Disclaimer: Er…I own Elsie. Not that that's a major accomplishment--she has about ten paragraphs. Everyone else belongs to the brilliant Tamora Pierce, and I don't claim them to be mine, so don't sue me. I'm just having a little fun now that I've got access to a keyboard.
A/N: Hi. Uhm…This is my first fic here, so please don't be too mean in your reviews. I had this idea after reading Squire (who here ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK besides me?), so I'm pretty fresh on the Kel details, but it's been awhile since I read the Lioness Quartet and the Immortals series. I don't think I made any glaringly obvious mistakes, but please tell me in a review if I did (nicely, mind, I don't need any "you suck--don't ever write again!" messages), and I'll change it, okay? Okay, then. This should have quite a few chapters, and a lot of it's going to be romantic fluff (yay!), but there is a plot. Oh, and let me warn you, here--I am a Alanna/George, Daine/Numair, Kel/Cleon shipper. It's pretty mild, but if you're into the whole Neal/Kel Joren/Kel (what's with THAT?) thing to the extent that you don't want to read anything else, this isn't the fic for you, so don't flame it just because I want Kel and Cleon together.
Okay, that pretty much sums it up. Have fun, and if you want to review, I really don't mind.
The Beginning of the End
By Sióg
Chapter 1 - Disappearances and Disruptions
Elsie was seven years old and proud of it. She'd just turned seven that afternoon, and there was no happier little girl than she that evening as she pulled off her best dress, which she'd been wearing for her small, family birthday party, and changed into a plain, white cotton shift for bed.
Her Mumma was in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes from supper, and her dad was most likely stoking the fire that was warming the house from the hearth outward. Elsie's birthday was right after midwinter, and so it was still cold and snowy outside. The girl snuggled down into her bedquilts, ignoring the straw-filled mattress that usually kept her awake with its dry rasping, and waited for her mother. As usual, Mumma swept into the room, hands warm and dry as they brushed Elsie's hair out of her face. "Now," she muttered, "did yeh have a good birthday, darlin'?"
"Yes, Mumma," Elsie said, eyes closing rather involuntarily from exhaustion. She refrained from yawning as best she could.
Her mother laughed. "Good. Now, yeh get some sleep, a'right? T'morrow, we're goin' to market in town, and I dun want yeh sleepin' on yer feet."
"G'night, Mumma."
"'Night, love." Mumma swept out of the room again, blowing the lantern's small flame out and leaving the room in comfortable shadows. Elsie wasn't afraid of the dark; not really, but the thing that scared her more than anything else was to be kidnapped. Mumma always told her that the good King Jonathan would never, ever let Tortallan children be kidnapped, like the ones in Scanra were.
Mumma said that if whatever evil spirit was taking the babies in Scanra even tried to come to Tortall, the King would have his best warriors—"An' the Lioness 'erself!"—after it faster than anyone could believe possible. Because their King was a good sort, after all, right?
With that thought in mind, Elsie drifted off to sleep, comfortable in her shadowed room, and unafraid of any trouble that might come her way, because, Mithros knows, Tortall was safe from most evils. However, Elsie did not grasp the concept of borders, and countries. She knew of Scanra, and she knew she lived in Tortall, but that was about it. Most horribly, however, her family and the small village they lived in were located on the outskirts of fief Stonecreek, which was rather uncomfortably close to the Scanran border.
*
Elsie awoke with a small gasp, aware that her room was no longer shadowy, and that there were the faint, flickering lights of torches bouncing against the wall opposite her window, which was next to the straw-cushioned bed. She sat up, long hair falling, tangled, over her shoulders, and glanced out the wavy glass of her bedroom window. There were, as far as she could distinguish, many people from the village were standing outside her bedroom, yelling and carrying torches.
Elsie slid out of her bed, small feet hitting the cold dirt floor numbly, and toddled out into the main room of the cottage. Her mother was glancing out the window near the front of the house, and when she turned and saw her daughter, she ran to her and pulled her into her arms, holding her up to the window and not letting go.
"Mumma, what—?"
"Not now, sweet, yeh must hush." Her mother's face was strained and worried, a look Elsie had only seen last summer when Elsie had emerged, rescued by her father, from the well she'd accidentally fallen down.
