Chapter 15. All right, here it is, sorry for taking so long; I was
just...procrastinating. This chapter contains more Aly, as requested. Just to
clarify, Lani is Ms. Sadinga's shy niece from the Parrot's beak. If you
reread chapter ten, I think you'll remember who she is. I wanted to
introduce her then so that I didn't' t have some random person save Daine.
If anybody has any more questions, feel free to ask. So, onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or places in this story, they belong to Tamora Pierce.
***
"This is way too perfect for the likes of me," Aly said to Chenoal as she helped the cook peel potatoes for the evening meal in the else empty kitchen. Although she was now Dove's personal maid and didn't have to do such things, it still gave her a chance to talk with the raka woman. "Those two messengers were too close to have traveled on two different ships to get here."
"Which means that they left the palace at about the same time. Royal messenger ships leave at least three times a day," Chenoal added, 'So even if the messages were written just two hours apart, they could have caught two different ships."
"And of course," said Festagio, munching on an apple thoughtfully, "There is the fact that both of the horses they rode were taken out from the very same inn." Aly hadn't even heard him come in. My folks are getting good, she thought wryly.
"Awfully convenient," Chenoal said picking up her favorite clever.
"Convenience has nothing to do with it," Aly muttered
"Umm," Fastigo said pointing to her as he leaned back against the table, "What's even more 'convenient' is how King Dunevon died. They boy's horse trampled him, but my cousin works at the stables at the palace, he looks after our interests there you see, and he said the night a' fore he heard the boy's holster talking in whispers and the like to someone he couldn't see. The next day when the King went for a ride, his pony had a terrible fit. It took the 'startled' holster minutes to calm the beast down. Let's just say there wasn't an open casket funeral."
Aly picked up another potato and carefully slid her knife under the skin and began to peel it. So the regents killed off the last person standing in the way to the throne, she thought to herself. Perhaps the Balitangs' banishment was for the best with such dangerous enemies. Elstren being king would have made her job much more difficult. The palace would have been dripping with assassins sent by Rubinyan and Imajane. Really, it was an act of kindness for them to have banished the Balitangs as opposed to having their throats slit.
"Aly, watch your self!" Chenoal cried, tearing the knife out of her hands. Startled, Aly looked up and discovered that she had peeled her potato down to nothing.
"Sorry," she grinned, "I was thinking."
"When are you not thinking girl? Now get out of here. Lady Dove will be needing your help to wash up for supper anyway."
***
His temples were throbbing. The constant pounding was like a black smith's hammer chipping away at his skull.
Though another morning had dawned with vengeful heat, he shivered. I can't keep this up much longer, he realized.
Numair jumped at a sudden noise, and then scolded himself for the waste of energy when he realized that the noise was only the grumbling of his own stomach. Where was Alan? He wondered. The boy had promised to come by every once in a while to bring food and water, but he hadn't been back since his first visit.
When was that? Numair wondered. It seemed like it had been at least three days ago, but he could only remember the sun setting once since then.
He decided to check on the levels of his gift. He found only traces of his gift remained, starling himself out of his weary stupor.
"Alanna, Jon," he rasped, trying to get someone's attention. He would lose control over his spell at any moment.
"Anyone," He tried, opening up his eyes, he found that all the people nearby were too busy to even hear his whispers.
Suddenly, in front of him, a head appeared. The face was that of a person he could never forget. Inar Hadensra. Frantically, he threw a sloppy punch at it, but found that his hand when straight through. Inar's head laughed.
"Numair, I never took you for a fool, but I am much mistaken. It's amazing that a black robe like you can't even tell a projection from a mage!" His one eyes filled with laugher, Numair noticed briefly that his other eyes was now filled with a black opal. The old inhabitant of that eye socket, a ruby, now sat in Numair's study. He had taken it from the mage in their last, and what he had thought was their final, encounter.
"Whatdyouwant?" Numair said wearily, his words slurring together.
"I want you dead." He said, "But that'll have to wait until we meet in person. I assure you it will be soon. Until then," the head said as it began to fade away.
"Was that who I thought it was," a red head popped up beside the black robe. It belonged to the Lioness.
"Alanna," Numair said urgently, "I can't hold on I..." he passed out, starring into two worried pools of violets.
***
"'Ey watch where you're going!" An angry pepper vendor cried as the stallion danced dangerously close to his cart. Despite his protests, the horse's hindquarters rammed into the man's shakily built cart, spilling his merchandise everywhere.
"Sorry!" Daine yelled over her shoulder, not bothering to look back. This was definitely not the time to stop for apologies.
"How do we get out of this gods forsaken city?" she asked Lani angrily.
"We'd never make it through the main city gates so we're heading to the smaller back gate. It's used mostly by merchants and won't be as heavily guarded. It won't be easy though, seeing as the guards will be expecting us. To get there just keep going the way you're going then." Lani said quickly. Daine was getting the impression that the girl wasn't too familiar with horses.
