Warring Interlude Chapter 7: The Warrior's Return


I was looking to see who reviewed my story, but I was sadly disappointed when I remembered that the review was for one of my other stories. So here it goes, hope you like it. I had to finish this in Australia. I personally don't care for the end of this chapter, so I might change it when I come up with a better one. You need to pay attention in this chapter because it keeps switching views and the view it switches to isn't necessarily at the same time in a different place.

Sorry to AnotherChance, as soon as I posted this chapter, I checked my mail. But that'sokay! Thanks for reviewing andI hope you like this chapter.

And since I haven't put it on here in awhile:


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tortall or any of that stuff.


It was the eve of the New Year in Tortall. Normally there would be festivals in every corner of the country, but not a single cheer could be heard anywhere in any part of the country. Whilst no one knew, save the King and the Queen, of the absence of their champion and the other knights, the people of Tortall still had that gut feeling that something wasn't right.

-------------------------------------------- Corus -------------------------------------------

Thayet was outside on the balcony of her room just dreaming of the night's festivities. (I know I said that everyone knew something was up, but they still have to have the ball for appearances' sake.) It was to be a grand party, but it still didn't make the facts any less true.

Just as Thayet was about to retreat from the balcony, something coming down the road to the palace caught her eye. Holy Mithros… "Jonathan quickly, come here!"

He didn't even bother to glance away from his work, "Thayet, I'm busy. Can't it wait?"

Thayet went indoors and stood beside her husband. "No it cannot." She said in a stern voice. Almost immediately changing the tone of her voice she said, "Alanna, Raoul, and all of the knights are back!" Thayet started dancing around the study.

Jon finally sat his pen down and pushed the papers he was working on aside. "No they aren't. If by some miracle they were, Alanna would've contacted me once they arrived in Tortall."

"JONATHAN OF CONTE, GET YOUR LAZY ROYAL ASS UP AND GO DOWN AND WELCOME EVERYONE. NOW!"


(The day after the knights were freed)

Maggur was walking down the dingy hallway at a fast pace while giving orders to one of the guard. "I expect there to be a sentry on duty outside their doors every second of the day. They are to come out for nothing, use all force necessary to accomplish this. I also want magical wards placed on their rooms in case your emotions or your stupidity takes the best of you. Under no circumstances are you to talk to them, they to you, or them to each other. And no healers! Understood? Dismissed."

Maggur continued at his fast pace until he made his way up from the dungeons and arrived at a certain door on the second floor of his castle. When he opened the door, there was a deathly pale girl sitting against the headboard of the bed who had a sorry excuse for a bandage clutched to her left side.

"I see you are awake. Good, because I will give you one warning and one warning only. Any further mishaps on your part will result in severe consequences. Until the New Year comes, I want to see nothing of you. You will stay in this room. You will talk to no one who happens to be in or anywhere near your room. If I see you anywhere but in this room, I will not hesitate to kill you like I did with your friends."

"If I was physically able to walk or otherwise get out of this room, I would've done so already." Hate seeped through Christina's every word. "I certainly hope you said that for the guard's benefit that's standing outside of this room, because it seems pretty obvious to me."

"Heed my warning, by the end of this week I expect you to be a loyal servant of the Scanran Crown."

"There's no such thing, Scanra is too divided to have a king."

"Oh it doesn't have a king yet, but beware, it will soon. I have only united two of the tribes that reside in Scanra so far, but if plans run smoothly, but the seventh New Year after this one, Scanra will be one. Once this is complete, Scanra will have its rightful glory by defeating the Tortallans in an all-out war. If the knights hadn't of escaped it would have only made my job easier, but it wasn't that big of a loss. You are my secret weapon; they know nothing of you or your power. We will crush them like little bugs."

"You lying son of a bitch! You said you meant to unite the nations peacefully so you could make a treaty with the King of Tortall."

"I will hear no more on this matter." And with that, Maggur swept out of the door and locked it.


--------Tortall, Corus (New Year's)--------

King Jonathan and Queen Thayet were hurriedly making their way down to the soldier's mess where all the knights and soldiers that were held in Scanra were gathering because there wasn't nearly enough room in the infirmary.

"Isn't it lovely?" Thayet said absentmindedly. (She is not aware of the conditions of the fighters.) "I mean, everyone is back; and it's New Year's on top of that!"

When they arrived in the mess, they were appalled at the sight that greeted them. Men all around were wounded heavily and covered in masses of dried blood and dirt. Healers were frantically scurrying from person to person trying to at least partially heal their wounds; Alanna was among them.

"Thayet," Jon quickly said. "Please help as many healers and soldiers in any way you can." (If you don't remember, Thayet isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty. Also, she is neither in a fancy gown nor in a nightgown, just a plain dress.)

As Thayet left, Jon walked over to where he saw Raoul talking to one of his officers. "What in the hell happened her Raoul?"

Raoul turned to face him. "I know you didn't expect us to go without a fight, that would be absolutely preposterous! Besides, no one is dead or in danger of being so. Either who did this doesn't like killing people or they had specific orders. We killed a few of them, but we were so outnumbered and also surprised. The Commander seemed very peculiar."

"There is a war brewing Raoul." Jon stated simply. "Maggur has united two of the tribes in Scanra, and is on his way to uniting a third. Just uniting two is a near miracle. There is nothing that we can do about it, and soon Scanra will be one instead of nine. Until then they can't risk starting anything, but when the time comes, there will be an all-out war on our hands."


A/N: Well that's it for this chapter. I finally finished typing it. I got back from Australia about two weeks ago and I haven't had much time because we've had other things to do. I know Scanra probably actually has more than nine tribes, but for my purposes, it has nine. Please review and tell me what you think.