***Tom, Phi, and Alex's View***
After realizing that they needed Trycos's help to get back to their own world, the three bid Kel, Esmond, and Owen good-night and went back to their rooms to plan their next course of action...only they weren't having much luck in deciding what to do next.
Tom rubbed his forehead, "So, what do we do now?" He and Alex were sitting on his bed while Phi was sitting in a chair next to the window in the boys' room.
Alex shook his head, "I don't know...we can't get caught again, and the next time he sees us, he'll probably be so pissed off that he'll kill us right on the spot..."
Phi nodded, "And I already died twice already on this trip so let's find a better way..."
"Well," Tom looked thoughtful and his brows were furrowed, "...We could...write him a letter..."
Phi turned to her brother with raised eyebrows, "That's crazy!"
"Well do you have a better idea?!"
"I didn't say it was a bad idea, I just said it was crazy! But I like it...let's do it."
Tom turned to Alex who had flopped down on the bed with his hands crossed under his head, "Do you have another idea?"
"Um...nope. I wish I did though. I'm not sure that anyone will be able to deliver a message to a villain for us, not to mention the chances of him responding positively to it..."
Phi sighed, "Has anyone ever tried something like this before?"
"No, but maybe that means it will work. Besides as long as we are in Tortall, I can't think of any other way to get in contact with somebody without meeting them face to face..."
"I guess you're right...sort of."
Alex closed his eyes, "So...who's gonna write it?"
Phi stared at Tom who rolled his eyes and exhaled deeply, "Fine, whatever, I'll write a letter to the insane guy...Can someone hand me a quill?"
***Numair's View***
The mage was resting in his bed staring blankly at his ceiling. It was only a few hours after his friends had brought him back and he was already bored...not a good thing. He sighed and tried to roll over but gave up after a pain shot up his side. Duke Baird was still working on an antidote for whatever was ailing him, and he would be helping the healer if it was not he himself that was the injured one. And Daine. Sometimes she could be such a pain. But she was probably just trying to look out for his well being...He scowled. He hated to be bed-ridden. It didn't suit him at all. Another thought popped into his head. As long as he was stuck in his bedroom, there was no way that he would be able to cast the spell that would enable Tom, Alex, and Phi to get back to their own world. Unless they found another way...He moaned and rolled over. Another white-hot streak of pain shot up his side and he swore under his breath.
***Tom, Alex, and Phi's View***
Tom tossed restlessly in his bed. It had been an hour since they had decided to send Trycos a letter and something was tugging at the back of Tom's mind, except he didn't know what it was. The only thing that he did know was that it was keeping him awake, and he hated having insomnia. He went over the idea and besides it being totally insane and that it had about a 25% chance of working, he couldn't see anything else that was wrong with it. Besides, he figured that to contact an insane man, you need an insane way of doing so.
He turned over and stared at Alex, because he needed something to look at and saw that his friend was still wide awake and lying on his stomach, resting his chin on his pillow. Tom blinked and whispered, "Alex? Alex, are you awake?"
"...Wha? Oh, ya, I'm awake, I hope I didn't wake you up..."
"Naw, I just can't sleep...What about you?"
"Same here...Why can't you sleep?"
"I dunno. I suppose it's our plan about Trycos...you?" Alex shifted uncomfortably in his bed sheets and Tom knew what was bothering him, "I seriously don't mind...It could be worse I suppose..."
Alex grinned slightly and turned his head so that he was facing Tom, "Ya, I guess it could be, but not much...If I had a little sister and you fell in love with her, I would expect that I would be a little more than uncomfortable when I was around them..."
"Well, she could have falling in love with someone else who is worse than you. Besides, I'm not all that surprised. In our senior year, you started to hang out with her almost as much as you did with me! I wondered if you were falling for her..."
"Well, now ya know..."
There was a almost uncomfortable silence between them before Tom sighed and rolled back over to face the other way, "Besides, she really likes you too...I can tell..."
