The Last Battlefield
By: Kryptonite
A/N: I got the idea for this while I was in the car reading Lady Knight in the Protector of the Small series (which I haven't finished) but I wanted to get some sleep tonight so I had to write this down. My first Tortall fiction so I want your honest opinions on it. I'm writing for this site so I can improve. Please pardon spelling mistakes on certain names, it's really late.
^-^-^-^
Kel was tired. Everyone was tired. The war with the Scanran's had gone on far longer than it had any right to, what with Blayce, the mage behind the killing devices, being dead. But Miggour just wouldn't give up. He refused to give up on a battle he could not win.
The two armies faced each other, both tired but equally unwilling to yield to the other.
" Soldiers, be ready to defend your land!" The man in charge, Lord Roaul and Kel's former knight master, yelled to the anxious crowd. Kel turned to her tiny group of followers.
" Be ready for anything that those Scanran dogs will throw at us. Try to take out the shamans first or we're all done for." The refugees turned soldiers, squires, knights, and animals under Kel's command were trained and ready to fight and to die for their land.
Just as the two armies were about to run forward, to clash and spill more blood on an already bloodied land, a strange human girl seemed to burst forth from the ground itself.
Her long fire red hair was pulled back into three or four thick braids tied together, her cloak was sheer and seemed to be made of the moss carpeting in the valley the armies were standing in. Her clothes seemed no more than a second layer of skin they were so tight.
A bow that was hanging from her shoulder was suddenly in her hand, the other just hanging at her side.
" Leave my lands." She called loudly, capturing everyone's attentions but talking to the Scanrans.
" And what's a little girl like you going to do about it if we don't?" The leader of the group sneered in accented Common.
" You have been warned." A voice sounded in all the Tortallan's heads as well as the Scanran animals.
*' BOLT! Take this opportunity to be free and wild once more. Leave your pathetic two-legged masters. Come join me and never fear punishment or mistreatment again as one of the forests' children. Come to the humans behind me and they will treat you well or answer to me. Hurry now! RUN!'* All the horses reared, the dogs howled and every other animal possessed by the Scanrans ran forward, away from their masters and past the young mage. The Tortallan's were in total awe.
" Who is she?" A few brave men started whispering and mumbling as those on foot caught the spooked horses that instantly calmed down.
" Leave my lands." The leader, who had been dumped on his back into the mud when his horse reared, heaved his heavy frame up and glared daggers at the unmoving figure.
" Make me." He challenged, just loud enough for it to barely carry to the Tortallans'.
" You have been warned." With a look of concentration, every string holding bags and supply cases together was pulled simultaneously.
" She's amazing." Neal, Kel's best friend, whispered next to her.
" She's a very powerful mage." Numair added from the other side.
" Wild magic. She has wild magic in her." Daine added from next to Numair.
" Among other things." Neal muttered, not taking his eyes from the girl standing against an entire army alone.
" Kill her!" The leader of the troops called as he surveyed the damage done to his food supplies.
" As you wish." The girl replied in that cool carrying voice of hers. Drawing an arrow and notching it was done in the blink of an eye. In a second blink, the arrow was speeding straight and true through the air, growing as it went through the leaders throat, then another mans, then another, and another, and another until it finally hit straight into a huge oak tree behind them. The five men were stuck together, the arrow piercing and severing their spinal cords in the back of their necks.
" Leave my lands, or suffer the consequences." The Scanrans growled their answer before leaping forward as one. As they surged forward, the girl took a step back and lifted her face to the sun.
Her legs seemed glued together as she lifted into the air, head tilted to receive the suns rays and her arms outstretched as if she could gather them to her in a hug if she just got close enough. The girl started speaking in a language known only to a few living people.
*" Elements of earth, air, fire and water heed my call. Use my powers to defend your homes against these invaders. They will pollute the air, destroy the earth, boil the waters and douse the fires. They will destroy our homes, upset the balance of harmony. Join together, use my power to defend this kingdom and it's people. Help me save them. To live, to die, to breathe again one day. To save these people, and those who have come before and those who will come after. Help me."*
Lightning cracked without a storm cloud in sight and all the men in both armies flinched, eyeing the sky warily.
*" Creatures of the God's Realm, creatures of the imagination, given birth by human mind, come forth and save your creator's helpers. Save your kindred from being destroyed for your realm will indeed be next. Stop these invaders here and now from destroying this land and this world."*
A scream ripped its way from the girl's throat as her face twisted in pain as more and more lightning appeared, snapping and cracking its way around her body. The sound seemed to echo and multiply in the armies' heads until they were confused and blinded by the pain.
