I let out a roar and ran forward, throwing one man against the wall, before
kicking another one away. With two down, I turned towards Alanna and my
leg struck the man holding her. I grinned at her astonished face quickly
before turning to the man behind me. Alanna and Coram had dropped out of
the fighting, letting me kill the remaining men.
Finally, the men I hadn't hurt yet took the hint and ran, leaving their colleagues either dead, or near enough to death. I walked over to where Alanna sat, bandaging Coram's wound. She looked awed, and slightly sick.
"You're all right?" I helped Coram to his feet, my eyes still on the Lioness. "I was coming back from the home of a friend, and I heard the noise. Don't you know enough to stay out of trouble?"
'We do, the man and I.' A soft voice said, 'She doesn't.'
I turned, wondering who had said that. I saw only a small black cat sitting in the shadows. The cat's violet eyes, just like Alanna's, regarded me carefully. I had seen the cat this morning when I was taking Alanna back to her room.
"Did.? No." I frowned and shook my head. Cats couldn't talk. I turned away in time to catch Alanna as she dropped in a faint.
"It didn't look like a bad wound." Coram took her left hand and examined the cut across her forearm. Then he swore, seeing the sound reached up the back of her arm to the shoulder. Alanna's shirtsleeve was thick with blood. "I'll tear a bandage." He ordered me, pulling off his tunic. "We'd best take her to the inn fast - Windfeld can fetch a healer."
"Does she often do this?" I asked as I carried Alanna back to the inn.
"She's worn herself out in other ways before this, silly lass. She's quick t'tell ye when to stop, but she never thinks that maybe she should listen to her own advice."
Once we were back at the inn, a healer was called to examine Alanna, and another one stitched Coram's thigh. And I discovered the whereabouts of the kitchen and put to use those years of learning about herbs while I studied Shang.
Coram took one sniff of the mug I brought him and coughed.
"What've I eve done to ye?" he demanded.
I grinned. "It smells better than it tastes. Drink it - I've had to myself."
Coram obeyed, choking as he did so. "Whatever it is, it works. It don't want t'know what it is." He added hurriedly.
"It's only herbs. Your lady gets the same when she wakes." I explained. "Now - who were those men?"
"Messengers, of a kind. From an enemy of - of a friend of hers." Coram blushed, obviously hiding the entire truth from me. "Someone who knew that if she was killed, it'd hurt Cooper - her friend."
Cooper? A friend? Or a lover? Coram had certainly hesitated before saying friend. The only Cooper in Tortall I knew of was George Cooper himself, the King of Tortall Rouges. But surely there were other people with the common last name. And friend or lover, Alanna made friends with anyone regardless of status.
I yawned. "Well, this Cooper's unhurt, and the two of you will heal."
Coram got up stiffly and offered me his hand. "We owe ye our lives. We won't forget."
I returned his grip, secretly pleased that he wouldn't hate me so much now. "You'd've managed, I think. I just speeded things along."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alanna was still asleep the next morning. I kept returning to her room and Coram's room periodically throughout the day, to see if she had awoken yet. After having a long talk with Coram, I sat down in front of the fire in her room and waited. The cat, who had been sleeping on the bed, came over and lay on the arm of the chair, purring happily. Just a normal cat, if it weren't for those purple eyes.
"About time." I greeted Alanna when she woke at last. I gave her another mug of tea and continued, "Sit up and try this. If it stays down, you can eat."
She obeyed, her eyes focusing on mine until she blushed. I lifted her hand and kissed it, making her turn even redder.
"Enough of that." Coram entered, carrying a heavily laden tray. "If ye're not embarrassin' each other, ye might think of my tender feelin's."
"Your tender feelings? I joked as I took the tray from him. "You haven't any."
Once we had eaten, the servants took the dishes away and we settled back to talk.
"Coram showed my your map." I informed her. "He says you're bound for the Roof of the World."
"Coram's been very talkative." She said dryly.
Coram flushed. "Liam's been about these parts a bit, Miss. If he can advise us on the road to take, so much the better."
"Well?" Alanna demanded of me.
"You should avoid Sarain." I replied instantly.
"Is their civil war so bad?" she asked.
I nodded. "Do you know anything about the Saren?"
"Some." She was obviously offended by my comment. "I had an excellent education."
Of course she had. She was a noble. More to the point, she had been educated as a noble boy preparing to become a knight, while I had been educated as a farmer's son. That didn't mean she knew more than me.
"Nobles rarely know as much as they think they do - not about the real world. Who rules Sarain?"
