"I FORBID YOU TO GO!"
"TO HELL WITH YOU!"
"DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME, BOY!"
"I'M GOING!"
With that, Thomas Liam Trebond-Cooper, firstborn son of
the King's Champion and the former King of Thieves, slammed the outer gate in
his father's face. Thom, dressed in a loose white shirt with billowy sleeves,
black breeches, black riding gloves, and black boots, swung up onto his
stallion, Lupeni, and cantered away. George of Pirate's Swoop just stood there,
fuming and clenching his fists.
Riding away
down the coast, Thom felt the wind rustle through his light brown-red hair and
relaxed. Thom hated the Swoop, his family, Tortall, and especially his father.
The younger children, Alan, Alianne, Jonathon, Coram, and Maude, were spoiled
and annoying. Alan wasn't so bad, after all, he and Alianne were only four
years younger than Thom. But Jon was only eight, and Cory and Maudie were only
six. Thom was eighteen, and by far the most rebellious in his family.
Thom went
against everything his parents said. The only adults he listened to were the
King, obviously, and Numair Salmalin, who was Thom's mentor in magic. Just like
his namesake uncle, Thom was a very powerful mage, already a black robe. Seeing
as their were now only nine black robes in existence, including Thom, this was
incredible. Thom hated using his magic, though, and often got into fights with
Numair about it. Thom didn't like the King and Queen very much at all—solely
because they always sided with his parents on everything.
What Thom
had been fighting about with George was a trip to Corus--- Thom and Princess
Lianne, who was sixteen, were in love. George, Jonathon, Thayet, and Alanna all
disapproved of it, and currently, Thom was forbidden to see Lianne, who was
pregnant with his child. Jonathon and Thayet had been outraged, not to mention
the reaction of Thom's parents. Thom had actually gotten into a fistfight with
his father over that one. Lianne desperately wanted to see Thom, and him her,
but the royal couple and the Coopers had expressly forbidden all contact. Thom
had been officially banished from Corus last month, and had been having a
hellish time at the Swoop.
As
Thom kept riding, he drew nearer to Numair's tower home, and he ran over the
plans he, Lianne, and Prince Jasson had made. Jasson would escort Lianne to the Eastern Docks, to see off a ship
going to the Yamani Islands. Lianne would go onto the ship, which would
actually be a vessel provided by some of Thom's lower class friends. The ship
would then sail down to Numair's tower, where Thom would board and they would
sail for the Yamani Islands. Numair, of course, knew nothing about this. With Mithros's help, he wouldn't even know
Thom was there.
Thom pulled
up his horse in the stable, and swung off. A stableboy came running over,
puzzled.
"Master
Thom! What're you doing here? Shall I send Tena to fetch Master Numair?"
"No,
Rikard. You haven't seen me. I am not here. Lupeni is not here. Understood?"
Thom said softly. "In a few hours there will NOT be a boat here, nor will I leave
on it, nor will there be any visitors tonight." Thom pressed a gold coin into
Rikard's hand, and Rikard nodded, his eyes understanding.
"Now hide
Lupeni. With luck—"
"What luck,
Thom?" Numair Salmalin asked from behind him. Thom silently groaned and spun on
his heel.
"Hello,
sir." Thom said. "I'm hoping Lupeni won't pull a shoe." Thom added nervously.
Numair looked at him oddly.
"As you
say, Thom. Would you like to come inside, so we can work?" Numair asked
patiently.
"No. That's
all right. I'll just—just wait outside here."
"Well, if
you are 'waiting', perhaps you would care to take a ride?" Numair asked again,
his probing eyes searching Thom's.
"No. I'm-
I'm fine." Thom gulped. He knew Numair could sometimes read minds.
"Rikard, go
and put his horse away. Thom, come inside." Numair said.
"No—I'll-"
"Thom,
come inside." Numair's voice had a bit of an edge to it, and Thom winced
slightly. Numair flicked a finger and Thom knew that there was no point in
resisting—Numair would take him inside the tower even if he didn't want to go.
A few minutes later, Thom was
seated across from Numair in Numair's cluttered office.
"What are
you hiding?" Numair asked quietly. His voice was not kind.
"Nothing."
"Thom."
Numair warned.
"I left the
Swoop. I fought with Cooper." Thom replied.
"THOM!"
"Nothing!
Why can't you just leave me alone?" Thom yelled, and Numair slapped him across
the face.
"Why can't
I leave you alone?" The older man fumed as Thom recoiled. "Because you are
planning something and it's going to hurt someone—You're taking Lianne, aren't
you?!" Numair replied icily.
"Yes." Thom
said equally coldly, rubbing his cheek.
"You
bastard. Have you any idea what----" Numair broke off as Thom leaped out of his
seat, strode out of the room, and slammed the door. Numair jumped up and chased
him out.
"THOM! You
don't want to walk away from this!" Numair yelled. Thom spun around.
"YES I DO!
LEAVE ME ALONE!" Thom screamed back.
"THOM! STOP
RIGHT THERE!" Numair shouted, but Thom just walked faster. "I'M WARNING YOU!"
When Thom didn't halt, Numair shot a black ball of fire at him. Thom spun
around, narrowed his eyes, and the ball froze in the air, before flying back at
Numair.
"AND I'M
WARNING YOU, YOU OLD BASTARD!" Thom yelled. He could see the ship in the
distance, and he ran into the stable, leaving Numair as a fuming statue. Thom
dragged Lupeni out of a stall. Luckily, Rikard had anticipated this and left
the tack on him, so Thom swung on his saddle and rode off towards the coast.
A/n- I changed Alan and Alianne's ages! So kill me!
Jonathon is eight. Coram and Maude are six year old twins. Lianne—I wasn't sure
how old she and Jasson were, so I made her sixteen and him seventeen. Prince
Liam won't play a big part at all. Pretend—pretend he died or something. Prince
Roald married someone, Kel's a knight, and so are Neal, Cleon, Joren, Owen and
the rest. Daine is living with and/or married to Numair, and they have one
child, a girl named Mia, who is seven. Princess Kalasin is married to someone—how
about a Scanran Prince?, and she isn't really involved. Basically, the whole
court is infuriorated that Thom made Lianne pregnant, plus Thom's a rebel and
they all hate him anyway.
