-Myles and Miles-
"I sent two of my own flock's archers, and a full-raka mage from Xanti, to inspect the village to prepare their small fort for attack with protection and anti-fire spells. I believe that in three week's time we should have the entire revolt cleared. Nawat Crow, Commander of the Queen's Fletcher's and Archers. Aly finished reading to her Queen and her advisors.
"Thank you, Master Crow." Finished Taj Dararaine, one Queen Dovasary's scholarly friends and advisers.
Queen Dove raised her hand and which signaled for her advisors and staffs to exit, as they all filed out the Queen stood.
"I know that face. " She said worriedly to Aly, who was putting away her papers and supplies.
"What face Dove?" She said trying to hide from her friend's watchful eye. "That's face you make when you miss Nawat, come on Aly, you miss him. Admit it."
"O Your Highness, he's left me before! I can handle myself. I'm a big girl Your Highness." She smiled at her old friend.
"Your depressed and bored, just like you were last time! Aly, I know you too well."
"That's what happens when you share you deepest secrets with a 14-year-old genius. " The Queen laughed as Aly finished, "I'll just make myself at home with my work and I'll be totally happy. "
The Queen starred worriedly at her feet. "You were like this when we first arrived in Rajmuat two years ago. You were depressed the whole time, you paid to much attention to your work-"
"-And I helped cause an extreme revolution and helped put you on the throne. " She politely interrupted her Queen.
"Aly maybe you should take some time off. Take Myles back to the Nest, maybe relax."
"Oh come on Dove, you know I don't want to go back there, its too quiet without Nawat." She gave the young queen an irritated sidelong glance.
"So you do miss him." Dove remarked, annoying Aly with her questions.
"How am I supposed to feel, he's my husband? I love him, and he's miles away from here. " Aly's voice and stone-like emotional resistance fell, she began to cry. Dove gasped; she'd never seen her former lady's maid act so. The Queen put a thoughtful arm around her dear friend.
"What can I do to help you, please Aly I hate to see you like this."
Aly's tear-filled eyes looked at her friend; for such a young girl her Queen was immensely mature.
"Your Highness I'm sorry for putting you in such a position, you don't need to do anything for me. I just need to get my reports finished, so I find out how to stop that dreadful revolt. And Nawat home with me."
"O I think there's something I can do.." The young Queen mentioned hinting that her calculating wheels and gears were turning. "What??" Aly asked, puzzled.
"O that's not of you to know, my little Spymaster. " Dove said childishly, and patted her friend's head.
As the Queen left Aly looked as puzzled, well as puzzled as a master of puzzles could. "What could it be…"
-&-
Rings of arrows were aimed at him, as they let fly, he jumped. As he jumped he plucked the arrows out of the air with insane speed. The entire world was a slow motion action scene, Nawat's hand pulling the arrows of the air, the in air back flip he did, and then the perfect landing, and as he fell he took the handful of arrows and plunged them into the soft dirt. The young luarin archers had aimed at him were open-mouthed, and astonished. The starred as if he had turned lead into gold, he just snorted.
"Another round boys?" He gave them a mischievous crooked smiled as they began to re loaded their bows. There was another round of arrows, this time he kicked two of them down and cached other three in his fist, and again there was a clump of arrows in front of him. Once again the men's eye broadened at the crow man. He heard the whispers of young men throughout the small fort.
As Nawat walked into the fort's kitchen to get his breakfast a messanger burst into the kitchen. She was half-crow like Nawat, and had flown all night. She looked a bit tired, but other than that she looked fine, she was a quick flyer and one of Nawat's finest messengers.
"Llesenia! How are you? How is everyone?"
The woman walked up to Nawat and hugged him. "Myles is fine, he sleeps soundly." Nawat shied, that his young son was safe. But as he looked at her the woman's face changed, and her dark eyes became shadowed.
"But not your wife…She was sleeping at her desk, and she looked like she had been crying." The crow woman said grimly, who looked at her feet worriedly.
"Aly….." Nawat shied and ran his fingers through his hair.
"O but she did get your letter…. it was on her desk," The woman added trying to make her friend fell better. "That's one good thing, at least she's not mad at me." He smiled.
