Disclaimer: CoM and CoMo plot and characters belong to Tamora Pierce
Wah, very sorry, very sorry. I couldn't update because my computer had an evil virus and kept shutting down or restarting every 5 minutes. Thanks to my cousin for fixing my precious computer. Anyway, very sorry and I'll try to update all my stories ASAP!
"Daja, Daja!" Frostpine burst through the front door, eyes scanning the room for his student. "Ayami!" He ran to his sister and grabbed her shoulders. "Where's Daja?"
"Calm down, Frostpine," she protested. "What's wrong."
"That storm, I can't believe I didn't realize it before. It's magic, and probably pirates. Oh Gods, why?"
"Magic? You mean like…" Ayami trailed off. Frostpine's nod confirmed her suspicion. "Oh no… Daja, she went to the stables, I think that sailor we saved last nights there."
Muttering curses, Frostpine brushed by Ayami and hurried to the kitchen to find the line to the stables. 'Gods,' he thought, lamenting the situation. 'I just hope that sailor isn't the scout.'
'Move Daja, c'mon.' Vainly, Daja tried to encourage her body to move, to turn and get help. Sallar advanced slowly, a scowl across his face. He reached to his side and drew a dagger. His slow steps sped up as he neared and turned into a run, dagger raised to plunge into Daja.
As his elation grew, his concentration wavered, and Daja felt his spell weaken. She dodged to side just in time, the blade cutting deeply into her arm. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed a rake, spinning to block Sallar's arm.
"Daja!" Frostpine charged into the stable, Ayami and a few others at his heels. In seconds, Sallar was disarmed and surrounded.
"Are you okay?" Ayami questioned, scanning Daja's body for more wounds.
"I'm fine, he only got my arm." Daja winced as Ayami gently touched the wound.
"Only bandages, I think," Ayami said, examining the cut with critical eyes. "I don't think its big enough for stitches, thank the Gods."
A woman drew Daja from Ayami, explaining that she had some knowledge of healing. "Only enough to repair the muscle and slow the bleeding," she said apologetically. "I'm afraid I never had time to really learn to use my magic."
"That's fine," Daja assured her. Her attention was drawn to Sallar, who two men were tying up with rope.
"Daja, what happened?" Frostpine asked.
"I came to talk to him, because I felt…uneasy, I suppose. When I got here he was speaking to someone in that mirror," she said, gesturing to the shattered mirror on the floor.
"Do you know who he was talking to or what they were talking about?" A woman, who Daja assumed to be a local law official, came up behind Ayami.
"I don't remember. I couldn't hear very well and…" Daja paused, trying to organize her jumbled thoughts. She was silent for a moment as she thought, and the official seemed disheartened.
"Then I suppose it's safe to assume we are going to be attacked, by pirates or bandits or the like," the woman reflected.
Daja was still struggling, sure that something important had been mentioned. "Pauha -- and Enahar!" she suddenly exclaimed. "That was it. He," she pointed at Sallar, "is their brother. They're the ones who attacked Winding Circle!" Sallar scowled at her and pursed his lips, obviously proclaiming his silence.
"Pirates then," Ayami remarked, looking thoughtful. "And this storm is most likely…" she trailed off, glancing at her brother.
"Yes, most likely another magic storm," Frostpine confirmed.
"We must prepare," a man said. "And we should probably lock him in the prison and start questioning." The crowd murmured their assent.
"Yes," the innkeeper said, clapping his hands. "We need to organize. Let's go back and tell everyone the situation, so we can plan our defenses and what to do with that parasite." He turned, motioning for the people gathered to follow. The motley group returned to the inn, and the townspeople gathered to hear the news.
"Damn," a man cursed. The people near him inched away slowly, trying to be discreet; their captain was not the most level-headed man in the world. "Sallar has not contacted me as he was supposed to. He better not have messed up the plan." his eyes narrowed, planning the demise of the bumbling spy.
"What do we do now, Captain?" a pirate questioned meekly.
Their leader was quiet for a moment as he considered their options. "Arm up, now! We need to attack as soon as possible, before they can prepare." The pirates scattered to relay his message and prepare for the attack.
At the inn, the people of Green Rock were frantically searching for weapons and tools to use in the pending attack. Sallar had been safely locked in the prison and was being questioned. Daja had retired to rest in her room when Frostpine came to talk to her.
"These people need our help Daja. Are you willing?" he asked.
"Of course," Daja retorted. "I would never turn down a request for help!" Frostpine grinned, pleased by her answer.
"Great, because this attack may be worse, as we don't have other mages to help us like last time."
"We'll be fine," Daja said firmly. "We know about boom powder and their magic. We can stop them."
"You sound very confident," Ayami remarked from the doorway. "These people can take care of invading pirates. They need you to deal with the cannons and magic though."
"We can do it," Daja insisted. She drew herself up from her bed. "We should probably get ready to fight the fleet."
"Ships have been sighted to the north, so people are gathering at the beach. They've cut off the storm, since there's no point." Ayami informed them. They left the inn and made their way to the beach.
"We're ready Captain Noar," a pirate said, saluting.
"Good. Head straight for the coast and fire on any suspicious people or movements. We may have been found out." He was quiet, recalling his conversation with Sallar. "They may also have mages, strong ones. Inform all of our mages to prepare for retaliation."
"S-sir, is this really worth it?" A crew member interrupted timidly. Immediate silence as everyone looked at the poor man in sympathy. For a moment, his head swung back and forth in confusion before he abruptly pitched forward, a red stain spreading across his chest.
"Never question a captain's orders," Noar said calmly. He turned. "Everyone to your stations." He walked away, leaving the man's body on the deck.
