After the war with Uusoae and Ozorne, Daine and Numair had finally got
together. Despite Numair saying he was going to give up magic, we know
that he didn't from the Kel books. This takes place within the year
following the war.
"Odd's bobs!" cried Daine as she struggled with her mass of hair while looking in the mirror. The reflection showed the face of a girl almost seventeen years old who had a youthful face surrounded by smoky brown curls and a stubborn chin, but her blue grey eyes seemed weary compared to the rest of her features, as if they had seen more than enough for one lifetime. She placed her brush back down on the dressing table with a sigh and instead began to fiddle with the silver rune on her neck that depicted dragon, on a fine silver chain. A lover's token. From Numair. Her lover. The silver badger's paw, a gift from her animal god mentor, sat on the dressing table. It had formerly been used so that the badger could find her in the mortal realm and even though she no longer needed it for such a use, she still kept it close at hand. With another sigh she tucked the rune back into her blue shirt and stood up, brushing bits from her breeches she left her quarters to make her way to the palace war room.
The war had been over for a month but they still kept finding groups of the enemy on Tortallan soil and some of them on the borders, who didn't have any magical connections, didn't realise the war was over.
Daine shuddered when she thought about the trip she had made to Pirate's Swoop a couple of weeks ago. Her friend Miri had been given a few days off but unfortunately Evin couldn't come too. Although the commanders realised that their troops needed days off for rest and recuperation, they couldn't afford to let too many of them off at the same time. The two had decided to take a slightly longer route than usual that followed the coast, as Miri had grown up by the sea and Daine could tell that she missed it immensely. The two had been attacked by a small group of enemy soldiers and had ended up killing the men even though they were outnumbered three-to-one. It had sickened Daine as the men were obviously weary and had been sleeping rough and because of the language barrier the girls hadn't been able to tell the men to give up and turn themselves in.
Taking a deep breath she stepped into the war room, which was located near King Jonathan's throne room. She dreaded going in, in case there had been a development such as Ozorne was back, although she did not think there was any way of him escaping from the Black God's realm now that the parents of the Gods had decided to keep a lock-down on their most troublesome daughter, Uusoae
Seated around the table were a number of nobles and knights, who only five years ago she never would have dreamed would be friends with the likes of her: a common girl with no father (although now she knew it was the hunter- god, Weiryn). But Tortall was different to Galla, something she was grateful for. Nodding at people she knew such as Alanna the Lioness, the King's Champion and Sir Raoul of Goldenlake, another knight, she seated herself next to her first employer and oldest Tortallan friend Onua. Although she didn't have the military experience that Alanna and Raoul had, Onua had still been involved in combat and she had lots of valuable horse- sense. Numair wasn't in the room. He was away helping to defeat any enemy mages that could still be lurking on Tortallan soil. She wished he was here, holding her hand. It was a shame they hadn't been able to make their relationship public knowledge yet, but as soon as things calmed down. It would stop sleazy men like Perin, the scribe, giving her leering looks all the time like he was doing now. Couldn't he be thinking about something else at a time like this?
For the next couple of hours they talked about reports that had been received from all over the kingdom, Daine was relieved as they were finding fewer enemy soldiers each day and rebuilding work not only in Tortall, but also in Carthak was going well. Kaddar had enough troubles with inheriting a troubled land without having to cope with the war damage all by himself.
After so much serious discussion Daine was relieved to have a break, and where better to spend it than in one of her favourite places, the stables. She had just left the room when someone tapped her lightly on the shoulder and turning round she was disappointed to see it was Perin.
"If you're not busy tonight you could come round to my quarters for a meal, just the two of us," he said, fixing that leering grin on her. Previously she would have happily taken him up on the offer, as she had done a few times. They would have a meal, drink some wine and then he would try to bed her. Although he had never quite succeeded she had still done some other things with him that she now regretted. Now she also had Numair to think of.
Biting back some spiteful comment about how she'd rather eat mouse dung than go round to his quarters, she politely turned him down saying she had to wash her hair, and left a slightly dejected looking young man behind her as she once again set off for the stables.
Sometimes she would take a meandering route through the palace to the stables, which usually lead to her bumping into people that she hadn't seen for a while because of the war. Now though, she wanted to get straight to the stables, she didn't know what the urge was. She'd turned off her magic during the conference like she usually did, and had yet to put it back on because of the amount of mice, cats and dogs in the castle that would want to stop and speak to her; much as she loved them all, a lot of the time it was just inane chatter. She got back in tune with her wild magic as the increasing sense of urgency forced her to break into a trot.
"Daine!" it was Cloud and she sounded like she was in trouble. Daine broke into a run to get to the stables as quickly as possible. On her way she knocked into a few people who weren't quick enough to get out of the way.
"Sorry! Its an emergency," she called back to them and seeing some of them shake their heads, even in Tortall there were still some people who thought she was crazy because she spoke to animals. It didn't matter that she had used her talents to defeat a plot against King Jonathon in Fief Dunlaf, or that she had killed Ozorne; all that mattered to them was that she was strange.
Slightly out of breath she reached the stables to find Cloud lying on her side amongst the hay, the two horses on either side of her looking over the sides of the box in concern. Stefan, the Chief Ostler, was knelt next to her shaking his head while a grey-looking mage she recognised as Darral Haulang, one of the vetinary mages, leaned against a wall covered in sweat.
Upon her entry Stefan's head shot up, his face full of concern.
Daine probed with her magic but couldn't seem to find anything particularly wrong with her beloved horse, although there seemed to be a general wrongness about her. The mare now seemed to be unconscious as she wasn't answering Daine's mind-calls.
"What's up with her, Stefan?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly.
