Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I hope you continue to enjoy it. Just a little note on the timeframe: apart from the flashbacks, this fic takes place eight years after the prologue. There will be a note at the top of every flashback to say when it takes place.


Seven and a half years ago.

Daine trembled, scratching her already bloody hands against the hard bark of the tree she was tied to. She growled, furious with herself for giving these people – if they could be called that – the power of fear over her. One of the bandits leered at her, winking and puckering his foul lips, and Daine looked away. She knew they wouldn't hurt her beyond what they already had just yet. The slave trade was thriving in Scanra and her belly was heavy with child; they wouldn't risk harming the baby and losing the potential gold they could make off selling it. However, the jeers and name-calling and the way they thrust themselves against her left her in no uncertainty as to what would happen to her after she gave birth.

If she could just shape shift she would be out of her bonds and on the way to somewhere safe within a minute. But the pregnancy prevented her from making the change; by her estimation she had more than a month before the baby would arrive, but already she looked large enough to burst. Even if she wasn't hampered by her bulk, she hadn't even the energy to shape herself claws, thanks to being deprived of both food and sleep. Kitten had been put into some kind of enchanted slumber by the bandits' magic man and, although she always snapped at them whenever they got close enough, Cloud wasn't strong enough to take on an entire camp.

For the first time since it was erected, Daine wished she didn't have the barrier that prevented her wild magic from leaking into and tainting her humanity. The fury she felt now was just as powerful as it had been when she hunted down the bandits who murdered her ma, but the magical barrier prevented her from losing herself in her rage completely. If she could be as wild as she had been when she ran with the pack, it wouldn't matter that she couldn't shape shift: her small, human teeth what do as well for the bandits' throats as any wolves'.

If only there were more of the People here, she thought desperately. There weren't many animals in the surrounding woods. Enough to overpower the bandits, perhaps, but there were many different species and all of them scared, especially of the magic man who scorched them with his Gift. If only there was something other than their wish to help her to unite them, something that could stir them to fight with the same kind of fury that boiled in the pit of her stomach.

Daine's trembling ceased suddenly, and she blinked stupidly as an idea occurred to her. It was so simple, so glaringly obvious, that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. Dipping into her well of magic, she cast a net of copper fire as far through the trees as she could. Every animal stilled as her power fell over them; they twitched feathered and furred heads to one side, listening for something that couldn't be heard with physical ears. With the force of all her magic behind her, Daine cried out to them a message that everything with fur, feathers, claws, wings and hooves could understand. They're going to steal my young! She shrieked. They're going to steal and enslave my young!

The forest shook with the fury of the People, and the bandits trembled in fear.


Now.

Numair groaned and turned his face into the pillow as bright sunlight filtered into the room. He pretended to be asleep as the woman slipped from the bed and began to dress. Cracking an eye, he watched as she ran a comb through her hair and pinned it up on the top of her head. Dark hair, curly. Last night, in the dim light of his rooms, she had almost looked like – Numair sighed. He hadn't bedded many women since she left, but every now and then at some royal banquet or ball he would catch the eye of someone who looked something like her, and for a night he could pretend that the last eight years hadn't happened. The illusion never stretched out until the next morning. He would wake and reach out to touch her, only to find some stranger in her place. Then he would feel as lonely as he ever had, despite the warm body next to him.

Without casting a look at him, the woman left the bedroom and moments later Numair heard the door that led to the hallway click shut. He knew he wouldn't see her again, at least not in this context. The women who he conducted his brief affairs with were quite often the wives of roaming knights, and both of them knew that their entanglements wouldn't last more than one night.

A knock on the door forced him to leave the bed. Grabbing the nearest pair of breeches that came to hand, he stumbled from the bedroom and through the sitting room. Fully expecting to find that the woman had returned for some trivial belonging she had forgotten, he opened the door. He found Alanna, her face like a storm cloud. He stared down at her, confused. Why was she at his door at the break of dawn? "Get dressed, laddybuck," she said grimly. "We're needed."

Frowning, Numair waved her inside and moved back to the bedroom. While he dressed, Alanna called into him from the living room. "Jon has called a meeting. He says it's urgent, but the only people in attendance apart from their majesties are ourselves and Onua."

Numair emerged from the bedroom, now wearing a shirt and boots. "Did he say anything about why he wanted to see us?"

Alanna shook her head. "Only that we need to be there yesterday."

They exited his rooms quickly and made their way to Jon's parlor, where, according to Alanna, the mysterious dawn meeting was to be held. Once there, a small, yawning page opened the door and stood back with a bow to allow Numair and Alanna to pass by. Jon was slumped, in a most un-regal manner, in an armchair, his face pale and drawn. Behind him, arms folded over her chest, an equally weary expression marred Thayet's beautiful face and Onua, seated on a stool close by, merely looked confused. What caught Numair's attention were the strangers kneeling in front of the king; one a broad man he estimated to be about a decade older than himself, and the other a boy of about seven. Although there seemed to be an air of closeness between the two, Numair doubted that they were father and son; the man was pale and well built whereas the boy was dark and slight.