Up ahead, Daine saw the small gate, just wide enough for one cart to fit through at a time. A small crowd was gathered in front of it. They were all dressed in purple, swords drawn.
"What're we supposed to do?" she cried.
"Just keep riding," Lani said firmly.
What was she thinking? Daine wasn't about to throw this poor gorse onto fifteen aimed swords, and she told her companion so.
"Honestly, Sarra, if you had a horse charging at you a full gallop, would you just standing in front of it?" She had a point, but Daine wasn't quite convinced. Then again, she really didn't have any other options.
With each pounding of the stallion's hooves, the guards grew steadily closer. In moments, they would collide. Daine could sense the stallion beneath her beginning to hesitate.
"Don't you worry a moment about them sir," she told him firmly, hoping that her voice didn't betray her nerves.
She closed her eyes when they were just twenty yards away. She couldn't bear to watch what was going to happen. One way or the other, somebody was bound to get hurt. Three, two, one... and nothing. Opening her eyes, Daine turned and found that at the last moment the guards had thrown themselves to the side.
She let out a whoop of relief and joy. "We're out!" she said looking back to younger girl. She couldn't help but grin when she found that her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
"Right, wonderful. Let's take the right fork there," she said opening her eyes for a moment to point to a fork in the road ahead. It leads into the jungle. Hopefully we can shake any followers in there, then we can come up with some other plan."
Daine thought this didn't sound too bad. Anything was better that being dead. She turned her face to the breeze, and then leaned into the stallion's neck to pick up speed.
***
Aly made her way up stairs to Dove's room quickly. She was interested to hear what the younger girl had to say about the recent turn of events. Reaching the door to Dove and Sarai's room, she knocked.
"Come in," a voice whimpered. Aly pushed open the door to find Sarai sitting on the bed crying and Dove comforting her. Seeing Aly, Sarai tried to calm herself.
"Hello Aly," the older girl said.
"What's wrong Sarai?" She asked, taking a seat next to the sisters.
"How could Rubinyan do this to us?" She asked more to herself then to Aly, "I know the duchess would probably never have gone back anyway, but was hoping that someday I might..." her voiced trailed off. Aly knew how much Sarai wanted to return to court. She herself had also felt the lure of parties and men and other women to talk with. However, Aly had never had royal assassins after her.
"Oh Sarai," Dove said soothingly, "It can't last forever. Eventually Rubinyan will realize his mistake and I bet he'll even escort you to court himself." Looking into the younger girls eyes, Aly knew that Dove didn't believe a word she said. And neither it seemed, did Sarai.
"I'm sure you're not missing much, Lady Sarai." Aly said.
Saria looked at her with a smirk. "Aly, I told you ages ago to stop calling me Lady." Back at the end of the summer when Aly had saved the lives of the Balitangs, Sarai had insisted that Aly be less formal with her, however, playing the part of the ever dutiful and shy servant, Aly continued to use Lady. "Have you ever been to court?" she asked.
Aly looked down, "No, it's much to grand for the likes of me, but one Midwinter I watched the holiday festivities from a balcony in the ballroom." She looked up, "Would you tell me what court's like here?"
Sarai happily obliged and was soon telling her in great detail of all the happenings of nobles in the Copper Isles court. Soon she forgot all about her sorrow. Aly listened intently, gathering all the information she could to bring back to her father.
***
Keladry of Mindelan knelt readily on the wall of the palace. The sun would soon set, taking away most of the basted heat that had kept the winged snakes from attacking. Her teacher Lindhall Reed had once told her that reptiles were cold blooded, which meant that the winged serpents had to wait until it was cool enough out to attack. Else wise, they would fry from the inside out.
Kel knew that she didn't have much time. While Neal had not come with any word of change during the day, she knew that Alan didn't have much time left. She needed some venom and she needed it know.
Squinting, she saw movement coming from the rooftops below in the city. Hurriedly she pulled out her spyglass and confirmed what she had guessed. The winged snaked were coming out again.
Kel turned to the weary archers who leaned against the wall, trying to get off shots at the mages who were bombarding them.
"Remember," she called down the line of commoners, "You must let one of the serpents come at me. I need one alive."
Jump whined at her feet. The normally fearless dog was quite frightened of the flying snakes.
"It's alright Jump," she told him, "I don't need you right now. I want you to go sit with Alan." The barrel-chested dog looked up at her before licking her hand and trotting off in search of the infirmary. There he would wait with the sparrows. Kel was glad that he was gone. She didn't want him to get hurt.
Hearing the warning calls of the archers around her, the knight looked up to find the snakes were close. She quickly said a prayer to the Goddess for luck and stood up, making an easy target of her self. She needed the snakes to see her. She was human bate.
