Aether Winds

Chapter twenty-six- And So War Rages

By- IceWind

A/N:

This is my first fanfic for The Protector of the Small books by Tamora Pierce. The names, places, things, ect, all are credited to her. The word Aether goes to Juliet E. McKenna, but the way I use it and the gem idea is all mine. This fanfic is set in an alternate universe. I.E: Joren is NOT dead, Cleon and Kel are not together (hehe), and other incidents that have I messed up on and don't feel like making it exactly like the book. Please REVIEW *grins* and as long as its not flames on how Kel and Cleon should be together or something of that trivial nature, flames are fine. This story is PG-13 for anything that might come up lol.

IceWind: Umm… sorry? -.-;

Morgaine le Fay: *giggles* Is anyone important going to die? Maybe, maybe not. *winks* Depends on my mood… who I dislike.

DragonShimmer: *smirks* I had that Radock thing planned out from the start. ^__^; I did think it was rather brilliant (lol joking) though I did think that I left lots of clues so that everyone would know what/who he was… I guess I was mistaken (yay! Or it is an aww? Hehe)

ThePenMage: No more cliffhangers? ACK! How could you SAY such a thing? Lol, me tries… no promises though ^^;

Xelena: *winks* You'll find out in this chapter

Shakiya: *large sweatdrop* Sorry? I know this is late as well but... well... *twitch* I have so much stuff going on right now.

Lady Sandrilene: *grins* Sure I'll go read your story. I haven't really read any Tamora Pierce fics actually, mainly Harry Potter and whatever anime has caught my attention. ^^ I don't read Circle fics even if I do read Tamora Pierce, preferring the Tortall ones, but I'll be sure to read the story and review.

Tbiris: *looks amused* Didn't you see my explanation for a rabblite in one of my author notes in one of the first chapters? ^^; You'll find out how Kel escapes… or IF she escapes ^.~ soon. Err… and Kel can't talk with Arctic though Demon could talk to Joren, she doesn't have the ability, hehe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where's Auntie?" Arylanth's curious eyes glanced around the room once again, finally resting upon Joren's and Raen's shocked forms. She absentmindedly twirled strands of silvery-gold hair around her slender fingers, her hazel gaze bright and inquiring. Beside her Elladon stood, his form wary, hand hovering over his blade's hilt. He seemed concerned for some reason, perhaps it was all well and good that he was.

Joren looked at the elf queen, his gaze darting around her and towards King Jonathon and the others who were all standing there with confused expressions on their faces. He finally looked back at her and sighed softly, shutting his eyes for a moment before opening them, showing hard, ice blue eyes that showed nothing and will show nothing.

She… got captured. I failed, I'm a failure… I should be punished Raen slumped over, his form shaking. Now that the elves were here, startling him out of his vengeful rage, he seemed to lose all meaning to go on, his anger filtering out of him quickly, leaving him cold and trembling. The hizars behind Arylanth seemed to freeze, their collective eyes looking at him with disbelief, some with anger, others with sympathy.

Silence reigned in the throne room, Arylanth stepped back and covered her mouth with her hand, eyes widened with shock. Before any more sand was made, Joren stepped towards the hizar, an angry expression flashing briefly in his eyes before it turned cold once again, "Shut up you stupid cat. She isn't dead yet, I would not fucking care if you beat yourself up after we get her back, but Goddess help you if you collapse on me now." He placed a hand upon his sword in threat towards Raen, his eyes cold and emotionless, his body as if a perfect ice statue.

"Joren of Stone Mountain!" Jonathon's voice rang out finally, commanding and imperious. "That was uncalled for! Even in times as trying as these." His sapphire blue eyes flared with anger and strain towards the young man who stood in front of the elf queen.

"I could care less." Joren's toneless voice stunned the room, his gaze not even flickering to meet his kings'. He stared at Raen, a cold fury emanating from him that steadily rose as the hizar remained quiet and would not speak. Finally he spoke in simple, clipped tones, "Then I shall leave you behind." With that he turned around and began to walk away, his steps calm and purposeful.

