WoundedWings: Wonderful? YAY for wonderful J
Nawat Crow: lol, I get to take my finals this week on all that biology jazz, ain't it wonderful?
ME :)
BlauWolf: YAY for intresting!
Seccond chappie, YAY! Okay, I've been re-reading all the parts of the books that have immortals in them, and I'm sorry if some of the information is messed up, I'm going to continue to check and re-check the information so if it is wrong I will change it. I think that's all for now, review!
Chapter Two: Events that are Most Unkind
She gasped as her serving girl threw the covers off of her.
"What?" She growled, reaching for her blankets even though she was already far to warm in the summer heat.
"Now, Victoria is that anyway to greet a friend."
Emma gritted her teeth." Emma, not Victoria, Emma." She groaned.
"Victoria is your given name, I will call you by your given name. Now up. We're traveling to Corus today." She said. Emma rolled her eyes. She stood up reluctantly.
"Yes, Miss Almonde, I understand. What shall wear? The blue traveling suit, or the green one?" She asked, opening her wardrobe.
"Neither. I brought you a new one." Emma rolled her eyes. Miss Almonde had appeared after Emma had returned from the convent. Here to make sure Emma behaved, and associated properly while her parents ran around in the Scanran countryside.
Her parents were ambassadors; really what they did was bribe Scanrans to submit to the king's control. It was interesting, and exciting for her parents. It was really quite annoying for Emma and her siblings though; they hardly ever saw their parents anymore. Now that they were all, "takes care of". Groaning Emma sat up.
"Alright-" Emma began, placing her feet on the floor and rubbing her temple's a bit.
"Good." Miss Almonde said grabbing her arm and pulling her, a little less than gently, into her dressing room. Three dressing maids quickly began shoving her already petite self into a corset.
"A corset? We're traveling!" She cried in objection.
"Miss Almonde said you were to wear it." Lily said with a smirk. Emma rolled her eyes before gasping.
She emerged minutes later with the corset tightly in place, and the annoyingly green outfit on. Miss Almonde smiled in slight approval before glaring at the maids.
"And where you planning on doing her hair?" She asked, her nose in the air, at the same time Lily emerged with a handful of hairpins.
"A moment is all Miss Almonde." She said while attacking Emma's head. She bit back a gasp as a pin grazed her scalp. Within minutes her elbow length hair was piled neatly on top of her head. Lily took an annoyingly green top hat from a bedside table and placed it on Emma's hair, a moment later secured it with a silver hatpin.
"Good. Now, finish packing her things. In a half bell we leave." Miss Almonde said before sweeping out the door. Emma took a moment, looking at her reflection in a mirror. She tipped her hat to the side before exiting as well.
Emma groaned as they hit yet another bump in to road, every time the carriage jostled violently the boning in her corset poked into her sides. She was alone, with only a thick book on manners to accompany her. She could hear the yells of the footmen and the occasional whinny of a horse, along with the continual clip clop of the horse's hooves. The carriage stopped violently. Emma groaned. They were stuck, in a mud puddle, again. She stood and pulled open a curtained window.
"What seems to be the problem?" She yelled, a little above the appropriate decibel level of a lady. If Miss Almode had been awake it would have been a week without her gold hairpins. If she had been awake.
"Stuck is all lady, it'll be just a few moments." Said a mad to her left, a man she was sure hadn't been with them earlier.
"Sir, what did you do with your uniform?" She asked confused as to why one of her footmen would be improperly dressed.
"I never got one lady." He said, a sly grin on his face.
"What? Why ever not?"
"Because lady, I don't serve you."
"What?" She asked, blinking rapidly in the harsh sunlight.
"Lady, you have blessed us endlessly, and I'm sure you have other blessings under that skirt or yers." He said, stroking her head lustfully. Emma drew back.
"You sir, are out of line." She said, opening the door, hitting his head and knocking him out.
She stepped out into utter mayhem. Bandits crawled everywhere going through the trunk loads of furniture and clothing, taking jewelry and anything that would fetch a price. She screamed as a man grabbed her breast and knocked his hand away. "Lovely madam." He said, she screeched and turned and ran the other way. A rider swooped down and grabbed her around her waist, pulling her into his lap.
