A/N here I go again! Remember- read and review and,
well, you know the drill.
Chapter Two: The Midnight Underground
"So you really were slaves?" Numair asked, disbelieving them.
"Yea, but only for, uh, seven years, I think." Wind replied. They knew they were lucky. Many had to do slave work from the moment they were old and strong enough until the day the Dark God blessed them and relieved them from the life they were born into.
"But you're far older than seven." Daine stated.
They all still sat at their corner table in the Inn slash Tavern that was the Dancing Dove. This conversation came after about four tankards of lemonades and two hours of previous questions from the mages and answers from the triplets.
"Only seven years?" Numair muttered.
"Well we weren't born slaves. After mother died, we were left with Grandam, but she did have enough money to support all three of us, and her, so we had to get work. Slavery was the only thing available at the time that gave you food and shelter, even if no money was involved. Then one day, our widowed mistress said we weren't allowed to work for her anymore. Grandam had passed, so there was nothing left for us there. Not to mention we hadn't been able to find work. No one would take us on." Willow explained. None of them wanted to admit about why would give them a job. When Kaddar freed the slaves, their secret got out and no one hires three freaks to work for them.
The triplets were really quiet for a while.
Daine finally broke their uncomfortable silence.
"Do you want to come work for us? If you know anything about horses, we have need for stable hands."
The three of them brightened up considerably.
"Yes Lady, we know plenty about horses, and tack." Wind said. He looked at his brother and sister and could tell what they were thinking. "We'd love to work for you."
"Great! We'll have to tell Stefan. He'll tell you where to work."
"Who's Stefan?" Willow asked, worried. She had hoped that they would work directly for Daine and Numair.
"The head hostler. You'll probably take care of the extra knights mounts, or perhaps spare Rider ponies. They're feisty, I warn you." Daine sipped her lemonade.
All three of the teenagers wondered the same thing, but only River was able to ask the obvious, yet vital question.
"Where are we working?"
"The stables- oh. The Palace stables." Numair said it as if painfully obvious.
The PALACE!
They were speechless. For three former Carthaki slaves, a chance to work for the famed King Jonathan of Tortall, well in his stables anyway, was the greatest honor and privilege the Gods could ever bestow. Plus they would be getting paid.
You could stay in the loft, or if you prefer, the servants wing. It's rather nice, if I do say so myself. And if you are good with the animals, Stefan will pay, well, anything really. Good hands are hard to come by, and really good ones are worth their weight in gold around a city like Corus. All they have are soft merchants sons who won't soil their hands." She said it with a smile, but you could hear contempt in her voice.
Willow gathered up her courage to mention it. "Lady, you shouldn't speak of other nobles that way, if you don't mind me saying so."
Daine laughed. "Oh- Willow you're a riot!" Willow felt a bit hurt. She didn't see what was so damn funny. "I hate most nobles. And I wasn't born one. I was born of a midwife, in a village near Scanra, in an entirely different country. After her and my Granda's death, me and my horse, Cloud, came to Tortall with a few friends we met along the way." She squeezed Numair's hand and smiled at him. (They were holding hands and had set them on the table.) "I didn't even know Carthak existed until I came here." That surprised them. Why, they had always known of Tortall and its surrounding countries!
Something else was bothering Wind that he thought he would mention.
"Aren't your parents. well, Gods?"
"Well, my Da always was. He pleaded with the Dark God to bring Ma with him to his lands. She became the Green Lady. I was asked to stay there, in the Divine Realms, but felt that I would be of more use here." That was something none of them believed, but just decided they wouldn't bring up.
"And you've talked to GODS before?"
"Yes. Chaos, Mithros, The Goddess, Kidunka, The Graveyard Hag, my parents of course.. The Black God, oh and my mentor, The Badger God." She listed it as if it was all trivial, as if they were close, personal friends, and like it was unimportant. "Plus all the Animal and Tree Gods we met along the way."
Bells then chimed the half-hour (nine thirty) "It's approaching my bedtime. I guess we can stay here tonight, if that's ok with you. We can talk to Stefan in the morning." He beckoned Geoff to their table and handed him two gold nobles. "Here- two rooms, preferably in the back please."
An anxiety was eased in Wind, Willow, and Rivers mind.
1: Where they would sleep.
2: How they would pay.
They were escorted to a stairwell and were halfway up it when a group of four men (or women: they couldn't really tell) wearing all black, with masks and gloves, stormed into the room, all with long, sharp-looking Yamani swords.
