Happy Halloween! (For those of you who celebrate it, I guess not the Australians…) I have had a great day, and am finally back at school, no longer sick, and have decided to update today rather then tomorrow. This chapter gives foreshadowing to the eventual plot and meaning , though the dream part is kind of strange, if not cool. Thank you for telling me that the chapters were too short, I knew that the last one was, and in the future they will usually consist of two scenes. This one, however, as you all requested, is nice and long (4 scenes, and about 2500 words, so be happy) a refresher chapter, so to speak. I was going to make it cliffy, and end in the middle, but it is not the end of the fic, merely the beginning, and real books have no real cliffhangers, you can just turn the page, yet they are suspenseful and good, or so I decided. This doesn't mean, though, that I will not continue to have some cliffy endings, just not in this chapter. We beat the twenty mark for reviews!!! I'm so happy!!! Here are my comments, then on to the chapter:
Wildmage101: This chapter is much longer, perhaps too long, but, as you know, you pestered me to death, so here it is, enjoy it, not all of them will be this long. See you tom.
Bluefruitbowl: Sorry, now I get it. The metaphorical royalty was kinda strange, but cool, glad you liked it, and left a long review.
Fifi: Yes, I do admit that it was a good scene, I'm glad you liked it. Don't worry about my teacher, it's not as scary as it sounds, but would take too long to explain, so you'll just have to trust me.
Enyalover: This chapter is longer, not to mention confusing and strange, but I like it, and I hope you do too. I have several other cliffy endings anticipated and one is really evil, but not for a while.
Godessofthesky: This chapter is nice and long, so savor it while it lasts (at least no one can say that I don't update frequently. Glad to hear you liked the dancing, so do I. I never imagined Numair dancing either, but it was Amanda's idea, and I think it turned out rather well. There is more dialogue coming up, I promise, just hang in there.
If I forgot anyone, just tell me, and read the note at the end when you're done. Amanda's dream is in italics, and I have to warn you ahead of time, I know for all you Daine lovers it seems a bit…sad, but she shows up later and it's not what it seems, trust me, (please don't hate me for it). Here is the chapter:
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The Past, and the FutureAmanda had a very odd dream that night.
She was standing in a room; all was blackness around her, except for a hooded figure in front of her. The person removed their cloak, and Amanda gasped.
It was Amanda.
Not Amanda as she was now, but her at twelve years old, wearing a tee shirt, and jeans, holding a copy of a book with no picture on the cover, only one word; Wild Magic. The young Amanda smiled at her, and began to speak.
" You have changed history, Amanda, but not as you may think. Numair was supposed to get caught by the Carthakis, and spend two years in their dungeons, and two more as a starving street mage, therefore not meeting Daine for another three years. He told the king of the plot sooner, there by causing the war to happen sooner, in fact, about ten years sooner. . The woman in Daine's village that was at her house when the bandits came never had a baby, since her husband went to war. So Daine died in the fire. You are a tool of the balance; the forces that control the universes. All of this that you read of was not supposed to happen. What you are doing is and will be. You are supposed to be here."
She showed Amanda the book she was holding, it was not written about Daine, as the real Wild Magic was but about Amanda, and the last lines written were about her dancing… the rest of the pages were blank. Amanda's voice had begun to fade away; "Only you can change it, by facing your greatest fear…" She was gone.
The dream changed; she was outside of the palace, many men were attacking the castle through a thick fog she supposed must contain dampening spells. Alanna was missing from the scene, but Thayet, George, and Numair stood on the wall. Sweat pored down his ashen face, and Amanda supposed he must be holding off the spells. This must be the siege of Pirates Swoop, ten years earlier.
The vision changed again, Numair sat by her bed, holding her hand, looking anxious, and tired. His eyes were closed, and she thought that he must still be holding off the spells. His eyes opened, and he gazed at her face, and whispered in a cracked voice.
"Please wake up…Please wake up magelet…Don't leave me here alone…"
A single tear fell onto her cheek, and she woke.
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The scene was as in her dream, she lay in bed, in Numair's room, and he was sitting by her side. His face was a shade of blue grey, and he held her hand with ones that shook. Amanda sat up.
" How long have I been asleep, Numair?" she asked. He opened his eyes, surprised, the swept her up in a tight hug.
" Amanda… You're…awake…I thought I'd lost you…what happened? Don't you ever do that to me again!" With that, he bent down to kiss her gently. She climbed out of bed as he told her what had happened in the past three days. She had been taken back here, where he had tried to use Wakeflower to wake her up. It had not worked, which meant that she had been poisoned with the sleeping potion called Dreamrose, The enemy had wanted to put the realms greatest weather mage out of action long enough to get in their dampening spells, which were carried in fog. Uninformed men were attacking the castle, since dawn, and they were beginning to loose their hold on the victory.
She gave Numair one last kiss before leaving him in the room, and going up to the deck. There Thayet told her they had so far been able to hold off the foot soldiers, but the catapults would soon overtake the walls. The Carthaki navy, which the Tortallians had assumed it was, being their only enemy, was infamous. Amanda nodded and went to sit in a corner, knowing what she should do.
First she sent damp and cold air to the enemy's camps; they would find it hard to function with mildew and rust all over everything. Then she sent her mind to the catapults, they could not physically stay upright, she realized, magic was holding them up. As she examined them with the winds, Amanda discovered that they were held together by one large tie; the essence of wood magic. If she could fry these ties, they would sink in the water.
But how?