Alanna scowled at me and replied haughtily, "The jin Wilima - their title is warlord, not king - The current one is - uhm - Adigun, the third jin Wilima ruler."
Coram elbowed me in the ribs. "So there."
"You are educated." I chucked. Alanna only glared at me.
"My adoptive father keeps me up with things." She replied, referring to Sir Myles of Olau, a renowned historian. "He says zhir Anduo's people won't unseat the warlord."
"That was true once." I explained as I added another log to the fire and settled back to explain the complicated situation in Sarain. Jin Wilima had destroyed the country with his mercenaries, and the K'mir tribes had rebelled. For awhile, when jin Wilima had married a K'mir, Kalasin, it had looked like life would get a little better. But she had killed herself last summer, making the K'mir hate jin Wilima even more. They weren't alone in their feelings either.
"Can we avoid passing through Sarain?" Alanna asked once I had explained everything to her. "Get a boat out of Fortress Jirokan at the border." I replied, "Take it down the Shappa, then a coastal runner to Udayapur -"
"No boats." Alanna interrupted. I glanced at her pale face, surprised and amused. So the Lioness had a weakness - boats. It gave me some comfort to know she was prey to something as common as seasickness, but I'd never tease her about it. I had my own weaknesses.
"The take the Shappa Road to the Inland Sea, and the Coast Road east. The war's in the mountains and highlands, not down by the coast."
Alanna yawned then, and I rose, realizing how late it was. "Past your bedtime, little girl." I teased, before recklessly adding, "I'll ride with you as far as the Saren boarder whichever way you choose."
I had no doubt she would choose the quickest way, right through the war in Sarain, regardless of any problems she might run into. And I had no doubt that when it came to it, I would be accompanying her all the way to the Roof of the World, for whatever reason they were going there, and back. It wasn't as if I had anything better to do, and this adventure might prove to be interesting.
Alanna and Coram glanced at each other, obviously consulting the other on this new development, and then Alanna turned back to me. "We'll be glad to have your company. I've always wanted to learn Shang fighting - the unarmed kind."
"You're too old." I shook my head at her, not surprised to hear she would want to learn more. If she was as capable without a weapon as she was with one, the fight yesterday would have been over in a few minutes without my help at all. She would be unstoppable. I wasn't sure I wanted to contribute to that.
Alanna just glared at me. "First you call me little girl and then you say I'm too old. Make up your mind."
"And then she'll go to a great deal of effort t'prove ye wrong." Coram joked as he opened the door for me. I grinned as I heard him whisper as the door closed, "I like him. He won't let ye run him ragged."
So now I was preparing to travel through Sarain, a country I never wanted to set foot in again. To find gold, or whatever it was Alanna had decided to risk her life for.
A new thought occurred to me. If she planned on dealing with the war when she met it, she would need more than her own skills with a sword, and Coram and my help.
She would use her Gift, no doubt.
I had almost forgotten that the famed Alanna the Lioness was also a mage. Rumors had circulated that she had used her magic to get to where she was, but, of course, that was nonsense. You only had to see her fight to know there was no sorcery at work. And I had heard she didn't like her gift, but since she left the palace and had become a shaman for the Bazhir, I had no idea what she now thought of her magic. And I certainly didn't want to find out, since I, Liam Ironarm, Shang Dragon, was scared of magic. Absolutely terrified of it, in fact, as much as I hated to admit it.
Trust my luck to join a powerful sorceress on a trip through a war-torn country.
And to have fallen in love with her as well.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had been a week since her injury, and I knew Alanna was anxious to be moving on. She had just finished her exercises in the morning, when I decided to test the lady knight.
Taking her sword, I placed it in her hand. She looked up startled.
"Now you're warmed up, let's see what you can do." I said. When she just stared, I explained. "A match. Swords alone. No kicks or punches. No tricks. I want to see how good you are."
Alanna shrugged and walked towards the center of the yard, moving into guard stance. I saw her eyes widen as she looked at me closely, clearly thinking how much older and bigger I was than her, and how much more experience I had. Did she always agree to her opponents challenge before considering the opponent himself?
I moved first, swinging my blade as fast as possible. She blocked me immediately, and darted back, circling warily. I spun around and hacked at her defense, but she blocked me every time. Her sword moved as fats as mine, and she was always ready for me. I attacked; she blocked. She attacked; I blocked. We were both sweating heavily soon, and I wondered if her wound hurt. She was fast, and strong, and brilliant, but no one is immune to such large loss of blood.