"Put all your valuables in these bags or else!" One of the all black thieves commanded. He held out a gray sack and all the other ones pulled out similar bags.
No one moved. The thief who spoke grabbed a nearby waitress and put the blade against her throat. "Do it!" he screamed. Still no movement.
A trickle of blood ran down the length of the blade. The waitress clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. She didn't dare move anything else.
Slowly, men and women alike started to remove their jewelry and purses and place them in the sacks.
"FASTER!" the robber who kept speaking yelled at everyone. At the same time, he beheaded that poor waitress.
Willow stopped considering and decided to do something after that. She turned to look at River, but saw Daine (or where she would have been standing) as a half-changed cat-girl.
Then a very large feline, a tiger actually, leapt over the stair rail and mauled the nearest black- attired thief supporting a pillowcase.
They went down fighting, and then with one swipe of her large paws, she smacked him across the face. They no longer moved. At all. She got up and then everyone but her and Numair froze where they stood.
The screaming that began at the appearance of a tiger from the stairwell, stopped.
Numair put his arms down. He walked down to the main floor and looked at the all-black man who killed the waitress right in the face (or mask).
"Unfreeze me scum!" the man yelled, fighting the spell. "My master will make you regret this fatal mistake with the lives of all that you love!"
"And how do you propose he'll do that?" Numair threatened. Daine trotted over to him and rubbed against his legs like a housecat. Then she growled at the frozen burglar. He didn't seem intimidated.
"Ah- the Wildmage." He drawled, mildly impressed. "And her pet magician- Saliman." He said pet and Saliman with extreme distaste.
"A black robe, don't forget. Which means I can tie you into a pretzel, suffocate you without getting within 5 feet, and turn you into a sniveling little lapdog all before you could ever take in a deep breath." Numair hissed into the thief's face.
A few around the inn gasped. Everyone knew of Numair Saliman and what he could do, but to hear him threaten to do it, well.it was rather frightening.
"Now, why are you here maggot?" He asked, spitting the words into his face.
"To.to," the man fought to say the words. (It's fair difficult to speak when your entire body is frozen in place.)
"Well, go on- spit it out!"
"To let the common people know of our master and his plans. We are here to strike fear into the hearts of the people at the mere thought of him and his followers. To let them have a chance to join his forces because you'll want to be on the right side when it all begins. We are the Midnight Underground and our leader is-" then he started to gasp for air. You could see he body shake with the failing effort to move his arms. Then he stopped. Stopped moving. Stopped Talking. Stopped breathing. He was dead.
Numair immediately lifted the spell. The man, and all the other remaining thieves collapsed, all dead.
"Oh. I do hate that bedamned death spell. Kills the best of informants, it seems." Numair muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, while in freezing everyone but himself and Daine, the triplets fought the spell also. They were relieved when he lifted.
"Oh, well, let's never piss him off, ok?" Wind said, jokingly, but his brother and sister nodded their heads in agreement rather somberly.
Then Daine padded over, grabbed her bag in her giant teeth and went into another room. Numair gave orders to have the thieves taken away and seen that they were dealt with accordingly (probably burnt publicly) and that the Waitress has a memorial service at The Goddesses very own Temple. "She did nothing wrong. Make sure that her family is informed promptly as well please." A few men nodded and began to remove the bodies. Another grabbed the bags and started to return the valuables the thieves almost got away with.
The Black Robe walked to the staircase. "Well that was semi- informative. At least we know the name of the organization- The Midnight Underground."
Daine emerged from a darkened doorway as a human and fully clothed.
"If it's ok with you, I'd rather walk to the castle tonight instead of staying here with all this excitement." Daine said. Willow, Wind, and River nodded a hasty agreement. "Good. I know a good shortcut to the Temple District and that leads straight to Palace Way. We'll be there in no time."
They bid Geoff a quick farewell, apologized, gathered themselves and their belongings, and then finally slipped out the back.
They ended up in an alley and started walking, a bit quiet first, but then started talking about the triplets past, present, and future again.
"If you don't mind my saying so, " Daine asked. ", how did you expect to get by with only bows and arrows in a place like Corus?"
"Well, you see Lady-" Willow started.
"Daine, Willow. Just Daine."
"Well, uh Daine, Wind and I are a fair good shot. Plus, River has daggers."
"Nine of 'em. And I'm pretty good with 'em, if I do say so myself." Willow smiled. River never bragged- to ANYONE- about his talent before. It was an understatement though. Mother taught him how to cut a flea in half (in midair no less!) with daggers after he couldn't master the bow like her and Wind.
