A Life Less Ordinary: Chapter 20
By Sulia Serafine
[12-26-00. This is a Protector of the Small fanfic; all credit goes to Tamora Pierce. I'm broke, so you can't sue me.
Oh, one more thing: BAD LANGUAGE (I. E. cursing, swearing…). You have been warned!
P.S. IMPORTANT! The first week of January, I have my semester finals. That means I have to study. That also means that I won't be working on my story for that whole week. Yes, you can protest all you want. The only way you can help me is either by giving me all my test answers to memorize or burning my school down (I should be receiving a reply on this umm…). I plan to compensate by making this chapter a bit longer than usual. So, I wish you a Happy New Year and good luck to anyone else stuck taking exams.]
"This isn't happening. It can't be happening," Egavar said under his breath. He turned to Keladry. "I'm not seeing that! I refuse to believe I'm actually seeing that!"
Keladry nearly scowled. "They will not destroy Tortall the way they destroyed the other world. I won't let them." She bit her lip and thought. "As if they haven't already made my life a nightmare… I must avenge so many people. It's only right that I seek justice. I have to… I have to fight them. That's what I was destined for anyway-- not love."
"Can someone tell me what is going on?" Gareth shouted. He pointed at the Mirans gently falling from the sky. "Who are they? How did they get here?"
"I don't know," Egavar responded. "They probably got here the same way I did. Godforsaken Mirans…"
"Quick! We have to inform the King that we're going to be attacked!" Keladry exclaimed. She moved to exit the courtyard with Egavar trailing behind her. Gareth stood transfixed, staring at the black hole in the sky. He finally regained his senses and called the royal guards to announce there was to be a meeting held with the king's council.
~~
"WHAT?"
"That didn't sound too good," Egavar thought as he and Keladry waited outside the council room. He glanced at his friend. She didn't show much emotion, but he could see she was depressed. "Hey," he whispered. "It's okay. We're going to get these Mirans good. They aren't going to destroy your world like they did mine."
Keladry feigned a smile for his benefit. "It's not that, but thanks anyway."
"Then what is it?" He seemed concerned about her, so she tried to put a happier expression on her face. Having very little practice at happy expressions in the last year, she failed miserably.
"Nothing you should worry about," she replied in an almost inaudible voice. She lowered her gaze to the floor. If her cheeks were red, or if her lip was trembling, she'd never forgive her self.
Egavar nodded. "Right." He looked around the room without moving his head. "Just wondering… where is Joren? When you both didn't come back from the battlefield at the capital, I thought you'd… well…be together wherever you ended up. So, where is Sir Snores-a-lot?"
She chuckled. "Nice name." Keladry cleared her throat. "He's on the road, being a mercenary."
"Why aren't you with him being a mercenary, too? I thought he was the one always saying he'd give up the fighting life."
"I, uh, stayed here to marry, then changed my mind." Egavar was surprised at her tone. The casual expression on her face… It wasn't like her at all to say something so serious in such a jovial matter. She said it as simply as "Oh, I just decided on a different color."
The Nodestrum nearly had a heart attack. "Marry? Someone else besides Joren?"
Keladry glared at him indignantly. She boldly took a step closer to him and said in a threatening voice, "Where in the world did you get the damn idea that I wanted to marry that jackass?"
He stumbled back, shocked at her uncharacteristic behavior. He coughed into his palm and blushed. "I always knew you weren't brother and sister. That was too easy." He paused, then tried to make an explaining gesture with his hands. Then he cleared his throat for a few seconds and scratched the back of his head. Hesitantly, he said, "And you lied because you didn't want anyone to think you were lovers. Mercenaries that aren't brother and sister are taken to be considered…lovers… most often times."
"Your point?"
He winced inwardly. Her voice was getting angrier by the second. "I've been around the two of you for a long time. And when I wasn't, you wrote me letters." He shrugged. "It's as plain as the nose on your face, Kel. You love him. He loves you. So, what's wrong with the two of you?"
