Oh Goodness! I had a dream last night. I fell asleep contemplating my
next chapter and I dreamed up the best ending to the story. It's still
chapters and chapters away, but still, *jumping up and down in
anticipation* I'm ready to explode with details and fantasy. My
imagination has been set loose. Beware! Woooooooohooooooooo!
Complications
Chapter 8
'The Great Chase'
SLAM! The Lord Provost's fists landed on the table, echoing through the small room. "This is completely unacceptable. Glaring at Daine he sputtered, "Are you telling me that some - some GIRL, a mere CHILD, is the person responsible for all the thefts this past year?"
Daine had gone back to the banquet hall and spoken to Numair about her findings. He in turn had gathered up the Lord Provost, Alanna, George, and Onua. Letting the King know where they were going and what they would be discussing, -he couldn't just get up and leave his own celebration- they had gone to a private meeting room to try and solve their current problem. And what 'was' their current problem? Apparently, a girl of no more than eight or nine was the sneaky little thief that had been snatching many valuable and some not so valuable documents and artifacts.
Feeling all the body heat contained within the small room, Daine had slipped out of her coat and placed it on a cushioned seat neatly. At the Lord Provost outburst, her head snapped up. Furrowing her eyebrows and scrunching up her nose at his choice of words concerning the culprit's gender, she tried not to let the contempt she felt for him at the moment seep into her voice. "I didn't say that. I said 'I believe this girl stole the Rubian scrolls. Keeping that in mind, we cannot disregard the idea that she could be 'our' famous thief. In fact, it's a probability. But I don't know for sure.'"
"But that doesn't make any sense," George stated. If that were the case, which I doubt it is, that would mean this girl has been stealing with the expertise worthy of the Court of Rogues for nearly a year and a half. You said she looked eight or nine. How many seven year olds can pull off something like that?"
"Hmm. Well, it 'is' the only tangible evidence we have for the moment. At least we know what to look for. Daine, what did she look like?"
Daine thought back to the run-in in the corridor, trying to picture the girl. "I didn't get a good look at her. I was in a hurry. She had a wrap covering her hair and she looked down the entire time I was apologizing so I don't know what color eyes she had."
"That does not help us Daine," The Lord Provost said.
She glared at him. "I know! She wore gloves, brown ones, I thought it was unusual for the task, but she may wear them to hide something. So we could look for a girl wearing gloves when not needed. She was very pale. I remember that. Not bad pale, she looked like she hadn't seen the sun in a long time."
"Alright," Said Alanna. "I'll fill Jonathan in on what's going on. My Lord Provost, you can tell the palace guards what to look for. We will place another guard in the mages wing, this one 'inside' the room. Let us hope this is our girl, because I personally am getting tired of this wild goose chase."
Later that night:
Numair and Daine entered their rooms tiredly. Daine could not believe that so much had happened in one day. With the uniform, the banquet, the girl, then back to the banquet, it was a wonder she had not collapsed yet. She carefully slipped her coat off. She was walking to the corner to hang it up when Kitten ran through her feet, affectively tripping her. Numair caught her just in time from behind. "Careful," he whispered. Did she detect an odd tone in his voice? She smiled at the thought.
"Thanks," was all she managed to get out.
He took the coat from her, without stepping away from her back, and placed it across a cushioned seat. He reached down and interlaced his fingers with hers. Daine felt a deliciously familiar heat begin to rise within her. Keeping his hold on her hands, he raised her arms above her head and gently placed them around his neck, snuggling her back against his chest. Then, with the lightest touch, he traced his hands down her wrists, past her arms, around the curve of her elbows, past the crease of her underarms, past her breast and ribs and then snaked them across he stomach, relishing in her tiny shivers of pleasure. He nuzzled her hair and neck and then whispered hoarsely, "It's later."
Her heart skipped a beat at his words. She turned her head slightly to the side in order to see him. When she met his eyes, she smiled wickedly. "It sure is."
A few weeks later:
Numair and Alanna walked through the halls discussing a troublesome spell when they heard a loud crash from around the corner. "What was that?" asked Numair in confusion. Alanna opened her mouth to answer when a small figure launched itself around said corner. Incorrectly estimating the sharp turn, it nearly slammed into the wall. It skidded with barely enough time to avoid the hard stone blocks. Now said figure was charging towards them. From around the same corner charged one of the palace guards. Seeing Numair and Alanna he yelled, "THIEF," while pointing at the figure running from him.
The figure, or rather, young girl, who was sporting a hair cover and brown leather gloves had been looking behind herself to judge the distance between the guard and herself. Having heard him yell out in font of her, she turned her head back to the front to see what he was looking at. Her eyes went wide and she skidded to an almost complete stop, and quicker than Alanna thought possible, pushed herself through one of the hallway doors. The following events would be amusedly known throughout the castle for many years to come as 'The Great Chase'.
