The History of Tortall
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters or any known history facts or dialogue mentioned in the story. All others are strictly mine.
Note: I know I promised only one chapter before I skip over the Daine books, but it got away from me and became very long. This chapter, I promise, will be the last before I skip over the Daine stories. Also, Arnold means power and eagle.
449 H.E. Poison and escape
Cautiously, Numair checked the room for any hidden spells. Finding none, he placed one of his own. It was a warding spell to thwart any unwanted spying spells that could be placed during his stay. This spell would not be apparent to any mages other than the one who created it, thereby not arousing any suspicions. He then got into bed and was soon asleep.
For two weeks, Numair was able to collect information about the Lord and Lady of Dunlath. He also found out a lot about Tristan and Lord Aaron's parts in the whole Immortals deal. He only needed to collect a bit more before he could compile it into a report for King Jonathan. That was what he was doing now; trying to find out more.
What he didn't know was that he was being watched. For the last two days, he had been followed everywhere. Whoever, or whatever, was following him decided that he had found out enough and flew off to tell Lord Aaron.
Lord Aaron was furious. But then, Numair knew that. He could see everything Lord Aaron was doing. He was talking with a stormwing; about what, Numair couldn't guess. Aaron was too far away to be heard or have his lips read. Numair flew closer to find out more. What he then heard was a good piece of news that would significantly help King Jonathan.
"This Lord Bertram is a threat to us. However, we must never let him know that. I need to go away if he knows too much. Wait. Better yet, I can change my appearance to hide myself. I can change my name, too," Lord Aaron was saying.
The stormwing nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a perfect plan. I am sure it will work."
"But what shall my name be?" asked Aaron. He thought for a moment. "Aha. I know. I shall call myself Lord Sinthya." He turned and ran towards the Dunlath castle.
That evening, Tristan made the announcement that Lord Aaron had to leave on official business. The next night at dinner, Tristan introduced a man called Lord Sinthya. No one knew who this was. No one, that is, except Numair. It was time to take his leave as well. The next morning, he announced that he must leave, but made a promise to soon return to tell of news about his wife.
That day, he packed up what he had brought and left Dunlath. Later that night, he changed his appearance once again. This time, he had brown hair and blue eyes and was a bit taller. He still wanted to be wealthy so he could be allowed to stay in Dunlath. This time, he gave himself the name Sir Arnold. Spots, his horse, became a giant brown steed that pranced nervously as they rode back through the gates into Dunlath.
This time, the boy was not around, so he showed himself into the stable and went to seek out an open inn for the night. He found one, and after a hot meal decided to go to sleep. There he stayed until the next morning when he was woken by the sound of a rooster. Drat those birds. Why do people even need to have them?
Now it was time to go visit the castle. But first, he sent word to Jonathan through the fire that Lord Aaron was now Lord Sinthya. Jonathan told him to be careful but find out more about what he was doing.
He was given, surprisingly, the same room in the castle that he had before. There, he unpacked and placed the same anti-spy spell. Despite that, Numair was still being watched. He had his window open and there was a stormwing sitting on a branch with a man-made invisibility spell. As soon as the stormwing saw what Numair was doing, he flew off to tell Lord Sinthya.
This time, Lord Sinthya decided to take more drastic measures. He ordered his mages to make or find an undetectable poison that he could use. The mages took the job and promised they would have it ready by dinner.
At dinnertime, after graciously accepting Lord Belden's offer to dine with him without hesitation, "Sir Arnold" showed up promptly. Lord Sinthya sat beside him at the table. On the other side of "Sir Arnold" sat Tristan Staghorn. After they were served, Tristan started up a rather entertaining conversation with "Sir Arnold" about Lord Bertram, a man who had just left yesterday who was on the run from his wife.
While the conversation was going on, Lord Sinthya was smiling. His time had come. Carefully, without letting anyone see, he pulled a small vial out of his jacket and tipped the contents into "Sir Arnold's" cup. Then, he nodded to Tristan. Immediately, Tristan broke off his conversation with "Sir Arnold" and turned to eat his meal with the brief explanation that he was hungry.
"Sir Arnold" shrugged and turned to his own meal. As he finished the last sip of his drink, he began to feel nauseated. Quickly, he excused himself and went to his rooms. Once there, he performed a simple spell to detect if there was any poison in him. Finding none, he crawled into bed, now sweating furiously, and tried to fall asleep.
