And ::sobs:: I broke what i had written down into chapts, and well, it's 31 chappies long. It's 140 pages. And well, I wrote the last chapter purely for your enjoyment. You'll see when it gets updated.
Hmm, that it all! Oh, and you may not like this ch...
Hello. Ana decided that I could publish this because she didn't finish it before she left, so for this chapter I, the beta, am writing the review than- yous and such. I am under strict orders not to kill any of you off. Anyway, the author will write thank-yous when she returns to town.
~Elscy
White-wolf: Yes, I'd believe it. This site has been not letting me do stuff for a while.
Shayley Rain : You still have to review even though the author is on her trip.
Peachblossom: Addictive celery is quite interesting. A beta is a person who takes then story and fixes the spelling and grammar. IN other words, the beta is pretty much the editor. This story is done. L I just have to finish fixing it.
FantasyIsMyLife: I am one of the reasons that the story has taken so long to be posted. Anyway, a few weeks and it will be over. I promise not to kill you. I promise not to kill you. I promise not to kill you. I promise not to kill you. I keep telling myself that if I repeat that enough it may be true.( Yes I read that death threat from a few weeks ago). How often do you think I should update?
A: Sorry to break it to you, but the story is almost over.
DarkAngel33: You like fluff; I see, interesting. I've read the end of the story, and there will be more fluff.
Xirleb70: I hope you finish OoP in order to review. Heheheheheh. I finished the book on Saturday. How long did it take you?
Yume: Understand about it acting up. How soon is soon.?
Shinigami Clara: Yes, there is a progress going on. Some of the upcoming chapters are long while others are relatively short. Sorry I have no control over that.
~~:Chapter 23: Death of the Helper:~~
Four days later Lia was ready to murder someone. She had been serving lords and ladies for eternity; it seemed. Lia had learned just how picky ladies could be. If you delivered their plate wrong, they had to have a new one, Lia found it all disgusting. Stomping into the tent, she flopped onto her cot and began mumbling. An hour later, she had missed high tea and fallen asleep. Erikk walked in.
"Lia!" He said loudly. Lia opened one eye and looked at him. "You missed tea." He said.
"I don't care; I'm a squire, not a serving maid. No other squires have to serve tea. I won't do it anymore just because I'm a girl. Tell the serving master your squire refuses, respectably of course." Lia said before turning over and pretending to sleep. She heard Erikk sigh and exit her tent.
Hours later Lia awoke with a start. Something was wrong, she knew it. Well, okay, she didn't know it she felt it. Lia grabbed her swords and exited the tent. She walked to the top of the city walls. Looking around she didn't see anything but she knew it was out there. Lia jogged across the wall to the south end. There, she saw it, spidrens. Yelling a warning to the city Lia vaulted off the wall. Stumbling a little in the sand Lia attacked.
The first thing Lia noticed in this attack was that the spidrens weren't trying to kill her, just wrap her up in their webbing. The wall behind her had quickly become covered in glowing green webbing and Lia had only killed two. Stumbling she was hit in the chest by a stream of webbing. Gritting her teeth she attempted to tear herself away from the wall. The Spidrens where cheering as they sauntered towards her. Soon Bazihr arrows reigned down. Bazihr men jumped down and quickly burned the webbing off the wall before hauling her back up the wall where webbing was peeled off of her. Lia grimaced when she saw Erikk, he was not happy. After the Bazihr released her, Lia slowly waked towards him.
He gave her the look as she walked towards him. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I didn't think it would be that bad. I thought I could handle it." She said miserably.
"I know, I know." He sighed. "But, you can't do things like that. You're good, but your not that good. And your archery is horrible. I'm surprised you managed to kill two of them." He sighed as he looked at her miserable face. "Look, there's something I need to tell you." He said slowly. "I'm a Helper; do you know what that is?" He asked; Lia nodded. Helpers assisted Champions on the way to the destiny. Inwardly her head was reeling. He was a helper? But she was a champion. He began talking miserably again. "So, because of that, we may run into problems-" He began saying before Lia cut him off.
