"Ok…I can do this…I think."
Neal laughed at her…harder than she would have allowed, had she not been on top of a rather large horse. Of course, the horse was complaining that she was too wiggly, whilst guffawing at her. Even Lord Imrah, a horse for the ride to Corus, was smiling. Daine and Numair were riding with them as well, they had to get to the palace also. Xlelon was going for her various teachings, Imrah and Neal to get supplies for the fort, and Numair and Daine to get home. Xlelon could sense the unease from Daine of calling a place next to Numair home. She wasn't to worried for them though, so far through the Protecter of the Small books, they had been getting along fine. Which brought her to another problem, how long was between those books. She had spent her idle time mulling over the books, trying to put things in order for herself. Well, she thought, I guess I'll find out when either I hear news from the Yamani islands, or something. Drat, am I older than Kel now? When she read the books, she was younger. Far too confuddled to think futher, she turned her eyes on the road. It seemed to be going ok, the sun was just now rising, since there wasn't anything to keep her up at night beside her memories, and there wasn't any real light beside candles, she went to sleep earlier, thereby being able to get up earlier. Not that she had a choice, the room she had been staying by was next to the forest, and the animals woke her up before the dawn. They had done it at home as well, mostly it was one grackel, and it would cackle and cackle until she finally gave up and got up. She shook her head, had it been talking to her? Don't think about it, she told herself, and once again attempted to focus on the road. Her horse was silent, trying not to step on any large stones that might hurt him, and staying in the middle of the road. When she asked why, it told her that it didn't want to pick up any brambles. It occurred to her that she had picked up a rather vain horse. A rather large headache began to worm its way in. She frowned, she wasn't one for sudden headaches.
"What's wrong?"
She started. Neal was next to her on his horse. She smiled,
"Nothing, just not used to riding yet."
He narrowed his eyes, then nodded, seeming to buy it. The truth was, there really was nothing wrong, just the headache. It often happened to her at home, one of her best friends periodically asked what was wrong when she was simply thinking. She had always told him the same basic thing, that she was tired, seeing as she usually saw him in the mornings, it was plausible. He had sometimes gotten it right though, and had managed to save her from complete depression at one time. She sighed, wondering what was going on there right now, the ache in her head began to throb, and in combat she tried to think of something good. Suddenly she smiled, a major problem of hers had been solved in coming here. Here, god/gods was not a question, people routinely saw them, magic was obvious, and no one thought to question it. She was no longer torn between believing and not believing. Nations couldn't declare that a god was behind them without risking anger by a god that spoken for without their consent. She couldn't think quite straight now, this was beginning to scare her, it was getting rather horrible. The thing that had started as a simple headache, had now turned into a full blown migraine. Trying to ignore it, she started to do her times table. She was awakened from her thoughts by a conversation ahead, Daine and a voice she didn't recognize.
~ Oh gods, they attacked the palace? ~
~ Yes, they beg you to hurry, many are hurt, and more are dead. ~
"Numair, we have to hurry, stormwings attacked the palace."
He gasped.
"They don't have anyone there, everyone is in Port Caynn or Port Legann!"
Imrah nodded curtly.
"Ride ahead, Xlelon and I will follow shortly."
Neal nodded at both of them, and wheeled his horse around, following Daine and Numair. Imrah turned to face her, stopping her horse along with his own.
"My dear, are you well? You appear green."
She grimaced.
"Thank you for the compliment sir."
He smiled. He rather liked her humor, but was worried, he had never seen her like this, holding her head like it was a large iron weight.
"Perhaps we should stop?"
She nodded, and nearly fell off her horse as usual. It nickered, as she leaned against it.
"Do you have water? I think it will help, I might be dehydrated."
He nodded, and detached a canteen from his saddle. She drank gratfully, and took a deep breath. She was surprised to note that her breath was rather shaky, as if she had been crying for too long. Drawing one more breath, she mounted again, and asked her horse to walk. Imrah followed her. Slowly, she threw the pain off, as if it were a wet cloak she simply had to get rid of. It was a technique she had begun to develop in her world, though she had only ever used it to get rid of a cold feeling when walking in the rain. She hadn't thought it could work for pain. Apparently it did. Perking up, she gave the canteen back and began to trot.
