"What took you so long?" asked Kel when Cami sat down, panting, at their table in the corner. "I was almost about to go up and find you."
"Memories," said Cami grimly. She quickly explained about what had happened in the tub. "And that," she finished, "is why I must warn the king. He needs to know this."
Alanna and Kel nodded, their faces as upset as Cami felt. "But what is this new weapon of his, I wonder." said Kel thoughtfully. Then she looked at Cami and added, "I don't suppose you know?"
"No, milady," answered Cami unhappily. "I would've told you right away if I had."
"I should have known that in the first place," said Kel. "And stop with this 'milady' stuff. It's giving me a headache."
"You're completely right Cami," added Alanna. "Jon should hear this."
"Jon?" asked Cami.
"The king. He was a good friend of mine during our schoolings for knighthood." explained Alanna. "I'll take you to the king, on one condition."
"What's that?"
"That you tell us how you really got here."
Cami sank back in her chair and put her head in her hands. I knew it would come to this, I just knew it, she thought as she sank back into her memories.
A whiskery chin brushed her face as her father kissed her good-bye. Her mother hugged her fiercely as she sobbed into her daughter's shoulder. "I wish you didn't have to go," she cried. "I want you to stay here forever and ever…"
"Marion, she has to go. You know it." Her father's gruff voice said as her said his last words to her. Those were some of the last one she heard him say. Maybe for forever. "Honey, you take care of yourself out there."
"Yes, Da," she answered as her own tears trickled down her face. "I'll never forget you. Or Ma." As she said those words, she saw tears spring to her father's eyes for the first time in years. It made her mother break out into fresh sobs.
It had been 4 weeks until her fourteenth birthday, before se became a woman, and her mother had burst into her room crying. She told her daughter to pack up clothes and other valuable items. She told her daughter that she had to go to Tortall to warn the king there of the war. King Maggur had decided on a new one, for he was furious at being defeated. Now he had a new more powerful weapon than the killing devices, and her mother shook her head when she asked what they were. She wouldn't tell her. She was to go disguised as soldier-raider, a small party of 20 or of young boys and men that would travel to the border of Tortall to make mischief for the 'enemies'. She stood in front of a mirror and took out a knife. She cut her long golden tresses like a boy, and got dressed in the raider clothes her Da had smuggled to her. Then she went out of her room after double-checking that she had everything to say her good-byes.
"Wait," her mother said. "I have something for you."
"Hurry up Marion. The soldiers won't wait." Da told her, and as she rushed out of the room, he pulled her close. "Here, Cami, I want you to have this." He pulled out his Raven Armory knife. It had been in the family for generations, and it was her father's most prized possession.
"Da, no-" She protested, but he closed her hands over the blade and quieted her.
"Keep it safe, Camillianna, keep it safe. And remember, whenever you draw that blade, think of your mother and I, and how much we love you." He said, and they held each other unti her mother came back, rocking back and forth, crying softly in each other's arms.
"Here, take these," Her mother pressed a few gold pieces and a golden brooch encrusted with jewels. "I love you Camillianna. I always will." They hugged fiercely. "And here's one more thing." She pushed a small tattered brown leather book in the girl's arms, and she stared at it.
"What's this?" she asked.
"When you need to know who you really are, read it." Her mother gave her one last hug and gave her a little push towards the door. "We love you."
Her last glance of her family was her parents standing in the doorway of their small cottage, clasped together, smiling for her sake, and crying for all of theirs.
When her memory let her go, Cami felt something wet run down her cheeks. She swiped her hand across her face; she was crying, and she couldn't stop. The memory of her parents was just too powerful. "I don't think I can talk about it just now," she whispered, and leaned against Kel's warm body next to her and kept crying softly.
"Don't worry, honey," said Alanna gently. At Kel's alarmed look, she added less kindly, "Unlike you, I have children."
"Well I have nieces and nephews!" Then she frowned, and added, "But I was never really around for their childhood. I was always either training to be a knight or being one."
While the two knights squabbled, Cami couldn't get rid of her father's voice. Here Cami, I want you to have this… She pulled out his knife now, and the 'Raven Armory' symbol glinted in the candlelight. Kel saw her look at it and she shouted, "Hey! That looks like mine!" She pushed Cami away and asked, "Are you a thief?"
"No, no, no," Cami sobbed harder.
"Hush Kel, she's only a child." Alanna told Kel sternly, sounding so much like Cami's mother that she just cried harder. Then she looked at Kel's wary glare and knew that she would have to explain her way out of this one.
She picked up a linen napkin and dried her eyes. Then she looked at Kel straight in the eye and said quietly, "It's mine." She proceeded to explain her memory, her mother's warning, her gifts, and the worst part-leaving.
Kel and Alanna were shocked; the girl had a horrible past. Alanna could understand a little, for she had lost a father, mother, and twin brother to the Black God of death, but she was over those tragedies, though it pained her only sometimes. Cami's memories were fresh, and they hurt terribly.
"I traveled with the soldiers, but I couldn't bathe with them so they thought I was some sort of prissy boy. I also smelled awful." Alanna nodded in understanding; when she was training for her shield, girls weren't allowed to be knights, and so to conceal her identity, she couldn't go swimming with the boys. They thought that she was prissy then too. Thank the Goddess they had private baths in their rooms, Alanna prayed. "I was with them for a while, and soon I turned fourteen." She accepted their congratulations with a nod and continued. "After a while, I was immune to my smell, and so were the others, so they started to talk to me, which made the journey a bit more enjoyable. Then we arrived at the River Vassa. We took a boat across and tied the rope to a nearby stump so everyone could get off. Well, me being small compared to all those men, I was pushed to the very back. When I was about to get off, the rope snapped, sending me careening downstream towards those deadly falls. The rest is history." finished Cami.
"What about your face? It was easy to tell that you were a girl; how did they not know?" asked Kel.
"Well, as you probably know, men are stupid sometimes." They all grinned. "Besides, my cap hid most of my face."
"What a hard life," remarked Alanna, "Well, at least you're in good hands now. We won't let anything bad happen to you."
"Thank you," said Cami quietly, looking down at her hands. "I don't know how I'll repay you."
"You don't have to," replied Alanna. "In fact, you already have, with your news for the king." Then she looked around for something to distract them from this emotional scene. "Oh look, here comes the food!"
"Yum!" said Cami enthusiastically. "I'm starving."
"Then dig in. We have a long ride to Mindelan the next few days." said Kel, but Cami was too busy eating; she hadn't had a proper meal in weeks.