………………………………………………………………………………………………
The Tyran WarThe next morning, Amanda awoke and went to bathe, leaving Numair to sleep. When she re-emerged in a robe, she found her husband standing by the open window. He was not dressed in his black robe as he usually was, but in a pair of breeches and a loose, partly buttoned shirt.
He was gazing out of the window, across the city and out to the sea. He stood with his hands and his pockets, the golden sunlight trickling across his jet-black hair. Amanda itched to run her hands through those midnight locks, but knew this was not the time. In fact, he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, not even noticing her presence. His expression was serious; his eyes were unfocused as he stared at things Amanda couldn't see, remembering things she had never known. He looked lost, forlorn, even heartrending, and she longed to put her arms around him; he was very attractive this way after all, but knew that she could not.
Finally, he sighed, and seemed to come out of his trance. He turned, saw her, and grinned. She walked over to him, and grinned back.
"Are you finished being pensive?"
"Yes." He glared at her.
"How did Neraso know about the war before everyone in the capital did?" she asked, realizing this for the first time.
" He has his ways of knowing things others wish him not to know." He replied unhelpfully.
"You mean he's a spy." said Amanda, absent-mindedly playing with the loose whips of his hair, which greatly annoyed him.
He waved her hand away impatiently. "Stop that. I'm trying to think."
"You think too much." she protested, but nevertheless let go of his hair and went to get dressed. Numair called to her through the screen that was the dressing room, "What will the weather be like today?"
"How should I know?" she retorted bad-temperedly, then upon realizing he was not in the mood, she replied, "it should start to rain around noon, and last for about three days. Why do you ask?"
He cursed. "It's a bloody battle, one that takes place in the rain. I would ask you to hold it back f it was just for one day, but if it goes that far back, it would be too hard for you to keep in place."
"I can do it." She said defiantly, "I'll just need time."
" Time," said Numair, "Is the one thing that we lack the most."
She had finished getting dressed, and emerged wearing a cotton shirt and breeches. Around her neck, as always, hung her necklace, but it was now tucked beneath her shirt, so that only the silver chain was visible from beneath her pulled back hair.
"Where are Ecam's men?" Amanda asked, beginning to pack up her things.
"They are being held off back by Neraso's men in the stronghold of Pearlmouth, to the west border of Tyra. They are making their way to the capitol, and must be stopped before they can get that far. A civil war can sometimes be even more dangerous then a war between two countries, where whichever side looses becomes part of the territory of the winning side. In a civil war, however, the battle could go on for years on end without any gains." He sighed. "Well, get your pack. We had better go now, Neraso needs all the men he can get, and if we leave now, we should be at Pearlmouth by sunset.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Amanda and Numair rose hard for several hours, galloping across wide fields and thick woods. They rode west by Amanda's directions, who knew the skies much better then her husband. They paused to rest around noon, and tied their horses to two trees around a lake in the forest clearing. They dismounted, and sat on the forest floor by the lake, where they unpacked their lunch from the saddlebags.
"When we reach Pearlmouth." Numair gasped, still out of breath from riding. "I'll cast a spell of concealment, so we can pass through the fighting unnoticed, and enter the fortress."
"All right," said Amanda, stepping gingerly into the icy water. "I have to push the rain back some right now or it'll be pouring by the time we get there." Seeing the look on his face, she quickly added, "Don't worry, I won't go that far, just enough to hold it until we get there."
Numair still looked mutinous as Amanda rolled up her breeches and waded into the water, but Amanda ignored him. She closed her eyes, and reached up towards the skies. There she found dense clouds, heavy with rain, backed up for miles. She sighed, knowing it would take a lot of power to hold back this storm. Amanda shaped her blue fire like a net, and fastened it around the storm with her mind, holding it in place. She could usually persuade the rain from coming, but not when there was this much of it. She took a deep breath, and dragged the clouds back several miles until they were well away from Pearlmouth, at least for the time being. It was very difficult work, and Amanda had to concentrate so hard on it that she didn't realize she was wading deeper into the water as she fought to control the rain. When Amanda opened her eyes, she saw that the water was up to her waist. She cursed to herself for allowing this to happen, she was now covered in sopping clothes. It had gotten dark, which meant that the spell had taken several hours. She waded back to the shore, tired from having preformed so much magic. Numair was waiting for her when she got back, he had started a fire, and handed her a cup of tea as she sat down, trying not to smile.
