Chapter Two; Worries.
When Daine opened her eyes she found herself in a mass of horses. Cloud, the mare that had been with Daine ever since she was a foal, nuzzled her face anxiously, whinnying softly.
"What...?" Her mouth was dry and she suddenly realised, as she tried to sit up, that every muscle in her body hurt. She wet her lips slightly, and Cloud backed away, "What happened?" She asked the herd in mind speak, as she was unable to talk properly.
'You fell from the tree.' The grey mare said, sending most of the herd further off, along with reassurances from Daine that she was fine, ' You have no horse sense at all.' Cloud snorted
"I should think not!" Daine retorted fiercely, pushing herself into a more comfortable position, off the worst of the tree roots. " I am a two legger after all."
'You are People enough not to want to go and climb up into the trees when you don't belong!' She was rebuked strongly.
Before she could argue against the unfairness of that comment, she saw Onua, the horse mistress of the Queen's riders, closely followed by Numair, the mage, running up to her. They were led by a black stallion with brown socks and blaze, named Thunder for his heavy tread, closely followed by his mate, a tiny dun mare, who Daine recognised as one of her friend Miri's mounts, Longmane.
"What happened Daine?" The older woman fell to her knees beside the fallen girl, mirrored by the man on her other side. Expertly she ran her hands over Daine's arms and leg, checking for any broken or fractured bones. With a worried frown, she gestured at her torso. Numair bent over her, his dark hair, almost black, falling forward over his face, his dark eyes serious and worried and his lips pursed thoughtfully.
Daine felt a sharp pain in the left side of her chest as a rib popped back into place. She gasped slightly, then Numair set back.
"Only a couple of broken ribs. What happened Magelet?" He helped her to her feet and she studied her two human friends. They had obviously both been pulled out of bed, both wore their night shirts tucked into a pair of breeches and Onua was barefoot.
"I fell." She stated.
Onua rolled her eyes,
"Why were you up in the tree in the first place?" She asked
"I was seeing a nest." The girl explained, "I shape shifted again..."
"How did it go?" Numair interrupted to ask, his eyes lighting up. He was fiendishly interested in the differences between the shape shifting normal mages could do and that which Daine did. Onua shook her head; she knew that when Numair got started on a topic like that he would not rest for days until he knew what he wanted to.
"Why did you fall?" She interrupted,
"I don't know." Daine shrugged, "I felt like there was a strong wind but Softwing, the nightingale, said there was no wind at all. It was like the tree was trying to throw me off."
"Hmmm." Numair looked thoughtful. "I have no idea why that happened. Was it like that last time you shifted?"
"No, nothing like that happened at all." She grimaced slightly, "I just had sore hands and feet for days." They began to walk to the palace, Daine moving a little stiffly, while Numair questioned her.
"Gods bless it Numair!" She burst out, "I don't know what happened! I had a nightmare so I went outside for some air with Softwing. I lost my shape as I fell."
"But somehow managed to get back into your clothes." Onua added.
Daine stopped slightly at that, she didn't understand how that happened. Usually she had to take a spare set of clothes and change into them after she became her human self once more.
"I don't know." She said slowly.
"Well," Numair stroked her hair gently, "Get some more rest then Magelet, you've had a busy night and I don't suppose you slept a lot." The two adults left her at the door to her small bedroom, with promises that they did not intend to keep, that they would wake her up at breakfast time.
They however, did not plan to sleep any more, it was drawing close to dawn now, and they both woke at that time anyway. Instead, by mutual agreement they climbed the stairs to Numair's rooms.
"A nightmare she said." Onua spoke as soon as the door was closed behind them. "She was tossing and turning all the way from Galla. I doubt she has had more than two hours sleep a night."
"Did she see anyone or anything to remind her of her old village." Numair set a kettle on the hearth, and, with a quick flick of his hand, lit the fire beneath it "What was it called? Snow.... Snow something." His forehead creased as he struggled to recall the name.
"Snowsdale." Onua said, after a bit of a struggle herself, "I don't think so. She seemed fine when we were there, a bit nervous, but that's to be expected after returning to her homeland after two years away."
"I suppose her subconscious may have realised that she was far closer to Snowsdale than she actually knew and that triggered nightmares." Onua nodded, understanding the gist of what he had said.
