Chapter Seven: "Dear Friends of Alanna…"
Face in hands, George looked torn. "I can't believe it... I won't believe it... she wasn't that stupid..." he raised his head, his hazel eyes were bloodshot.
"George, she's not gone yet. Go and see her... claim her b-"
"THERE IS NO BODY TO CLAIM! SHE'S NOT DEAD !" The ex-thief rose from where he sat, the veins in his temple were pulsing, it wasn't true. Couldn't be true. IT'S NOT TRUE! George would never believe that his lioness was gone.
Walking down the hall, carrying a neatly oiled saddle, Daine walked past the library. At the sound of shouting, in a voice that - like her own - was filled with the pain of loss, the pain of denial. "Jon?" She entered the room.
"ALANNA IS NOT DEAD! PAY ATTENTION! I MERELY SAID YOU SHOULD GO SEE HER BEFORE SHE IS!"
The saddle fell to ground.
"WHERE DO YOU GET THE RIGHT TO SHOUT AT ME, KING OF TORTALL? DOES THAT MEAN YOU CAN SCREAM AT YOUR PEASANTS! DOES IT MEAN THAT YOU CAN SAY WHEN SOMEONE'S DEAD!"
"DAMMIT GEORGE, SHE'S NOT DEAD!"
"But Numair is?" Daine's voice broke the shouting match in a quiet, almost icy whisper.
"Daine..."
"Jon. Where is the evidence? I disappeared the same night. Yet...Yet here I am, safe and sound..."
"Daine this conversation was between me and George."
"I understand that Jonathon. What I don't understand is how Alanna's not dead but Numair is."
"Would you rather she be dead?"
"No. I'd rather if we tried a little harder to find Numair."
"That's how Alanna died, trying to find him."
"OH, SO HO JOHNNY, WHO'S DEAD NOW?"
"George..."
"Sire, you did say Alanna was dead."
"DAINE DON'T YOU 'SIRE' ME!"
"Of course your highness. I'll just be on my way. If you'll excuse me a moment." She picked up the saddle and turned to George, "I'll be off to find Numair then. If you'd like to come and see Alanna…"
"No Daine."
"You don't want to see Alanna?"
"No... Not that, but you mustn't leave Corus. You mustn't leave the palace."
"Well how in Mithros' name am I to find him?"
"We need you here Daine. You'll be of vital assistance when the AKT come back. Come to think of it... I might join the AKT. If you really think about it... Against King of Tortall... Any conspiracy with that as their slogan ought to be supported. You don't get killed and you do something nice for Tortall."
"Now George, see here."
Noting yet another upcoming argument, Daine grabbed George's arm, "Let's discuss this...elsewhere."
"D-d-Daine? What are you doing here?" Struggling to pull himself up, the Wild Mage grasped his hands in hers, and pulled him into a sitting position. "Aren't you supposed to be in Corus?"
"Of course I am. But why wouldn't I risk my life for you, Numy."
"Numy?"
"Well... don't you have any nicknames for me?"
"How could you forget something like that?" Numair's confusion was apparent.
"I was just making sure your memory was all...in one piece."
Taking a wild gander he asked, "As if you were?"
"A simulacra?"
Thoughts instantly ricocheted around Numair's mind.
'Maybe you could and maybe you couldn't, but while we found out, Tristan would see you doing something your whatchumacallems weren't.'
'Simulacra.'
'Whatever'
'Kaddar and Varice saw them kill you. You're a - a ghost or a - puppet. A simu -thing.'
'Ozorne couldn't attach magic to a simulacra, remember?'
'Very well then...you're Numair's simal-'
'Simulacra'.
"You aren't Daine."
"But Numy. I saved you when you were a hawk, I was there when you changed Tristan Staghorn into an...apple tree... and when you almost died…or I thought you had. In Carthak…with Kaddar. And you saved me from the spidrens, when I fell off the cliff. Ohhhhh Numair, remember...please!"
"You must be Daine."
"I am!"
"How is everyone? Alanna, Jon?"
"They..." She bit her lip. "They don't think you're still alive...and...I didn't either... but K-Kaddar... Oh Numair! I miss him soo much... he was...killed... it was a dragon."
The sounds of footsteps on the mottled tile outside the cell echoed closer.
"I have to go... but I'll come see you...oh...Why did Kaddar have to die?"
The door opened, and the guard came in, not seeing Daine sneak out. Not seeing? Or allowing? Numair pondered.
"C'mon NSíP, it's off to the cliff for you."
Several days had passed with no news from George. Knowing that the he liked her and wanted her to stay safe, she followed his instructions to stay in the palace, to a limit. She still visited Cloud daily, preparing for when she would leave to find Numair herself. It had been almost a full week before his letter came. It was wrinkled, as if it had been dampened while being written.
Jon, Daine, Thayet and all friends of me and Alanna;
I'm grateful for the support given me during this time of need, but Alanna has passed away. I am sure I will be needed at home, but please allow me to take my time upon returning. Alanna suffered several arrow wounds and a gash down her chest. Coram Smytheson has also died.
-The ever hopeful to the future
Baron George Cooper of Pirate's Swoop
End Chapter Seven