"You bastard!" Cleon shoved his way through the crowd and emerged in Joren's path, his anger showing clearly across his face. Once again he repeated his words, adding little variation, "You fucking bastard!" He clenched his fists and snarled out, "Do you think that you're the only one hurting? Get off your high horse and see that we're all hurting as well! We miss Kel and we want to get her back, you aren't the only one!"

Suddenly Arylanth gave a small whimper and stepped back, closing her eyes briefly as she struggled to maintain her composure. She felt a light pressure against her back and opened her eyes to see Elladon hug her from behind. Yes, she had only known Kel for a short while, but in that time she had grown very fond of her aunt, and truly believed in her. Now Kel was gone… what would they do now? Did they come here for nothing?

The room seemed to dropped a couple of degrees… no it did drop about ten degrees, as Joren stopped his silent movements and looked at Cleon with calculating eyes. His gem seemed to glow a brilliant ice blue with his surmounting rage, though none of it appeared in his features, the only sign of it was the growing coldness in the area. Finally he spoke, his voice deadly soft and icy, "What the hell do you know Kennan? She literally was the other half of my soul. Don't give me any shit of how you are feeling, because you do not know how I'm feeling."

With smooth movements, Joren suddenly unsheathed his sword and held the tip of it at Cleon's neck, eyes still the cold, icy, fields that they were. He spoke on in his soft voice, commanding the other with simple words, "Get out of my way before I make you get out of my way."

"Stop!" Aylanth's voice rang out, her face full of rage and sorrow. She leaned against Elladon, her movements contradicting the strength set in her face and in her voice. She drew strength from him, and it was enough. "We may be able to help you, Joren! Just let us! I have a great stake in this as well, she was my aunt even though I hardly knew her." Her tone faltered and grew softer as Joren turned his icy glare towards her, "Please…"

"Damnit Stone!" Suddenly Neal was there as well, flanked by Owen. His usually merry eyes were somber and serious, his countenance now one as a knight of Tortall going on a serious mission. "The elf queen is right! Kel is my best friend and no god or whatever the 'great evil' is, is going to take her away from me! Don't kill Cleon…" suddenly he glared at Joren, "What good is it if he dies? What if we need him?"

Cleon was quiet, his eyes pinned onto Joren's face, not daring to move or speak in fear of having Joren slit his throat. The other seemed to not even listen to any of the words that were being thrown at him, rather looking steadily at Cleon, his swords tip still lying at the base of the throat. Suddenly he withdrew the sword and sheathed it once again, still emotionless, before he turned towards the others and said coolly, "You have the remainder of this day to help, if you cannot then I will leave at dawn's first light."

Visibly Arylanth relaxed, her form becoming less rigid as she gave an understanding nod towards him. "Well then, can you please raise the temperature in the room? It's getting a little chilly." Her tone was mild as she watched Joren and almost instantly the room was back at its regular temperature, Joren stalking back over to her. Finally she turned her gaze down towards the ebony form that lay forlornly on the ground, the hizar's eyes closed still, nothing showing that Raen had even noticed what had went on around him. "And how about you, Raen of the Eclipse Guardian Pack,  sole remaining member of the noble group? Will you give up so easily?"

Raen moved an ear listlessly, ignoring the growls coming from the other hizars assembled, the grave eyes pinned upon his nearly unmoving form. He didn't answer, he wouldn't answer, now caught up in a wellspring of despair and loneliness. Before he had his vengeance to support him, to keep his mind off of the despair he felt creeping up there. He knew that  his actions seemed drastic now, so very different from his single-mindedness from before… but he couldn't do anything about it, he didn't want to.

