Disclaimer: I do not own Tortall, or any of the Tamora Pierce characters- obviously. Only characters a hard core fan doesn't recognize are mine- IE Aaurie, Branic and Illean.
NOTE: Sorry this took so long. Really. I had promised myself that so long as one person was reading I would keep this up, and it took recent reviews to remind me of that! I am already working on the next chapter, so hopefully this will somewhat make up for the long wait! I also want to remind people that this is a story that has been playing through my head for a long time and I put it to paper for my own piece of mind, if their is something I can do to make it more enjoyable for you guys too- let me know! Otherwise, I just write the stuff I'd want to read!!!
Aaurie flinched, swinging her leg over the saddle trying to find a comfortable position that wouldn't cause strain on her old wound. The scar had been throbbing lately, but Aaurie refused to admit it to anyone- she didn't want to risk Neal or anyone else thinking the injury could keep her from becoming a knight.
"You ready Aaurie?" Kel asked, watching the younger girl with a blank face. Aaurie swiveled slightly to look Kel in the eyes before she nodded and gave a small, hopeful smile.
"As I'll ever be milady." Kel smiled, patting Peachblossom in signal that he could begin his slow trot in column with the other riders. Aaurie sighed, watching Kel as she waited for Neal to finish speaking with a man from the Own.
"Alright, stay at my side for the whole ride. If for any reason we get separated you make sure that you plant yourself next to one of the captains or knights alright? We don't need a separation to turn into accusations that you helped any attack that might occur- alright?" Neal insisted as he urged his horse forward.
Aaurie nodded, following after him.
---
Aaurie suddenly understood why this area had such difficulty with surprise attacks. The Crown had spent good money maintaining the roads to keep supply wagons flowing with ease, but they had done little to cage the wilderness that sprang up all around it. The road was edged in thick trees and shrubbery, in the short distance they'd traveled Aaurie and the others had seen a fair number of yellow and brown beast's eyes peering back at them.
"We've lost a few supply wagons through here- I keep asking for a troop to come cutting through here, but the crown can't spare the men," Aaurie looked up in surprise to realize that Sergeant Eamern had been riding behind her and had now drawn up along side her.
Neal raised an eyebrow at the Sergeant, who didn't react, but said nothing.
"That forest is likely the only reason the Scanrans haven't made off with more of your supplies Sergeant. Makes Scanrans harder to see, but also harder to run off with whole wagon loads. Cutting it down could swing either way," Aaurie replied with a shrug, scanning the trees as the Sergeant starred at her.
"How old are you?" He asked curiously. He was surprised that a squire could come up with such an answer so quickly, when in truth he had only just considered the idea himself.
"Almost 17 milord, old for a squire," Aaurie replied meeting the Sergeants gaze respectfully before turning back to the forest around them.
"And your loyalties lie with whom?" Neal snapped his head up, half growling at the Sergeant.
"I would appreciate if you would stop your interrogation of my squire. The council lords and His Highness have all approved of her being here. There is no room for you to cast doubt on her," Neal said, using his 'regal' voice- one he used on the rare occasion he wished to draw attention to his nobility.
"Yes your Grace, I was only curious." Eamern smirked, giving a small shrug to Aaurie.
"My allegiance is to my conscience and to his Majesty Jonathan of Conte, and to his heirs should they act to uphold his beliefs. Question me all you want, that will never change," Aaurie replied evenly.
She watched the Sergeant as his blank stare turned to curiosity, confusion and then humor.
"I hope that's true Squire, really I do. But this war has brought out the worst of people- and I won't lose men all because I trusted a pretty face." Aaurie watched him, deciding that she liked the blunt sincerity he was offering. Opening her mouth to say something Aaurie caught sight of a flash of silver over the Sergeant's shoulder.
"Milord, sergeant- other side of the road." Aaurie whispered, turning her gaze quickly onto the road as if she'd seen nothing. "Not scouts, they have weapons."
