Disclaimer: This is Tamora Pierce's bread and butter. Don't sue me.

A/N: I actually got very little hate mail, weird. If you ever wondered why Daine so faithfully said, "Numair will sort them out," over the skinners, you're about to get your answer. She figured if he could solve this, he could solve anything.

Chapter 20 - Faith

Jon stood on the parapet of the upper most rampart of Legann Castle. His spy glass was extended, but he held it at his chest, motionless. What he had just seen had been enough to frighten the most stalwart man. He signaled to Raoul of Goldenlake and though neither man would know for some time, it was this that saved their lives on a warm spring morning because the spies were not familiar with the signals the Own used to communicate.

And still, it tested the courage of his large friend. How does one face 248 oncoming stormwings without a little fright? Ozorne, the former emperor mage of Carthak had rounded up a frightening group of allies. Besides the stormwings, there were 80 fully armed warships in the bay and soldiers had been carried to their backs. Legann was surrounded and when the fighting commenced, Jon knew many of his friends and their loved ones would die. But surrender was out of the question. What they wanted was a price too high to pay, just as Numair had warned him it would be.

The scene was nearly surreal as the swarm of sparrows that Daine had sent to guard her king decended in a thick cloud. It gave the archers time to prepare, and when the birds scattered, the vile stormwings were bombarded with arrows. Despite the magic of the unnatural beasts, many arrows found their mark, dropping the immortals to the ground, and to Jon's surprise, a host of their companions fled. A cheer went up from the walls of the castle. It was only a small triumph, but when faced by the kind of army the morning had brought them, one celebrates whatever victories one gets.

By midday they were holding their own. Somehow, they seemed to do better if strategies went unvoiced. Luckily, the Tortallans were well trained and seemed to move well without much direction. It became clear that the other side was spying but the method was unknown. And much to his frustration, the fighters seemed to surround him at every turn. Jon was a knight and a good fighter. But his subjects only seemed willing to let him fight by magic. Each time he tried to take up a sword and join the battle in that fashion, a dozen soldiers stepped in front of him. He supposed he should take it as a sign that he had made the right choice, but it was wearisome.

It was nearly midnight before he was able to reach a fire to contact Alanna, only to discover she was embroiled in a fight of her own. His beloved Thayet was also apparently in the middle of it. While he should have been resting for the fight that would arrive with dawn, he worried. At nearly 3:00 a.m., a tearful Thayet reported the losses in Corus, including her own best friend, Buri, and Daine, the wildmage. Jon never slept that night. He tried to talk to Alanna and Numair, but they ignored speaking spells. Whatever had taken place up north, it was bad and he was in Legann, where he could provide no support or assistance. He would have to have faith in their abilities to protect his home.

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If the Black God had a dungeon, Daine was sure this was what it would look like. She was trapped in what looked like an underground cave. Stormwing carcasses and flying monkey corpses littered the dirt and rock. But plenty of non-magic immortals seemed to be alive and happy to see the mortals. Spidrens, hurroks, flesh eating unicorns, and evil centaurs seemed to surround them everywhere. From the moment they lit, Buri, Daine and two members of the own who she had never been introduced to, fought. They believed they would fight until they dropped of exhaustion or simply lost. There could be no victory here.

Daine had expected to fall until she could fall no more – the way a bottomless pit was. In truth she had only fallen about fifteen feet. But the strange thing was she could look up and not see the world she had left. What's more, the ceiling of the cavern she was now inside was at least 40 feet over her head.

Kit had landed in a lifeless heap and Daine shot her anxious looks after she loosed every arrow she could find. Daine's condor form had slowed both her fall and Buri's and neither suffered so much as a sprain. The two men had not fared as well. One of them had a broken ankle and still was holding off spidrens with a spear. Daine had been left to choose between trying to fight immortals in animal form, or standing there nude with a bow and her deadly aim. She had reluctantly chosen the latter because her aim could keep the immortals at a safer distance. There was far too much panic for modesty to surface, but she missed her arm guards and found that flesh could suffer the recoil of the bow string painfully.

When the last arrow at her disposal had been used, she shifted to the form of a golden eagle and attacked with her sharp talons. As she flew, Daine began to scour the ground for more arrows. Her shifting form made the centaurs back away. They weren't certain what she was and they were intelligent enough to be worried by it.

She heard a loud crackle and saw a long bow and several spears drop through mid air and her own hand beaded quiver full of arrows followed along with a cloak. Gratefully she flew up to slow their decent and brought them softly to the ground. Despite her own logic, she flew back up toward the ceiling and tested it to see if she could fly out. She was dazed by the impact. She should have realized the hurrocks would have tried that, but she had to know for herself.

Daineflew back to the ground and shifted to human, donning the cloak – Numair's cloak. It brought her a sense of purpose as well as warming her cold skin. He would find her. He would reach her. He still believed her alive and she had to stay that way. Buri backed into her, reaching for an arrow. More weapons fell through though Daine didn't slow them this time, but it didn't matter. It seemed that most of the weapons were undamaged anyway.

Then she realized something was in her pockets – powder packs. With a grin, she pulled them out and lined them up. "I need fire," Daine said. The man with the broken ankle dropped to his knees and began to try to build one with the friction of two sticks. He must have been well practiced, because he was able to get a small flame in moments. It was enough. Daine held out an arrow and asked him to light it. She tossed a powder pack in the middle of the pressing immortals and put the flaming arrow to string. "Get down," she warned her friends, just before the concussive blast blew parts of three immortals at them. She couldn't even tell what was what – it might have been two hurrocks and a spidren, but she wasn't sure. The other immortals scattered to the far side of the cavern to regroup, leaving the four humans a moment to rest.

