Chapter 29 - Kidnapped

Daine's hands were tied tightly behind her back. Despite the fact that she hadn't screamed, as she would have done under normal circumstances, she had tried to escape. The result was that she had landed hard on the ground with three large men above her. She had obviously kicked, bitten and scratched. The only thing she had gotten out of the trial was a kick in the stomach, a knee in the back and a hand that roughly had pulled her hair so her head was lifted up from the earth. The man who tied her hands together cursed loudly before he pulled her up to stand. Daine stared angrily at him as he turned her around. "So you thought you could escape, huh?" He leaned forward. Daine resisted the urge to turn her face away. He smelled horribly out of his mouth, a mixture of half rotten meat and mead.

She leaned forward and spat him directly in the face. She said nothing or uttered a sound when a big hand hit her left cheek, hard. The only thing she did was to stand one unstable legs. They were still not far from where she knew where Numair, Perin and Onua was, but the knife that now pressed hard against her throat prevented her from calling for help. "We must quickly get out of here before they gets suspicious" she heard one man whispered, and threw a cloth over her eyes.

Daine cursed inside. She couldn't see anything and therefore she was also a bit scared when strong hands grabbed her waist and lifted her up on a horse. She was first placed as a sack of potatoes, but ...

"Are you kidding me?" asked the man who had taken her vision "Do you really think His grace will have his new bride to be treated that way," Daine heard a small outbreak, she interpreted it as if the speaker had struck the other man, the man who had helped her up on the horse. "And if you so much as hits her again, I'll make sure that your children has no father ... she's worth a fortune."

She was gently lifted off and put on the horse again, with one leg on each side. Sitting on the horse she heard a sudden rustling of her left ... her heart stopped abruptly when she heard Perin's voice.


Numair looked after her as she trudged away from him. He had really screwed up. He knew for sure that it would be long before she would forgive him for withholding information about her wild magic. He saw how she disappeared among the bushes, the long curly hair hanging down her back.
He sighed and manage to move away from the teeths the gray mare was about put in him "No, Cloud ... you can scold as much you like, if it is to be from here and up to the moon, but you will not be allowed to bite me." He turned and grabbed the reins of his own gelding. Quickly he grab Cloud's reins to, and with fast fingers he tied the two horses together. "So I'm sure I know where you are." Numair jumped to the side as the gray mare once again snatched out after him, but the horse was quickly stopped by Numair's own horse, Spots, who pulled away with the little stocky mare.
Numair smiled at the sight. Daine would come back when she had cooled down, right now he had to be content with the knowledge that he knew where her horse was.

He turned and walked over to Onua, who sat with Perin. "Is there more food or are you eating it all." He sat down and took the plate of cheese, cured ham, bread and an apple. Numair sighed, he looked forward to arriving to the market, where they could get some proper food. As Numair was about to take a bite of the cheese, he discovered how Onua looked at him. "What?" he asked.

"Either you are extremely stupid, Numair, or you have really messed up" Onua told him.

Numair lowered his hand "What does that suppose to mean?" he asked, a bit irritated. He lost any form of appetite.

Onua leaned towards him "You always go after her, why not now?"

He was not smiling, any form of joy disappeared "The Badger told Daine something, I have known for months ... I had deliberately not told her about why she no longer had her wild magic". He glanced at Perin, who sat with his head turned towards the spot where Daine had disappeared.

"You really does have messed things up" Onua whispered to him. "Why don't you go after her and bring her back?"

Numair nodded "You're right ... as always" He was about to stand but found that Perin already stood. He looked up at the young man, still with his head turned away. "What do you think you're doing?"

Perin turned to him "I know you don't like me, Master Salmalin, but ... I don't think it should be you, she should talk to ..." and with these words he left Numair and Onua.

Numair stared open-mouthed at him. He was furious and began to rise. A hand grabbed his sleeve.

"Let him Numair" said Onua's voice at his side. He turned to the horses woman, one of his closest friends. "He's right, maybe it's not you she needs to talk to ... sometimes you can get too close to each other."

He sat down heavily and turned angrily towards her "Which side are you on?" he snapped. Behind them Perin disappeared between the bushes.

Onua took his hands "Numair, you know that I don't take sides ... but ... what I saw this morning ... what's going on between you two?" she replied calmly.

"Nothing Onua" he admitted sadly.