"What are you doing?" She cried as he landed a sloppy, wet, sucking kiss on her cheek. She felt as though she would retch as he moved to her mouth. He rode away from the chaotic caravan. He was riding fast but somehow he still was able to smooth his hand over her body. He dumped her in a pile of leaves and clambered down from the horse, Emma was on her feet and running away from him as soon as she hit the ground. The man laughed and chased after her, mumbling about how he loved the feisty ones. Emma felt tears streaming down her face as he chased after her, he dress catching on twigs and brambles, one scratching her arm. She screamed as she fell, sliding down a steep hill. She stumbled back to her feet and continued running, darting in and out between trees. She ran for what seemed like hours but it was really only a few minutes. The man chasing her had long since ceased, Turing to drunken slumber. She finally collapsed near a stream, gasping for air she couldn't seem to inhale. She lay in the mud, panting.
She screamed and scrambled away from a hand that had gently shaken her shoulder, she looked up to see a spandrel. Then she screamed again, running across the stream.
"Are you alright?" It-he asked, kindly.
Emma scrambled for some kind of weapon. "Go away!" She screamed reaching down to grab a small rock. "Shoo!" She said, her hands fumbling with the rock. He feet slid across the muddy base of the stream. The Centuar looked at her as though she were stupid. "Shoo!" She screamed, her throat scratchy.
"Are you quite sane?" The Centuar asked, looking at her as if she were crazy.
"Yes, now shoo!" She screamed, gasping afterwards.
"Are you lost?" He asked, blue eyes glinting.
"No! Maybe! Yes! Go away!" She yelled, screaming as she slipped in the mud and fell in the stream. Strong arms grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. She gasped and sputtered not sure what to do and just wanting to sleep, black spots infiltrated her vision and she fainted.
An awful smell brought her back to the land of the living. The Centuar was waving smelling salts under her nose, his horse parts curled underneath him, his bare torso glistening in the summer heat. She screamed when she recognized him.
"Would you quit doing that? It hurts my ears," he said, rolling her eyes, she merely screamed again. He clamped his hand down over her mouth. "Look, I may be half horse and if you really would like to be left alone in the woods overnight you can keep screaming but if you would like some help I would advise you to shut up and stop treating me like an idiot child and start talking sensibly. Understand?" He asked, glaring at her. She nodded and he took his hand away.
"Now, lets try this again, who are you?" He asked, settling back and taking flint from a leather bag he carried with him.
"Victoria Emmilia of Silver Phoenix." She said, a hint of pride in her voice. He raised an eyebrow.
"Quite a mouthful Miss Victoria Emmilia of the house of Silver Phoenix." He said, laughter hidden behind a tight jaw.
"Just call me Emma. And you, who are you?" She asked, slightly annoyed.
"Ed." He said simply. "Now, Emma, why are you in the middle of the Immortals realm?" He said, naming the region south of Trebond and north of Barony Olau.
"I was going to Corus, but my caravan was attacked by bandits, I got carried away on a horse and then I fell off and got chased this way." She said, a slight frown on her face.
"Don't frown." He said with a smile. "Gives you wrinkles." She smiled, her first real smile in days.
"How far from the road are we?" She asked, looking to the west where the sun was setting. Sunbirds flew up and swirled and reflected the beautiful colors.
" Miles, lovely, aren't they?" He asked, starting a fire.
"Magnificent." She breathed. Absentmindedly her hand went to her ribcage, she was still breathing shallowly.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, having been watching her actions. "A broken rib perhaps?" His voice was close, intimate almost. She looked at him and smiled, he was beautiful she noticed, even if half of him was furry and had four legs.
"No, I don't think so. Just having a little trouble breathing is all." She said. He leaned back and eyed her carefully.
"Turn around." He said and Emma looked at him.
"Pardon?"
"Turn around." He said again, a smile gracing his lips. Emma smiled and turned around, wondering what he was planning. Deft fingers began loosening the laces on her dress, relieving the pressure a bit. He pulled the back open and then unlaced her corset and moved away, a knowing smile on his face. Emma flopped on to her back.
