The author left the following in reviews for me to post:
Hey guys it's me. I know no one reads
the reviews of other chappies so maybe me beta could post this?
Anyway, England is awesome. The whole getting-no-sleep-for-27 hours thing
wasn't so great tho. :) Food is good. Ugh, for dinner last night we ate at Chille's!
I was not amused. Anywho, I hope you all know by now to REVIEW! I've decided I
want 300 when I get back as the story will be over by then! Be good readers
while I'm away!
Anyway, I'm sorry I took so long to update. I've been slightly brain dead for a while. In apology, I shall post the next chapter early (a. k. a. later today) with 26 coming the day after that. While I know that will not satisfy the readers, that is earlier than Ana told me to post, and will put me back on track for when I was supposed to update. As I am brain dead and am not the author, I will keep thank-yous short. I'll write better ones for this and other chapters in a few days and will probably put them on chapter 26. I would like to thank the following people for reviewing: Sarai-IceElf, Shinigami Clara, White-wolf, Shayley Rain, DarkAngel33, Peachblossom, Eccie87, Yume, ravenmist, FantasyIsMyLife, and Sunrunner of Summer.
~Elscy
Death of a Helper
He yelled for help and knelt down next to her body. He checked to see if she was breathing and had a pulse before cradling her head in his lap. He looked up worriedly as a healer entered. It happened to be someone he knew, Alisson, a healer at the palace he had worked with on occasion during his squire hood. He looked at her expectantly. She nodded and pale blue fire surrounded Lia's body. A minute later, she withdrew.
"The only thing I can find would be too much stress. Just let her sleep." Allison said with a sympathetic smile. He nodded and looked down at the now peaceful squire. Allison smiled and left. Erikk could gear her shooing a crowd away. He carefully picked her up and placed her back on her bed. He leaned against the center pole of the tent. He tried not to fall asleep, but as most sensible people know, trying not to fall asleep only makes you fall asleep faster.
~~:~~
Lia woke up to the sound of birds chirping and sun warming her body. Slowly she opened her eyes and examined the canvas roof. It was really quite interesting actually, how all of the fibers intertwined. A ball of orange fuzz landed on her face. Lia squealed and sat up. Grabbing for the angered cat Lia jumped out of bed.
"Morning," Said an incredibly amused Erikk. Lia pulled Chemise off her and glared at Erikk. "Feelin' better?" He asked still leaning against one of the support posts.
"Hmm?" She asked, settling the cat down in her lap.
"You feel better?" He asked. Lia looked up surprised.
"Yeah; why? Did something happen?" She asked. Erikk swallowed.
"You collapsed, remember? You screamed. The healer said you were under stress." He said nervously. Lia looked at him blankly.
"Oh! You mean the pressure? I collapsed? Oh, I thought I fell asleep." She exclaimed after a few moments of silence.
"Yes, yes, you collapsed." He said again.
"Ah, I didn't remember." She said brightly. Erikk grinned.
"Ya did kinda hit your head." He said grinning.
"I bet you think that's funny." She said. Erikk grinned.
"Only a little: Progress is leaving this morning, we gotta pack." He said before exiting her room. Lia sighed and quickly got dressed.
The two packed up their tent, saddled the horses, and were moving out before most of the others on the progress. In any course, they waited for the line to start moving south. The progress moved slowly. Most of the nobles never left home, and those that did liked to go slow, take there time, enjoy the scenery. Not that there was much to see in the desert, sand dunes, but those got boring after a while.
Lia amused herself by watching Chemise try to prance through the sand. She was having a hard time of it, her little legs sunk down into the sand and she had to lift them high above the sand only to have them sink back into the sand. Her once orange coat was a dull yellow from all of the sand mixed into it. Lia was positive part of the sand would never come out.
Erikk was busy talking to a Carthaki knight. Lia was trying valiantly to hear what they were saying but all she could here was hushed mumbling.
She switched her attention to the knights in front of her. They were dressed in the most outrageous clothes she had ever seen. Lime green hose, orange tunics embroidered in pink. Blue hats with purple feathers adorned there heads. Lia was amused. 'The two were talking about the latest spidren attack on villages. Some how the spidrens were becoming less susceptible to flame, blaze balm wasn't working as well. The mages in the university were working on a flammable liquid, but that wouldn't be ready for another few months. In the meantime squads of royal guard were being deployed around areas were attacks were more frequent.
Lia frowned, this was obviously Melodius' doing. Lia knew she would have to reach her palace soon. One tiny little problem, she didn't know where it was. South Lia knew, so south she was going, but there is a lot of south. Glancing at Erikk, she saw he was looking at her.
