~*~*~*~ Forget the Past ~*~*~*~
Disclaimer: Sueing me would be pointless, as I don not have the money or the characters. Well, I do have Belle…and Demon-and unfortunately, Lord Jared.
A/N: I forgot to say in the last sentence in Chapter Three that Numair was dragging her outside to the balcony. Now that I think of it, doesn't everything important in these Tammy stories seem to happen on a balcony or in the garden?? And I just had to get this chappie up, even if it is reeeeeally short!! I'll see how much I can write before my mom orders me to go to bed. "Because you need to be able to roll out of bed and get to the airport, young lady!!", she says. Grrr. I'll post it right before I leave in the morning. Enjoy!
Chapter Four: Wild Magic
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(NORMAL POV)
As soon as they had reached a pocket of shadows on a corner of the balcony, the Salmalin man released her arm. Belle shrank back into the darkness, shivering. Why in Goddess' name had they forced her to come out here?
And with no apparent reason, I might add! She retorted angrily to herself.
Belle wanted to yell at these people. Or at least question them as to why she had been so unceremoniously seized and dragged onto the balcony. But she was much too scared. After that episode with her father, which she now realized with a blush, they had seen, all Belle wanted to do was curl up in a hole and forget she was ever born.
When that mouse had appeared in her lap, she thought she had concealed her emotions well. Obviously, she hadn't, as both the King's Champion and her father noticed. Livid, her father had caught her before she made it to the window seat, and demanded to know why she was acting as though she was aquatinted with a mouse. Belle hadn't been able to answer, as she had been willing herself not to let the tears welling up in her eyes roll down her cheeks. For some reason, she couldn't seem to control her emotions around him anymore. Every time Belle went near her father, she couldn't seem to do anything but burst into tears.
Unhappy with Belle's lack of an answer, her father had slapped her, and informed her that if he ever caught her trying to make a fool out of him to anybody ever again, she could except to be disowned. (A/N: How mean!! Poor Belle. *tear*) Belle had then made the fatal mistake of muttering to him that Alanna the Lioness did not think that her talking to animals was silly. Enraged, Jared had slapped her again, and let go of her so quickly that she had staggered backward. She had gone to lean against the wall beside her window seat to console herself when she had realized she was being watched.
Belle had tried to greet them properly, but before she could even curtsy, the Salmalin man had snatched her arm up in a possessive, but gentle, grip, and taken her outside.
Now Belle couldn't do anything but stare at them with wide eyes, until one of them spoke.
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(DAINE'S POV)
The girl looked as frightened as a cornered doe. Obviously, she had not gotten over the interlude with her father. Daine almost felt an obligation to go and calm the girl, as she knew what it was like to be betrayed by people you knew and trusted. (A/N: Yes, I finally got that point across!!)
She looked toward Numair, who on the outside, seemed to be studying the girl, but Daine could feel the power he was emitting as he tried to examine the power she had.
Daine was now feeling it too. She hadn't before, but now it was almost as if there was someone standing right beside her, a presence, that she couldn't quite see, but feel. (A/N: You know, like when you're in water, or something, and someone near you moves-you can feel the water moving with them. That's kinda what I'm trying to describe.) The feeling was not invasive, but almost comforting.
"I'm sorry about being so abrupt back there, Lady Isabelle, but we-," he indicated the other three people behind him, "-really need to talk to you. When you caught sight of us, you looked like you were about to bolt. I wanted to get hold of you before you had a chance."
Isabelle nodded slowly, almost reluctantly.
Numair, ever polite, continued quickly, "Is it all right if we ask you some questions?
Judging from the look on Isabelle's face, she still didn't believe that they were assassins in disguise.
"Hold on a minute, Numair!" Daine said good-naturedly. "At least make introductions, first!"
Daine stepped forward, extending her hand toward the young woman. "Hello, Isabelle, I'm Daine."
Isabelle didn't shake her hand, but after an awkward moment, she hastily dropped into a curtsy. When rising, she nervously glanced up with a mumbled, "It is very nice to meet you, Lady Daine."
With a mischievous look, Daine replied, "Just 'Daine', please. Being called a 'lady' makes me feel old."
She was about to introduce Raoul, Isabelle suddenly spoke up.
"Can you really talk to animals? And heal them-and shapeshift??" she asked excitedly. Realizing she had almost interrupted Daine, she suddenly became the docile maiden she was before.
After a moment of surprise, Daine answered, "Yes I can. I heard from Alanna that you were very interested in what I do…" she added slowly, as Isabelle looked as though any sudden movements or loud noises would cause her to flee.
Another nod. And then, "I mean, yes, my la-Daine."
Daine wanted to ask her if she really was actually talking to the mouse, as Alanna said she had been, but suddenly, she didn't know where to start. She looked to Numair for assistance.
"When the Great Progress first arrived in Ravensloft, I felt a rapidly-swelling power." Numair began slowly, gently. "I didn't know what it was, but as we got closer to the castle, Daine alerted me to what I was feeling." He paused for a moment, and then went on.
