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, Alanna, George, 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: Five~
Narcissa Blaze paced in her rooms at the Tortallan Palace. She had come with a diplomatic party from Nadia. She was beginning to regret it.
The city was not even a shadow of its former self. The guards would not allow her to step one foot on the outside ground. There were magical barriers around the palace that couldn't even be broken by her elemental magic. She had thought that maybe she would be able to find some old friends. But she had no friends in the palace anymore. She had to get out of there.
She stormed out the door, and past the guards
"Pardon Lady Blaze. You aren't permitted to roam the palace alone."
Narcissa looked at the guard skeptically.
"I am not called Lady Blaze. And—"she continued. "I will go wherever I darn well please. Thank you.
She pushed past the guards. They didn't follow her. Stupid. They probably thought she was some air headed wife of a diplomat.
As she walked down the heavily guarded hallways of the palace, she tried to think back at the beginning. Were there any signs of diplomatic tensions between Tortall and Carthak? Em hadn't said a word, though she hadn't seen much of her or Keiran in the last days of King Jonathan. Was it because there was no word? Or didn't Em notice?
Nar looked up and realized she had walked to the lower levels of the palace. She saw movement of a figure in front of her. She hid in the shadows and followed him.
She followed the figure deeper and deeper into the underground tunnels of the palace. She dared not use her magic to light the way, lest she be noticed. So she stumbled around in the dark, silently cursing in Nadian. Luckily the figured didn't appear to notice. She only had her dagger to defend herself.
She pushed her long red hair back from her face. Her friends would probably think she was silly, dressed diplomatic attire, hair lose. She silently laughed at herself. Where were her friends now? They didn't have Nadia to return to for asylum. They had just begun to disappear when someone gave her some good advice and she left Tortall. Some people had criticized her for that. Narcissa Blaze still stood by her decision.
Em was out at Keiran's estates in the country, so the newborn child could spent its first years away from the harshness of city life. Keiran was wrapping up some work at the palace. She didn't even learn if the child was a boy or a girl, or the nameor anything. The next thing she knew, the palace was being seized and fled.
Nar heard a splash. Suddenly she noticed the underground water supply a few feet away from her. The river flowed into a dark tunnel in the wall. She quickly searched the tunnel for the magic barrier. There was none, as she suspected. No mage could harness a river. Nar made an impulsive decision. She jumped into the river.
She was not prepared to swim two miles underwater through a tunnel only a few inches wider than herself. But her days at traveling with the Rogue had prepared her for holding her breath for long periods of time.
Of all things the Rogue taught me, its this. I never thought it would come in handy. She swam on more. So this is why there was no barrier. She thought about a one and a half miles through. You're not likely to survive the swim.
A few minutes later, she slid out of the tunnel, into the dim moonlight. Nar lifted her head out of the water and clung to the riverbank, only to find a very sharp sword hovering not far from her chin. Her elusive figure was standing, dry, on the riverbank.
"Kill me." She sputtered. "Though it won't bring you anything."
The figure—a man, steps into the light. Nar sees his face and her eyes grow wide.
"How I have waited for this day Swamp monster. Though I don't think I can bring myself to do it." He says sadly.
"Scribe!" Nar exclaims.