"Shut up before I hurt you," she hissed. Then Keladry caught herself and straightened up. She brushed off her sleeves as if she saw something filthy on them that he could not. "I'm going to my room. Tell me what happens in the meeting before dinner." She stalked over to the door of the antechamber.
"What happened? Did you guys even talk about it?" he called to her.
She turned around and shot him an icy look.
"Oh," he said softly. "You did. I'm… I'm sorry, Kel. I didn't think it would happen like that."
"Yeah, well it did. And I don't want to hear about it anymore." She turned on her heel and walked out.
Egavar sighed. "Right. I didn't expect either of them willing to hunt after the other."
A tall man with a short graying beard poked his head out of the council room. "Are you the man that fell out of the sky? The magus from the other world?"
"I prefer to call it a plane of existence," he answered and bowed. "Yes. That's me. I'm ready to talk now, sir."
"Come inside." He opened the door wider for Egavar. Egavar entered. He bowed graciously to King Jonathan IV and to the rest of his council. Then he took a seat offered to him by the man who opened the door. "Where is Keladry of Mindelan?"
"She had some personal business to attend to," he lied convincingly. "She wishes to be informed before dinner on your decisions, if it's allowed by his Majesty?"
"Fine with me." He paused. "These Mirans-- as you refer to them-- you say they are conquerors in your world?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes, your majesty. They show mercy to no one and have slaughtered many. "He kept his eyes lowered on the table before him. Back in Lon Falas, the first time you met someone of royal family you did not look into his or her eyes. This amused Jonathan, although he did not know Egavar was doing it out of custom. "It would be best if we could plan our defense of the palace and a way to close that gateway portal in the sky."
"And how do you suggest we do this?" a man to Jonathan's left asked. He wore a bright green tunic and cloak. His golden brown hair was cropped close to his head and his blue eyes reminded Egavar of his very own cousin. To this man, Egavar did look into his eyes. He didn't seem right somehow. It was as if Egavar smelt something foreign on him that wasn't to be trusted.
"I think I may be able to close it. I have many skills. Unfortunately, flying isn't one of them. I wouldn't know how to reach the portal. Does his majesty have any suggestions?"
"We shall summon Master Numair to this meeting. The two of you may discuss plans to deal with the portal and the enemy magi of the Mirans," Jonathan said. "In the meantime, we must ensure the safety of my people from these merciless Mirans. They are no different than any other army."
"Perhaps, your majesty, if I may say-- your… Dominion Jewel?" the man in the green tunic asked.
"I do not wish to use it if there are other alternatives. The power is too strong. Now…"
~~
When Faleron and Joren reached King's Reach, there was a messenger waiting for them. The young man looked out of breath, and he was sweating in his red and yellow uniform. One of Faleron's brothers was talking with the messenger. When he saw the two 'spidren hunters' walk toward them, he jogged to meet them. There was worry etched into his face.
"All knights of Tortall that are free of duty at the moment must report to the palace. There is an army from out of another world that has attacked the palace."
"What? That doesn't make sense!" Faleron grasped his brother's shoulder. "What do you mean another world?"
"No," Joren murmured. He walked up to Faleron's brother and stared him straight in the eye. "Is the army of the Miran Empire? Tell me! Is it those scoundrels?"
He nodded.
"No! Why now?" he cried. He violently kicked a rock on the road. He turned and faced Faleron and his brother. " You know, I've finally found peace here in Tortall and they have followed to torture me. This isn't fair!"
"Are these the bad men from the world you went to?" Faleron asked.
"Yes" Joren nodded. "It's them."
Faleron let out a deep breath. He started walking toward the door of his home. "Let us ride to the palace then. They're under attack. They need us."
"The palace," Joren thought. He furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought.
"Yes, she's there. And yes, she is fighting them as heatedly as ever."
Joren closed his eyes. "I would not expect any less of her."
"Expect any less of who?" Faleron queried. He stopped and marched right back to him.