Aaurie looked at neither of them as she spoke. She was sure to give away no hint of what she'd seen- leave the decisions up to Neal and the Sergeant.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw both Neal and the sergeant stiffen slightly. Neither turned their head or did anything to infer that they'd heard her. Slowly though, she saw them making small hand gestures to one another- some sort of code.
After a small nod, Eamern rose in his saddle slightly.
"Almost home men- be happy to tell the captain that there were no disturbances, and sleep in fresh beds tonight!" Aaurie whipped around to look at him, confused. Why would he say that? Now none of the men would be on guard- an attack would take them completely by surprise.
I opened my mouth to say something but Neal's gaze locked on mine and I stopped. He shook his head and brought his horse nearer to my side.
"Predetermined code. He just told them the there were raiders to the left of the road- Kel just released her bird scouts to get us a count," Neal whispered. Aaurie nodded, feeling foolish. Of course they knew what they were doing- she was the only one left out of the loop.
Aaurie hadn't noticed them take off, but she saw the three small birds return- one landing at each of the three columns of riders. The one that returned to Kel hooted and flitted around, as if communicating something to her.
Kel made a subtle hand gesture that seemed to echo wordlessly down the line of men- a silent communication that everyone understood except Aaurie.
"Get her out of here, I won't have my men worrying about her safety- we'll be out numbered as it is," Eamern whispered to Neal. Neal glared at him making a quick gesture that seemed to infuriate the captain.
"Boy or girl I would get the squire out of here Nealan, she isn't ready for this kind of fight- unless you want a dead squire on your hands," Eamern hissed. Neal gritted his teeth, looking around slowly, trying to determine the best way to get Aaurie away from the fighting when it broke out.
"They haven't attacked yet, even though they out number us- there has to be something they're waiting for," Neal realized slowly.
"Scanrans think that engaging in fights when women are present is dishonorable. They'll do it, but they don't like it. They're probably arguing over who has to kill the women- they always do before they start the fight, that and making sure there is a priest nearby to cleanse them afterwards." Aaurie said quietly. As ruthless as her countrymen appeared, they had very superstitious ways.
"So we haven't much time, Nealan- I want her out of here now!" Just as Eamern's voice raised and cracked an arrow let loose from between the trees, burying itself in the shoulder of a corporal.
"Attack!" Yells erupted from down the columns, orders being shouted at each group of soldiers as men began to poor from the trees.
For their group of 30 or so men, it seemed that there were three Scanran raiders for each. Aaurie leapt to unsheathe her sword but Neal shook his head, slapping his horse's reigns and gesturing for her to follow.
Riding low he lead her through the lines of soldiers, it seemed they'd cleared a line through the road for Nealan and Aaurie to charge through unscathed. Aaurie felt a flush rise on her cheeks as she followed her knight master, crouched over and almost laying flat against her horse's back. All these men then would know her as a coward, that as they fought they'd had to clear a path so that her knight master could lead her to safety. What kind of knight would she be after this?
When they'd finally stopped in a small clearing well beyond the battle Aaurie realized that her cheeks were wet with tears of frustration from being forced to run away. She'd been scared yes, but the cowardice of running was worse.
Neal looked back at her in alarm noticing the tears sliding down her flush face. Dismounting quickly, he ran to her and pulled her down frantically.
"Are you wounded? Are you alright?" Neal demanded, sending out a web of his magic to look for injuries.
"No, no I'm fine. I'm sorry, I just didn't expect to- to run away like that," Aaurie whispered. Neal let go of her hands, pull his magic back into himself and looking at her. Where teenage girls always so odd and emotional? His only real example had been Kel- and she was always so in control of her emotions.
"Look what we have here. Couple of soldiers run off from the battle yonder?" Aaurie and Neal whipped around to see seven fiery redheaded men standing at the other side of the clearing, each holding bloodstained axes.