You! Are you just going to stay there while your bonded is in harms way?! How dare someone from your pack, especially the alpha, act in such a horrendous way! Your ancestors must be rolling in their graves A slim hizar picked its way over, her paws dainty and her manner fierce. Dark purple eyes and a light purple gem signified that she was a psy hizar, and they were reputed to be extremely arrogant and bossy as well. She held her stance before Raen proudly, eyes looking with disdain over his form, the rest of her pack moving up forward until they were only a little distance off.

Tiredly, Raen slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of weary dark blue orbs. This situation reminded him of the time his pups were killed by that monster Takeshi… Takeshi?! Suddenly he sprang back to his paws and snarled, a low, deep, snarl of pure rage. Takeshi, that monster was part of this, Takeshi was part of the evil who had taken the last of his family away. Raen's need for revenge overcame him and he looked at the other hizar, snarling softly as his mind-voice intoned, Quiet! I will not tolerate insubordination! From the shocked look in the other hizar's purple eyes, he seemed to smirk before he became more serious, his visage grave, But I do promise you that if my bonded dies then I go with her. She is not dead but I would feel it in the instant that she does, not even the Great Evil's magics could stop me feeling that

Suddenly the other hizar seemed to shake off her startled stare, settling on giving Raen a passive look, Then that is good I suppose. We will assist you and the elves in the fight, though our priorities are the Great Evil and his army, not your half-blooded bonded She seemed to hold mild distaste of that, seemingly aware of the impossibility of her statements, hizars and elves working together?! The hizars agreed to put aside their differences to fight something even more disgusting too us, our personal vengeance against the one called Takeshi as you may already know. I am called Yari and the my pack  shall help you in the coming battle

Raen looked at her, his eyes calm now, aware of the eyes watching them and answering lightly, Very well, though you are indeed very impudent for a purple gem. Tell me, where is your mate? She had to have a silver gemmed mate to lay claim upon the pack, none would be so bold to speak to him in such a manner unless they were of his rank or very near to it.

A bitter mental laugh echoed throughout the room and she pinned her bright eyes upon Raen, He has died before any pups had came. Takeshi being the one to destroy him. We had no silver gems left and so I was left to carry on the pack She looked at him calmly as faint shock flared in his eyes, Unprecedented yes, but necessary. I shall take up a mate from another pack or a wandering male that is a silver gemmed, then it will all be balanced once again

As it should be Done speaking with the female, he turned towards Joren and they both looked at each other for a long moment before Raen suddenly dipped his head and murmured lightly in everyone's heads, Where you go, I shall go

Instead of fighting a statement like that, as everyone expected Joren to, he just looked at the hizar and nodded curtly before looking back at Arylanth and Jonathon, his voice sharp as he spoke, "Well then, are you going to start helping or not?" He walked over to a nearby wall and reclined against it, looking at everyone with steely eyes, "So  start helping."

~

"So how did you come here?" Owen piped up, all of them seated and scattered around the large room, comfortably settled in… well they were all comfortable except for one tense human and one vengeance filled hizar. "I thought Kel said that you weren't able to come here, not enough power and all of that."

"I would dearly love to know the answer to that as well!" Numair spoke up, his eyes glinting with excitement. Even with the kidnapping of Kel, the deaths of the other knights, it didn't mean that he would ever stop trying to find out all that he can about magic. If he did, well then, he wouldn't be Numair would he? Beside him, Daine laid a gentle hand on his arm, as if to curb his enthusiasm.

Arylanth glanced in Joren's direction, he was still leaning against the wall, Raen sitting by his feet. She gave a soft sigh and returned her attention back to the more curious faces and spoke simply, "Scanra and plan Trebalia."

A startled look entered King Jonathon's eye and he sat up straighter, demanding, "Scanra? What do they have to do with this? I had suspected they were up to something and had sent Joren and Kel over there… where this entire mess had started." He gave a weary shake of his head, "But they were involved in getting you here?"

