Sandry's Tale (A/N: terrible title, hopefully I'll think of something better. This is the first chapter of what will hopefully be a long story!)
Disclaimer: most characters, places, themes and ideas by Tamora Pierce, some by me. All credit should go to TP for writing such amazing books!
Chapter 1 - Ruins
As the dust rose up from the earth, Sandry bent over her latest creation. An almost invisible web of silk, gleaming with magic that only Sandry could see, was placed over a hidden hole in the ground. Her 'invisible trap', as Pasco called it, was complete.
"Thank you again, milady," said the Watch Commander by her side, "This will definitely help us solve those break-ins."
"It's no problem," protested Sandry, as she rose with a groan at her stiff knees. After the many hours put in by this team to catch the robbers, she felt sure her efforts were nothing in comparison, yet it was nice to know she could help. Seven months after capturing the Dihanurs and she still felt the need to solve crimes – this charmed net was one of many new attempts at keeping Summersea, and more importantly its people, safe.
Satisfied after a long day's spell-making, she found the guard who had her horse and climbed up wearily, all too grateful to be heading home for a big, hot bath. So tired was she, she didn't notice that the guards were leading the way west, away from the citadel.
"Where are we going?" she murmured sleepily to Garin, the younger of her guards.
"Winding Circle, milady, Dedicate Lark left a message saying we should bring you straight here when you were done." Garin grinned, showing his front two missing teeth, and winked at Sandry.
"Well I hope everything's alright – she'd have contacted me if something was really wrong, but" – Sandry broke off they neared the temple, feeling the threads in her dress straining away from her. Someone – Lark, she would bet – was calling her home, and fast.
"Hurry!" she cried, "We need to get there as soon as possible!"
The horses broke into a gallop and in less than a minute they were outside Discipline cottage. Sandry jumped from her horse, disregarding Garin and the other guard's attempts at helping her, and ran inside.
"Lark? Lark?" she called, panic mounting, "Lark, where are you? What's going on – oh! Costas! I forgot you were here!"
Costas, Lark's painfully shy new student, smiled timidly at Sandry from the door of his bedroom and said in a quiet, but serious voice, "Lark left five minutes ago – she suddenly ran off. I'm afraid I have no idea where she is." He turned again and disappeared into his room, leaving a bemused and worried Sandry.
"What's going on?" she wondered aloud, as she felt the magic present everywhere in the temple strain, as if a giant was pressing down on it. She recognised this feeling – more from her dreams than from real life - but she couldn't think what it was. Chewing on a brown plait, she walked thoughtfully into the kitchen, where the guards were sitting waiting for her.
"What is it, milady?" asked the other guard, a tall, rangy woman with the copper skin of a Yanjingese, "Can we do anything to help?"
"I don't know..." Sandry muttered, then spun around as she heard a dog bark outside. "Little Bear?" she asked incredulously, then remembered Bear was thousands of miles away with Tris in Tharios. The strained feeling increased, and tugged at her memory once again. She sighed, wishing her brother and sisters were there to help her find out what was going on.
Suddenly, Lark burst into the room. "Thank the Green Lady you're here!" she cried, "I've sent messengers to the citadel, and the watchpost you were at, and I was coming back here to tell Costas to" – she stopped abruptly and hugged Sandry tight to her. Sandry could feel her shaking.
"What is it?" she asked, "What's happening? You sent a message to come but it wasn't urgent, then I felt you call me here all of a sudden. What's going on?"
Lark frowned, her kind brown eyes unusually concerned. "We had warnings of a large weather system moving in this morning, so I called you here to help us decipher it. It's only been in the last bell that we've realised – it came on us so much faster than we imagined" – she broke off again and, as the dog outside barked once more, Sandry realised where she had felt that feeling before.
"Earthquake?" she whispered, and sunk into a chair that Garin pulled out for her just in time. She shut her eyes and was swept back to the cave four years earlier, when she and her siblings had been trapped in the darkness – the darkness! – as the earth raged around them. Her fear almost overwhelmed her, before she pulled herself together and remembered her duty. While her uncle was away visiting farmers in the nearby countryside, she was his representative at Winding Circle and so was bound by her rank to serve in any way possible. She sat up straighter, squared her dainty chin, and looked firmly at Lark.
"How much time do we have?" At the same time as asking this, Sandry was going through her magical supplies in her head; twelve protective shirts, sixteen magical bandages, only three bags of socks left. She almost didn't hear Lark's tired answer.
