Chapter 5: Explinations
"He signed that treaty in his own blood. That's why, when he shot at me, his blood boiled. He attacked us, if only with one shot, and broke his blood oath. The gods punished him." Alanna had explained this with difficulty, as the memory was so grotesque.
"But so many other people signed it…" Daine argued faintly.
"Have you looked around the camp? They don't seem to have any leaders left alive," Alanna pointed out. Daine hadn't taken one look back at the traitor's area.
"What are we going to do about those bandits? We can't turn our tails and run now."
"We won't. Help is very close and we'll kick their sorry butts to the Dark God's Realm." A fury burned in Alanna's eyes that told Daine that her plans were etched in stone.
Half an hour later, Alanna could be heard yelling happily. "Kel! I was beginning to wonder where you were!" Daine guessed the other rider group had arrived and went to greet her young friend.
The group gathered around the group leader, Kel. The rest of her squad had gone to refresh their horses. "We rode so hard to reach you! I'm sorry that it took so long," Kel could be heard saying. Then a figure pushed through the crowd, making towards Kel; the shadow swept her off her feet and displayed his apparent affection with a kiss. The crowd cheered and whistled as Dom held Kel. Finally an extremely red-faced, laughing Kel re-appeared from behind her husband's head, and the couple walked back to the campfire, Dom's arm slung casually across Kel's shoulders. Daine thought about Numair and her heart ached.
"He'll be here in the morning. I didn't want to tell you and ruin the surprise, but you looked sad enough to make me cry." Alanna had come up to her that night after supper. Daine's face lit with hope.
"But how -" she was cut off by Alanna.
"He's a mage, remember?"
Daine grinned sheepishly. "Of course."
That night Daine couldn't sleep. Would he think she was foolish for what she had done? Did he still want her? Would he think that she was some attention-seeking child for doing what she had done? She yawned widely.
The next minute, it seemed, she was being shaken by Alanna to wake. "What?" She grumbled. Alanna ignored her dullness.
"So you want to greet the love of your life looking like that?" Daine was suddenly awake and standing. She rushed around her tent, looking for her washing things. She needed a bath, her hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled, she thought frantically.
Laughing, Alanna laid a hand on her arm. "Relax! He's not here yet. You still have time to wash and eat. But you might want to eat first to avoid getting an eyeful of naked male riders." Daine turned red and shook her head.
"I take it the men are bathing?"
"Yep. You have cheese and biscuits waiting for you."
The camp, she found, was deserted. She made it look like she was finishing her biscuits (she hadn't eaten much in the past few weeks; she just didn't find herself hungry.) when the majority of the men returned and Alanna came into view.
"How did you know Numair was going to be here?" Daine asked her friend as she sat beside her.
"I hadn't heard from him in a couple of nights, and I was worried. Usually he checks in every – oops. I wasn't supposed to say that." Daine had raised her eyebrows quizzically when Alanna had said something about Numair "checking in".
Alanna sighed. "Well, he wanted me to keep an eye on you. He was worried sick about you."
"He's so overprotective! I'm not a child anymore!" Daine was flustered now. Alanna patted Daine's hand comfortingly.
"He loves you." Daine nodded when Alanna pointed this out. "Well, anyways, he's been using his magic to get here quickly and didn't want to waste it with what he knows are useless checks. He knows you're pretty safe here." They sat in silence for a few minutes and listened to the men shuffle about their duties. Daine got up to bathe, but Alanna held her back.
"And I haven't told him about you, uh, leaving and all. I don't think he would like it any more than we did." The camp hadn't talked at all about Daine's being held hostage by the bandits. Not even Alanna had said that much.
"Alanna, I'm so sorry! I was stupid to go, I caused so much trouble, but I thought it would solve our problems. I thought I could escape-" Alanna yet again cut Daine off when she smothered her in a hug. All the tears that she had bottled up since her rescue had started to flow freely in uncontrollable streams. As Alanna hugged her, making soothing sounds, Daine knew her friend forgave her.
The chilly water of the Riders' bathing brook helped calm Daine's hysteric nerves. She submerged her blotchy face in the water, the rest of her body following, and scrubbed fiercely. She had to be clean for Numair (though she was beginning to wonder where he was) and it felt good to wash the bandit scum from her skin. After she was finally clean, she dressed in clean breeches and a clean shift.
For some weird reason, her recently calmed nerves started buzzing as she walked back to the camp. It was a small walk, but still enough distance to hide the brook from the camp's view. She heard a crackle of a breaking twig behind her and spun to see what waited.