"Nothing. We have to leave right now. Let's get provisions and new horses. Have a healer look at your burns before we go. You won't be of any use if you are still wounded." Joren strode past the brothers. Faleron would have stopped him to ask more of the Mirans, but there was a cloud of sadness surrounding him.
"Is he always melancholy like this?" his brother asked.
"He used to be… different," he replied. "Four years ago. Now he's a completely different person. I almost don't recognize him."
Joren closed the door behind him. Faleron's parents had kindly given him a room to rest in before he left for the woods. He lit no candle in the dark room and kept the window shutters closed and locked. He sat down in the middle of the cold floor and cradled his head in his hands. Nothing went well for him.
"Bullied others around in my childhood, became a mercenary more concerned with godforsaken jewels rather than the people who hired me, I… I…" he fell back onto the floor and stared at the ceiling. "I lost her. And now I fight the Mirans." He curled up on his side. "It's always been my fault. It was my fault the labafret sent us away. My fault so many pages were pushed around. My fault we didn't help out with the war first." His fist shot out and punched the flagstones of the floor. "I'm the one who said no when she wanted to say yes." He pressed his forehead to the cold stone. "Gods, I'm a fool."
"Like I didn't know that before."
"Leave me be, voice. I don't want to hear your incessant chatter," he murmured without feeling.
"I know you don't-- too bad. I need you to defeat the army, Joren. Get up."
He smiled. "Didn't anyone tell you that I was a worthless jerk? I cannot win the war for you."
"You're right. You probably won't. But I need you to do something for me and no one else can do it. You will be resistant to your own power. Only you, Joren, will be able to do what I'm asking."
"Why me? Why am I resistant to my own power?" He turned onto his back again. "What does that mean, voice?"
"Just go to the palace. And by the Gods, make peace with her. You are a fool."
~~
A few days later.
They had attacked nonstop. Keladry was growing weary. She hugged her gray vest around her as she sat down on a bench near her old classrooms. The halls were long empty. No pages would be learning about etiquette or mathematics here.
She took shifts going in and out of the battlefield beside the palace. The palace itself was holding up very well. She heard now and then of Numair and Egavar fighting the Miran Kodestrums. They made a strong pair of mages. She felt sorry for whoever faced the two of them together. Meanwhile, Daine was asking favors of the animals to spy on the enemy. And other times, she heard rumors that the King was pressured to use the Dominion Jewel.
"Why doesn't he? It would be over sooner."
"What are you talking about, young one?" Tkaa asked, his feathery voice immediately registering in her mind. She turned around and greeted her former instructor. "It's been four years, am I correct, former page Keladry?"
"Yes, sir. Four years."
"Hmm… What were you saying before?" He peered down at her with gentle eyes full of understanding.
"Well…"
"You can tell me. I won't laugh."
She smiled at the mental picture of the basilisk laughing at her. "It's about the Dominion Jewel. Why doesn't the king use it?"
Tkaa paused before answering. "Before, he would have no problem using it against perhaps the Scanrans that would attack this land. He knows exactly what and who they are. But these Mirans have come from that other plane. None of us are sure what powers they possess. If I'm correct, neither do you."
Keladry sighed. "What you say is true. I have fought them for a long time. And I have spent four years over in their world. But I still do not know all the powers they possess." She clenched her fists. "If only I could just fight them straight out and not worry about magic… Isn't that what my friend Egavar's doing? He is a far greater help than I can ever hope to be."
"He is helping us very well. He's a good man."
"He's a good friend," she added sincerely. "Even if he butts into my personal life too much."
Tkaa nodded and got up. "I must meet with Daine. I shall see you later."
"Bye," she said. She leaned back and groaned. "My life is far too complicated." She closed her eyes.
"There's been an attack on the south wall!" someone shouted from the battlements. Keladry gripped her sword hilt and stood up. She rushed over to the nearest window and looked out. Below, soldiers were running across the paved walks to get to the south wall. She breathed a curse and ran for the nearest set of stairs.
