A/N: Thank you for being so patient with me over the last few days... Fan
Fiction was updating its site so I had trouble logging on... Anyway, I
tired to make this chapter a little longer to make up for all the lost
time!
Phi, Alex, and Tom were being lead by a small party of armed and extremely dangerous riders. The three teenagers were dumbfounded by their recent...umm...adventure. Phi was pale, probably from the spider monster incident and her slight case of Arachnophobia, Tom was completely zoned out contemplating about what the heck they were going to do, and Alex was looking around curiously and measuring up the riders. The weird medieval horsemen continued to talk and whisper among themselves, and occasionally, one of them would look back and gaze at them, especially at Phi or at Alex's hair, which seemed to mystify them for some reason or another, but most likely because he had recently bleached it and it stood out quite abnormally.
The forest began to thin out as they continued to walk down the dirt path, and the trees finally stopped altogether and the road became paved. Alex gasped and stopped dead in his tracks. Tom and Phi snapped out of their trances and their jaws dropped. The riders turned and looked back at them, and one of them chuckled. Tortall's capital city sometimes had that affect on foreigners. Before the teens was an entire middle aged city, sprawled out over a seemingly endless fertile plain, complete with a large stonewall and a very impressive castle. Alex turned to Tom, "Dude, I think you were right about the whole we-got-transported-into-the-middle-ages thing..."
Phi jumped onto a tree stump to get a better view, "...cool... ". Tom just starred. You could practically hear the gears whirring away in his head, his brown eyes sparkling in that odd way again.
The riders shook their heads and continued to walk forward, prodding the three along with the tips of their spears.
As they walked towards the city, Phi realized how small it actually was in comparison to L.A. or San Francisco. When they reached the gates of the city, the horsemen called out to someone on the other side of the gate. Suddenly, they heard the creaking of heavy wood and the moan of rusty hinges and the huge double doors were laboriously opened.
The riders paraded over the threshold of the gigantic gate and into the city, herding Phi, Tom, and Alex along with them. Alex picked up his pace to get the sharp piece of metal out of his back, and with his hands in his pockets strolled leisurely down the road, taking in the sites like a tourist in an amusement park. Phi looked insulted and the stares from the people along the sides of the streets did not improve her foul mood. Then there was Tom. He glided down the streets as if in a trance, oblivious to practically everything around him, including his sister's obvious discomfort, calculating, observing, and making mental notes in his head about things that the other two didn't even bother to notice.
As the strange group approached the castle, the crowd grew. By the time they reached to inner gate that surrounded the perimeter of the building, it had multiplied and become a curious mob of about one hundred people. They wanted to know who these strange people were and where were they from. Why did they dress so strangely?
The riders dismounted and four younger boys appeared out of nowhere and took their horses. The riders lead the teens through huge rooms decorated in the Middle Age English style, complete with tapestries and paintings of serious looking people in stuffy looking clothes, into what looked like a throne room. In it were two empty carved wooden thrones against the middle of a decorated wall, so they assumed it was a sort of throne room anyway... The riders bowed and left the three VERY confused teens alone in the large room. Suddenly, a voice from the outer halls cried, "NUMAIR!!!"
***Good Lord! Language change!!! NOOOOOOO! ***
Numair was jolted out of his reading, almost falling out of his chair, startled by Alanna's yell. Grumbling, he left his study and strode briskly towards the throne room. But before he could safely get there, Alanna was upon him, "Numair, what did you do this time?"
Numair looked alarmed, "What?!? I did something?"
"Your idiotic spell worked!"
"Really!?!", he had been working on that for months now, transportation through dimensions. Unfortunately, when he had tried it, it had supposedly failed...but now...
"Yes really, and there are three children here to prove it!" The Lioness was now a slight shade of pink.
"Three children? Hmm... it wasn't supposed to work that way...". Numair peeked into the throne room and saw the three standing there, looking very confused and worried. "Goddess, they are really different..."
He turned around and found not only Alanna, but also now King Jonathan and Lord Raoul starring intently at him. He lurched backwards and tried to regain his composure. Each of their glares alone could be unnerving, but all three of them together...not good... Numair gulped, "...Yes?..."
Jonathan just looked at him, "Do you realize what you have done?"
Numair replied nervously, "It wasn't supposed to work like this..."
Jonathan shook his head forgivingly, "I should hope not..."
Lord Raoul stepped up to the mage, "Let's get to the point Numair. Can you send them back?"
Numair looked at the hem of his black robe, "Well...yes, technically..." Alanna's eyebrows rose in suspicion, and Numair sighed, "I'll start working on it right away... it may take a while though..."
Lord Raoul peered into the throne room and said, "and in the meantime we should try to make them as welcome as possible"
The king sighed, "It would be so much easier if the spoke our language, or even the language of the Scanrans, so we could understand each other..."
Numair perked up, "I can do that! I have a spell that allows the user to be able to speak a certain language, practically fluently!" Numair walked briskly into the throne room with Jonathan, Alanna, and Raoul following.
The three children jumped when they entered the room, one of the boys jumping in front of the girl. As Alanna looked the three over, she realized that these boys were actually young men, about the age when most squires become knights.
Raoul inspected the children quickly. Their clothing was strange, their hair was strange (especially one of the boys...), and they looked strange. They carried themselves differently, and the seemed to be taller and leaner than most Tortallians.
The taller of the two boys stepped forward and asked them a question in an odd language. Not getting an answer he turned to the other two, speaking quickly and softly. Numair approached him, and as he did, he saw noticed something that he didn't expect to see. The young man's brown eyes were filled with intelligence, and he seemed to know exactly what was going on.