When the boy turned to survey the newcomers, Numair received a jolt. There was something about his eyes that was achingly familiar, although if his life depended on it he couldn't pin down how. Then the man nudged the boy, murmuring for him to face the king, and the moment was broken.

"You may rise and be seated," Jon said, nodding to the man. Both man and boy stood and made their way to the most inexpensive looking seats in the room. Facing Numair and Alanna, Jon said, "Luka," he pointed at the man, "hails from Scanra, and he comes bearing a most unusual offer."

Numair sat down heavily. What had possessed Jon to entertain a Scanran, a man whose country they were now officially at war with? Seeing both his and Alanna's confused looks, Jon said, "Please repeat your message for the benefit of Lady Alanna and Master Numair."

Luka cleared his throat. "My mistress wishes to help Tortall in the war against Scanra."

"Why has your mistress not come to make this offer herself?" Alanna asked, voice full of skepticism.

Turning his gaze on Alanna, Luka said, "Travellin' is none too safe at the moment, Lady. My mistress has two babes – this'un," here he ruffled the boy's hair, "an' a girl. We decided it'd be best to travel apart. The plan was for us to set off an' then for the mistress an' 'er daughter to follow two days later."

"Why would your mistress want to help us?" Onua asked.

"Ah," Thayet interrupted, a small, wry smile on her face, "now that is the strange part. Master Luka?"

"Ma always helps," the boy said suddenly, staring at the small assembly of people as if daring them to question the honour of his mother.

"Settle down, Rikash," Luka said. "No one's insultin' your ma."

"What did you call that boy?" Numair asked quietly. It had taken a moment for the name to seep properly into his mind. It was a rare name, indeed he had only ever heard it once before, and he couldn't imagine how a small boy in the wastes of Scanra had come to be called it.

Luka looked at him strangely. "'Is name. Rikash."

Alanna laid a hand on Numair's trembling shoulder and stared into his face, eyes full of concern. "Is anything the matter?" She asked.

"That name…" He whispered.

"You see why we called you here?" Jon said grimly.

"I don't understand," Onua said. "What's going on?"

"Could you tell us your mistress's name?" Thayet asked. "Her full name, if you will." Luka looked at her suspiciously, apparently not willing to give away any information that might harm his mistress. "I promise you that we don't mean her any harm," Thayet said kindly.

Apparently believing her, Luka said, "'Er name's Veralidaine, only she don't like bein' called that. An' 'er last name-" he broke off, frowning, "well I've only heard it a couple of times, but it's Sarrasra or Sarrasri, somethin' like that."

Numair felt his breath catch in his throat, and wondered vaguely if his heart had stopped beating altogether. Eight years. Eight years she had been gone. He had searched for months after she first left, had pleaded with Thayet to send Rider groups to hunt for her. It was all to no avail; despite the fact that she traveled with a very noticeable dragon, no one they asked had seen her. During his darkest hours, when the animals had fallen into silent grief, he had feared that she had run afoul of bandits or immortals and had been murdered. He had mourned for her, as had her many friends. Now to find that not only was she alive, but she had a child – children! Luka had said she was traveling with her daughter.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask. Where had she gone? Had she been hurt? What had she been doing for the past eight years? Had she married the father of her children? If so, why wasn't he traveling with Rikash rather than Luka? Had she ached for him as much as he had ached for her? Did she still love him, did she even remember him? All the questions rushed up in his throat and choked him.

A strangled cry brought him back to reality. Onua's hands were clasped over her mouth, her eyes wide and shining. Alanna looked as if she had been slapped. Jon gripped his wife's hand, who was supporting herself with shaky arms braced on the back of the chair. In silence, Rikash and Luka stared in confusion at the effect of the latter's statement.

"Your mistress is no stranger to us," Jon said in a voice that shook. "In fact, we have spent the last eight years hunting for word of her."

At once Alanna, Onua and Thayet began to launch at Luka the questions that Numair had been thinking. They wanted to know everything about Daine and her life since she had left Tortall. Numair found himself putting his own pleas for information towards the man in a cracked whisper. "Alright!" Luka said once the deluge of questions died down. "I'll tell you all I can, but there's only so much I know."