"Xlelon, what happened?"
She turned in the saddle, slowing to a walk.
"I think I felt the battle, or something like it. It started when we got to the great road."
He nodded, and they continued to ride. The road began to climb, and when they topped it, there was a great city laid out before them. The palace was bursting with activity, people were draggin carcasses of stormwings from a large field in back of the palace to a great bonfire, where ten men threw them in.
"Oh dear."
She could see Daine and Neal working in the barracks, and Numair was helping some men mend the stables. Gripping her feelings tightly, she made her way there, sticking close to Imrah. When they got there, she dismounted, and headed straight for Daine. She came up behind her, and watched carefully. She was concentrating, and slowly, the wound that she was healing closed. The dog got up, shook itself, and thanked her. Daine nodded, and moved on, not noticing that she had a shadow. She healed another dog, then moved onto a horse, all the while Xlelon looking after her. She thought about the books, and remebered the feeling she had had with the Hurrok. She did not, however, try to heal anything. Instead, she busied herself with helping to ease the pain of the animals and humans waiting for healing. Numair had been right, the only ones here had been servants, that's probly why they attacked, she thought. Suddenly, something occered to her.
"Neal! Oh crap!"
The thought had occurred to late, Daine yelled to Numair to get under cover as six stormwings descended on them. Xlelon found herself spellbound. They were absolutly amazing. People failed to see their beauty amidst the stink. Metal that shone blended with flesh seamlessly. Snapping from her shock, she called,
"Hey!"
Three of the six stopped to look at her, and stopped to come to her, a snarl on their face.
Crap, she thought, what have I gotten myself into? She didn't have time to think about it.
"Sirs, Why do you do this?"
The largest male shook the braids from his hair.
"For revenge. Why do you ask, any other mortal runs before our presence."
She snorted, suddenly finding these things to be a lot like annoying politicians
"What revenge do you have for these servants?"
The stormwings stared openly.
"We are hungry, we feast on fear, our queen is dead, we require revenge from those who killed her."
She thought, but only for a second, what stormwing lord was still alive? She couldn't think of one, so she played it by touch, very dangerous, seeing as she was dealing with beings with knives for wings.
"You do know who is responsible for her death do you not?"
As he was replying, she saw Daine aim for one of the stormwings beside the head one.
~ No! Someone tell her not to do that!!! ~
Just as her arrow was to be loosed, a small pony grabbed hold of the arrow. Daine stared at it, then at her. She locked her gaze, and shook her head subtly.
"…We know that they were people from this palace."
She looked up again, sighing.
"No sir. It was not them who have killed your queen."
The stormwing's brow furrowed. He was clever, but could not see her angle.
"Tell me then, brave mortal, who was it?"
She shrugged, knowing where to go from here.
"It was one of your own."
The Stormwing immediately screeched and plummeted toward her. She ducked once, falling on the ground, cursing her luck.
~ STOP YOU IDIOT!! IT WAS THE ONE YOU CALLED LORD! EMPEROR OZORNE KILLED YOUR QUEEN!! NOT I!! ~
A slam into the ground brought her from her crouch. The stormwing had missed, and slammed into the ground five feet beside her. It was still alive however, and as soon as it saw her face, began to scream.
"I will kill that filty swine! Give him to me, I will rip him limb from limb!!"
She shook her head, apparently it had worked, though not quite right. Apparently he had thought that she was speaking of him, thinking that she was accusing him of killing his beloved queen. Cursing her luck, and her wrist, which had broken her fall, and broken, she went to tell him one last thing.
"Sir, I am afraid that you cannot kill Ozorne, save should you travel to the realms of the dead. The one that your friend attack is the one that killed him with her own hand."
He stopped yelling at Ozorne, stared for a moment, and then rose in the air, thankfully taking his stink with him.
"Stop! Stop this! She is the one! She has paid vengance for us already!!"