" MAGES TO THE FRONT LINES!" Numair's deep baritone shouted out. He and Daine galloped forward, in front of everyone before turning to look each other in the eye.
Numair's right arm clasped with Daine's left as they chanted, " To share, to live, to save, we give our power to thee. To share, to live, to save, we give our power to thee..." They repeated those words over and over as strands of colored light left their body and wound their way up to the pain- stricken girl. The chant was taken up by mages all over the army as more and more bands of light joined the two already flowing to her until she glowed like a rainbow.
Her screaming stopped and her head tilted down to face the Scanran army who was definitely afraid. " Come forth, brothers, and save our lives." A brilliant light flashed and Lord Roaul cantered forward on his horse to catch the rapidly descended savior.
Suddenly all around the valley were creatures whose sole intent and purpose was to destroy the Scanran army. Light flashed off the Stormwing's steel wings as they dove and pecked and maimed the enemy. Tauros's bellowed out their war call as they lumbered into the fray, swinging arms back and forth. Spidrens wrapped up the rapidly retreating soldiers in webs, hauling them off for snacks later.
" Get away from here!" Roaul shouted. " Back to camp!" The Tortallan army retreated back to their camp. Kel, Neal, Numair, Daine, Roaul, and other members of the King's Own, Kel's command, and Kel and Neal's year-mates, gathered around the tent holding Tortall's savior.
" If she wakes up it will be a miracle." Neal's father, Duke Baird exited the tent as he spoke, wiping his hands with a cloth. " You can go in." He answered before anyone could ask. Kel, Roaul, Numair, Daine, Neal and Duke Baird reentered the tent to look at the pale and un-breathing body of the girl who had saved their lives.
" Any idea who she might be?" Roaul asked quietly.
" Looks noble to me. Look at the milky blue color to her skin." Neal added thoughtfully, bending his long legs at the knee to get a better look at the girl.
" But the King would know if there was a mage this powerful, with that much control in any part of his kingdom. She literally sprang from the ground." Numair declared, thinking things through from a seat on the stool.
Before anyone else could speak, every animal in the palace let out simultaneous sounds such as low whinnies or snickers from the horses, whining from the dogs and pathetic meows from the cats. Once the quiet ruckus was done the six humans present sat in silence, trying to figure out what had happened.
The girl's eyes flew open wide in fear as she sucked in a deep breath, back arching away from the bed in her efforts to breath. She relaxed back against the sheet once she realized where she was.
" What's your name?" Baird asked quietly, trying to keep her mind off his magic.
" Mirakel. I need no magicking healer. Tend to your own wounded." Mirakel stood quickly, stretching and walking from the tent before anyone could stop her.
" Wait!" Roaul called, a split second before Kel was out of her seat and following her. The animals had gathered around Mirakel, all trying to make sure she was really okay.
" I am fine my friends." The girl laughed as the animals only tried to get closer to make sure. With what sounded like the slice of metal, Stormwings fell out of nowhere to land rather awkwardly on the ground in front of Mirakel.
" We didn't appreciate that." The leader grumbled, stepped closer to the fiery haired mage.
" 'Tis about time you immortals were put to good use."
" We are put to good use." Mirakel cut him off.
" Yeah, defacing graves and corpses. Now get out of here before I decide to send you on a one way trip into the ground." Screaming in frustration the group of Stormwings that had been following the army since the war began disappeared from sight.
" Where are you going? You saved our lives, thank you!" Mirakel was walking away from the animals and humans and towards the edge of the camp, back towards the final battleground.
" Others have come before you, others will come after you. So long as humans live, I will be here, waiting for the day when the land needs my protection once more. It is my duty."
" Wait." Kel called, causing the dejected girl to turn back around. " Don't you think you could stay with us for a few years, you know, get to know us as a people?"
The girl's eyes fluttered closed and her eyeballs moved rapidly under them.
" I am allowed to do so."
" Good, now you can start by telling us everything about you, from the beginning. Tobe, go get us some cider, we'll need it and some food." Kel wrapped an arm around Mirakel's shoulders and dragged her back the way she came.
" You have a lot of explaining to do." Roaul's eyes were dancing as he looked at the young woman in front of him.
" Then it t'would be best if everyone got comfortable. We shall be here for a while." She teased right back before the group headed happily into the tent to relax and hear a tale full of wonder and magick only five miles from the last battlefield.
^-^-^-^
A/N: What do you think?