Suddenly, she smiled grimly, and went to seek out George. Amanda had a plan, a very dangerous and impossible plan, but a plan all the same.
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As she took a step into the frigid water, Amanda cast out her magic, searching for something, anything, to stop those catapults from breaching the walls. They were tied with wood. What would burn wood? Her dream had told her she must face her greatest fear, and Amanda was pretty sure that the dream was no mere fantasy. What was her greatest fear?
Then, suddenly, it came to her. She knew what she must do, but how could she? Amanda knew what would fry the wood of the catapults, and change the tide of the war.
Lightning.
She could not harness lightning; she had tried before, and nearly died. However, if it was the only way to do it, she must, as afraid as she was, at least for Numair. Her mind was set. Then, Amanda spotted a possible problem in her plan; how would she get lightning?
The air was dry and full of static; she had used all of the damp air to create mold on the enemy's camps. Amanda took a deep breath, and wrapped her copper fire around the static, like a net, forming them together into a bolt of lightning. As it grew stronger, she felt once again that sense of uncontrollable power. Amanda was losing her hold. She gritted her teeth, she must do this. She grasped the bolt and forced it down, controlling the power. She sent the lightning streaking down to the place where the ties met. It cracked, as the wood burned, and the catapults tilted forward, and sank.
Amanda sighed in satisfaction, and let it go. She realized in a panic that the tides had come in, and she was almost under water. She fought desperately to swim out, but all of her magic, as well as her strength, was used up. She couldn't breath…she was drowning in blackness…The last thing that she remembered was strong arms dragging her from her watery tomb, then she was falling down…down… and she thought no more.
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Amanda opened her eyes, to find herself in a dark room; she was lying on a wood floor, her hands tied behind her back. She heard footsteps and raised voices above her.
" There is mildew on my shirt! How could you allow this to happen? I can't wear them like this!" came a furious male voice, tinged with rage.
"Tristan, my lord, this has happened to all of us, though we were forced to retreat, the air was so damp and cold. There is nothing we can do, except not to wear them, and then we would have a ship of naked men, which we certainly do not want!"
Amanda smiled wearily, her trick had worked. She had heard the servant address a man he had called Tristan. Could it be the same Tristan Staghorn? He must be working for Ozorne; they had captured her and were taking her somewhere, most likely to Carthak. She was trapped, helpless, in the hands of her enemy. She screamed her fury.
The boat began to rock convulsively, and she heard footsteps loudly on the stairs, and the door banged open. In strode a large man, dressed in a yellow robe, his eyes glittering malevolently. His voice was cruel and cold.
" If you do not stop our boat from tipping, and I know you can," he snapped. "Emperor Ozorne will have a little surprise for you when we get to him." He smiled sourly. " I believe I have you to thank for my moldy wardrobe."
She spat at his feet.
" I would do it again." she whispered, taunting him. His eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward, striking her face hard. She winced, trying to stand up.
Suddenly the air became thick and difficult to draw in. The door crashed open, and there stood Numair Salmalín.
His robe billowed out behind him like jet-black wings. His eyes were blazing. He spoke a word, and the boat rocked in the sea. The men had turned to water, which flowed through the wooden boards that made up the floor. Numair strode over to her, untying her binding.
" Don't you ever do that to me again!" he roared. " One would have thought you had learned your lesson, but no. You left me in the castle, and took a little stroll down to the cove, during a siege! You harness the power of something that no one was meant to control. You are captured by the enemy, and meanwhile, I know nothing of this, which, I am sure you did on purpose!"
Amanda met Numair's blazing gaze. She hated seeing him like this, but she had to do it. She would do it again, given a choice; she had not just said that to provoke Tristan. He stopped talking after several minutes, and swept her into his arms, kissing her passionately. She noticed he was shaking slightly, and she guessed he had not rested since the siege, two days before.
" Sorry Numair," she whispered. " I had to, my friends could have been killed."
" I know," He ran a hand through her hair. " Just, when I woke up… and realized… you were missing… I kept thinking…I could not go on without you."
They sat there for a while, Amanda content to lie in his arms, his lips on her hair; her head tucked in the curve of his shoulder. Finally he sat up.
" How are we going to get back to Port Caynn, we're a hundred miles off the coast!? Do you realize that the eastern army was unable to march due to spoiled food, and mildewed clothes?"
He grinned at her.
" I don't believe that will be a problem," she smiled up at him. " Considering that the captain of this ship is part of the sea we are sailing in."
With that, she sank back in the circle of his arms, as they sailed home. As they were about to dock into the harbor, a thought entered her mind; if that was her greatest fear, then it was all over and she had fulfilled her purpose.
It was all too easy to be true.
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So…did you like it? I hope so. Do you see my twist yet? Most of the other fics where people go to Tortall do not involve the changing of history and the doubt as to if they belong there. Nor do they usually have destiny involved…but explaining that would give away TSAU, which would be bad…though it is addressed later on. The dream was kind of strange, and so was Tristan's mildewed clothes obsession…but what can I say? I'm weird. They retreated because of the lightning demolishing their ships, not because of his wardrobe being ruined, though; I'm not that wierd. I wouldn't say that that was a cliff hanger, but, nevertheless, if you review for me to update soon, (hoping to reach the 25 mark), then I will on Sunday, instead of Monday, like I had planned. The next chapter will have some angst, but not much, and I will not spoil it for you. Review, Review, Review (or you'll never know… 'cause I won't post.) See you then, and have a great Halloween.
-Queen of Connaught