"We also know, well, every kind of unarmed combat. Mother taught us very young and Grandam used to drill us everyday after she got custody of us. Now we make ourselves practice- you know- to keep in shape."
"Impressive, but you'll still need to protect yourselves other ways. A group could come up and maul you with you ever knowing they were there." Numair explained. They had heard it all before and just smiled to themselves. They knew they could never be snuck up on.
"How did your mother know all about bows and daggers and the like. They don't teach commoners in Carthak such things."
"Well she wasn't from Carthak, you see. She always said she was a well- learned traveler. Grandam wasn't our real grandmother. Just a good friend of Mothers. She came from Tortall, Mother did. From- what was it.oh, Olau. Barony Olau. Always bragging about apples for some reason." Willow trailed off, smiling and remembering her mothers voice saying they would one day go to Tortall, eat Barony Olau apples and meet the king. But that was all a fairy tale she told them, for a story you tell children at bedtime. "Her name was Rachel, um- "
She couldn't remember her mothers' name!
"Stonecutter." River supplied. "Our granda was a mason in a quarry someplace."
"Rachel Stonecutter.why is that so familiar? Oh, well, wait a sec.Rachel Stonecutter!" Numair vaguely exclaimed.
"You mean- The Rachel Stonecutter? Why- she's Shang!" Daine gasped.
"The Falcon." Numair replied.
Willow, Wind, and River were completely left in the dark. What was "Shang"? Mother was a bird? HUH?? Why did Daine say "The Rachel Stonecutter"? Mother was just a traveler from Olau. wasn't she?
"Is there a jest here that we don't understand, or are we missing something?" Wind asked. Their puzzled faces made the Wildmage laugh.
"Sweets- your mother and her death have gone down in history. She was the Shang Falcon. The Shang are the most elite warriors in the world. I had heard she was in Carthak for six years before her final battle in Tyra. No one knows why she went there. No one ever mentioned she had children either. Strange-"
"Excuse me Daine, but what's strange?" River asked.
"Well the longest any Shang stays anywhere is only about a year or two. They move about a lot." Numair explained. "She stayed in Carthak with you for six."
"She always spoke of Tortall and going to meet the King in Corus someday. We just thought it was one of mothers fairy tales." Wind mentioned.
As soon as he said "tales" loud shouts and muffled screams emerged from a few alleys back. They weren't quite to the Temple District yet, so those guards couldn't get there.
Daine, as quiet as a mouse, jogged over to the source of the disruption and peered around the corner.
"Again?!" she screamed. The rest of them stampeded over to find three more Midnight Undergrounders standing over an elderly lady, clad in crumpled skits, lying on the ground. She looked frightened.
"How many times are we gonna have to deal with you sons- of- bitches in one day?" Daine demanded of them. She called for assistance from a nearby group of bats and an owl or two (under a truce naturally) to harass the three jerks cornering a helpless old woman.
The last they saw of the thieves, they had owl talons snatching at their masks and were covered in bat scratches (and guano.)
"Good work Daine but I do wish I'd gotten a chance to question them first." Numair told her. She shrugged it off.
"No one pushes around old ladies where I come from! They make me sick!" Daine yelled exasperated. The old woman tried to get up. "Oh- here Grandmother, let me help."
"Thank you Daine." She rasped.
"Eleni! Wha.what happened?" River ran over and helped Daine get the woman named Eleni to her feet.
"Oh thank you dearies. Damn muggers crept up from the roof and jumped on me. I had no time to react. Even with all George has taught me, my strength isn't what it used to be" She turned to look at Numair. "They asked me to become an Owl - what they 'cleverly' call themselves. They want support for something about underground something, but I was so startled..Well Numair, Daine, you didn't introduce me to your friends." She gazed at Wind, Willow, and River.
"Oh yes- Wind, Willow, and River, this is Eleni Cooper. Married to Sir Myles of Olau and mother in law to Alanna the Lioness. Eleni, they are triplets from Carthak." Daine hastily introduced them. "Eleni, are you hurt? We're close to the Castle. Do you want to come with us there, or can we walk you home?" She questioned the older woman.
"Can you help me to the Castle dears?" she asked. They nodded vigorously.
They let the lady lean on them (Wind and River) and together they helped Eleni through the Temple district and up the slope to the Castle.
So? How about now- still ok? Please read and review. Any and all suggestions appreciated. Thanx...
