Description: Rikash appears just before Daine is attacked by a tauros. Weiryn and Numair go to investigate the intrusion. A strange little creature gives them the answer as to how they will return to the mortal realm and the mages finally prepare to leave.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Everything belongs to Tamora Pierce.

Author's Note: I like the idea of Numair seeing a different vision to Daine when Weiryn talks about Temptation Lake. The crystal on Numair's staff is unnamed so I took a bit of liberty in deciding what it was. It becomes important later in the story.

Chapter 7

"…Fort Mastiff is still holding. The stocks are running low, but we can hold out for a couple of weeks yet." Alanna's voice reported.

"I'll see what I can do about sending supplies your way," the king's voice replied. Numair thought he must be eavesdropping on a speech spell because Jon was still in Port Legann. "Alanna, I have some bad news."

"What is it?" The Lioness sighed bracing herself. "I'm not sure I can take much more."

"Daine and Numair never returned from their last assignment. We believe they were killed during the fight." Jon's voice was completely devoid of emotion.

"No." Alanna gasped. "No!"

"I'm sorry," the king's voice was quiet as the knight could be heard crying.

"They can't be dead!" she shouted defiantly. "Are you sure they aren't in hiding somewhere?"

"We've searched everywhere for them." Jon said his voice flat. "I've had mages scrying, but we've found no trace of them. The scouts recovered Daine's crossbow in an orchard but no bodies. They're gone."

"Daine was too young…" Alanna sobbed. "And Numair – I parted from him in anger. They can't be dead…"

The mage woke up feeling guilty for worrying their friends. He didn't want Alanna to believe he held any resentment towards her since their farewell six months ago. Her anger at him had been justified as both a friend and as a healer.

Numair splashed water on his face and dressed slowly in a cream shirt and brown breeches. After a brief assessment he judged himself fit enough to be called recovered. When he opened the drapes, the mage estimated it to be just before midday. Entering the main room, Sarra was baking bread by the hearth but there was no sign of Daine.

Weiryn appeared at the door and beckoned to the mage. "A friend of yours would like speech with you."

Numair wasn't sure he had any friends in the Divine Realms until he saw the Immortal perched on the floor. "Rikash Moonsword."

"Good to see you again, Longshanks." The Stormwing's green eyes glittered wickedly.

The mage sat on the stone slab which served as a doorstep while Weiryn joined the pair.

"It's been quite some time," he commented. "I take it Ozorne escaped your grasp after Carthak."

"He's slippery that one – like an eel." Rikash scowled.

"What happened? I thought Queen Barzha was going to finish him." Numair queried.

"Ozorne stole the kill of Jokhun Foulreek from Queen Barzha and took his Stormwing crown. Nevermind that he killed Jokhun from behind and violated Stormwing law!" The Immortal shifted on his claws in agitation.

"What are you doing in the Divine Realms? After the barrier fell at Midwinter, I thought every Immortal returned to the Mortal Realm," the mage frowned.

"Ozorne gained himself a flock of traitors that show no regard to our ways." Rikash explained. "They've been harrying us since winter. When the barrier fell Queen Barzha and her flock retreated here where we are partly safe."

"How many are in your flock?" Numair asked tentatively.

"We number sixty-three in total." The Stormwing shook his head making the bones in his blonde hair rattle.

"How many have joined Ozorne?"

"Two hundred and forty-eight."

Numair closed his eyes and rubbed his long nose. "He was always good at convincing people to follow him."

"What happened to you?" Rikash said sounding surprised.

The mage opened his eyes to see Daine walking towards them wearing nothing but a dripping wet loincloth and breastband. She was carrying her muddy clothes and boots and looked like she'd been crying as the duckmole materialised on the path. Numair shot to his feet too worried for his friend to be embarrassed about the state of her dress.

"Broad Foot will explain," the young woman said sulkily. "I need to clean up."

Avoiding the gaze of both him and her father, Daine wove between them and went into the house. Numair made to follow and check she was alright, but Weiryn caught his arm in a steel grip.

"What happened?" the hunt god glared at the duckmole.

"She was attacked by a tauros. I'm still not sure where the creature appeared from. We were swimming up by the lake when it attacked. Your daughter killed it easily enough but the encounter upset her."

An icy rage surged through the mage as his Gift formed a dark sparkling aura around him. Tauros' were Immortals with the body of a man and the head, hooves and tail of a bull. Their only purpose was the rape and murder of human females.

"With me, mage." Weiryn said releasing his arm and walking down the path.