"And it seemed to be coming from you. I wanted to ask you, do you have the Gift, of any kind?" When only silence was his answer, Numair added, "Healing, Seeing…"
After some more silence, Isabelle shook her head.
"I knew it!" Numair exclaimed triumphantly. "I knew it was Wild Magic!"
An audible gasp went up from Isabelle. When everyone turned to look at her, the girl's eyes were wide, and she was covering her mouth with her hands. "Wild Magic? Wild Magic??" she questioned nervously.
"Yes, that is what we think you have. That is why you were able to talk to that mou-" but Numair was interrupted by an agonized wail (A/N: Thank you Anita Blake, for using the word wail in your review-you inspired me!! ^_^) from Isabelle.
"No!" she cried out, panicky, looking as thought she were about to cry again. "No, I can't have Wild Magic! Anything but that!" she began to creep into the shadows, now sobbing. "No, no…"
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A/N: Ok, well, I wrote as much as I could in about one hour, before my mom threatened to leave my home when we all left for the beach the next morning. So I woke up an hour early this morning (7:00-I dunno what in the name of the Great Mother Goddess I was doing awake at such an ungodly hour-at least to me-but I was!) to look it over before I was going to upload it, and of course, I saw a million things wrong with it! So I rewrote some of it, and added on a little at the end. I hope you liked it! It was very hastily written. I felt like I couldn't make my wonderful, much loved reviwers *wink, wink* wait 7 whole days until my next chapter went up. ^_^ Now it's 8:00, so I gotta hurry up and get off, as we're leaving in thirty minutes for the airport. Ahhh! Our plane leaves at 10:00, and I have a 4-hour flight to Florida with 3 younger hyper siblings. Fun!! Yeah right. But now onto the thank yous!!
Thanx to:
Larzdinn: You make me feel so special with your long reviews!!! I almost went nuts when I saw your review-(this was at like 9:00 last night)I gasped, and then started giggling. My family was just staring at me. ^_^ I was waiting all say for FF.net to get up again, and I thought I was gonna die. ;^) Boo-hoo, school starts in a week *sobs dramatically*!!!! Nooooo!! Where did the summer go???? But I'll be in 8th grade!!! Top of the school-but the we go to high school, and we're like the little babies again. The endless cycle is kinda depressing, isn't it? Thank you soooooo much for trying to answer all my haphazrdly-written A/Ns!!! It is greatly appreciated! Clarity-ahhhh something I rarely know. ^_^ Hehehe. Vanilla Cokes are ok, but they're way too expensive to buy a lot. They're like two bucks more than regular coke. And o.d. means overdose-something I do a lot. Especially on sugar. *evil grin* Yes, I love making up my own words, also. Sadly, it has sort of become a habit. ;) Hope you enjoyed the chappie-I'll be thinking of you at the beach!! Byez!!
M'cha Araem: Suspense!!! Something I live for!!! I try not to make the cliffies and such too bad, but what can I say, I get carried away!! ^_^ A Demon-lover!!!! Yes, I missed him too, and I wanted to fit him in somehow, but I couldn't find the right place. Next chapter, though, he'll have a biiiig part. (He's been complaining to me that I've been neglecting him. Well poo to you too, Demon =P) Thank you, too, for answering all my A/Ns-I'm totally clueless without Squire by my side. ;^) Hope you liked it!
Chibi-Chingo: Wow!!! You love my story?!?! I don't think anybody has every loved my story before!!! *sobs happily* And it's Favs list material?!?! You made my day! I mean morning…*shakes head confusedly* Thank you!!!!
Zurizip: More!!!!! Yea!!!!! Hehehe. I hope you liked!!! Thanx for reading!!!! ^_^
Hoppuschick182: Why, thank you!!!! What a compliment!! *blushes* I hope you liked this chapter!!! I'll update on chapter five ASAP. Thank you soooo much for reading!!
Ara-chan Ohkami Uchu: I don't hear it that much, but every time I do, my heart swells with pride in my reviwers…blah, blah, blah. *gags* Tank you!! Ok, I'm back to normal now. ;) I dunno if I'm every normal, but what they hey!! I tried to make Belle as realistic as possible. I tired not to make her too good-looking. I guess I wanted to compensate for her awful life. =D Actually, I do know quite a few good Tortall fics. Some of my favs are: Alianne by SailorPluto7 and The Pride of the Convent by punkpixie87. I promise when I have more time, I'll list more.
Anita Blake: Yes!!! Like I said before, I live for suspense!!! And fluff, but I won't get into that right now…^_^ I hope you liked the chapter!!! I'll update with chapter 5 as soon as I can!!! Wow!!! I have plot!!!!! Finally!!! I was beginning to think it would never show up!! ;^) Thanx for reading!!!
Not looking forward to a four-hour plane trip,
~IrishRose~