A.N. - it seems to me that there were a lot of people who were …mildly surprised at my chapter 11. :) Now I find myself wanting to ask, WHY? Was it the ending that was so very shocking? Did everyone just expect thorn and evin to fall in love and then live happily ever after? Or perhaps everyone thought that they'd go, rescue Asianna, and then live happily ever after? Sorry, all the confusion about this is my fault. In all the business of being nice to Thorn so that she would come out of her shell, I've let people forget that she is still a prisoner. She isn't allowed to leave Pirate's Swoop. (remember back in chapter 6 when Brecc and Evin said that she couldn't leave before she talked to certain people?)
thorn is still seen as a bandit. She helped in the bandits' raids by using her power. If you knew someone who had participated in the act of burning down your …village and took everything of value to you, would you let them run around freely, even if they had a good excuse for their actions? Let's examine Thorn through the eyes of someone who didn't know her, her thoughts, her past, her fears. She would no longer be a misunderstood, abused young woman. Instead, she'd be seen as a criminal. And that's how uninformed citizens of Tortall see her at the moment…
Sorry if the end of last chapter came as a surprise. *sigh* I hope this helps to clear it up.
~Krizsta
12. The Escape
The splint flew across the room and hit the wall with an interesting smack. It had been a couple days since she had been injured, and her leg was as good as new. Almost. She had to lope around with the cane though, which annoyed her to no end. She would have rather used her staff.
Thorn struggled into the clean clothes that had been lain out for her. She had shooed away the servant who had remained with the clothes with the order to help Thorn put them on. She now found herself almost regretting it.
They had lain out a goddamn dress for her. How long had it been since she had last been in a dress? First they had given her skirts, now they had given her a dress. And her old clothes were no where in sight.
The dress wasn't fancy, at least. George had enough sense not to waste a fancy dress on her. Instead, the cloth was soft, but durable. The color was a light shade of brown, a color usually worn while doing hard-work. There were no extravagant frills and trimmings, but the skirt was long and full and fell elegantly around Thorn's lower body.
She immediately felt self-conscious as she gazed at herself in the mirror. The dress seem to accentuate on Thorn's small figure and made her brown eyes seem impossibly big. She looked like a young girl, she realized. Certainly not a woman of nineteen years. She scowled at her reflection.
That's how she greeted Evin when he came knocking at the door. Her small mouth was pressed into a frown and her eyes clearly showed her unhappiness.
Evin glanced over her and then opened his mouth to comment.
"Say anything about how I look and I will clobber you." She said threateningly.
His mouth closed, but smoothed out into his familiar smile. "I was just about to comment on how --"
She lifted her cane.
"-- pleasant your disposition is this morrning."
She lowered her cane but did not reply.
"I'm sorry if the dress offends you, but we just thought that it would make a better impression on the king." He said as they started to walk down the hall.
She gave a very unlady-like snort.
Evin stopped walking to glance earnestly down at her. "The rest of your life depends on this moment. Remember how you told us that you thought that you'd be locked away into a dungeon if you were ever captured? Well that's still a possibility. This meeting is important. Please understand how important it is."
Understand? She understood too well. She knew that he was right. She wasn't completely unfeeling to the pressure of the situation.
But the thing was, she was used to the pressure. Just as this Tortallan king had held Thorn's life in his hands, Torhte had too. She had lived under pressure like this for seven years. And she certainly wasn't about to bow down like a submissive slave now.
She followed Evin into the courtyard in which they had eaten lunch yesterday. He led her across the lawn to several people who were huddled into a group and studying something that lay on the ground.
"Evin." One of the two women who were waiting for them called to Evin with a smile.
"Good morning, Daine." He returned her hug.
"So is this the one we've been hearing so much about?" The other woman said. "She's looks like a little girl."
George had his arm around this woman's shoulders, so she must be Lady Alanna. " Ahh, Lady Knight," he said teasingly, "but appearances can be deceiving." He glanced down his wife's own diminutive form.