She could see through the window the tall form of her father, dark hair lit red in the torchlight held by their neighbor, Darick. He and his family were gathered in the midst of the other villagers, only—Elsie didn't see their youngest son, Erril. He was only five—why would his parents allow him to wander around without them? Especially when something was so obviously wrong?
Then Elsie saw Erril's mother sink to her knees; heard the anguished cries. And Elsie was fairly sure, even though she was only seven, that she knew what had happened.
Erril had been taken.
* * *
Veralidaine Sarrasri had been monitoring the disappearances of children for quite some time now. Not that she had taken an active role—the King had not given permission for such a thing. Daine had only gotten her information from the rather chatty Scanran birds, who all seemed to be migrating into Tortall for whatever reason. Apparently, their forests and trees were being destroyed, but when she asked what was doing this damage, the only reply she got from the odd, foreign birds was that it was a hoard of tree-eating creatures with huge, shiny teeth. As can be imagined, this was not nearly descriptive enough for Daine. As far as she knew, they could be discussing beavers.
But then, after a particularly articulate parrot-like bird had flown in and explained that these same tree-eating creatures were taking the Scanran babies, Daine began to wonder. Beavers, obviously, did not kidnap small children. Obviously. Her curiousity was peaked, at this point, and a nasty sense of foreboding was building in her stomach, making her feel almost ill with fear and suspicion. It was not a nice feeling, and it was one she had not experienced since she'd been about sixteen. She was now working alongside Numair, and it was a rather comfortable life. Occasionally, a Page's horse would act up and she'd have to speak to it, or Keladry's sparrows, too big of a flock to follow the newly-made Lady Knight, would drop by for a few days' stay and chat (and food). And yet, though this was a very comfortable life, and she'd not been sent for at the Scanran border as of yet to spy, she still retained that nervous feeling in her insides. And she wasn't sure why, precisely, that was.
So, as could be assumed, Daine was very anxious for more information. She was upset that Jonathan refused to do anything for the Scanran children (yes, she knew they were at war, but these were babies!), but she was more scared that whatever was doing such a thing would come to Tortall. And worse, she knew that Jonathan would most likely wait until it did to stop whatever it was.
However eager she was for news on these tree-eating, baby-stealing monsters, she was still rather annoyed by the pecking on her ear in the wee hours of the morning. It was not yet dawn, and Daine had been having a rather enjoyable dream involving a walk in the forest with Numair, when something started pricking her earlobe, right where she usually wore the few gemstone drops she had during formal occasions. She sat up, batting her arms around her head, before she heard the tiny voice—
Stop it! I'm here to give you news, humangirl, so stop trying to knock me from the sky!
Daine sobered immediately, waking from her half-sleeping state with a dead-serious look on her face. "I'm sorry…What is it that's so important that it had to be spread to me at this hour? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping, with the other birds?"
Well, obviously. It's about the tree-eating monsters.
"You've got my attention." Daine kept from yawning to make her point. She could hear Numair stir in his study. He'd probably fallen asleep there again. She hoped she hadn't woken him.
It's taken one of your kind. Of this land.
"Tortallan?" Daine whispered faintly, mind reeling.
Yes. A boy. Just moments ago. The sparrows just flew in to tell us.
Daine thanked the small bird profusely and leaped out of bed. Pulling an overcoat on over her cotton shift of a nightgown, she quickly strode into Numair's study, where he was, as she suspected, asleep at his desk, and shook his shoulder. He muttered something about one of the Pages needing healing and then opened his eyes blearily. "Oh…I've fallen asleep again, have I? You didn't need to wake me, Daine, I—"
"They've taken a Tortallan child, Numair." She interrupted, and then waited for a response. He seemed half-asleep, still. "They've taken a Tortallan baby, Numair, and they had been taking the Scanran children, but I was just waiting for this to happen—"
Numair raised an eyebrow, held up both hands for her to stop her babbling, and when she did, sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Slow down—you're obviously in a panic. Who did this?"
Daine frowned. "I'm not sure…No one is. You've heard of the reports of the missing children in Scanra, right? They keep disappearing, without a trace, and their parents don't know how—it happens at night…"
Numair nodded slowly, thoughtful. "Yes…I believe it was Alanna who told me about that, actually. She'd been on the Scanran border, fighting."
