Disclaimer: The characters and Tortallan Universe belong to Tamora Pierce. This twisted plot is all my fault.
Chapter 13 – Parting ForcesDaine was standing outside Numair's door when Elyra, Alanna and George walked out. She shuffled her feet nervously. From the moment she walked out the door she had struggled to figure out what was the proper way to say, "Hey, I'm sorry I tried to rip your thoat out." There didn't seem to be a way and now she had to say something.
She looked up at Elyra, "I'm so sorry I – umm – sorry I tried to kill you."
Alanna looked alarmed. "You what?"
But Elyra held her hand up. "Please don't. Numair told me that you thought I was willing to destroy him. In the same circumstances I might have done something similar. Although I feel confident that my method would have nothing to do with turning into a terrifying beast. What kind of a creature were you?"
She muttered her answer. "A hyena." She knew what Alanna's reaction to this would be and couldn't bear to look her in the face for several moments of harsh silence.
If Alanna and George had planned to go back to their room, they seemed to have been solidly thwarted. They stood there looking shocked. Alanna was not going to be out of the loop a second longer. "What in Mithros' name happened tonight?" George looked stern right behind her. It was as if he had asked the question too, but left Alanna to voice it. Daine only had a second to marvel at how the two worked as a team.
Blushing, Daine told them how she had shape-shifted and nearly attacked Elyra before Numair could calm her down. When she was done she turned back to Elyra and said, "I need to send a spy with you. It must be small and able to hide well. Would you prefer a mouse, a lizard or a marmoset?"
A few minutes later Elyra had been introduced to Zek and he was tucked quietly under her hair. Daine trusted the marmoset to stay out of site and to protect Elyra. She watched the woman long enough to be sure that Zek would be treated well, then she headed off to bed. There were a lot of things on her mind right now that she wanted to sort through.
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Alanna watched Daine go. She had hung back to talk to Elyra for a few more minutes before heading to bed. George had gone to check on the children.
"Have you told us everything you know about Michael's captors?"
"Yes, I believe so," Elyra replied.
"Do you think that Numair can get him back, or is my friend going to his death?" It was a stern question, but she needed an honest answer.
"Alanna, I won't lie to you. I do not know the answer. I've only begun to see what Numair is capable of, but I think he can do it if anyone can. He is more powerful than the Copper Isles ever imagined. He takes conjuring for granted. I looked it up in my book after the banquet yesterday. It takes an unbelievable amount of magic. I had asked him to teach me and he told me it was something not everyone could do, but frankly, he downplayed it."
Alanna chuckled. "He does a lot of that." She was thinking of how often he had pretended not to have a mage's robe because they were "too hot" rather than saying that he was one of seven black robe mages in the world.
"My magic is highly underdeveloped. My family taught me some control for – for personal reasons. But it was nothing I was allowed to use without permission. Women are not encouraged to do anything academic in the Copper Isles. Marriage was arranged for me at 14 and I have lived there ever since. My label of "mage" here was only to make my presence less conspicuous. Still, I've tried to study in secret all of this time. I hear Numair talk about feats of magic as if they are nothing. Many of them are very advanced."
"You're talking about simulacrums and words of power, right?"
"Yes, and conjuring that jewel with imbued magic!" Her eyes opened very wide. "Plus, I think he's fearless."
"Why do you say that?" Alanna had seen Numair be brave on many occasions. But she was asking because she saw something on Elyra's face that worried her. Elyra looked a little enamored.
"Daine didn't tell you how he stopped her from killing me." The woman looked a little shaken as if a frightening memory had overtaken her.
Alanna was taken aback. "He didn't just talk her out of it?"
"No, she wasn't listening to him, I think because he was only half dressed."
Alanna raised her eyebrows and smirked.
"I woke him up. He was decent," she said defensively.
"So how did he stop her?"
"He offered her his own neck and told her to kill him first. He said something about how she wasn't to taste human blood and that he could not watch her destroy herself. He had been holding her back with magic, but he actually bared his neck, knelt in front of her, and let her go." Elyra took a rattling breath. "I was terrified."
"Then she stopped," Alanna said in a matter-of-fact tone. "That would make sense."
