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Cami~ can I kill the really mean/bad people? If I can't I don't know how I'll end this….
Also~ please review if you like it…I am running out of ideas. Please send me some via your reviews or you can email me at MisteryWarrior@hotmail.com. Thanks!
~Lady of the Shadows
After much hesitation and procrastination (due to school. I hate being a high school freshman..) I give you, my loyal subjects, Chapter 6 * Confetti comes up everywhere as crowds cheer *
Disclaimer~ all characters belong to the amazing Tamora Pierce, except for Deylnar, Lord Shalam, and Dirpan, who I have created for my own purposes.
Chapter 6
Kel heard a familiar chirp. She glanced up only to find a small sparrow's face peering into hers. The sparrow was perched gently on her knee. It was Nari! Nari had flown in between the bars of the cell. Nari then perched on Kel's proffered finger.
"Good bird, good sparrow." Kel crooned, delicately stroking Nari's head. "Can you bring word to Raoul and the Own?" Nari gave her head a slight bob, affirming Kel's inquiry. Her movement almost seemed to say, "Why do you think I'm here?". Kel plucked a strand of hair from her head. She nodded her head towards Dom, giving her permission to pluck a hair form his head. Nari did so and flew out the window. Kel whispered "Goddess bless." And tears slid slowly down her face. Her hopes were on the wings of a bird.
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Nari flew into the camp, chirping shrilly, so that every person put their hands over their ears. Raoul and Quasim ran towards the sparrow, understanding her message. Raoul outstretched his large calloused palm and Nari dropped two objects into it, quickly flying over to Quasim, who had found dried cherries in his hand and had held them out for her. Raoul studied the hairs carefully. The look on his face told everyone there was something about those hairs that intrigued him.
"Quasim!" Raoul shouted, like a child who has found a coin in the road. "It's Dom and Kel!"
"Where?" Quasim said eagerly, looking frantically around. Although they had only been gone for a few days, Dom and Kel had been sorely missed.
"I don't know." Raoul said somberly. "Nari brought us strands of their hair." Suddenly it hit Raoul. Nari was copying what her ancestors had done to help Kel find her kidnapped maid Lalasa and her dog, Jump. "She's going to lead us to them."
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"My most trusted and loyal servant," Lord Shalam called to the servant who he would always find in his shadow.
"Yes Milord?" The servant replied, stepping into the dim light let in by the heavy draperies, so filled with dust no one bothered to clean them or open them.
"Have we any news of the King's advancement?"
"None yet Milord, but I have a feeling they will be coming shortly" he replied with an evil grin twisting his otherwise kind and handsome face. They were so wrapped up in their evil plans, they failed to notice a movement in the shadows towards the door.
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"Jon," Alanna said to her king. "They have Kel and Dom. Soon they will have the entire third company, for I am sure they will know when the third attacks. We have to do something."
"We can't do anything, Alanna," King Jonathan replied. "In case you have failed to notice, we are at war with Scanra. We can't just barge in and say, 'We're taking Keladry and Domitan back' and then waltz right out, unharmed and unhindered. Plus, we don't even know if they're alive. What makes you think they are?"
"What gives you so little heart that you think they aren't" Alanna replied, a bit too harshly. Before Jon could reply to her comment, she put in, "My father told me." Alanna looked at Jon and in seeing his stubbornness, she glared at him, heart full of hate for a man she once loved. He wasn't going to do anything and Alanna knew what she had to do.
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Kel woke up to see Dom staring at her sadly. "What is it?" She asked him soothingly, coaxing his answer with the honey dripping in her words.
"Besides the fact that I can't be near you, and can only get close enough to look at you, we have no way to send word to Raoul. We will never get out of here."
"When you were sleeping, Nari came. I gave her strands of my hair and she plucked a strand of your hair, so they know we are alive. They will follow her to us."
"I love it when you're smart." Dom said lovingly as he attempted to blow a kiss to her despite the mass of chains around his wrists. She looked at him with a loving gaze and suddenly jumped. They heard the rattle of keys and the steady thump, thump, thump, thump of the jailer's footsteps. He came to their cell and looked in through the small window in the door and walked by. Kel and Dom both smiled with relief. Their time had not yet come.
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"We need to attack as quickly as possible." Raoul said to the third company and to the rest of the army he was commanding.
"No you won't." said a voice belonging to a familiar short stocky redhead at the back of the tent. Alanna walked farther in and smiled. "thy know that you will attack and are watching our every move. We will send a search party. We will limit our numbers to five. Because I have thought of this brilliant plan, I will go."
Raoul turned to the army and aid, "I will go with Sir Alanna. Dom is one of my men and Kel was my squire."
Quasim stood up and said, "I will go too. You may need my help with the birds."
Dirpan, a muscular young soldier stood up and declared that he would go too to help with the fighting. Finally, one more stood up. "As will I." Deylnar said form the back of the tent, near where Alanna had entered. Everyone had forgotten him once Dom had been captured, except for Kel, and when she was taken, no one remembered his presence.
"A healer?" Dirpan asked in awe.
"No. A mage." Deylnar said, the word mage dripping with disdain.
A few hours later, the small rescue party set out on their journey. They followed ever-faithful Nari.
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"Any news on the Tortallian Army?" Lord Shalam asked.
"I have the most important members right here," Deylnar said, as the doors slammed shut behind them and revealed armed guards. Alanna's eyes snapped open in horror. They had followed a traitor into a trap. In all the scurrying to escape, they barely noticed Nari flying free. Once Alanna did, they realized that, like Kel, their hopes were on the wings of a bird.
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Kel and Dom looked up at the slow opening of their door. In stepped Raoul, Alanna, Quasim, and a soldier named Dirpan. They were shackled at the wrist. In their attempts to save them, they too had been caged, letting one bird fly free. Kel's eyes flew open as Deylnar watched this from the door. He had been behind this all along. He intercepted my message. He plotted to capture and kill us all.
Deylnar walked in and stated, "I am like Blayce. He wanted to rule the world. You killed my father, but I had to forgive you to get into the army's camp. When my father died, I thought I had lost my chances of filling his spot. Now I know I have been blessed with another chance; a chance to avenge my father and a chance to conquer everyone. And it's all your fault, Kel"
And it's all my fault. Kel thought as the bitter words dripped like poison from his mouth. Kel's vision started to blur and blink, each time getting darker, until she finally passed out.