"The mages say it will strike in less than a bell – we've warned the people to get underground or to a warded house as soon as possible, but there's no time to go out and strengthen the spells – we have to find shelter ourselves, and ward the food and water supplies, and find as many bandages as possible..." She looked up at Sandry who, to her horror and shame, saw tears running down Lark's cheeks. "We just don't have enough time," she whispered.
Despite her horror at her adoptive mother's distraught state, Sandry knew she had to take charge.
"Right," she said, "let's grab everything we can carry from Discipline and take it to the shelter – Garin, you carry food; Soni," – pointing to the other guard – "blankets; Lark can take anything from her workroom; I'll take things from Daja, Tris and Briar's rooms; and – Costas! You can bring your own things. Oh and we should cover up Rosethorn's garden as much as possible. Now let's go, we haven't much time!"
Twenty minutes later, and after two trips back because of things Costas had forgotten, they arrived at the warded shelter, where about fifty other mages and novices were sitting, hushed, waiting for the earthquake to hit. Sandry added her siblings' belongings – hers were all back at the citadel apart from her mage's kit, which she always carried with her, and her emergency supplies – to a pile in the corner, directed the guards to deposit their loads in similar heaps, and helped Costas, who was carrying an enormous wooden statue, to find a spot to put his items. Then she turned back to find Lark, who was huddled with the other dedicates near the entrance to the shelter.
The warded shelter was an underground room at the heart of the Winding Circle complex, under the (clock tower) at the centre of the spiral. Every protective spell Sandry could recognise was placed on the room, its earthen walls, ceiling and floor, and instead of a door there was a magical shield spelled to let light and air but nothing else through. All in all, Sandry felt this was probably the safest place in Emelan to sit out an earthquake, but she still trembled to think of the damage that could be caused.
The dedicates moved aside to let her in next to Lark and a tall, thin man who glared absentmindedly at her until she forced a smile.
"Lady Sandrilene, I did not think you would be here. Haven't you got a palace to look after?" Dedicate Crane could be rude and blunt at times, but Sandry knew he was simply worried, and replied,
"Lark sent for me here and by the time I arrived it was too late to go back to the citadel. Besides, while Uncle's away there's no reason for me to stay there, I'd have rather been here at home with you." But Crane had turned away and was deep in conversation with another dedicate, who wore the yellow robes of an air initiate. Sandry caught the words "spelled" and "fortifications" from their talk, and decided not to interrupt in case she distracted them. Instead, she felt for her magical tie to Pasco, about whom she had been worrying. If he's at the school or at home he'll be alright, but those Namorn dancers were in town today and he was probably watching them, she mused. She was relieved to trace his fluid, silk-like thread to his home, where he would be safe. At least she didn't have to worry about keeping an eye on him anymore.
Bam! The earth shook suddenly, knocking her off her feet and barrelling into Crane and the other dedicate. Other people fell too; some into soft piles of clothes or bandages, others not so luckily onto the hard earthen floor.
"Is everyone alright?" She heard Moonstream's calm, dignified voice clearly through the screams and cries. It seemed everyone was, although as they all got to their feet a fresh tremor struck, more powerfully this time. One of the spelled lamps smashed, and the room became noticeable darker. Sandry tried not to think what would happen if they lost all sources of light; instead she huddled up in a ball next to Lark, who was murmuring prayers, and found the steady glow in her mind from the circle of thread connecting her and her siblings, drawing strength from it until her breathing slowed and she was calm. This took a while though, in fact when she opened her eyes – there were no more tremors – everyone else was getting to their feet and the doors were being opened.
Cries of shock came from those nearest the door, and several young novices burst into tears. Sandry fought her way to the front and gasped with horror as she saw the sight before her. Winding Circle lay in pieces before her eyes; every building she could see was reduced to rubble. The huge dormitories were now just a pile of stone and wood, and the clock tower had a huge crack down the middle, which left both hands pointing ominously at twelve.
People began spilling out into the harsh sunlight, wordlessly examining the ruin that lay before them. She heard a gasp from her left, and turned to see Lark staring at a heap of rubble near to where Discipline was, or should be, although there was a gap in the wall right there –
Sandry screamed and ran as fast as she could towards her beloved cottage, dragging Lark along with her. All that remained of Discipline was a few walls and the large wooden table, split into two. The carcass of the house lay around it, smothering Briar and Rosethorn's precious garden, but Sandry could not believe her home was gone – she blinked and blinked, hoping it would magically reform when she opened her eyes. As Lark sat sobbing in what used to be a lavender bush, Sandry sank onto her knees and mourned her beloved Discipline.