"It would? I didn't think it made any sense. I was sure she would kill him just to get at me. When she did turn back, he stayed and held her. If I turned into a monster and threatened to kill people, no one would want me around anymore. They most certainly wouldn't hold me and soothe me."
"I'm very sorry the people in your life have been so shallow." Alanna said bluntly. "But you can't assume that everyone is going to be like that. Many of the people here in Corus come from something horrible. We were misfits. We band together because of an ability to see past flaws. If you haven't noticed, Numair has a few tendencies that could scare a lot of people. When he gets really angry things explode. We love him as he is. He loves us as we are."
Elyra swallowed hard. There was a long silence. Then finally she asked, "What does one have to do to be allowed to stay here?" She was looking earnestly at Alanna.
"You must be willing to work hard and do your share. You use your gift to help others and you work to be part of the community we have built. But that's all there is – no blood oaths required." She silently thought to herself that Elyra Kelton would never make it through a Bazhir ritual, but the woman had definitely grown on her."
"I imagine I'll need a new home," Elyra added hopefully.
"I'm sure that is true. But for now, we need to keep up appearances. You should probably take that lock of hair to Tyrus in a couple of hours. And I need to get some sleep. I need to be up in a few hours."
Alanna walked Elyra to the spare room and then headed back to her rooms trying to picture what Elyra described. She was floored again that the whole castle hadn't seen that Numair was in love with Daine. It seemed so blatantly obvious.
An hour before dawn, Alanna was dressed and preparing some last minute things for Numair, when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and found Numair standing there with very blood shot eyes. "Good morning," he said softly.
"I thought I was coming to you."
"Well, that had been the plan, except I'm going now before Daine finds me."
"Why?" she growled. Alanna hated the morning hours.
"Because she will try to follow and I cannot let her."
"I'm far too tired and crabby for this," Alanna started. "Do you actually intend to leave and not say goodbye to her?"
"No. I'm leaving some things with you." He handed her two envelopes, one white and one blue. "Please give the white one to Daine when you see her. The blue one is – open it if something happens to me. If I come back safe, please return it."
Alanna was startled. "Is this your will?"
"More or less," he answered.
"Shouldn't it be in Jon's possession then?"
"Alanna, Jon is a friend and my King. You are family to me. A will stays with one's family. I don't want to have an emotional goodbye here, so please…"
Alanna felt a lump in her throat. "Please tell me that no seer has ever predicted you would die in the Copper Isles."
He smiled weakly. "No seer has ever predicted anything about my death. I'm not going to try to get killed. You know I don't like seeing my own blood." He smiled sheepishly. "And I fully intend to return with a toddler in tow. But it would be irresponsible to leave this undone, especially since there are people I wish to provide for." He smiled a little brighter. "Besides, you are only supposed to keep it until I get back. Then you better surrender it."
She sighed heavily, trying to get control of her emotions. "Numair, I…"
He nodded understanding. "I need to hurry now." He handed her a crystal. "This will make controlling the simulacrum much easier. Palm it and think what you want him to say or do and it will happen, even if he's in another part of the castle. Of course he has only enough Gift to fool someone looking for magic, so he has no blasting power. Mithros! I hope you don't get attacked."
He handed her a small white opal. "This is part of a pair. I have the other. You can contact me over distance. When you do a speaking spell, this should be in the bubble. Then I'll hear you no matter where I am. You don't have to worry about others hearing it either because it's designed for stealth"
He shifted a pack to his hip. "I will buy passage on a ship by offering to power the sail. Since it isn't something they will want to shout about, they will keep my secret. I will rest after we cross and before using the focus to transport me to him. I cannot know what I will find so I will need to be at full strength."
Alanna handed him two small jars. "Numair, these are healing salve and strengthening tea. I've put some of my own gift in each, so keep the lids tightly sealed between use." Then she handed him a small dagger in a leather ankle pack. "Just in case…" She couldn't help but look worried and she knew it. He had the grace not to say anything.
"Thank you. One more thing, Daine will be angry and I don't blame her for that. But help her as best you can, please. I need to know that she's alright." He turned and then said, "Give my love to George and the children." Then he disappeared.