(Author is in science class and is bored. Well actually school is out. But when I wrote this I was in science class…)
"I'm a champion Erikk, I expect her to send minions after me. It was me the hill men were after also." She said watching as his jaw dropped in shock. A soft 'Oh' escaped his lips. Lia smiled. "Yeah, makes sense now huh?" She said. He nodded. "Help me back to the tent?" She asked.
"Yeah, how long have you known?" He asked as they slowly walked down a flight of stairs.
"Oh, I think, oh gods I can't remember. I think that night I left the study group and got lost and you slept in my bed. Remember?" She asked smiling.
"Oh, that's what you were doing?"
"Yeah."
"I see." He said smiling. The entered her part of the tent. "So where are we going?" He asked.
"The emerald castle in the black sea," She said. He gave her a blank look. "South." She said and he nodded.
"Do you want to travel south with the progress or go alone?" He asked her.
"With the progress," Lia said after a moment. "If we keep getting attacked we'll go alone." She said.
"Alright, get some sleep, I have to joust against my mother this afternoon, I'll need you to help me." He said.
"You mean drag away your bloodied corpse." Lia said grinning.
"Such an encouraging squire," He said shaking his head as he left.
That afternoon Lia woke up and examined Erikk's armor. Shaking her head Lia began to polish it. Various nicks and scratches dotted his armor. Around one, Erikk walked into the tent.
"You really need to take better care of your stuff Erikk. When was the last time you cleaned it?" Lia said holding up a rather dirty arm guard.
"Last time I jousted with my mother." He said simply.
Lia looked at him. That had been at least six months ago. "I see; is it time?" She asked.
"Yup, arm me!" He cried. Lia looked at him and shook her head. Lia soon found out that Erikk wiggled. He couldn't stand still. Finally, Lia had to threaten him with bodily harm, and of course, that was very, very hard for Lia to say.
Eventually Erikk was dressed and trying to convince Lia that she wanted to joust with his mother in his place. Lia just laughed as she saddled his horse. Whispering words of comfort and warning to his horse, Lia looked at him and smiled.
"We'll, here you go oh glorious knight master. I'll be waiting to drag your bloody body off of the lists."
(Change of pace here. Editors note. The "lists" is the fenced in area of the jousting field where the two competitors run toward each other at a tournament).
"Such a supportive squire," He said grinning. Lia just grinned and led his horse after his clunking body. Handing him his lance after he mounted Lia smirked. "Do try not to die." She said grinning.
"Always do." He said riding up to the starting line. Lia waved at Kel as she rode up on another one of her specially bred gigantic horses. Lia found them immensely amusing.
The flag was raised and then mother and son charged at each other. Kel's lance hit Erikk's shield with deadly accuracy and he was thrown violently back in the saddle. His lance snapped against her body and shattered. It looked like Kel hadn't felt a thing. Erikk rode back towards Lia, sagging slightly in the saddle. Lia handed him a wineskin and checked his armor. He handed her the empty wineskin and she helped him settle his lance.
The two riders thundered towards each other. Erikk's lance forced Kel back in the saddle but he still took a bruising blow from his mother. As he rode back to Lia, she noticed he was gasping and wheezing. Lia frowned and ran up to him. He'd gotten the wind knocked out of him.
"Breathe slowly, in, out. Slow." She coached him into getting his breathing pattern down. She handed him more water. He drank it slowly.
"Thanks." He rasped, reaching for his lance. Lia pulled it away.
"You're sure ya can do this?" She asked.
"Yes, squire, my lance please?" He asked. Lia glowered and handed it to him. They once again ran at each other. Lia grimaced as Kel's lance rammed into Erikk's body. Her lance splintered upon impact and Erikk flew from the saddle. He turned in the air and slapped the ground; a large cloud of dust flew up from the ground. Lia grinned and slowly jogged towards the clearing dust cloud.
Lia saw Erikk's body lying in the sand. Kel slowed down her horse on the other end of the lane. Erikk wasn't moving. This made Lia walk quicker towards him, and ended up running the last several yards.
