Ok guyzos, this is 13, and then there will be another dry spell... you see, I am going to French camp for four weeks starting tomorrow, and they won't let us have anything english (like books, music, etc.) and we go through crap like customs and getting our money changed to euros. Anyway, it's pretty intense, and there's no way I'm getting ANY chapters up while I'm there, so, sorry. I'm losing' you guys as readers, but I'm going to keep writing this and hope you all remember it and find it again someday.
Thirteen
Kaddar stepped back from the figure before him, astonished and afraid. The unexpected was not something the emperor dealt well with, and this unforeseen personage qualified as just that.
"Why – why are you here!"
Raylisa stepped towards him, her hands out with the palms up in a gesture of surrender and friendship.
"Child, you must relax! I took care of the one who would be here. Do not tell me you aren't glad of this."
"Well, of course I'm glad. He kills me in every dream! I just... why are you here?"
"I come as a sort of emissary, and not just from Aubinas. Much happens here that you be not in control of, child. Your time be not come yet, so I was told to watch your pretty little head."
"My pretty little head..."
"Yes child, very good. Now, we must go! What should be here is not easily detained. At least, not for long."
"What should be here?"
"Yes boy, your double. I be correct in that, no?"
"Y – yes... In my dreams, there is always another who looks like me..."
"It be much more than that, child. If we are here when it comes, it will kill us both."
Raylisa reached around Kaddar for the door and yanked it open. The hallway in which he had entered was no longer there; instead they faced down the aisle that fronted all the stalls in the royal stables.
"What happened? Why are we here!" Kaddar exclaimed.
"You thought that room was normal? You be less intelligent than I was told."
"It moves?" Kaddar's brain was having a harder and harder time comprehending, and he hoped this would end soon, whatever it was.
"Yes, it be a special room, created by the one behind all this. It moves according to his whim."
"I see," said Kaddar, but then Raylisa grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room and into the stables. "We must get you somewhere with many people, child. You be in great danger, but your double won't attack you if you be with people. It's not that stupid."
Kaddar followed Raylisa dazedly into the open courtyard, but he felt her recoil from the empty area and they both pressed close to the stones of the wall that skirted the outer edge.
This is ridiculous, Kaddar thought. Why should I be hiding in my own home? But try as he might, he was unable to get his body to move from the crouched position it had assumed, and away from the wall.
"What is taking so long, he should be finished and back by now!" Prosper ranted, his velvet purple robes moving wildly as he walked in short circles around his rooms. Finally, he decided to go and check on his minion's progress, throwing open the doors and muttering a quick spell. The hallway melted into the one that had so often appeared in Kaddar's dreams. This strange version of the palace was Prospers personal playground. He had already redecorated some of the rooms as they would be when he was emperor, and the predominant theme was purple, velvet, and sparkly silver.
"Now, let's have a look at my servant's location, shall we?" He murmured to himself, and waved a hand, which cast a simple homing spell. Prosper felt a strange itching sensation that traveled violently over his body from head to foot, and then he was standing in an atrium not far from the magical room, staring one of his greatest magical creations in the face.
The Kaddar simulacrum that had taken him months to complete because of all of the extra components was standing motionless, disabled by an exceptionally strong immobility spell. Prosper stared at it dumbly for a few seconds, astonished that its magical and physical defenses had been breached, before shaking himself violently and snapping his fingers impatiently. The simulacrum gave a jerk and blinked a few times before its mouth set into a grim line and it continued walking towards the magical room, completely ignoring Prosper.
"No, no, come here Pookie, you don't need to go there anymore." Prosper sighed, shaking his head. Pookie turned back and looked at Prosper, its face carefully blank, but Prosper sensed the question that oozed from the magically created being.
"He's not there anymore. That bloody bitch Sconosciuto's got working for her stopped you and rescued him."
Pookie's face changed to one of abject misery, and he started to shake his head back and forth. He reached for the knife at his belt and Prosper leaped forward, staying his hand. A side affect of all the magical and physical abilities the Kaddar simulacrum had was that his emotions were volatile and when they shifted, the change was immediate and extreme. Prosper knew that if he let Pookie have his way, he would probably hurt himself very badly.
"It's all right Pookie, I still have a use for you. We can still get him, ok? No need to feel so bad about it." And if you so much as scratch yourself, I am going to have a heart attack. Dammit Pookie, do you know how long it took for me to make you?
Pookie hesitated, and Prosper held his breath, knowing that if the simulacrum felt like it, he could have easily thrown the wizard twenty feet and finished drawing his knife to do who knows what to himself. Kaddar's replica, however, seemed to resign himself, and his mood switched to one of concentration as he brought his hand back to his side.
"Very good..." Prosper murmured. "Now let's see where Kaddar is that he is not in the room, eh?"
Daine sat up in her infirmary bed with a start, he ears straining to hear. There was that sound again, the soft rustling bump, as though something were dragging itself along the floor.
"Is someone there?" She called out softly, trying to reach out with her magic to the people, before remembering that it wouldn't work anymore. Swallowing back a fresh batch of silent tears, she tried to focus with her human hearing, attempting to discard the sounds she didn't need. The trees rustling outside her window were blocked out, the distant murmur of voices and footsteps, and pounding of her own heart were ignored as well. Her whole body seemed to strain forward, and there it was again, right outside her door. The scratchy sound of claws or talons was barely detectable as the movement of a small furry body registered in her brain. Daine threw back the sheets and moved quickly to her door, throwing it open before she could lose her nerve. There, at her feet, was a small lion cub.