***
The next morning the three went down to see what kind of progress Duke Baird had made on a cure for Numair's illness, or whatever it was, but also to ask him a few questions concerning Tortall's mail system...
Tom knocked politely on the infirmary door and waited until the Duke opened it and greeted them before stepping inside, "Good morning. We just came down to ask how Numair's cure is coming along."
The Duke exhaled deeply before motioning them over to an open notebook and several loose papers that were scattered seemingly randomly on his desk in the corner of the room, "Not well I am afraid. Without knowing what is ailing Master Numair besides that fact that he feels extreme pain whenever he moves is not a very good start to making a cure. I have frankly never seen anything quite like it before. So far, he has shown no other symptoms of any sort that would help us to better pinpoint the sickness but I'm beginning to think that this 'illness' is really just a curse that this Trycos fellow made up. In that case, I have a lot of work to do..."
Tom, who seemed genuinely interested in what the Duke had to say kept nodding and frowning as the Duke went on to explain the illness itself, how it seemed to start, how it effects the body, and it's reaction to several tests that the Duke had already preformed. Alex inched backwards to stand next to Phi who was staring at several surprisingly actuate drawing of the human body, "I see you weren't very interested in their conversation either..."
"No..." Phi turned to looked up at him and grinned, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like how?"
"I dunno, but it makes me feel funny..." Alex shrugged and turned to gaze at the pictures instead of at Phi, "...So what were you and Tom talking about last night?"
Alex's brain froze. There was no way that he was going to tell her that they had been talking about their relationship last night, "I...I dunno...things..."
"What kind of things?"
His brain froze again. Why did women always have to be so nosey? "Um...you know...Trycos and...stuff...What were you doing up at that time anyway?"
"Oh I don't know" She grinned at him, "...Things..."
Alex sighed and walked back over to Tom. He hated how she always seemed to know things no matter how much he didn't want her to. He walked over just in time to hear Tom start to ask the Duke about mail.
Tom was going over some of the Duke's notes and casually asked, "So, have you tried sending some of these notes out to other healers? Maybe they can help you..."
"No...I need all of them here, besides, most of the greatest healers are in this city already!"
"You mean you couldn't send these to them if they were in the city?"
"Of course you could! It would be quite simple in fact, but as I said before, I need all of these papers here for my own research and I do not have any copies..."
"If you were to send something, how would you go about doing that?"
The Duke's eyes narrowed suspiciously but his eyes glittered with knowing humor, "Tom, you should know by now that I have raised a son and have gotten wise to every trick that you could possibly think of pulling on me...believe me, once you have dealt with Neal, the rest of you boys seem easy..."
"Don't worry! I wasn't going to do anything! I was just curious, that's all..."
"...Fine, but if I find one of my papers missing, I think I will have a pretty good idea of who to blame for their disappearances...If you were to send a letter to another person in the city, all you would have to do is address the envelope with the receivers name and address and call on a messenger, any page will do. Then all you have to do is give the letter to the messenger, tip him, and he will deliver it for you."
"And what if you didn't know the address?"
"I suppose...I suppose you would give the delivery boy an especially large tip, inform him of the problem, and then hope that he finds the right person that you intended the letter for."
"Hmm...okay...thank you very much! We will return to see how the cure is coming along. If you need ay help, just let me know and I'll be here!"
The Duke nodded and Tom, Alex, and Phi trudged back upstairs to write a letter. When they got back to their rooms, Tom pulled the chair by the widow over to the desk, sat down in it and took out a quill and a small sheet of paper. He thought for a moment, then began to write. After about forty-five minutes and several more pieces of paper, Tom leaned back in his chair and handed the letter over to Phi and Alex who were sitting on the bed.
The letter was as follows:
Trycos~
I am somewhat sorry to inform you that after all that you did to us and our friends, we now find ourselves in need of your assistance. Although I am sure that you wish to have nothing more to do with us and are feeling that would much rather kill us than help us, I assure you that we could probably come up with some agreement that would be able to satisfy all of our needs. Nothing too outrageous mind you, and something that we ourselves could provide. I am afraid that we have yet to inform the rest of our companions of our current situation and do not expect that they will be willing to go along with any type of bargain making on our parts so we would appreciate it if you keep whatever deal we make, if we ever make one up at all, a secret. Please send us a reply.