"Can we do anything to help?" She asked,
"Try and get her to talk about it, I suppose, you should do that, or ask Alanna to."
"She's in Pirate's Swoop with George." She reminded him, "But she's coming along to the palace with him and the children for a while. They want to see Daine again."
"That might cheer her up a bit. If she still doesn't sleep well, then I can make her a potion to force her body to ignore what her brain is telling her."
A bell rang, quickly followed by Sarge's shout, as the ex slave woke the male Rider trainees up, Buri too could be heard beneath his bellow, waking up the girls.
As Onua declined her friend's offer of tea, and left him to his thoughts.
Daine had been through a lot in her short life, her own village had hunted her after her mother and grandfather had been murdered by bandits. She had left her home and come to Tortall with Onua as assistant horse mistress, here she had discovered her Wild magic, along with his help and was still being trained in its use. And now she was reliving one of the worst times of her life.
Numair jumped violently, spilling his tea over himself as a frantic whistle and clicks came to his ears. Kitten, the dragonet Daine had guardianship of, stood on the table before him. He had been so deep in thought he hadn't heard her unlock his door using her own special brand of magic
"What is it Kitten?" She was too young to have mastered human speech, but whenever the need was great she could make herself understood. Clearly she was highly agitated and wanted him to follow her.
He did so, running behind her along the palace's narrow corridors. He crashed through a few pages and squires who were on their way to the stables, and called an apology over his shoulder, but did not stop.
Kitten led him back to the Rider's barracks, and then to Daine's room. He tried to open the door, knocking on it loudly and calling her name at the top of his voice. Eventually, finding it was locked, he summoned his Gift and blasted the door open.
He took in the whole room at a single glance. Animals stood, sat, or perched on any space available. All their attention was focused on the girl in the bed in the middle of the room. She was thrashing around wildly, her hair a matted mess. Her sheet and blanket had been partially thrown off the bed and the rest was entangled around her legs.
Numair ignored for the moment, that she wore only a loincloth and her shirt, she had obviously just removed her boots and breeches before falling into bed. He hurried over to her side and freed her legs from their confinement. That just allowed her to roll over more, he looped the material over his arm, and in the instant she paused to allow her starved lungs take in a breath, he flung it over Daine's body, just leaving her head free. He shook her shoulders, trying to rouse her. She was obviously in the throes of another nightmare, and this one was reluctant to leave her be. He grasped her chin firmly, and touched his other hand to her temple, allowing it to act as a conduit for his magic. Slowly his consciousness slipped into hers and her saw her dream as blurry, formless images. He could feel the hatred bearing down on him from those faceless shapes, they were screaming at him, and although he could not understand the words, the feelings behind them were only too clear.
Looking down, her saw Daine, curled up into a protective ball beside him. He bent down, keeping a careful eye upon the advancing masses, as a rule dream figures were unable to touch those who were awake, but these figures held so much malicious feelings, he wasn't sure if they could break free of the control that was loosely placed upon them.
"Daine! Verilidaine Sarrasri!" He gripped her shoulders and pulled her upright, "Look at me!" She flailed around in his grasp, until he forced her to look at him. "Its me. I am not here to hurt you, Magelet, come back!"
"Numair?" She breathed slightly, as she heard his voice. "No, it isn't!" She pounded on his chest futilely, "Let me go."
"Magelet. Look at me, I am not here to hurt you." She looked up at him, fear evident in her clear blue grey eyes. He brushed a wayward strand of her smoky brown hair from her face. "It is me."
"Numair." She fell against his chest, "I..."
"We need to go Daine, this is your nightmare, and only you can get out of it."
"How do I do that?" She asked, trusting him.
"Focus on waking up. That's all you have to do. Pretend you are coming out of meditation."
With a nod, she closed her eyes, slowing her breathing and emptying her mind. As her breathing calmed and returned to its usual rate, the menacing figures approaching the pair slowed down. Her eyes flicked open suddenly, and Numair found himself propelled out of her dream abruptly.
He staggered back from the bed, as Daine stirred and her eyes opened.
"Numair?" She asked, "What are you doing here? Is it breakfast time already?"
See. No cliffhanger here!!