A/N: There are barely any fics for The Two Princesses of Bamarre and I love that book so I'll write a few. Right now, I have and idea for two. This will be a one-shot about Rhys when he was in the sorcerers' citadel just before he finds Addie with her specter that took the shape of Rhys himself. Hope you enjoy it! Please R&R
Disclaimer: I do not own The Two Princesses of Bamarre. It belongs to Gail Carson Levine and I am not Gail Carson Levine.
Rhys sat on a bench in the corner of the sorcerers' citadel. The sorcerers were in the middle of a break and most of the other sorcerers were busy doing magic on the other side of the fortress. The break wasn't long enough to check on Addie. He couldn't stop thinking of her. Was she ok or was she being burned alive by a dragon?
"Are you thinking about that princess again?" another sorcerer asked. Rhys looked up, startled. He had not seen the boy come sit next to him.
"You are, aren't you?" the sorcerer asked again.
Rhys answered. "Of course. She could be getting attacked by gryphons this very moment." Rhys hadn't meant to tell this other sorcerer about Addie but he had to tell someone and he didn't really know any of the other sorcerers.
"You are going against what Orne teaches," the sorcerer said, frowning.
"What?" Rhys said giving him a quizzical look. What was the boy talking about?
"You are falling in love with a human."
"No, I worry about her because she is my friend. Besides, her sister is close to death and Addie is looking for the cure to the Grey-Death," Rhys reasoned.
"Oh. The Grey-Death again?" The boy looked sorrowful for a moment but then took back his emotionless face.
"Yes, the Grey-Death."
"I still say you are falling in love with her."
"I am the apprentice sorcerer for the King Lionel of Bamarre and I will stay loyal to him and his daughters." What did it matter to this boy anyway? Why doesn't he just go away?
"Just admit that you love the princess," the boy begged.
Rhys was staring down at his boots in silence. "Perhaps I do," he whispered at last, more to himself then to the boy.
The other sorcerer just nodded at sat silently for a moment and then said, "Well, I hope she finds the cure," and got up and left to the other side of the citadel. Rhys sat motionless. He knew the sorcerer wouldn't tell Orne what he just said, but if Orne ever did find out that Rhys was in love with Addie...that would mean a long lecture about the dangers of marriage.
What did Orne know about marriage anyway? What did he know...even about humans? They weren't much different than sorcerers in the long run. They have the same feelings and perhaps they learn faster than sorcerers and catch sicknesses, but sorcerers and humans were the same where it really mattered: their thoughts and feelings. Orne had never spent enough time with humans to get to know them on a personal level.
Rhys smiled to himself. Orne was his teacher but that didn't mean everything he said or did was right and Rhys had just proved him wrong, although he wasn't going to tell Orne what he thought.
He pulled his baton from his sleeve and looked up. No one was paying any attention to him so he pointed it to the clouds. So many clouds were zooming in from the sky directed by other sorcerers, that none of the others looked up from what they were doing to glance at Rhys...which was good.
A few taps on his baton, and Rhys had the cloud looking like Addie. She was smiling and blinking at him. He laughed at his own brilliant idea to amaze her. He brought down a few more clouds and tapped and waved his baton again.
"Ah," he cried quietly. Rhys had tried to make himself next but failed miserably. It barely looked like him at all. A few more waves and taps.
He nodded. It was better but something was still wrong. That would have to wait though, for Orne was calling the sorcerers back to the center of the room. Rhys wiped away the clouds and got up from the bench.
After about three more hours of chanting, singing, and learning sorcery, Rhys was free to go find Addie. He went straight to the Mulee forest, because that's where she gone first, to find a specter. He flew on above the treetops, but still low enough to see into the forest below. Rhys remembered that Addie could be wearing her cloak so he started to call out her name until he was of breath from yelling and flying. But wait...did he just hear something up ahead?
"Addie is that you? Are wearing your cloak?" Rhys called.
A/N: And you know what happens after that: Addie discovers she had been following a specter instead of Rhys, the real Rhys shows her his cloud 'show' after proving to her that he is truly Rhys and not a specter, etc. I admit, that was kind-of bad, partly for the reason that I do not have a book The Two Princesses of Bamarre of my own to look in for reference in writing this. So I'm sorry if I spelled some of the things wrong that you couldn't find in a dictionary. Anyway, please R&R and please don't flame but I will be more than happy to except constructive criticism. I thank all who review!