Part Nine-Out with the Old, In with the New (1)
Alanna was starting to worry. Inside the city, the remainder of the Copper Isles soldiers fought fiercely. At the Tortallans' back was the remainder of the great army. Inside Persopolis, doubt was starting to creep into the recesses of her mind. It looked as if her daughter might actually win this battle.
Alianne. She still couldn't believe that her only daughter, her Alianne, was behind all the pain and death before her now. Never before in her entire life had Alanna seen so much blood in one place. Not even the Immortals War could compare to the absolute devastation enfolding in front of her eyes.
As she sat, bored out of her mind, ordered not to move by the generals, she began to doze. While she was lightly sleeping, she began to dream.
She sat with George on the balcony of House Azik. She was young again, and still stinging from the loss of Jonathan.
"My parents are dead, my brother is a psychopath, and I passed up the opportunity to become queen of Tortall," she said unhappily. "What's the strongest liquor you have?"
George laughed. "I still can't believe you actually did that."
"Oh, come on. Can you honestly see me as the queen? The last thing I want is to be chained for the rest of my life like that."
He frowned. "Then what do you want?"
She looked up at the stars and sighed. "I want to go places and see things. I want to be able to say when I die that I lived my life to its fullest. And I want love...a powerful, earth-shattering, mind-blowing love that just sweeps me off my feet. I want to feel alive!"
Suddenly, the wind blew cold. Alanna frowned; that wasn't part of what she remembered. It was warm in Port Caynn that evening!
"You got what you wanted, didn't you?" a cold, female voice sneered. "But you loved him more than you ever loved us."
"No! No, no, that's not true!"
Alianne scowled. "You're so selfish...all you think about is yourself! You were never there for me...I never knew what it was like to have a mother!"
Her daughter turned into Jonathan. "At least they're women, Lady Alanna," he taunted. "At least they know how to act like women!"
Jonathan became Liam. "Sometimes you act like you have no more sense than the kitten I named you!"
Alanna sat up straight, sweating. Raoul looked at her with a worried expression. "Is something wrong?" he mouthed silently.
She shook her head in reply, and turned her attention back on the castle to keep herself awake. They had to find a way in, with or without Vagnet's orders. Every second they let go to waste was reducing their chances of defeating the Copper Islanders.
Inside the castle, a weary Alianne stretched out on her bed and tried to fall asleep. After a long day of directing the army, she was absolutely exhausted. It was hard, letting the Tortallans think they were winning. She rolled over on her stomach and sighed deeply, thinking of her daughter. Elena, she thought sadly. My little princess, I hated my mother for never being there and now I find myself doing the same to you. I promise, when this war is over, we will never be apart again.
It was an empty promise, one not easily kept, but it satisfied Alianne at the moment. So lost was she in her thoughts that she did not hear the door softly open and then close. But she did hear the footsteps. "Casimiro?"
Her answer was the sharp point of a dagger at her throat. "Your husband is gone, Majesty. You have been defeated."
Alianne did the first thing that came to mind; she screamed. And kept screaming, louder and louder, but still no guards came. Her attacker laughed and spun her around to face him. It was Jonathan. She began swiping her nails at his face, thinking only of scratching his eyes out.
The last thing she felt was the contact of a heavy object with the back of her head, and then darkness...
"Gods be damned, girl, if you don't answer me right now, I swear..."
"And I swear I don't know," Alianne gasped. She bit her cheek to keep from crying out as the scourge made contact with her exposed back again. "How many times do I have to say it?"
Vagnet haMinch turned and looked at Gareth (Gary) of Naxen with a frustrated cry. "Damn it, yes you do, you little liar!"
Alianne rolled her eyes. "How long are you going to torture me? It seems pointless if you're just going to get the same answer. Would you rather I lie and say I do know where they are?"
Gary, who previously had refused to look at her, met her eyes and shook his head in disbelief. "Just confess, please. Beheading is better than death by torture."
"As if she deserves it, little harlot," Vagnet snapped viciously. "If Jonathan had handed you over to me as I requested, you'd have been begging for death a week ago! Perhaps I may still convince him..."
She arched an eyebrow as two guards untied her hands. Her back was a crisscross of scars and bloody gashes. "Would you rather me say under oath? I swear to the Goddess, I do not know where my husband is."
The general backhanded her, knocking her to the ground. Gary winced and looked away, his face deathly pale. haMinch, on the other hand, grabbed one of her wrists and wrenched her off the ground. "Gods as my witnesses, if I find that you are lying to me, I will make you sorry you were ever born."
Gary pulled Alianne from his grasp. "Mithros, Vagnet, she's just a child! Stop this insanity now...it's just not right."