Daine snuggled into the cloak, which was too large, but smelled like soap and spices and a light male musk that was Numair's scent. She wanted to pull the garment to her nose and inhale deeply, but thought it might make the other's think she was mad. She pulled Kit onto her lap. The poor little dragon was barely alive after traveling through the magic draining portal. Daine couldn't help but cry. In her heart, this was her child and the outpouring of emotion brought her strongest magic to bear, healing Kit in moments and leaving Daine dizzy. She sagged against the rock at her back.

"What is all of this?" Buri asked. "It looks like it might have been sent on purpose – or is that wishful thinking?"

"No, Numair definitely sent them. This is his cloak and these are his powder packs. That's the quiver Kuri Taylor gave me for my birthday and the crossbow he gave me for midwinter. I'm not familiar with the spears or that long bow." Kit chirped sleepily and buried her nose in the cloak, sighing happily.

"Numair Salmalin?" asked the man with the broken ankle.

"Yes," Daine smiled, "He's my teacher. I'm Daine by the way and this is Buri, if you don't already know."

"I'm Isaac," he said.

"I'm Timothy," said the other man.

"I don't understand why you still have magic," Buri asked.

"Mine doesn't work the same. This doesn't seem to affect me," she answered. Then for the benefit of the men she said, "I can't make fire or anything like that. There's no gift in me, not even a little. But I can shift change, talk to animals, sense immortals, and heal animals.

"How does your teacher know we're alive?" Timothy asked.

"I'm not sure. But he was close to figuring out this hole. Right before the attack, he finally understood how it was made and maybe who made it. He will come the moment he can to get us. We only have to stay alive until then."

"How do you know that?" Isaac asked skeptically.

"Because he thinks of this little dragon as his child, just like I do," she assured and privately hoped that she might be included in that too, even if it was only that he had brotherly or fatherly feelings toward her. It would be enough to keep her going.

They heard the crackle again and another something dropped from midair. It was a cloth bound package full of bread, jerky and apples and a water skin. The others grabbed at the food. But Daine saw only the note in Numair's hand.

-Magelet,

I know you are alive. But Cloud cannot sense you. I'm having trouble convincing Alanna to let me go after you. I'll need her help if we are to survive this. If you could just fly out, I believe you would have done so. I need you to send a message to Cloud. But you'll have to send your magic through the badger claw. The token of a god is used to traveling between worlds. I know it's not something you've done before. Remember that in magic the thought is the deed. Separate yourself from the soil and just imagine the fire routing through that claw. I also need to know how many of you there are and if Kit can use her magic.

I will come for you no matter what. You have my oath.

She felt a smile spread across her face and she handed the note to Buri. She shifted to the form of a hummingbird. She wanted something small that could stop in mid air and not draw the attention of the immortals. She flew up and focused on the badger claw which seemed enormously huge and heavy right now.

She reached for Cloud with her mind, although she could not sense her at all. Behind closed eyes she imagined her copper fire spreading through her body and out the claw to broadcast to Cloud. When she was finished she flew back down through the folds of Numair's cloak and shifted back into human. She could only pray that it would work. She couldn't imagine how Numair intended to get to her. She was half afraid that he would drop through the ceiling forgetting that the antimere magic would destroy him. He's smarter than that, she told herself. He will sort this out. I'll just need to have faith in him.

------

Cloud stood at the edge of the forest with Tkaa, Numair and Alanna, though it was the last place that Alanna thought was healthy for them to be. She wanted Daine to be alive. She wanted Buri to be alive. She wanted any of the numerous soldiers that had fallen in to be alive, especially Gary's nephew Timothy, who she had given mid-winter gifts to since he was born. But unlike Numair she didn't see how it was possible.

They didn't know how deep the "pocket" was, but they did know that numerous immortals were probably waiting for snacks to fall from above. Still, after a long night watching Numair fall to pieces, she had to let him try. But she was afraid that if no answer came, he would die of grief. And still, she couldn't argue with his logic. "What don't you hear?" he had asked her. She had not known what he meant. "The animals aren't grieving," he had said. "They are looking for her, but they aren't grieving for her. She's alive, I know it in my soul." It was enough to make her wonder against her better judgment. So she had let him drop more things in that hole and now they stood in the dawn chill waiting for word from a horse.

Cloud whinnied loudly and stamped happily. Alanna turned in disbelief and joy, waiting for the translation from Tkaa.

The tall basilisk spoke in his soft voice, "I never heard Daine, but Cloud did. You must have realized their connection was stronger?"

Numair nodded and looked like he could barely contain himself. "What did she say?" He directed the question at Cloud.

Tkaa translated, "She says she knows you will find a way. She says there are four humans – Buri, Timothy, Isaac and herself -- and one dragon who is weak but can light a crystal and who misses you terribly. She says thank you for your cloak and the weapons and food and that the arrows and powder packs saved their lives. And she says you better find a way to get them out without harming yourself or she will drop you off a glacier."

There was a victorious laugh and Alanna realized it had come from her own mouth. "Don't do anything without me," she warned. "But I have to let Thayet and Gary know and I've ignored Jon far too long."

"Get Duke Baird while you're at it," Numair answered. "I've got supplies to get and then I'll meet you back here in one hour."

"You knew," she said looking into brown eyes that had clearly wept heavily.

"The Badger didn't come and feed me to his sett," he said with a shrug.

"You won't admit it yet will you?" she asked.

"If you already know, exactly why do you need me to tell you?"

She smiled softly. "I guess I don't." She started to jog back toward the palace and then turned and added, "There are no elementals to borrow power from. How can we possibly rescue them?"

"Have a little faith, Alanna. There's always a solution and luckily I've been trying to find it for almost a month."

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She isn't rescued yet. But you knew I wouldn't kill Daine, right? Please respond.