A/N: Dum dum dum.Tayli meets Terian.but do they really meet?
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Tayli woke, belly still full from her late-night meal, and the rest of it packed away in her saddlebags. It was false dawn, because she always woke early. The knights had camped in a sort of bowl on top of a small hill, and she had camped on the other side of it, well out of sight.. Moonflight was tethered to a tiny tree nearby, still dozing, lips twitching as he dreamed a horse dream, probably about grass, to judge by the way he was chewing air. Tayli, still lying down, smiled quietly. Suddenly, she was seized by a wave of homesickness, for her beloved Masters, especially Master Menlan, a father to her in so many ways. What was he doing without her, his student and confidant? Did he miss her at all? She remembered their last conversation, and the way his eyes had been sad as she left. But homesickness was soon replaced by determination. She would do her masters proud, and then go back to them a proven warrior.
Sighing softly, she got out of the roll she had made of her cloak on the ground. She put it on, and then donned her hood and veil, just in case. Slowly creeping up the small hill, she saw that Sir Jonathan was on guard, sitting huddled by the meager remainder of the fire, and facing the other way. Silently, she moved back out of sight, and soon she heard the gentle clinking of cutlery and the quiet murmurs of eating. Chewing meditatively on a cold, tough piece of rabbit meat, Tayli kept her ears sharp on the conversation. Some of it, she noticed with a slight chill, was about the mystery of who had shot the prince's almost-assassin. Trying to put it out of her mind, she focused on the rest of the talk instead-they would reach Lubran in roughly 5 days. Lubran meant mountains, Tayli knew, and she felt an intense curiosity to see the things that she had heard, and read, so much about. She was startled out of imagining what mountains were like when she heard Terian's voice, loud and clear.
"I'm going to go walk around in that small patch of woodlands over there. I'll be back soon." Inching back up to the crest of the hill, Tayli saw the prince walk in the opposite direction to her, over the hill on the other side of his camp. A little distance away, there was one of the characteristic small patches of trees that were found all over the Bowl. Crawling back down, she hurriedly fetched her bow and a few arrows, absentmindedly leaving the remains of her breakfast and her water flask in the pockets of her cloak and, leaving a curious Moonflight behind, skirted the hill where the knights were and hurried after her prince. He was already in the trees and walking farther and farther into them, and as she reached the edge, she saw him a small distance away, still walking, but at a leisurely pace. Walking softly, Tayli followed, keeping behind trees and careful not to make any noise. Suddenly he stopped in front of her, staring at the ground as if transfixed. She crept up closer, and, seeing a tree that she could get into easily, reached and pulled herself up. The leaves rustled as she settled down, but she was out of sight before Terian turned to look around.
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Dismissing what he'd heard as the sound of a bird or squirrel, Terian turned back around and stared at the ground near his feet. Only a few inches away from his booted toes, a deep, dark chasm stretched like a rip in the earth. It was wide, much to wide for him to jump over, and went so far down that the rocks on the bottom were lost in an impenetrable, silent blackness. Exited and awed, Terian bent a little and hallooed down. He heard his voice repeated off the chasm walls, magnified and deeper than it really was. Pleased, he didn't notice until it was too late that the ground in front of his toes was crumbling and falling. Suddenly his stomach dropped as the earth under his feet became air and he fell down.
Somehow, Terian managed to twist around and grab the new edge of the chasm as dirt and rocks rained down around him and fell, with dim, eerie splashes to the bottom. Terrified, he willed his fingers to grip so he wouldn't fall, but he could feel the sweat gathering on them and knew that it wouldn't be long until he'd slip and drop. His throat was screwed tight, and, try as he could, he couldn't cry out for help. He was getting dizzy with the effort of holding himself up when he felt gloved hands gripping his wrist.
Looking up, he saw a figure, a dark shadow against the light of the sun. Crazy with relief, he felt it heave once, which got his torso safely up, and then it pulled as he scrabbled to get his legs up to. Drained, Terian crawled back a ways into the trees, and plopped down at the base of one, leaning back against it. For the first time, he got a good look at his rescuer, who was crouched, warily, he thought, a few yards away.
It was a man, wrapped in a heavy black cloak that covered his entire body, with a hood pulled up over his head and a veil so dark it did not even give a hint of his face. It seemed like an apparition, this silent, black- clothed man. Even the boots and gloves were black, he saw, and, without thinking further on it, took in the bow and black-fletched arrows on his back. Terian could not help being a little afraid of the man who had rescued him, seeing how untrustworthy he looked like this.