I could see her studying me, watching for a way in, and I was determined not to give her a chance. I attacked again and she blocked, before taking the split second between my attacks, and moving her sword quickly to rest at my throat.
I grinned, impressed, but not too surprised. "You're good." I lowered my blade. "I haven't lost to a swordsman in years."
Alanna took the water offered to her and gulped it down. "Why didn't you hit me to kick me?" she panted. "Then you would have won."
I knew that was true, because not only was I Shang trained, I was at the very least a head taller than her. "That wasn't the point." I replied, soaking my head it water. "Are you the best in Tortall?"
"I don't know. There may be some commoners better than me - I only fought knights." Alanna explained. "Against Duke Gareth of Naxen I can win one of three bouts. He's the best. Alex - Alexander of Tirragen. He beat me once." She winced, though in pain or at a bad memory I couldn't tell. She looked up at me. "Thank you - I think."
I remembered her comment about only fighting nobles and belatedly remembered that she too was a noble. She didn't act like one, so it was easy to forget. Granted, most nobles don't hold themselves too far above the Shang Dragon, but they always make sure I remember my place. Alanna wasn't a typical noble in anyway, I knew, but I wondered if she simply didn't care about my background, or if she just forgot about it.
Whatever the reason, I couldn't forget how much higher her status was than mine.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We left Berat the day after that. The weather was getting warmer as it headed towards spring, but I knew we were just traveling in the direction of much colder weather by going to the Roof of the World.
In the morning, Alanna would rise before dawn to exercise. I was normally already awake, but we exchanged now words as we quietly concentrated on the exercises in front of us. Eventually I stopped, watching Alanna. She was staring at me to, so I motioned for her to come here. As old as she was, I knew I could help she defeat her one weakness - when it came to fighting, anyway - and that she would be able to learn. She didn't argue as I helped her to punch the Shang way. I corrected her every move, and she kept working at, even though her arms were probably very sire by now. She was exhausted when I decided we'd done enough for one morning.
Coram woke soon and joined me at the stream to wash while Alanna cooked breakfast - something I could tell Coram wasn't looking forward to.
"Do you put yourself through this often?" Alanna asked when I returned to sit near her. She handed me a bowl of porridge and I looked through it dismally. Hopefully Coram was a better cook then Alanna was, because otherwise I would surely starve.
"Every morning, plus whatever else I fit in during the day." I replied. "You clean your armor and weapons regularly, and you do your own exercises."
"It isn't burnt or anything." She snapped, referring to the porridge. "I know how to cook!"
"Shang discipline is stricter than a knight's." I tasted the porridge and grimaced.
"Is it worth it?" she demanded, ignoring my attitude towards the food.
"If something happens to my weapons, I can still protect myself and anyone else who comes along."
That shut her up for a few hours.
"How long have you bee doing this?" she asked, after we'd been riding for a while.
"Thirty years give or take a month." I replied, after considering the question. It didn't seem like it had been that long since id' left my family to train with a Shang warrior.
"I wad four when the Shang Bear came to our village and looked us young ones over. Of us al, he said I 'might do.'" I explained. "I wouldn't let my dadda alone until he sent me. Lucky I wasn't the oldest or I'd be a farmer now." I looked at her as I reminded her of my background and plunged on. "Then I wouldn't have met you."
She blushed and looked away quickly. Her cat meowed, and Alanna glared at him.
"I'm not 'getting into' anything, and I'll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself." She snapped at it. When she saw the look on my face she turned bright red.
"Is that a cute habit of yours, or did he really speak?" I asked, my voice strained with fear. Her violet eyes looked up at me, startled, and met my own, which had now turned a pale green from fright.
"He talks." She replied. "Sometimes other people understand him. Most of the time they don't. Faithful is the one who decides."
"Magic." I frowned. "That's right - you have it."
"You have something against people with the Gift?" she demanded.
No, I thought, I have something against the so-called 'gift' itself.
She glared at me until I was forced to smile from the sheer ludicrousness of the situation. "Since it's you, kitten, I'll make an exception."
Alanna flushed slightly, and kicked her mare into a gallop. They were off, leaving me behind, thinking about what I presumed the cat had said to Alanna - think about what you're getting into.
It was a little late for that now. I was already too far in to get out.
A/N: Hope you liked it; now review, please!
BlueMageChild*89: Thank you for the advice. I've already considered putting more in about Liam's past, and how he knew Roger; it will be there in a few chapters.
