This used to be two chapters, because Alanna actually met our beloved Tammy. But I found out that that would be illegal and took her out, merging these two chapters together. And sorry about the cliffy at the end.
Thankies:
DestinyHunter: Thanks for your FOUR reviews! I know, it was short. I have the Dominion Jewel and all that all worked out, you'll see in this chapter!
Fantasizing-Lady-Knight: Yeah, more chappies thick and fast, hopefully!
Chicken-puffs: Luv your name! Sure thing!
Ellabelle1: Yeah, short as. This one is much better!
Wake-Robin: Aah, I can almost always count on you to review first! You're a faithful reader and I luv you! Sorry bout the short chap!
K, here we go!
Chapter 8 – The Book
Alanna was in the market district, looking at gowns. Although she owned a few of the garments, her wardrobe was nowhere near as extensive as most women in Tortall's. And she would need maternity gowns now that she was pregnant.
With many outfits filling her basket, both beautiful and plain, she turned to the armour square. She could not resist looking at the fine workmanship of Tortall's greatest armourers; shields, helmets and weapons alike.
She turned to a silver mail set. She could not imagine how many hours had gone into this one magnificent piece.
"Alanna!" she heard a voice cry. "Alanna of Olau and Conte! Alanna!"
Alanna glanced around, trying to single out her pursuer. A woman with hair the colour of new chestnuts and a round, jolly face appeared from nowhere, brown eyes twinkling. "Alanna," she gasped, her chase finally at an end. "Please, read this!"
She pressed a large and heavy book with strange, thin parchment onto her and disappeared.
Alanna was stunned. Who had the woman been? Why had she given her this book?
She flicked through its pages and gasped at the writing. Each letter was perfect, so perfect! How had they been made? Surely not by hand?
Alanna turned to the beginning of the book. She saw that it was called 'The Song of the Lioness'. She became intrigued about the coincidence in nicknames and began to read.
The book was written in Common, but there were some words unfamiliar to Alanna and the way it was written was very strange. Alanna tucked it into her bag for later perusal and hurried back to the palace.
Later that night, lying on her bed, Alanna made a shocking discovery. The book was about her life! It was an exact account of her struggle to become a knight!
But reading still further, she found that the book took a separate path to the one she herself had taken. In this book, she refused to wed Jon and eventually married George Cooper.
The book was hard to read. But Alanna was amazed at the accuracy of it. The things that happened here were things even Alanna couldn't remember, or things she had never told anyone about.
When she finally finished it, she had made up her mind. But she had the strangest feeling that Jon wouldn't agree.
It was awhile before she had the chance to speak to him again. In her 'motherly way', Lianne had insisted that Alanna move to her private wing, where there were plenty of women to help if anything went wrong. And with Jon's increasing number of responsibilities, there was very little time when he could see his wife.
During her free time, Alanna contemplated her decision, and what she would say to Jon. Every now and then, she would instinctively place her hand on her abdomen. But it was too early to feel anything.
At dinner that night, Alanna requested a private conversation with her husband. Jon presumed it was about the baby and their future, and thought nothing of it.
He was only half right.
"Jon, I need to talk to you," Alanna told her husband.
"Obviously, or I wouldn't be here," he laughed.
"Jon, this is no laughing matter! I'm serious, there's something we need to talk about."
"Well, talk!"
"Last week, I went to the market district to buy some gowns. When I had finished that, a woman calling my name gave me a book and disappeared. I discovered later that the book was about my life. But there was one thing different: in this version of events, I refused to marry you because I believed you wanted to wed me for the wrong reasons. Somehow, by agreeing to become your betrothed, I broke free of the book, not knowing I'd ever been under its control. It was a struggle, but I've finished it. It's here," She pulled the manuscript from her basket. "Read it. Read it and tell me what you think,"
"I'll do that, Lioness. But why?"
"Because you'll understand my request better that way."
"But – what request?"
"Read it, and I'll tell you."
It took Jon a lot longer to read the story that it had Alanna. He had less time, and less patience for the difficult language. He gave up easily, and only read short bursts at a time.
He also stopped reading several times when Alanna the character made love with another man.
Alanna was surprised at the amount of time it took Jon to read the document, seeing as she'd only given him the half about her life during and after her visit to the Bazhir.
"What is your request?" Jon asked her after dinner on the night he finished the book. He had quite a good idea what the answer would be, however. He handed the document back to his wife.
"I – I – " she stammered. She took a deep breath and continued. "I want to go. I want to meet Thayet, Buri and Liam. I want to claim the Dominion Jewel for Tortall."
Jon groaned inwardly. "When were you planning on leaving?"
"Soon. I calculated that in the story I met Liam a month from now, and I met Thayet and Buri in two. If I want to get to Maren in a month, I'll have to hurry."
Jon barely restrained his anger. He took a deep breath. "Is that possible? Do you really think I'd say yes to that?"
The pleading look on Alanna's face confirmed his fears. "Oh, please, Jon?"
He blew up. "I can't have you gallivanting round the countryside while you're carrying my – our – child! That's insane!"
Alanna didn't give up. "I won't follow the book exactly, Jon!" she tried to reason. "But I do want to meet them!"
"You'd just have an affair with this Ironarm man!"
"I wouldn't, I swear!" she cried. "I only did in the book because I wasn't hooked up with anyone!"
"My argument still stands! I can't – won't – have you risking the life of our child, full stop!"
Alanna promptly ran from the room. This time, however, she headed for the stables, where Coram and Stefan were waiting.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, lass?" Coram asked anxiously. "What does the Prince think?"
"I don't care what he thinks!" she replied angrily. Coram shut his mouth and helped her mount Moonlight.
They rode out into the darkness. They only person they met was Raoul.
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed, seeing the luggage a third mount bore. "What about the baby?"
"Shh!" whispered Alanna urgently. "Don't worry about us. Just don't tell Jon you saw us!"
"Did you have a fight or something? Are you running away?"
"No! We're just going to … don't worry about where we're going. Just forget you saw us, all right?" And with that, she continued on her way.
When the party reached the gates, they were let out with a stern warning from the Princess to the guards. (A/N For those of you slow on the uptake, the Princess is Alanna.) Taking the back route, they made it outside of Corus without arousing suspicion.
Okay, extremely sorry for the last pitiful update. This one's up quick though, that should account for something, right?
'K, cyas all
Pen