By: Kryptonite
A/N: I got the idea for this while I was in the car reading Lady Knight in the Protector of the Small series (which I haven't finished) but I wanted to get some sleep tonight so I had to write this down. My first Tortall fiction so I want your honest opinions on it. I'm writing for this site so I can improve. Please pardon spelling mistakes on certain names, it's really late.
^-^-^-^
Kel was tired. Everyone was tired. The war with the Scanran's had gone on far longer than it had any right to, what with Blayce, the mage behind the killing devices, being dead. But Miggour just wouldn't give up. He refused to give up on a battle he could not win.
The two armies faced each other, both tired but equally unwilling to yield to the other.
" Soldiers, be ready to defend your land!" The man in charge, Lord Roaul and Kel's former knight master, yelled to the anxious crowd. Kel turned to her tiny group of followers.
" Be ready for anything that those Scanran dogs will throw at us. Try to take out the shamans first or we're all done for." The refugees turned soldiers, squires, knights, and animals under Kel's command were trained and ready to fight and to die for their land.
Just as the two armies were about to run forward, to clash and spill more blood on an already bloodied land, a strange human girl seemed to burst forth from the ground itself.
Her long fire red hair was pulled back into three or four thick braids tied together, her cloak was sheer and seemed to be made of the moss carpeting in the valley the armies were standing in. Her clothes seemed no more than a second layer of skin they were so tight.
A bow that was hanging from her shoulder was suddenly in her hand, the other just hanging at her side.
" Leave my lands." She called loudly, capturing everyone's attentions but talking to the Scanrans.
" And what's a little girl like you going to do about it if we don't?" The leader of the group sneered in accented Common.
" You have been warned." A voice sounded in all the Tortallan's heads as well as the Scanran animals.
*' BOLT! Take this opportunity to be free and wild once more. Leave your pathetic two-legged masters. Come join me and never fear punishment or mistreatment again as one of the forests' children. Come to the humans behind me and they will treat you well or answer to me. Hurry now! RUN!'* All the horses reared, the dogs howled and every other animal possessed by the Scanrans ran forward, away from their masters and past the young mage. The Tortallan's were in total awe.
" Who is she?" A few brave men started whispering and mumbling as those on foot caught the spooked horses that instantly calmed down.
" Leave my lands." The leader, who had been dumped on his back into the mud when his horse reared, heaved his heavy frame up and glared daggers at the unmoving figure.
" Make me." He challenged, just loud enough for it to barely carry to the Tortallans'.
" You have been warned." With a look of concentration, every string holding bags and supply cases together was pulled simultaneously.
" She's amazing." Neal, Kel's best friend, whispered next to her.
" She's a very powerful mage." Numair added from the other side.
" Wild magic. She has wild magic in her." Daine added from next to Numair.
" Among other things." Neal muttered, not taking his eyes from the girl standing against an entire army alone.
" Kill her!" The leader of the troops called as he surveyed the damage done to his food supplies.
" As you wish." The girl replied in that cool carrying voice of hers. Drawing an arrow and notching it was done in the blink of an eye. In a second blink, the arrow was speeding straight and true through the air, growing as it went through the leaders throat, then another mans, then another, and another, and another until it finally hit straight into a huge oak tree behind them. The five men were stuck together, the arrow piercing and severing their spinal cords in the back of their necks.
" Leave my lands, or suffer the consequences." The Scanrans growled their answer before leaping forward as one. As they surged forward, the girl took a step back and lifted her face to the sun.
Her legs seemed glued together as she lifted into the air, head tilted to receive the suns rays and her arms outstretched as if she could gather them to her in a hug if she just got close enough. The girl started speaking in a language known only to a few living people.
*" Elements of earth, air, fire and water heed my call. Use my powers to defend your homes against these invaders. They will pollute the air, destroy the earth, boil the waters and douse the fires. They will destroy our homes, upset the balance of harmony. Join together, use my power to defend this kingdom and it's people. Help me save them. To live, to die, to breathe again one day. To save these people, and those who have come before and those who will come after. Help me."*
Lightning cracked without a storm cloud in sight and all the men in both armies flinched, eyeing the sky warily.
*" Creatures of the God's Realm, creatures of the imagination, given birth by human mind, come forth and save your creator's helpers. Save your kindred from being destroyed for your realm will indeed be next. Stop these invaders here and now from destroying this land and this world."*
A scream ripped its way from the girl's throat as her face twisted in pain as more and more lightning appeared, snapping and cracking its way around her body. The sound seemed to echo and multiply in the armies' heads until they were confused and blinded by the pain.
