The Rainy Day Trip
Part XII
By Saphron (hee-hee, I get to have my name on the top and the bottom! Lucky, lucky me…)
A/N: Woo-hoo, here's chapter twelve. Kel & Co. enter the tower…what will they find? Or rather, who will they find? Kinda long for all those long-fic people. More Joren. More everybody. What fun. Too descriptive, but hey, that's my writing style. Read on.
Deny (ie: disclaimer-well, you know what they always say, whatever you do, deny, deny, deny.) I officially deny that I ever owned Tamora Pierce's characters. That can go on the record too, on one of those little pieces of parchment written with an ink quill with the eagle stamp and the red wax steal. And signed witnesses and everything. Lawyers, y'got nothing. =P So there, ha. (As if they actually gave a damn.) On with the story.
Oh wait, Vlasmear (where have I heard that name before?) belongs to me *::gasp:: I actually own something in this wretched story!* but I don't care if you steal him (not that you'd actually want to) but just ask me first.
A/A/N: Noel, originally I was going to do that weak spot thing but then I changed my mind…you'll see why later on ::grins mischievously:: I had a sudden…'inspiration' *cackles evilly…*
The three looked at each other, and then bolted for the circle of men.
*
Raoul was sitting talking with Michael; whatever was in the pool had a big connection to the random attacks by the beasts. He could feel the magic and power radiating from the center. But what was the cause of it? What could it possibly be? As if on answer to his question:
"It's a tower! It's a tower!"
"A tower, look, a tower!"
"See? It's a tower!"
"A tall one!"
"A tall tower!"
The three kids all ran into the circle of men and started shouting and yelling and jumping up and down, babbling incoherently, or at least Kel and Cleon did, Joren nonchalantly acted as if this was no big deal.
"What'd you thinks in the tower?"
"Who knows!"
They were still rambling on and on before he turned to Joren, and asked him (of all people) what in the hell they were so excited about.
"The thing in the middle of the pool is a tower," he said slowly and clearly, crossing his arms, "you can see it's shadow on the ground."
Raoul looked, he was right, according to the dark shape on the ground there was something tall, which looked suspiciously like a tower, in the middle of the pool. He hadn't noticed it before because they had arrived at noon, and plus the magic water didn't show a reflection...but whatever was in the tower couldn't stop the sun from shining.
Person inside tower's POV:
"Hmmm…looks like they discovered my little tower. Next thing I know they'll be probing around for hidden doors! I might as well save them the trouble, and let them in…"
Back to regular narrating:
Kel and Cloen had calmed down by now but everyone else was talking excitedly. But as everyone was whispering about what an unknown, hidden, invisible, mysterious tower was doing in the middle of nowhere, there was a shimmering of light.
Pale colored streaks of bright light started to appear and waver, they started at the bottom and bounced to the top, as they went revealing a tall, circular spire.
It was a dark opal colored turret, made of either stone or iron, it was hard to tell in the dying light. A large wooden door appeared, and a narrow stone bridge. They could see no windows.
The door creaked open gently, to reveal a dark interior. A tall man stepped out; he had snow-white hair and wrinkled gnarled hands. Yet for all these features he still looked as young as the beginning of the world, as if his age were only an illusion.
He smiled, showing two rows of sparkling white teeth, "welcome. Welcome to my humble abode, my name is Vlasmear, though you may call me Vlas, and I live as a hermit in these mountains."
Everyone was too shocked to pay much attention to protocol, except Raoul, who had had a lot of practice in these sorts of things. "Thank you, my name is Raoul, and these are the men of the King's Own."
The hermit raised his eyebrows a slight centimeter, as he thought to himself, the king's own? How very surprising…
He nodded, "let me guess, you have traveled here to defeat the beasts which live in the cliffs east from here, am I correct?" Raoul nodded yes. "Then you have come to the right place, I shall help you," he smiled, once again showing his perfect teeth.
"Thank you, but we've been doing fine on our own." The men all gave him strange looks, why not accept a little help? Their leader was forever surprising them.
He laughed merrily, "nonsense, I insist. This tower is bigger than it looks, you all must come and stay and rest here for a few nights."
Raoul smiled back, "we appreciate your offer, however-"
The hermit sighed as a lonely look suddenly appeared on his face, "oh please, I have so few visitors. Of course, I'm really not a people-person, which is why I built my tower here away from all the hustle and bustle of cities and towns, but every now and then it's nice to see a human face… Of course I'll understand if you don't want to stay with a boring old man such as myself, you young people these days," he sighed again, "very well, I'll just go back into my lonely little tower and-"
The guilt must have gotten to Raoul, "please don't think so ill of us, we just didn't want to impose on your gracious hospitality, we'd be happy to stay for as long as you will host us."
The tall man almost leaped for joy, "excellent! Please, right this way, I was just about to have dinner and you're all welcome to join me…"
*
Fifteen minuets later everyone was seated around a large wooden table, happily eating a home cooked meal, something that they hadn't seen for days. The table was really a large rock (hee-hee, rock) that the hermit, who was consequently also a wizard, had transfigured. He had been able to easily whip up a meal for thirty within moments. There was fresh bread and olives, wines, cheeses, pots of stew, red meat and white meat, green peas and bowls of various fruits, honeyed desserts and plum pudding, everything you could ask for in a feast after marching several days on porridge and whatever else they could hunt down.
Everyone was happy and content. They were going to stay there for the next one or two nights probably, in the guest chambers he had managed to fix up. They would all get hot showers, a few square meals and enough time to rest and repair weapons and relax.
The tower really was big, with a grand circular staircase leading up. The entrance room was filled with soft red couches and a stone hearth with a warm fire cackling in it. The floor below that, submerged underneath the pool, was the kitchen. It was nice and cool down there, a good place to practice with a glaive, Kel thought to herself. I don't want to get out of practice. Kel found the kitchens to be a very nice hiding spot, no one really ventured down there much and she could swing the glaive without fear of accidentally knocking some one out.
Above the living room was a magnificent library, lined wall to wall with books. Which of course the hermit/wizard didn't mind letting some of the more scholarly men borrow. Sam spent the next few days rapturously looking through plant books, and likewise Michael and magic books.
Above the library were the guest chambers, little rooms each with their own bed and bath. Above the guests' wing was the hermit/wizard's study and bedroom, and above that the observatory and attic. Since he was always doing experiments he warned everyone to stay away else they find they were accidentally turned purple.
Everyone at the supper table was enjoying themselves. Cleon was alternating between listening to Vlasmear recount past exploits of danger and brave deeds and winking and chatting with Kel. The only person who wasn't having a good time was Joren, who was moodily picking at his food and glancing at Vlasmear from time to time. And Kel too.
After super everyone crawled under layers of fine, if not a bit dusty, silk blankets and drowsily drifted off to sleep, the rich wine they had drunken taking an instant effect. All except one person, who lay awake and wondered, and found sleep very far away indeed.
***
~*Saphron*~
A/N: U like peeps? I know, a bit too descriptive, but oh well. That's the way I write. Part thirteen hopefully to be up tomorrow. And thanks everyone who reviewed, if you hadn't this part never would have been posted because I would have actually been doing grammar homework *yuck* instead of procrastinating all day to do this. ::grins:: C ya round.