Chapter 1

Fight!

"Fight cowards!" screeched a rather large hawk after assaulting a group of under nourished pirates. They did little to retaliate, feeling the weakness that comes from meager food sources. The hawk dived again and caught the prominent nose of an over weight pirate. The flesh around the nose ripped and the bones snapped with the force of his sharp talons. The pirate immediately put his hands to the place where he was struck, which proved to be his undoing because the force pushed the bones back, causing a chain reaction that ended with shards of bone in his brain. With the largest of the group down, the hawk nose-dived once more gripping at the eye of a bony pirate in his powerful beak. The man shrieked and ran trying to cover his eye and fight off the hawk at the same time. One pirate gathered enough wit to throw a rock from the ground at the bird. Surprisingly, it struck the hawk's wing and caused him to plummet down to the earth below. The hawk tried to catch an air current to help him ride to the ground but the air over the field was too heavy with magic and smoke. He boldly stared at the earth below, ready for anything and felt himself begin to slow. A group of starlings had gathered beneath him and gracefully guided him to the ground.

"Be careful!" they chided as they flew off to attack the eyes of a dreary looking hurrok.

The hawk thanked them and struggled to bring itself to shelter. A blur of brown raced by then paused. The hawk stilled in apprehension. A pair of blood soaked jaws came toward his middle a bit faster then he had expected and he snapped and squawked in dismay.

"Fiercetalon please! It is me, Daine and if you stop moving I can carry you off of this battle field so that you can see another day!" the wolf said. Fiercetalon stopped moving and allowed himself to be taken away. He pondered how strange this would have been in any other circumstance as they neared a small cave that was hidden among the rocks of the small surrounding brush.

"Just heal my wing a bit and I can go back to fighting," he implored as she set him gently near the mouth of the cave.

"I will fix your wing but you must stay here. The battle is nearly finished and I'll need you afterwards for getting things in the forest back to normal. Besides, your mate threatened me with a lot of pain if you didn't return." Fiercetalon looked as if he was going to argue but was cut off when her jaws went to his wing and her paws went on his chest. A moment later the pain in his wing was gone and she was hurrying away from him.

"Stay." She growled and ran off to rejoin the battle. Fiercetalon watched her go with a mix of awe and dread. Something in her felt wrong, like her soul was waning. He flapped the wing a bit and sat waiting patiently for her return, though somehow he didn't think it would be soon.

Her powerful legs carried her to the blood-soaked field, where in nearly the same breath she attacked a pirate that was sneaking up on the King's Champion. Swiftly the lady knight dug her sword into her opponent's gut and turned to see a chestnut colored wolf biting a soldier's neck and snapping it. Alanna nodded towards Daine in gratitude before going after another victim. Daine followed her but stopped as she felt sharp pains in her stomach. Alarmed, she looked at her stomach but found no wound that would cause her this much internal pain. She wondered if she was just exhausted from her extensive magic use in the past 72 hours when Alana's war cry shook her from her pain and propelled her adrenaline. With a yip she followed the mighty warrior's cry. All around her the pirates who had attacked the shores of Tortall's Port Merrick were falling easily on the swords of the army sent by King Jonathan the III. Magic from different mages filled the air, making the field glow with haunting, amazing colors. One color in particular caught her attention. Across the field, black light hit a trio of angry, withered pirates causing them to disintegrate; their anguished screams piercing her alert ears. She smiled as only a wolf can.

"That's my mage." She thought briefly before the strange pains returned and she howled in protest to them. Alanna slammed her elbow into the gut of a pirate who tried to attack her from the side before she turned to ram her sword hilt into his face. He fell into a heap at her feet, which she swiftly used to keep him down with a kick to the gut and a kick to the head. A small whimper caught her attention and her eyes found Daine with her ears flat and laying down. Daine whimpered again as the pains became more intense but fought them away with sheer will power and pulled her body from the ground. An excited growl pushed its way through her throat as she attacked a fleeing pirate with a metal hook on his hand. King Jonathan, unaware of Daine's situation, called his champion to help him with Sir Raoul. A look of worry was sent towards Daine as Alanna made her way to her king. Cragget -the pirate- screamed as Daine bit his face and neck. He stopped moving and Daine figured that he had passed out. She barked in triumph as her predator's eyes began to scope out another target. Targets were becoming few and varied much to her happiness for the sooner they died the sooner this ridiculous battle would be finished.

