The Lost Queen by: Elsbeth Suddenly transported to another world what will Eleanor need to do to survive and hopefully get home.

Chapter 1: Shadows of the Past

The cool spring air blew across the large camp, promising a beautiful spring day. It had been raining the past week, making the march difficult. Every beastkin knew traveling through the valley during this time of year had always been trying at best, which was the best that everyone could hope for right now.

The catkin looked towards the Baroness of Harmon, who overheard the conversation. The young woman gave her a pained smile before looking down, obviously upset and embarrassed.

"Good morning to you, Nain." Opal stepped next to the older woman disturbing, dragging her back to the present. "It looks like the rain's finally letting up."

"Yes, it is a good morning," Saren said with a smile her eyes instinctively moved towards the riverbank looking for a familiar flower. "It's been years since I crossed the Mynydd Oer."

"The road should be better onward, and I'll send word ahead to see if we can get a boat to take us to Harmon." Opal then turned to watch as a small group of catkins moved across the stone bridge. The temporary one had been replaced decades ago.

"You're worried about your wares?" She asked her granddaughter.

"Nain," Opal sighed.

She wasn’t worried about her wares or husband as he planned to travel to Coria and do a little business before returning to Harmon. What the younger catkin had not expected was for her grandmother to suddenly start packing as soon as the two of them had finished with the news of Lady Eleanor.

She also tried not to glare at her daughter, who was trying not to laugh. "Will the clan be moving?"

Opal had asked her parents the same thing. Although her mother was technically the clan chieftain, no important decisions would be made without one of the cyffwrdd blessings.

Saren looked thoughtful for a moment then shook her head. "No, not yet, although I believe your father will be sending word north. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lord Sax returns with him."

Although it seemed important at the time, Opal had no idea what would happen when she informed her grandmother of Eleanor's arrival. Considering the commotion it caused, she wasn’t sure if she should have kept her mouth shut.

--0—

Were things suddenly different once I discovered that this world resembled my own? Not really, as I still needed to find a way home that hadn’t changed. Strangely enough, knowing that the worlds were similar made me feel better. At least I could now use the little knowledge I had about geography.

The two Baronesses didn’t appear too surprised at my revelation. As I surmised, my Nordid looking features must be comparable to those who lived further north. Lilia's reaction seemed a little off, but then again, beastkins were not part of my world. If push comes to shove, I'll take her aside and speak with her.

I did wonder, however, about the strange lowering of the Mediterranean Sea. The only thing that would have caused that, at least in my world, would have been an Ice Age. I remembered reading that there had been one during the Middle Ages but didn’t know much about it.

I thought for a moment about bringing it up but determined that it would probably cause more questions than I had answers. Further research was needed, and luckily, the Baroness had a library.

Sabena had to leave to deal with her own responsibilities, so I was happy she went and left her secretary behind. I soon found Lilia knew what the library contained and its location. She was most helpful.

"Arglwyddes, here is the book you were looking for," she said before setting down a small travel book in front of me.

"Thank you."

The author had written several books. This one covered some of his experiences up north. I noticed that Amabel was looking at the two of us with a strange smile on her face.

"What?"

"If just fascinating by your knowledge of languages. How many do you know?"

Oh, good question. I had a feeling I could say 'all of them' but that wasn’t something I could admit to. "A few."

Amabel gave a good-natured laugh. "Oh, don’t be embarrassed, Eleanor. I'm just impressed. I could only understand a third of what Lilia said."

"I'm sorry, my lady." The young catkin looked horrified.

The Baroness of Redwater waved off her concern. "Oh, don’t worry, my dear. I'm sure it's nice to speak to someone in your native language."

Before we could continue further, a familiar-looking young boy burst into the room. "How do I get a guild card?"

"Byron!" A voice called out from the hallway.

Looking behind him, he cringed, then looked into the room at the face of his Aunt and winced again.

