The Power Of Cithrí - A Chaol Westfall Fanfiction

The Lady, the Captain and the Rider pt 1

Hi guys, so this is a separate story I'm writing along side the princess of Cithrí series. I wasn't very please with the last version of this so I've taken it down and rewritten it. Hope this is better!

The captain snappily straightened his uniform, and checked his men were all in order. They were. Good. He rapped his knuckles on the great doors of the lords house and went inside as the guards pulled it open. The lord Orison was a protrude man, short with a large swelling stomach and two stubby legs. Chaol doubted the man could even get on a horse now without multiple men aiding him. The lord was once known for his ability and power in battle. Chaol squinted pained to think the man could have ever been considered his role model. "Captain." The lord, with a beard that held no specific form but rather dangled down from his chin in long tassles, spoke. "I recieved the king's letter." The lord peered around the captain, gulping at the many men Chaol had brought. This was a very important mission, one he couldn't risk going wrong. "He didn't mention so many men."
Chaol clasped his hands behind his back. "Lord Perrington says he wants her to be very safe."
"Ah yes. Of course." The lord said, laughing, and picking food from his hairy chin.
"Where is she?" Chaol said, praying the lord could not tell how much he was shaking. He was going to see her. After everything that had happened to her, only now was he going to see her again.
"This way." The lord gestured for the captain to follow him, guiding him into his home, up a staircase. Chaol would have found it impressive if he didn't live in a glass palace.

"How is she faring?" The captain asked, noting all the guards, all the servants lord ... had. The lord certainly hadn't suffered over the past few years.
The lord sighed. "Not well... her father.... it's a shame what happened to her family."
Chaol nodded, his stomach ached, it was like his daily workout had suddenly increased in intensity. Lady y/n, last of her household. He had known her when he was a boy living in Anielle, they had been relatively close friends, both sharing a love for horse riding. He hadn't talked to her since he left home to become captain. He was certian she wouldn't even recognise him. He could barely see the small boy in him anymore. He worried that he wouldn't remember her either, she had always been peculiar to him. She used to have short hair, boots up to her knees and dresses caked in mud and straw. She always hated dinners and balls. Maybe it had been forced into her now, or she learnt to enjoy it. "Duke Perrington has enough wealth to spoil her happily."
The lord gulped, glancing at the captian, making Chaol's stomach twist into a tighter knot.... what was wrong? The lord brought him to a long corridor, at the far end was a wide oak door, two gaurds on either side, spears crossed across the entrance.
"We have taken extra precaution in terms of her safety since.... since it happened." The lord said, his cheeks flushing. The gaurds lowered their spears and stepped aside, saluting the captain and lord. Chaol eyed them up, pristine uniform, straight backs, trained eyes. Lord Orison looked to have trained his men well.
"She will be quite safe with us." Chaol assured the lord and himself.

They entered the room and Chaol's heart dropped. Had anyone cared for the girl? The curtains - black - were drawn, haunting shadows scattering the floor, running up and over the piles of manefestering clothes and plates of food. The surfaces - tables, chest of draws, shelves - everything was littered with trash. None of this was out of laziness, it was out of pain. "Has no one been attending to her?" Chaol asked, careful not to stand on whatever it was that crawled around under one pile.
"Maids have tried everything, I've had doctors come but she will not eat nor bathe, recently they have not been able to get her out of bed." The lord took Chaol into the bed room.
The sheets on the bed were bundled up, like something had tried to hibernate in the bedding. Curled around the blankets was the unconcious form of the lady. Chaol gulped. She had more curves than he remembered, hips, breasts, she had more hair - though knotted and unwashed, it was apparently she could be pretty. One eye opened and watched them. So hollow, Chaol had seen eyes like that, when he went to the labour camps or the salt mines, her eyes showed all the defeat she had burned into her. Chaol shivered, there was no fire, nothing to warm the room. He marched over to the fire pit.
"Please don't." Her voice trembled, it was richer, thicker, flowing like honey. He had remembered her as a high pitched, snorting child who could only make horse noises.
He took a wary breath and faced her. "Lady y/n, I'm Captain Westfall, captian of the royal guard, I've been sent by Duke Perrington to escort you to Rifthold, where you shall travel with him back to ...."
She rested her head back onto the pillow. "You were a little lord last time." She sounded slightly lighter, but nowhere near happy. Fair enough, Chaol thought, he would have no idea what he would do if his home burnt to ashes. "And I was a lady." She mumbled, trailing off into her own pain.
"You still are a lady." Chaol assured her.
She shut her eyes and pulled the blanket over herself. "You have to have somewhere to be a lady of, in order to be a lady."
Chaol looked to the lord, he was a firm family friend of y/n's family, and the hurt of the loss was apparent on his face as much as her's. He would have to get them both out of here, or the tears would start. "When did you last eat my lady?"
She remained silent, but the lord spoke up. "She hasn't eaten since it happened, three days ago."
Chaol furrowed his brow, lord ... should see it as his duty to get her eating, someone should have poured it down her throat if that is what it required. He stormed over to the window and threw the curtains open. The lady hissed and dug her head into her matress. "You have to get out of bed and eat." He turned to the lord. "I will be joining you for dinner and expect her to be present, have a maid clean her up or I will drag her out of bed myself." He meant everyword, as he stormed back out of her room. Her condition was appalling, how had anyone let her get that bad? She was withering away in her bed, swallowed up in her sorrow. He had duties to do, men to sort, letters to write, but he couldn't think of anything but her. He found an empty corridor and leant on the wall, pressing a hand to his mouth. He gaged, the acidic vomit rising to his throat, he swallowed it back down. Gods, she had remembered him, his childhood friend.... childhood crush, remembered him!