Daine shook her head, thinking vaguely that it didn't matter who told him. "Well, I've been hearing about all this from the birds. They're migrating in, because apparently these monsters that take the children also are eating their trees. I've no idea what that means; it's what they've told me. Anyway, they say that they've taken a Tortallan boy."
Numair exhaled slowly. "Well. Jon should have known this would happen." He massaged his temples. "Somehow, I feel sure that the King will be plagued with messages tomorrow, all about this. Maybe we should warn him." He stood up from his desk, stretching his long limbs (Daine smiled and thought, Stork man), and turned sleepy brown eyes on her. "Come on, magelet."
* * *
It was her first night back from battle at the Scanran border, and Alanna, the King's Champion, the Lioness, the first Lady Knight, was thoroughly exhausted. And she was thrilled that George had been thoughtful enough to leave the children with a trusted guardian and to come meet her in Corus. He'd even taken her to dinner. The thought made her smile with a sort of warm satisfaction. He'd missed her, obviously. What with all her knighting, she didn't have a lot of time to spend with her family. When she did, it tended to be interrupted by new and urgent developments on the border where the battles took place, and she was forced to leave the family behind. While this was what she had wanted (mostly), fighting for the King, being the Lioness, the Lady Knight, the King's Champion, she still missed George and her children terribly.
So she was quite comfortable in her bed at the inn, George snoring slightly next to her. She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling and pondering just where life was going. Lady Keladry of Mindelan, her fellow female knight (and resident giant, she supposed), was working with Raoul, and was taking trips to the border, commanding troops and giving lady knighting a good name in general. Alanna figured she'd done her share by now and needed at least a few days off. Just a few. As much as she hated to admit it, she did love fighting, as long as it was for an agreeable cause (and yes, her temper counted as an agreeable cause).
Alanna's thoughts turned away from the battle itself to the much more unpleasant background noise at the Scanran border. Most of Tortall was only aware of the awful battles taking place along the Scanran border, between their good, great knights and the evil, savage Scanrans. That was the extent of their knowledge. However, Alanna had been there, fighting, for quite some time. She wasn't stupid, and she caught some of the things that usually went unnoticed by the normal soldiers and all others around the area. Something was going on with the children in Scanra. She wasn't entirely sure why, or how, or who had done it, but children were disappearing from Scanran villages (however uncivilized they might have been) without a trace, and were never recovered.
It was odd for several reasons--Scanran parents usually made it quite clear, through violence sometimes, if necessary, that their children should never wander off without an adult or able fighter. Scanrans didn't just fight Tortallans. They fought each other. It was dangerous to let a child go wandering around alone, when some particularly nasty individual from another "tribe" might kidnap, kill, or do other unspeakable things to the child upon finding them. Another good reason was Scanran terrain--even if a child did wander off, Scanrans knew their lands better than Alanna knew her armor. Children did not fall off cliffs, or down wells, or into streams.
Whatever was happening, Alanna wouldn't be surprised to discover that it was all orchestrated by one person. There was a kind of awful strategy in it--wait until all of Tortall, the justice-administrating, organized country, and Scanra, the savage power, were both distracted in a war against each other. Then take the children, for whatever reason. That part still bothered Alanna--what could anyone want with a bunch of children, all around ages three to eight? Right now, whoever or whatever this was took only Scanran children, but Alanna felt sure, somehow, that Tortall wasn't far off from having similar problems, if they didn't watch their back. And if Jonathan didn't keep a sharp eye on towns near the Scanran border.
The thought of Jonathan adding this to his long list of responsibilities just made Alanna roll her eyes, knowing full well that he wouldn't have the time. It made her want to go ask permission to patrol the fiefs near the border, just to be sure. Just to potentially scare off whatever was doing this, should it have the idea of coming to Tortall to allay its horrible appetite for children with a different flavor than Scanran.
Alanna shivered and pulled the bedquilts higher, up to her chin. Well, she tried, but George wasn't having any of it--he had the covers down near his waist, and they wouldn't stretch long enough to accommodate both his and Alanna's preferences in this case. So Alanna decided that she needed to win this one. It was just after Midwinter, after all. It was cold! She kicked George lightly in the leg--he turned over, releasing the covers with an annoyed, more-than-half-asleep grunt. Alanna grinned. I win.
