Chapter Thirty Two; A beginning...

This may explain Thom's reaction at the end of the last chapter…

Alanna bit her lip. Her face was completely ashen. In a rustle of cloth, she turned and fled before Thom had fully turned around.

"You have no sister?" Gary questioned, his agile mind suddenly adding up a lot of things about Alanna that had been puzzling him for some time.

"Not any more. She died when I was twelve."

Alanna fled to a balcony, she didn't care which one, as long as she was out of that hall. She leaned on the stone wall, breathing heavily. She was profoundly grateful that the terrace was empty. She braced her arms firmly against the parapet, leaning forwards dangerously far. The ground seemed to be spinning crazily beneath her.

To know that her brother had abandoned and betrayed her was one thing, but to hear his cold voice deny her existence altogether.... 'I have no sister' It crushed her. The breath inside her lungs burned. 'I have no sister' the words echoed around her head hollowly, 'I have no sister'.

A hand landed on the wall at the edge of her vision.

"Why did you do that Jon?" She asked, sinking down onto the seat, feeling the fight flow out of her, leaving a bone deep sorrow and weariness. "You know what happened."

He took a deep breath and, staring deep out into the gardens, spoke quietly.

"You don't."

"I don't what?" She asked, confused.

"Know the whole story."

"Really?" She said, her voice flat when it should have been full of emotion. Her words were sarcastic, while her tone carried no inflection what so ever. "I seem to remember being there."

"I talked to Thom in there." He continued.

"Look Jon, I don't care. I just don't care any more." It was true; she couldn't seem to summon the energy needed to care. It all seemed so, detracted, as if all this was taking place to someone else, and she was just a spectator. She stood to leave, only to find her way blocked.

"Alanna?" His face was wondering. If possible she paled even more than she already had.

"Yes Lord Thom. I am Alanna." Her voice was as cutting as the daggers she hid beneath her skirt. He flinched visibly as she pushed past him, heading from the glass doors behind him, leading back into the hall. As she began to pull open the doors, he cried out to her back.

"They told me you were dead!"

She froze in her tracks, then allowed the doors to close. Jon could see her face reflected in the glass. Her eyes were bright and fierce, but the ice in them was thawing. Her expression was tight and she worried at her bottom lip with her teeth. Slowly, as she breathed out, her eyes closed. When she opened them again, turning to face them, her expression was clear and blank.

"What?"

Thom looked at her imploringly,

"Father told me you were dead. He said that you and Coram were ambushed as you rode to Corus. Coram survived. You didn't."

"He said that?" Thom nodded mutely, and she explained, "He disinherited me and told me you said it was my idea and I forced you into it. You supported him in getting rid of me."

It looked like years of pain were wiped away from them both as Jonathon looked on. Thom's arrogant air began to fade as joy replaced it. Alanna still looked sceptical, but a smile was creeping on her face as she regarded her twin's expression changing. Jon left quietly, happy for his friend. She wasn't as alone as she had thought herself.

Outside on the balcony, the two stood a bit awkwardly, until they laughed at each other and embraced. They were still laughing as they clung to each other and neither noticed the wet drops rolling down their cheeks.

A man burst out of the hall.

"My lady!" Alanna broke from Thom's hold, although she kept a hold on his arm "They've begun Princess. The Eldorne lot are here."

She felt her brother start in surprise as he heard her title.

"I'll be there in a second Shem." She dismissed the man to throw himself back into the fight.

"I have to go Thom."

"So you're the girl who stole the books."

"How do you know about that?" She asked, surprised.

"Master Raquel called me here. I'm to fight the Conté Duke's Gate of Idramm."

"You're the youngest master?" Her eyes were wide.

"Yes." He gestured down at his master's robe.

"Well... congratulations."

"Thank you."  A scream came from the direction of the hall/

"We better get in there." Alanna said, moving towards the doors.

The twins approached the entrance together. Thom blasted the door from its hinges and they sprinted in, grinned at each other then ran their separate ways.

Alanna surveyed the battle ground from her position upon a trestle table which had held food. Now that food was scattered over the floor as people panicked.

Duke Roger's forces had been surprised by the resistance of those at the palace. She spotted Raoul and Gary in the thick of the fighting.

Alex and Jon were protecting the King and Queen by the thrones. Duke Gareth was by them as well, defending the steps with his sword flashing like lightning.