Almost at once, though, a thought came to him. It had been a set up! Tristan distracted him. Lord Sinthya had made an undetectable poison and had tipped it into his drink. That was why he was feeling ill. That was why Lord Sinthya seemed to be smiling as he had left the dining room. He had to get out, and fast. There was no time to pack, but there was nothing here he didn't need.
Numair stumbled to the window just as someone began to pound on his door. He needed to fly away. He struggled a few times with the shape- changing spell, but then managed to turn himself into his favorite shape: a giant black hawk. He half flew, half fell into the tree just outside his window as the door to his room burst open.
There was a shout, "Go find him!" and from somewhere outside there was a screech. Stormwings were searching for him. Silently, he flew to a thick part of the surrounding woods and hid himself there. Hopefully, they wouldn't be able to find him. There, he fell into a troublesome sleep as stormwings screeched overhead.
The next day, still feeling quite ill, he woke and took to the air after checking to see if it was safe. He flew for an hour or more before he was spotted by a passing stormwing. She shrieked and dived after him. He looked around. There. Just a few feet in front of him was a marsh. If he could lose himself in there, there was a good chance they would call off the search. As he was flying into the marsh, something caught his eye. It was a woman. A woman and a young girl. They had ponies with them. He could only guess who the woman was. He crashed into the bushes in the middle of the marsh. He noticed the girl turn and look.
At once there was a shout and the sound of screaming. Half delirious, he cautiously waddled over to the edge of his hideout to watch. There was a fight going on. The stormwings were dropping as arrows, and birds' beaks and claws, hit them. The female leader shouted something to the girl and turned to fly away. Then, Numair waddled back into the thick of the bushes, but not before he noticed something odd. The birds who he had seen fight and lose suddenly arose and flew away. He shook his head, but winced when his head throbbed again. He was sure that many of those birds had been either dead or dying just minutes before. He tried to fly away, too, but something held him back. His wing was outspread and trailing on the ground. It was broken. If he didn't get out now, he was going to die there. He tried to move, but he was too weak from his attempt at flying. So, he just sat there.
Some time later, he heard a noise. He couldn't clearly tell what it was, but it sounded like footsteps. At once, a hand thrust itself into his bush. Looking out to see that it was the girl, he waddled onto her hand. She carefully pulled him out and put him on top of his bush. She looked at him. At once, his headache got worse and never let up. His sight went fuzzy and he swayed just a tiny bit.
The girl spoke, "I'm from Onua- Onua Chamtong of the K'miri Raadeh. You recognize the name?" Her voice was nice to hear. It was young and soothing. If only he could look at her without going all dizzy. "I have to splint that wing. It's broken."
As she cut bandages from her petticoat, he tried to get a glimpse of her. She didn't seem that bad. Besides, if he had heard correctly, she was a friend of Onua's. He settled himself in the bush and braced himself for the pain that was to come.
"It'll hurt," the girl warned, putting away her knife. "Try not to peck me, or we'll never get you fixed." She carefully lifted the wing just a bit. Numair cried out from that one brief movement, but then set his beak tightly to endure the rest in silence. He trembled slightly, both from the pain and the exhaustion. "You're a fine, brave lad," the girl crooned. "Your ma'd be fair proud of you- wherever she is. Whatever she is." She had finished bandaging his arm. "I've got to carry you. Try to keep still." She gently picked him up. He still trembled, but held back any instinct to cry out or bite her. "You're the oddest bird I've met in my life. Heavy, too."
He watched the path ahead of them as she walked back to her camp. The woman, Onua, saw them. The girl told Onua about his wing. "Horse Lords be praised, you found him!" She suggested moving the packs so he could ride on the horse and not once did he cry out from any sudden burst of pain, of which he seemed to be having a lot of. It wasn't all from their handling him. Some of it came from his throbbing, dizzying headache. His vision continuously came and went.
That night, the girl tried to feed him. He was feeling quite sick and his head didn't trust anything the girl put in front of him. He felt bad for the girl, but he just couldn't recognize anything she tried to give him.
For four days he was like that. His headache never went away and he was constantly trembling. His wing never healed even the slightest bit. That fourth night, he heard Onua say she would call for help.