Numair strode after him avoiding thinking about what would have happened had the tauros got hold of Daine. The lake was only a few minutes' walk from the house along a forest track. The two men found the dead creature lying in the mud beside the lake. The mage bent to examine the Immortal while the hunt god scouted around the edge looking for forest signs.

"Daine used stones to kill it. One to the throat and one between the eyes. Judging by the force of the impact she must have used a sling."

Weiryn nodded to the mage in approval. "You have a keen eye for a mortal. What I want to know is how it entered my territory."

Numair sent his Gift out around the clearing feeling a note of wrongness in the air. Moving around the lake, he stopped near the edge and examined the empty space in front of him with his magic as Weiryn joined him.

"Someone opened a portal here," the mage frowned. "I'm not familiar with the spell that's been used. It's not the same as the spell that summoned the Immortal's into the Mortal Realm."

"You have your uses," the god growled.

Numair ignored him and continued to examine the residual tear with his Gift. The magic was already fading, but if he could get even a vague understanding of the spell, might he be able to use it to open a portal and send them home? The mage sighed as the last traces of the gateway faded and his chance of finding a possible way home vanished.

"It would seem even your lands aren't safe for us," Numair commented dryly.

"This breech of my territory will not be tolerated a second time." Weiryn snarled. "My lands are certainly safer than your wars."

"I won't argue with that," the mage agreed. "I asked Daine to remain here while I returned home."

"What was her answer?"

"She refused," Numair sighed.

"Why my daughter would ever choose you over her mother escapes me entirely," the hunt god grumbled.

"Your daughter isn't choosing me, Lord Weiryn. Tortall is her home. Daine has friends she cares about and wants to defend." As did he, and if his dreams were correct, they already believed them dead.

Weiryn scowled at the mortal. "You are surprisingly blind for such a perceptive man."

Numair frowned at Daine's father who seemed to be coming to some sort of decision about him. Whatever that decision was, he wasn't going to learn it as the god snorted and turned to leave.

"We should return. Sarra will worry if we are gone too long." Weiryn started back along the forest track leaving the mage to follow.

The men returned to the kitchen in time to help carry plates, bowls and cutlery out to the table. Daine and Rikash were already sat there in deep discussion as the three animal god materialised in their places. Numair took his seat beside Daine scanning to see if she'd sustained any injuries, satisfied when he saw no obvious signs. She was dressed in her usual shirt and breeches in a lovely shade of blue that brought out her eyes. Rikash considerately moved to the end of the table, downwind of everyone so his stench wouldn't spoil their meal.

"Has anyone thought of a way that we can go home?" the mage asked the table.

"There is none." Weiryn grunted. "The Great Gods are speaking to no one as long as Uusoae fights them."

"What about the animal gods?" Daine asked, playing with her food and not eating it. "I came here last fall, while I was in Carthak. You took me back to the mortal realms then, Badger."

"Not possible. You were dead then." Numair was extremely glad this was not the first time he was hearing this. "All I had to do was put you back into your mortal body. With both of you still alive, not all of the animal gods together could move you between the realms."

"You are far better off here with your mother." Weiryn said to Daine. "If you insist on leaving, then wait until the fall equinox, when the gates open for the likes of us and you. And there's one of those things again!"

From beside Daine, a black blob oozed onto the table – what had Sarra called it? – a darking?

"Leave it be, Da. It's not hurting anyone," the Wildmage berated her father.

The darking began to stretch itself until it formed a long serpent-like neck. From there it grew four legs, a tail and a pair of wings.

"Dragons." Rikash exclaimed. "This creature is right, whatever it is. They might very well take you back. You have been looking after their young one."

"You mean for my daughter to journey to the Dragonlands?" Weiryn said aghast. "Absolutely not. It's too risky."

"They might refuse to help." Queenclaw pointed out. "I never met a dragon that wasn't perverse – they're worse than we cats. Even the Great Gods can't force a dragon to do anything it doesn't wish to."

"I'm almost positive they will do it." Rikash said. "Don't forget, we Stormwings know them best – our eyries border on the Dragonlands. They are proud. One or two of Skysong's kin will feel they must repay you for what you've done, and one is all you need to go home." The Stormwing grinned wickedly at Numair. "Well, it may take two. There's so much extra of one of you."

The mage rolled his eyes at the jest.

"How do we find them?" Daine asked.

"I'm sure a map can be drawn – unless you plan to cage them?" Rikash turned a severe look on the hunt god.

"Da, Ma, please listen." Daine said beseechingly. "Humans and People need us. I've friends that would risk their lives for me and Numair. If you won't help us, then we'll muddle along on our own – but we can't just sit here, seeing them in our visions, and laze about."

