Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters belonging to Tamara Peirce whatsoever (I am sad to say) but some characters I do own and YOU shall not take them away from me without asking.
Chapter 1: Newcomer
In emptiness you live,
With sadness you give,
Your hope and desire,
Extinguishing the faith of fire.
Elaine Woodhaven was busy cooking dinner in the middle of February. Outside, a snowstorm was brewing. The trees waved in protest as the wind threatened to blow its branches off its trunk. She turned over the corn on the pan, blocking the noise outside her window with a powerful fantasy. Only she didn't know that the fantasy was not in her world, but in the world of words.
Suddenly, the winds outside stopped. Ellie (as her friends called her) took off her headphones and murmured something under her breath. She tied her brown hair into a ponytail and pulled on her red sweater. Her faded jeans didn't seem fit for the cold weather, but it was enough for her.
As she opened the front door of the house, she suddenly noticed how empty it seemed. Her father (who died five years ago (or so they said) ) inherited this house from his father. Her mother died when she was born. She lived with her stepmother, to whom her father married to two years after Ellie's mother died. Her stepmother bore one son and one daughter. The daughter (Elizabeth) was away at college. The son (Will) was 19, two years older than Ellie, and disappeared three months ago. Her stepmother was at a "meeting" with a "friend"- which Ellie highly doubted.
The wind played with Ellie's hair as the cool breeze flew into the house. As suddenly as the winds stopped, a beam of light shined at Ellie, causing her to shield her eyes from it.
Just a day ago, Ellie's boyfriend Simon has broken up with her. Everything seemed broken then and her stepbrother mocked her for being so stupid. Ellie thought of the nights on July 4 when she and Simon went to see the fireworks. She thought of how Simon laughed when she told him she was once afraid of fireworks because she thought it would one day blind her, how Simon brushed Ellie's hair back when she wished on a shooting star, but mostly how Simon gave Ellie comfort at her darkest days.
The mystery of the break up was unknown to her, maybe always will be. Ellie knew she had to face it eventually, seeing how she saw Simon talking to another girl one afternoon. Her heart was smashed into pieces, plus her stepmother barely noticed her sad face and set her straight to cleaning the living room when she got home.
Ellie shook her head out of her crazy memories. She closed the door and looked at the book Will was reading, which he threw on the table the other night. It was Book 1 of the Lioness Quartet.
In the Lioness Quartet, she always seemed to walk into Tortall when reading. The battles, the fire, the land, and the powers you might have there- all seemed too good to be true. No, it IS too good to be true.
Her life was an entire nightmare. Ellie longed to walk the earth in Tortall and just live for once in her long life. She read about the magical gift and about the magical sight- hoping one day she would receive such an honor to have such gifts.
She opened the book to page one, but was greeted with another strange light that was sucking at her soul. Ellie let out a scream as she realized what was happening. However, her voice faded away as the wind flew by her. Don't be scared, a voice whispered. Don't be scared.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau rode on her brave, black mare Midnight through the dense jungles near the coast of the Emerald Sea. Above, crows were shrieking war cries.
The war is raging, Alanna thought grimly. It will end someday but now, a new presence has disturbed the Realms of the Gods… Alanna shook her red head.
Losing all signs of hope, she rode to King Jonathan to tell him the awful news she bore…
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Veralidaine Sarrasri Samalin stood at the peek of a mountain. Her mother, Sarra Beniksra, had told her of news that a newcomer from another world has come to Tortall, disturbing the Gods. As the wild mage of Tortall, she had spoken to the animals, who repeated back the information of what her mother gave her.
Daine transformed into a bird and flew to King Jonathan to tell him the news she just received…
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Falcon of Queenscove rode his black stallion, Night, around the camp where King Jonathan was busy mapping important information on the war with Scandra. Out in the clearings near the forest, he saw a limp body. Assuming it was an animal of some sort, he cautiously raised his staff.
As he got closer, he saw that the animal wasn't an animal at all, but a girl about his age. He ran his hand through his blond hair and sighed. Falcon reached down at the unconscious girl and pulled her on Night, who was more than happy to make another friend. Falcon rode back to camp, finding no intruders along the way.
Falcon took a look at the girl. She was wearing strange cloths and was not wearing any sort of jewelry besides a strange little chain around her neck (which Falcon assumed had a charm at the end tucked inside her shirt) and wrist.
He sighed. Time to get back to camp, he thought wearily. He looked at the girl again. Who could she be?
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Newcomers will set foot on different our soil,
Angering the Gods, let anger boil,
Losing their heart or merely their voice,
Not like they had a choice.
Numair Samalin sat in the orange tent at camp, trying to 'see' how many mages they had in the war. There weren't many, maybe four or five, but he knew they were very powerful. Falcon was just a mage in training, just enough to keep the intruders busy.
Just then, he sensed a presence outside. Of course, it might be a spy, Falcon, or the King's Champion, Alanna. Without taking any chances, he stood cautiously and opened the tent's flap.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Jonathan!" Alanna cried as she stomped into his tent. "We have less chance in winning this war and you're here reading? Who do you think you are, a scholar?"