The rest of the stormwings stopped to look at him. Daine, Numair, Neal and Imrah also stopped dead.
"Lipiah, What is the meaning of this? These are the ones that killed Quifer, do you not wish for revenge?"
Lipiah shook his head.
"The young one has told me the truth. Emperor Ozorne killed our queen."
"How do you know that she tells the truth? All mortals are liars! She may be trying to cheat death!"
Xlelon stepped in. Her time to be shy was over.
"Sir! I assure you I do not cheat death in telling you this. Think! Ozorne promised you slaves, feasts of fear and total control! He promised that the great gods would no longer oppress you! Do you have that, any of it? If you do, please tell me, for I can see that you have no slaves waiting on you, and you attack servants for their fear, and we still walk free! Now do you believe me?"
The five stormwings nodded. Lipiah turned to Daine and bowed to her midair. She in turned bowed, a look of wonder on her face. In fact, all of the humans had that look, well all that were conscious.
"I apologize for this misunderstanding, and say that we are forever in your debt for killing the one that killed Quifer."
Daine nodded dumbly. Lipiah bowed again and turned to Xlelon.
"Thank you for revising my and my friends thoughts. I pray to meet you again in less confusing times, so that I may talk with you freely."
She nodded, expecting nothing less in fact; she had always thought that once you got one to listen to you, a stormwing was quite chivalrous. With that, they flew away, leaving Xlelon to the mercy of her friends questioning.
*************
Well, that's ok…I think, please tell me that she's not a mary-sue, I don't really think she is, as she cant ride at all. FYI, the ~~ around the part about 'you idiot' are not a mistake, its just a part of her magic that she doesn't know about yet. All will be explained in the next chapter or so, when Numair decides that more surprises are *not* in order. *g* Please review!! Even if you have done so before!! Oh yeah, and all stories will stopp temporarily for 2 or 3 weeks when I go to europe on the 13th…so don't be surprised…sorry…oh, and daine told the eagle about the battle, and the eagle told her about the chicks, it was all done through mind, which she wasn't supposed to hear, which is why everything went strange.
Neal laughed at her…harder than she would have allowed, had she not been on top of a rather large horse. Of course, the horse was complaining that she was too wiggly, whilst guffawing at her. Even Lord Imrah, a horse for the ride to Corus, was smiling. Daine and Numair were riding with them as well, they had to get to the palace also. Xlelon was going for her various teachings, Imrah and Neal to get supplies for the fort, and Numair and Daine to get home. Xlelon could sense the unease from Daine of calling a place next to Numair home. She wasn't to worried for them though, so far through the Protecter of the Small books, they had been getting along fine. Which brought her to another problem, how long was between those books. She had spent her idle time mulling over the books, trying to put things in order for herself. Well, she thought, I guess I'll find out when either I hear news from the Yamani islands, or something. Drat, am I older than Kel now? When she read the books, she was younger. Far too confuddled to think futher, she turned her eyes on the road. It seemed to be going ok, the sun was just now rising, since there wasn't anything to keep her up at night beside her memories, and there wasn't any real light beside candles, she went to sleep earlier, thereby being able to get up earlier. Not that she had a choice, the room she had been staying by was next to the forest, and the animals woke her up before the dawn. They had done it at home as well, mostly it was one grackel, and it would cackle and cackle until she finally gave up and got up. She shook her head, had it been talking to her? Don't think about it, she told herself, and once again attempted to focus on the road. Her horse was silent, trying not to step on any large stones that might hurt him, and staying in the middle of the road. When she asked why, it told her that it didn't want to pick up any brambles. It occurred to her that she had picked up a rather vain horse. A rather large headache began to worm its way in. She frowned, she wasn't one for sudden headaches.
"What's wrong?"
She started. Neal was next to her on his horse. She smiled,
"Nothing, just not used to riding yet."