"Oh, don't look smug." Amanda snapped, sitting down and scowling.
"It's just that you look a little strange, wet from the waist on down." He said, giving way to a grin.
Amanda rolled her eyes and waved her hand, calling the water out of her clothes and sending it back to the lake. Within seconds she was completely dry. She sat down, grinning at the stunned look on his face.
"That's a useful trick." he remarked, still looking surprised. "Though you still look…" he laughed evilly, and Amanda, now very annoyed, waved a hand in his direction, showering him with sparks of electricity. He jumped, brushing them off hurriedly, before his robes caught fire. He glared at Amanda, who giggled.
"Sorry." she gasped as he continued to glare.
"Ouch." said Numair tonelessly. "That hurt."
"I don't know what came over me." she said, still breathless with laughter. "You know I'd never really hurt you. I guess I was just annoyed."
"I know what's wrong with you." said Numair, still retaining that hilariously sarcastic state of seriousness. "It's Tuesday." Then he laughed, seeing the shocked look on her face. "Oh well, its no matter." And he bent down to kiss her. Amanda's giggles immediately ceased, as her arms went around his neck. She had decided long before this that she like his kisses very much, despite the fact that her lips were literally tingling, no doubt from the shock she had just given him. She didn't even have the heart to tell him that it was indeed Saturday. When he finally took his lips away, Numair gave Amanda a puzzled look. She was holding her finger to her lips, which were still stinging.
"That hurt." she explained. "You are always injuring my lips, from biting them to shocking my mouth so I can't even feel! It's a wonder I can still kiss you."
He laughed. "Well, you rip out my hair."
"That was different." She yawned, and slumped back against him. Numair rested he head on her hair, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.
"I love you." he whispered into her ear. "If this is our last night together…" his voice faltered.
"If we die tomorrow, I will have known you, and loved you. I will have no regrets, I would not have changed this moment for the world, and will remember it forever, even if tomorrow never comes." whispered Amanda.
There was a long pause, then Numair whispered, almost fearful to break the silence.
"You're right. Though, indeed it may not."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
They reached Pearlmouth the next day. It was a large, sturdy fortress being attacked by men wearing the yellow coat of arms that Amanda had come so used to seeing. Numair preformed a concealment charm on himself and Amanda as they rode through the gates, passing among fighting men and mages without being noticed. When they reached the inside of the fortress, Neraso recognized the spell, being a black robe mage he, and they entered. Once they were inside, they explained their reason for being late, and asked how the battle went. Neraso told them that his men were just barely holding Ecam's men off. He believed that if they could hold them off long enough for Maren to come to their aid they would win.
Neraso looked somehow different then he had when Amanda had seen him last. He was no longer cloaked in shadow, but dressed in armor, with his tousled hair tied back out of his face, and a naked sword at his waist. He looked proud and upright, and his grey eyes glittered like burning ice. To Amanda, he looked like the king that he might have been had not Ecam stood between him and the throne.
The king Tyra might one day have again
Amanda and Numair told him that they would like to help with the battle. Numair would help to hold off Ecam's mages, and Amanda would use the weather to try to find some way of defeating them. To do so, they must both be up on the deck, in the open air. They said farewell to Neraso, and made their way there.
"Now," said Numair to Amanda as they climbed the stairs, "We both know that this will be very dangerous, and if either of us…if either of us does not survive it…I want you to know…I love you."
They had reached the upper deck, and he drew her close as they kissed with hunger and desperation.
"I love you." Amanda whispered hoarsely, for though their kiss had been swift, it had still left her breathless. She gazed longingly up into his eyes, the ebony eyes that had sparkled with secrets and wisdom, the eyes that had reflected the sky when he had asked to marry her, the eyes that had blazed with anger when he had stood between her and Ecam, and the eyes that Amanda may never see again.
She walked numbly over to a curve in the deck, and sat down in the bend, against the wall. Numair knelt down beside her and muttered something. A bubble of black fire instantly surrounded her.