She gripped her glaive tightly in her right hand. She would need its length and speed when a snaked decided to make a dive at her.
Now the snakes were upon them. The arches got off shots as fast as they could, trying to contain most of the vile creatures, but following orders they left the one farthest to the right alone. This one soared easily through the arrows raining down around it and set its target on her. Hissing with delight it swooped down at her.
It was all about timing. If she swung her glaive too early, she would behead the creature, and if she swung too late, she would die.
Kel waited patiently, Yamani calm. She counted to ten, a time she had calculated other from serpents' dives, and then with all of her speed she sliced upward with her glaive in a move called the broom sweeps clean. She hit her target.
The blue iron of the blade sliced easily through the left wing of the serpent. Making a quick side step, Kel got out of the way just as the snake flopped onto the wall where she had been standing.
Cautiously stepping forward, she nudged the still snake with her glaive. It didn't move, but she could tell by the twitching of its remaining wing, it was still alive. Hurriedly, she picked the thing up by the tail with a gloved hand and shoved it into a feedbag. Then she ran off to find Neal.
***
Daine led the horse through dense jungle for hours, walking him in water as much as it was possible. She didn't want anybody to be able to track them and she had learned many trail hiding techniques from her time with the Queen's Riders.
Twice she could have sworn she heard the baying of hounds, urging the stallion back into a gallop, but found that it was only her ears betraying her.
Finally, they reached the edge of a wide-open plain. She stopped the exhausted horse and carefully dismounted. Lani all but slipped off the stallion's back and hurried behind a tree where Daine heard her empty her stomach.
Daine couldn't help but grin, No she thought, that girl is defiantly not familiar with horses. Grabbing the sweaty horses reins, she led him to a shallow stream where she left him to drink his belly full.
Though she was exhausted, Daine couldn't help but walk with a slight spring in her step. She breathed deeply of the moist jungle air, happy to be alive. Quickly, she returned to where she had left Lani.
Her rescuer looked worse for wear, her normally brown skin looking gray. She was clutching her right arm, causing Daine to remember the fight. Lani had tied a make shift bandage around her arm which looked like it was been ripped from her sturdy coat. Now it was covered in blood. Lani hadn't said a word about it during their ride.
"Sorry," she began, "I'm not much of one for horses," she sat on a log awkwardly. She grabbed her jacket with her left arm and struggled to tear a new bandage from it.
"Let me help," Daine said gently, sitting down next to her. She took the jacket a ripped a strip from the thickest part she could find. Gingerly, she pulled the old sticky bandage away from the wound. She was greeting by a deep slice, cutting through the big muscles in the other girl arm. Daine winced at the sight of it and carefully tied the new bandage on.
"Thanks," Lani breathed.
"No," Daine said, "It's me who should be thanking you. You saved my life. Where did you learn to fight like that?" she asked remembering the amazing scene that she had witnessed.
"I'm a Shang warrior," she answered, "I just don't like to spread the word, especially not here in the islands." Daine waited for her to explain why, but no explanation came. A shang warrior, she thought to herself. Lani looked to be no older than 19, very young to have become one of the famed and honored Shang. The Shang were deadly, fighting the best with their hands and feet, but could also handle all manner of weapons. "I'm just glad I wasn't too late, when I arrived and found that you were already hanging there..."
"You were right on time," Daine assured her with a grin. "I can never thank you enough,"
Lani looked away, embarrassed. Doing so, she saw the stallion returning to them. "We can't keep him, you know," she said, "He stands out too much, we can send him back towards the city and throw off any pursuers."
Daine nodded and straightened with a wince before giving the horse one last loving stroke and scarring him into a gallop back in the direction they had come. Turning back, she found Lani staring at the plain before them.
"If were going to cross this," she noted, "we'd best do it before nightfall." This Daine didn't understand and she said so.
"This is the Plain of Sorrows, Sara, or should I call you Daine when no one's around?"
"Daine's fine," she answered, thinking it would be quite refreshing to hear her own name on the lips of others once again.
"Daine then," Lani said smiling, "No one crosses the Plain of Sorrows at night, out of respect for the dead. Even the luarin."
"The dead?" Daine asked puzzled.
Lani nodded somberly, "Almost 300 years ago, this is where the last battle was fought in the war against the luarin invaders. The raka lost and the luarin gained control over the Isles. It was a slaughter, none of my people surrendering themselves to anyone but the Black God."
Daine was silent. Was the fate of the raka people what waited for her friends back in Tortall if they lost? She hoped not.
"That was the day that I lost hold on my Isles," A deep voice said from behind them.