They had really attacked the small port town without reason. A band of pirates, perhaps two or three hundred, had decided that they needed a base, so without pause they found and took over Port Merrick. The port was along the north coast, nearly central in position to Scanra and Corus. It was mainly used for fishing and some trade. The pirates had arrived in the cover of fog and the night. Those who had fought the pirates died quickly. They were not the scurvy ridden type Romanticized in bard songs, but the malicious, crafty ones that haunted nightmares. Nearly a month had gone by before anyone was able to escape to the capitol and warn the king. What had been believed to be a short tour had turned into a monstrous campaign that had cost the lives of many. Two and a half solid weeks of fighting had left both sides tired, hungry, and cold. Being so near Scanra, the end of summer had ended early and the first winds of autumn flowed in during August. This was hopefully the final battle, the last time they would see these pirates on anyone's shores again. Daine could almost feel the warm bed she shared with Numair beneath her as she contemplated the end of the battle and the return to home.

The shuffling of movement caught her delicate ears and she turned to the pirate who was supposed to be dead behind her. Muscular jaws clamped around his windpipe as his hook found its way into her stomach. At first she was too shocked to even realize that the man had seriously wounded her, all that she understood was they her prey still breathed. Pushing deeper into his neck drew the claw deeper into her gut. The body went limp as she shook the neck. Gravity dragged his lifeless form over; Daine still attached to his hook. She hit the dirt briefly but her adrenaline had her up again in an instant. Daine howled her triumph -a ritual she liked very much- then turned to look at her wound. Her blood gushed onto the field from the gouge in her gut. The bitter edge of her pain seeped into her consciousness replacing her quickly waning adrenaline. Her legs felt weak beneath her and she lay on her side. Desperately she tried to rise, hoping that if she moved and fought again the adrenaline would return and she would still be able to defend her Tortall and her friends, but back to the stony surface she fell. Again she tried to stand but her legs crumpled beneath her and her head swam with dizziness and pain. Slowly, she returned to two-legger Daine, her mind unable to control her magic anymore. Darkness ebbed into her consciousness and her lungs wheezed trying to bring in more air to her torn body.

"Oh Mithros! Goddess! Please, do not take me away yet!" she prayed. As if in answer to her prayer Alanna ran by taking down two pirates in the process. The Lioness turned to leave but Daine called out as loudly as she could. Alanna followed the noise and breathed in sharply. Kneeling down beside the shivering girl Alanna removed her cloak and placed it over her.

"Daine! What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" she asked frantically. Daine couldn't speak only breath. Alanna peeked under the cloak to find the wound. Wincing, Daine allowed the intrusion but soon felt very little as her body went numb. Alanna's eyes nearly bulged out of her head at the sight of the girl's stomach wound. Blood began to pool around her knees and to Alanna's despair the rate at which the blood spilled was not slowing. If anything, it was flowing harder.

"Can you move?" Daine stared at her blankly and Alanna could feel the Black god's hand upon the young women. She bit back tears and put a shield around them to prevent any attack while she tried to stabilize the wound. Slowly, she reached deep into her Gift to find the power to explore the extent of the injury and restore Daine's health. The claw had ripped through all of her muscle tissue creating a gash from her naval to nearly her sternum. She saw that her stomach had been ripped, meaning stomach toxins were now all over the ground and in her blood. Alanna sighed heavily as she came back into her body. Realizing they had no time to waste, she began to try and close up her innards before she tried to close her flesh. She was very worried, a wound of this depth on a dirty field usually spelled death, but she hoped against hope that this woman's will would hold out until she could get her to the healer's tent.

Daine stared at the scene in front of her. She was lying on her side, so her head turned to the left in perfect view of Numair blowing up the last four pirates with swift balls of black fire. The sounds of victory from the army of Tortall resounded in the air but Daine could only hear a few seconds of it before she became deaf to the world around her. Once the two-leggers couldn't be heard, she found the People willingly opened themselves to her. She heard a pack of wolves off in to the distance bellowing their sorrow for her pain. Starlings and other forest birds joined them in songs of sad chorus as the rest of the forest dwellers chattered and growled angrily at the two-leggers that had fought and wounded their kin. She was kin to all. The People also eventually fell silent to Daine's ears and she was left in silence. Darkness began to invade her vision and she wept with what little strength she had left. Blood spewed from her mouth onto the ground completing the circle of blood pooling deeper around her.

"Please, Goddess!" she begged. "Black god! I know this shouldn't be my last fight! Please! Please…" Numbness thankfully took over the rest of her body as her last breath stumbled wetly out of her mouth and with one strange, violent convulsion she died.

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Hey! Ok, so I realize I'm awful because I never actually updated or, you know, finished this story…yea bad show… so I have decided to finish this story! I have gone through and edited the first few chapters so if you are rereading and some of the story looks a bit different, I was a little excited. This is still my first Tortall fanfic so please be gentle if you decide to flame. Also, if anyone sees typos or grammatical errors I would appreciate it if thy let me know immediately. I haven't been able to find a good BETA for this yet. Thank you so much! Laters!