Good Lord- it has taken me so long and I am so very sorry! This will also be short because I have been suffering the worst writers block ever and if I don't post this, nothing will ever get put up here. If any one has any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanx……..
Btw~ I would love to thank my reviewers now, before the chapter, and I'll list 'em at the end. K? Thanx……
Disclaimer: this isn't mine, and never was. The only thing I do own is the plot and a few characters that you will be able to recognize as not made by the amazing Tamora Pierce, who owns everything else. Thanx………… (I say that a lot)
And we're off!!!
Chapter seven: A Vicious Temper
Stefan strode down the long hallway to get back to the security of the stables. A mob of teenagers followed behind him, dumb-stricken.
"You're…………….. You're going to let her keep on with that…….. that demon horse!" Brock stammered.
"Yes."
"Bu' da, tha' things gonna kill 'er!"
"She knows the risk, as do I."
"Bu'-"
"No. It's 'er choice. I jus' 'appen to know wha' tha' choice is," Stefan interrupted his son.
"You can't possibly understan' wha' 'e'll end up doin' to 'er!" Bowen screamed, drawing attention of nearby servants and palace dwellers. "We're lookin' at death 'ere!"
"Don't try to tell HER that." River muttered, rubbing his bruised ribs from the attack, just four days before.
"How daft do ye think I am?" was the crisp reply.
"Son, she's no' gonna die from workin' wiv' a HORSE."
"If she was taming a hurrok she'd have a better chance." Bowen clearly declared, stepping in Stefan's path, challenging his father's judgment.
Stefan stopped and stared into his son's jade eyes that, like now, flashed silver when he was angry.
"Would the four of ye go back t' work please? I need t' speak wiv' me son alone."
Brock, Wind, and River looked at each other and then fled back to their jobs. After working with an angry Stefan before, they knew the experience needn't be repeated.
Kit hesitated and looked to her boss, who also happened to be her father figure. She knew that look in his eyes all too well and decided to be obedient- for once. She walked away, but quickly, on a whim of her own, decided to hide behind a corner and scare Bowen when he walked by there. Kit stood for a moment, waiting for her chance to brighten her only friend's day. She could also hear what they were saying, so she figured to throw manners out the window (as usual) and do a bit of eavesdropping- don't all teenage girls at one point or another?
Unfortunately, like all eavesdropping, it would end in tears because someone would find out something they were happier NOT knowing.
"Wha' 'as gotten into ye?" Stefan demanded a reason for his son's insubordination.
Bowen glared at his father and growled. "Ye and I both know tha' 'e'll KILL 'er!"
"Ye've said tha' already, bu' ye haven't mentioned 'ow a girl as smart as Willow will be outsmarted by a 'orse- ANY 'orse!"
"She doesn't 'ave t' be smart! If he bucks 'er into a wall, or if she flies onto another pitchfork an' 'its sommat vital- she's dead!"
"Why do ye care so much anyway? Ye seem t' 'ate 'er- forever arguin'. Kit an' Brock figh' less!"
It took Bowen just a hair too long to respond, and he let something slip to his father's ever-observant eye. Stefan saw, he recognized something, even if he'd never seen it in Bowen before. It was a look ever parent recognized once they see it in their child, and most dread it.
"I don't care bu'……………… bu' ye jus' can't do tha' to 'er!" Bowen stormed off, exactly like Willow did the first day they met.
Stefan stood, thoughtful, for a little while, and then turned to see his son down at another end of the hall, disappearing behind a corner, hopefully going back to his chores.
'When did 'e become 'is mother?' Stefan sighed. 'Mind of 'is own, 'e 'as.'
He then went to the notaries to attend to some business he'd been putting off.
Kit leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down it until she sat on the floor. Silent waterfalls caressed her flushed cheeks. For the first time since she was three, she cried.
(A/N: I'll let your imaginations have some fun with why she is showing this emotion. Hee hee hee…. I like being evil- it's fun.)
'AH-HA! This is going to be so great! She'll be so surprised to see me!' Brock thought in all of (what he thought) his glory.
He "cleverly" got away from river and Wind by ducking into a hall that he said led to the servants privy. (They're still new- they won't know!) After they passed, he scurried back to the healers, taking a longer route to avoid Stefan and backtracked when he got lost, which was happened often. (He's a stable hand. Give 'im a break.)
He finally stepped into the office section of the infirmary, finding the Duke sitting at his desk, scribbling on a piece of parchment with a quill.
Just as Brock opened his mouth to say something, the Duke spoke. "Good to see you back here, Brock. Are you just here on a casual visit, yearning for a chance to see magical healing first hand, or, perchance, are you here to see a young lady patient by the name of Willow?" The Duke caught him off guard, yet never even looked up form his parchment and scribbling.
"Well, I……………. Uh…………. You see……………. Sir?"