~Thomas, Alexander, and Phiona
Phi looked up from the letter, "A bargain? What is that all about?"
"Well, I just thought that Trycos would not be willing to be helping us unless he too was able to gain something, so I offered a bargain..."
Alex tossed Tom the letter, "...Ya, but who knows what that guy will come up with..."
Tom shrugged and stood up, "I'm going to go find someone to give this letter to before I change my mind about the whole idea..."
Phi rolled her eyes and Alex nodded and watched as he left the room and softly closed the door behind him.
Tom roamed down the halls until he reached what he remembered to be the pages library. It was a separate, smaller library from the main one, but he had heard that a lot of pages hanging around in it practically 24/7. He gently opened the door and sure enough there were about twenty pages and squires hanging around, doing what looked like schoolwork around large wooden tables. He as busy gazing around and was startled when someone called out his name from behind, "Tom? What are you doing here?" He turned quickly to see Devic and a younger boy carrying stacks of books into the room.
"Well, actually, I needed a letter delivered and I was told that a page would be able to do it for me..."
Devic looked thoughtful, then smiled. He turned to the younger boy and took the stack of books that he was carrying, "This is Will, he is my cousin, and he will be glad to deliver your message, won't you Will? We were just returning some old books anyway..."
Will gave Devic a glare, took the letter and walked out of the room after Tom handed him a very large tip. Devic glanced at the coin Tom gave Will and whistled as the boy walked quickly out of the room, "Must not have an address...Who was that to anyway?"
"It's not really that important...Here, let me help you with some of those books..."
***Trycos's View***
Trycos was milling around in his room, unsettled by the turn the series of recent events had taken. He flopped down into a large easy chair that materialized out of the cloudy whiteness and he began to stare into the vastness of his "realm". Maybe he was loosing his touch. Maybe he just didn't have what it takes anymore to drive a man insane. It used to be so easy for him...In fact, as long as he could remember he had been doing it. First it was his father, then his mother, who in the end committed suicide to free herself of his torture, next came his cousins and acquaintances, and then he had begun to pull random people off the street. He sighed and leaned his head back over the arm of the chair. No that couldn't be it...It was probably just the people who he had decided to drive insane this time.
He was about to conjure himself up a nice beach side to walk along to calm his nerves when a slight tickle ran through the back of his mind. He smiled. That could only mean one thing, that someone was looking for him. He stood up and walked out the wooden door with a slight spring in his step, happy to be having his mind distracted for him without having to plot out anything first.
He walked out of his alleyway, remembering to close it off to the rest of the world so that they wouldn't start to use it as a trash dump, and strolled onto the main street looking casually around for the person who had said his name. Just the mention of it would send a tickle like the one he had just felt running through his mind and he would be able to investigate it.
His smile widened as he felt another tickle, only this time it was stronger. He was getting closer to the one that said it, and there was only one person that was standing close enough to send out such a large signal. It was a small boy, who looked to be about nine or ten. Trycos's smile was replaced by a smirk, much too young to be out on his own. Then he noticed that made him very curious, an emotion that he hadn't experienced for a very long time. The boy was holding a letter that was addressed...to him. He quickly replaced his malicious grin with that of a normal passer-by and pretended to stroll in front of the boy and sure enough, the boy responded, "Excuse me, sir? Do you know who Trycos is?"
"Indeed I do boy..."'
Relief swept over the boy and he thought, 'Finally, I can get back to my schoolwork...' "I have a letter for him, could you make sure it gets to him?"
"Of course I will!" Trycos smiled as the boy bowed quickly then hurried back off into the crowds. The man turned on his heels, examined the outside of the letter and walked nonchalantly back to his room.
A/N: OK! I'll try to hurry and write the next chapter...
