Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to Tamora Pierce.
There was silence throughout the sand dunes. It was too early for the birds to be up and too late for the owls to hunt. A group of about ten people was up though. They moved over the desert without a sound. If there was any light, one would immediately notice their unmodest dress. Both them men and women wore nothing but a loin cloth. Many had unique markings on their face and arms. Each person carried a bow and a knife. The group passed a small camp on their way. Two people slept in bedrolls, a burned out fire laid between them and a pair of horses were tied to the only tree around for miles. The group stopped for a moment and looked to the man at the head of the group for instructions. He made a forward motion with his hand and the group continued on, moving quickly away from the camp.
The woman in the camp awoke, breathing heavily. She used her arms to pull herself upright. She glanced around the horizon. The sun would be rising soon. The woman unhappily forced herself to leave her warm covers. She tapped the other camper with her foot. He groaned and rolled over to the other side.
"Squire Neal," the woman said. "I am not your mother here to wake you up. We have to get a move on it before the sun is high in the sky. I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on riding under the hot Great Southern Desert sun."
The young man with dark brown hair and green eyes threw back his covers and got up. "Yes, Lady Alanna." There was a definite hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Not a morning person, are you?" Alanna asked, her purple eyes twinkling. The truth is, she was not either, she just wanted to arrive in Persopolis before it was too hot. As much as she hated the cold, she did not find excessive heat too appealing either. "I'll pack up the camp while you make breakfast."
Neal put the last few sticks of wood they had in the fire pit. They had been using the fire only to cook food as it was very scarce in the desert. As much as he hated cooking, it was always his job. He had once teased Alanna into cooking and that was the last time he complained about having to cook. Half cooked fish and burnt venison was the last thing he wanted to eat.
After the pair had eaten a decent breakfast and tacked up their horses, they headed on their way. Just after noon, the knight and the squire made it to the city of Persopolis. Alanna found the city much unchanged since her youth. The Bazhir were still quite friendly there and it was just as beautiful as it was before. The only thing that had changed since her visit as a page was the villagers' attitude towards the Black City. The Bahzir were still very suspicious of it but the extreme fear of the city was gone.
Neal followed his knightmistress tentatively as he had never seen Persopolis before. In fact, the trip was the first time he had ever been in the Great Southern Desert. Neal had, however, seen Bazhir before. King Jonathan had very much improved the relationship between the Northerners and the Southerners. The inside of the fortress was beautiful and exotic.
"I'm here to see Lord Martin," Alanna said to the Bahzir man inside the main entrance hall. He was obviously the doorman. "You may tell him that Sir Lady Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau is here by order of His Majesty, King Jonathan." At these words, the doorman looked considerably impressed and bid her to follow him.
Alanna turned to address her squire. "Neal, you can go find our rooms and unpack. You'll be much happier there than listening to the dronings of an old, stiff man," Alanna's attitude toward Lord Martin had not changed much either. "Besides, I think you have earned a rest and both of us a good night's sleep in real bed."
Neal agreed. After the doorman had brought Alanna to Lord Martin, he took Neal to a pair of empty guest rooms. The rooms looked very comfortable after many nights of sleeping on bedrolls. Neal unpacked their things and then sat on one of the beds, unable to decide what to do. He had brought no books with him. Maybe I'll go find a library, he thought.
Neal stopped first by the room the Alanna had gone in. He put his ear up to the door and heard faint mutterings of the two nobles. Then he continued on his way, glancing into open rooms. After an hour, Neal had successfully found the kitchen, the lavatory, the meeting room and an assortment of private chambers but no library. He sighed and as he came to another door. It was not open but it did as Neal turned the handle. Could this be it? It was not. He stepped into the room. A large window occupied all of the far wall. The remaining walls were covered in scenes painted on a multitude of tiles. Neal marveled at the tiles for a while. He found them colorful and beautiful even though he could not distinguished many of the scenes. Neal turned to stare out of the window. In the distance he could see a small black dot that he knew must have been the Black City. Then Neal saw something closer that he had missed before. There was a man on a horse riding toward the city with incredible speed. Suddenly, the horse collapsed and the man did not move.
With a gasp, Neal dashed out of the fortress and to the stable where he had left his horse. He took a moment to bridle the animal and rode out towards where he had seen the man collapse. Trying to balance, Neal kicked his horse to go faster. As they got closer, Neal could see the man was Bahzir, he was not from Persopolis either. The man wore country garb. His leg was stuck under the unmoving horse. Neal pulled his horse to a stop and slipped off, still gripping the reins.