"OH, well, it's pretty easy. All you need to do is go to an official Adventurers Guild office and request a card from one of the clerks," Iona explained, looking up from scroll she was reading. My apprentice had joined us finally, and after a simple breakfast, I put her to work. She looked embarrassed at answering, but I waved at her to continue.

"Ahh, you're then taken to another room and have to touch a magical metal tablet."

"That’s all?" the young lord sat down next to her, followed by his exasperated mother.

Iona attempted to rise but was told to sit then continued. "It's all pretty simple. The item takes a bit of your blood and actually creates the card. It's free for the first one but will cost a silver to replace."

"So with the card I go can an adventurer?" he asked excitedly, leaning over to get a better look at the scroll the apprentice was reading.

"I thought you wanted to be a sailor, Byron," his Aunt said.

"Well." He started to explain without looking at me.

"There are rules about what job you can take and which ones you cannot," Marsilia told her son while giving me an apologetic look. "Plus, you're still too young, sweetheart."

"Really."

"You do need to be of age," Iona nodded, "And you can only pick a job or any number of them as long as they are equal to or one rank above you. When you get your card, you start as Rank F."

Amabel leaned over and whispered, "Did you start as an F-ranked adventurer, Eleanor?"

"Well, we don’t do it the same way, but everyone has to start someplace."

"True." The Baroness of Redwater nodded.

--0—

Baroness Sebena of Harmon slowly walked through the halls of her castle deep in thought. She would be the first to admit that speaking with Lady Eleanor about the new laws the King had planned was enlightening. However, it brought up some interesting questions.

"Good morning Stewart," she said as she entered solar.

The Barone of Redwater just grumbled, putting aside a document he had been trying to read. "Gods woman, nothing's good about it."

Smiling, she sat down across from her brother-in-law. "Apparently, I'm a bad influence on you."

Rolling his eyes, he passed the document over. "Brilliant, really, I'm surprised how familiar Eleanor was with the wording."

"Almost like she had a hand in writing similar laws herself," Sebena said.

"Perhaps," Stewart nodded then groaned. "At least what she suggested will give other people headaches."

"Your wife seems enamored with her."

"She tends to be protective, and Amabel knows the two of us only too well."

The Baroness of Harmon did not pout, but it sure looked like it. "I think she's a collector, Eleanor, that is."

"Oh," Stewart leaned forward.

"Her apprentice, Iona, she must have seen something in her, and after speaking with the Guildmaster, I wasn’t surprised. Apparently, she's a prodigy. She kept asking questions about magic that no one knew the answers for much less understood. I heard they brought Mistress Alidth the Scholar out of retirement to teach Iona's class. Stephen wasn’t happy when he found out that Eleanor snapped her up."

"And nobody thought about approaching the young girl's family?" He asked, but he knew the answer. "Never mind, Eleanor doesn’t care about social class niceties."

Sebena chuckled, "Well, she's having her lady's maid, make sure that her new apprentice at least knows how to act in polite society."

"I can see from your look that you know something else."

The Baroness nodded. "Her lady's maid's mother used to work for the crown. From what I heard, she was part of Princess Matilda's inner circle."

"So, that’s why your household seems to move a little quicker about her." Rubbing his head, he gave off a tired sigh. "Any more surprises? Did Stephen at least manage to get some information from the former members of her band?"

"No, they're tight-lipped about it." Sabena couldn’t deny the woman's charisma and the way people reacted to her, so she wasn’t surprised.

"What about your secretary?"

Sebena raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, don’t give me that look. As long as I have known her, Lilia has always been unflappable. She is anything but in Eleanor's presence. Since she's not by your side, I gather that you left her in your study."

"She's assisting Eleanor."

"If you're not careful, Sebena," the Baroness grinned. "She is going to start collecting members of your household too."

Authors Note: Hey, sorry, I am late. It’s a little short, but I wanted to get something out. Unfortunately, while the Coronavirus is keeping many people from working, some are now even busier. As for the virus itself, please be well and stay safe.