Pretty crap...I kind of let this sub-plot grow too much...oh well, I just wanted to upload it as soon possible as not to keep my kind reviewers waiting :)
The valley they traversed through eventually melted into wide, flat plains. The village that squatted in their midst could be seen for miles, and it was this place that the group headed for. To the east, a startling contrast against the overwhelming ash-grey of the land, was a small area of green forest that had escaped the Stormwing's burning.
"The Stone tree Nation's home." Daine said quietly to herself. She had never visited it before; the last time she'd seen her Stormwing friends had been on the battlefield of the Immortals war.
"What if our alliance has rusted too much?" The wildmage confided in Cloud.
Those Stormwings will be forever grateful for what you did for them, even if they still stink, the pony replied. Her rider nodded and peered ahead.
Before long the group reached the village. The first of the villagers to notice their arrival were the guards (most probably retired farmers), adorned in old, ill fitting armour, posted at the gate towers. Shortly before the Immortals war, a high palisade had been built around the village for protection. It remained to this day, unwelcoming and brooding.
The guards cried an order as the group reached the bolted gates, and the barricades were swung open to admit them into the village.
Before passing beneath the watch towers, Alanna fell back to Numair and Daine, exchanging brief words with them. Declining the offer of a scout or two to join them, the couple nodded and turned away from the gates. They spurred their mounts on and rode for the east, to the Stone tree Nation's home.
"Was it unwise for us to refuse reinforcement?" Numair shouted over the clattering of hooves on ash and dust.
"The Stone Trees prefer us over any other humans." Daine replied.
The distance between the village and the forest was short and, sensing a dirty humming in her mind, the wildmage peered into the trees to see a glint of sunlight as it bounced off steel feather.
"Slow down." Daine murmured to Numair. "They have sentries." The mage nodded, and watched as his wife dismounted. Opening her arms to show that she was unarmed, she paced forward to beneath the canopy of lustrous green.
"It's Veralidaine Sarrasri, your ally. I mean no harm." The branches above rustled, and a familiar stench reached her nostrils. As she fought to ignore it, a male Stormwing descended cautiously to the ground before her. She recognised him almost immediately.
"Hebakh. It's been a long time."
"You too." He said in a bland tone that betrayed neither resentment nor fondness.
"The Stormwing mage is dead. Numair killed him." Hebakh sighed.
"He used to be a good friend…but I suppose he had to die."
"'I suppose he had to die'?" Numair too had dismounted, striding up to Daine's side. "He nearly killed Daine and the baby."
Hebakh looked at the wildmage sharply. "You're with child?"
Daine blushed. "Yes."
The Stormwing muttered something that might have been a congratulations.
"Hebakh? The others told me-" A familiar voice called, and stopped. Queen Barzha of the Stone Tree nation alighted beside her consort, smiling; an unnerving sight to a human.
"Daine…I wondered how long it would take for our mage to make you come." She said calmly, steel feathers slitting and clicking back into place.
Numair looked impatient to push aside the welcoming niceties and to do what they were sent to do. He did not bother to tell the Stormwing queen of Daine's condition; Hebakh could do that later.
"It's good to see you and your consort again, Queen Barzha, but there are pressing issues at hand." The queen stared at him expectantly. "We have killed the Stormwing mage, but the matter of friction between your nation and the neighbouring village has yet to be resolved."
"He's dead? Good. One less reason for the villagers to persecute us…"
"We're going to try and smooth this feud out, Barzha. I won't let more blood be spilt." Daine said quickly, her face determined. She beckoned Numair back to their mounts.
"You'll follow us to the village?" The mage asked. The two Stormwings glanced between themselves.
"You won't be hurt." He added. Barzha nodded to her consort, and they rose into the sky. The two humans shielded their eyes from the glare of reflected sunlight, and pressed their mounts onward. They did not speak during the return to the village. Both of them were pasty faced, and brooded over their thoughts silently.
Two scouts were standing at the yawning gates when the couple arrived, with two glimmering figures aloft in the sky above.
"Glad you're back, Master Salmalin. Lady Alanna's been getting pretty red trying to settle the villagers." One of the Riders said as they halted their mounts. Numair grimaced. Daine looked up at the sky, beckoning the Immortals down. They obeyed, and alighted a little away from the gate. The scouts displayed obvious apprehension and repulsion at the new arrivals, but a commanding glare from Numair kept them silent.
"What now? Are we to wait out here for the villagers?"
Before one of the scouts could answer a thick rabble of voices came to them suddenly. Daine strode through the gates and across a wide open square to see a group of villagers pouring out of the village meeting hall, Alanna the Lioness following, wringing her wrist in frustration. Daine stifled a laugh; the Lioness was to be reckoned with when anger got the better of her, but it made the sight no less humorous.
"They've abused our tolerance!" One villager, an old farmer by the looks of it, cried to all who could hear.
"They never had the right to live on our land anyway!"
