Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to Tamora Pierce.
A/N: This is one of the slower chapters in the book, but it is also the most revealing. I loved that little line from Daine, "I don't like being so far apart from you." If he had only been paying attention, it told him everything he needed to know about her feelings for him. It is part of the reason that I decided when I read the series that she already knew her feelings for him long before the kiss. It's one of many subtle hints but is the most telling of them all.
Rauros Falls: That is the problem with doing this book from Numair's POV. Basically, they spend most of their time together in RotG. It's the reason I was so hesitant to do it for so long. In the end, the begging won out.
Alanna Cooper: Thanks. That's what I'm striving for.
Purple Eyed Cat: Ahh, you get to see Numair the way I see him. I always saw this in him too. I love this chapter in the real book, because Daine does two things that tell him she's in love. And then I added more.
Arram: It is a little known fact that we all have strange childhoods. Beaver Cleaver was fictional, alas.
( ): Yes, the chess game is below. And thanks for the compliments.
Hoshi-ko88: Getting closer
Goldeneyedwildmage: Even more Numair history and some eye opening behavior on Daine's part below. It was always there, but very subtle, so I added to it.
Sarramaks: Thanks! The last line was sweet and he worries about it in the first line of this one.
Chapter 20 - Uusoae's Game
If Daine had noticed that he called Skysong "theirs" she showed now signs. Numair fretted about it as he straightened their camp, filled the fire pit and the trench that had served as the privy, and scattered leaves and stones to make the place seem untouched. Daine cleaned their dishes and packed their belongings all the while, in the way that they always broke camp – working in tandem.
Broad Foot, who had stood back with the darkings watching the whole thing, said, "It's as good as the courtship dances of cranes." Numair glared at him warningly. A pouch appeared in his fresh shirt and Broad Foot materialized in it before finishing. "You never bump into each other, and you never try to do the same tasks."
Daine answered Broad Foot, but stared up into Numair's eyes while she did so. "We've been doing this for a while. I've lost count of the camps that we've put up and broken down."
Her gaze seemed to cling to his until his pulse pounded in his ears. Lost in her blue-gray eyes, he felt himself reach to stroke her cheek, but he dropped his hand away regretfully as he came to his senses. "Where do the darkings ride?" he asked.
In answer to the question, Leaf coiled himself around Daine's neck in Gold-streak's former position. Jelly dropped into her breeches pocket, sticking only his head out so that he could watch. Then they embarked.
Daine took the lead this time, setting the pace and keeping a watchful eye with a strung bow in her free hand. Numair and Broad Foot followed. It gave them a chance to talk and Numair learned fascinating things about the place where Broad Foot's mortal children resided. It seemed to be a haven for marsupials, something that was a rare sight in their area of the world. Huge birds that could not fly also called it home, and it boasted several violent and deadly creatures, including a large spider that killed things four times its size. It was a fact that would have left Alanna unable to sleep, were she in his place. She hated spiders. He chuckled to himself at the thought.
Daine stopped twice for breaks without being asked and Broad Foot commented on it the second time. "I noticed yesterday that despite your long legs, you never seem to walk too fast for her when you're leading. Today she sets the pace and knows when to stop without being asked. How is that possible?"
Daine, who had overheard, grinned and brushed an errant strand of Numair's hair from his face – it made him shiver. "It's like I told you this morning, Broad Foot. We've done a lot of traveling together. Sometimes I think I know him as well as me." She gave Numair one of those simmering looks that caught him off guard and made his knees feel weak. He wondered if she had any idea what that expression could do to a man. She obviously didn't know him that well.
"We –" he tried to respond and his voice cracked, leaving him again to feel like an awkward teenage boy, rather than the man he was. "Excuse me," he began again. "We were assigned to work together because of it. Jon was impressed by the fact that we didn't target the same foe at the same time unless it was strategically advantageous. You might have noticed it during the hurrok attack."
