Chapter 4
I'd like to state for the record that I do not own a copy of the books. As such there are bound to be plenty of canonical errors (as well as all the other regular kind). Feel free to correct, shout or laugh at me.
This is pure fluff, except when its not. Roger doesn't exist in this story.
Hope you enjoy - plotless.
Disclaimer : I do not own any of Tamora Piece's characters or settings. I just like to sneak into her toybox and play with them once in a while.
Thank you to knot2be, Karr (I'll take that as a compliment, I hope I improve), Keladry of Queenscove, Tenshichild, Blue forget-me-not, Lizzy (I know I said Tuesday, sorry!) for reviewing and to those who appreciate silently though I wish you'd say hi.
Alanna turned over restlessly. She had been tossing and turning in bed for about half an hour ever since she had run away from the stranger in the passage. Three 'o clock thoughts were rattling around in her head like dice and she was finding it impossible to sleep. Discontent settled over her as she considered her lot in life. The life of a Lady might be heaven to someone like Delia but to Alanna it was a trap. Alanna felt miserable just thinking about the endless dances and dress fittings that awaited her during her stay at the palace, forcing herself to fit a role that didn't suit her. Walking sedately when she wished to stride through the corridors with a sword at her side. Curtseying serenely when she wished to climb mountains and visit far away lands. And worst of all, being so close to the best knights in the Tortall and unable to learn from them, forced instead to watch them covertly from the gardens or balconies of the palace while pretending to do embroidery.
Thom had no idea how lucky he was. But that was an unfair thought. Thom had never wanted to become a Knight. Her mind wandered back to her childhood. Thom pretending to be a powerful sorcerer and Alanna the King's champion beside the river with a host of other children from the neighbouring lands. Then her thoughts turned as they often did to the day they had left home and their plans to change roles. But Alanna had not had the courage to go through with it. She was not sure to this day whether she had made the right decision.
Over the years she had managed to sneak out of the convent disguised as one of the many young boys who perpetually crowded the streets of the town. She had managed to pick up many skills from travellers and residents of the town during her stay at the convent that weren't exactly a part of the traditional syllabus. Although she had not felt comfortable using her Gift, Calisto had cajoled her until she had picked up rudimentary magic.
At the palace Thom had learnt to use his Gift along with Jonathan and over the years had even managed to master the fighting arts he had hated as a child. He also had made wonderful friends who kept him from becoming too absorbed in his Gift as he used to do growing up.
Alanna threw her legs over the side of the bed. She had to get out of the palace. The pranks had been fun but her enjoyment had ended quickly and she had to go back to being respectable and boring. Maintaining a good mood this week was going to be close to impossible. There were a large number of balls as Jonathan was at the age to marry. Balls that meant dress fittings, lectures on etiquette from the older Ladies and of course the ever present suitors. Some of the Ladies who had enjoyed the prank on Delia had invited Alanna and Calisto to a tea where they would be making tapestries and it would have been rude to refuse.
She would just go for a walk in the city she decided after pacing the bedroom floor for the hundredth time. It was still night so it was unlikely anyone would see her and she'd make sure she was back before dawn. Alanna got down on her hands and knees and searched under her bed for her black dress with slits down the sides and boots. Maybe she should take the priestesses advice and get a maid to make sure her clothes stayed in her trunk and not on the floor, she could even get some perfume for the room. Alanna snorted and shook her head, what was she thinking? This system was a lot better since she always knew where her things were… in a pile under the bed.
Once she was dressed she got on her hands and knees again and pulled a trunk out from under her bed. She hauled the trunk onto her bed and opened it. Inside was an assortment of weapons of all sizes. She pulled a dagger out and put it in her boot then she got two small knives and strapped them to her wrists. Satisfied that she had enough weapons she closed the trunk and replaced it under the bed. Alanna walked over to the door and stuck her head out, checking to see if the coast was clear. When she was sure that there were no guards coming she grabbed a coil of rope from her closet and she slipped out the door.
Alanna ran stealthily along the passage keeping to the shadows. She reached her destination, an open window that was close to the ground, quite quickly and she hoisted herself up onto the sill. She secured the hook of the rope she carried, so the sharp spikes at the end of it caught on the sill and threw the rope out of the window. Alanna swung her legs over the side of the window, caught hold of the rope and climbed down it until she felt the ground below her. Alanna put her feet on the ground and yanked on the rope until it came loose from the sill. She collected the rope and put it behind a bush, she needed to be able to move freely if she was going to get past the guards at the gate.