Looking at each other quickly, Alanna and Numair both took off after her. They reached the door the girl had entered just when the guard had. They ran through in time to see the girl open a door leading to the room next to it. Following her through, all three of them suddenly felt a pang of stupidity when the girl exited the room back into the hall. They had had her surrounded, and she managed to get away easily.
They found themselves again running down the hall after her. Numair threw a net of his black colored magic out and was stricken with amazement when the cloudy threads of the net vanished completely after settling over her. It didn't even slow her down. Alanna attempted a similar spell and had the same results. "Our magic doesn't work on her. We're going to have to catch her the old-fashioned way.
"Perfect," muttered Numair. The girl pushed through a set of double doors into the indoor practice courts.
"Keep chasing her through the doors. I'm going to try to cut her off." Alanna took a right down the hall and disappeared. The guard and Numair continued after her. The sudden 'bang' of the doors flying open caused the practice between Sir Raoul, Captain of the King's Own and Onua to stop abruptly and turn their heads to look.
"Hey!" yelled Numair. "Stop! Come on, just stop!" They all knew about the girl that they believed to be the culprit. Onua jumped at the girl when she ran past them; but the girl dodged her and hopped on top of a practice sword shelf just in time. She ran across the shelf and took a step up onto the padding shelf. Raoul ran up to the shelf and jumped up, trying to catch her leg. She crawled into an airshaft, small enough so only she could fit.
Buri, who had been sitting across the room yelled, "Where does that lead?"
"The Kitchen!" Responded Onua. Stampeding through the doors and around a corridor, they pushed their way into the Kitchen; startling the working cooks.
"Did a small girl run through here?" Demanded Numair. They all shook their heads 'no' in confusion. "The airshaft. Where is the airshaft that leads to the courts?" Just then, a crash came from the corner of the room. They turned and saw the girl frozen. Apparently, she had knocked over some pots on the shelf while crawling out of the airshaft located near the top corner of the room. She threw herself over their heads in an attempt to land on another shelf to high for them to reach.
She didn't quite make it. She slammed up against the side of the shelf, desperately grabbing for the edge. Unable to hang on, she fell to the floor; noise filled the room as dozens of pots fell in the process. She quickly crawled under a table, all the Tortallans reaching for her. Frantically dodging their hands, she almost made it across. Looking back to see, she was surprised when Onua grabbed onto her left ankle with a triumphant "HA!"
Onua awkwardly tried to hang on, a difficult task while being stretched out the way she was. She felt her hand rub up against a hard object on the girl's ankle under the breeches and blinked in confusion. The girl shrieked in pain, completely catching them off guard. Being so close to the girl, Onua thought it sounded like a hawk's screech more than it did a girl. The girl turned her face back to see her foot; and Onua was shocked to see her eyes flare a brilliant red.
With renewed strength, the girl violently kicked at Onua, freeing her foot. She practically flew out the kitchen. Roaul growled in frustration. "It's like chasing a bird inside a room!" Again, they took off after her, leaving the cooks to stare after them in confusion.
Flying around another corner, she came to a screeching stop when she saw Alanna run down the hall towards her. Looking back to see five people there, she decided to keep on her previous coarse. She barreled into the lioness with enough force to drive them both to the floor. Alanna wrapped her arms around the girls waste with a vice-like grip. "Just hold 'still'!" Alanna screamed. Again, the girl kicked her way free. The effort it took for the small girl to accomplish this had all the Tortallans shocked. While she had been struggling with the lioness on the floor, the cloth around her hair had come loose. It fell away to reveal silky long flaming hair. Brighter even than Alanna. Most of the hair was bright red, but there were streaks of lighter golden reds throughout. It seemed as if her hair was a rolling mass of fire.
Alanna got to her feet with a roar of anger. The girl had stumbled to her feet and had taken off again. Around the corner, a little bluish green creature appeared, Kitten. The dragonet sat up on her hind legs and tilted her head in curiosity. The red haired girl's eyes nearly popped out of her head at the sight of the baby dragon. In panic, she stopped running so quickly, she tripped over her own feet, landing face down. When the girl looked up, Kitten was mere inches away from her face. A squeak escaped the girl's lips and, to the surprise of the now six Tortallans behind her, apparently decided she would rather go through the six of them than the dragon.
She tried to run through them, but six Tortallans were harder to get through then one had been. They grabbed on to her, 'barely', and wrestled her to the floor. They all just sat there; catching their raging breaths after the girl had stopped struggling.
"Good Gods!" Breathed Buri. If that isn't a work out, I don't know what is."
To be continued
A/N: This was a fun chapter. I hope you like it. I personally find it funny. But it wasn't just for fun. It really is important in the end. I'm already started on the next chapter; so don't worry, I'm spitting them out as fast as I can. Thanks for all the support. Keep the reviews going. I want to know you like my work.