He should have known his young friend would feel the same as him. As much as Numair wanted Daine to remain with her parents, he couldn't insist upon it. It was unbearable seeing their friends in mirrors and hearing them upon waking. Would he really doom Daine to months of torment just for his own peace of mind?

Weiryn sighed and rubbed his antlers wearily. "No – no, I won't cage them."

"Not even a day I've had to talk to you." Sarra wiped tears from her eyes. "But I know you can't sit idly by when them you care for are in trouble."

"Lord Rikash, they will need help to cross the Sea of Sand." Queenclaw said haughtily.

The Stormwing shifted on his perch digging his claws in tightly to keep from falling. "I will see what can be done. It will take persuasion." His concerned green eyes looked between the mages. "Be careful. The Divine Realms are perilous. Maybe Queen Barzha is right, and I am getting sentimental, but I would hate to see anything happen to either of you."

The Immortal leapt from his perch and headed for the sky flapping waves of stench over the table. Numair found it odd that Rikash had seemed to genuinely care for Daine and him. He certainly lived in strange times that he would consider a Stormwing a friend.

"Forget sentimentality. I'd like to see him lose that smell." Badger grouched.

"And from a badger, that's saying a great deal." Queenclaw quipped.

"I will go with them." Everyone turned to stare at the duckmole. "I can't transport them, but I can act as guide and protector. The three of us should manage."

"The four of us." The badger god corrected. "I will come as well. I haven't put so much time into looking after this young one to stop now."

"Lord Weiryn, will you and Sarra come with us?" Numair asked politely thinking it would give them the opportunity to spend a few more days with their daughter.

Daine's mother smiled longingly "As a new goddess, I'm bound to Weiryn's lands for a century."

"As am I, for requesting her admittance here." Weiryn added. "You will do well with the badger and Broad Foot."

"If we're to leave today, I'd best get a little extra hunting done" the duckmole said before vanishing.

"I will join you tomorrow morning. There are a few things to deal with at my sett before I go." Badger said to the mages before vanishing.

"Ma, Da, are there horses we might trade for, or buy?" Daine asked. "We'd go faster than afoot."

"No, dear one. Every horse in the Divine Realms belongs to itself, or its herd." Sarra clarified. "They do not serve anyone. I'd best pack your things – No, Daine, I don't need help. You'd only be in my way."

The mage suspected Daine's mother wanted some time to grieve in private.

"Besides, I need you both to come with me." Weiryn led his daughter and the mage into the house.

"What about making horses?" Numair wondered. "Could you –"

"No. Any being created in the Divine Realms belongs to itself and serves no one else." The god said sternly. "You would be lucky if such a horse only dumped you in the dirt. It might take you for a ride that would last a century of mortal time."

Forget I asked, thought the mage.

Weiryn opened a door in the main room that led to a workroom with woodcarver's tools, staffs, arrow heads, feathers, coiled strings and bows. The god lovingly ran his fingers over a collection of finished bows.

"These are my gift to those I favour." He said selecting an ebony bow from the rack. "And if my daughter isn't one I favour, who is?"

The god offered the bow to his daughter who began to examine it and check the balance. When Weiryn gave her a string she set it to the bow with practiced ease. "She's sweet, Da."

The god handed over a full quiver, an almost fatherly look in his eyes. "I should have given you a proper bow long before this." He offered her an oiled cloth with several spare coils of string wrapped within. "Here, mage," Weiryn walked towards the staffs selecting a six-foot staff of knotted oak.

Numair followed not quite trusting he had earned the god's favour in any way. It was possible this gesture was merely an extension of the gift he had offered his daughter as the mage would use it to protect her. Weiryn was about to hand it over when an unreadable expression passed over his face.

"A moment." – The staff is yours in your own right – he heard in his mind. Weiryn placed a hand over the top of the staff as white fire shimmered under his palm. When he removed it, a black opal was embedded in the wood.

The god handed the staff to the mage who accepted it humbly and began to study it with his Gift, one hand on the wood and one touching the black opal. The stone was an almost perfect match to the one hanging around his neck, and rather than the wood being nothing but a device to hold it, every grain of the oak sang to his Gift as if it were an extension of himself.

"Thank you," Numair said in awe. "I've never had something that was so – attuned – to me."

Weiryn scowled in embarrassment. "Come here, both of you." He stood in front of his workbench and picked up a brush wetting it in a pot of ink. The hunt god began to draw a map directly onto the surface of the wood describing the route as we went. Images of trees seemed to rise from the table before adding themselves to the map. "If you walk steadily, you will spend the night beside Temptation Lake. Do not drink from it – unless you desire to be tempted, of course."