On the fifth day, some time just after noon, he heard a sound. It must be the help, he thought, although, his head was still pounding and he could sometimes hear the blood vessels throbbing in his head. This sounded much like the sound he heard now. Then, his idea was confirmed. It was the help because the next thing he heard was voices and the sounds of a camp being made.
All of a sudden, a woman with red wavy hair picked him up. He nestled his head into her chest and she carried him into a tent. She set him down on the cot that was there. Onua came in, too. The red-haired woman, he remembered her name was Alanna, raised one hand and clutched a gem on a necklace with her other. She chanted something and the gem burst into a very bright red light. This made Numair very weak and slightly disoriented. "Great merciful Goddess!" Alanna cried. Numair guessed that her spell didn't work. Either that or she had found something out that could possibly be useful. He decided it was the latter as she said, "Of all the gods-cursed, simpleminded-"
With that, she got up and stormed outside, yelling for the girl to come. When she came, Alanna explained what she wanted. The girl protested a bit but then sat down to do as she was told. None of it Numair understood, for he was very weak now and seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Suddenly, he heard someone call to him. They were using an odd name; Numair they were calling him. Then, that stopped. He was being called by his own name, Arram. He couldn't resist the voice. He began to walk towards where he thought it was coming from.
At once, his memory returned and he felt himself changing. His headache had lessened quite a bit and there he sat, completely naked. How he got that way, he didn't know, but thankfully, just as the girl turned around to look, Onua pulled a sheet over him. The girl looked concerned. She scolded him before she truly looked at him, "Now look at this! His wing won't get any better that way."
He smiled at this. Then, he found his sense of humor and said, rather drowsily, "Can I have something to eat?"
The girl looked rather hurt that he was no longer the hawk she had been caring for. "Where did he come from?" she asked.
Alanna then bent over him to check his condition. Onua turned the girl towards the flap of the tent and said, "Explanations later. There's a lot to be done for him still."
"Onua, where's my hawk? Where'd that man come from?" Numair could see that the girl's knees shook as she spoke. She looked about ready to cry.
Onua silenced her then replied, "Hush. No more questions. I'll explain everything- later." She ushered the girl from the tent then turned back to Numair. Just as a wave of sleepiness swept over him, he thought he heard her mumble something about "later." Then, he fell into a deep sleep.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters or any known history facts or dialogue mentioned in the story. All others are strictly mine.
Note: I know I promised only one chapter before I skip over the Daine books, but it got away from me and became very long. This chapter, I promise, will be the last before I skip over the Daine stories. Also, Arnold means power and eagle.
449 H.E. Poison and escape
Cautiously, Numair checked the room for any hidden spells. Finding none, he placed one of his own. It was a warding spell to thwart any unwanted spying spells that could be placed during his stay. This spell would not be apparent to any mages other than the one who created it, thereby not arousing any suspicions. He then got into bed and was soon asleep.
For two weeks, Numair was able to collect information about the Lord and Lady of Dunlath. He also found out a lot about Tristan and Lord Aaron's parts in the whole Immortals deal. He only needed to collect a bit more before he could compile it into a report for King Jonathan. That was what he was doing now; trying to find out more.
What he didn't know was that he was being watched. For the last two days, he had been followed everywhere. Whoever, or whatever, was following him decided that he had found out enough and flew off to tell Lord Aaron.
Lord Aaron was furious. But then, Numair knew that. He could see everything Lord Aaron was doing. He was talking with a stormwing; about what, Numair couldn't guess. Aaron was too far away to be heard or have his lips read. Numair flew closer to find out more. What he then heard was a good piece of news that would significantly help King Jonathan.
"This Lord Bertram is a threat to us. However, we must never let him know that. I need to go away if he knows too much. Wait. Better yet, I can change my appearance to hide myself. I can change my name, too," Lord Aaron was saying.
The stormwing nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a perfect plan. I am sure it will work."
"But what shall my name be?" asked Aaron. He thought for a moment. "Aha. I know. I shall call myself Lord Sinthya." He turned and ran towards the Dunlath castle.
That evening, Tristan made the announcement that Lord Aaron had to leave on official business. The next night at dinner, Tristan introduced a man called Lord Sinthya. No one knew who this was. No one, that is, except Numair. It was time to take his leave as well. The next morning, he announced that he must leave, but made a promise to soon return to tell of news about his wife.
