20. The Offer
It was almost a week after the confrontation. She was finishing breakfast in her room when there was a knock on the door.
"It's me." Brecc said without the need for Thorn to ask who it was first.
Thorn got to her feet and opened the door. "Good morning." she started to say when she saw Brecc's grim face. "What's wrong?" she asked, immediately tense.
Brecc and Thorn had become close friends during the last few days. When Brecc wasn't busy with a Rider's work, he spent his time with her. They related to each other's pain and were comforted by the thought that neither was alone. Thorn had come to see him as a brother. His witty sense of humor gave her something to laugh about even when laughing was the last thing from her mind.
However, at the moment Brecc's mouth was set into a firm line.
"A village about a day's ride from here was raided the night before last night." he said quietly.
Thorn tensed, both hands gripping her staff hard. "By who?"
"Bandits."
::If you squeeze me any harder, I'll be pressed into pulp.:: her staff observed.
Thorn relaxed her hold. "Any bandits we know?" she asked huskily.
"The Bloody Thorns."
Thorn closed her eyes. She had hoped that it was over. The bandits were down about half in number since the time she was captured, and Torhte and Asianna had almost gotten themselves captured. But apparently, it wasn't enough for them.
"Two Rider groups who were patrolling nearby were sent to take care of the business." Brecc said. "It has been about a day since they were sent, and since then, we have not heard a word from them. Or even seen them."
Two whole Rider groups? How had Torhte and Asianna managed that? Without even one Rider escaping?
"What is the king going to do?" The king. Another person that Thorn had been avoiding since she had gotten to Corus.
Brecc shook his head. "Doesn't know yet. They think that the bandits are holed up in the forest somewhere. We just don't know where. Or how many. And if any of the Riders are still alive. If they are alive," Brecc said grimly, "they'll probably be used as hostages."
"Not a good situation." Thorn observed.
And from somewhere in the deep recesses of Thorn's mind, she heard her staff's old words. Oh, Thorn. With so much power but so little thought on how to use it…
"That's it!" she exclaimed.
Brecc raised an eyebrow. "What's it?"
She grabbed at his arm and started pulling him out the door. "Where's Alanna?"
He blinked. "Alanna? Why?"
"Because I could help." she said excitedly. "I could find the bandits."
His eyes widened. "Well why didn't you say that before?" he asked. "Come on." This time it was he who was leading. Then he suddenly stopped in his tracks. "I don't know where Alanna is."
Thorn frowned. "Well, all right. How about the king?" she asked hesitantly.
"Don't know where he is either."
"The queen?" she asked hopefully.
Brecc shook his head.
"Numair?"
Brecc continued to shake his head.
"Daine?"
Shake shake.
"Well, do you know where anyone is?" she finally demanded, exasperated.
He thought about it. "I know where Evin is."
"I don't want to know where Evin is. How about somebody else--"
"You shouldn't be so hard on him, Thorn." he said a bit too seriously.
"Who says I'm too hard on him--"
"I do." He gave her a pointed look. "You should go talk to him. He'll know where the others are."
She stared at him. He stared back. She finally sighed. "Fine."
He nodded. "Goo--"
"But only if you talk to Miri too." she quickly interjected.
"Miri?" he flushed. "What's Miri got to do with this situation?"
"Well, I'm only going to talk to Evin if you talk to Miri. So I'd say that it's got a lot to do with this situation."
"But--"
"No buts."
"But--"
"No buts." she said again. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a hard look.
"Fine. But you had better talk to Evin."
"Fine."
"I'm going to get you for this." he mumbled under his breath.
She smiled. "No, you're not. You're going to thank me."
He tossed her one last look before telling her where to find Evin. Then they went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~
She stared nervously at Evin's door for several long moments before getting brave enough to knock. It then took a lot of self-control to keep herself from bolting down the hallway.
"Yes?" A muffled voice questioned.
"Uhm, Evin? It's me. Thorn."
As the door opened, Thorn caught the end of a disgruntled sentence: "supposed to be no interruptions."
Someone just laughed in response.
Thorn glanced into the room and blinked in surprise. There, gathered around a table was the king, the queen, Alanna, Daine, and Numair. Evin stood by the door, glancing down at her.
"Yes?" he asked.
She stood in the doorway like a dumbstruck idiot, not sure what to say.
Alanna stood and rescued her. "Thorn! Good morning. Don't mind us, we were just having a little meeting." Alanna led her into the room. "Was there a specific reason you knocked on Evin's door?" She glanced mischievously from Evin to her.
Evin smiled amusedly as Thorn flushed.
"Oh, Thorn, did you forget that I told you that we couldn't have our daily tryst until after lunch?" he teased.
"No, I don't remember such a thing, Evin. You must have been telling that to someone else." she said sweetly.
The others laughed and Thorn felt a bit more comfortable. She glanced down at the table that the others had been gathered around. "You are discussing what to do with the bandits?" she asked bluntly.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid this meeting was supposed to be private." The king said to her gently.
She stared at him in surprise. Had he just said the words 'I'm sorry?' or was she just going crazy.
Alanna gave Thorn an apologetic smile. "Jon's right, Thorn. This meeting is supposed to be confidential."
"Do you always hold confidential meetings in Evin's room?" she asked skeptically.
"Actually," Numair said with a frown, "we came in here because we kept on getting interrupted elsewhere."
"Wait." Thorn protested. "I didn't come in here to talk to Evin." Sorry, Brecc, she thought to herself. "I came in here to talk to you." she said, motioning to the others.
Daine frowned. "You knew we would be in here?"
"No. I was just going to ask Evin--Nevermind. It's a long story." she said, shaking her head. "The point is, I can help you."
There was a short silence. "Thorn, we understand that your magic is very powerful, but we are not here to discuss the strategy of our attack. We are here to discuss whether or not we will be able to attack." The king said politely.
She blinked at the king, slowly comprehending what the king had said. "I didn't come here to offer myself as a weapon to you." she said coldly. Sure, she had wanted to help with her gift, but not in that way. She didn't want to become a weapon again. Not like she had with bandits. Not again.
Evin started to come toward her, as if sensing her anger. Her glare stopped him in his tracks.
She turned on her heel and started for the door. At the last moment she glanced over her shoulder at the others. "I came to offer myself as a guide and I would have helped you find the bandits." she shrugged. "But since you don't seem to want me around…" She shut the door. And then waited.
She heard several scrambling movements of people getting up from their seats. She heard Alanna curse Jon for his thick-headedness. She smiled.
Then the door opened and Queen Thayet looked out and glanced at her. "Thorn, I hope it's not too late to ask, but can you help us?"
A.N.: Some clarification on the name thing: No, Big Blue, you did not mess up and mix the conversers around. Asianna did call Thorn Delora in the chapter of the dream. But that will be explained later (and hopefully I won't somehow forget and leave it out of the story, I seem to be doing that a lot lately). And my apologies to those who were afraid of this fic turning into a soap opera (a friend personally pointed that out to me), that was not my intention. Not that I know what soap operas are really like since I don't really watch them, but I will try to keep the ..err…love triangles to a minimum. And what else…uhm…oh yeah, everyone's been commenting on how sad the past couple chapters have been. I'll have to make sure the next couple ones are…happier. And nope, rosefyre, I didn't make a thing up about the crystal (well actually, maybe its name 'truth crystal' but only because I didn't remember if TP had given it an actual name). When a lie is told, it turns from white to black; and if its only a little lie, it turns gray. What a nice thingy to have around…
Thanks for reviewing!
~Krizsta
P.S. - Mione Potter: a fan club really? *laughs* thanks!