A vision appeared of Numair sat shirtless beneath a tree with Daine straddling his lap in the same cotton red dress she'd worn yesterday. The young woman was stroking his chest and leaning in for a kiss. The mage's cheeks flamed in equal shame and horror as he looked at his friend.

– This is for your eyes alone. My daughter sees a different vision –. Weiryn spoke gravely in Numair's mind.

"Not funny, Da." Daine said voice very dry.

The mage swallowed nervously wishing his heart would return to its natural rhythm. His curiosity at what Daine was seeing was overwhelming, but it was probably better he didn't know what his friend was tempted by. He would likely only be jealous if he saw a man appear in her vision. "Neither of us is in the mood for temptation, Lord Weiryn," he whispered.

The god snorted and continued to describe their route across a gorge, through a swamp and a stone maze. The warnings were more unnerving than the route itself: cut no green wood, take no fruit without asking and harm no stones in the stonemaze. Numair wasn't sure what to make of the insinuation that blackberries had a nasty streak.

"At last you will come to the Sea of Sand." Weiryn said as an image of a desert rose from the table. "If the Stormwing can't find help, the winds will strip your body of moisture in the time it takes your mother's pan bread to bake. Don't you see what folly this is?" he demanded of Daine. "The Divine Realms are too dangerous for a pair of mortals!"

"We will have Broad Foot, and the badger," the mage reasoned. "And we have protected ourselves, from time to time. Mortals have survived in the Divine Realms before."

Weiryn sighed. "That's what I thought you would say." He placed his palms on the table and tapped on the surface as the map began to peel away. "At least I can tell Sarra that I tried." The god handed the parchment to Numair looking resigned. "You need not fear that it will go to pieces, or that water will smear the marks."

"Thanks, Da." Daine kissed her father's forehead.

The three of them returned to the main room where Broad Foot was waiting for them dripping water all over the table.

"Are we ready?" the duckmole asked cheerfully.

Sarra handed a blue cloak to Daine and a black cloak to Numair. Once they had donned them, she handed the pair full packs of clean clothes and fresh supplies.

"How do you want to do this?" The mage turned to the duckmole. "You can't use your power to move us, and – forgive me, but – I doubt that you can walk at our pace."

Broad Foot stared at Numair who jumped as he felt his shirt begin to shift and twist until it formed a pouch over his stomach. The duckmole vanished from the table and reappeared in the shirt pouch looking up at the mage. "The view from here should be very nice. Mind you don't bump me."

Both women were giggling at him as the mage smiled down at his passenger in amusement. He was already quite fond of the good natured duckmole.

Sarra embraced her daughter tightly. "You'll come and stay a bit when your war is settled? Please?"

"I will, Ma – I just don't know when that will be."

"We'll know. We'll come for you on the holiday closest. You'll visit for a season or two?"

Numair's heart sank knowing it would be an interminable amount of time to be away from her.

"I'll come, Ma."

"Promise?"

The pair hugged again with tears in their eyes. "I promise. We – we'll catch up on the time them bandits took from us."

Despite his own heartache the mage was glad Daine would be able to see her mother again. Not everyone got the opportunity to visit with those who had been taken from them, and Numair was pretty sure he could ask the king to keep him busy and distracted for a few seasons, so he wouldn't notice the time pass.

Sarra turned to the mage and drew him away to give Daine a moment with her father. "You'll visit too, won't you?"

"Me? I thought you'd be glad to be rid of me," he said quietly.

"Nonsense," the goddess smiled up at him. "You'll both come and bring that little girl of yours. We'd love to have Skysong here."

Numair smiled and took her hand kissing it gently. "You're very kind."

Sarra stepped forward and tapped on his chest three times over the heart. The strikes were hard and seemed to reverberate through his entire being.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Breaking the wall you built around your heart," she said crossly.

The mage rubbed his chest. "I'm not sure your husband would approve."

Sarra took his left wrist and held the invisible locket. "Fathers and mothers have very different views when it comes to the romantic interests of their children – especially when it comes to daughters." The goddess winked at him and released his wrist. – My mate does not dislike you as a man. You are merely competition for his daughter's heart –.

Sarra patted his cheek fondly as Weiryn opened the door and the group filed outside. Numair was grateful to leave, not sure he could take much more of Daine's parents torment over his feelings for their daughter.

"Straight down the path." Broad Foot instructed from his pouch. "We've a couple of hours of light still."