"Was it one of your lessons?" Broad Foot asked, almost as though he were baiting.
"No," Daine answered. "It's always been that way. Mayhap we spent so much time together that I learned without realizing. But it's more like we were made to be together – a team, sort of." Numair's breath stopped short as she said it. And he could swear the duckmole was smiling. He had to struggle to hide his own smile.
He stood. "We should keep moving," he said, fighting the surge of joy inside him. The duckmole immediately materialized back into his shirt pocket and as they began to walk again, Numair remained silent, lost in his own thoughts.
It was nearly mid day when they reached the arm of a swampy area. Numair pulled out the map to check that it was Mauler's swamp and confirmed it when Daine asked. "There should be a bridge ahead," he said.
Daine pointed. The bridge was a low one, fashioned of sturdy looking logs and rising barely above the surface of the water. It was a much more comforting sight than the bridge on the prior day.
As they walked, Numair glanced into the murky water below, trying to keep an eye out for the sadistic creature known as Mauler. But soon, their progress became impeded by the numerous insect gods who came to feed on them. Killing the mosquitoes and biting flies did no good as they were reborn into new and hungry bodies. Their bites raised welts that itched so badly it was impossible to ignore. At last Numair, spun a fiery magical shield to keep the things at bay, though he knew it would probably only slow them down. But to his surprise the insects simply argued, trying to convince them that other creatures in the realm willingly gave their blood. "They are gods," he replied calmly. "No doubt they replace their blood instantly. We are not gods." Am I really talking to insects?
"Mortal blood tastes best," added a small voice. "It has life in it. The blood of gods doesn't"
"I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am to deny you such a treat," Numair said dryly.
"You know very well we could break that shield if we wanted to," cried a blackfly. "We are gods after all."
"What good is blood that's given so grudgingly?" a horsefly grumbled.
"What good indeed?" Numair said, while thinking how grateful he was that they had taken that stance.
"Selfish," a mosquito snapped.
"I hope that Mauler eats you! It would serve you right!" the invisible bug told them. Then the insects left to find more willing prey.
"Broad Foot, what is this Maulter?" Numair asked though not entirely sure he wanted the answer. "He looked like a crocodile in the image Weiryn showed us."
"Lord Mauler is an older god of the People," said the duckmole. He is a link between crocodiles and the dinosaurs. May we move faster?" It seemed Mauler was a sadistic as Weiryn had described and didn't like trespassers. Numair picked up the pace, automatically taking the lead with his staff held before him in case.
As they neared the end of the bridge, he heard a gasp from Daine and looked to see twin yellow rounds popping through the surface of the water. Behind it was the type of patterned hide you would expect on the crocodile, but this one was three times bigger than any crocodile Numair had ever seen. The creature was immense and its eyes followed them menacingly. "What the --?" Numair heard himself say at the sight of those huge yellow eyes. One eye, alone, was the size of Broad Foot.
"Lord Mauler," Broad Foot whispered. "Greetings to you, cousin!" he called loudly.
"And good day," muttered Numair. He and Daine broke into a trot and quickly covered the few yards that remained to the end of the bridge. Mauler thrashed as they stepped off the bridge. The surface of the swamp rolled, and crested, and splashed the travelers. The great creature dove, leaving only surging water to mark his passage.
Broad Foot shook a clump of plants off his bill. "I don't know which is worse – when he's cross, or when he's trying to be funny."
Numair wiped his face on his sleeve. "If it's all the same, I won't stay around to study his moods."
Their progress was slow in the afternoon as the path began to climb again and the air slowly became warm and dry. They walked well past dark, their path guided by the light of Uusoae's battle with the great gods. Finally, they made camp by a wide and lazy stream. Broad Foot volunteered to keep watch again and both Daine and Numair turned in quickly but neither went right to sleep, tired as they were.