"Gods, how did you get in here?" Daine said, shocked. She bent over to pick the cub up, but recoiled as it hissed and lashed out at her. "Sh, baby, I'm not going to hurt you."
The cub calmed slightly at the sound of her voice and allowed her to pick him up.
"Where did you come from?" Daine said, fully expecting a response, before adjusting once more to the loss of the most important facet of her magic. "Never mind, I'll figure that out later."
She carried the cub back to the bed and sat, running her fingers gently through the fuzz that topped his head. He purred uproariously, the vibration traveling through her fingers as he showed his happiness. Daine became sober as she got the feeling that this was the first time anyone had shown the small cub love. "Well, maybe not the first, but the first after a long, long time."
In his disguise as Sashad, Numair approached the palace infirmary with ease, the guards recognizing him and nodding politely. He paused before the door, straightening his sash, before giving a crisp knock. "Come in," Daine's voice called through the solid wood. Numair entered, closing the door softly behind him, before turning and giving a courteous bow. That was when the cub caught his eye, and he froze where he was, staring at it.
"Where did you get that animal?"
"Sashad! I – it was outside my door just now... where did you come from?"
"I heard that you were unwell, and I have come to see how you are doing. I did not expect to find a little friend in here as well."
"Oh, this. It's really nothing, you know how I am." Daine smiled and looked aside, her eyes misting yet again. Why couldn't she seem to stop crying? There were other ways to communicate with the People and at least she could still shape shift into almost all her forms and heal as she would.
"Is something wrong, Daine?" Numair settled himself gingerly on the side of her bed, his powerful frame dipping the mattress much more than he was used to.
"It's just that..." But then she trailed off, looking at him, and wondering if it was wise to let him know the weakened state she was in. What if he was a spy? What if he was the instigator? Either way, she couldn't afford to tell him the truth. "I'm homesick."
Numair furrowed his brows, deciding this was another opportunity to demonstrate Sashad's somewhat incomplete grasp of Common. "Homesick? What is that?"
"It's when you want to return to your family and friends, to the place that you call home in your heart of hearts." Daine softly sighed, the poetic definition hanging in the air between them. She realized then that all those things were quite true, and she was homesick as well as tangled up in someone's mad scheming for the throne of Carthak.
"I understand." Sashad said, simply, and he reached out a dark hand and set it lightly on the cub's head. "For this sickness is afflicting me as well."
Nerreza paced the cell he had been confined to, not by magic, but by Prosper's orders. And the constant threat to his Cub's life. The Lion couldn't do anything without endangering his child, and so he stayed where he was told.
What right does he have...
His thoughts seesawed back and forth between indignation and resignation. Finally settling in the middle of the chamber, he craned his head backwards and managed to catch a glimpse of green outside the window. Nerreza had already discerned that he was in Prosper's version of Kaddar's palace, and that not everything was as real as it seemed.
I shouldn't do anything, what about my Cub? Something could happen...
"Well, you've gotten yourself into the biggest mess I've seen since the Headhunter Wars."
Nerreza jumped and turned at the same time, landing as the dreaded Night Lion of Carthak, all teeth and claws with his eyes gleaming red and the midnight fur bristling along the ridge of his spine. The sight he saw, however, was enough to reduce him to a mere shadow of the terrifying predator.
Connie, what – what are you doing here?
Connie shrugged, her cat form still in place. The small creature with the mismatched eyes nonchalantly stared the huge lion down. "I could ask you the same question, O Eater of Worlds. What are you, one of the most powerful beings ever created, doing locked in this little cell with no magical restraints and nothing to stop you from kicking some serious ass?"
You just don't understand, the Lion sighed, turning away and slumping into the dust of the packed dirt floor, his dinner-plate sized paws settling with soft thumps.
"No, I guess I don't. Tell me."
Our child... he has our child.
"Since when was it ours? I abandoned it as soon as it was born. Why would I want a child by you, the disgrace of the Gods?"
I know you still care for it.
"Oh? And how do you know this?"
Why did you speak to the Wild one then? I know what it is you seek... safety for the Cub. And why are you watching the Master? If not because you are worried about it."
"You are absolutely daft, I don't care for it!"
What about me? Do you care for me? The Lion's mental voice became desperate. Because I love that damned child, and if you still think about me, then you most definitely still feel for our child!
"But... I don't love you." Connie's bottom lip trembled slowly, but then her jaw clenched and her expression became that of determination. "And I most certainly do not love it." And with that, Connie disappeared.
Then I will just have to go on without you.
Reviews! Not many, but that's ok.
Kore Yan – Weird words = translated! I thought I did? They are Italian, that's all. If you are still confused, take them to babelfish.com and do some translating. Thank you so much for reviewing!
fan – Yay! I'm glad you are a "go for it" person, because I've had bad reviews at other sites for my pairings.... :( And don't eat me please.... lol!
WildMage – Omg, I'm sorry about French camp then... I hope you don't hate me! Thank you so much for the compliment!! It means a great deal to me when people value my work that much. And who cares about excessive exclamation points, they are all the rage in England... :) not!