Kel had dismounted and was running towards his still body too. Lia quickly felt for a pulse or any other sign of life. She found none. Kel came up to Erikk's body and did the same thing. Kel was trying hard not to cry. A wave of emotion swept over Lia. She was trying to sort through what had just happened. Healers ran forwards. Trying, everything something.
"Date of death: 3pm, Monday, June 16." One stated as he shook his head.
One thing Lia didn't try to hide was her tears. It began to hit her that Erikk was dead. The one she now realized she had loved was gone. She wept openly with Kel as they took away his body, to prepare it for burial. Kel had killed her only son and child. Lia wept for the one she loved. She couldn't go on and finish her destiny without him, she was finished. Her mission was over.
(A/N: Did you really think I would do that to you? hehehe, no, one of my friends wrote that: Her idea, not mine. On with the story, Beta says whoever wrote that was evil.)
Lia looked him over. Her healing sense told her he had a few cracked ribs and bruises all over his body. She smiled at him.
"What?" He mumbled looking at his squire's excited face.
"Told ya," She said as she helped him up.
"Did not," He grumped.
"Uh hu," She said.
~~:~~
Later that day Lia had healed Erikk of his tormenting wounds and was of to visit her parents. A bird looked like it was flying straight at the ground. Frowning Lia walked faster. As it hit the ground, it turned into a cat, and then a dog. It ran up to Lia before morphing into her little brother. Lia gasped.
"What? How? What?!" She sputtered. Max grinned.
"Lady Diane taught me." He said proudly. Lia smiled at him. He looked so different from when she'd seen him last. He was taller; his hair was longer. He just looked older.
"Wow, that's impressive." Lia said, still not sure what to say.
"Yeah, when we get to the ocean Diane say's I can try dolphin shape." He said excitedly. Lia smiled. "Oh, ma and dad wanna see ya." He said, slipping into peasant talk, Lia smirked.
"Okay, where are they?"
"Ah," He said and looked at a bird expectantly. "In the sunroom, I'll see you later Lia!" He said running off. Lia grinned and ran up a flight of stairs to the sunroom.
~~:~~
Lia had stopped on her way back from visiting her parents to get food for Erikk and was now on her way back to the tent. Approaching the tent Lia heard laughter. She sped up and entered. John and Alex were seated on the floor next to Erikk.
"Lia!" They cried in unison and reached for the basket of food.
"You brought nourishment! Such a smart girl," John said as he dug through her once neatly arranged dinner. Lia rolled her eyes and went to find feminine companionship.
~~:~~
(A/N: Author is once again bored. Author's stomach is growling, Author will shut up now. Author is in French class. Author hates French class. Really will shut up now. )
A week later, the progress set out south. It was nearing midsummer and nearing her birthday.
At night, Lia could feel Melodious' power increase as they moved steadily south. After Erikk had found out that Lia was the Champion, they hadn't said anything about it. They knew it was dangerous to talk about. She had spies everywhere. If someone overheard it would be fatal. She would send her people to kill them both, probably killing innocent people as well. Some things where not meant to be spoken about.
~~:~~
Lia mumbled profanities under her breath as she tried to sleep. The pressure of Her power was growing to an unbearable amount. Lia could feel it pressing in on her head. It felt like she was going to explode. Moaning she rolled over and screamed into her pillow. Nights like this where becoming more frequent, and more painful.
The pressure increased and she jumped up, pouring water over her head making it decrease. Suddenly it increased to unbearable levels; her vision blurred, and her body felt like it was on fire. She screamed. The pressure was too much for her body to handle, and she collapsed.
Erikk bolted through to her side of the tent only to see her collapse.
Ohhh! Me very first cliffie!!!!!!!!!!! Yayayaya! I think I spelled that wrong, hmm…See why I need a beta? And how did you like that alternate ending?? Written by my dear friend Lauren. Her AIM is LaurenChri if you feel the need to yell at her. And yes she gave me permission to tell u what her thing was. Lol, Review!
~~:Ana:~~
All right, the author had this all pretty and was ready to post it then she decided I could, and just because Ana has left town, it doesn't mean you have permission to not update. Please do so.
~Elsceetaria