OK, hope you enjoyed it...Yay! I'm so happy! They finally met some real characters!
Phi, Alex, and Tom were being lead by a small party of armed and extremely dangerous riders. The three teenagers were dumbfounded by their recent...umm...adventure. Phi was pale, probably from the spider monster incident and her slight case of Arachnophobia, Tom was completely zoned out contemplating about what the heck they were going to do, and Alex was looking around curiously and measuring up the riders. The weird medieval horsemen continued to talk and whisper among themselves, and occasionally, one of them would look back and gaze at them, especially at Phi or at Alex's hair, which seemed to mystify them for some reason or another, but most likely because he had recently bleached it and it stood out quite abnormally.
The forest began to thin out as they continued to walk down the dirt path, and the trees finally stopped altogether and the road became paved. Alex gasped and stopped dead in his tracks. Tom and Phi snapped out of their trances and their jaws dropped. The riders turned and looked back at them, and one of them chuckled. Tortall's capital city sometimes had that affect on foreigners. Before the teens was an entire middle aged city, sprawled out over a seemingly endless fertile plain, complete with a large stonewall and a very impressive castle. Alex turned to Tom, "Dude, I think you were right about the whole we-got-transported-into-the-middle-ages thing..."
Phi jumped onto a tree stump to get a better view, "...cool... ". Tom just starred. You could practically hear the gears whirring away in his head, his brown eyes sparkling in that odd way again.
The riders shook their heads and continued to walk forward, prodding the three along with the tips of their spears.
As they walked towards the city, Phi realized how small it actually was in comparison to L.A. or San Francisco. When they reached the gates of the city, the horsemen called out to someone on the other side of the gate. Suddenly, they heard the creaking of heavy wood and the moan of rusty hinges and the huge double doors were laboriously opened.
The riders paraded over the threshold of the gigantic gate and into the city, herding Phi, Tom, and Alex along with them. Alex picked up his pace to get the sharp piece of metal out of his back, and with his hands in his pockets strolled leisurely down the road, taking in the sites like a tourist in an amusement park. Phi looked insulted and the stares from the people along the sides of the streets did not improve her foul mood. Then there was Tom. He glided down the streets as if in a trance, oblivious to practically everything around him, including his sister's obvious discomfort, calculating, observing, and making mental notes in his head about things that the other two didn't even bother to notice.
As the strange group approached the castle, the crowd grew. By the time they reached to inner gate that surrounded the perimeter of the building, it had multiplied and become a curious mob of about one hundred people. They wanted to know who these strange people were and where were they from. Why did they dress so strangely?
The riders dismounted and four younger boys appeared out of nowhere and took their horses. The riders lead the teens through huge rooms decorated in the Middle Age English style, complete with tapestries and paintings of serious looking people in stuffy looking clothes, into what looked like a throne room. In it were two empty carved wooden thrones against the middle of a decorated wall, so they assumed it was a sort of throne room anyway... The riders bowed and left the three VERY confused teens alone in the large room. Suddenly, a voice from the outer halls cried, "NUMAIR!!!"
***Good Lord! Language change!!! NOOOOOOO! ***
Numair was jolted out of his reading, almost falling out of his chair, startled by Alanna's yell. Grumbling, he left his study and strode briskly towards the throne room. But before he could safely get there, Alanna was upon him, "Numair, what did you do this time?"
Numair looked alarmed, "What?!? I did something?"
"Your idiotic spell worked!"
"Really!?!", he had been working on that for months now, transportation through dimensions. Unfortunately, when he had tried it, it had supposedly failed...but now...
"Yes really, and there are three children here to prove it!" The Lioness was now a slight shade of pink.
"Three children? Hmm... it wasn't supposed to work that way...". Numair peeked into the throne room and saw the three standing there, looking very confused and worried. "Goddess, they are really different..."
He turned around and found not only Alanna, but also now King Jonathan and Lord Raoul starring intently at him. He lurched backwards and tried to regain his composure. Each of their glares alone could be unnerving, but all three of them together...not good... Numair gulped, "...Yes?..."
Jonathan just looked at him, "Do you realize what you have done?"
Numair replied nervously, "It wasn't supposed to work like this..."
Jonathan shook his head forgivingly, "I should hope not..."
Lord Raoul stepped up to the mage, "Let's get to the point Numair. Can you send them back?"
Numair looked at the hem of his black robe, "Well...yes, technically..." Alanna's eyebrows rose in suspicion, and Numair sighed, "I'll start working on it right away... it may take a while though..."
Lord Raoul peered into the throne room and said, "and in the meantime we should try to make them as welcome as possible"
The king sighed, "It would be so much easier if the spoke our language, or even the language of the Scanrans, so we could understand each other..."
Numair perked up, "I can do that! I have a spell that allows the user to be able to speak a certain language, practically fluently!" Numair walked briskly into the throne room with Jonathan, Alanna, and Raoul following.
The three children jumped when they entered the room, one of the boys jumping in front of the girl. As Alanna looked the three over, she realized that these boys were actually young men, about the age when most squires become knights.
Raoul inspected the children quickly. Their clothing was strange, their hair was strange (especially one of the boys...), and they looked strange. They carried themselves differently, and the seemed to be taller and leaner than most Tortallians.
The taller of the two boys stepped forward and asked them a question in an odd language. Not getting an answer he turned to the other two, speaking quickly and softly. Numair approached him, and as he did, he saw noticed something that he didn't expect to see. The young man's brown eyes were filled with intelligence, and he seemed to know exactly what was going on.
OK, hope you enjoyed it...Yay! I'm so happy! They finally met some real characters!