He narrowed his eyes, then nodded, seeming to buy it. The truth was, there really was nothing wrong, just the headache. It often happened to her at home, one of her best friends periodically asked what was wrong when she was simply thinking. She had always told him the same basic thing, that she was tired, seeing as she usually saw him in the mornings, it was plausible. He had sometimes gotten it right though, and had managed to save her from complete depression at one time. She sighed, wondering what was going on there right now, the ache in her head began to throb, and in combat she tried to think of something good. Suddenly she smiled, a major problem of hers had been solved in coming here. Here, god/gods was not a question, people routinely saw them, magic was obvious, and no one thought to question it. She was no longer torn between believing and not believing. Nations couldn't declare that a god was behind them without risking anger by a god that spoken for without their consent. She couldn't think quite straight now, this was beginning to scare her, it was getting rather horrible. The thing that had started as a simple headache, had now turned into a full blown migraine. Trying to ignore it, she started to do her times table. She was awakened from her thoughts by a conversation ahead, Daine and a voice she didn't recognize.
~ Oh gods, they attacked the palace? ~
~ Yes, they beg you to hurry, many are hurt, and more are dead. ~
"Numair, we have to hurry, stormwings attacked the palace."
He gasped.
"They don't have anyone there, everyone is in Port Caynn or Port Legann!"
Imrah nodded curtly.
"Ride ahead, Xlelon and I will follow shortly."
Neal nodded at both of them, and wheeled his horse around, following Daine and Numair. Imrah turned to face her, stopping her horse along with his own.
"My dear, are you well? You appear green."
She grimaced.
"Thank you for the compliment sir."
He smiled. He rather liked her humor, but was worried, he had never seen her like this, holding her head like it was a large iron weight.
"Perhaps we should stop?"
She nodded, and nearly fell off her horse as usual. It nickered, as she leaned against it.
"Do you have water? I think it will help, I might be dehydrated."
He nodded, and detached a canteen from his saddle. She drank gratfully, and took a deep breath. She was surprised to note that her breath was rather shaky, as if she had been crying for too long. Drawing one more breath, she mounted again, and asked her horse to walk. Imrah followed her. Slowly, she threw the pain off, as if it were a wet cloak she simply had to get rid of. It was a technique she had begun to develop in her world, though she had only ever used it to get rid of a cold feeling when walking in the rain. She hadn't thought it could work for pain. Apparently it did. Perking up, she gave the canteen back and began to trot.
"Xlelon, what happened?"
She turned in the saddle, slowing to a walk.
"I think I felt the battle, or something like it. It started when we got to the great road."
He nodded, and they continued to ride. The road began to climb, and when they topped it, there was a great city laid out before them. The palace was bursting with activity, people were draggin carcasses of stormwings from a large field in back of the palace to a great bonfire, where ten men threw them in.
"Oh dear."
She could see Daine and Neal working in the barracks, and Numair was helping some men mend the stables. Gripping her feelings tightly, she made her way there, sticking close to Imrah. When they got there, she dismounted, and headed straight for Daine. She came up behind her, and watched carefully. She was concentrating, and slowly, the wound that she was healing closed. The dog got up, shook itself, and thanked her. Daine nodded, and moved on, not noticing that she had a shadow. She healed another dog, then moved onto a horse, all the while Xlelon looking after her. She thought about the books, and remebered the feeling she had had with the Hurrok. She did not, however, try to heal anything. Instead, she busied herself with helping to ease the pain of the animals and humans waiting for healing. Numair had been right, the only ones here had been servants, that's probly why they attacked, she thought. Suddenly, something occered to her.
"Neal! Oh crap!"
The thought had occurred to late, Daine yelled to Numair to get under cover as six stormwings descended on them. Xlelon found herself spellbound. They were absolutly amazing. People failed to see their beauty amidst the stink. Metal that shone blended with flesh seamlessly. Snapping from her shock, she called,
"Hey!"
Three of the six stopped to look at her, and stopped to come to her, a snarl on their face.
Crap, she thought, what have I gotten myself into? She didn't have time to think about it.
"Sirs, Why do you do this?"
The largest male shook the braids from his hair.
"For revenge. Why do you ask, any other mortal runs before our presence."
She snorted, suddenly finding these things to be a lot like annoying politicians
"What revenge do you have for these servants?"