***
Neal's hand quivered as he tipped the blue tinged liquid into the squire's mouth. It was a small tremor, but Kel noticed it nonetheless. She had known Neal since the first day of training as a page and knew that he was nervous behind the calm front he put up as a healer. She sent a prayer to the Trickster that such a crazy cure would work. He was the type of god who just might take pleasure in letting the concoction work.
They were alone on the balcony. The Lioness had not been able to come sit at her son's side. She was busy protecting the king, who had taken over Numair's spell. Numair lay sleeping in the next bed over, his gift drained completely.
Neal stepped back when the entire antidote was gone. He turned to Kel. "Now we wait." She nodded.
At first, nothing seemed to change, but then Alan turned over in his sleep and his breathing came easier. In another couple of moments, he lost his grayish color and slept peaceful.
Neal was starring in disbelief. "It worked," he muttered to himself, "It actually worked."
Kel stood up from her chair and hugged him tightly. Neal tensed in surprise at first, but then relaxed.
"You're wonderful Neal!" she cried.
He grinned wickedly, "You're just realizing this now Mindelan?" Kel stepped out of the hug and gave him a playful shove. "Meathead!" she retorted, her worry disappearing.
"You," he accused, "Have been spending much too much time with my fair cousin. I've got to go inform Duke Baird of this." He rushed off to spread the news of his success.
***
Both women turned in alarm at this unexpected visitor. Lani dropped into a fighter's crouch and Diane pulled out a knife she had found in the stallion's saddle.
Their visitor was a middle-aged raka man, dressed in nothing but the best. He had rings on every finger and toe and had a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Daine thought he looked very familiar.
Lani stood up, looking annoyed. "It's just you," she said familiarly to the man. Obviously they knew each other.
"Oh, somebody's a cranky little kitty," he winked at Daine. "Thanks for helping Ms. Sarrasi here. Her parents would've been an itsy bit mad if anything had happened to her."
How does he know my ma and da? Daine wondered.
"Kyprioth, what do you need now? Daine's safe, just like you asked." Lani said.
"So I can see," he bowed with a hint of mocking to Daine, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm a friend of your father's." That settled what Daine had suspected, he was a god. But which one? She quickly looked him over again, stopping to look into his mischievous eyes. Then she knew.
"A pleasure to meet you too Trickster." She answered politely.
"Ah, you know me!" a smile danced across his bearded face, "Wonderful! Yes, well down to business. You see, I'm going to need to 'borrow' you two for the summer."
"Borrow?" Lani asked laughing.
"Yes borrow," the Trickster snapped, "I need you both to go to Lombyn Island, Taniar Estate. There are some people there that are going to need your," he struggled to find the right word, "Expertise."
Lani looked up sharply, "You mean it's time?" she asked.
"Just about," Trickster, or Kyprioth as Lani had called him answered. Daine felt quite on the outside of this conversation. Later she would have to ask Lani what they were talking about.
Daine took a moment to review her options. She desperately wanted to go home to her family and Tortall were she was needed, but she knew these arguments would mean nothing to a god, especially a trickster. It would be hard to get out of the Isles anyway with everyone looking for her and she knew that she with the chains that still confined her wild magic it would be impossible to shape shift to get there. Even if she did find a way to get out of them, she would be too exhausted to even attempt a shift for weeks. She really didn't have much of a choice.
"If it's time, then I'll go." Lani said firmly.
The Trickster looked at Daine expectantly.
She sighed, "Okay, I don't have much chance of getting home right now anyway. Just one condition." Daine lifted up her chained wrists. "I figure you need me for my magic, but I can't do much when I'm like this."
Kyprioth rubbed his palms together. "Of course. I can get you out of those." He pulled a sheath from out of his sash and drew a shinning dagger. Deftly, he cut through the metal with ease, somehow managing to never cut her. When he sliced through the last band, Daine's head exploded with noise, forcing her to her knees.
Her magic over came her for a moment, overwhelming her with the voices of the hundreds of People around her. They all wanted to know who this god was and what the two-leggers he was talking to were doing in their jungle.
Slowly, she sorted through all the voices and pushed them to the back of her mind with a quick explanation that she and Lani were just passing by and that the god would soon be leaving as well.
Breathing deeply, she struggled to her feet, rubbing her chaffed wrists. "Thanks," she said. Somewhere behind her a toucan muttered to itself as it tried desperately to crack a rather larger nut. Daine grinned. It was good to hear her friends again.
"It's the least I can do," the god replied. "I would like to heal both of you injuries as well, but should I do so, my sister The Goddess might notice and wonder what I'm doing down here. Speaking of which, I better get going and you'd better start out if you hope to make it across the Plain before nightfall." The god gave them one more wicked grin and then was gone.
Lani looked at Daine, shaking her head. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into."
"Well," Daine answered, "When you're dealing with the gods, it's bound to be something crazy."