The Lioness flushed. The red in her cheeks was not half as bright as her bright hair.
Then Thorn saw what lay on the ground between the huddled group and suddenly smiled. Her staff, the group had been huddled around to study her staff. She stepped toward it and easily picked it up.
"I'll be taking this back, if you don't mind." she said.
"Thorn," Evin said, stepping toward her until he stood beside her. He pointed at the purple eyed, red-haired woman. "This is the infamous Lady Alanna. And this is Veralidaine Sarrasri, also known has the Wildmage." The pretty woman who had called out to Evin smiled at Thorn. Evin turned to the man who stood beside the Wildmage. "This is Numair Salmalin." This man turned to stare at her assessingly while rubbing his chin absently. She in turn stared right back, until after a long moment, the man smiled with amusment.
"And this," Evin motioned to the last two people in the group, "is Queen Thayet and King Jonathan." The Queen, who was astoundingly beautiful, gave Thorn a small smile of welcome. The king was equally striking, with coal black hair and sharp blue eyes that that looked as if they never missed anything. His gaze was cold and he gave her an arrogant, aloof smile.
She disliked him immediately.
"Nice to meet you." she said in a tone that contradicted her words. If the king was expecting a curtsy, he wasn't going to get one.
"So you have the power to control plants?" The king asked her.
"No."
"But you used them to help The Bloody Thorns while raiding." Alanna pointed out.
"The Bloody Thorns?" she asked.
The others glanced at each other.
"The name given to your notorious group. Your destructive roses are known as your group's trademark." The black haired man said. What was his name again? Numair Salmon?
"Roses have now fallen out of favor. All who have heard of your group fear even going near rose bushes. They fear that the roses may come alive, just like when they do when you order them to destroy a village." The king said.
"I don't order them to do anything." Thorn retorted.
"Oh?" Numair said.
"I ask them. And they comply." she said stiffly.
"Interesting." he said. "You are able to communicate with plants? Like people communicate with people?" He asked curiously.
"Numair." The woman Evin had called Daine said warningly.
Numair blinked, and then he sighed.
Daine let out a small smile and then reached over to give his hand an affectionate squeeze.
Lovers, she realized. They were lovers. But he seemed so much older…
"You must care for your sister very much if you are willing to hurt and kill innocent people to keep her alive." Alanna suddenly said.
Thorn's eyes widened. "How did you know--"
"One of the other bandits whom we've captured told us. He was quite emphatic in his insistence that you are not to be blamed. What was his name again?" the king frowned.
"Lathan." the queen supplied.
"Lathan is still alive?" Thorn questioned.
"No." the king said coolly. "He died early yesterday from infection from his wound."
Thorn's face fell. He had been like a father to her during their long years together. Lathan might not have been completely loyal to her, but he had understood and took care of her better than her real father ever had. The king's nonchalant tone with which he mentioned Lathan's death made the pain of the death hurt even more.
"Were you good friends?" The queen suddenly asked her sympathetically.
"He was my guard. His job was to protect me from the other bandits." She said quietly.
"You must have been living in a very bad environment. If you had to have a guard to protect you from the other bandits." Alanna remarked. "Why didn't you just run away?"
"My sister-"
"You seem to be very powerful. Why don't you run away together?"
Thorn laughed scornfully. "Do you think that I have not tried that? I had become too valuable to the bandits. They kept my sister under lock and key. I never knew where she was in the encampment half the time, one of the mages placed a protective circle where we could not see or hear anything that happens within. I was only allowed to see her once a week." Thorn stated coldly.
Evin placed a gentle hand on her arm as if to warn her.
"Tell us, how ever did you come into companionship with the bandits?" Daine asked curiously.
"It's quite a simple story actually. My sister and I were sold to them."
"Sold?" The way in which the woman said the word clearly showed her dislike of it. "By who?"