Neal reached for his weapon but Aaurie was quicker, grabbing his hand and holding it against her side. Neal looked at her oddly, trying to pull his hand from hers thinking she'd frozen up in fear. Aaurie gripped his hand tighter, pulling her body into his, forcing him to hold her in an intimate embrace. They couldn't hope to win a fight against seven armed Scanran men; their only chance was to trick them.
"Oh please! We just snuck over the border so pa wouldn't catch us is all! We weren't doing anything wrong!" Aaurie half cried, pressing a heavy Scanran accent back into her voice. Neal looked down at her, catching on to her charade, hoping it would work- at least long enough for help to arrive.
"Told you the chit was Scanran, Worbec- see then, the pair are off trying to fuck in the woods," one of the men laughed as they stopped in front of the pair. Aaurie prayed that the mud spattered across Neal's shirt would hide the Tortallan crest on his breast. Neal was grateful for his language lessons, the gruff accent made it hard for him to catch all the words but he understood enough.
"The boy don't look Scanran Agris, looks like one of them Tortallans to me," the man called Worbec replied- his gaze sweeping back over Neal and then Aaurie with a broad grin.
"Tell me then little lass, what you doing with this scraggly bloke? You deserve a proper Scanran man- not some half blood whelp, probably borne on the border this bloke, to some whore mother and Tortallan soldier," the man laughed. Neal growled.
"Don't talk about my ma that way!" Neal grunted in almost perfect Scanran, his accent could easily be mistaken as having been blurred by his anger.
"Relax there. You two shouldn't be out here- you know there's a Tortallan fort just yonder? You're lucky not to have a pick through ya right now," The first man, Agris, replied.
"I'm sorry; we just wanted to be alone is all. Pa doesn't like him much and all," Aaurie mumbled, absently stroking Neal's arm.
"Not married yet then little one? You certainly seem old enough, tasty enough," a third man probed, watching them with distrust. Aaurie swallowed, looking at him. She could see from his eyes that he didn't believe a word, and even if he did, he'd likely vote to see them killed.
"No sir, too many of the lads in the village are off fighting them Tortallan bastards, pa wants to wait so he can pick the best match," Aaurie replied.
"Nothing wrong with entertaining ourselves while he waits is there?" Neal added, pulling Aaurie back against his chest and wrapping his arms around her hips in a gesture that was supposed to look possessive.
"Suppose not- nothing wrong with being young eh Agris, Maend?" Worbec laughed. The third man, Maend watched them.
"Why don't you go see if the lads need some help with the fight, Agris and me'll watch these two then," it was an obvious command, one which clarified to Aaurie that the man who believed them least was the one in charge.
Once the other men had left, leaving behind only the two, Neal and Aaurie were looking at only slightly better odds.
"Please, don't let us ruin your plans. You intended to fool around away from your dear pa's watchful eye- by all means. We'll just make sure no one bothers you," Maend said with a gruff chuckle. Aaurie froze, realizing that this was his test- he knew they wouldn't do it.
"She's mine," Neal growled. Aaurie could hear the pause in his voice- he too was trying to think of how to get out of the situation. At this point they were both too far from their weapons, staring down two very large Scanran warriors.
"Oh, I have no intention of joining in- just watching- make sure no one bothers you that is," Maend laughed. The way he gripped his axe made it clear that he'd take their heads off as soon as they refused- the delight in his eyes was frightening.
Neal shifted, his eyes scanning for some sort of weapon, but Aaurie made up her mind- unwilling to die after having run away from battle like a coward.
"It could be kind of fun," Aaurie whispered loud enough for the two men to hear, turning into Neal's chest and tugging on his shirt.
With her back to the men Aaurie swallowed, looking up at her knight master. Go with it or we die, help should be here soon? Aaurie mouthed, her eyes pleading. Neal didn't move, so Aaurie did the first thing she could think of- she kissed him, hard.