They ultimately turned beneath their blankets to look at one another, though neither said a word. Daine seemed to be consumed by her thoughts and, as much as he wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, Numair was unable to say a word for his own. He thought about Daine's words of earlier and his life until now. He thought about his family and the scars they had left in their rejection of him -- scars that ran so deep that somehow he had expected to scare everyone away in the end. His mother had suffered for her marriage to his father and continued on without him, lost for the lack of an individual life. His sister was in an unhappy marriage to a man who was older than she. But neither marriage had been built on love and respect. He began to wonder if his family members were even capable of that, and there was a time when he thought himself incapable of love. But then came Daine. She was herself a misfit – loved by her parents but hated or feared by nearly every other human that encountered her until she found the same home for misfits that he had.
He smiled to her and she returned it. Then he closed his eyes and slipped into dreams.
Gainel stood in an empty and white space, wearing Numair's father's canvas apron. Numair smiled at the irony. It was the clearest way of admitting that he and the guides were one and the same.
"My Lord, Gainel," Numair said with a bow.
--You have promised your help if I ask for what I need?--
"Of course," Numair answered.
Gainel turned and pointed at a tall door that had not previously been there. --Then enter and see the dream of Weiryn's daughter.--
Numair did not hesitate. He bowed his head once more to Gainel, then turned on his heel and walked forward. An unfamiliar voice said, "My lord Gainel thinks that someone is helping Uusoae to tap into the other half of mortal fire, the half that does not belong to her. He things that she is playing this game, which she is forbidden to do." Numair understood immediately. Father Universe and Mother Flame set the rules which the great gods and chaos were to abide by. Those rules kept the Great Gods from simply killing Uusoae and kept Chaos from using mortals to gain an advantage. This kept the universe from dropping in on itself.
He followed a light until he came upon a great chessboard. It featured Uusoae as the red queen, and her king, an empty shadow that tried to draw all that was nearby into it. Uusoae's magic kept her king from swallowing her other pieces. A wolf was speaking to Daine, naming the other members of the red side. The leftmost rook was the three-headed ape – the mythological face of Discord. He turned to look at the other rook as the wolf pointed it out to Daine. It was a lean, blue youth with multiple arms. The rook smiled and pulled a seventh arm from behind his back. It held what appeared to be Numair's own head, dripping blood. Daine cried out in horror.
He reached her and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "Violence," he said, pointing to the blue youth. "With Discord, the gatekeeper of Chaos." When he pointed, he saw that Discord was now juggling Daine's head. Juggling, he thought sourly.
"Charming," Daine said dryly.
"It's their nature," said the wolf with the long thin tail. "They can't help being what they are."
Numair took his hand from Daine's shoulder and looked at the wolf. "Daine, would you introduce us?"
"I dunno," Daine said, looking to the wolf. "Are you Rattail or are you the Dream King."
The wolf's shape puddled, curved, and straightened into Gainel. –I thought perhaps you would be less unnerved by hearing of these things from a friend.—
"Maybe," she said. Numair chuckled to himself. Daine also preferred the straight-forward approach.
They turned their attentions to the gold pieces. These were the Great Gods – Mithros and the Goddess as the king and queen, the Black God was a high priest as was "Shakith, goddess of seers" Numair whispered when Daine struggled to name her. Also present were the desert god Jihuk and the Smith god as knights. Kidunka the world snake and the Wave Walker were rooks.
"Where are you?" Daine asked Gainel.
He smiled. –Like you mortals, I have one foot in the Divine Realms and the other in Chaos. Lately that's been a most uncomfortable position.—
"Understandably," replied Numair. He pointed to Uusoae's pawns as they materialized on the board all at once. "Now we have some answers." He wondered why the great gods had refused to listen to Gainel in regard to this. No one among them was better suited to know what was happening between realms. Even Shakith could not see the actual outcome of an event. She foresaw all possibilities, the way all seers do, and would use her best guess to know the future.