"They're coming, and quickly. Headed straight for the beach to the west of the town." The mayor frantically tried to organize the defenses for the city.
"Mayor!" A young boy ran gasping to the man. "Ekirt says they're getting battlefire ready. And their mages." The mayor swore, turning to the crowd of people.
"If I may," Frostpine interrupted, "Daja and myself have experience fighting pirates. Allow us to take care of their mages. Also," he turned to the boy, "did they have anything else, big black balls."
"Yes," he replied, looking slightly mystified. "But Ekirt reckons its catapult stones or cannon balls."
"Very well then, go back to your post." he dismissed the boy. Frostpine turned back to the mayor. "Those balls are dangerous, they blow up, causing a lot of damage. If you see one of them flying towards you, run immediately."
"But we'll be able to take care of most of them," Daja added, see the mayor's already pale face become almost colorless. "Don't worry, we've done it before."
"They're coming!" a lookout shouted. The group turned to see numerous longboats gliding towards the beach, a few splitting off to land on other parts of the coast.
"Let's go." Frostpine's order was unnecessary as Daja had already started moving.
"What do we do?" she asked as they scrambled to the rocky cliff jutting over the water.
"First we find somewhere to keep our bodies safe. Look for a cave or place where people would ignore. We'll put a circle there and attack." Daja nodded, scanning their surroundings as they moved.
The flagship rocked in the water and came dangerously close to keeling over when two ships simultaneously exploded, another following seconds later. Noar scrambled to his feet.
"What was that?!" he roared over the noise.
"Don't know sir. Something happened on the ships and they blew. Don't know if it was gunpowder or black powder." The ship pitched again as another ship blew up.
"Damn!" Noar swore. "What the hell is going on?"
Daja raced back to her body to rest for a bit. She opened her eyes in time to see Frostpine draw a man overboard but his shield. She drew breathes in noisily. She doubted she could blow up many more ships. It was hard, putting Tris's lightning into her fire. Her magic reserves were almost half empty. She closed her eyes and her spirit body raced back to the fleets.
"Captain! The pirates on other ships, they say their having trouble with their arms. It's turned against them."
"Augh-" they turned to see a man lift from the ground, hands clawing at the metal links around his neck.
"Magic," the Captain spat in disgust that hopefully covered his panic. "Damn, alert the mages. What the hell are they doing? They're supposed to stop-" he narrowed his eyes suddenly, and ran into the ship.
'Aha,' Daja mentally rejoiced. She had found the flagship, which had been cleverly magicked with a weak, almost undetectable illusion. She flew towards it eagerly. 'Now to find the boom powder. This'll be the last ship.'
Two men were arguing on deck as Frostpine left the strangled pirate. She felt a pang of guilt. 'No, they're just pirates,' she tried to reason. Even so, she still felt sad for the pirate and for herself, strangely. 'They're pirates, but they're still human.' She took a deep breath and tried to shove those thoughts away.
Daja shook her magic self's head and darted into the ship. She could feel the boom powder in her mind, its essense a tickle in her mind that grew to a steady sensation as she neared the powder.
'Found it.' Daja closed her eyes, trying to find the seed of lightning that shifted within the flames of her own magic. Old sense she hadn't used in years kicked in as her body dove to the side.
'Wha-?' A bead of pain registered and she looked down at her arm. Silvery blood welled from her magical self. She looked up, bewildered. One of the arguing men she had seen on deck stood before her, grinning darkly.
"Too bad, mage, but you attacked the wrong fleet. I can see magic and I can affect it." He raised his hands, which would look empty to a normal observer; however to Daja, a blade of magic glinted, silver blood staining the tip. Noar reached out and silver streamers shot from his hand to bind Daja.
'Gods,' she struggled desperately as he advanced. She concentrated on her body, futilely trying to will her magic self back into her body. 'Help, Frostpine, Gods, somebody!' she screamed in her mind as Noar's blade descended.
The ship suddenly tilted crazily, Noar's sword barely missing Daja's neck. Outside, pirates looked around in confusion as the sea bubbled crazily, gouts of steam rising from its depths. Frostpine reentered his body and looked at Daja anxiously. No, she was still in the fleet, somewhere.
He prayed desperately for Daja's safety as the water began to hiss, clouds of soot and steam flying into the air.
Daja's bindings had loosened when Noar's concentration wavered, and she thrashed strongly. The magic dissipated as she overcame the ropes. Noar rushed at her, trying to gut her before whatever was going to happened. Daja fled back to her body as lava spewed from the sea, immediately engulfing the fleet. Once in her body, she had enough time to open her eyes before she collapsed.
Three days later, the ship to Emelan docked, many of the crewmembers comment on a very large isthmus that they swore hadn't been there before.
"We've always sailed straight between the cliff and that big rock out there, and I've never seen that in the three years I've landed here," he insisted.
The mayor smiled secretively, neither agreeing or disagreeing. "It doesn't matter. Pirate's Isthmus is there. No contesting that."
Daja and Frostpine watched the receding coast, their eyes lingering towards the north.
"Amazing though." Frostpine broke the silence. "You four are very powerful, Daja."
"It's strange though. I don't even know what happened, or how I did it."
"Well, nothing amazing there, where you four are concerned. Doubtlessly the minute we unravel this mystery four more will pop up." He sighed in mock frustration. "I'll be going to my closet of a cabin before we hit the big waves," he said, patting her shoulder reassuringly before going down.
"Incredible," he muttered. "Calling lava to help her while not even in her body. And a huge isthmus…incredible."
Sorry it's so short, but I need to try to update all of my fics. Couldn't figure out how to end this either. Oh well, look like Daja actually had one less chapter than the others, so sorry all Daja fans. Next is Briar's last (I think) chapter. I'll try to get it out soon.
Star Lily