"She's attacking." Lia whispered.
"I know." He said. "We're heading south. That's where she is." He said. Lia nodded.
"But we don't know where."
~~:~~
Months later spidren attacks were getting more frequent all over. The carthakis had hem, Scanrans had them, Tortall, even Yamani, which had never had a problem with immortals before. Lia was nervous, the more people that were attacked, the more people died, and the more blood was on her hands. She didn't like it, not one bit.
The mages traveling with the progress had started setting up shields at night and scanned or immortals regularly in the day. All that could be done to increase safety in the progress was done.
Most people weren't too worried about it. Therefore, the immortals were attacking peasants. The peasants should take better care of themselves. That made Erikk mad. His family was dedicated to the equality of all people, not this 'everyone is made equal but some were created more equal than others' crap. He was furious, his mother was furious and his father sat back and fumed.
Lia herself was more worried about getting to Melodius fast enough so that she could stop her from taking over the world. She was practicing as much as possible, trying to get good enough to beat an immortal who was close to god-hood. Erikk told her on a number of occasions he was afraid she was going to kill herself before they got to Melodius. Lia was sure that she wouldn't but had relaxed on the training for a while.
Lia was getting tired of serving dinners every night. Why the rich noble's couldn't get up and get there own food she didn't know. They were perfectly capable. They had two legs and could walk. It wasn't that hard.
They had passed over the carthaki border a week before and were going to reach the capital within the next two days. The wedding would take place a week after they had been in the capital. Lia had been asked to be a bridesmaid; personally, she hadn't thought it was a god idea but she had been quilted into it.
Lia was pacing, fifty people had been killed by the immortals these past months. She felt like it was her fault. She should be doing something, was always a constant thought in her head. Pacing the room the embassy had given her Lia picked up her swords and began a rigorous pattern dance.
The Carthakis had a god called Destiny and Lia was debating whether to go see it. It couldn't be the same god that had returned Lia to life, it just couldn't be. Impossible.
Sighing Lia walked out of the room and down to the temple district. She would go look at this temple. Walking through the newly built castle there were moccasins of battles and conquests. Paintings of scenery and former emperors decorated the walls. Tapestries of animals and immortals hung.
Somehow, Carthaki mages had figured out a way to cool the stone palace down even in end of summer heat. Walking out of the building, a wave of heat came over her. Lia inhaled the humid air, moisture tickling her nose.
Destiny's temple was large and quite a few people were worshiping in it. The walls had been tiled into pictures of destiny's appearance. Incense burned and a priest came up to her and peered at her. Lia sighed; she had gotten this reaction before. The priest grabbed her arm and pulled her into a corner.
"She has her hand on you, you know that." The priest said in the same eerie whispery voice of destiny.
"I know."
"When trouble befalls hang onto loves token." He said looking at her necklace pointedly before leaving Lia sighed; she was tired of creepy priests.
~~:~~
The next week passed in a blur of wedding preparations. Lia was fitted for a gauzy green, poofy dress. Erikk was forever with John as he was panicking. So they didn't see each other much. Lia found it hard to believe that she had been a squire for over a year now. She hadn't thought it would g as fast as it did.
(A/N: I decided to go a little faster with this first year, don't hurt me. On a personal note I am currently in a plane flying to Miami, I'm goin on a cruise! I'm hoping to finish soon, I've already written the ending sooo...)
She had been kidnapped at an ungodly hour of the morning and as it was now late afternoon was being shoved into a dress. Her hair had been yanked out of her head. Her face painted. Now all she needed to find were shoes.
"Um, where are my shoes?" Lia asked timidly. The woman looked at her like she was crazy.
"They should be with your dress." She said. Lia smiled politely.
"I just checked; they're not there." She said. A few of the other girls commented on not having any shoes either. The woman just about fainted. A man comforted her and said he would find the shoes.
Five minute's later the man returned and said that the shoes hadn't been made. He said he had found a shoemaker and that servants were picking up white shoes that would fit all of the girls. The poor woman in charge of the wedding preparations did faint and another servant was crying about how the princess would be so angered with her. Lia thought that was completely ridiculous and went to see how she looked.
Her dress was made of many layers of different colored green. The top was fitted glove tight and then flared out and cascaded to the floor. The dress was too long and hit the floor, the shoes she was supposed to have would help but it would still touch, though that was the point. All of the bridesmaids had the same dress style, but each dress was a different color. There were seven different colors, red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple pink. Then the bride, in white, Lia was green and Nia was blue, the other girls Li didn't know, but then she wasn't sure she wanted to. They were very giggly and, blonde. Not that Lia had a big thing against blondes, but the rumor that they were stupid proved true most of the time.