"Cursed monsters…"
Alanna caught sight of Daine, and sighed heavily.
"Thank the Goddess you're back. They're giving me nothing but grief and ignorance."
"We brought Barzha and Hebakh." Daine murmured to her as they reached each other. Alanna raised her eyebrows.
"I know I mentioned if possibly you could bring them but…" She trailed off and eyed the villagers, now ranting at a couple of startled scouts.
"We've got to try." Daine replied determinedly. She turned to the villagers and shouted out, "Excuse me!"
One by one the villagers quietened. By now Numair had grown tired of waiting by the gate and was walking to join his wife.
"You didn't listen to a knight of Tortall, so maybe you won't listen to a wildmage." A buzz swept through the gathering. Stories of wildmages were rich and plenty since the Immortals war, especially when concerning a certain brown haired, blue eyed girl with a black robe mage at her side.
"This…accident wasn't the Stone Tree's fault. It could've happened to a human. When the Immortals war ended we prayed for peace, and we're only going to get that peace if we learn to settle our differences. Can you or can you not leave the Stone Tree nation alone? They'll do the same for you."
Silence reigned only a few more moments, as Daine's speech was quickly digested. One of the villagers stepped forward.
He must be one of the important figures here, Daine said to herself as she viewed the man's colourful garments.
"We prayed for peace, and strived for it, but peace was shattered by those wretched monsters! Those Stormwings have got to go!" His cheeks became flustered, defiance plain on his rough face. It was at this moment that Barzha chose to alight carefully on the high fence surrounding the village.
"Daine, we thank you for your attempt, but it is clear that nothing will be restored from the ashes of this feud-"
"Stormwing!" The man who had previously spoken out pointed an accusing finger at the Immortal queen.
"Sir, please remain-" Daine began, but the man spoke again.
"Shoot!" Before many could react, a hidden archer obeyed the man's word and an arrow came whistling through the air, headed straight for Barzha's chest. Time stopped, and no one did anything. Save for Numair. Inches from the Stormwing, a black, glimmering tendril of magic clutched the arrow from its deadly flight and incinerated it.
Barzha stared just before her for a moment or two, then reason returned to her and she fled the fence.
"You stupid man!" Daine shouted at the one who had given the order to shoot. Meanwhile, Numair had found the hidden archer, located in a small attic in one of the houses nearby, with his magic. He did not move to go to the place, but raised a hand, palm up, and twitched his fingers inwards. A distant gasp was heard.
"You broke terms of peace. You and your man should be executed." Numair said coolly, reminding them all of a law passed by King Jonathan after the war. No friendly, law-abiding Immortals were to be harmed, and to breach this law meant death. Peace was a fragile thing that had to be cared for meticulously.
The villager paled. "We've got a right to protect the village!"
"And the Stone Tree nation has a right to safety, as promised by the King's law." Numair moved his fingers inward again. The door of the house where the hidden archer was banged open. The archer stumbled out, clutching his throat.
"Please…" He choked. Daine's eyes widened.
"Numair!" That cry of dismay broke his concentration, and the archer sunk against the wall to recover. A few of the villagers stepped away.
"We will leave." Alanna said at once. "I regret to see that this village is too blinded with ignorance."
Immediately the Rider scouts, the Lioness and the two mages began to walk back towards the gate.
"What about the Stormwings?" Daine asked the Lioness frantically.
"They will…they will have to find a new home. I'm sorry, but we can't risk anymore of that kind of thing."
Numair stared at the ground as he walked. Shame crept up on him. He hadn't meant to use his magic to try and strangle the archer! He had his reasons. For now he avoided Daine's worried glances.
Hebakh was waiting a distance from the gate, Barzha crouched nervously beside him.
"They tried to shoot her! Why, I ought to-" The Stormwing shouted at them as they approached. The Rider scouts were saddling up. Daine raised a weary hand.
"We're sorry. We didn't know it would happen. We thought those villagers would have the decency to act proper in these circumstances."
"What of our people now?" Barzha said quietly, her face despondent. They'd lost a good home.
"We'll help you find another. You've no choice. Go and bring your subjects. You'll have to follow our party." Numair replied.
"Surely there would be uproar if we neared Corus."
"There's good spreads of forest several miles away from the capital. You can set up home there."
Daine was grateful to Numair for his quick thinking, though his previous behaviour in the village still troubled her.
The Stormwings nodded and took off at once, blowing waves of stench over the humans. They all flinched.
Cloud trotted over to Daine and nipped at her arm, indicating for her to mount. Absently the wildmage obeyed, allowing her weary body to rest awhile on the pony's strong back.
"You look tired. We'll make camp as soon as the light begins to fade." Numair said to her, as he brought his steed alongside her own. Daine deigned to reply, annoyed at her own fatigue. When she started to sway, Numair reached across the gap between them to send a wad of magic into her, to keep her going for the ride.