Naturally, he started when, after a few unbroken minutes of staring at each other, his companion reached into a deep pocket in his cloak and brought out something, which he held out to Terian. Curious, the prince looked closer. It was a flask, he saw. Tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth with thirst, he looked longingly at the thing that could refresh him and give him some of his senses back. But a voice in his mind warned him that it might be poisoned-after all, it said, who could trust a man who would not show his face to a prince? Another voice argued that hadn't this man just rescued that prince? But Terian decided to go with the safer, if less satisfying option, and shook his head, declining it. To his amazement, the man didn't insist, or try to prove that it wasn't poisoned by drinking from it himself, but merely shrugged and made to put the flask away again. This silenced the safe voice in Terian's mind and enhanced the thirsty one.
"Wait." The man stopped, looked at him for a moment, and then handed the flask back. With shaking fingers, Terian took it, uncorked it, and brought it to his lips. Pure, sweet water ran past his lips and into his parched throat. This could not be poisoned, he thought. It was too much like regular water, only better because he wanted it so much. He drank it all, and then handed the flask back to its owner, who, to his surprise, stood, turned, and walked away. Gaping after him, Terian didn't think to call him back, merely to let the strange person go, a head back to camp a little later, after he had collected sufficient wits to answer questions.
^^^^^^^^^^
Tayli strode back to Moonflight in a sort of haze. She had just saved Terian's life a second time, and she did not feel exited or that he owed her anything-she merely felt bewildered that he had asked her no questions. The only thing that had broken their silence was a single word, with which he had shown that he trusted her. That was all very well, but she could not help thinking that she would not have trusted someone dressed like she was. It was peculiar.
The prince, from closer by, was even more handsome than he had been in the firelight the night before. His hair was a dark, slightly curly brown, and he had startlingly intense green eyes. All the humor had left him, today, and had been replaced by terror and exhaustion. No, she reminded herself, she had not seen a coward, only someone who had never experienced anything like that before.
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A/N: So, what do you think? I want you guys to tell me who you think Tayli is going to hook up with-just to see what you all think!
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Tayli woke, belly still full from her late-night meal, and the rest of it packed away in her saddlebags. It was false dawn, because she always woke early. The knights had camped in a sort of bowl on top of a small hill, and she had camped on the other side of it, well out of sight.. Moonflight was tethered to a tiny tree nearby, still dozing, lips twitching as he dreamed a horse dream, probably about grass, to judge by the way he was chewing air. Tayli, still lying down, smiled quietly. Suddenly, she was seized by a wave of homesickness, for her beloved Masters, especially Master Menlan, a father to her in so many ways. What was he doing without her, his student and confidant? Did he miss her at all? She remembered their last conversation, and the way his eyes had been sad as she left. But homesickness was soon replaced by determination. She would do her masters proud, and then go back to them a proven warrior.
Sighing softly, she got out of the roll she had made of her cloak on the ground. She put it on, and then donned her hood and veil, just in case. Slowly creeping up the small hill, she saw that Sir Jonathan was on guard, sitting huddled by the meager remainder of the fire, and facing the other way. Silently, she moved back out of sight, and soon she heard the gentle clinking of cutlery and the quiet murmurs of eating. Chewing meditatively on a cold, tough piece of rabbit meat, Tayli kept her ears sharp on the conversation. Some of it, she noticed with a slight chill, was about the mystery of who had shot the prince's almost-assassin. Trying to put it out of her mind, she focused on the rest of the talk instead-they would reach Lubran in roughly 5 days. Lubran meant mountains, Tayli knew, and she felt an intense curiosity to see the things that she had heard, and read, so much about. She was startled out of imagining what mountains were like when she heard Terian's voice, loud and clear.
"I'm going to go walk around in that small patch of woodlands over there. I'll be back soon." Inching back up to the crest of the hill, Tayli saw the prince walk in the opposite direction to her, over the hill on the other side of his camp. A little distance away, there was one of the characteristic small patches of trees that were found all over the Bowl. Crawling back down, she hurriedly fetched her bow and a few arrows, absentmindedly leaving the remains of her breakfast and her water flask in the pockets of her cloak and, leaving a curious Moonflight behind, skirted the hill where the knights were and hurried after her prince. He was already in the trees and walking farther and farther into them, and as she reached the edge, she saw him a small distance away, still walking, but at a leisurely pace. Walking softly, Tayli followed, keeping behind trees and careful not to make any noise. Suddenly he stopped in front of her, staring at the ground as if transfixed. She crept up closer, and, seeing a tree that she could get into easily, reached and pulled herself up. The leaves rustled as she settled down, but she was out of sight before Terian turned to look around.