"Are you okay?" Neal asked the man. He opened his eyes but did not say anything. Neal tried to pull the man out from the unconcious horse. It was hard going because he had keep a hold of his own horse while he did it. There was no where to tie it. Luckily, the horse behaved as Neal dragged the man from under his mount. With much difficulty, Neal got the man over his horse and climbed on himself. The ride back was much slower as to not lose the Bazhir man. Neal pulled his horse to a stop at the stable and handed the reins over to the stable boy with the information that there was an injured horse just south of them. He then carried the man up to the fortress.
The doorman looked alarmed to see a sweaty Neal carrying an unmoving Bazhir man. "Get water," Neal barked. "I think he is dehydrated." The doorman promptly left, returning minutes later with a flask of water. Neal held it up to the man's lips as he drank.
The man coughed and tried to speak. "I need to see the Woman Who Rides Like A Man."
Neal looked confused. "Lady Alanna?"
The man nodded. Neal turned to the doorman to ask him to fetch her but he was already on his way. Alanna came rushing down the hallway. Seeing her, the Bazhir man spoke. "Woman Who Rides Like A Man, the Bloody Hawk tribe was attacked this morning. They need you."
Neal could see Alanna was upset. She pressed her hands on the Bazhir's face. Neal could sense the healing magic that she was using. Alanna looked up at the doorman. "He'll be all right. Take him to my room. Make sure he is taken care of. Come on, Neal. We've got to go."
Not five minutes later, Alanna and Neal were racing across the Great Southern Desert. Neal did not know how Alanna knew she was going. The land looked the same in all directions. They must have ridden for three hours before Neal could see some sort of settlement on the horizon.
Alanna gasped as they reached the settlement. Tents were burned and ripped open. The pair slid off of their horses and led them through the small camp. In the tents, much of the furniture had been overturned and broken. The scene looked bad but it was not one of total destruction.
"Where are the people?" Alanna asked, thoroughly astonished. Neal had not even noticed the lack of people, dead or otherwise.
"Could the raiders have taken them?" Neal wondered aloud.
Alanna surveyed the area, looking for signs. "I don't think so, squire. I know my Bloody Hawks. They would have put up a fight. There aren't any dead bodies around."
"Perhaps, the raiders burned them," Neal suggested.
"No normal group of raiders would take the time to burn bodies. Why would they?" Alanna condentrated very hard. "No, they must be hiding- somewhere," she concluded.
The pair rode in a spiral circle out from the settlement. About a mile away they found found footprints. They followed the path another two miles before they could see the Bloody Hawk's camp. An arrow whizzed by Alanna's head, a warning shot. She looked startled. "Please stop! I'm Alanna!"
"Woman Who Rides Like A Man?" A Bazhir man appeared from behind a sand dune.
"Yes," she replied. "Your messenger reached Persopolis. Your camp, what happened?"
"Follow me." Alanna dismounted. Neal followed suit.
The man led them to a makeshift tent. "These are our wounded. We did our best."
Alanna started around the room, leaning down to heal and talk to those who were injured. Neal followed behind, assisting when needed. There were about twenty men and women laying in the sand, some on piles of donated clothing, some with nothing under them.
Kara rushed into the tent. "They just told me that you were here. Kourrem is away." She seemed very shaky.
"What happened?" Alanna asked.
"In the morning a band of ten men and women from the Eagle's Talon tribe attacked us. Most of us were sleeping. They were only interested in our belongings, fortunately enough. However, some of us weren't to keen to see them making off with our possessions." Kara gestured to those around her. Some smiled. "We tried to fight them off and they ran away soon enough."
"I'm glad you are all still all right." Alanna sighed. "You didn't have any sentries?"
Kara looked at the ground. "We haven't had trouble for a while. I was being careless."
Alanna lightened up on the young woman. "Well I see that you do now." She glanced at the man who had nearly shot her. He grinned. Alanna looked around the room. Neal was gone.
She found him minutes later outside on his horse, racing the way she used to with the young men of the tribe. She laughed as he was beaten everytime, still in good humor. The rest of the day was spent playing games and working hard to set up a temporary camp.
That night, Neal laid down in the warm sand. It surely was not a warm bed in a comfortable room in Persopolis but it would do for a good night's sleep.