"Alanna," Jonathan said calmly. "There is no need to worry. We have many great knights and mages."
"The Gods are against us!" a voice cried. Alanna turned around and saw Daine trudge into the tent. Her blue-grey eyes were blank but Alanna could tell she was very concerned with this fact.
Jonathan looked at Daine. "What do you mean?" he asked in the same calm voice. Nice of him to be the calm guy at a situation like this, Alanna thought angrily.
"They claimed we disturbed peace in the Divine Realms," Daine explained. "They said a new presence has emerged in this world, one that is not our kind. They said that… that it broke the shield between the two worlds."
"Which two worlds?"
"Our world… and the newcomer's world," Daine whispered. "Whoever the newcomer is, we have to find him."
"How do you know the person's a boy?" Alanna asked.
Daine shrugged. "I'm just guessing."
"Should we ask Numair about this?"
"Maybe he can help," Jonathan said as he went over to the tent door.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Falcon took the girl off Night and carried her bridal-like to Numair's tent. As if Numair knew he was there, he opened the tent flap. Falcon looked up with his blue eyes and said, "I found her somewhere near the forest. I don't think she's around here…"
Numair nodded and waved Falcon in. Falcon carried the girl inside and placed her on Numair's bed. Numair checked the girl to see if there is anything wrong. "I don't think she's hurt," Numair concluded. "But she's not awake either."
"I tried waking her along the way here," Falcon said sheepishly, "but it didn't work."
Just then, the girl stirred and opened her brown eyes.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The first thing Ellie saw when she woke up were blue eyes staring at her. Ellie let out a scream, only to hear nothing coming out of her mouth. Ellie looked around in her surroundings. She was in a tent, she concluded. Two strange men were staring at her and she has no idea what they were wearing.
Trying to talk, Ellie made a weird sound that sounded like someone saying 'ahhh' to a doctor. Ellie covered her mouth, horrified to find that she couldn't speak.
"Hi," the boy with the blue eyes said. He had blond hair and was about 5'9". "Are you okay?"
Ellie nodded, looking down at her hands.
"So… who are you?" he asked. Who are you Ellie wanted to ask, but couldn't. Instead, she kept opening and closing her mouth, hoping words would form.
"I think she's mute," a man said. Ellie looked up and couldn't believe her eyes. It was Numair from Tamara Peirce's books. "She can't talk."
The other boy looked at Ellie. "But Master Numair," he cried, "how can someone be mute?"
"They are either born mute, or become mute out of shock," Numair said. "Haven't you been reading the books I gave you Falcon?"
The boy named Falcon looked down sheepishly. "No… sorry."
Numair turned his attention back at Ellie. "Do you write?"
Ellie nodded. She knew how to write. Everyone knew how to write. Numair nodded and went over to his desk. There, he brought back a piece of white paper and a quill that, Ellie recognized, was used in the olden days. "Write your name," Numair commanded.
Ellie nodded again and dipped the quill in the ink. She wrote out her name with a flourish. "Elle," Falcon read. "Hi, I'm Falcon." Ellie tried telling him her name wasn't 'Elle' but 'Ellie', except when she looked down at her handwriting, the words did look like 'Elle".
Hi Falcon, Ellie wrote. Where am I?
"You're in Tortall," Falcon replied. "That's my master, Numair," he said, indicating one finger at Numair.
Tortall? Ellie cried silently in her head. I'm not really in Tortall am I? If she could, she could have yelled it.
I don't know where Tortall is, Ellie wrote back. How did I get here?
Falcon looked at Numair. "I have no such clue," he replied. "I found you near the forest. What were you doing there?"
I don't know, Ellie wrote again.
And then, the flap of Numair's tent opened, revealing, to Ellie's surprise, Alanna, Jonathan, and Daine.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
As Alanna walked into the tent, she could hear a one sided conversation of Falcon. "Hello," she said to Falcon. She nodded to Numair and stared at a girl sitting on Numair's bed. "Who is she?" Alanna looked at the way the girl was dressed. She was not from around here, Alanna concluded.
"That's Elle," Falcon said. "She mute."
Elle glared at Falcon and then wrote I am so not mute! on a piece of paper, which Alanna read from over Falcon's shoulder. "You sure look like it," Alanna said. Then she turned to Numair. "We have a problem," she said. "The Gods are mad at us."
"How so?" Numair asked, confused.
"Newcomers have arrived in Tortall," Daine replied, looking at Elle. "And they are very upset at the fact that it has broken the barrier between our world and their world. Three people set their foot in our soil, but they do not belong here."
Numair shook his head. Alanna assumed he figured something out. Just like that, Alanna knew. Alanna stared at Elle, and knew that their troubles were just starting.
Author's Note: This chapter is a tad bit long, but I think it will do. Please review and tell me how you liked it or how I can improve my writings.
Wishmaker's Secret