Chapter Two: The Midnight Underground
"So you really were slaves?" Numair asked, disbelieving them.
"Yea, but only for, uh, seven years, I think." Wind replied. They knew they were lucky. Many had to do slave work from the moment they were old and strong enough until the day the Dark God blessed them and relieved them from the life they were born into.
"But you're far older than seven." Daine stated.
They all still sat at their corner table in the Inn slash Tavern that was the Dancing Dove. This conversation came after about four tankards of lemonades and two hours of previous questions from the mages and answers from the triplets.
"Only seven years?" Numair muttered.
"Well we weren't born slaves. After mother died, we were left with Grandam, but she did have enough money to support all three of us, and her, so we had to get work. Slavery was the only thing available at the time that gave you food and shelter, even if no money was involved. Then one day, our widowed mistress said we weren't allowed to work for her anymore. Grandam had passed, so there was nothing left for us there. Not to mention we hadn't been able to find work. No one would take us on." Willow explained. None of them wanted to admit about why would give them a job. When Kaddar freed the slaves, their secret got out and no one hires three freaks to work for them.
The triplets were really quiet for a while.
Daine finally broke their uncomfortable silence.
"Do you want to come work for us? If you know anything about horses, we have need for stable hands."
The three of them brightened up considerably.
"Yes Lady, we know plenty about horses, and tack." Wind said. He looked at his brother and sister and could tell what they were thinking. "We'd love to work for you."
"Great! We'll have to tell Stefan. He'll tell you where to work."
"Who's Stefan?" Willow asked, worried. She had hoped that they would work directly for Daine and Numair.
"The head hostler. You'll probably take care of the extra knights mounts, or perhaps spare Rider ponies. They're feisty, I warn you." Daine sipped her lemonade.
All three of the teenagers wondered the same thing, but only River was able to ask the obvious, yet vital question.
"Where are we working?"
"The stables- oh. The Palace stables." Numair said it as if painfully obvious.
The PALACE!
They were speechless. For three former Carthaki slaves, a chance to work for the famed King Jonathan of Tortall, well in his stables anyway, was the greatest honor and privilege the Gods could ever bestow. Plus they would be getting paid.
You could stay in the loft, or if you prefer, the servants wing. It's rather nice, if I do say so myself. And if you are good with the animals, Stefan will pay, well, anything really. Good hands are hard to come by, and really good ones are worth their weight in gold around a city like Corus. All they have are soft merchants sons who won't soil their hands." She said it with a smile, but you could hear contempt in her voice.
Willow gathered up her courage to mention it. "Lady, you shouldn't speak of other nobles that way, if you don't mind me saying so."
Daine laughed. "Oh- Willow you're a riot!" Willow felt a bit hurt. She didn't see what was so damn funny. "I hate most nobles. And I wasn't born one. I was born of a midwife, in a village near Scanra, in an entirely different country. After her and my Granda's death, me and my horse, Cloud, came to Tortall with a few friends we met along the way." She squeezed Numair's hand and smiled at him. (They were holding hands and had set them on the table.) "I didn't even know Carthak existed until I came here." That surprised them. Why, they had always known of Tortall and its surrounding countries!
Something else was bothering Wind that he thought he would mention.
"Aren't your parents. well, Gods?"
"Well, my Da always was. He pleaded with the Dark God to bring Ma with him to his lands. She became the Green Lady. I was asked to stay there, in the Divine Realms, but felt that I would be of more use here." That was something none of them believed, but just decided they wouldn't bring up.
"And you've talked to GODS before?"
"Yes. Chaos, Mithros, The Goddess, Kidunka, The Graveyard Hag, my parents of course.. The Black God, oh and my mentor, The Badger God." She listed it as if it was all trivial, as if they were close, personal friends, and like it was unimportant. "Plus all the Animal and Tree Gods we met along the way."
Bells then chimed the half-hour (nine thirty) "It's approaching my bedtime. I guess we can stay here tonight, if that's ok with you. We can talk to Stefan in the morning." He beckoned Geoff to their table and handed him two gold nobles. "Here- two rooms, preferably in the back please."
An anxiety was eased in Wind, Willow, and Rivers mind.
1: Where they would sleep.
2: How they would pay.
They were escorted to a stairwell and were halfway up it when a group of four men (or women: they couldn't really tell) wearing all black, with masks and gloves, stormed into the room, all with long, sharp-looking Yamani swords.