She flew down them at incredible speed, jumping three steps at a time. Keladry nearly collided with a sewing woman. She called back an apology as she continued to run at top speed. It was only five hours since she went off duty, but she wanted to fill up her time with fighting. It was better to do that than to have free time to think about her life.
"Have they breached the wall?" she screamed to a running soldier. He glanced at her and picked up his pace.
"They've climbed to the battlements!" he shouted. "All men off duty must report to the south wall!"
She watched him round the corner. Then she slowed down. "It would be easier to join the ranks outside the wall and assist there." She looked around. No one but her was present. She turned around and headed for the main gate.
~~
Swords clashed. Men died. Blood spilled onto the ground. "It is the siege of the capital all over again," Keladry thought to herself as she ran through another Miran with her sword. She deflected the blow of another man. Her foot slipped in someone's blood. She pivoted on her heel and spun around, barely catching herself. The soldier, having leaned most of his weight on her, started to fall. She shifted her own weight and brought up her knee to catch him in the stomach.
She grimaced and brought her sword over him, stabbing in the back. Keladry wrenched her sword free and charged onward into the fray. One thought ran through her mind.
"If this battle is so like the other, will I die again?"
"RETREAT!"
She blinked and stopped herself from charging another unfortunate soldier. He was fallen on the ground between two bodies. His arm was broken. She could tell by the angle at which his forearm was. He feebly gasped for air. "Should I spare him?" she thought. "Of course I should. They sounded the retreat and I'm not focused on bloodlust. But he is a Miran." There was fear in his eyes because he knew he was her enemy and he knew she stood over him with the power to kill him. Even with the order of retreat, he could not move so fast.
"I should kill him," she thought. "His people have killed so many. And if I let him live, he will go on killing others just because he loves his country so."
"Aren't you going to kill me?" he croaked.
"Run. Run now or else," she threatened with a cold look. He scrambled to his feet cradling his broken arm. The young man took one last look at her before sprinting away like a frightened deer over the bodies of the dead.
Keladry retreated to the wall. She looked around. "Since when was Tortall inclined to kill so much?"
"Since the black hole never closed and the numbers of these Mirans is forever increasing," a lieutenant told her as he joined Keladry. He was about thirty-five with a long scar running down his jaw line and a pockmarked face. "The new wizard called Egavar thinks that they want to turn all their forces on this world."
"Then that either means they've already conquered the rest of their home world or they're setting them free to concentrate on us."
"Either way, the conquest of another country on a different plane of existence makes these scum feel they're invincible."
Her gaze swept across the field before her. "They're not."
"Nothing is." He nodded. "I suggest you report to your commanding officer, Lady Keladry." He gave her a curt nod and returned to his own regiment.
She frowned at his address. Lady Keladry was no lady at all. She wiped her sword off and sheathed it. She also attempted at cleaning up her face by wiping it with her sleeve. Keladry usually didn't bother, but she felt someone had done this before for her. She shook off the feeling and continued walking to the main gate. Their forces had withdrawn there, too. They had literally surrounded the palace, save for the royal forest.
"Maybe it'll just be a stalemate and they'll just go home," she thought, keeping her face calm and cool so as not to betray her thoughts. The soldiers and knights that were scattered among them watched her as she walked past. Their eyes burned holes in her. She felt scalded by their stares. "Yes," she directed her thoughts at them as if she were speaking. "It's me, the girl who wanted to be a knight. Keep staring at me like that and I just might take the final tests after all. Now mind your own business. There is a new war being waged, right?"
She turned her back on them and held her head high. Keladry would cut out her tongue before giving them the satisfaction of fazing her. Safely inside the main walls, she headed over to a man in a chain mail shirt on a white stallion with brown spots.
"Lady Keladry, how does everything fare outside the walls? I've not a chance to look yet," he said as she reached him.
Keladry bowed slightly. "It fares as well as it did yesterday. Perhaps more died today."
"Us or them?"