"Our father." Thorn shrugged at the woman's shock. "It was selling us or losing his life. He was very eager to give us up."
Daine shook her head in disgust.
"So they kept your sister to ensure your obedience." The king restated. "And you were willing to kill others to keep her safe?"
"Yes."
The king smiled scornfully. "You must have been an ever obedient servant then."
"No, I wasn't." she said in a tone that was just as scornful as the king's smile.
"No?" He said doubtfully.
"No. If I remember correctly, I provoked and angered Torhte at every turn."
"Torhte?" The Queen asked.
"The leader of the bandits." Evin answered.
"Just because I had to obey his commands, it does not mean that obeyed him willingly. I lived to anger and frustrate Torhte."
"But you still obeyed his commands and killed innocent people." The king stated.
"Your highness, you make Thorn sound like an evil witch, and I know that isn't true." Evin interrupted. "She helped Brecc, Miri, and me. She even risked Torhte's wrath to give me some food-"
"That's not true, Evin. I helped you for the very purpose of raising Torhte's anger. I wanted him angry."
Evin looked at her in surprise. "But he hurt you for it." He said, a bit confused.
Thorn shrug. "He only slapped me. I've faced worse before. Once he broke my arm in two places for defying him in front of a crowd of people." Thorn said expressionlessly. She used the tone of voice one might use when commenting on the weather.
His eyes widened. He glanced down at the arm he still had his hand around, and quickly pulled away, as if afraid to hurt her. "But you helped Miri when that other bandit was touching her." he said, his voice strangely quiet.
She shrugged. "That's wasn't because I was actually trying to help her. That was because of personal reasons. When I saw that bandit touching her," she shrugged, "it raised bad memories."
Evin started and his mouth formed into an angry frown. "Memories? Did they do the same to you--" He started to demand angrily.
"And the memories made me lose my temper with the bandit." Thorn went on as if Evin hadn't spoken. "Miri just happened to be helped by the situation is all."
His mouth opened and he stared at her in disbelief. And beneath all the disbelief, there was hurt.
"Oh please, Evin, don't tell me you thought that I was trying to help you out of the goodness of my heart. I'm not that humanitarian. Why should I be? Nobody's ever helped me." She said evenly.
Evin closed his mouth, still staring at her. Then he shook his head, breaking his gaze, and then abruptly turned on his heel and walked away.
She felt a unfamiliar twinge in her chest as she watched Evin walk angrily away from her. And when she looked back toward the others even Daine, George, and the Queen were glancing at her disapprovingly.
"Your efforts of constantly trying to provoke Torhte's anger are petty and childish." The king said coldly. "You seem to care for your sister, but you act like a cold-hearted b***h to everyone else."
Thorn smiled a brittle smile. "I don't care. Think whatever you want of me. Frankly, I don't think too much of you, either."
The king's eyes widened as he realized that she had voiced a direct insult. He turned to the others. "That's it." He said angrily. "This one is going into the deepest, darkest jail cell we could find."
Suddenly, Thorn raised her staff and moved the head of it in a circular motion.
"What in the name of the gods?" George said with shock.
Buds appeared in the ground around the group. The buds grew at an amazing pace, growing circularly around the huddled group as everyone watched.
Alanna pulled drew her sword and started slashing at the rosebushes that were quickly surrounding her and the group. But they were growing too quickly for her.
Thorn stepped away from the sudden wall of roses that was growing between her and the others. She watched with just as much shock as they did. Soon, the bushes grew tall enough that Thorn could not see over it. And they continued to grow.
::Well, what are you waiting for?:: Her staff suddenly said to her.
"What, did you do this?" She asked as she stared at the rose wall which encased the nobles.
::You wanted a way to escape. You did this.::
"But I didn't have any seeds!" She did not deny that she had wanted an opportunity to escape.
::I provided you with the seeds and released them when you moved me in a circular motion. Now I recommend that you run.::