"She's in the back, fiddling with a little game the King left in here one day. She seems to be incredibly amused by it."
"Yes sir," Brock mumbled and hurriedly jogged to the back of the infirmary.
Willow sat upright in her cot, holding a three-sided block of wood with holes in it. She placed small pegs in all of the holes, spare one, then started to jump pegs over one another, placing the jumped ones in her lap.
Brock watched curious as she removed all but two, which were several holes apart.
"Damn, did it again." She swore, then replaced all the pegs and started over.
As fascinated as he was, Brock never noticed he was moving. Yes- he was moving towards her cot and sat down next to her feet. Together, they stared at the small game, bespelled by its entrancing simplicity. Willow had reduced it to down to two pegs for the third time in a row when she decided to set the game aside and greet her visitor.
"Well, well, Mchurrrick alcuome sayanal ish raenackh."
She received a rather blank stare from her guest, who also was a bit shocked that she wasn't surprised to see him. "Um, Willow, I Know that's not Common, but that's about it."
"It's K'mir. My mother taught me- that's a saying of theirs. 'The sun will rise even when the horses sleep.' It has something to do with one of their Horse Lords, but I forget which one. Chavi perhaps………..anyway, it deals with irony and the impossible."
"Well, why did you mention it? Is me being here ironic or impossible?"
"No, I guess not. It just seemed fitting."
"How do you say it again?"
"Em-chur-rick," she pronounced.
"Em-chur-rick," he repeated.
"All-come-ay."
"All-come-ay."
"Say-an-nall."
"Say-an-nall."
"Ish."
"Ish."
"Rain-nak."
"Rain-nak," he finished, clumsy foreign words twisting his tongue.
"Good," she giggled, thinking of how he reminded her of River when he was first learning K'miri, turning the words over in his mouth, feeling their sounds. "We'll make a K'mir of you yet."
"So, is that where you are from?"
"No, Mother just knew K'miri tribesmen through her work."
"And what was her work?" Willow leaned back with a sigh- this again? 'Damn his persistence!' she thought passionately.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I don't know," he mumbled, reading the back of the game where instructions were carved into the wood. "I'm just nosy, I guess. Wanted to know more about you- everything's a big secret…….."
There was something in the way he said it that got to her soft spot. He truly cared and she desperately wanted to tell someone, but somehow, at the same time, she knew that he wasn't the one she wasted to share with.
"She………… I mean………….. I-I can't. It's not you, I just……. I can't." He sighed.
"I know, and I was kinda expecting that. But, I dunno, I guess I just figured that if I badgered you with it long enough, you'd give in and tell me, just to shut me up. That's what usually happens anyway. I just want to know more about you. What do you like to do, what foods do you hate, what is your favorite color, why you blatantly refuse to give up on Falcon's Fall-"
"Fine. I like-" she started.
"And where you come from. What happened that was so bad you can't tell me? What happened to your mom- who was she? What was her job, even? Who was your dad? What was your childhood like? Why did you come to Corus, of all places? How did you meet Daine and Numair? What compels you to get up everyday when you know that Fall will attempt to kill you again? And where the hell did you learn to fight like that? I've never seen anyone move that way, save for a Shang. It was like their combat technique!"
"I………..it…….."she stuttered, eyes brimming with tears. He wanted to know some things about her even SHE wasn't privy to, and everything else she wanted to scream out at the top of her lungs.
She hated herself so much for a minute, and then thought about that. Why should she feel bad about wanting to keep information about herself and her brothers disclosed for the world? How dare he be mad at her for wanting privacy! How dare he make her hate herself!
"Well, all of that works both ways you know!" she spat, turning the inquiries around.
He paused and then asked a bit confused, "What?" she had the conversation in her hands like a spinner's top, constantly rotating it.
"But……… wha………wait a minute! When did this conversation get put on me?"
Well how do you expect me to answer questions that you wont even answer yourself?" she cleverly retorted.
"Well, uh, look, this isn't about me!"
"Why not? Why am I always the one being asked questions? How come you never give out your private information- your past? Go bother my brother's for once, but don't expect any miracles form those two!"
Brock sat there for a moment, and they stared at each other, daring the other to speak. Finally, he took his leave and Willow lay alone in the dim glow of the candlesticks, mentally cursing her vicious temper.
Well, that's all for now. I am having trouble with this one part with King Jonathan and Raoul. They finally get introduced into the story and I can't even word it right!
Btw- the bate reader position is still up for grabs. Anyone………………..anyone? Sigh…………………. Well, let me know if you're interested A.S.A.P.! K?
I know- long wait for nothing good, please don't hurt me, I'm trying really I am, and now with football season over, I have MUCH more time!! I'll get an update soon ok? Thanx!!!!!
Thank you reviewers, I can't post you all now, like I said I would, so I'll do it next chap! I promise!!! THANX!!!