Diclaimer: Apparently, naive means inexperienced. So I cannot really call you that. I can call you lots of other words that I won't say for thinking this is mine, though
Sarra came to her senses, but the place she was in seemed very surreal.
She recognized it as the tower. It was much more than a tower, with all the
additions that had been put on it over the years and the wall that surrounded
it. Her brother stood there, but he glowed white, not the usual
charcoal-silver of his magic. Even though she knew she wasn't really there, she felt there. Everything seemed real. She could see everything normally and when she reached out to brush her fingers over a wall, it felt solid. Sarra looked down at herself to see if her own magic was different from normal, but she couldn't see her own aura.
"Rikash? What's going on?" She asked she asked the being she thought was her little brother. When he spoke to her, however, it wasn't his usual young boy's high, squeaky voice but a man's slow deep voice.
"The people of the Dijourd rebel against you
Their people are starving and rain has yet to come.
Tortall is known to be rich with crops and haven't a clue
of the havoc they will cause on your land."
The people of the far island rebel against you
The 'jourd starve, and thirst, and pine for riches
Your own have all the god's issue
And they now fight to sow their own stitches
With peace as threads for war
It was a poem, and a riddling one at that. Dijourd was an
island, farther south than the Copper Isles and Yamani islands. Sarra had heard the reports of the starving and drought in the far nation. There had even been discussions between the king and his advisors about sending supplies to them in the spring, but there had been no final decision. Tortall was rich, yes, but no country could take care of everything in the world. Why would they attack us if we might help them?
Furthermore, there were only three ships presently attacking the fort. That wouldn't be nearly enough to take over even this fort, despite its small size. It seemed that whoever was wearing the seaming of her little brother could hear her thought because when he continued, he addressed her mental questions.
"Do not underestimate their size, for there are far more than those you
have seen and they are trained by those to rival the Shangs.
The charity you contemplate on which they lean hurts their pride, so they will attack.
Thus eliminating the threat."
So their pride was hurt! The goodwill Tortall was doing them insulted them
so they are going to fight us not only to get our goods and land, but because
they feel offended. Well that made sense. Now all she wanted to know was who
in Mithros' name this person was.
"I am the god of dreams
I can tell you of your future,
that from you magic teems
but you can lean to control it and your glow."
By glow, she was pretty sure he meant the magic that shone through her, even
when she shapeshifted. That's what it seemed like. And the god of dreams. That
must have mean Ganiel. Her mother had met him once, as had her father, when
they were in the Realms of the Gods.
"The person you came to seek
will remain faithful to you when others are not
do not speak,
for I can tell you no more." (
Sarra woke up, opened her eyes to the blazing sun, shut them again and rolled over. She still felt terrible and weak. But yet, her sense of curiousity overrode her exhaustion. She opened her eyes again. The room she was in was the infirmary, she recognized it from her previous trip in here. Where is everyone? She thought. She sat up in her bed and dangled her legs off of it. She was so tired she could just fall back onto her pillows and fall asleep again. But she was scared that she would have another dream. She didn't like the thought that the gods knew what was going to happen and were watching her. It was odd. She stood up, he muscles moaning in protest and swayed on the spot. She bent doubled over and dry heaved, not having any food in her body to throw up. She walked, using the beds and chairs in the room for support, to the door that lead to the outside. Her upper arm hurt everytime she used it to lean on something, she wasn't sure why. She stepped onto the grass and saw a stick, a bit too short for her use as a cane, but it would do. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going. It was in the afternoon and the sun was hot, despite the time of year. Her stick snapped in half and she went down with it. She just sat there. She couldn't walk by herself and barely could with support.
"Sarra! What are you doing out here? They were supposed to tell me when you woke up. And you don't look to good." it was Kel. "Can you stand?" Sarra shook her head."Then how'd you get out here?" She shrugged, too tired for words. The lady knight helped her walk back to the infirmary, though she was practiacally carrying her. She sat her on the bed. "Stay here." It was a stupid order. Sarra could not walk. And she was hungry. How long had she been asleep? Kel came back with a tray of food and Milly. She set the tray on a table beside Sarra. Greedily, she picked up a roll but dropped it to the floor. She couldn't grip it. tears welled up in her eyes. "It's okay, Sarra. It's just a roll. No, don't cry, please?" It was too late. The tears rushed down her face. She opened her mouth, trying to speak, but only dry heaved again.
"Sarra. I need you to lie down now." Milly said. "Kel, you can go." She said more quietly. "Your arm is healing. But you almost drowned, youngling. Gave us all quite a scare. Can you talk?" She shook her head. "That's probably from all the salt water you swallowed. It also explains why you're throwing up, only, you aren't, because you haven't eaten for days." She propped Sarra up on her pillows and held a glass of water to her lips, tipping it slightly so she could drink. Sarra tried again to talk but failed. "You've been out for five days, you know." Sarra's shock showed on her face. Milly chuckled. "Here, eat." She held a new roll for Sarra, helping her to hold it. When she finally was able to grip the food by herself, Milinia went back to her office.
As Sarra finished up her roll, Jakob ran in. "Milly! How is she?" He asked as he walked towards her bed. "You're awake." She nodded. "How are you." Sarra looked at him. She wanted desperatly to tell him that she had no idea of her current state, but couldn't. "Sarra? What's wrong? Why are your eyes red?"
"She can't talk just yet, Jakob." Milly said, coming back out ofher office. "She only just woke up."
"Has she been crying?" He questioned
"She dropped a roll." Milinia explained.
"Why would she cry over that?" He queried again.
Sarra was furious at being talked about like she wasn't even there. To express this, she trew one of her smaller pillows at Jakob. It missed, but he saw it and turned to look at her. "I'm sorry." He said, understanding. Her eyelids felt heavy again. "Go to sleep, Sarra, you need it." He whispered as her eyes fluttered closed.
A REALLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYY big thanks to my awesome beta, who like basically rewrote the first half. She is awesome. Thank you to everyone who offered to be a beta, actually got a surprising amount of those. And thank you for reading (no, the story is not over, don't cry. Just making my thank yous) I'll have more thank you's to give out if you reveiw.
