A/N: Sorry about the wait, but my homework situation has been insane!
~~~~~~~
Numair's ankle
pained him more and more as the afternoon wore on. At least, he thought it was
afternoon, but the sun was completely masked behind a dark thundercloud sky.
He was too tired
even to smile when he finally saw the lights of a town. It was a fairly good
sized one, but not quite a city and nowhere he'd ever been before. The first
public building he saw was a respectable-looking inn, and he made for the door
as quickly as he could.
The inn was
fairly large, and mostly empty. A serving maid came over to him soon after he
had seated himself at an empty table.
"Will you be
wanting anything, sir?" she asked. He shrugged off his wet cloak as he
contemplated his order.
"Just a mug of
hot cider, if you please," he said. On an afterthought, he asked, "What's the
name of this town, anyway?"
"This is Rease
River," she told him over her shoulder as she went to get his drink. He sighed
and went to hang his cloak by the fire. He couldn't remember much about this
town, and at the moment, the general location seemed to be failing him, too.
The woman was
back quickly with his drink. He suspected that she felt sorry for him in his
drenched state; his cloak had stopped shedding the rain hours ago.
"Oh, thank you, thank
you!" he said gratefully as she handed him the steaming cup. She smothered a
laugh, but he didn't care.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Numair was a
good deal drier and warmer than he had been when the king's face appeared in the
fire next to him. Jon, needless to say, was both furious and worried.
"Numair!" he
demanded. "Where in Mithros' name have you been? You were supposed to arrive hours
ago! I've been searching for you near every fire in the realm! Do you even know
where you are?"
Numair's mood
had been greatly improved by the half-hour spent in front of a fire with a warm
drink. "I'm in Rease River. I forget where it is. Do you know?"
This was not the
time for jokes. Jon's face turned slightly purple. "I need you here, and I need
you now! Forget your notes, just get yourself into my study!"
"All right, all
right!" Numair said, placing a coin for the cider on the table and getting to
his feet with mild annoyance. The king gave him brief directions, and he could almost
hear the information rush into his brain as he recalled maps of the realm he'd
studied. He threw on his slightly damp cloak as the Jon disappeared and left
the inn with a nod to the serving maid.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a fairly
short walk to Corus, injured ankle and all. Once in the palace, he happened to
meet a healer friend of his. The woman wouldn't let him continue toward the
king until she had bandaged his ankle. He thanked her, although internally he
resented the delay.
Numair knocked
on Jon's study door, rather more violently than usual.
"Come in!" came
the king's voice. "And shut the door quickly!"
Numair thought
this was an odd request, but wasn't in the mood to question it. He opened the
door slightly, slipped through, and nearly forgot to close it again when he saw
the scene inside the study. Jonathan of Conté was tied to a chair, with his
upper half left free. An armed guard dressed in northern-style clothing stood
on either side of the chair, and a tall man with a curly blonde beard and a fur
cloak sat in the chair behind the king's desk. This man smiled maliciously at
Numair.
"Numair, please
sit down," Jon said. "These gentlemen would like to speak with you." Although
the king's voice and face displayed no fear, his hand shook as he gestured to
an empty chair.
Numbly, he sat,
thinking, I don't think this is a surprise party…
~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Dum, dum
dum dum…what will happen next? Who is this cruel man who wears the skin of a
helpless, innocent animal and keeps our heroes captive? Find out next time, in
Numair's Birthday, chapter five! Oh, yes, REVIEW this one. I've seen this
method before: SEVEN SIGNED REVIEWS OR NO NEXT CHAPTER!
And it would be a shame, too, because I have a really good idea…