"What's that?" she asked him, slightly wary.
"An arrow ward." He replied, grinning. "We don't want to make the same mistake twice." She glared at him, and he laughed, before swiftly kissing her, and striding off, gathering power as he went.
Amanda watched him walk away, then took a deep breath, and plunged into her magic. She needed something immense, more then just lightning or rain. She couldn't create weather out of nothing; she at least needed something to make a spell out of.
Pearlmouth was a fortress on the sea.
The see could be used for magical purposes better then almost anything else; with its natural currents and waves. If Amanda could simply increase the power in these currents, the waves would get larger and larger until they broke over the sea wall, and into the field below. She set to work at once doing this, feeding her power into the water as it began to churn and bubble with the immensity of the spell. She then curled it upward and out until a huge wave towered over her. She did not hear the yells of the soldiers below as the towering wave grew. She gave the water one last push, and the tidal wave crashed down on the fort, enveloping everyone in the salty water. Amanda thought of everyone it would kill; Neraso's men as well as Ecam's would die. The wave broke over her, dragging her from Numair's spell and back with it to the sea. She hit her head on the stonewall of the deck, and darkness surrounded her.
When Amanda opened her eyes, she found herself on the field of the battle, wet with salty water. She must have been dragged here by the water. Her head throbbed from where it had hit the wall, and there were long, stinging, painful welts on her arms from where she had been pulled through Numair's spell. The field around her was littered with bodies, some dead, some lying wounded on the ground, and some walking among them, stumbling in the direction of the fortress. One of the men walking through the fields saw Amanda and began to walk towards her. It was Neraso. He looked as tired as she was, he was wet, dirty and bruised, and the sword was stained with blood, but when he saw her, he grinned.
"Is this your doing?" he asked her, helping her up.
Amanda grinned crookedly "I didn't realize that it would be so…drastic…sorry." she paused. "Where is my husband?" she asked, worried, for she could not find him with her magical tie. Neraso frowned.
"No one has seen him since the wave hit, three hours ago. Come back with me to the fortress and get cleaned up and get some rest, and I'll try to find him with my gift." Then, seeing the expression on her face, he said, "Don't worry, knowing Numair, he's just gotten lost, we'll find him."
Amanda nodded, and walked up to the fort with Neraso. She wasn't so sure, however, that something wasn't wrong with Numair. She had had this feeling before, and since she might be completely mistaken, she did not to this to Neraso. It was fine, she convinced herself. He would be waiting back up at the fort, ready to scold her for using that much magic. But in her mind she knew that something was completely and terribly wrong.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
After the tidal wave had hit, Ecam's men had fled to regroup, and tend to their wounded and dead. Many things had been moved by the water, people had been swept out to the field and forest by the wave, where they made their way back to the fort, or away into the woods.
Out in the forest beyond the field, Numair Salmalín was walking up to the fortress, sopping wet and exhausted. He had drained his magic fighting the enemy's mages before Amanda had done her spell. He wanted to get back to his wife as quickly as he could, to make sure she was all right after performing that huge bit of magic. He did not notice then, the figure huddled in the tree above him, silent as a shadow, watching as Numair walked by.
There was a faint rushing sound, and something stung on the back of his neck. Numair winced, reached up, and pulled a small, sharp, dart-like thing from his neck, and cursed. His arm fell limply by his side, his fingers uncurled, and it fell noiselessly to the forest floor. He knew what it meant, but was determined to fight it, not to let it happen. Numair's vision had already begun to grow cloudy as the poison caroused through his veins, and he felt his legs buckle from beneath him as he sank to his knees. He bit his lip, his eyes unfocused as he fought to stay conscious, but he knew it was no use. His breathing had become slow and shallow. By this time, he could no longer feel his legs or arms, and all conscious thought were focused on one thing, one person. And as the darkness enveloped his senses, and Numair fell to the ground, his lips soundlessly mouthed a word, and even in his defeat he felt the sorrow of the thought that he had failed the one person he had fought so hard to get back to.
"Amanda."
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Ahhh, sweet suspense, review, review, review, and I'll get a chance to leave a longer comment next time.
-Thanks
-Queen of Connaught