Author's
note: I wrote this for the Steelsings RPG, so the
characters will seem unfamiliar to you, but this is a chronicle
of Tortall, so there are some redeeming qualities. The main
theme is a dark look at Tortall's future.
Furthermore:
This story was written about a year and a half ago,
and it is already finishedso when you ask for me to write
more, I simply need to post the next part. I'm posting
it in installments to weigh the reactions and reviewsand
things definitely get a better response if posted in
installments, as you all probably know. Also, if there's
a part you don't understand (something that I've
assumed you should know, and was mistaken) please tell me so I
can clarify my writing. One more thing, the Character
Falcon's accent is a little screwyat one point he's
understandable, and at another he isn't. I didn't
realize this until a year and a half later. I think it
stabilized in the last few chapters, but I apologize for thisneed
to edit itbut that's far down on my list of writing
tasks.
Disclaimer: Tortall,
and the family Conte belong to Tamora Pierce. Names of
Places most likely belong to Tamora Pierce. Nael, Em, and
Marc are characters of my own creation. Rin belongs to Roz,
Fal to Ingrid, and Keiran to Mads, Ott and Yoric to Fio, Nar to
Katy errr. Goldie to Goldie and I think that's it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
~The Future: Two~
Fief Trebond was a farming community. She had lived there all
her life, all 15 years, for as long as she could remember. She
had never known her parents. She had grown up in the dormitories
with dozens of other children like her. And some not like her.
She had been bunkmates with a girl who could taught her how to
read. Nael never learned her name, because the girl told her that
if anyone knew her name, she would die. She knew everything about
the place, where the guards hid the keys, and where the books
were held. The History was the copper-haired girl's book, and
when they took the girl away, Nael hid the book. She protected it
ever since, thinking that the book was the one that got the girl
taken away. The book was hers. There was only one piece of
evidence of a previous owner. On the back cover, in neat, precise
handwriting, was written "His Majesty's Scribe Keiran."
Nael hid the book in her shirt when they stuffed her into the
cart. The guardsmen did not notice. Port Caynn. Where they
enslave you in the stuffy ship building factories, where the air
is so saturated with coal dust, it is un-breathable. Where you
can go days without seeing the sky, the grass, trees. One step
lower on the ladder of life. The bunkhouses are so crowded that
the bunks are stacked five high, or more. And you think rats
can't get up there. But you are wrong.
Nael tried not to think of it. She tried to think of Alanna,
the king's champion. What would Alanna do in a situation like
this?
The ride from Trebond to Port Caynn was fairly long, and Nael
soon grew cold as the moon rose over the cart. She was still
thinking of Alanna, the heroine. Nael's hands became numb. Just
a little bit She thought. She would use her gift to warm her
hands. Yes.
She started to weave bluish, almost green magic, with a touch
of gold, her hands warming immediately. She began to feel sleepy,
and let her eyelids grow heavy. Soon she was drifting asleep...
Nael was awoken painfully as she felt herself being thrown
upside-down and dragged. She realized that she was still in the
cart. She heard a splinter of wood the cart came to a jarring
stop. She heard shouts, and muffled cries from outside as well as
inside the cart. Suddenly the mangled cart was lifted from their
heads.
It was only a guard, but Nael was startled. When she reached
up to defend herself, blue-green fire shot out from her fingers,
burning the man's face. Nael took this opportunity to run. She
heard shouts behind her, but never stopped to look back. She
stumbled on a rock and scraped her hands and knees on the jagged
ground, but she jerked herself back onto her feet and running.
During the early hours of night, her malnutrition finally caught
up to her, and she collapsed from her walk (for that was what it
had dwindled down to), and tumbled behind some bushes and feel
deeply into sleep.
She awoke stiff, and sore in the afternoon sunlight. Nael
stumbled to her feet. She pulled the book from under her shirt.
Now it wasn't a matter of hiding her book, but hiding
herself.
She looked out across the landscape. Lightly rolling coastal
hills. A salty fragrance drifted through the air on a light
breeze. She took a few shaky steps and climbed up a steep hill.
Over the hill in the distance, lie the walls of a city, and to
the right of those walls, a vast expanse of water. The sea. She
had reached the sea. And the city was port Caynn.
Nael ran blindly to the shore and stared out at the sea. She
was enthralled by its beauty. She must have spent fifteen minutes
staring out at the water. Then she looked back at the city walls.
That was when she heard the voice behind her.
"You don't want to go there."
Nael turned around. A cloaked man stood before her. The wind
blew his hood back but Nael couldn't tell his age. His deep blue
eyes were weary, as if he'd been through many hard times, but
Nael saw a glitter, somewhere. His short dark golden hair was
graying around the edges, and a few lines hatched his face, but
Nael could tell that he once had been--and still was--very
handsome.
"Why?" Nael looked past him, into the sea.
"S' too dangerous" He drawled. "E'en I know to
'void it. You'll n'er escape. They'll git ya for good." His
eyes darted around nervously. He lowered his voice. She could
barely hear it over the rising wind
" 'Ere is a place you 'ould go." He blinked. All of
a sudden his voice became clear.
"Corus. It's worth a try." He whispered. His voice
became sad. "I haven't been back there ever since it became
occupied.
"But who are you?" Nael asked. "Why are you
here? Giving me advice?"
"I am a friend" He replied.
"My friend? I have no friends." Nael said simply.
"I seek only my parents, or a clue to who they were."
"Come, we shall see."
The man began to chant a spell over the two. Nael looked
startled.
"An invisibility spell. This'll hide us. We're not too
far from Corus anyways."
Nael followed the man blindly, for she was not sure what to do.