The central pawn was the Stormwing Ozorne. His closest neighbor was a blond Scanran mage who use a ruby in place of a lost eye. "Inar Hadensra," Numair named him for Daine's benefit. "That explains far more than it doesn't."
"He's very powerful?" asked Daine.
"Yes, indeed. And he serves only the Council of Ten in Scanra, not whomever they have as king that week. The Copper Islander to his right? That's Valmar, the third of King Oron's sons, carrying a general's baton. And next to him is Deniau, the high admiral of the Copper Isles, and Valmar's brother. Ozorne has powerful allies." The other four were unknown quantities to Numair. There was a spidren, a hurrok, a dull-eyed female stormwing, and a winged ape. These were the enemy. One of them was helping Uusoae take apart the world.
They turned their attentions to the pawns among the gold ranks. A pawn that looked like Daine was on the farthest side. Next, a Yamani who carried a spyglass. Then came Tkaa, King Jonathan, Queen Thayet, Alanna, and Kitten. Numair was on the side closest to them.
Daine looked to Numair and said, "I don't like being so far apart from you." He smiled at her warmly.
Pieces vanished and reappeared. While the Great Gods struggled with the Chaos beings, the red pawns and gold pawns faced off. Ozorne and his allies used weapons that were clearly made of chaos. They constantly rippled with color changes. Numair immediately wondered if those weapons might include skinners. Gold's pieces were armed, but the attack took them while they were staring at the Great Gods' fight. Soon the pawn versions of Daine, Numair and the others were dead and Ozorne and his allies slumped to the board and dissolved, blending with their weapons. The realms would be destroyed by chaos if Ozorne and his allies win.
"I don't like that game," said Numair wryly. "Can we play a new one?"
In a heartbeat, the whole board twisted. When it straightened, the pieces had been returned to their original places. This time Gold's pawns led the attack. Hedensra threw fire at them and King Jonathan blocked it. Alanna locked blades with an armed spidren. Daine's pawn went straight for Ozorne, Numair's for the Copper Islander Deniau. All over the board, opponents locked in desperate battles.
The spidren died first; Alanna raised her sword with a triumphant cry. Uusoae appeared, shrieking as she charged at Alanna. Gold's pawns were swept out of harm's way as the Great Gods appeared in a circle around the Queen of Chaos. Red's pawns vanished.
--If she is behind this, she will come to avenge her servitor, the one who found a way for her to use mortal power without Father Universe and Mother Flame knowing. Once she reveals herself, they will enter the matter, and end the fight. Gods and mortals will be safe again, at least for another thousand years. – Gainel spoke at last, looking from Daine to Numair as he did so.
He disappeared to be replaced by the scenery by the stream and Numair realized he must be awake. Gainel's voice was still in his mind though and he assumed that Gainel's voice was in Daine's by her reaction. –Her ally may not be a spidren. It may be another immortal, or a human. Whoever it is, you must kill him or her. It is the only way to end the war.—
"Why didn't someone just tell us what the problem was?" demanded Numair. Daine turned to stare at him. Apparently she had not realized he was also awake.
--Because the Great Gods believe that no problem exists. They say that no mortal would risk the destruction of his or her own realm by helping Uusoae to break the walls that keep her contained. I no longer argue with my brothers and sisters. They only laughed, so I gave it up. Farewell then, mortals. Good luck.—
Numair turned again to Daine and said, "I thought Weiryn said we would never hear him in our heads." She laughed at the irony.
"Ozorne would risk the destruction of the realm to get revenge. I can't speak for the others," she said.
Numair nodded. "But we cannot know who will be there to destroy each of these potential allies. I can tell you that Jon would not survive against Inar Hadensra."
Daine looked worried and bit her bottom lip. She lay back down to rest and Numair followed suit. But they stared at each other for a long time before returning to sleep.
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Up next, Malady and Starvation are loosed and Numair and Daine get left alone to face "Falling". Depending on how much I can squeeze into the next chapter, the kiss may come in 21 or 22.