"Definitely them," she confirmed. Silently she added, "I'd like to meet their emperor who would conquer so many nations with soldiers like those. He must be a expert strategist if his soldiers are only that strong to be defeated by us in a headlong rush."
Her commanding officer, Sir Niles of Nicoline-- a kinsman of Esmond as Kel later discovered, seemed bothered by her response. Maybe he was angry that so many were dying-- even if they were foe. He goaded his beautiful stallion forward. "Mind Buri. She's covering for me while I ride out to reach the rest of the King's Own."
"It's about time they got here," she thought, but aloud said, "As you wish, my Lord."
He rode off, through the main gate. Four other men on identical dark brown horses flanked Niles. Keladry waited until they were out of sight to resume walking. She met Buri at the East wall and received her orders to patrol the wall bordering the Nobles' wing. After the last bell, she would return to receive new orders and maybe fight.
"Patrolling? Sounds like paradise compared to the things out there," she thought. Keladry allowed herself to yawn and stretch as she made her way to the Nobles' wing. It would be just her luck to see any frightened ladies hysterical over the attack. And it would be worse if they refused to be protected by her just as they refused to be served by her when she was a page.
Other men stuck on patrolling nodded to her respectfully as she passed them. She nodded back and continued on her route. After a few minutes, she heard a door open in the hall she was in. Footsteps joined her own. Without turning around, she called, "May I help you?"
"I've never needed your help, Kel. I'm just here for a friendly talk."
She stopped and turned around with a smirk. "Neal. So you're actually talking to me. What happened to the avoid-Keladry-as-much-as-possible game?"
Neal chuckled. "Got tired of playing, I guess. I don't want to come off as a whiny jealous ex."
"Could've fooled me," she replied.
"Aww, that's cruel, Kel," he covered his heart with his hand and pretended to cry.
"Oh, stop it. What did you want to talk about?"
He shrugged. "Things. Have you fought out there?"
"Yes," she answered. "It's no different than fighting anywhere else. Except you have to worry about all the important people like the royal family." She almost showed her disgust. "As if we would treat commoners no less if it were they who we were protecting."
"You know King Jonathan cares for his people more than he does himself. But the Mirans aren't attacking the commoners."
"I know," she sighed. "But back in the other world, they did. And the Kings in most the countries I was in were slow to react."
Neal nodded. "I see." He studied her face. "Enough of that kind of talk. So, how is he?"
"Who are you talking about?"
"Joren. He's the one I couldn't compete with, remember?"
She growled. "I shouldn't have told you it was him."
He grinned. "I had to admit, for a while I was in disbelief that the guy who used to bully us around was the one who got you and not me." He leaned back on the wall. "But then again, I wasn't with you for the last four years through whatever terrible things happened."
"Joren wasn't there for me like that," she corrected with a slight blush.
"So she blushes," he thought. "Right. I know. You two stubborn idiots didn't find out until now about the other. But still, he was there with you. Maybe not as a lover, but as a friend."
"Your point?" She blinked. That was the second time she said the phrase that day. People were explaining things to her all day and she had to listen and ask things like an ignorant little girl.
"Even if you both don't want to be together, then you can at least remain good friends. See? Even I'm talking to you and I was furious a month ago. Now, how bad can your fights with him be?"
"Don't ask."
"Well, take my advice."
"We are friends," she insisted.
"I didn't think friends avoided each other like the plague."
"You avoided me like the plague."
"But I came back."
"Maybe he will, too, then."
"Kel."
"Or maybe not. If he doesn't, it's his own fault. So don't go blaming me for caring."
He narrowed his eyes. "Caring? I'd say you were caring too little."
"Ha! Since when did you become an expert in matters of the heart? All you've ever had are crushes your whole life."
Surprisingly, he started laughing. "Are you picking a fight with me because Joren isn't here to pick a fight with?"
"I am not," she said indignantly.
"Sure you're not. What's with all that 'Ha! Since when did you--'"
"Shut up! I'll pop you one so help me--"
"See? See?"