Instead of Arylanth, Elladon was the one who spoke up next, a grim smile placed upon his lips, "Yes, Scanra is in fact, an ally. They have been developing a way to get us here with Darial as our representative. We had thought that it would be better to have disguised Darial since he was from another world, giving our secret to only King Balor." He shrugged slightly, golden blond hair glinting in the fading sun, "As you can see, plan Trebalia has worked."

A soft voice spoke up, coming from another elf, slender and serious, her dark brown eyes looking around as she spoke, "If you hadn't sent My Lady Queen's aunt along with Lord Joren then this situation would have been even worse. We would have had no chance of surviving the war, for the Great Evil was already here and only Lady Keladry can contain him… at a great price."

"…A great price?" Neal echoed, his eyes confused, "What great price does she have to pay to contain him… and why only containment? Wouldn't it be better if we destroyed him?"

Gently Arylanth spoke, her voice full of sorrow, "She would have to deplete all of her power and then she would have died. And the Great Evil is immortal, at least we think so. He is a god… and a First god at that. We had contained him before and must do it again, for he has broken free from mortal help." She looked down at her hands and then back up to Neal's shocked face, grinding out, "I don't want her to die! But we have no other choice… none that I can see."

With a  quick shake of his head, Neal looked as if he would deny that statement all together when suddenly Cleon burst into the conversation, "Are you bloody mad?! You can't just let Kel die! There has too be another way!"

Owen intoned softly, adding in, "And doesn't Joren die as well? Since he's bonded to Kel and all…" He colored faintly when everyone's gaze turned towards him, and suddenly paled when Arylanth gave a grave nod. Finally he turned towards Joren, who really be more concerned than he was showing, and asked softly, "Joren?"

Only a sudden glance towards his way showed that Joren had heard him. He looked away once again and spoke in an impassionate, uncaring voice, "I don't care. Give my life for my country, isn't that what a knight is supposed to do?"

"No Joren, your job is to protect and serve the people, not give up your life, not needlessly," Raoul looked at the knight with a thoughtful look in his gaze, a faint frown touching upon his lips when Joren didn't seem to hear him. He shifted his weight slightly, turning his attention towards Arylanth once again, "So how did this plan Trebalia work?"

An uneasy smile lit up Arylanth's face and she fiddled with her hands, eyes downcast, before answering hesitantly, "We drew up the planet's own life force to fuel our spells." At the Tortallian's shocked looks -except for Joren- she added in a defensive tone, "It worked didn't it? And if we didn't come, without our help, you would all fall within a few days! Yes, we cannot use it often, but it was one of the only choices we had left to us."

The planet would die anyway if the Great Evil had gotten hold of it Yari spoke up solemnly, her gave pinning onto Jonathon's'. She cared not if he was 'king' hizars had no kings, only alphas, and they were there to serve the pack to the best of their ability, make the decisions. In her mind, she was equal to a paltry 'king' who didn't even know all of his subject's names.

Before Jonathon could reply, the door burst open and a harried man rushed into the room, not even bothering to bow before he blurted out, "Your majesty! Troops! Many of them! All coming towards Tortall! From the reports there are strange monsters, like the immortals, but none that we have ever seen before!"

"It has begun." Joren rose from his position and started to walk out towards the door, his mind whirling with plans. Raen trotted at his heels and they both disappeared from the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IceWind: *twitches* Yes, I know, very late. School sucks, if you blow it up, I SWEAR I'll be able to update more. *evil grin* Besides, I've been working hard on my other stories. ^^; and webpage. *large sweatdrop*

Raen: *growls*

IceWind: *pouts* Fine, fine, no blowing up school. Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter is rather short and doesn't have any Kel (except for people mentioning her) in it either. *giggles* Well, we don't always want to read/write about torture right? RIGHT?

Raen: *sweatdrop*

IceWind: *innocent smile* Oh well, see ya guys until next time, and remember to review!

~

Facts:

Seibutsu Bond: A bond between a creature and a humanoid. It is less powerful then a life-bond yet it is strong none the less. The bonded can thought-speak to one another and they also feel the others emotions. If one of the bonded dies, the other feels a deep and wrenching pain in themselves, but they don't die also.