^^^^^^^^^
Dismissing what he'd heard as the sound of a bird or squirrel, Terian turned back around and stared at the ground near his feet. Only a few inches away from his booted toes, a deep, dark chasm stretched like a rip in the earth. It was wide, much to wide for him to jump over, and went so far down that the rocks on the bottom were lost in an impenetrable, silent blackness. Exited and awed, Terian bent a little and hallooed down. He heard his voice repeated off the chasm walls, magnified and deeper than it really was. Pleased, he didn't notice until it was too late that the ground in front of his toes was crumbling and falling. Suddenly his stomach dropped as the earth under his feet became air and he fell down.
Somehow, Terian managed to twist around and grab the new edge of the chasm as dirt and rocks rained down around him and fell, with dim, eerie splashes to the bottom. Terrified, he willed his fingers to grip so he wouldn't fall, but he could feel the sweat gathering on them and knew that it wouldn't be long until he'd slip and drop. His throat was screwed tight, and, try as he could, he couldn't cry out for help. He was getting dizzy with the effort of holding himself up when he felt gloved hands gripping his wrist.
Looking up, he saw a figure, a dark shadow against the light of the sun. Crazy with relief, he felt it heave once, which got his torso safely up, and then it pulled as he scrabbled to get his legs up to. Drained, Terian crawled back a ways into the trees, and plopped down at the base of one, leaning back against it. For the first time, he got a good look at his rescuer, who was crouched, warily, he thought, a few yards away.
It was a man, wrapped in a heavy black cloak that covered his entire body, with a hood pulled up over his head and a veil so dark it did not even give a hint of his face. It seemed like an apparition, this silent, black- clothed man. Even the boots and gloves were black, he saw, and, without thinking further on it, took in the bow and black-fletched arrows on his back. Terian could not help being a little afraid of the man who had rescued him, seeing how untrustworthy he looked like this.
Naturally, he started when, after a few unbroken minutes of staring at each other, his companion reached into a deep pocket in his cloak and brought out something, which he held out to Terian. Curious, the prince looked closer. It was a flask, he saw. Tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth with thirst, he looked longingly at the thing that could refresh him and give him some of his senses back. But a voice in his mind warned him that it might be poisoned-after all, it said, who could trust a man who would not show his face to a prince? Another voice argued that hadn't this man just rescued that prince? But Terian decided to go with the safer, if less satisfying option, and shook his head, declining it. To his amazement, the man didn't insist, or try to prove that it wasn't poisoned by drinking from it himself, but merely shrugged and made to put the flask away again. This silenced the safe voice in Terian's mind and enhanced the thirsty one.
"Wait." The man stopped, looked at him for a moment, and then handed the flask back. With shaking fingers, Terian took it, uncorked it, and brought it to his lips. Pure, sweet water ran past his lips and into his parched throat. This could not be poisoned, he thought. It was too much like regular water, only better because he wanted it so much. He drank it all, and then handed the flask back to its owner, who, to his surprise, stood, turned, and walked away. Gaping after him, Terian didn't think to call him back, merely to let the strange person go, a head back to camp a little later, after he had collected sufficient wits to answer questions.
^^^^^^^^^^
Tayli strode back to Moonflight in a sort of haze. She had just saved Terian's life a second time, and she did not feel exited or that he owed her anything-she merely felt bewildered that he had asked her no questions. The only thing that had broken their silence was a single word, with which he had shown that he trusted her. That was all very well, but she could not help thinking that she would not have trusted someone dressed like she was. It was peculiar.
The prince, from closer by, was even more handsome than he had been in the firelight the night before. His hair was a dark, slightly curly brown, and he had startlingly intense green eyes. All the humor had left him, today, and had been replaced by terror and exhaustion. No, she reminded herself, she had not seen a coward, only someone who had never experienced anything like that before.
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A/N: So, what do you think? I want you guys to tell me who you think Tayli is going to hook up with-just to see what you all think!