"You don't know Aly, when she's mad, and you get in her way… you'll find that in the future near death experiences are more comforting than her. " He laughed, and shook his shaggy head.
"But never the less, I'm worried about my Aly, she needs me-," Nawat said, his voice trailing off. "-Llesenia, I'm going to go write to Aly… Thanks for the news…" As Nawat finished, tears swelled din his dark eyes.
-&-
Once again the Copper Isle's spymaster looked at her desk. She had finished most of her reports; all that was left was the suspicious trade ship from Tortall. "This will be a fun project, its perfect!" She told herself, she always loved chatting with merchants from Tortall; it gave her current gossip about what was happening back home.
As she began to pick up her usual inspection supplies into a canvas bag, someone rushed through door. It was Megrim, on of her spies in Rajmaut's ports.
"Master Crow, "he said, bounding into the room, and slamming the door behind him. "One of the merchants in the port, when… we came to talk to him, he began running through the harbor. We…chased him down, and he knifed one of our guards! I don't know why, but the guy said he wanted to talk to you. He threatened to bite on of the guards, so we put him in a blindfold and had Sivan give him a silence spell. The man's crazy!!!"
Aly tried to stay calm, "Who would want see me that bad…?" She asked her spy, who nervously shrugged. She needed to get this insanity under control. "Alright, Megrim I'm going to need you to get Sivan, maybe even one of Queen Dove's mages, actually get me Akono. He's got experience with this kind of stuff… I need a guard at the door. And go and fetch Gichio from the Nest I'll need her to watch Myles for the rest of the day. Then when it's all ready send the man in."
"Very well Duani Aly."
As Megrim left to follow through with Aly's orders, she laughed. "I wanted something to distract myself and I guess I got my wish."
-&-
As Mae stood in the kitchen of a large castle, the servant's around her flurried with platters and plates filled with luscious food. Mae looked at the food hungrily but, she was not here for the feast, she was on Spymaster Crow's business.
As a young kitchen boy, walked past with a hot bowl of broth, she stopped him.
"Where can I find Lord Rocco's head-chef??" The kitchen boy hurried away to the dining room but as her ran through the door he called out:
"O Kuna? She's in the spice garden over there, probably picking something." As the boy scurried off, Mae made her way to the spice garden.
There she found a middle aged, luarin woman with her hands in the dirt picking a large radish beside a wooded fence. Mae drew he hand-knife, and pinned the woman to the fence by the clothe of her sleeve. The woman starred at the girl, with an unchanging expression, like an old wrinkled stone.
"I imagine you are the one who collects the letters." Mae starred back just as cold. "Oh why yes. Do you have the letters or have you given them to Lord Rocco?"
"And what if I have, girl."
"Did you know, that my sources tell me that the Lord himself has given substantial funds to the revolt? He even is having one of the revolt's co-conspirators over for dinner tonight. "
"I was aware of that. Yes." Mae looked into the woman's eyes and leaned forward, close to her ear.
"His Lordship is not in the favor of her Highness, when I report back to Master Crow, I could mention his disloyalty. He already suspected of treason, he could be convicted and lose everything. Including his servants. "
The older woman's eyes widened, and she nodded furiously.
"Tell your mistress that her letters will be given directly to you, from now on. His lordship's messengers will deliver them to her spy, personally." Mae smiled viciously.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Miss. Kuna. I'm going to let you go now, alright." Mae said knowing the woman's fear put her in the palm of her hand. The woman nodded understandably, as Mae yanked the knife from its place on the fence. The woman's breath seized and she stayed completely still.
"Those letters, I need where are they now, lass?"
Kuna's cold stare returned as she realized what she would have to do.
"Are you any good with a lock pick, my little spy friend?" Mae starred for a moment, and then grew a fresh mischievous smile across her young face.
"Well, that depends on what you're planning?"
"The letters are in the Lord Rocco's study. He hasn't read them yet; he was going to read them Albus Carolyn, that merchant co-conspirator you mentioned, over wine as soon as dinner is over. "
"Well then we'd better get into that room…" Mae said getting up and helping Kuna up from her place in the dirt.
The two women ran back into the castle's kitchen, and toward the servant's stair that led to Rocco's study.