Meredith sighed the words more than she spoke them.
“No… no need. At ease private… at ease.”