After realizing that they needed Trycos's help to get back to their own world, the three bid Kel, Esmond, and Owen good-night and went back to their rooms to plan their next course of action...only they weren't having much luck in deciding what to do next.
Tom rubbed his forehead, "So, what do we do now?" He and Alex were sitting on his bed while Phi was sitting in a chair next to the window in the boys' room.
Alex shook his head, "I don't know...we can't get caught again, and the next time he sees us, he'll probably be so pissed off that he'll kill us right on the spot..."
Phi nodded, "And I already died twice already on this trip so let's find a better way..."
"Well," Tom looked thoughtful and his brows were furrowed, "...We could...write him a letter..."
Phi turned to her brother with raised eyebrows, "That's crazy!"
"Well do you have a better idea?!"
"I didn't say it was a bad idea, I just said it was crazy! But I like it...let's do it."
Tom turned to Alex who had flopped down on the bed with his hands crossed under his head, "Do you have another idea?"
"Um...nope. I wish I did though. I'm not sure that anyone will be able to deliver a message to a villain for us, not to mention the chances of him responding positively to it..."
Phi sighed, "Has anyone ever tried something like this before?"
"No, but maybe that means it will work. Besides as long as we are in Tortall, I can't think of any other way to get in contact with somebody without meeting them face to face..."
"I guess you're right...sort of."
Alex closed his eyes, "So...who's gonna write it?"
Phi stared at Tom who rolled his eyes and exhaled deeply, "Fine, whatever, I'll write a letter to the insane guy...Can someone hand me a quill?"
***Numair's View***
The mage was resting in his bed staring blankly at his ceiling. It was only a few hours after his friends had brought him back and he was already bored...not a good thing. He sighed and tried to roll over but gave up after a pain shot up his side. Duke Baird was still working on an antidote for whatever was ailing him, and he would be helping the healer if it was not he himself that was the injured one. And Daine. Sometimes she could be such a pain. But she was probably just trying to look out for his well being...He scowled. He hated to be bed-ridden. It didn't suit him at all. Another thought popped into his head. As long as he was stuck in his bedroom, there was no way that he would be able to cast the spell that would enable Tom, Alex, and Phi to get back to their own world. Unless they found another way...He moaned and rolled over. Another white-hot streak of pain shot up his side and he swore under his breath.
***Tom, Alex, and Phi's View***
Tom tossed restlessly in his bed. It had been an hour since they had decided to send Trycos a letter and something was tugging at the back of Tom's mind, except he didn't know what it was. The only thing that he did know was that it was keeping him awake, and he hated having insomnia. He went over the idea and besides it being totally insane and that it had about a 25% chance of working, he couldn't see anything else that was wrong with it. Besides, he figured that to contact an insane man, you need an insane way of doing so.
He turned over and stared at Alex, because he needed something to look at and saw that his friend was still wide awake and lying on his stomach, resting his chin on his pillow. Tom blinked and whispered, "Alex? Alex, are you awake?"
"...Wha? Oh, ya, I'm awake, I hope I didn't wake you up..."
"Naw, I just can't sleep...What about you?"
"Same here...Why can't you sleep?"
"I dunno. I suppose it's our plan about Trycos...you?" Alex shifted uncomfortably in his bed sheets and Tom knew what was bothering him, "I seriously don't mind...It could be worse I suppose..."
Alex grinned slightly and turned his head so that he was facing Tom, "Ya, I guess it could be, but not much...If I had a little sister and you fell in love with her, I would expect that I would be a little more than uncomfortable when I was around them..."
"Well, she could have falling in love with someone else who is worse than you. Besides, I'm not all that surprised. In our senior year, you started to hang out with her almost as much as you did with me! I wondered if you were falling for her..."
"Well, now ya know..."
There was a almost uncomfortable silence between them before Tom sighed and rolled back over to face the other way, "Besides, she really likes you too...I can tell..."