Skyflyer: I'm glad I meet your standards of good Alanna/Liam!
FlamingKnight101, gray rain, and PsychoLioness13 : Thanks!
Finally, the men I hadn't hurt yet took the hint and ran, leaving their colleagues either dead, or near enough to death. I walked over to where Alanna sat, bandaging Coram's wound. She looked awed, and slightly sick.
"You're all right?" I helped Coram to his feet, my eyes still on the Lioness. "I was coming back from the home of a friend, and I heard the noise. Don't you know enough to stay out of trouble?"
'We do, the man and I.' A soft voice said, 'She doesn't.'
I turned, wondering who had said that. I saw only a small black cat sitting in the shadows. The cat's violet eyes, just like Alanna's, regarded me carefully. I had seen the cat this morning when I was taking Alanna back to her room.
"Did.? No." I frowned and shook my head. Cats couldn't talk. I turned away in time to catch Alanna as she dropped in a faint.
"It didn't look like a bad wound." Coram took her left hand and examined the cut across her forearm. Then he swore, seeing the sound reached up the back of her arm to the shoulder. Alanna's shirtsleeve was thick with blood. "I'll tear a bandage." He ordered me, pulling off his tunic. "We'd best take her to the inn fast - Windfeld can fetch a healer."
"Does she often do this?" I asked as I carried Alanna back to the inn.
"She's worn herself out in other ways before this, silly lass. She's quick t'tell ye when to stop, but she never thinks that maybe she should listen to her own advice."
Once we were back at the inn, a healer was called to examine Alanna, and another one stitched Coram's thigh. And I discovered the whereabouts of the kitchen and put to use those years of learning about herbs while I studied Shang.
Coram took one sniff of the mug I brought him and coughed.
"What've I eve done to ye?" he demanded.
I grinned. "It smells better than it tastes. Drink it - I've had to myself."
Coram obeyed, choking as he did so. "Whatever it is, it works. It don't want t'know what it is." He added hurriedly.
"It's only herbs. Your lady gets the same when she wakes." I explained. "Now - who were those men?"
"Messengers, of a kind. From an enemy of - of a friend of hers." Coram blushed, obviously hiding the entire truth from me. "Someone who knew that if she was killed, it'd hurt Cooper - her friend."
Cooper? A friend? Or a lover? Coram had certainly hesitated before saying friend. The only Cooper in Tortall I knew of was George Cooper himself, the King of Tortall Rouges. But surely there were other people with the common last name. And friend or lover, Alanna made friends with anyone regardless of status.
I yawned. "Well, this Cooper's unhurt, and the two of you will heal."
Coram got up stiffly and offered me his hand. "We owe ye our lives. We won't forget."
I returned his grip, secretly pleased that he wouldn't hate me so much now. "You'd've managed, I think. I just speeded things along."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alanna was still asleep the next morning. I kept returning to her room and Coram's room periodically throughout the day, to see if she had awoken yet. After having a long talk with Coram, I sat down in front of the fire in her room and waited. The cat, who had been sleeping on the bed, came over and lay on the arm of the chair, purring happily. Just a normal cat, if it weren't for those purple eyes.
"About time." I greeted Alanna when she woke at last. I gave her another mug of tea and continued, "Sit up and try this. If it stays down, you can eat."
She obeyed, her eyes focusing on mine until she blushed. I lifted her hand and kissed it, making her turn even redder.
"Enough of that." Coram entered, carrying a heavily laden tray. "If ye're not embarrassin' each other, ye might think of my tender feelin's."
"Your tender feelings? I joked as I took the tray from him. "You haven't any."
Once we had eaten, the servants took the dishes away and we settled back to talk.
"Coram showed my your map." I informed her. "He says you're bound for the Roof of the World."
"Coram's been very talkative." She said dryly.
Coram flushed. "Liam's been about these parts a bit, Miss. If he can advise us on the road to take, so much the better."
"Well?" Alanna demanded of me.
"You should avoid Sarain." I replied instantly.
"Is their civil war so bad?" she asked.
I nodded. "Do you know anything about the Saren?"
"Some." She was obviously offended by my comment. "I had an excellent education."
Of course she had. She was a noble. More to the point, she had been educated as a noble boy preparing to become a knight, while I had been educated as a farmer's son. That didn't mean she knew more than me.
"Nobles rarely know as much as they think they do - not about the real world. Who rules Sarain?"
Alanna scowled at me and replied haughtily, "The jin Wilima - their title is warlord, not king - The current one is - uhm - Adigun, the third jin Wilima ruler."