That day, he packed up what he had brought and left Dunlath. Later that night, he changed his appearance once again. This time, he had brown hair and blue eyes and was a bit taller. He still wanted to be wealthy so he could be allowed to stay in Dunlath. This time, he gave himself the name Sir Arnold. Spots, his horse, became a giant brown steed that pranced nervously as they rode back through the gates into Dunlath.
This time, the boy was not around, so he showed himself into the stable and went to seek out an open inn for the night. He found one, and after a hot meal decided to go to sleep. There he stayed until the next morning when he was woken by the sound of a rooster. Drat those birds. Why do people even need to have them?
Now it was time to go visit the castle. But first, he sent word to Jonathan through the fire that Lord Aaron was now Lord Sinthya. Jonathan told him to be careful but find out more about what he was doing.
He was given, surprisingly, the same room in the castle that he had before. There, he unpacked and placed the same anti-spy spell. Despite that, Numair was still being watched. He had his window open and there was a stormwing sitting on a branch with a man-made invisibility spell. As soon as the stormwing saw what Numair was doing, he flew off to tell Lord Sinthya.
This time, Lord Sinthya decided to take more drastic measures. He ordered his mages to make or find an undetectable poison that he could use. The mages took the job and promised they would have it ready by dinner.
At dinnertime, after graciously accepting Lord Belden's offer to dine with him without hesitation, "Sir Arnold" showed up promptly. Lord Sinthya sat beside him at the table. On the other side of "Sir Arnold" sat Tristan Staghorn. After they were served, Tristan started up a rather entertaining conversation with "Sir Arnold" about Lord Bertram, a man who had just left yesterday who was on the run from his wife.
While the conversation was going on, Lord Sinthya was smiling. His time had come. Carefully, without letting anyone see, he pulled a small vial out of his jacket and tipped the contents into "Sir Arnold's" cup. Then, he nodded to Tristan. Immediately, Tristan broke off his conversation with "Sir Arnold" and turned to eat his meal with the brief explanation that he was hungry.
"Sir Arnold" shrugged and turned to his own meal. As he finished the last sip of his drink, he began to feel nauseated. Quickly, he excused himself and went to his rooms. Once there, he performed a simple spell to detect if there was any poison in him. Finding none, he crawled into bed, now sweating furiously, and tried to fall asleep.
Almost at once, though, a thought came to him. It had been a set up! Tristan distracted him. Lord Sinthya had made an undetectable poison and had tipped it into his drink. That was why he was feeling ill. That was why Lord Sinthya seemed to be smiling as he had left the dining room. He had to get out, and fast. There was no time to pack, but there was nothing here he didn't need.
Numair stumbled to the window just as someone began to pound on his door. He needed to fly away. He struggled a few times with the shape- changing spell, but then managed to turn himself into his favorite shape: a giant black hawk. He half flew, half fell into the tree just outside his window as the door to his room burst open.
There was a shout, "Go find him!" and from somewhere outside there was a screech. Stormwings were searching for him. Silently, he flew to a thick part of the surrounding woods and hid himself there. Hopefully, they wouldn't be able to find him. There, he fell into a troublesome sleep as stormwings screeched overhead.
The next day, still feeling quite ill, he woke and took to the air after checking to see if it was safe. He flew for an hour or more before he was spotted by a passing stormwing. She shrieked and dived after him. He looked around. There. Just a few feet in front of him was a marsh. If he could lose himself in there, there was a good chance they would call off the search. As he was flying into the marsh, something caught his eye. It was a woman. A woman and a young girl. They had ponies with them. He could only guess who the woman was. He crashed into the bushes in the middle of the marsh. He noticed the girl turn and look.
At once there was a shout and the sound of screaming. Half delirious, he cautiously waddled over to the edge of his hideout to watch. There was a fight going on. The stormwings were dropping as arrows, and birds' beaks and claws, hit them. The female leader shouted something to the girl and turned to fly away. Then, Numair waddled back into the thick of the bushes, but not before he noticed something odd. The birds who he had seen fight and lose suddenly arose and flew away. He shook his head, but winced when his head throbbed again. He was sure that many of those birds had been either dead or dying just minutes before. He tried to fly away, too, but something held him back. His wing was outspread and trailing on the ground. It was broken. If he didn't get out now, he was going to die there. He tried to move, but he was too weak from his attempt at flying. So, he just sat there.