Lani grinned in reply, "And it will be, but deathly important. Come on, I'll tell you of it." With that the two of them began the long silent walk across the plain.
***
Whew, so that was chapter 15. I think Daine and Aly will meet in the next chapter. Maybe, if you're good :) Please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or places in this story, they belong to Tamora Pierce.
***
"This is way too perfect for the likes of me," Aly said to Chenoal as she helped the cook peel potatoes for the evening meal in the else empty kitchen. Although she was now Dove's personal maid and didn't have to do such things, it still gave her a chance to talk with the raka woman. "Those two messengers were too close to have traveled on two different ships to get here."
"Which means that they left the palace at about the same time. Royal messenger ships leave at least three times a day," Chenoal added, 'So even if the messages were written just two hours apart, they could have caught two different ships."
"And of course," said Festagio, munching on an apple thoughtfully, "There is the fact that both of the horses they rode were taken out from the very same inn." Aly hadn't even heard him come in. My folks are getting good, she thought wryly.
"Awfully convenient," Chenoal said picking up her favorite clever.
"Convenience has nothing to do with it," Aly muttered
"Umm," Fastigo said pointing to her as he leaned back against the table, "What's even more 'convenient' is how King Dunevon died. They boy's horse trampled him, but my cousin works at the stables at the palace, he looks after our interests there you see, and he said the night a' fore he heard the boy's holster talking in whispers and the like to someone he couldn't see. The next day when the King went for a ride, his pony had a terrible fit. It took the 'startled' holster minutes to calm the beast down. Let's just say there wasn't an open casket funeral."
Aly picked up another potato and carefully slid her knife under the skin and began to peel it. So the regents killed off the last person standing in the way to the throne, she thought to herself. Perhaps the Balitangs' banishment was for the best with such dangerous enemies. Elstren being king would have made her job much more difficult. The palace would have been dripping with assassins sent by Rubinyan and Imajane. Really, it was an act of kindness for them to have banished the Balitangs as opposed to having their throats slit.
"Aly, watch your self!" Chenoal cried, tearing the knife out of her hands. Startled, Aly looked up and discovered that she had peeled her potato down to nothing.
"Sorry," she grinned, "I was thinking."
"When are you not thinking girl? Now get out of here. Lady Dove will be needing your help to wash up for supper anyway."
***
His temples were throbbing. The constant pounding was like a black smith's hammer chipping away at his skull.
Though another morning had dawned with vengeful heat, he shivered. I can't keep this up much longer, he realized.
Numair jumped at a sudden noise, and then scolded himself for the waste of energy when he realized that the noise was only the grumbling of his own stomach. Where was Alan? He wondered. The boy had promised to come by every once in a while to bring food and water, but he hadn't been back since his first visit.
When was that? Numair wondered. It seemed like it had been at least three days ago, but he could only remember the sun setting once since then.
He decided to check on the levels of his gift. He found only traces of his gift remained, starling himself out of his weary stupor.
"Alanna, Jon," he rasped, trying to get someone's attention. He would lose control over his spell at any moment.
"Anyone," He tried, opening up his eyes, he found that all the people nearby were too busy to even hear his whispers.
Suddenly, in front of him, a head appeared. The face was that of a person he could never forget. Inar Hadensra. Frantically, he threw a sloppy punch at it, but found that his hand when straight through. Inar's head laughed.
"Numair, I never took you for a fool, but I am much mistaken. It's amazing that a black robe like you can't even tell a projection from a mage!" His one eyes filled with laugher, Numair noticed briefly that his other eyes was now filled with a black opal. The old inhabitant of that eye socket, a ruby, now sat in Numair's study. He had taken it from the mage in their last, and what he had thought was their final, encounter.
"Whatdyouwant?" Numair said wearily, his words slurring together.
"I want you dead." He said, "But that'll have to wait until we meet in person. I assure you it will be soon. Until then," the head said as it began to fade away.
"Was that who I thought it was," a red head popped up beside the black robe. It belonged to the Lioness.
"Alanna," Numair said urgently, "I can't hold on I..." he passed out, starring into two worried pools of violets.
***
"'Ey watch where you're going!" An angry pepper vendor cried as the stallion danced dangerously close to his cart. Despite his protests, the horse's hindquarters rammed into the man's shakily built cart, spilling his merchandise everywhere.
"Sorry!" Daine yelled over her shoulder, not bothering to look back. This was definitely not the time to stop for apologies.
"How do we get out of this gods forsaken city?" she asked Lani angrily.
"We'd never make it through the main city gates so we're heading to the smaller back gate. It's used mostly by merchants and won't be as heavily guarded. It won't be easy though, seeing as the guards will be expecting us. To get there just keep going the way you're going then." Lani said quickly. Daine was getting the impression that the girl wasn't too familiar with horses.
