When Earth Arises

Disclaimer: All characters from Circle of Magic, The Circle Opens, The Immortals, The Lioness Quartet, etc. belong to Tamora Pierce. I do not own them. Or characters from Dragonballz, which belong to Mr. Toriyama...anyway

I AM SOOOOO SORRY!!*sniff* I have no excuse, other than procrastination : ( Will ya forgive me? hahha, anyway, I finally put up a new chappie

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" 'Niisan!" he exclaimed in fright. He had never seen his brother in so much pain. "What's wrong?!?" Trunks blasted the sticky rope from the boy and helped him up.

"It's the spidren's blood," the boy exclaimed. "It got on his arm. Spidren's blood can eat through flesh like nothing. You must get him to a healer!"

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Chapter Thirteen:

Dende was still strolling along the path in the realm of the gods. So far he had met a Stormwing, a badger god, a centaur, and the god of hunt. Now before him was a great expanse of desert. He was staring across it, when a rush of wind announce company. Turning, he saw Klashdi and another Stormwing behind him.

"You don't want to go in there," Klashdi grated. "It will kill you."

"What is on the other side?" Dende asked.

"Dragons." Dende's eyes lit up at this. "Really?! Is there any way across?" The two Stormwings looked at each other, and laughed. "Tell you what, little godling," Klashdi said. "Rayga and I will carry you across. Just sit in your cape, and give us the ends. Dende blinked, but complied. After a long time, the two Stormwings set the cape down and seemed to be staring nervously toward a big group of enormous rocks.

"This is as far as we go. Dragons and Stormwings don't mix," Rayga said. The two took off, leaving the Namek by himself. He shrugged, and began walking again. Suddenly, a large figure reared up into the sky before him, towering hundreds of feet into the air.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Piccolo stalked through the hallways of the palace, and into the courtyard. Once he entered the sunlight, he was met by bustling pages, teachers, horses, and servants as they rushed to prepare for some journey. Kel, seeing him eying everyone with distaste, moved to stand beside him for a moment.

"Hello."

"Hm."

Not discouraged by his single syllable answer, she smiled up at him. "We're going on a trip to help with our skills as pages," she informed him. "It's part of our training to become knights."

"Like you'll ever last," sneered the fair-headed Joren from before as he strode past them. Kel clenched her fists, but said nothing. Piccolo eyed her.

"Why do you let him speak to you in this way?" he inquired. She sighed. "I have to," she explained. "I must concentrate on becoming a squire, then a knight, and ignore his petty insults. I will not stoop to his level."

The Namek thought about this concept for a while, then spoke again. "Why do no other females participate in this?" he questioned. Kel looked at him in surprise.

"Well, most people don't think that girls can become knights. Alanna the Lioness is the only one, and people say she got there by magic, or spells. Most people are against me being a page."

Piccolo shook his head. He couldn't believe the humans strange ideas. "And I thought the humans where we live were primitive," he muttered to himself.

"So, you don't think there's anything wrong with a lady knight?" Kel questioned cautiously. He turned to look at her, then crossed his arms.

"I have found that often times a woman can do things far more competent than a man. Especially when someone says she can't do it. I don't know, but females seem to thrive on proving people wrong." {A/N: Heehee….sorry, boys!}

Kel began giggling. "You know," she said, still laughing, "I think you're right."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gohan struggled to his knees with the help of the two younger demi-Saiyans. "Can you fly?" Trunks questioned. Gohan nodded, although his face was lined with pain. Picking up the boy they had rescued, Trunks rose into the air, followed by the others. The boy clutched him in terrified surprise.

"Wha?!?!"

"Just hold on to me, and shut up," the little Saiyan prince ordered. Trembling, the boy obeyed, although his grip on the lavender haired chibi nearly strangled him. They sped back to the castle in Corus, keeping low to the tree line of the Royal Forest, as not to attract too much attention. They entered the palace through Piccolo's bedroom window. When Trunks released his hold on the boy, he stared at them, terrified.

"How did you do that?" he breathed. Trunks just looked at him disdainfully. Goten laughed awkwardly.

"Uh, what's your name, anyway?" he asked. "Jeslan." "Well, I'm Goten, this is my brother, Gohan, and that's my best friend, Trunks."

"Great, this is all nice and good," Gohan gasped as he leaned against the bed from his place on the floor, "but can someone puh-lease go get that Numair guy?"

"Uh, right," Trunks said, and disappeared out the door, leaving the other three alone.

Ok, now how am I gonna find that guy? he thought to himself. Suddenly, he saw the girl who was always with Numair, Daine, or whatever.

"Hey, woman!" he yelled. She turned around in surprise, then smiled slightly when she saw him. "Do you need something?" she asked him.

"Gohan's been hurt," he informed her. "We need that Numair guy, or somebody." Her eyes widened, and she turned.

"Come on," she said, running down the hall. She burst through a doorway, Trunks right behind her. "Duke Baird!" she said as the occupants of the room looked up. "Duke Baird, we need a healer, right now." An older looking man, looked up in surprise, then rose.

"Daine, what is it?" he asked in concern. "One of the visitors has been injured," she replied. She looked at Trunks questioningly.

"It was some weird giant spider thing," he said. "Gohan killed it, but then some black stuff got on his arm, and the boy said that he needed a healer."

"Spidren blood," the duke muttered. "Come, I'll go myself."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When they reached the room where Gohan, Goten, and Jeslan were waiting, the demi-Saiyan was silent, face drawn. He couldn't understand why this…blood caused so much pain. His Saiyan healing should have kick in by now, but all he could feel was the intense pain shooting up his arm, feel it literally eating away at his flesh. Goten sat next to his niisan, almost in tears, terrified at his brother's silent, pain ridden face. Jeslan sat next to him, the day's events seeming to kick in for the first time. For the first time, he realized that his father had died trying to save his life.

Duke Baird took one look at Gohan, then ordered him to follow him to the healing chambers. Gohan followed without comment, other than telling the two little ones to stay out of trouble, and to find Piccolo as soon as possible. He seemed to have traveled away from the palace some distance. The two nodded, and left Jeslan in Daine's care. They left by the window, and silently flew off in search of the Namek.

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