Seibutsu Items: These are the items that Raen and Kel got when the bonding was over. Kel had gotten a dagger and Raen a chain. If one of them breaks it symbolizes that one of the bonded has died.

Hizar: A highly intelligent species who are organized like wolf packs with a dominant male and female. All hizar are black and look like large cats, panther sized. They are lithe and graceful, all of them agile and fast. Each one has their own type of magic and that type, and power, is shown by the color of the gems on their forehead. When using their power the hizar's eyes turn that color. The types of gems are fire, water, earth, air, light, dark, ice, lightening, psy, and a silver unknown color. The alpha males must have the silver kinds of gems to lead; the alpha females can have any kind and are chosen by the males.

Jerogil: A type of creature in the world of Medea. They are usually peaceful animals and tend to stay away from others except their own kind. Their color range from black to a muddy gray and they have large eyes for seeing at night. Their tails are curved like a monkey's and can pick things up in that fashion. All over their body they have hard plates for armor, something not easily dented or broken through. Running along their backs is a series of sharp spikes.

Elves: They are tall human like creatures with pointed ears. They all live extremely long lives and each one has magic gems, such as the ones the hizars have, only their powers are stronger. They are a peace-loving race, but they will fight if they have to. They have one king and one queen, both who watch over their lands justly.

Soul Mates: Soul mates are extremely rare in any type of creature. Two people share one soul, literally. They can feel their beloved's emotions and in some occasions, talk to each other mind-to-mind. If one dies, the other dies also because half of their soul just died. You do not know you have a soul bond until you and another acknowledge your feelings for one another, you may go through your entire life without knowing that you have a soul bond. As soon as you acknowledge it, your souls connect and you cannot stay away from the other in a great distance for very long or else you get weak and might even die after an extended period.

Kalyrath Horses: These are extremely intelligent living beings with high stamina and running speed. These horses all have blue eyes, in varying shades, but it is all blue to symbol their purity. They chose their rider, and only one person is allowed to ride the kalyrath horse that is bonded to you unless you are soul mated to a person. Occasionally, there pops up a human/humanoid that can talk to their kalyrath horse, and the horse can talk to any of its kind up to a certain distance. Kalyrath horses are in-tune with their rider and it's rare for any none elf to bond with one since they usually only dwell in Elfin land. They are adept at fighting with their chosen and can be extremely protective depending upon their nature. It is said that they were a gift from the great mother goddess of the elves and they cannot be subvert by any dark magic for that reason.

Aether: The last element, the other nine elements are- fire, water, air, earth, psy, lightening, ice, dark and light. This element is the strongest by far and rare for hizars, extremely rare for elves. It controls all of the elements and its color is always silver for hizars and either a silver or white for elves. White is the most powerful, but none knows why. Aether is not an element known too much about, especially for the elves, all they could discern is that it has something to do with stars… The last elf to have this kind of gem died in a great battle, saving the world of Medea from certain doom.

Carzo: Vicious, mainly amphibious creatures that lived in the world of Medea before being brought to Tortall by the Great Evil -or Tonshi-. They are of a mottled green and blue color, with six yellow eyes. They stand at around a tigers' height at the shoulder with two tentacles on the side of their small and slightly blunt head. Carzo have long webbed feet -strangely able to run quickly still on land- and gill slits on the side of their body. It has a long, thin tail, sharp, which could cut through a multitude of things, the least of which is flesh. They have long, jagged, serrated teeth, made for tearing and ripping. They usually live in pods of about five, and they move so quickly together that it is hard to site one and focus upon it because it then drops back and blends back into the pod.

~

My e-mail address is flyby311@hotmail.com and put Aether Winds, so I know what the e-mail is about. Anything you want to add/criticize/comment/whatever you guys just review it… please? Thanks for listening to me ramble for that you get some candy corn. *hands person some candy corn*