Erica entered the room and all activity stopped. She looked absolutely stunning. Lia wondered if John wasn't going to faint.
Her dress glittered every time light hit it, in the outdoor courtyard she would look like she glowed. The neckline was low cut, with a rose lace tatted over it. Roses were embroidered in silver down the bodice over a gauzy white. The sleeves were fitted along her arms tightly; large elaborate roses decorated the sleeves as well. A large bell shaped skirt flared out to her waist with roses embroidered into the folds. The dress looked like it was sewn onto her.
Erica's long, shiny hair had been spiraled and left down. A silver circlet came out of the hair and the famed princess diamond hung in the center of her fore head. Lia was, speechless. Nia was the first to speak. "Oh, Erica, hon' Jon's going to drop dead." She said with a smile, but it was true, Erica was drop dead gorgeous.
"Ya think?" Erica asked with a smile, Lia grinned as Erica's governesses gaped at the improper speech. She knew Erica had seen as well.
''He's definitely going to faint. don't ya think Lia?" Nia asked her.
"Oh, definitely." Lia said in agreement. Erica smiled. A servant came in throwing shoes at people. Lia and Nia caught theirs but all of the other girls shrieked and dodged theirs. Lia grinned as she put them on, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
A servant came in and said that the ceremony was about to begin. The bridesmaids had to line up according to color, red, yellow, etc. etc. Lia had gotten lucky and had Nia behind her. They whispered about the ceremony all the way to the big redwood doors. The music began and slowly the girls entered the courtyard. Lia smiled reassuringly at the boys who all looked very nervous. John especially, he did look like he was going to pass out. Lia knew that he wouldn't be nervous after Erica came in. She walked to the side, Nia right after her, and they waited for Erica to enter.
The crowd gasped as she entered. Lia looked at John, his jaw dropped and his eyes grew large. Erica smiled at him and he smiled at her.
Through the entire ceremony, John and Erica looked at each other. They didn't pay attention to the priest, or anybody else in the room. Lia thought all they heard were the last words the priest said.
"You may kiss the bride." They did. Lia was amused when George Cooper started counting.
"Over a minute now, they've already beat Roald and Shinko!" he exclaimed. About a minute later, the two love birds broke apart and smiled at each other. Lia and Nia keeled over laughing and hung onto each other so as to not fall over.
The Carthakis had put together a presentation of countries to present at the wedding. The group was let to a huge atrium and sat down. Then, the show began.
Dancers paraded onto the stage and began a routine done to Yamani music. Their legs flew above their heads; they flipped and jumped over one another going through music styles that evidently represented each country. Lia was amazed that these people could keep going through this two-hour long performance. Lia was sad when it was over. She could have watched it all night.
They were then led to a three-course meal. Lia having to endure the most boring company of the Carthaki ladies in waiting. Lia had been seated at the end of the table with Nia at the head. She literally counted the seconds in her head. She smiled politely when dinner was over, commented on how lovely a time she' had and left. The Carthakis were supposed to have marvelous gardens; Lia decided it was time to find out.
They were a wonder, huge flowers hanging from ornately carved arches and walkways. There were places that wondered through groves o humongous trees. Raised wooden platforms took you high above the ground to see different vines that had wrapped around treetops. Somewhere in the middle, a man dressed in all black walked up to her. She gasped when she saw another person but quickly regained her composure.
"Hello." He said in an accent less voice. Lia found it odd that he had no accent. "Destiny wills you have these." He said, pulling two shimmering swords out of his cloak. Lia barely had time to whisper and audible thank you before he left. Lia sighed and continued her way through the moonlit paths of the gardens.
--/--
Lia gritted her teeth as she stood behind Erikk in yet another meeting about the ever-increasing attacks on Tortall by immortals. They weren't even sure where these immortals were coming from. All of the clans were accounted for, and they hadn't sensed new immortals till they attacked. Lia knew were they were coming from she was creating them, pulling them out of thin air.
They were thinking of wrapping the progress up quicker that before, leaving Lia no option other than riding out into the Carthaki desert and demanding a visit from Melodius herself. She was ready: she would win. She had too.
Erikk was looking at her and he knew what she was thinking. He slowly, almost unnoticeably shook his head. Lia pretended not to notice. The meeting ended and Erikk left with Lia in tow as soon as possible. Back in the rooms they were staying in, he looked at her.
"No, no, no and no!" He said flatly. "No." He said again with extra emphasis.
"Alright, alright, fine." She said.
"I was just going to suggest something." She said, trying to make it sound like he was missing out on some brilliant idea.