Coram elbowed me in the ribs. "So there."
"You are educated." I chucked. Alanna only glared at me.
"My adoptive father keeps me up with things." She replied, referring to Sir Myles of Olau, a renowned historian. "He says zhir Anduo's people won't unseat the warlord."
"That was true once." I explained as I added another log to the fire and settled back to explain the complicated situation in Sarain. Jin Wilima had destroyed the country with his mercenaries, and the K'mir tribes had rebelled. For awhile, when jin Wilima had married a K'mir, Kalasin, it had looked like life would get a little better. But she had killed herself last summer, making the K'mir hate jin Wilima even more. They weren't alone in their feelings either.
"Can we avoid passing through Sarain?" Alanna asked once I had explained everything to her. "Get a boat out of Fortress Jirokan at the border." I replied, "Take it down the Shappa, then a coastal runner to Udayapur -"
"No boats." Alanna interrupted. I glanced at her pale face, surprised and amused. So the Lioness had a weakness - boats. It gave me some comfort to know she was prey to something as common as seasickness, but I'd never tease her about it. I had my own weaknesses.
"The take the Shappa Road to the Inland Sea, and the Coast Road east. The war's in the mountains and highlands, not down by the coast."
Alanna yawned then, and I rose, realizing how late it was. "Past your bedtime, little girl." I teased, before recklessly adding, "I'll ride with you as far as the Saren boarder whichever way you choose."
I had no doubt she would choose the quickest way, right through the war in Sarain, regardless of any problems she might run into. And I had no doubt that when it came to it, I would be accompanying her all the way to the Roof of the World, for whatever reason they were going there, and back. It wasn't as if I had anything better to do, and this adventure might prove to be interesting.
Alanna and Coram glanced at each other, obviously consulting the other on this new development, and then Alanna turned back to me. "We'll be glad to have your company. I've always wanted to learn Shang fighting - the unarmed kind."
"You're too old." I shook my head at her, not surprised to hear she would want to learn more. If she was as capable without a weapon as she was with one, the fight yesterday would have been over in a few minutes without my help at all. She would be unstoppable. I wasn't sure I wanted to contribute to that.
Alanna just glared at me. "First you call me little girl and then you say I'm too old. Make up your mind."
"And then she'll go to a great deal of effort t'prove ye wrong." Coram joked as he opened the door for me. I grinned as I heard him whisper as the door closed, "I like him. He won't let ye run him ragged."
So now I was preparing to travel through Sarain, a country I never wanted to set foot in again. To find gold, or whatever it was Alanna had decided to risk her life for.
A new thought occurred to me. If she planned on dealing with the war when she met it, she would need more than her own skills with a sword, and Coram and my help.
She would use her Gift, no doubt.
I had almost forgotten that the famed Alanna the Lioness was also a mage. Rumors had circulated that she had used her magic to get to where she was, but, of course, that was nonsense. You only had to see her fight to know there was no sorcery at work. And I had heard she didn't like her gift, but since she left the palace and had become a shaman for the Bazhir, I had no idea what she now thought of her magic. And I certainly didn't want to find out, since I, Liam Ironarm, Shang Dragon, was scared of magic. Absolutely terrified of it, in fact, as much as I hated to admit it.
Trust my luck to join a powerful sorceress on a trip through a war-torn country.
And to have fallen in love with her as well.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had been a week since her injury, and I knew Alanna was anxious to be moving on. She had just finished her exercises in the morning, when I decided to test the lady knight.
Taking her sword, I placed it in her hand. She looked up startled.
"Now you're warmed up, let's see what you can do." I said. When she just stared, I explained. "A match. Swords alone. No kicks or punches. No tricks. I want to see how good you are."
Alanna shrugged and walked towards the center of the yard, moving into guard stance. I saw her eyes widen as she looked at me closely, clearly thinking how much older and bigger I was than her, and how much more experience I had. Did she always agree to her opponents challenge before considering the opponent himself?
I moved first, swinging my blade as fast as possible. She blocked me immediately, and darted back, circling warily. I spun around and hacked at her defense, but she blocked me every time. Her sword moved as fats as mine, and she was always ready for me. I attacked; she blocked. She attacked; I blocked. We were both sweating heavily soon, and I wondered if her wound hurt. She was fast, and strong, and brilliant, but no one is immune to such large loss of blood.
I could see her studying me, watching for a way in, and I was determined not to give her a chance. I attacked again and she blocked, before taking the split second between my attacks, and moving her sword quickly to rest at my throat.