"Gods." She breathed inhaling the wonderful thing known to most as oxygen, the dizziness in her head evaporating.
"I never understood why you human females shove yourselves into those things. I would image they're quite painful." He said with a smile, gathering water from the stream.
"Oh they're painful, but beauty is pain is it not?" She said as she sat up, pulling off her dress and corset, throwing them in a heap next to her. Miss Almonde would have a few things to say about it if she ever found out. Sitting in her petticoats with a man. But he's not a man, he's a Centuar, and it doesn't even seem like he noticed. She thought.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." He quoted, smiling at her. She smiled back.
"I don't get it." She said. "Centuars are supposed to be horrible, supposed to kill people and roast them for dinner. But I'm sitting here having a perfectly normal conversation." She said, looking at him quizzically. His laughter echoed through the forest, melodic like cascading rain.
"Years ago that would have happened yes. But if we are to live together we cannot be warring against each other, it's just not practical. And we've noted that life is much easier if we just leave your kind alone, it's easier. And the foods bad. You have no idea how bitter you folk taste. Besides," he said with a wink. "It's bad luck to eat the phoenix."
"The phoenix? Whatever do you mean?" She asked, very confused. He smiled.
"You mean you don't know?" He asked kindly. She shook her head. "Well that's interesting." HE said stirring the pot. "That's very interesting. I suppose I shall have to educate you." He said.
"I do not need to be educated by a man. I do just fine on my own." She said stubbornly. Educate me; just who does he think he is anyway? She thought.
"Forgive me, that was poorly said," he said calmly, Emma was shocked, a man, admitting he was wrong and apologizing was unheard of. "I only meant that I should tell you.
"Ever heard of the Legend of the silver Phoenix?" He asked her.
"The one about the girl who unites the immortals and the humans to fight against the empire?" She asked even though she knew.
"That's the one, every person born with the phoenix blood in them has the ability to unite immortals and humans, they just choose not to, and if they chose to do so they would have a hard time of it. Because, mi'dear, to be able to unite immortals and humans you have to have a hidden power, self-assurance. You cannot care about modesty, cannot be prideful or self-righteous. You have to be willing to sacrifice certain things. You must be humble. And you must earn their respect. You, Emma, are that chosen one." He said, watching the girl as she absorbed all the information.
"But, do we need to join the two groups together? We've just finished a war. It will be at least five years before another one arises. And their isn't a country strong enough to attack us and cause much damage anyway." She said, looking at him quizzically.
"What country lies above Scanra?" He asked her, she frowned.
"Well, nothing, it would be too far north, too cold for anyone to live there, correct?" She said after thinking for a minute.
"Wrong." He said pulling out leather bound book. He flipped it to a map in the middle. "The Empire is above Scanra. They're brilliant people really. They're so advanced in science, they have so many things that Tortall could learn from them if only the two countries would quit fighting each other. What you should do is negotiate a treaty with them. " He said, pulling two bowls out of his sack.
"But, are they going to invade?" She asked.
"Within the year." He said, matter-of-fact.
"Yea gods." She breathed flopping back onto the forest floor. "So, I should go now. Before they cause too much damage." She said sitting up. "I'll go now." She said, leaping to her feet. "Which ways north?" She asked, spinning in a circle.
"Settle lass." He breathed, pulling on her skirt, bringing her back to earth. "You can't go now," he said, handing her a bowl of soup.
"Why not?" she asked, sipping her soup.
"You know nothing about what you would have to do. Nothing about the people, or their culture. It would mean disaster." He said.
"But that is what you would have me do?" She asked, for some reason anxious to hear his answer.
"Yes, eventually. First I would have you earn the respect of the immortals in this forest though." He said, with that smile.
"I do suppose that makes sense," she said with a smile.
"Yes it does, now, to sleep. Tomorrow I'll take you to the palace." He said with a smile.
"Palace?" She asked confused. Why would he take her to Corus?
"The Immortals palace. Really a neat thing it tis. Now, sleep. You look exhausted." He said, she nodded and didn't see the smiled that crossed his face.