***
The next morning the three went down to see what kind of progress Duke Baird had made on a cure for Numair's illness, or whatever it was, but also to ask him a few questions concerning Tortall's mail system...
Tom knocked politely on the infirmary door and waited until the Duke opened it and greeted them before stepping inside, "Good morning. We just came down to ask how Numair's cure is coming along."
The Duke exhaled deeply before motioning them over to an open notebook and several loose papers that were scattered seemingly randomly on his desk in the corner of the room, "Not well I am afraid. Without knowing what is ailing Master Numair besides that fact that he feels extreme pain whenever he moves is not a very good start to making a cure. I have frankly never seen anything quite like it before. So far, he has shown no other symptoms of any sort that would help us to better pinpoint the sickness but I'm beginning to think that this 'illness' is really just a curse that this Trycos fellow made up. In that case, I have a lot of work to do..."
Tom, who seemed genuinely interested in what the Duke had to say kept nodding and frowning as the Duke went on to explain the illness itself, how it seemed to start, how it effects the body, and it's reaction to several tests that the Duke had already preformed. Alex inched backwards to stand next to Phi who was staring at several surprisingly actuate drawing of the human body, "I see you weren't very interested in their conversation either..."
"No..." Phi turned to looked up at him and grinned, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like how?"
"I dunno, but it makes me feel funny..." Alex shrugged and turned to gaze at the pictures instead of at Phi, "...So what were you and Tom talking about last night?"
Alex's brain froze. There was no way that he was going to tell her that they had been talking about their relationship last night, "I...I dunno...things..."
"What kind of things?"
His brain froze again. Why did women always have to be so nosey? "Um...you know...Trycos and...stuff...What were you doing up at that time anyway?"
"Oh I don't know" She grinned at him, "...Things..."
Alex sighed and walked back over to Tom. He hated how she always seemed to know things no matter how much he didn't want her to. He walked over just in time to hear Tom start to ask the Duke about mail.
Tom was going over some of the Duke's notes and casually asked, "So, have you tried sending some of these notes out to other healers? Maybe they can help you..."
"No...I need all of them here, besides, most of the greatest healers are in this city already!"
"You mean you couldn't send these to them if they were in the city?"
"Of course you could! It would be quite simple in fact, but as I said before, I need all of these papers here for my own research and I do not have any copies..."
"If you were to send something, how would you go about doing that?"
The Duke's eyes narrowed suspiciously but his eyes glittered with knowing humor, "Tom, you should know by now that I have raised a son and have gotten wise to every trick that you could possibly think of pulling on me...believe me, once you have dealt with Neal, the rest of you boys seem easy..."
"Don't worry! I wasn't going to do anything! I was just curious, that's all..."
"...Fine, but if I find one of my papers missing, I think I will have a pretty good idea of who to blame for their disappearances...If you were to send a letter to another person in the city, all you would have to do is address the envelope with the receivers name and address and call on a messenger, any page will do. Then all you have to do is give the letter to the messenger, tip him, and he will deliver it for you."
"And what if you didn't know the address?"
"I suppose...I suppose you would give the delivery boy an especially large tip, inform him of the problem, and then hope that he finds the right person that you intended the letter for."
"Hmm...okay...thank you very much! We will return to see how the cure is coming along. If you need ay help, just let me know and I'll be here!"
The Duke nodded and Tom, Alex, and Phi trudged back upstairs to write a letter. When they got back to their rooms, Tom pulled the chair by the widow over to the desk, sat down in it and took out a quill and a small sheet of paper. He thought for a moment, then began to write. After about forty-five minutes and several more pieces of paper, Tom leaned back in his chair and handed the letter over to Phi and Alex who were sitting on the bed.
The letter was as follows:
Trycos~
I am somewhat sorry to inform you that after all that you did to us and our friends, we now find ourselves in need of your assistance. Although I am sure that you wish to have nothing more to do with us and are feeling that would much rather kill us than help us, I assure you that we could probably come up with some agreement that would be able to satisfy all of our needs. Nothing too outrageous mind you, and something that we ourselves could provide. I am afraid that we have yet to inform the rest of our companions of our current situation and do not expect that they will be willing to go along with any type of bargain making on our parts so we would appreciate it if you keep whatever deal we make, if we ever make one up at all, a secret. Please send us a reply.