Thanks, Karigan
Complications
Chapter 8
'The Great Chase'
SLAM! The Lord Provost's fists landed on the table, echoing through the small room. "This is completely unacceptable. Glaring at Daine he sputtered, "Are you telling me that some - some GIRL, a mere CHILD, is the person responsible for all the thefts this past year?"
Daine had gone back to the banquet hall and spoken to Numair about her findings. He in turn had gathered up the Lord Provost, Alanna, George, and Onua. Letting the King know where they were going and what they would be discussing, -he couldn't just get up and leave his own celebration- they had gone to a private meeting room to try and solve their current problem. And what 'was' their current problem? Apparently, a girl of no more than eight or nine was the sneaky little thief that had been snatching many valuable and some not so valuable documents and artifacts.
Feeling all the body heat contained within the small room, Daine had slipped out of her coat and placed it on a cushioned seat neatly. At the Lord Provost outburst, her head snapped up. Furrowing her eyebrows and scrunching up her nose at his choice of words concerning the culprit's gender, she tried not to let the contempt she felt for him at the moment seep into her voice. "I didn't say that. I said 'I believe this girl stole the Rubian scrolls. Keeping that in mind, we cannot disregard the idea that she could be 'our' famous thief. In fact, it's a probability. But I don't know for sure.'"
"But that doesn't make any sense," George stated. If that were the case, which I doubt it is, that would mean this girl has been stealing with the expertise worthy of the Court of Rogues for nearly a year and a half. You said she looked eight or nine. How many seven year olds can pull off something like that?"
"Hmm. Well, it 'is' the only tangible evidence we have for the moment. At least we know what to look for. Daine, what did she look like?"
Daine thought back to the run-in in the corridor, trying to picture the girl. "I didn't get a good look at her. I was in a hurry. She had a wrap covering her hair and she looked down the entire time I was apologizing so I don't know what color eyes she had."
"That does not help us Daine," The Lord Provost said.
She glared at him. "I know! She wore gloves, brown ones, I thought it was unusual for the task, but she may wear them to hide something. So we could look for a girl wearing gloves when not needed. She was very pale. I remember that. Not bad pale, she looked like she hadn't seen the sun in a long time."
"Alright," Said Alanna. "I'll fill Jonathan in on what's going on. My Lord Provost, you can tell the palace guards what to look for. We will place another guard in the mages wing, this one 'inside' the room. Let us hope this is our girl, because I personally am getting tired of this wild goose chase."
Later that night:
Numair and Daine entered their rooms tiredly. Daine could not believe that so much had happened in one day. With the uniform, the banquet, the girl, then back to the banquet, it was a wonder she had not collapsed yet. She carefully slipped her coat off. She was walking to the corner to hang it up when Kitten ran through her feet, affectively tripping her. Numair caught her just in time from behind. "Careful," he whispered. Did she detect an odd tone in his voice? She smiled at the thought.
"Thanks," was all she managed to get out.
He took the coat from her, without stepping away from her back, and placed it across a cushioned seat. He reached down and interlaced his fingers with hers. Daine felt a deliciously familiar heat begin to rise within her. Keeping his hold on her hands, he raised her arms above her head and gently placed them around his neck, snuggling her back against his chest. Then, with the lightest touch, he traced his hands down her wrists, past her arms, around the curve of her elbows, past the crease of her underarms, past her breast and ribs and then snaked them across he stomach, relishing in her tiny shivers of pleasure. He nuzzled her hair and neck and then whispered hoarsely, "It's later."
Her heart skipped a beat at his words. She turned her head slightly to the side in order to see him. When she met his eyes, she smiled wickedly. "It sure is."
A few weeks later:
Numair and Alanna walked through the halls discussing a troublesome spell when they heard a loud crash from around the corner. "What was that?" asked Numair in confusion. Alanna opened her mouth to answer when a small figure launched itself around said corner. Incorrectly estimating the sharp turn, it nearly slammed into the wall. It skidded with barely enough time to avoid the hard stone blocks. Now said figure was charging towards them. From around the same corner charged one of the palace guards. Seeing Numair and Alanna he yelled, "THIEF," while pointing at the figure running from him.
The figure, or rather, young girl, who was sporting a hair cover and brown leather gloves had been looking behind herself to judge the distance between the guard and herself. Having heard him yell out in font of her, she turned her head back to the front to see what he was looking at. Her eyes went wide and she skidded to an almost complete stop, and quicker than Alanna thought possible, pushed herself through one of the hallway doors. The following events would be amusedly known throughout the castle for many years to come as 'The Great Chase'.