"Nonsense Numair ... the Daine I saw this morning was not the same as I've seen ..." Onua would have continued, but behind them the horses whinnied suddenly. Numair and Onua jumped to their feet. They looked at each other simultaneously "Daine!"


Perin walked with firm steps away from respectively one male and one female. He knew that he had been too ... bold. Perin turned around quickly and looked at the tanned man. Never had he talked such to a noble or everyone, and especially not to Tortall's only black robe mage. A smile broke on his lips, he liked his new self ... the young troublemaker, he had been in the palace, had quietly slipped into the background and now there was only a mature man. Perin pushed a branch aside and was about to call her when he saw ... He stopped where he stood. Uncertain, he took in the scene in front of him, unsure if it was real. Daine sat on a horse, with bandaged eyes and hands tied behind her back.

Without thinking about what he did, he rushed forward "Let her go!" he shouted and slammed a fist into the face of the nearest man, who turned towards him. His sudden attack surprised them. Perin's first victim fell to the ground with a bang, he continued up to the next without looking back. Without any weapons, but only his hands, he jumped up on the back of the other man. He tried to strangle him, but a third man grabbed him and forced him to the ground. Perin tried to aim at the man's eyes with his nails, he cheered inside when he saw the long bloody streaks being dragged through the skin. Perin heard absent how a woman cried his name out, it distracted him for a moment and he was to slow to move his head as a clenched fist came towards him. The hand hit him hard on his jaw, Perin swore, on the other hand, he managed to put a knee in the stomach of his attacker. His attacker staggered backwards. Perin turned around on all fours and stood up. He began to run forward towards the horse who danced with Daine seated, but he was stopped abruptly when the first man he had beaten stood before him. Blood flowed from a split eyebrow. Perin barely registered the stroke that sent him into the ground. The man leaned forward with a knife, approaching dangerously.

"Let him be ..." someone hissed "We must get out of here now!" Perin looked with horror at the knife.

"Fine" whispered the man above him. Perin breathed a sigh of relief, but the man continued "This is yours" a clenched fist hit him again and everything went black.


Daine heard Perin's screams and the commotion that followed. She screamed his name, but unable to see, she didn't know what was going on. The horse beneath her danced to the side and Daine squeezed her legs together the best she could. She had no intention of falling off, even if she would survive the fall, there was no guarantee that there were no sharp things that she could beat her head against. She turned her head in an attempt to shake off the bandage, but without success. Suddenly the horse's uneven movements stopped and a body swung up behind her. Sweaty smell and strong arms held her fast and Daine noticed how the horse sat in wild gallop. She had been kidnapped.


Numair rushed forward with Onua by his side. He reached through the bushes and saw further on a horse disappear. In his hands big balls of black flame shaped, letting them go ... an arm grabbed his ...

"No," screamed Onua by his side "Daine can be on it."

He cursed and closed his hands. The fireballs disappeared. "Where's Perin?" he managed to ask, as they both heard a groan, not far from them. In front of them, to the right was Perin. He was severely beaten. Numair hurried and grabbed the young man's shoulders "Where is she?" he cried, terrified. The young man groaned loudly, but didn't answer. Numair began frantically shaking him "Where is she?".

Perin carefully opened his eyes "They took her ... three men," he moaned. It hurts to talk. He was sure that his jaw was broken in several places. He heard how Numair swore loudly and asked him where she had been led away to... "I don't know ..." he started screaming, he had dislocated his shoulder.

Numair released the young man. He looked at Onua, who had picked up the bag with medications. "I have to pursue them," he said and stood up.

Onua, who had already knelt at the blond man, nodded absent. She quickly took the jars with various ointments out. "Just bring her back Numair ... I don't care how you do it, just do it".

Something in Onua's voice made Numair stop, he knelt down and laid his hand under the horses woman's chin. When he lifted it he saw tears that rolled down her cheeks "I promise" he whispered quietly. He noticed how Onua put her hand around his ...

"She's almost my daughter ... I can't bear to lose her again" it sounded hoarsely from Onua.

Numair dried her cheeks "I ... I promise to bring her back". With those words hanging in the air he got up and returned to the troubled horses. He quickly grabbed Cloud's reins and released her. Sure that the pony would find Daine he swung himself in the saddle of his horse. The mare trotted beside him, waiting. Numair looked down on the pony "Now you have my permission to run after her" he said. The mare snorted and sat in gallop. Numair followed.

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