Alanna was in one of the front gardens. The wall that ran around the palace was right in front of her hidden behind trees. Alanna started to run along the palace wall keeping behind the trees. As she drew closer to the palace gate the trees started to get scarcer until they stopped abruptly. She crouched, hidden from view behind the last tree and scanned the area. The palace gate was a few more paces along the wall from her and she could see the path leading to the palace clearly from her vantage point. She was surprised to find only two guards at the gate and a few more on top of the palace wall. After the break in earlier she had thought the palace would be more guarded. The gate was very high but she was sure if she caused a diversion she would be able to climb it without getting caught and she knew the perfect way to get the guards attention. Calisto had taught Alanna this spell and she had tried it a few times when she needed to sneak out the convent but she was still a bit rusty. She hoped the guards would fall for it. Alanna closed her eyes and tapped into her Gift, she used it to make an image of a naked women run out in front of the guards grinning evilly. She used to do the same thing to sneak out of the convent. Only with a guy. Those priestesses sure got excited easily. While the guards were distracted Alanna darted from her hiding place behind the tree and did a running jump half way up the palace gate. She climbed the rest of the way and jumped to the ground on the other side, landing in a crouching position. She immediately got up and ran down the road.
"Men," she muttered to herself as she heard the guards finally snap out of their trance and shout after her but she was already too far away from them.
Alanna strolled slowly through the city admiring how beautiful it looked at night, the moon casting a silvery light over the buildings. She was staring at the sky as she walked and didn't notice the man behind her until he grabbed her purse and sped away. Alanna recovered fast and raced after him. No way was some lowly thief going to get away with stealing from her. She caught up with him in an alley with a dead-end and he turned to face her grinning. He was much taller than her and had broad strong shoulders. Alanna smiled back and before he could move she spun on the ball of her foot and thrust her other foot into his face. Alanna heard his nose break and blood started pouring out of it. The man stumbled back then righted himself and getting over the shock of being attacked by a girl threw a punch at her. Alanna stumbled back a few steps. Gathering her strength she caught his next punch and flipped him onto his back. Before he could get up Alanna put her foot on his neck.
"Move and I break your neck," she growled at him. "Trying to steal from me was a very bad idea."
Alanna leaned over and retrieved her purse from the pocket of his breeches. She held it in front of him, "Thank you," she said brightly and then knocked him unconscious with a simple kick to exactly the right place on his neck. Alanna walked away from the man with a satisfied smile on her face. The man had been so much taller and stronger than her and she had managed to beat him. When she had first started training everyone she had tried to fight had won because she was so much smaller. Alanna kicked a stone on the ground and frowned. She hated being short but she brightened as she thought again of the man lying unconscious on the ground. She had learned how to use her shortness as an advantage in a fight and how to kick so she that could actually hurt someone who wasn't a midget. Alanna had been so deep on her thought she hadn't noticed she was going and she found herself standing outside an inn. She looked up at the sign over the door "The Dancing Dove." The sign made her realise that she was quite thirsty after her excursions. Alanna entered the dark room and looked around, most of the tables were occupied by men having late night drinks. Trying not to attract too much attention Alanna made her way to the bar. The bartender looked up.
"How may I help you?" he asked kindly
Alanna smiled at him, "Water please," she said in her most polite voice. While she was waiting for her drink Alanna scanned the area. Most of the activity seemed to be centred on a man sitting at a table by the fireplace across the room. She turned back to the bar to accept the drink the bartender passed to her and thanked him. She turned back to the crowd just as the people in front of the man moved aside and Alanna got a good look at him. At that very moment he looked up and they stared at one another.
"You!" they hissed at the same time. Recognizing each other from their earlier encounter at the palace. The man got up and made his way over to her.
"What are you doing here?" the man asked.
"Good to see you too," Alanna said brightly.
"Please," the man scoffed, glaring.
"No name?" Alanna asked quizzically. "I can't keep thinking of you as that little pick pocket from the palace."
"Little pick pocket!" he said in an offended voice. "I happen to be…"
"Yes?" Alanna asked.
"Well, I know who you are. You're one of the Ladies…" the man started but was cut of by Alanna. "Ladies, how dare you. I'm not one of those airheads," she shrieked.
The man went on ignoring her outburst, "You're Lady Alanna of Trebond, sister of Thom of Trebond. And only a Lady would shriek like that."
"How'd you know that?" Alanna asked brow furrowed ignoring the comment about shrieking, she didn't shriek, she occasionally yelled at a high pitch.
The man smiled, "I have ways of finding things out and having spies at the palace does help a bit."
"Good idea," Alanna nodded her head in approval. "If you know my name don't you think I should at least know yours."
"Fine. I'm George, King of the Thieves," He stuck out his hand. Alanna took it, "Alanna," she said shaking it.
"Would you like to join me?" he asked pointing to the table near the fireplace. There were still quite a few people standing around it watching them.
Alanna shrugged, "Sure, and you can explain this King thing you keep going on about," she said and followed George to the table. As they made their way he began talking, " All the thieves in the country answer to me. I solve all their problems and make the rules." He stopped in front of it and looked at the people.
"Court this is Lady Alanna." He told the people standing around the table.
Alanna glared at him. "Lady Alanna, this is my court," Alanna inclined her head politely and then turned to George and hissed, "Stop calling me Lady or else."
George held up his hands in surrender and sat down. Alanna took the seat opposite him.