Thom had begun to chant over a group of men, held together by some sort of magic, Eleni's work she guessed, spotting the woman behind a pillar.

Frightened noble men and women fled through the main doors, up the stairs.

But where was Roger of Conté? He did not seem to have arrived yet.

Alanna jumped down from the table, drawing her sword, and a dagger. She fought her way brutally to Jon's side. She slid the dagger between a man of arms' ribs as he leered at her. The Prince and his companions were beset by a large number of the enemy. She stabbed another man and joined the protective circle. Duke Gareth and the King and Queen looked at her oddly. She simply saluted the Duke, knowing his reputation as the finest swordsman at court and his position, not only as Prime Minister, but also as King's Champion. She also bowed slightly to the monarchs and joined the fight. She fought several ways at once: keeping an eye out for Roger, kicking a sword away as she drew another dagger and running the man through with it.

She was able to sense her twin again, she didn't even try to hide or stop the grin that spread its way across her face. The old bond which had been ruthlessly ripped apart when the pair had been separated, was now mending fast.

She fought mechanically, not thinking about the men she was cutting down, and not thinking about the men whose blood stained the white rug beneath her feet.  When she became in control of her movements again, she found herself in the centre of a circle of opponents. She ducked most of the blow and stabbed and thrust with her

sword. With her other hand, she fumbled for a knife, the other having been knocked from her grasp, and received a slash across the shoulder for her pains. She didn't bother trying any fancy tricks, this wasn't practise or fencing. This was to the death. If she could wound an assailant, then she effectively put him out of the battle. One of the others could put him out of his misery later.

Her dagger collided with a man's ribs and locked there. The hilt was pulled out of her hand as he crumpled to the ground. With one hand free, she was able to kick far easier.

Up until now, the men had been surprised by a woman who could fight. But now they were overcoming their consternation and Alanna was beginning to have a harder time fighting them. She was becoming engaged in longer fights, with fewer opponents.

She was battling a man in Eldorne colours. He was wary and kept her at sword's length. Alanna growled deep in his throat. She didn't have time for this. But the man was a good fighter and every second she spent focusing on him, others could attack her unprotected back and sides. She leaned away from his stroke, then kicked up, her foot knocking his chin back and her sword went through his body. A net of purple fire caught a man who was in the act of jumping down upon her from a tabletop.

"Thanks Thom!" She called. Her twin nodded at her as she moved away, then he released the man to drop to the floor, his life choked out of him.

Thom then rejoined the conflict, looking around for his opponent; Duke Roger. As he scanned the room, his eye landed upon his sister. She had fought her way back to the circle protecting the King and Queen. He could see her arguing with Prince Jonathon, who seemed to be quite friendly with her when he saw them earlier. She was trying to push him back into the middle of the protective group, even as she duelled a man wearing the uniform of a manservant.

"Balern!" Alanna's eyes were as cold as ice. "We meet again."

"I don't know you wench." he spat.

"Really?" Before Balern's eyes her complexion flickered and transformed into that of the girl who had cleaned his master's room and stolen his books; dark skinned and black haired, then into the girl who had bumped into him and stolen his keys.

"You!"

Alanna crouched into a fighting stance.

"Yes. Me."

He launched himself at her, knocking her to the floor. She pulled herself out from underneath his body, her sword wedged irretrievably in his body. His blood had stained her palm and her skirt was ripped from the downward swing of his blade. She wiped her mouth with the clean back of her hand and kicked his body disdainfully.

A hand landed on her shoulder and Alanna spun, presenting her dagger to her attacker's throat.

"Jon!" She lowered the blade. "You could have been wearing this! I could have killed you."

"Sorry." He nodded to the manservant's body. "That'll teach him to knock around a defenceless girl."

"I'm not exactly..." An arrow flew past her shoulder, cutting her off mid sentence. Startled by the arrow, she turned, ready to repel an attack. A bowman stood twenty feet away, in the gallery. As he put another arrow to the string, Alanna leapt on top of Jon, and pushed him out of harm's way. The arrow shattered on the steps where they had been standing. Alanna rolled to her feet at once, turning to see if the Prince was all right, and was shocked to see an arrow standing out from his side.

Another cliffhanger hee hee hee!!

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HuntressDiana