Vagnet looked back at the prime minister with intense hatred and swept out of the room, beckoning the torturers to follow. Gary was left with Alianne, who finally allowed herself to cry, sinking to the ground in a torrent of tears. She grabbed his hand, choked back a sob, and looked up at him, her eyes huge in her too-pale face. "Please, gods, my lord," the young queen pleaded desperately, "just let me see my mother once. That's all I ask before I die."
He pulled himself out of her grasp and backed away, trying not to see the bloody mess before him. Not knowing what else to do, Gary fled.
"Alianne?"
She thought she was dreaming when she heard the whisper, but with the cautious opening of the door, she knew it was real. Alanna shut the door gently behind her and locked it. She flicked violet fire to all the corners of the cell, including the windows, to deter eavesdroppers. Alianne sat up and ran her fingers through her hair nervously.
Her mother knelt before her and looked her deep in her eyes. "Gods, Ali, why? Why did you do it?"
Alianne winced and looked away. "How did you get in here?"
"I drugged the guards and stole the keys. It was actually rather easy. But I want to know why."
"Why do you care?"
"Because I'm your mother and I love you," Alanna replied. "I can't bear to see them hurt you like this. Where is he, Alianne? Just tell them...please, Goddess, just tell them."
"Oh, I see. If I tell them, they might decide to behead me instead of burning me at the stake? Admit it, Mother, they are going to try and kill me." She scowled. "Jonathan wouldn't dare."
Her mother grabbed both of her elbows and forced her to look up. "Yes he would, Alianne, that's what I'm telling you. He would kill you without a moment of reluctance. You have tried to overthrow him, and been unsuccessful." She shook her head disbelievingly. "You are so unbelievably selfish! How can you do this to us? You do realize that with you so involved with this you've not only placed your own life on the line, but mine, your father's, and your brothers' as well?"
"What do I care?" Alianne retorted. "I am the queen of the Copper Isles, and you four are nothing. Nobodies. Complete nonentities. And Jonathan, according to unbreakable foreign policy laws, is forbidden to lay a hand on me. Of course, technically, he's already broken that. But if he kills me, I swear he won't last a week." She glanced at the ceiling, and burst into tears. "Gods, I'm so scared...I'm too young to die! Mother, I'm only 18. I haven't even lived my life yet...it's too soon."
Her mother held her while she sobbed silently, her body wracking violently. When she was finished crying, Alianne pulled back and looked her straight in the eye. "I didn't mean what I said, before I ran away. I want you to know that...I've always loved you more than anyone."
Alanna sighed. "I know. And I...I'm sorry. For what I said and did. After all, it was just hair dye, right? I mean, there are worse things in the world."
"Being locked in a dungeon for treason and attempted regicide is definitely one of them. But why live in the past?" She grinned. "There are so many things I regret, so many things I would take back. And yet, everything I have done has been for the greater good. But that's not enough, is it?"
In the streets, the people rejoiced when they heard the verdict of the trial, if could even be called that. When they began to erect the scaffold on Traitor's Hill, over a thousand turned out that very day to watch. All of this Alan watched from a slight distance, careful not to appear at all concerned that his sister had been declared an enemy of the realm, and was to die at the stake, burned like a witch. In fact, he acted as happy as the rest of the courtiers, celebrating to no end. He observed his parents and brother doing the same, mystifying the rest of the court. He rolled his eyes and decided not to care.
He was shocked one night when an unidentified visitor came to his rooms. Though wary, he allowed the person to come in. When the door was locked, and they were alone, the person threw back his hood. It was his brother-in-law.
"You son of a bitch," Alan snapped. "You left like a gods be damned coward and now my sister is going to die because of it. How can you even face me?"
Casimiro held up his hands in defense. "Ask your sister. She understands everything we do now. You see, using the full army to defeat Jonathan in Persopolis would have been foolish, for then we would have met resistance up north. But if we can conquer him in the capital...then we control the nation."
"And you're telling me this why?"
"Because your sister loves and trusts you. She claims that you will not betray us, and I believe her. Please, do not prove me wrong here."
Alan raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Casimiro grinned evilly. "Let me begin to explain…"
A/N: Now, I know this chapter absolutely SUCKS, and it's so unbelievably short, but I've divided it into two parts, as you can see above. Nice little Alanna/Alianne reunion there…and the cliffhanger at the end turns out to be pretty tight. I just wanted to prove that I haven't forgotten this fic in the least, I promise! The next part will be totally longer!!! Ahhhhh, school is SO much harder this year! I'm DYING!!!
GO READ MY NEW STORY, TRAGIC KINGDOM!!! It's seriously ten times better than this one!!!