"Put all your valuables in these bags or else!" One of the all black thieves commanded. He held out a gray sack and all the other ones pulled out similar bags.
No one moved. The thief who spoke grabbed a nearby waitress and put the blade against her throat. "Do it!" he screamed. Still no movement.
A trickle of blood ran down the length of the blade. The waitress clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. She didn't dare move anything else.
Slowly, men and women alike started to remove their jewelry and purses and place them in the sacks.
"FASTER!" the robber who kept speaking yelled at everyone. At the same time, he beheaded that poor waitress.
Willow stopped considering and decided to do something after that. She turned to look at River, but saw Daine (or where she would have been standing) as a half-changed cat-girl.
Then a very large feline, a tiger actually, leapt over the stair rail and mauled the nearest black- attired thief supporting a pillowcase.
They went down fighting, and then with one swipe of her large paws, she smacked him across the face. They no longer moved. At all. She got up and then everyone but her and Numair froze where they stood.
The screaming that began at the appearance of a tiger from the stairwell, stopped.
Numair put his arms down. He walked down to the main floor and looked at the all-black man who killed the waitress right in the face (or mask).
"Unfreeze me scum!" the man yelled, fighting the spell. "My master will make you regret this fatal mistake with the lives of all that you love!"
"And how do you propose he'll do that?" Numair threatened. Daine trotted over to him and rubbed against his legs like a housecat. Then she growled at the frozen burglar. He didn't seem intimidated.
"Ah- the Wildmage." He drawled, mildly impressed. "And her pet magician- Saliman." He said pet and Saliman with extreme distaste.
"A black robe, don't forget. Which means I can tie you into a pretzel, suffocate you without getting within 5 feet, and turn you into a sniveling little lapdog all before you could ever take in a deep breath." Numair hissed into the thief's face.
A few around the inn gasped. Everyone knew of Numair Saliman and what he could do, but to hear him threaten to do it, well.it was rather frightening.
"Now, why are you here maggot?" He asked, spitting the words into his face.
"To.to," the man fought to say the words. (It's fair difficult to speak when your entire body is frozen in place.)
"Well, go on- spit it out!"
"To let the common people know of our master and his plans. We are here to strike fear into the hearts of the people at the mere thought of him and his followers. To let them have a chance to join his forces because you'll want to be on the right side when it all begins. We are the Midnight Underground and our leader is-" then he started to gasp for air. You could see he body shake with the failing effort to move his arms. Then he stopped. Stopped moving. Stopped Talking. Stopped breathing. He was dead.
Numair immediately lifted the spell. The man, and all the other remaining thieves collapsed, all dead.
"Oh. I do hate that bedamned death spell. Kills the best of informants, it seems." Numair muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, while in freezing everyone but himself and Daine, the triplets fought the spell also. They were relieved when he lifted.
"Oh, well, let's never piss him off, ok?" Wind said, jokingly, but his brother and sister nodded their heads in agreement rather somberly.
Then Daine padded over, grabbed her bag in her giant teeth and went into another room. Numair gave orders to have the thieves taken away and seen that they were dealt with accordingly (probably burnt publicly) and that the Waitress has a memorial service at The Goddesses very own Temple. "She did nothing wrong. Make sure that her family is informed promptly as well please." A few men nodded and began to remove the bodies. Another grabbed the bags and started to return the valuables the thieves almost got away with.
The Black Robe walked to the staircase. "Well that was semi- informative. At least we know the name of the organization- The Midnight Underground."
Daine emerged from a darkened doorway as a human and fully clothed.
"If it's ok with you, I'd rather walk to the castle tonight instead of staying here with all this excitement." Daine said. Willow, Wind, and River nodded a hasty agreement. "Good. I know a good shortcut to the Temple District and that leads straight to Palace Way. We'll be there in no time."
They bid Geoff a quick farewell, apologized, gathered themselves and their belongings, and then finally slipped out the back.
They ended up in an alley and started walking, a bit quiet first, but then started talking about the triplets past, present, and future again.
"If you don't mind my saying so, " Daine asked. ", how did you expect to get by with only bows and arrows in a place like Corus?"
"Well, you see Lady-" Willow started.
"Daine, Willow. Just Daine."
"Well, uh Daine, Wind and I are a fair good shot. Plus, River has daggers."
"Nine of 'em. And I'm pretty good with 'em, if I do say so myself." Willow smiled. River never bragged- to ANYONE- about his talent before. It was an understatement though. Mother taught him how to cut a flea in half (in midair no less!) with daggers after he couldn't master the bow like her and Wind.