(A/N: These weird authors notes are getting more frequent, if they bug ya tell me. Anyway, I just got back from shopping in Cozumel Anyway I've decided that Mexicans selling things are insane. )
He just looked at her. "Uh hu, and did this suggestion of yours have anything to do with riding south as fast as possible?" He said snottily. Lia just glared and stopped off. He sighed, he hated doing this to him, but something in him told him, not yet.
~~:~~
That night Lia lay abed, saddened by her almost fight with Erikk, It wasn't that he was right that bugged her, or that she had to do what he said because of his position over her. It was that she didn't think he understood how deeply this affected her. Her head whirled with images of spidrens attacking and little innocent children dying. The visions came hard and fast lately, leaving her speechless and breathless. She'd decided maybe it was best not to know, but if she tried to stop them they got more vivid, she saw faces, heard the tortured screams, and then snapped out of it hearing Melodius' sick laughter.
She hadn't told Erikk, she didn't want to worry him, and she knew he would worry. She also knew that one of these days he would figure it out.
~~:~~
One month later, Lia was shaken violently awake in the middle of the night. "Get dressed." Erikk hissed. "Spidrens are coming up on the camp fast." He said before running out the door. Lia pulled on her clothes roughly, sparing no time for boots she grabbed the blades the goddess had given her almost half a year ago now and ran out the door.
Erikk had been right. There was a clan of ten female spidrens closing in on the camp. Lia shouted death threats and charged the spidrens.
Her blades sliced through the air, cutting, biting, and killing. Arrows flew about her head and Lia saw the glinting green power as the spidrens died. Biting her lip to keep from begging Melodius to come herself, Lia killed a spidren attacking her from behind. Erikk grabbed her around the shoulders and hauled her away.
~~:~~
A week and a half later, a knight came up and slapped her with his riding glove. Lia had just had a vision of her brother's death and just about smacked the man across the face. Instead, she leaned against the wall and glared at him. He backed away slowly but then stepped forward.
"I am Sir Mercution of Verona, a Gallan-," he said pompously.
"I know were Verona is. What shall it be? Dagger? Sword? Lance?" she said just as pompously.
"Ah, sword." he said backing away again.
"When?" She asked viciously, licking her lips just to frighten the poor man.
"I'll put it on the boards for one; you'll have to check to see exactly when." He said cautiously.
"Good." She whispered and accidentally brushed by him on her way back to camp.
Upon arrival at she and Erikk's tent Lia realized her actions were a bit, odd. She pondered her actions, and her feelings, and for some odd reason she found she wanted to rip this man to shreds. Tear him to pieces and leave him for the dogs. Then it hit her, she was PMSing. That meant she would be ultra teary tomorrow. How wonderful.
~~:~~
Lia woke up late the next morning. Normally Erikk woke her up, Lia mumbled about men who couldn't keep there promises and rolled out of bed and walked to his part of the tent. Before she got halfway across her tent, she collapsed clutching her emerald.
They were dying, all of them mass murder had swept the land. They were eating little babies in one gulp, roasting the men alive like kabobs, and they had tied her to a pole in the center of what had formerly been know as the palace of Corus. All of this death and destruction was her fault. Crying Lia put her head on the floor and wept. Erikk had entered her tent and was looking at her.
"Li? Li! What's wrong?" He asked putting his arm around her shoulders. When she didn't answer, he pulled her into his arms. "It's going to be okay LI, whatever it is. It'll be okay, I promise." He said into her hair. Rocking her back and forth like a small child.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry." She said again.
"For what?" He asked kindly.
"For this, for everything." She said.
"No, Li, no. You've been wonderful. I couldn't ask for a better squire, a better friend," He caught himself before saying a better love, he was sure she didn't feel the same. She smiled.
"I'm fencing with some idiot conservative." She said.
"Which idiot conservative?" He asked.
"Marzipan of Velum," She said. "Something like that anyway." she said leaning against him. Erikk thought a minute.
"Mercutio of Verona?"
"That's it!" She said smiling. "I just about slapped him, but he hit me first." Lia said, perking up a little.
"Hit you with his glove?"
"Yes." Lia said, still highly offended.
"That's tradition; if you want to fight someone, you hit them with your glove." He said.
"I know. It was one of those many classes we were forced to take, but that's still kind of stupid."
"That's tradition." He said, emphasizing the last word to make his point. He knew some traditions were stupid, but people kept doing it because that was the way things were done, the way things had always been done.
"That's nice, so what do I need to know about Menstrual?" Erikk's jaw dropped.
"Don't call him that in public." He said.
"Why not?" Lia asked dumbly, she still hadn't woken up entirely.
"Because I said so."
"Oh, that."