Up ahead, Daine saw the small gate, just wide enough for one cart to fit through at a time. A small crowd was gathered in front of it. They were all dressed in purple, swords drawn.
"What're we supposed to do?" she cried.
"Just keep riding," Lani said firmly.
What was she thinking? Daine wasn't about to throw this poor gorse onto fifteen aimed swords, and she told her companion so.
"Honestly, Sarra, if you had a horse charging at you a full gallop, would you just standing in front of it?" She had a point, but Daine wasn't quite convinced. Then again, she really didn't have any other options.
With each pounding of the stallion's hooves, the guards grew steadily closer. In moments, they would collide. Daine could sense the stallion beneath her beginning to hesitate.
"Don't you worry a moment about them sir," she told him firmly, hoping that her voice didn't betray her nerves.
She closed her eyes when they were just twenty yards away. She couldn't bear to watch what was going to happen. One way or the other, somebody was bound to get hurt. Three, two, one... and nothing. Opening her eyes, Daine turned and found that at the last moment the guards had thrown themselves to the side.
She let out a whoop of relief and joy. "We're out!" she said looking back to younger girl. She couldn't help but grin when she found that her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
"Right, wonderful. Let's take the right fork there," she said opening her eyes for a moment to point to a fork in the road ahead. It leads into the jungle. Hopefully we can shake any followers in there, then we can come up with some other plan."
Daine thought this didn't sound too bad. Anything was better that being dead. She turned her face to the breeze, and then leaned into the stallion's neck to pick up speed.
***
Aly made her way up stairs to Dove's room quickly. She was interested to hear what the younger girl had to say about the recent turn of events. Reaching the door to Dove and Sarai's room, she knocked.
"Come in," a voice whimpered. Aly pushed open the door to find Sarai sitting on the bed crying and Dove comforting her. Seeing Aly, Sarai tried to calm herself.
"Hello Aly," the older girl said.
"What's wrong Sarai?" She asked, taking a seat next to the sisters.
"How could Rubinyan do this to us?" She asked more to herself then to Aly, "I know the duchess would probably never have gone back anyway, but was hoping that someday I might..." her voiced trailed off. Aly knew how much Sarai wanted to return to court. She herself had also felt the lure of parties and men and other women to talk with. However, Aly had never had royal assassins after her.
"Oh Sarai," Dove said soothingly, "It can't last forever. Eventually Rubinyan will realize his mistake and I bet he'll even escort you to court himself." Looking into the younger girls eyes, Aly knew that Dove didn't believe a word she said. And neither it seemed, did Sarai.
"I'm sure you're not missing much, Lady Sarai." Aly said.
Saria looked at her with a smirk. "Aly, I told you ages ago to stop calling me Lady." Back at the end of the summer when Aly had saved the lives of the Balitangs, Sarai had insisted that Aly be less formal with her, however, playing the part of the ever dutiful and shy servant, Aly continued to use Lady. "Have you ever been to court?" she asked.
Aly looked down, "No, it's much to grand for the likes of me, but one Midwinter I watched the holiday festivities from a balcony in the ballroom." She looked up, "Would you tell me what court's like here?"
Sarai happily obliged and was soon telling her in great detail of all the happenings of nobles in the Copper Isles court. Soon she forgot all about her sorrow. Aly listened intently, gathering all the information she could to bring back to her father.
***
Keladry of Mindelan knelt readily on the wall of the palace. The sun would soon set, taking away most of the basted heat that had kept the winged snakes from attacking. Her teacher Lindhall Reed had once told her that reptiles were cold blooded, which meant that the winged serpents had to wait until it was cool enough out to attack. Else wise, they would fry from the inside out.
Kel knew that she didn't have much time. While Neal had not come with any word of change during the day, she knew that Alan didn't have much time left. She needed some venom and she needed it know.
Squinting, she saw movement coming from the rooftops below in the city. Hurriedly she pulled out her spyglass and confirmed what she had guessed. The winged snaked were coming out again.
Kel turned to the weary archers who leaned against the wall, trying to get off shots at the mages who were bombarding them.
"Remember," she called down the line of commoners, "You must let one of the serpents come at me. I need one alive."
Jump whined at her feet. The normally fearless dog was quite frightened of the flying snakes.
"It's alright Jump," she told him, "I don't need you right now. I want you to go sit with Alan." The barrel-chested dog looked up at her before licking her hand and trotting off in search of the infirmary. There he would wait with the sparrows. Kel was glad that he was gone. She didn't want him to get hurt.
Hearing the warning calls of the archers around her, the knight looked up to find the snakes were close. She quickly said a prayer to the Goddess for luck and stood up, making an easy target of her self. She needed the snakes to see her. She was human bate.
She gripped her glaive tightly in her right hand. She would need its length and speed when a snaked decided to make a dive at her.
