Fankees:
Wake-Robin: Nup, it's better now. First again.
Escawing: Hello! I'm glad you like it! I thought it was a pretty cool idea, too.
Chicken puffs: Heyo! I will!
Addict: Is that a pen name or are you addicted to my story? Either one's cool! You'll just have to wait and see!
Ellabelle1: Yeah, that's what I thought too. As for the baby, you'll just have to wait and find out! (Heh heh heh, I'm so mean!)
DestinyHunter: Thanks for reviewing TWICE! (If you've seen Char Met 3, my other story, you'd know I love double reviews! It's HP, though.) Yeah, well … just remember, this is Tortall we a talking about. I dunno, my reactions are a little tame, aren't they? Oh, well. And the lady was actually Tamora Pierce; I said that when I wrote it but I found out it was illegal on this site so I changed it. Dammit!
'K, just so you guys know, when I first started writing this (like, last year, months before I posted it) I hadn't read PotS or Immortals, so I didn't realise that anti-pregnancy charms were actually common. I thought it was something really special that Eleni invented. So, that's why Alex and his girlfriend (can't remember her name) didn't realise what it was. So, enjoy!
Chapter 11 – The Land Torn Apart By A Bad King
Like Alanna had predicted, Liam had accepted her offer and they began the long journey to Sarain.
The first sign that a war was in progress was the walls of bodies piled by the roadside. Alanna felt quite ill as she past them, but that may have been because of her morning sickness.
Somehow, Alanna knew which way to turn when they came to a fork in the path. She just hoped that she could trust these sudden urges to take a particular route.
As they set up camp once again, Alanna's nervousness grew. What if she was wrong? What if she had endangered the heir to the throne for nothing?
She must have been as jittery as she felt, for when Liam called her name, she jumped a few metres into the air.
"Hey, kitten, what's wrong?" he asked when she stepped off the tent she had been preparing, her face scarlet.
"Tonight's the night," she whispered. "What if I'm wrong?"
"You won't be, kitten. Sit down, I'll do that."
"I'm fine!" she cried. He backed off.
I'm going to check out our surroundings, announced Faithful. Liam looked up.
"Was that the cat?" he exclaimed, astounded. Alanna grinned.
"Yes, of course it was Faithful. I told you he chooses who hears him,"
"Whoa." he replied weakly. "Real magic."
He seemed a little unsteady. Alanna made her way toward him, her eyes full of concern.
"Of course, you don't like magic, do you?"
"Don't like? That's the understatement of the year!" he chuckled. "No, I'm afraid of it. Though you know that, so why are you asking me?"
Alanna smiled, sitting down to rest her aching legs. "Just pretend I don't know that for now, all right?"
She was now only six months away from the date when the heir would be born. But it's so heavy! she thought to herself, taking the weight off her legs. And hungry. I must be eating twice as much as I used to, which isn't much help when we're living off the land.
She shrugged the guilty feeling off. She had brought this on herself.
Liam looked at her and smiled. "I told you that you would need a rest," he whispered. "According to that fabulous book of yours, Faithful should come back soon with news of a party near. Then we'll meet the princess and her bodyguard."
"You've already met the princess," she reminded him. "Not of Sarain, but still a princess."
"Of course, your highness," he replied smoothly. "How could I forget?"
Coram began to cook the fish that Liam had managed to catch earlier. He kept the smoke to a minimum, but he deliberately let some go to entice the oncoming refugee party toward them.
Suddenly she felt a scratching at her leg. She looked down; Faithful was rubbing against her leg, his fur full of burs and thorns.
It's just like you said, he panted, jumping into her lap. He almost didn't fit. Two women, two teenaged girls, three young children and a baby. They look like they haven't rested or eaten for days!
"In the valley?" she asked him.
In the valley. But be careful, the second woman looks like she could get nasty. She's K'mir
"I know," she murmured. "Come on, Liam!"
The two men followed reluctantly, hastily polishing off their meals.
"Lead the way, Faithful," Alanna whispered.
'K, I'm REALLY SORRY that this took so looooong! I had writers block on my other story and I like to keep the chappies even on both stories so I had to wait before updating this! Thanks for understanding guys! You rock my world!
You may have noticed that this story has more than double the reviews of my HP one. However, I feel more, I dunno, into that one, like I'm more interested in how it's going to turn out. Don't worry, I'll finish this one, but I may not ever write another TP fic and updates may be slow. My advice is, get into Harry Potter and read my other fic! (Like that's ever going to happen. Am I the only one around here that actually likes TP and HP? Ah well.)
Toodles!
Pen
PS REVIEW!