She was just getting comfortable and thinking about sleep for the first time that evening (she'd been up late far before she'd even started thinking about Scanra--talking with George, and making up for lost time, to say the least), when there was a very loud, very urgent knock on the wooden door. Grumbling rather ferociously, considering the fact that she was completely awake and it wasn't at all like she'd just been woken up, she pulled on a dressing gown, one of the few feminine items she owned, brushed her short red hair out of her face, and flung open the door. "What?"
It was one of the inn's maids, and Alanna regretted her harsh tone almost immediately. The poor thing was probably about thirteen or so, and even shorter than Alanna, and large brown eyes stared fearfully up at her. Rightfully so, Alanna figured. She knew it was pretty scary to see her look angry and half-asleep. It was like prodding a sleeping dragon in the eye. "I-I'm sorry, milady, I d-didn't want to b-but they told me th-that--"
Alanna held up a hand, closing her eyes with a sort of tiredness that was setting in fast. She was being sent for; she felt sure. "What do they want? Don't be afraid, I'm not going to bite you. Stop stammering."
The girl nodded. "Sorry, milady. Er…Sir-er-Lady-er…Knight Keladry of Mindelan is down in the commons. She says it's urgent…She says the King requested her to fetch you." The girl waited silently for a moment while Alanna squinted across the corridor, an annoyed look on her face, violet eyes narrowed. The King requested Kel to fetch her? Oh, for the love of the gods…
Alanna sighed, thoughts returning to the present, and noticed that the girl was still standing there. "Tell Lady Keladry I'll be down in a moment." She waved vaguely at her attire--the dressing gown and disheveled hair--and looked up, almost smiling. "I'm not exactly…presentable."
The girl nodded and was down the hallway and thumping down the wooden stairs before Alanna could even see that she'd gone. Well, she'd succeeded in scaring somebody else. How lovely. She turned back into the room, closing the door, and jumped lightly onto George's side of the bed. He made an indistinct noise in his throat and opened one eye. "You're leaving again, aren't you?"
"You eavesdropping little scoundrel," Alanna said calmly, blowing a particularly stubborn strand of hair out of her face. "You know, I think this was your most convincing sleep-feigning I've seen in quite awhile."
"Well, I've had all this time to practice…" he said, putting his arms up behind his head. "And it looks like I'll get even more time, now. And who's 'little,' here?"
Alanna stood and cuffed him lightly on the head. "I won't hit you any harder for fear that I might do some permanent damage--you've not got much in there to hurt, but I figure there's always a chance." She began to get properly dressed.
"Ah, you've already done permanent damage," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back onto the bed. He looked terribly sad, which was odd for George, who usually looked quite jovial and unfazed by anything. And for the first time in quite awhile, Alanna felt terribly sad, herself. She'd been gone for months. Three-and-a-half, actually. And she'd gotten to spend one night with George, after he'd so carefully taken the time and energy to arrange a few days together. Her temper flared, but George saw it in her face--he was good at that--and enveloped her small hands in his large ones. "Now, I didn't mean to make you angry. I just miss you sometimes." He grinned halfheartedly. "Even if I am just an eavesdropping little scoundrel." He brushed her hair out of her face, sighing, eyes taking in her features. "Well, you'd best go see what it is you're fighting now. I think I'll probably go have a visit with Salmalín before I head back home. We can swap manly stories and talk about our impossible relationships with women." It was common knowledge that Numair and George had two of the most interesting and potentially self-destructive love-lives in all of Corus.
"I'll go down in a minute," Alanna said vaguely, and kissed him.
***
Lady Keladry of Mindelan drummed her fingers on the wooden table in the inn's commons. She'd sent a girl up a good half-hour earlier, and the poor thing had returned, looking appropriately frightened for having just awakened the Lioness, and relayed the message that the older knight would be right down as soon as she dressed. Kel knew not to be impatient--she had figured that she and Baron George would be here, and she knew, for one, that when you were with someone you loved, you didn't want to leave them, even when duty called. And, she thought, you don't want them to leave you.