"Argh…"
"I knew the old Kel was in there somewhere. You were looking too depressed to be the Kel I know." He started to walk away. "Now, if you see Joren, punch him for me and for the sake of all that's good, just marry the ingrate."
She couldn't help but smile. It seemed Neal still had that effect on people. She thought back to earlier in the day. Now Keladry wished she wasn't so mean to Egavar when he tried to say the same things that Neal did. But Neal just had a way of saying things perfectly whereas Egavar was always a bit clumsy.
"I should find him with Numair. I ought to apologize."
Another guard walked past. She sighed.
"But, of course, I have patrol duty." She paused and added to no one in particular. "But I'm still not marrying the jerk. He had his chance." She knew she didn't mean it, but it was comforting to just say it.
~~
Joren rode beside Faleron and his men at arms, listening to the world around him.
"What are you thinking about?" Faleron asked.
"Nothing really. Besides the general outrage towards the Mirans."
"Right."
"You?"
"I hope not many men are lost to the bloodthirsty monsters." He gingerly touched his hands' burn scars.
"Are you talking about spidrens or Mirans?" Joren asked, eyeing Faleron's hands.
"Both actually. Maybe the spidrens will attack more now that we've taken a break from our hunt to defend the palace."
Joren snorted. "I hope not."
"I hope not, too."
"I knew you could be in a more friendly spirit! Just look at you, actually having a nice conversation."
"You again," he thought. "What do you want?"
"Speak aloud. It's hard hearing your thoughts."
"Too bad. Thoughts are all you're getting. Faleron thinks I'm crazy when I talk to you aloud."
"As you wish. You must go somewhere else for me, my dear Joren."
"Somewhere else? Where?"
"I want you personally to assassinate the Emperor of Miran."
"Why me?"
The voice didn't answer him for a long time. He almost gave up and decided to forget about it when it spoke up.
"You are resistant to your own power."
For the first time, Joren was able to tell the gender of the voice. It was a female's voice. A goddess was talking to him? Was she a sorceress? He couldn't believe all that was happening to him, and not one word spoken aloud. Faleron turned to him.
"What's wrong now?"
"Gods often choose human champions, don't they?"
"Yes. What? A god has chose you?" he laughed.
"I don't honestly know. It could explain all the voices."
Faleron frowned. "Joren, have a talk with somebody who knows about these things. Hey! We're meeting up with the King's Champion on the road. She went out to the countryside after meeting Keladry, but she's returning now. I heard she was helped along by the Goddess a lot."
"What?"
"Yeah! There's a rumor--"
Faleron started to cough. He coughed so hard that Joren had to slap him on the back a few times. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he ceased coughing. "That was weird. My throat just closed up."
"Teaches him to talk about the gods in rumors."
"He offended you?" Joren asked.
" No. Why would I be? Now, listen every now and then for my order to assassinate the emperor."
"I can't believe you're giving me this responsibility. I don't even know where he is."
"You can bring yourself to him. All in good time, you'll know why."
"Of all the people who had to live my life, it had to be me," he groaned.
~~
Author: I hope this tides you over until the 10th of January.
I have one more favor to ask of all of you while I'm in my off week.
I already have major plans for another story (not a sequel to A Life Less Ordinary) but another one for the K/J pairing. No, I promise not to bore you with another struggle for their romance (snicker) because frankly, I'm quite sick of that stuff. Instead, the main focus will be directed at something else. This story will feature the main characters from all three series (Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small) in an alternate world-- slightly futuristic. No, this won't be the stereotypical futuristic world. I think you know me better than that. I'll make it sufferable.
Basically, I need detailed character (personality and physical) descriptions on characters from the Lioness Quartet and The Immortals. I have read these books. I do not have access to these books. I do not have a good memory. Therefore, I need your help. Please, please, please… I know somebody out there can help me… or is at least willing… credits will be given to those who send anything at all (my e-mail: SilverwLng@aol.com).
With that being said, let me say once again that I treasure all the people who read my stuff and those who review especially. Take care and wish me luck on my stupid semester finals.