Now the snakes were upon them. The arches got off shots as fast as they could, trying to contain most of the vile creatures, but following orders they left the one farthest to the right alone. This one soared easily through the arrows raining down around it and set its target on her. Hissing with delight it swooped down at her.
It was all about timing. If she swung her glaive too early, she would behead the creature, and if she swung too late, she would die.
Kel waited patiently, Yamani calm. She counted to ten, a time she had calculated other from serpents' dives, and then with all of her speed she sliced upward with her glaive in a move called the broom sweeps clean. She hit her target.
The blue iron of the blade sliced easily through the left wing of the serpent. Making a quick side step, Kel got out of the way just as the snake flopped onto the wall where she had been standing.
Cautiously stepping forward, she nudged the still snake with her glaive. It didn't move, but she could tell by the twitching of its remaining wing, it was still alive. Hurriedly, she picked the thing up by the tail with a gloved hand and shoved it into a feedbag. Then she ran off to find Neal.
***
Daine led the horse through dense jungle for hours, walking him in water as much as it was possible. She didn't want anybody to be able to track them and she had learned many trail hiding techniques from her time with the Queen's Riders.
Twice she could have sworn she heard the baying of hounds, urging the stallion back into a gallop, but found that it was only her ears betraying her.
Finally, they reached the edge of a wide-open plain. She stopped the exhausted horse and carefully dismounted. Lani all but slipped off the stallion's back and hurried behind a tree where Daine heard her empty her stomach.
Daine couldn't help but grin, No she thought, that girl is defiantly not familiar with horses. Grabbing the sweaty horses reins, she led him to a shallow stream where she left him to drink his belly full.
Though she was exhausted, Daine couldn't help but walk with a slight spring in her step. She breathed deeply of the moist jungle air, happy to be alive. Quickly, she returned to where she had left Lani.
Her rescuer looked worse for wear, her normally brown skin looking gray. She was clutching her right arm, causing Daine to remember the fight. Lani had tied a make shift bandage around her arm which looked like it was been ripped from her sturdy coat. Now it was covered in blood. Lani hadn't said a word about it during their ride.
"Sorry," she began, "I'm not much of one for horses," she sat on a log awkwardly. She grabbed her jacket with her left arm and struggled to tear a new bandage from it.
"Let me help," Daine said gently, sitting down next to her. She took the jacket a ripped a strip from the thickest part she could find. Gingerly, she pulled the old sticky bandage away from the wound. She was greeting by a deep slice, cutting through the big muscles in the other girl arm. Daine winced at the sight of it and carefully tied the new bandage on.
"Thanks," Lani breathed.
"No," Daine said, "It's me who should be thanking you. You saved my life. Where did you learn to fight like that?" she asked remembering the amazing scene that she had witnessed.
"I'm a Shang warrior," she answered, "I just don't like to spread the word, especially not here in the islands." Daine waited for her to explain why, but no explanation came. A shang warrior, she thought to herself. Lani looked to be no older than 19, very young to have become one of the famed and honored Shang. The Shang were deadly, fighting the best with their hands and feet, but could also handle all manner of weapons. "I'm just glad I wasn't too late, when I arrived and found that you were already hanging there..."
"You were right on time," Daine assured her with a grin. "I can never thank you enough,"
Lani looked away, embarrassed. Doing so, she saw the stallion returning to them. "We can't keep him, you know," she said, "He stands out too much, we can send him back towards the city and throw off any pursuers."
Daine nodded and straightened with a wince before giving the horse one last loving stroke and scarring him into a gallop back in the direction they had come. Turning back, she found Lani staring at the plain before them.
"If were going to cross this," she noted, "we'd best do it before nightfall." This Daine didn't understand and she said so.
"This is the Plain of Sorrows, Sara, or should I call you Daine when no one's around?"
"Daine's fine," she answered, thinking it would be quite refreshing to hear her own name on the lips of others once again.
"Daine then," Lani said smiling, "No one crosses the Plain of Sorrows at night, out of respect for the dead. Even the luarin."
"The dead?" Daine asked puzzled.
Lani nodded somberly, "Almost 300 years ago, this is where the last battle was fought in the war against the luarin invaders. The raka lost and the luarin gained control over the Isles. It was a slaughter, none of my people surrendering themselves to anyone but the Black God."
Daine was silent. Was the fate of the raka people what waited for her friends back in Tortall if they lost? She hoped not.
"That was the day that I lost hold on my Isles," A deep voice said from behind them.
***
Neal's hand quivered as he tipped the blue tinged liquid into the squire's mouth. It was a small tremor, but Kel noticed it nonetheless. She had known Neal since the first day of training as a page and knew that he was nervous behind the calm front he put up as a healer. She sent a prayer to the Trickster that such a crazy cure would work. He was the type of god who just might take pleasure in letting the concoction work.