Looking at each other quickly, Alanna and Numair both took off after her. They reached the door the girl had entered just when the guard had. They ran through in time to see the girl open a door leading to the room next to it. Following her through, all three of them suddenly felt a pang of stupidity when the girl exited the room back into the hall. They had had her surrounded, and she managed to get away easily.
They found themselves again running down the hall after her. Numair threw a net of his black colored magic out and was stricken with amazement when the cloudy threads of the net vanished completely after settling over her. It didn't even slow her down. Alanna attempted a similar spell and had the same results. "Our magic doesn't work on her. We're going to have to catch her the old-fashioned way.
"Perfect," muttered Numair. The girl pushed through a set of double doors into the indoor practice courts.
"Keep chasing her through the doors. I'm going to try to cut her off." Alanna took a right down the hall and disappeared. The guard and Numair continued after her. The sudden 'bang' of the doors flying open caused the practice between Sir Raoul, Captain of the King's Own and Onua to stop abruptly and turn their heads to look.
"Hey!" yelled Numair. "Stop! Come on, just stop!" They all knew about the girl that they believed to be the culprit. Onua jumped at the girl when she ran past them; but the girl dodged her and hopped on top of a practice sword shelf just in time. She ran across the shelf and took a step up onto the padding shelf. Raoul ran up to the shelf and jumped up, trying to catch her leg. She crawled into an airshaft, small enough so only she could fit.
Buri, who had been sitting across the room yelled, "Where does that lead?"
"The Kitchen!" Responded Onua. Stampeding through the doors and around a corridor, they pushed their way into the Kitchen; startling the working cooks.
"Did a small girl run through here?" Demanded Numair. They all shook their heads 'no' in confusion. "The airshaft. Where is the airshaft that leads to the courts?" Just then, a crash came from the corner of the room. They turned and saw the girl frozen. Apparently, she had knocked over some pots on the shelf while crawling out of the airshaft located near the top corner of the room. She threw herself over their heads in an attempt to land on another shelf to high for them to reach.
She didn't quite make it. She slammed up against the side of the shelf, desperately grabbing for the edge. Unable to hang on, she fell to the floor; noise filled the room as dozens of pots fell in the process. She quickly crawled under a table, all the Tortallans reaching for her. Frantically dodging their hands, she almost made it across. Looking back to see, she was surprised when Onua grabbed onto her left ankle with a triumphant "HA!"
Onua awkwardly tried to hang on, a difficult task while being stretched out the way she was. She felt her hand rub up against a hard object on the girl's ankle under the breeches and blinked in confusion. The girl shrieked in pain, completely catching them off guard. Being so close to the girl, Onua thought it sounded like a hawk's screech more than it did a girl. The girl turned her face back to see her foot; and Onua was shocked to see her eyes flare a brilliant red.
With renewed strength, the girl violently kicked at Onua, freeing her foot. She practically flew out the kitchen. Roaul growled in frustration. "It's like chasing a bird inside a room!" Again, they took off after her, leaving the cooks to stare after them in confusion.
Flying around another corner, she came to a screeching stop when she saw Alanna run down the hall towards her. Looking back to see five people there, she decided to keep on her previous coarse. She barreled into the lioness with enough force to drive them both to the floor. Alanna wrapped her arms around the girls waste with a vice-like grip. "Just hold 'still'!" Alanna screamed. Again, the girl kicked her way free. The effort it took for the small girl to accomplish this had all the Tortallans shocked. While she had been struggling with the lioness on the floor, the cloth around her hair had come loose. It fell away to reveal silky long flaming hair. Brighter even than Alanna. Most of the hair was bright red, but there were streaks of lighter golden reds throughout. It seemed as if her hair was a rolling mass of fire.
Alanna got to her feet with a roar of anger. The girl had stumbled to her feet and had taken off again. Around the corner, a little bluish green creature appeared, Kitten. The dragonet sat up on her hind legs and tilted her head in curiosity. The red haired girl's eyes nearly popped out of her head at the sight of the baby dragon. In panic, she stopped running so quickly, she tripped over her own feet, landing face down. When the girl looked up, Kitten was mere inches away from her face. A squeak escaped the girl's lips and, to the surprise of the now six Tortallans behind her, apparently decided she would rather go through the six of them than the dragon.
She tried to run through them, but six Tortallans were harder to get through then one had been. They grabbed on to her, 'barely', and wrestled her to the floor. They all just sat there; catching their raging breaths after the girl had stopped struggling.
"Good Gods!" Breathed Buri. If that isn't a work out, I don't know what is."
To be continued
A/N: This was a fun chapter. I hope you like it. I personally find it funny. But it wasn't just for fun. It really is important in the end. I'm already started on the next chapter; so don't worry, I'm spitting them out as fast as I can. Thanks for all the support. Keep the reviews going. I want to know you like my work.
Thanks, Karigan