Chapter 4: Breaking of Promises
That Night…
Daine waited until she knew Alanna was asleep to sneak out of the tent. She hadn't slept all night, preparing for what was ahead of her. Slipping through the tent flap, she changed her body to hawk form.
You're stupid for doing this, Cloud called to the soaring Daine.
Cloud, it's either this or death in my name.
I will wake the humans and make them stop you, Cloud said threateningly.
And I will sell you to the dumpling man down the way, Daine warned.
Cloud stopped making any noise. Once Daine saw that there were no riders out, she changed human again and led the horses across the newly
repaired land and into the bandit camp.
Day Three
Dawn now approached the horizon, turning the sky pink. Daine sighed unhappily, every inch of her beaten body aching. Her friends would soon be waking in order to negotiate with the bandits, and she was stuck, tied to a pole. She felt the heavy metal ring around her neck. It had burned as she tried to reach her animal friends, to get them to warn Alanna of the planned attack. Now that the bandits had Daine, they made her call off her animal attacks. Even though they stopped, the bandits looked terrible; they hadn't had very much food in the past three days, they were all paired with dark eye circles, revealing to anyone with eyes that they hadn't slept very much, if any. Daine was furious that they were going to attack even though they had what they wanted. Daine remembered how she had thought that she could escape and shuddered. This is how it went:
Diane knelt at the feet of Mikal.
"You tell me how much I can get out of them!" He bellowed at her. When Daine didn't respond after he asked the second time, he kicked her savagely. Biting back a scream of agony, she stayed rolled in a ball on the ground.
"Tell me where their weapons are, and we won't be forced hurt your pretty animals," he growled. She looked at him with pure hatred and called out to any nearby animals. The abused pets had run away days ago, and the wild animals obeyed and fled the area.
"Good Luck," she said. "You won't find any."
He sent a hunter to search for them, as if to try and prove this stubborn girl wrong. While they waited for the hunter to return, Mikal continued to pry about the location of things, but received no answers. To make up for the girl's silence, he beat her with his arms, legs, and whatever object he could reach in his infuriated rage. Daine took it all and tried not to show any feelings. It would only satisfy this psycho.
"Excuse me, sir. All animals within at least a mile's radius have vanished. It's all very peculiar –" The hunter, who had returned, was cut of by Mikal's long fingers closing around his throat.
"Leave," Mikal said with such venom that Daine found herself terrified. With that Mikal threw the skinny hunter through the tent flap. He then turned to the smirking Daine.
"Maybe this will change your mind." He clamped a heavy metal ring around Daine's neck, calling for someone. Daine recognized the yellow-robed mage who had fixed Alanna's crevice. The man spoke a few inaudible words, and the collar burned. Daine screamed, wishing for it to stop.
Now Daine could hear noises coming from her previous camp. Her captors had put her within sight of her friends, as an example. She could hear Alanna yell:
"She's GONE!" Then Daine was forced to watch, with tears in her eyes, her friend's eyes searching for her and find what they wanted. Many people, Alanna among them, started to run towards the bandit camp, but stopped when there came a bellowing on the wind. Daine felt a cool, sharp object pressed against her throat.
"Take one more step, Tortallans, and your precious Wildmage goes bye-bye." They stopped. Tears found themselves rolling down Daine's face now.
"I'm sorry, so sorry!" She whispered, even though she knew they couldn't hear her.
"Retreat now, go about your business as normal, and you might want to prepare yourselves for the worst beating in your pitiful lives. We attack at tomorrow's dawn. You deserve a fair warning, right? I think we can afford to give you a head start." All of a sudden, the knife Mikal had been holding flew from his hand to land at Alanna's feet. Daine felt tingly all over, and saw a purple wall surround her. Thanking the gods for Alanna, she thought. Mikal tried to reach her, but yelped and pulled his arm away screaming.
Alanna started forward, but Mikal was quicker. He took a bow and shot, although missing Alanna by yards. Just then, Mikal began to scream, and Daine heard other yells around the camp.
Mikal fell to the ground, his face covered in boils. Daine watched in horror the scene before her.