Some time later, he heard a noise. He couldn't clearly tell what it was, but it sounded like footsteps. At once, a hand thrust itself into his bush. Looking out to see that it was the girl, he waddled onto her hand. She carefully pulled him out and put him on top of his bush. She looked at him. At once, his headache got worse and never let up. His sight went fuzzy and he swayed just a tiny bit.
The girl spoke, "I'm from Onua- Onua Chamtong of the K'miri Raadeh. You recognize the name?" Her voice was nice to hear. It was young and soothing. If only he could look at her without going all dizzy. "I have to splint that wing. It's broken."
As she cut bandages from her petticoat, he tried to get a glimpse of her. She didn't seem that bad. Besides, if he had heard correctly, she was a friend of Onua's. He settled himself in the bush and braced himself for the pain that was to come.
"It'll hurt," the girl warned, putting away her knife. "Try not to peck me, or we'll never get you fixed." She carefully lifted the wing just a bit. Numair cried out from that one brief movement, but then set his beak tightly to endure the rest in silence. He trembled slightly, both from the pain and the exhaustion. "You're a fine, brave lad," the girl crooned. "Your ma'd be fair proud of you- wherever she is. Whatever she is." She had finished bandaging his arm. "I've got to carry you. Try to keep still." She gently picked him up. He still trembled, but held back any instinct to cry out or bite her. "You're the oddest bird I've met in my life. Heavy, too."
He watched the path ahead of them as she walked back to her camp. The woman, Onua, saw them. The girl told Onua about his wing. "Horse Lords be praised, you found him!" She suggested moving the packs so he could ride on the horse and not once did he cry out from any sudden burst of pain, of which he seemed to be having a lot of. It wasn't all from their handling him. Some of it came from his throbbing, dizzying headache. His vision continuously came and went.
That night, the girl tried to feed him. He was feeling quite sick and his head didn't trust anything the girl put in front of him. He felt bad for the girl, but he just couldn't recognize anything she tried to give him.
For four days he was like that. His headache never went away and he was constantly trembling. His wing never healed even the slightest bit. That fourth night, he heard Onua say she would call for help.
On the fifth day, some time just after noon, he heard a sound. It must be the help, he thought, although, his head was still pounding and he could sometimes hear the blood vessels throbbing in his head. This sounded much like the sound he heard now. Then, his idea was confirmed. It was the help because the next thing he heard was voices and the sounds of a camp being made.
All of a sudden, a woman with red wavy hair picked him up. He nestled his head into her chest and she carried him into a tent. She set him down on the cot that was there. Onua came in, too. The red-haired woman, he remembered her name was Alanna, raised one hand and clutched a gem on a necklace with her other. She chanted something and the gem burst into a very bright red light. This made Numair very weak and slightly disoriented. "Great merciful Goddess!" Alanna cried. Numair guessed that her spell didn't work. Either that or she had found something out that could possibly be useful. He decided it was the latter as she said, "Of all the gods-cursed, simpleminded-"
With that, she got up and stormed outside, yelling for the girl to come. When she came, Alanna explained what she wanted. The girl protested a bit but then sat down to do as she was told. None of it Numair understood, for he was very weak now and seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Suddenly, he heard someone call to him. They were using an odd name; Numair they were calling him. Then, that stopped. He was being called by his own name, Arram. He couldn't resist the voice. He began to walk towards where he thought it was coming from.
At once, his memory returned and he felt himself changing. His headache had lessened quite a bit and there he sat, completely naked. How he got that way, he didn't know, but thankfully, just as the girl turned around to look, Onua pulled a sheet over him. The girl looked concerned. She scolded him before she truly looked at him, "Now look at this! His wing won't get any better that way."
He smiled at this. Then, he found his sense of humor and said, rather drowsily, "Can I have something to eat?"
The girl looked rather hurt that he was no longer the hawk she had been caring for. "Where did he come from?" she asked.
Alanna then bent over him to check his condition. Onua turned the girl towards the flap of the tent and said, "Explanations later. There's a lot to be done for him still."
"Onua, where's my hawk? Where'd that man come from?" Numair could see that the girl's knees shook as she spoke. She looked about ready to cry.
Onua silenced her then replied, "Hush. No more questions. I'll explain everything- later." She ushered the girl from the tent then turned back to Numair. Just as a wave of sleepiness swept over him, he thought he heard her mumble something about "later." Then, he fell into a deep sleep.