They were alone on the balcony. The Lioness had not been able to come sit at her son's side. She was busy protecting the king, who had taken over Numair's spell. Numair lay sleeping in the next bed over, his gift drained completely.
Neal stepped back when the entire antidote was gone. He turned to Kel. "Now we wait." She nodded.
At first, nothing seemed to change, but then Alan turned over in his sleep and his breathing came easier. In another couple of moments, he lost his grayish color and slept peaceful.
Neal was starring in disbelief. "It worked," he muttered to himself, "It actually worked."
Kel stood up from her chair and hugged him tightly. Neal tensed in surprise at first, but then relaxed.
"You're wonderful Neal!" she cried.
He grinned wickedly, "You're just realizing this now Mindelan?" Kel stepped out of the hug and gave him a playful shove. "Meathead!" she retorted, her worry disappearing.
"You," he accused, "Have been spending much too much time with my fair cousin. I've got to go inform Duke Baird of this." He rushed off to spread the news of his success.
***
Both women turned in alarm at this unexpected visitor. Lani dropped into a fighter's crouch and Diane pulled out a knife she had found in the stallion's saddle.
Their visitor was a middle-aged raka man, dressed in nothing but the best. He had rings on every finger and toe and had a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Daine thought he looked very familiar.
Lani stood up, looking annoyed. "It's just you," she said familiarly to the man. Obviously they knew each other.
"Oh, somebody's a cranky little kitty," he winked at Daine. "Thanks for helping Ms. Sarrasi here. Her parents would've been an itsy bit mad if anything had happened to her."
How does he know my ma and da? Daine wondered.
"Kyprioth, what do you need now? Daine's safe, just like you asked." Lani said.
"So I can see," he bowed with a hint of mocking to Daine, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm a friend of your father's." That settled what Daine had suspected, he was a god. But which one? She quickly looked him over again, stopping to look into his mischievous eyes. Then she knew.
"A pleasure to meet you too Trickster." She answered politely.
"Ah, you know me!" a smile danced across his bearded face, "Wonderful! Yes, well down to business. You see, I'm going to need to 'borrow' you two for the summer."
"Borrow?" Lani asked laughing.
"Yes borrow," the Trickster snapped, "I need you both to go to Lombyn Island, Taniar Estate. There are some people there that are going to need your," he struggled to find the right word, "Expertise."
Lani looked up sharply, "You mean it's time?" she asked.
"Just about," Trickster, or Kyprioth as Lani had called him answered. Daine felt quite on the outside of this conversation. Later she would have to ask Lani what they were talking about.
Daine took a moment to review her options. She desperately wanted to go home to her family and Tortall were she was needed, but she knew these arguments would mean nothing to a god, especially a trickster. It would be hard to get out of the Isles anyway with everyone looking for her and she knew that she with the chains that still confined her wild magic it would be impossible to shape shift to get there. Even if she did find a way to get out of them, she would be too exhausted to even attempt a shift for weeks. She really didn't have much of a choice.
"If it's time, then I'll go." Lani said firmly.
The Trickster looked at Daine expectantly.
She sighed, "Okay, I don't have much chance of getting home right now anyway. Just one condition." Daine lifted up her chained wrists. "I figure you need me for my magic, but I can't do much when I'm like this."
Kyprioth rubbed his palms together. "Of course. I can get you out of those." He pulled a sheath from out of his sash and drew a shinning dagger. Deftly, he cut through the metal with ease, somehow managing to never cut her. When he sliced through the last band, Daine's head exploded with noise, forcing her to her knees.
Her magic over came her for a moment, overwhelming her with the voices of the hundreds of People around her. They all wanted to know who this god was and what the two-leggers he was talking to were doing in their jungle.
Slowly, she sorted through all the voices and pushed them to the back of her mind with a quick explanation that she and Lani were just passing by and that the god would soon be leaving as well.
Breathing deeply, she struggled to her feet, rubbing her chaffed wrists. "Thanks," she said. Somewhere behind her a toucan muttered to itself as it tried desperately to crack a rather larger nut. Daine grinned. It was good to hear her friends again.
"It's the least I can do," the god replied. "I would like to heal both of you injuries as well, but should I do so, my sister The Goddess might notice and wonder what I'm doing down here. Speaking of which, I better get going and you'd better start out if you hope to make it across the Plain before nightfall." The god gave them one more wicked grin and then was gone.
Lani looked at Daine, shaking her head. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into."
"Well," Daine answered, "When you're dealing with the gods, it's bound to be something crazy."
Lani grinned in reply, "And it will be, but deathly important. Come on, I'll tell you of it." With that the two of them began the long silent walk across the plain.
***
Whew, so that was chapter 15. I think Daine and Aly will meet in the next chapter. Maybe, if you're good :) Please review!