"You were serious about being King weren't you"
"Yes, none of these people will answer to the King of Tortall," he paused then asked, "So, what were you doing sneaking into Lady Delia's room? Not trying to dye her hair again I hope," George grinned. It seemed that he really did hear about everything that happened in the palace.
"Actually I was looking for something," Alanna said then studied him thoughtfully. Finally after a long silence she spoke, "You didn't by any chance happen to find a silver chain with a ruby at the end while you were working in there?"
"Maybe," George said simply, shrugging.
"You did, didn't you?" Alanna said.
"Why do you want it so badly? Did your sweetheart at the palace who captured your heart give it to you?" George asked mischievously.
"If anyone tried anything like that I'd remove his heart. Actually the chain belongs to a friend of mine and it means a lot to her. Delia stole it. I promised her I'd get it back and I always keep my promises no matter what I have to do to fulfil them," Alanna explained.
"Anything?" George asked grinning evilly.
Alanna's eyes narrowed, "Almost anything."
"Well, would you try to beat me at cards for it?" he asked.
"I won't try. I will," Alanna said.
George produced a pack of cards, "Do you want to deal or shall I," he asked.
"Hand them over. I don't trust you," she answered.
Alanna shuffled the cards and then dealt them. She picked hers up and looked at them. She grinned this was going to be easy. Five seconds into the game Alanna looked up and saw George slipping a card out of his sleeve while expertly knocking another of the table. Alanna smirked inwardly; her ego that had been gently expanding with her defeat of the man in the alley now grew even bigger. Good fighters needed to notice every detail. She must getting really good as she had actually caught the King of Thieves cheating. Alanna was about to say something about it, when the door to the inn burst open and a man Alanna recognized walked into the room. Alanna jumped up. "Sorry, have to stop the game here. I've got somewhere important to be," she said in a rush, grabbing her purse of the table and turning to go. But it was too late the man had already spotted her, "Stop!" he shouted after her.
Alanna turned and faced him, "Oh my dear man," she said in a falsely high-pitched voice. George raised his eyebrows at her. "Who did this horrible deed to you?" she asked.
"You know very well who did this to me," he growled.
"Who me?" she squeaked. "A poor helpless Lady who can't defend herself let alone hurt a strong man like you."
"You weren't so helpless when you punched me in the face," he said angrily taking a step towards her menacingly.
Alanna dropped the innocent act. "You've already been beat up by a Lady. Trust me you don't want to get beat up by a Lady in front of your friends," she hissed so that nobody would hear her. The man looked at the floor embarrassed.
"Do you know each other? And what happened to you,?" George asked questioningly.
"That girl cornered me in an alley and beat me up," the man said angrily.
"After he stole my purse," Alanna said accusingly, glaring at the man. He glared back.
Before they could get into another fight George stepped in between them. He turned and looked at the man, "Don't you think you should get those wounds checked out? I'll deal with you later."
Alanna snickered and pulled a face at the man as he walked away. George spun around and faced her.
"You. Sit. Explain. Now," he said angrily.
"I don't have to explain anything to you," Alanna said defiantly.
"Yes you do. Especially since you just beat up my best thief," George said scowling.
Alanna burst out laughing, "He was your best?" she gasped out.
"I don't find that very funny," George said scathingly.
"Well, I do," Alanna said still laughing. She sobered at the look she got from George.
"Ok, ok. What would you like to know?" she asked.
"Where you learnt to fight for starters?" he asked.
"At the convent," Alanna said simply.
"I didn't think they taught you that kind of stuff at convents," George said.
"Oh, you'll be amazed at what they can fit in between needle work and dancing. Seriously, I never really liked the convent. I was forever sneaking out and one day I got in a fight with some annoying men in the city. A boy I didn't know helped me. It turned out he was a Shang Warrior. His name is Calan and his symbol is the stallion. {A/N The Shang Warriors did have animal or mythical creatures as symbols, right?} He said I had potential but I was too old to join the Shang and he offered to teach me how to fight whenever he was in the city. I couldn't refuse. It was better than learning how to sew. From then on I snuck out of the convent whenever he was in the city. He taught me a lot but I'm still learning,"
Alanna looked thoughtful, then she continued, "I've never seen someone fight the way you do and I would have been in a lot of trouble if you hadn't been there when I broke into Delia's room. I know how to pick simple locks but I don't know how to do anything complex. You have to teach me!" she demanded.
George arched an eyebrow, "A noble Lady wants to know how to pick locks?"
"And street fighting. You never know when it might come in handy," she said brightly. "What's that noise outside?" Alanna tilted her head to one side, listening.
"Um…people waking up, going to work. Doing what they usually do at four o'clock in the morning," George answered.
"Four o'clock! I have to go!" Alanna jumped up and hurried out of the Inn.
Alanna crept back into her room and shut her door quietly behind her. She emptied the contents of her purse onto her bed and stared in shock. Calisto's chain was lying among the other items in her bag. The ruby blinked up at her in the light from the rising sun. It seemed that The King of Thieves had managed to slip something past her guard after all.