"We also know, well, every kind of unarmed combat. Mother taught us very young and Grandam used to drill us everyday after she got custody of us. Now we make ourselves practice- you know- to keep in shape."
"Impressive, but you'll still need to protect yourselves other ways. A group could come up and maul you with you ever knowing they were there." Numair explained. They had heard it all before and just smiled to themselves. They knew they could never be snuck up on.
"How did your mother know all about bows and daggers and the like. They don't teach commoners in Carthak such things."
"Well she wasn't from Carthak, you see. She always said she was a well- learned traveler. Grandam wasn't our real grandmother. Just a good friend of Mothers. She came from Tortall, Mother did. From- what was it.oh, Olau. Barony Olau. Always bragging about apples for some reason." Willow trailed off, smiling and remembering her mothers voice saying they would one day go to Tortall, eat Barony Olau apples and meet the king. But that was all a fairy tale she told them, for a story you tell children at bedtime. "Her name was Rachel, um- "
She couldn't remember her mothers' name!
"Stonecutter." River supplied. "Our granda was a mason in a quarry someplace."
"Rachel Stonecutter.why is that so familiar? Oh, well, wait a sec.Rachel Stonecutter!" Numair vaguely exclaimed.
"You mean- The Rachel Stonecutter? Why- she's Shang!" Daine gasped.
"The Falcon." Numair replied.
Willow, Wind, and River were completely left in the dark. What was "Shang"? Mother was a bird? HUH?? Why did Daine say "The Rachel Stonecutter"? Mother was just a traveler from Olau. wasn't she?
"Is there a jest here that we don't understand, or are we missing something?" Wind asked. Their puzzled faces made the Wildmage laugh.
"Sweets- your mother and her death have gone down in history. She was the Shang Falcon. The Shang are the most elite warriors in the world. I had heard she was in Carthak for six years before her final battle in Tyra. No one knows why she went there. No one ever mentioned she had children either. Strange-"
"Excuse me Daine, but what's strange?" River asked.
"Well the longest any Shang stays anywhere is only about a year or two. They move about a lot." Numair explained. "She stayed in Carthak with you for six."
"She always spoke of Tortall and going to meet the King in Corus someday. We just thought it was one of mothers fairy tales." Wind mentioned.
As soon as he said "tales" loud shouts and muffled screams emerged from a few alleys back. They weren't quite to the Temple District yet, so those guards couldn't get there.
Daine, as quiet as a mouse, jogged over to the source of the disruption and peered around the corner.
"Again?!" she screamed. The rest of them stampeded over to find three more Midnight Undergrounders standing over an elderly lady, clad in crumpled skits, lying on the ground. She looked frightened.
"How many times are we gonna have to deal with you sons- of- bitches in one day?" Daine demanded of them. She called for assistance from a nearby group of bats and an owl or two (under a truce naturally) to harass the three jerks cornering a helpless old woman.
The last they saw of the thieves, they had owl talons snatching at their masks and were covered in bat scratches (and guano.)
"Good work Daine but I do wish I'd gotten a chance to question them first." Numair told her. She shrugged it off.
"No one pushes around old ladies where I come from! They make me sick!" Daine yelled exasperated. The old woman tried to get up. "Oh- here Grandmother, let me help."
"Thank you Daine." She rasped.
"Eleni! Wha.what happened?" River ran over and helped Daine get the woman named Eleni to her feet.
"Oh thank you dearies. Damn muggers crept up from the roof and jumped on me. I had no time to react. Even with all George has taught me, my strength isn't what it used to be" She turned to look at Numair. "They asked me to become an Owl - what they 'cleverly' call themselves. They want support for something about underground something, but I was so startled..Well Numair, Daine, you didn't introduce me to your friends." She gazed at Wind, Willow, and River.
"Oh yes- Wind, Willow, and River, this is Eleni Cooper. Married to Sir Myles of Olau and mother in law to Alanna the Lioness. Eleni, they are triplets from Carthak." Daine hastily introduced them. "Eleni, are you hurt? We're close to the Castle. Do you want to come with us there, or can we walk you home?" She questioned the older woman.
"Can you help me to the Castle dears?" she asked. They nodded vigorously.
They let the lady lean on them (Wind and River) and together they helped Eleni through the Temple district and up the slope to the Castle.
So? How about now- still ok? Please read and review. Any and all suggestions appreciated. Thanx...