Disclaimer: Hehehehe, I own next to nothing in this story. No I am not making any money. Nor am I planning on it. So lay off. And the random fact of the day is that there is a lawn Gnome named Ralph who lives behind my French teacher white board and has a crush on my friend. Ralph has a beard. He also wears pink eye shadow.
~Chapter 4: It Begins~
As Lia kept moving she felt her strength returning. Little by little the warm summer air revived her brain and her body. By the time she reached the village she was feeling beaten up rather than royally pounded.
The village was in shambles. Some of the houses where burned, others ripped to shreds. The streets where bloodstained and she heard one of the villagers saying the wells might not be safe to drink out of. Every one had taken some damage. Which was odd because Queenscove was a large village.
Still absorbing the shock of the devastation of her home. Lia heard the pounding of many hooves coming from the southern edge of the village. Lia's blood rose, whomever was trying to enter the village, had another thing coming. She led Shanti and positioned herself in front of the remains of the village gates and waited. The thundering grew nearer; the ground shook with the power of the hooves beating the ground. Lia saw the dust clouds in the air. The riders rounded the last bend in the road, Lia hoped the saw her, it would be painful else wise.
Lucky for her the riders came to a stop no more than a foot in front of her. All of the riders were wearing worn leather, imprinted with a crown. Lia, having never been to court was not impressed.
'Who are you, and what are you doing here?' She asked, voice even, Yamani training coming to hand. And at the moment in time loving all of the years she had spent in training.
'I am Quasim the younger, commander of the Third Company of the Kings Own. And I would think that my presence here would be obvious, this village has just been ransacked and you are in need of assistance. Or at least that is what the messenger told us.' Lia just nodded and moved aside. The riders dismounted and started cooking fires.
'Yazlia! What do you think your doing? You are supposed to be in bed!' Falia screeched. Somehow she always managed to over react. Whatever his name was-Raoul spun around while Falia continued ranting.
'You're Yazlia of Queenscove?' He asked it like he didn't believe it but wanted to. Lia just nodded slightly amused.
'That makes you Neal's heir.' another nod. 'Which means Neal had children.' He seemed to just be figuring all of this out. He seemed slightly dense.
'He has four children, myself, my little brother Max. And then I have twin sisters Anamarie and Alyissa. Max has wild magic, the twins have a gift that has to be combined to work but when it does that blow things up. And I can heal. Feel better now?' Lia asked. When the idiot man just looked at her like she was possessed, she yelled and walked away with Falia laughing behind her.
'You shouldn't have done that Lia. You really shouldn't have done that.' she managed to say still laughing. Lia plopped down beneath a tree.
'If I shouldn't have one that why are you laughing?'
'Because it's horrible but it's still funny.'
'But it wasn't even that bad. I just explained to him who I was and that I had other brothers and sisters.'
'Yes but, you weren't very polite about it.' Falia said smiling. 'You need mannerism lessons.'
'I've had mannerism lessons since I was four Falia, more now won't help.'
'That's what you think.' Falia said. The two sat in compatible silence for a while watching life in the village slowly rebuild.
'We should probably go help.' Lia said lurching to her feet.
'I don't think so.' Falia said pushing Lia back down. 'Either sit or go home.'
'Fine. Oh, I get to be a knight.' Lia said smiling. Falia squealed.
'Lia that's great! Her eyes got real big and she clasped her hands together in front of her.
'I can't believe my father let me. I didn't think he would.'
'Perfect! When do you leave?'
'In a week.'
~~:~~
'Come on Lia. We're not going to make it tonight if we don't leave now.' Kel and Falia were waiting for Lia to get ready.
'Okay, I'm ready. Lets go.' Lia looked a little tired. Her hair was a little messy and she had bags under her eyes, but she was awake and moving nonetheless.
'Finally.' Dom murmured to herself, just loud enough for Lia to hear.
'Hey, I need my beauty sleep.'
'Don't look to beautiful to me.' Dom retorted. He talked with a peasant's accent, skipping his R's and expanding on his vowels. It made the word beautiful sound like b-ee-yooo-ti-ful. It always made everyone smile.
'If you two are done arguing, can we go?' The two mounted up and followed Kel.
~~:~~
This place is huge. How can you live in such a crowded place? There are so many people. Yazlia was stunned. She had never seen so many people in one place. It was startling.
She noted pickpockets working, it seemed that the thieves were slightly organized. They seemed to come most often from inside an inn called the Dancing Dove. Maybe one day she could go in there. They might be able to teach her some new tricks.
'Come on Lia, your going to get left behind. And it's easy to get lost in Corus.' Kel said navigating her horse, which turned out to be named Peachblossom. Of, all things. Name the beast after a flower.
Getting through the city took a while, the streets where crowded with people and finally Kel and Dom yelled out for every one to move because we were on the kings business. After that we moved a lot faster and Peachblossom's behavior worsened. We pulled into the pages courtyard and no one was there.
'Oh, no I think we're late.' Kel said, she looked worried.
'Is that a bad thing?'
'It's certainly not a good thing. I'll see you at home Dom. '
'Yup, you'll be home tonight right?' He said, attempting a lover's mournful gaze.
'Go home Dom, this way Lia.' She said and started sprinting down the hall. Have I ever mentioned that I hate running?
'Do you and Dom live together?' This question had been nagging at Lia since they had come to stay at her house. And they only used one room at the hotel they had stayed at.
'We're married.' She said with a surprised look on her face.
'Really?'
'Yes, we have a child to.' By this time Lia was completely shocked, and Kel was laughing at her. 'His name is Erikk, he's a fourth year page, you two will probably get along well. Well we're here, ready?'
Lia nodded and opened one of the two large oak doors and walked in with Kel behind her. All conversation in the hall stopped, everyone turned to stare. And then the whispering started. 'It's a girl.' someone said. Way to go captain obvious. That and a few other obvious things flitted around the air for a while. The training master finally looked up from his dinner and beckoned her forward. She walked up to his table and bowed, Kel right behind.
'Lady Yazlia, I heard that you had a run in with some raiders. Is that what accounts for your lateness?' The training master, Paidrag ha Minchi is what Kel said his name was. Raised his eyebrow at me, it made him look funny. Lia nodded, too nervous to speak.
'All right then, Lady Knight I will take it from here thank you. Kel nodded and left. 'If you would state your name and your fief.' Lia took a deep breath.
'Yazlia of Queenscove.'
'Who will sponsor her?' He asked looking around the room; one boy at the far end of the hall raised his hand. The training master nodded. 'Yazlia if you will take dinner with me I will fill you in on what goes on here and Erikk can pick you up after dinner. If that is agreeable?' He asked. This man is very polite.'
'I'd like that, thank you.' The page serving him pulled out her chair for her.
'Page Alex, if you would please get Page Yazlia a plate.' It wasn't a request it was a demand. Lia was secretly impressed, this man had everything under his control, and She knew she wouldn't like to be under his command, but she would be safe. This man didn't seem like he tolerated insubordinance.
'So,' He said in a long drown out voice.' You want to be a page.' That immediately got on Lia's nerves.
Ohh, cliffy? Not really but hey, hehehe, I've already written the next chappie. It was fun to write. Yes, I know the formatting is a little screwy. But it's finals week so I'm too tired or crabby to fight with it when I post it. So wait a few more days' cuz I have a long weekend and I'll figure it out and make it better.
And I know it's a little slow, but bear with me for a while. Lia does some pretty interesting things next. Or at least I was very amused while writing. I may still re-write the next chappie to make it a wee bit more dramatic, but that would take a while and it might be Friday before I was done. So tell me if ya want it now or later.
~Ana~