After silence had fallen, Luka began his story. "Food started goin' missin' from my pantry. This was fair strange seein' as then I was livin' in a cottage in the middle of the woods. I thought mayhap a bandit had got lost an' was pinchin' my stock, so I waited up one night an' hid in the shadows. Round about midnight I had my thief, an' Gods strike me down if it weren't my old hound! Strange thing was 'e didn't eat it, jus' slipped out the door and ran off into the trees. I followed, quiet like, and watched where 'e went. 'E led me to a woman – well, she weren't more'n a girl back then. Skinny li'l thing, all cut up an' 'er belly big with a babe. Gods, she was a wild thing! 'Er lips went back an' she growled at me – growled! Like she was a dog. But then my hound came an' licked my hand an' she – well, all the fight just went out of 'er. She went all limp and didn't even blink when I picked 'er up.

"I took 'er back to my home and cleaned 'er up a bit, put 'er to bed. She spent a month like that, just sleepin' and eatin' enough to keep 'er and the babe goin'. She never said a word. I'd try talkin' to er, but she'd just turn 'er big eyes on me, an' it was like they'd seen every bad thing in the world. I stopped after a while, just kept feedin' an' washin' 'er.

"On Midsummer's Eve I knew it was time for the babe to come, an' she made enough noise then to make up for 'er silence. Screamed and wept like a banshee, she did. Didn't know what to do. I wouldn't 'ave found a midwife in time an' I knew nothin' about birthin', 'cos I've never 'ad a wife. I thought she was goin' to die with all the blood comin' out of 'er. Then at midnight the room filled with this light that could've burned the eyes out my head. Out of it came this beautiful woman, an' she went straight to the girl. Right then I was glad I took 'er in 'cos I knew she was Gods-blessed.

"The girl gave birth to two babes an' the woman fixed whatever made 'er bleed so much. Then she told the girl to live for the sake of the babes, an' turned to me an' told me to care for 'er daughter. The woman went an' the girl looked up at me an' smiled. She thanked me for lookin' after 'er, an' I told 'er she mustn't think of leavin' 'cos I'd promised 'er ma I'd take care of 'er. She told me 'er name was Daine an' said she'd stay an' that was that.

"She called the babes Rikash an' Sarralyn an' we 'ad a namin' ceremony for 'em in the woods with the animals. After she recovered from the birth an' got to be more'n a sack of bones she started to help out: huntin' an' tendin' the garden an' cleanin' an' such. After a year I stopped askin' where she came from 'cos it always stopped 'er smilin'. All I found out was the fool of a man who was the pa of the babes threw 'er over for some other woman, an' she 'ad to leave. She never told me what 'appened between when she left an' when she found me, an' I never found out why she was so cut up when I found 'er.

"When the babes were no more'n two years old somethin' 'appened. Nearest village was raided by bandits, an' those who weren't killed came to us. But the bandits followed them. As soon as Daine saw them she changed – she weren't human anymore. She was a mountain lion or somethin' like that. Ripped out the bandits' throats an' turned into a woman again. I was surprised but not scared. I'd always known there was somethin' special about 'er, see, ever since the night she gave birth."

"Word got round 'bout what she could do, an' the next thing we knew there was some man on our doorstep demandin' that she see the Great Council! They gave 'er a grand house an' gold on the understandin' that she work for them. An' work she did. She took me with 'er to 'er new home an' I looked after the li'luns while she was movin' all over Scanra. Things were alright for a while, though I didn't half worry about 'er always puttin' 'erself in danger.

"Then she heard rumours of war with Tortall. She said that though she 'ad to leave, the people of Tortall 'ad given 'er a home an' work that mattered, an' she wouldn't work against them. But the thing is you don't just leave work for the Great Council. We went on the run. Rikash 'as a strong Gift an' Sarralyn 'as the same kind of magic as Daine so it wasn't difficult to hide. When the war was announced she said she had to help Tortall in any way she could, an' that's when she decided to come here."

When Luka finished, Thayet turned, tears in her eyes, and left the room, seeking the security of the bedroom she shared with Jon. The king stood, murmuring apologies and reassurances that he would return shortly, and followed his wife. Alanna stood and went swiftly to Onua, who wept quietly. Numair wasn't aware of the tears on his cheeks; his mind was working too hard to understand everything he had just heard. Daine had been injured while she was pregnant, and scared enough to take shelter in the woods and growl at the approach of a two-legger. She would have died in childbirth if she hadn't been lucky enough to go into labour on Midsummer, when Sarra could attend to her. A thousand thoughts gnawed at him, a thousand images of wounds and pains that he could have prevented if only he hadn't been so stupid.

There was something else, and from the way Alanna and Onua (who both knew the reason for Daine's departure) stared at him he guessed he wasn't the only one who was thinking it. Was he the 'fool of a man' Luka spoke of who 'threw her over for some other woman'? If Daine had been speaking of him, then there was a very good chance that he was the father of Rikash and Sarralyn.