Stefan cast a worried glance over to Darral and then back to Daine.
"We're not quite sure, love. We're not quite sure."
"Odd's bobs!" cried Daine as she struggled with her mass of hair while looking in the mirror. The reflection showed the face of a girl almost seventeen years old who had a youthful face surrounded by smoky brown curls and a stubborn chin, but her blue grey eyes seemed weary compared to the rest of her features, as if they had seen more than enough for one lifetime. She placed her brush back down on the dressing table with a sigh and instead began to fiddle with the silver rune on her neck that depicted dragon, on a fine silver chain. A lover's token. From Numair. Her lover. The silver badger's paw, a gift from her animal god mentor, sat on the dressing table. It had formerly been used so that the badger could find her in the mortal realm and even though she no longer needed it for such a use, she still kept it close at hand. With another sigh she tucked the rune back into her blue shirt and stood up, brushing bits from her breeches she left her quarters to make her way to the palace war room.
The war had been over for a month but they still kept finding groups of the enemy on Tortallan soil and some of them on the borders, who didn't have any magical connections, didn't realise the war was over.
Daine shuddered when she thought about the trip she had made to Pirate's Swoop a couple of weeks ago. Her friend Miri had been given a few days off but unfortunately Evin couldn't come too. Although the commanders realised that their troops needed days off for rest and recuperation, they couldn't afford to let too many of them off at the same time. The two had decided to take a slightly longer route than usual that followed the coast, as Miri had grown up by the sea and Daine could tell that she missed it immensely. The two had been attacked by a small group of enemy soldiers and had ended up killing the men even though they were outnumbered three-to-one. It had sickened Daine as the men were obviously weary and had been sleeping rough and because of the language barrier the girls hadn't been able to tell the men to give up and turn themselves in.
Taking a deep breath she stepped into the war room, which was located near King Jonathan's throne room. She dreaded going in, in case there had been a development such as Ozorne was back, although she did not think there was any way of him escaping from the Black God's realm now that the parents of the Gods had decided to keep a lock-down on their most troublesome daughter, Uusoae
Seated around the table were a number of nobles and knights, who only five years ago she never would have dreamed would be friends with the likes of her: a common girl with no father (although now she knew it was the hunter- god, Weiryn). But Tortall was different to Galla, something she was grateful for. Nodding at people she knew such as Alanna the Lioness, the King's Champion and Sir Raoul of Goldenlake, another knight, she seated herself next to her first employer and oldest Tortallan friend Onua. Although she didn't have the military experience that Alanna and Raoul had, Onua had still been involved in combat and she had lots of valuable horse- sense. Numair wasn't in the room. He was away helping to defeat any enemy mages that could still be lurking on Tortallan soil. She wished he was here, holding her hand. It was a shame they hadn't been able to make their relationship public knowledge yet, but as soon as things calmed down. It would stop sleazy men like Perin, the scribe, giving her leering looks all the time like he was doing now. Couldn't he be thinking about something else at a time like this?
For the next couple of hours they talked about reports that had been received from all over the kingdom, Daine was relieved as they were finding fewer enemy soldiers each day and rebuilding work not only in Tortall, but also in Carthak was going well. Kaddar had enough troubles with inheriting a troubled land without having to cope with the war damage all by himself.
After so much serious discussion Daine was relieved to have a break, and where better to spend it than in one of her favourite places, the stables. She had just left the room when someone tapped her lightly on the shoulder and turning round she was disappointed to see it was Perin.
"If you're not busy tonight you could come round to my quarters for a meal, just the two of us," he said, fixing that leering grin on her. Previously she would have happily taken him up on the offer, as she had done a few times. They would have a meal, drink some wine and then he would try to bed her. Although he had never quite succeeded she had still done some other things with him that she now regretted. Now she also had Numair to think of.
Biting back some spiteful comment about how she'd rather eat mouse dung than go round to his quarters, she politely turned him down saying she had to wash her hair, and left a slightly dejected looking young man behind her as she once again set off for the stables.
Sometimes she would take a meandering route through the palace to the stables, which usually lead to her bumping into people that she hadn't seen for a while because of the war. Now though, she wanted to get straight to the stables, she didn't know what the urge was. She'd turned off her magic during the conference like she usually did, and had yet to put it back on because of the amount of mice, cats and dogs in the castle that would want to stop and speak to her; much as she loved them all, a lot of the time it was just inane chatter. She got back in tune with her wild magic as the increasing sense of urgency forced her to break into a trot.
"Daine!" it was Cloud and she sounded like she was in trouble. Daine broke into a run to get to the stables as quickly as possible. On her way she knocked into a few people who weren't quick enough to get out of the way.
"Sorry! Its an emergency," she called back to them and seeing some of them shake their heads, even in Tortall there were still some people who thought she was crazy because she spoke to animals. It didn't matter that she had used her talents to defeat a plot against King Jonathon in Fief Dunlaf, or that she had killed Ozorne; all that mattered to them was that she was strange.
Slightly out of breath she reached the stables to find Cloud lying on her side amongst the hay, the two horses on either side of her looking over the sides of the box in concern. Stefan, the Chief Ostler, was knelt next to her shaking his head while a grey-looking mage she recognised as Darral Haulang, one of the vetinary mages, leaned against a wall covered in sweat.
Upon her entry Stefan's head shot up, his face full of concern.
Daine probed with her magic but couldn't seem to find anything particularly wrong with her beloved horse, although there seemed to be a general wrongness about her. The mare now seemed to be unconscious as she wasn't answering Daine's mind-calls.
"What's up with her, Stefan?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly.
Stefan cast a worried glance over to Darral and then back to Daine.
"We're not quite sure, love. We're not quite sure."