The stormwings stared openly.
"We are hungry, we feast on fear, our queen is dead, we require revenge from those who killed her."
She thought, but only for a second, what stormwing lord was still alive? She couldn't think of one, so she played it by touch, very dangerous, seeing as she was dealing with beings with knives for wings.
"You do know who is responsible for her death do you not?"
As he was replying, she saw Daine aim for one of the stormwings beside the head one.
~ No! Someone tell her not to do that!!! ~
Just as her arrow was to be loosed, a small pony grabbed hold of the arrow. Daine stared at it, then at her. She locked her gaze, and shook her head subtly.
"…We know that they were people from this palace."
She looked up again, sighing.
"No sir. It was not them who have killed your queen."
The stormwing's brow furrowed. He was clever, but could not see her angle.
"Tell me then, brave mortal, who was it?"
She shrugged, knowing where to go from here.
"It was one of your own."
The Stormwing immediately screeched and plummeted toward her. She ducked once, falling on the ground, cursing her luck.
~ STOP YOU IDIOT!! IT WAS THE ONE YOU CALLED LORD! EMPEROR OZORNE KILLED YOUR QUEEN!! NOT I!! ~
A slam into the ground brought her from her crouch. The stormwing had missed, and slammed into the ground five feet beside her. It was still alive however, and as soon as it saw her face, began to scream.
"I will kill that filty swine! Give him to me, I will rip him limb from limb!!"
She shook her head, apparently it had worked, though not quite right. Apparently he had thought that she was speaking of him, thinking that she was accusing him of killing his beloved queen. Cursing her luck, and her wrist, which had broken her fall, and broken, she went to tell him one last thing.
"Sir, I am afraid that you cannot kill Ozorne, save should you travel to the realms of the dead. The one that your friend attack is the one that killed him with her own hand."
He stopped yelling at Ozorne, stared for a moment, and then rose in the air, thankfully taking his stink with him.
"Stop! Stop this! She is the one! She has paid vengance for us already!!"
The rest of the stormwings stopped to look at him. Daine, Numair, Neal and Imrah also stopped dead.
"Lipiah, What is the meaning of this? These are the ones that killed Quifer, do you not wish for revenge?"
Lipiah shook his head.
"The young one has told me the truth. Emperor Ozorne killed our queen."
"How do you know that she tells the truth? All mortals are liars! She may be trying to cheat death!"
Xlelon stepped in. Her time to be shy was over.
"Sir! I assure you I do not cheat death in telling you this. Think! Ozorne promised you slaves, feasts of fear and total control! He promised that the great gods would no longer oppress you! Do you have that, any of it? If you do, please tell me, for I can see that you have no slaves waiting on you, and you attack servants for their fear, and we still walk free! Now do you believe me?"
The five stormwings nodded. Lipiah turned to Daine and bowed to her midair. She in turned bowed, a look of wonder on her face. In fact, all of the humans had that look, well all that were conscious.
"I apologize for this misunderstanding, and say that we are forever in your debt for killing the one that killed Quifer."
Daine nodded dumbly. Lipiah bowed again and turned to Xlelon.
"Thank you for revising my and my friends thoughts. I pray to meet you again in less confusing times, so that I may talk with you freely."
She nodded, expecting nothing less in fact; she had always thought that once you got one to listen to you, a stormwing was quite chivalrous. With that, they flew away, leaving Xlelon to the mercy of her friends questioning.
*************
Well, that's ok…I think, please tell me that she's not a mary-sue, I don't really think she is, as she cant ride at all. FYI, the ~~ around the part about 'you idiot' are not a mistake, its just a part of her magic that she doesn't know about yet. All will be explained in the next chapter or so, when Numair decides that more surprises are *not* in order. *g* Please review!! Even if you have done so before!! Oh yeah, and all stories will stopp temporarily for 2 or 3 weeks when I go to europe on the 13th…so don't be surprised…sorry…oh, and daine told the eagle about the battle, and the eagle told her about the chicks, it was all done through mind, which she wasn't supposed to hear, which is why everything went strange.