Chapter Twenty Eight; Choices.

Alanna felt the Goddess' hand land on her head, and then was suddenly blinded as silver light flashed through the clearing. She fell from her seat in shock, landing hard enough on her back to force all the air from her lungs. She glared up at the Great Mother Goddess who only looked down at her in amusement.

"What was that?" She demanded.

"I sealed our link. As my Chosen you are now fully under my protection and as such I shall give you a token." She looked around the clearing for something suitable and sighed in obvious annoyance. "I will bring one to you soon enough."

Crashes sounded through the undergrowth, quickly followed by muffled curses in voices Alanna recognised.

"My friends…" She said softly.

"Yes, they are coming. Farewell my daughter."

"Wait!" Alanna exclaimed as a silver outline began to form around the Goddess, "What can I tell them?"

"That is not for me to decide." She smiled enigmatically. "You are my Chosen, and I trust you. But always be on your guard, and never forget that there is a traitor in your midst."

"But…" Alanna pulled herself to her feet, but before she could say anything more, the Goddess vanished. "Well that was useful." She muttered to herself, trying to brush her skirts clean from the tumble she had taken. She looked up just in time to see Jon, Raoul, Gary and Alex all run into the clearing at full tilt.

She arched an eyebrow as the normally graceful Alex stumbled as he tried to halt his momentum in time, so he wouldn't collide with her.

"What happened?" Jon asked, being the one least out of breath. "We saw an explosion of some sort."

For a second Alanna struggled with herself, deciding how much to tell them. She let out a long breath,

"I met the Great Mother Goddess."

The men simply stared at her for a time, Alanna tried to hold in her amusement at their astonished expressions, mouths hanging open, but then gave in to her mirth.

"Are you serious?" Alex asked eventually.

She straightened, at once deadly calm,

"Yes. She told me some very interesting things. I have to return to Corus."

"What? Just like that?" Jon queried.

"As soon as possible. I need to do some things in the Palace."

When he saw Jon was about to continue the conversation, Raoul hastily stepped in.

"Why don't we have this discussion somewhere more private?" he suggested. "Such as Jon's tent."

With muted sounds of agreement they all moved off through the woods.

Gary watched Jon as he walked beside his friend towards the main camp. With a hand on the other man's shoulder, he made them both drop back, until they were walking a bit behind the others. When Raoul cast them a curious look, Gary pulled a face and waved at him to carry on going. The bigger man nodded in understanding and engaged Alanna in a conversation, drawing attention away from him and Jon. When he felt that no one would notice them, Gary stopped, pulling the Prince to a halt.

"What is it?" Jon asked abruptly.

Gary paused for a moment, taking in the tight expression on his face.

"You need to calm down."

"What!" Jon began walking again, tension evident in the set of his shoulders.

"Jon. If you tell Alanna what to do, you know what she'll do."

He stopped walking abruptly, before spinning on his heel and looking hard at his friend.

"Am I really that obvious?"

"That you're worried about her?" Gary snorted. "Yes."

"Why shouldn't I be?" He demanded. "I know what she's like. As soon as she's in Corus she'll go and do something foolish and dangerous."

"And you would do exactly the same thing in her situation." Gary threw an arm around his cousin's shoulders, "Look we all know Alanna's a little…"

"Rash? Foolhardy?" Jon finished.

"I was going to say impulsive, but that'll do. But if you tell her what to do, it won't sit well with her."

"At this point I don't care whether she likes it or not, as long as she's safe. She's just been poisoned and nearly died and now she expects me just to let her run off to Corus on her own, as though nothing happened?"

"You won't 'let her' do anything." Gary warned him. "She won't obey you if she feels that she's doing what's right. And if she did see the Great Mother Goddess and was given instructions then nothing will stop her, especially if she thinks that one of us is in danger."

"Especially if she thinks I'm in danger you mean." Jon sighed "Things would be so much easier if she were a normal lady who would just do what she's told."

Gary chuckled as they began walking towards camp once more, confident that Jon was calmer and wouldn't do anything he'd regret.

"True. But then she wouldn't be Alanna and life would be far more boring!"

Alanna glanced behind them once as she entered Jon's tent with Alex and Raoul. She saw Gary swing an arm around his cousin's shoulder and sighed, guessing what he was doing. She knew Jon wasn't going to be happy with her returning to Corus, although he had wanted to send her back with Roger earlier that week.

Roger. She shuddered, at least now she knew for certain that he was behind all the 'accidents' that had been happening. Now the only thing she had to do was prove it, both to Jon and to his parents. She sighed slightly, although her talk with the Great Mother Goddess had been informative, it wasn't terribly useful. Although her friends might believe that she had met the Mother, she doubted that the courts or the King would believe her. Thinking back on the visions the Goddess had shown her however, Alanna began to feel more optimistic, perhaps she had been shown more than she had seen at first… In two of them she had either been to Roger's rooms, or she was on her way there. She wasn't sure what to make of the second vision. Glancing up at Alex, she remembered the glee on his counterpart's face as he announced that Roger was king. Could he be another traitor? He met her gaze briefly, his eyes still filled with awe but also curiosity. She looked away fast, shaking her head slightly. It was a disturbing thought, and although she was fairly assured of his loyalty to Jon in this reality, she would be sure to keep an eye on him. If she was going to leave for Corus though, she would have to take someone else into her confidence, to watch him and look out for Jon. Her twin was the obvious choice, although not a master of the fighting arts, he was proficient enough, Gary and Raoul were best suited to physically protect the Prince in any case. Thom's Gift would come in handy should Roger try anything magical again though.

The three strode into Jon's tent and Raoul at once pushed her gently towards a chair. She scowled at him, more out of principle than anything else, before sinking into the chair near Jon's desk. She was still recovering from the drug induced coma, and her legs were beginning to ache.

Jon and Gary entered a few moments later, a resigned expression on Jon's face, while the latter struggled to compose his features.

"So…" Alex said after a silence no one seemed willing to break, "What now?"

"I go to Corus," Alanna stated firmly.