" MAGES TO THE FRONT LINES!" Numair's deep baritone shouted out. He and Daine galloped forward, in front of everyone before turning to look each other in the eye.
Numair's right arm clasped with Daine's left as they chanted, " To share, to live, to save, we give our power to thee. To share, to live, to save, we give our power to thee..." They repeated those words over and over as strands of colored light left their body and wound their way up to the pain- stricken girl. The chant was taken up by mages all over the army as more and more bands of light joined the two already flowing to her until she glowed like a rainbow.
Her screaming stopped and her head tilted down to face the Scanran army who was definitely afraid. " Come forth, brothers, and save our lives." A brilliant light flashed and Lord Roaul cantered forward on his horse to catch the rapidly descended savior.
Suddenly all around the valley were creatures whose sole intent and purpose was to destroy the Scanran army. Light flashed off the Stormwing's steel wings as they dove and pecked and maimed the enemy. Tauros's bellowed out their war call as they lumbered into the fray, swinging arms back and forth. Spidrens wrapped up the rapidly retreating soldiers in webs, hauling them off for snacks later.
" Get away from here!" Roaul shouted. " Back to camp!" The Tortallan army retreated back to their camp. Kel, Neal, Numair, Daine, Roaul, and other members of the King's Own, Kel's command, and Kel and Neal's year-mates, gathered around the tent holding Tortall's savior.
" If she wakes up it will be a miracle." Neal's father, Duke Baird exited the tent as he spoke, wiping his hands with a cloth. " You can go in." He answered before anyone could ask. Kel, Roaul, Numair, Daine, Neal and Duke Baird reentered the tent to look at the pale and un-breathing body of the girl who had saved their lives.
" Any idea who she might be?" Roaul asked quietly.
" Looks noble to me. Look at the milky blue color to her skin." Neal added thoughtfully, bending his long legs at the knee to get a better look at the girl.
" But the King would know if there was a mage this powerful, with that much control in any part of his kingdom. She literally sprang from the ground." Numair declared, thinking things through from a seat on the stool.
Before anyone else could speak, every animal in the palace let out simultaneous sounds such as low whinnies or snickers from the horses, whining from the dogs and pathetic meows from the cats. Once the quiet ruckus was done the six humans present sat in silence, trying to figure out what had happened.
The girl's eyes flew open wide in fear as she sucked in a deep breath, back arching away from the bed in her efforts to breath. She relaxed back against the sheet once she realized where she was.
" What's your name?" Baird asked quietly, trying to keep her mind off his magic.
" Mirakel. I need no magicking healer. Tend to your own wounded." Mirakel stood quickly, stretching and walking from the tent before anyone could stop her.
" Wait!" Roaul called, a split second before Kel was out of her seat and following her. The animals had gathered around Mirakel, all trying to make sure she was really okay.
" I am fine my friends." The girl laughed as the animals only tried to get closer to make sure. With what sounded like the slice of metal, Stormwings fell out of nowhere to land rather awkwardly on the ground in front of Mirakel.
" We didn't appreciate that." The leader grumbled, stepped closer to the fiery haired mage.
" 'Tis about time you immortals were put to good use."
" We are put to good use." Mirakel cut him off.
" Yeah, defacing graves and corpses. Now get out of here before I decide to send you on a one way trip into the ground." Screaming in frustration the group of Stormwings that had been following the army since the war began disappeared from sight.
" Where are you going? You saved our lives, thank you!" Mirakel was walking away from the animals and humans and towards the edge of the camp, back towards the final battleground.
" Others have come before you, others will come after you. So long as humans live, I will be here, waiting for the day when the land needs my protection once more. It is my duty."
" Wait." Kel called, causing the dejected girl to turn back around. " Don't you think you could stay with us for a few years, you know, get to know us as a people?"
The girl's eyes fluttered closed and her eyeballs moved rapidly under them.
" I am allowed to do so."
" Good, now you can start by telling us everything about you, from the beginning. Tobe, go get us some cider, we'll need it and some food." Kel wrapped an arm around Mirakel's shoulders and dragged her back the way she came.
" You have a lot of explaining to do." Roaul's eyes were dancing as he looked at the young woman in front of him.
" Then it t'would be best if everyone got comfortable. We shall be here for a while." She teased right back before the group headed happily into the tent to relax and hear a tale full of wonder and magick only five miles from the last battlefield.
^-^-^-^
A/N: What do you think?