~Thomas, Alexander, and Phiona
Phi looked up from the letter, "A bargain? What is that all about?"
"Well, I just thought that Trycos would not be willing to be helping us unless he too was able to gain something, so I offered a bargain..."
Alex tossed Tom the letter, "...Ya, but who knows what that guy will come up with..."
Tom shrugged and stood up, "I'm going to go find someone to give this letter to before I change my mind about the whole idea..."
Phi rolled her eyes and Alex nodded and watched as he left the room and softly closed the door behind him.
Tom roamed down the halls until he reached what he remembered to be the pages library. It was a separate, smaller library from the main one, but he had heard that a lot of pages hanging around in it practically 24/7. He gently opened the door and sure enough there were about twenty pages and squires hanging around, doing what looked like schoolwork around large wooden tables. He as busy gazing around and was startled when someone called out his name from behind, "Tom? What are you doing here?" He turned quickly to see Devic and a younger boy carrying stacks of books into the room.
"Well, actually, I needed a letter delivered and I was told that a page would be able to do it for me..."
Devic looked thoughtful, then smiled. He turned to the younger boy and took the stack of books that he was carrying, "This is Will, he is my cousin, and he will be glad to deliver your message, won't you Will? We were just returning some old books anyway..."
Will gave Devic a glare, took the letter and walked out of the room after Tom handed him a very large tip. Devic glanced at the coin Tom gave Will and whistled as the boy walked quickly out of the room, "Must not have an address...Who was that to anyway?"
"It's not really that important...Here, let me help you with some of those books..."
***Trycos's View***
Trycos was milling around in his room, unsettled by the turn the series of recent events had taken. He flopped down into a large easy chair that materialized out of the cloudy whiteness and he began to stare into the vastness of his "realm". Maybe he was loosing his touch. Maybe he just didn't have what it takes anymore to drive a man insane. It used to be so easy for him...In fact, as long as he could remember he had been doing it. First it was his father, then his mother, who in the end committed suicide to free herself of his torture, next came his cousins and acquaintances, and then he had begun to pull random people off the street. He sighed and leaned his head back over the arm of the chair. No that couldn't be it...It was probably just the people who he had decided to drive insane this time.
He was about to conjure himself up a nice beach side to walk along to calm his nerves when a slight tickle ran through the back of his mind. He smiled. That could only mean one thing, that someone was looking for him. He stood up and walked out the wooden door with a slight spring in his step, happy to be having his mind distracted for him without having to plot out anything first.
He walked out of his alleyway, remembering to close it off to the rest of the world so that they wouldn't start to use it as a trash dump, and strolled onto the main street looking casually around for the person who had said his name. Just the mention of it would send a tickle like the one he had just felt running through his mind and he would be able to investigate it.
His smile widened as he felt another tickle, only this time it was stronger. He was getting closer to the one that said it, and there was only one person that was standing close enough to send out such a large signal. It was a small boy, who looked to be about nine or ten. Trycos's smile was replaced by a smirk, much too young to be out on his own. Then he noticed that made him very curious, an emotion that he hadn't experienced for a very long time. The boy was holding a letter that was addressed...to him. He quickly replaced his malicious grin with that of a normal passer-by and pretended to stroll in front of the boy and sure enough, the boy responded, "Excuse me, sir? Do you know who Trycos is?"
"Indeed I do boy..."'
Relief swept over the boy and he thought, 'Finally, I can get back to my schoolwork...' "I have a letter for him, could you make sure it gets to him?"
"Of course I will!" Trycos smiled as the boy bowed quickly then hurried back off into the crowds. The man turned on his heels, examined the outside of the letter and walked nonchalantly back to his room.
A/N: OK! I'll try to hurry and write the next chapter...