Cleon had been in one of the camps on the Scanran border, fighting. She'd received constant letters from him, so she felt that he must be doing well enough, and she was continually reassured that he was well and mostly uninjured through his letters. Though, she doubted he'd tell her if he was on his death bed. Keladry herself had been to a different camp on the border with the King's Own, working with Raoul and helping lead troops. She'd fought for nearly four months straight--ever since she'd been knighted. She'd not seen Cleon since he left for the border. It had been ages…She didn't know how long, but it was more than six months. Half a year.
Kel had been given some time off, owing to a slight injury to her right arm and the fact that she'd been fighting for so long. They couldn't give her Midwinter off, but they did give her leave afterwards, which was why she was here at the moment. No sooner had she settled down for a week off of keeping the Scanrans at bay when she'd been called by the King, in the dead of night, and told that she and Alanna the Lioness were to leave for the border to investigate some mysterious kidnappings that had spread to Tortall. Originally, Keladry wasn't the knight arranged to go with Lady Alanna--Raoul was supposed to leave, but he was invaluable in the war at the time, and there were reports of giants coming in at an alarming rate. The troops felt more reassured when they had Goldenlake the Giant-Killer with them.
Kel looked up as Alanna emerged from the staircase, fully clothed and ready to leave. She was carrying a bulky, cloth-wrapped bundle--presumably her armor--and glanced at Kel with expectant violet eyes. "So. Where are we going and what are we fighting?"
Kel smiled slightly at the bluntness of this statement. She supposed that the King's Champion had seen far too many nights with her husband interrupted by yet another quest to be surprised by this. Kel sighed. "Sorry…The King summoned me and said we were to leave for the Scanran border…Apparently, seven Tortallan children have disappeared in Fiefs Stonecreek and Blueriver, and in Riversedge. All tonight."
The older woman breathed in sharply, not looking surprised, exactly, just overwhelmed. "Well. Let's get to the palace. I think we need to discuss some things with Jon before we depart, don't you?"
They left the inn, Alanna casting a final glance up the stairs and Kel feeling sorry for dragging her out of bed in the middle of the night and interrupting her rare time with the Baron. As their horses clopped out the front gate and down the deserted streets of the city of Corus, Alanna sighed. "Well. I'd been waiting for this to happen."
Kel nodded. She'd been hearing reports of missing children in Scanra, and it had occurred to her that the same might happen in Tortall. She thought of her vision in the Chamber and wondered vaguely what they'd find when they did get to the border and begin their investigations. And how they'd defeat it. She felt sure, however, that her vision and whatever was doing this were one and the same. She thought of the scrawny young man in the vision, seemingly controlling the metal monsters, and the pile of children in the background…and shuddered. She'd tell Alanna about her vision later, when they were away from Corus and somewhere they couldn't be overheard easily.
"Hmm…" Alanna mused, next to her, disturbing her thoughts. "Well, obviously we can both defend ourselves sufficiently against a few Scanrans, but at the rate they're becoming intelligent and organizing into large groups, we're going to need help." She glanced sideways at Kel. "Believe me, I know you can fight. I just don't know if the two of us can hold up against a horde of Scanrans, all foaming at the mouth with their war demons." She faced forward again, looking pensive. "You know…I wonder if Veralidaine's busy."
Kel squinted in thought. Why Veralidaine? Of course! She mentally slapped herself. Veralidaine Sarrasri. The wildmage. Ally of animals. With her, they had an army already assembled in any forest. Kel felt stupid, but didn't let on. "We should ask her to come with us."
Alanna nodded. "If we mention it to Jon, he'll order her to. I think we ought to talk to her before we talk to him and see what she says." She grinned slightly. "Goddess, this is just disrupting everyone's lives tonight, isn't it?"
Kel nodded, smiling. She couldn't help feeling a little hopeful--if they went to the part of the border she was hoping they would, she might get to see Cleon…
***
A/N: Just a parting comment--Okay, the whole Kel/Cleon thing is rather mild, don't you think? At least for now… *looks innocently at readers who actually finished this chapter* Well, thanks for reading my drivel. This was a rather long chapter, so it may be a bit before the next one's finished, but fear not, it will be posted. This is actually going somewhere--I've got a plotline! Yay me! *ahem* Okay, I'll shut up. Review if you like; I won't complain. ^-^