I grinned, impressed, but not too surprised. "You're good." I lowered my blade. "I haven't lost to a swordsman in years."
Alanna took the water offered to her and gulped it down. "Why didn't you hit me to kick me?" she panted. "Then you would have won."
I knew that was true, because not only was I Shang trained, I was at the very least a head taller than her. "That wasn't the point." I replied, soaking my head it water. "Are you the best in Tortall?"
"I don't know. There may be some commoners better than me - I only fought knights." Alanna explained. "Against Duke Gareth of Naxen I can win one of three bouts. He's the best. Alex - Alexander of Tirragen. He beat me once." She winced, though in pain or at a bad memory I couldn't tell. She looked up at me. "Thank you - I think."
I remembered her comment about only fighting nobles and belatedly remembered that she too was a noble. She didn't act like one, so it was easy to forget. Granted, most nobles don't hold themselves too far above the Shang Dragon, but they always make sure I remember my place. Alanna wasn't a typical noble in anyway, I knew, but I wondered if she simply didn't care about my background, or if she just forgot about it.
Whatever the reason, I couldn't forget how much higher her status was than mine.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We left Berat the day after that. The weather was getting warmer as it headed towards spring, but I knew we were just traveling in the direction of much colder weather by going to the Roof of the World.
In the morning, Alanna would rise before dawn to exercise. I was normally already awake, but we exchanged now words as we quietly concentrated on the exercises in front of us. Eventually I stopped, watching Alanna. She was staring at me to, so I motioned for her to come here. As old as she was, I knew I could help she defeat her one weakness - when it came to fighting, anyway - and that she would be able to learn. She didn't argue as I helped her to punch the Shang way. I corrected her every move, and she kept working at, even though her arms were probably very sire by now. She was exhausted when I decided we'd done enough for one morning.
Coram woke soon and joined me at the stream to wash while Alanna cooked breakfast - something I could tell Coram wasn't looking forward to.
"Do you put yourself through this often?" Alanna asked when I returned to sit near her. She handed me a bowl of porridge and I looked through it dismally. Hopefully Coram was a better cook then Alanna was, because otherwise I would surely starve.
"Every morning, plus whatever else I fit in during the day." I replied. "You clean your armor and weapons regularly, and you do your own exercises."
"It isn't burnt or anything." She snapped, referring to the porridge. "I know how to cook!"
"Shang discipline is stricter than a knight's." I tasted the porridge and grimaced.
"Is it worth it?" she demanded, ignoring my attitude towards the food.
"If something happens to my weapons, I can still protect myself and anyone else who comes along."
That shut her up for a few hours.
"How long have you bee doing this?" she asked, after we'd been riding for a while.
"Thirty years give or take a month." I replied, after considering the question. It didn't seem like it had been that long since id' left my family to train with a Shang warrior.
"I wad four when the Shang Bear came to our village and looked us young ones over. Of us al, he said I 'might do.'" I explained. "I wouldn't let my dadda alone until he sent me. Lucky I wasn't the oldest or I'd be a farmer now." I looked at her as I reminded her of my background and plunged on. "Then I wouldn't have met you."
She blushed and looked away quickly. Her cat meowed, and Alanna glared at him.
"I'm not 'getting into' anything, and I'll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself." She snapped at it. When she saw the look on my face she turned bright red.
"Is that a cute habit of yours, or did he really speak?" I asked, my voice strained with fear. Her violet eyes looked up at me, startled, and met my own, which had now turned a pale green from fright.
"He talks." She replied. "Sometimes other people understand him. Most of the time they don't. Faithful is the one who decides."
"Magic." I frowned. "That's right - you have it."
"You have something against people with the Gift?" she demanded.
No, I thought, I have something against the so-called 'gift' itself.
She glared at me until I was forced to smile from the sheer ludicrousness of the situation. "Since it's you, kitten, I'll make an exception."
Alanna flushed slightly, and kicked her mare into a gallop. They were off, leaving me behind, thinking about what I presumed the cat had said to Alanna - think about what you're getting into.
It was a little late for that now. I was already too far in to get out.
A/N: Hope you liked it; now review, please!
BlueMageChild*89: Thank you for the advice. I've already considered putting more in about Liam's past, and how he knew Roger; it will be there in a few chapters.
Skyflyer: I'm glad I meet your standards of good Alanna/Liam!
FlamingKnight101, gray rain, and PsychoLioness13 : Thanks!