The Queen's Champion

A/N Well, if you've been waiting for Thom to show up, here he is! From now on Thom is going to be one of the main characters along with Kalasin. I hope you like this next chapter!

Chapter Four: Return to the Swoop

Thom

The spray of the sea felt good against my skin as I stood out on the bow of the ship taking me back to Pirate's Swoop after my visit with my younger sister Aly and her husband Nawat in the Copper Isles. Since her spying began nine years ago and after us thinking her dead for the first year, I had run information back and forth between her and our father Baron George Cooper of Pirate's Swoop for the past six years. From there, Mother carried it back to King Jonathan.

I had been gone for over three months, with storms blowing us off course both on the way and on the way back. Not to mention that my extended absence was also due to the fact that I was spending time with my two nieces and one nephew. And there was also the fact that Nawat had coerced me into doing a little spying with him. Aly didn't help much there either. She continually sent me on missions. So, by the time I was able to pull myself away, over a month had passed, and I was eager to return home.

Now, the Swoop was before us and my heart leapt with joy. I was looking forward to seeing my mother. I hadn't seen her for just over a year because of my many journeys for the crown and her own responsibilities as Champion. I was also hoping on seeing Da and Alan too.

But as we neared the Swoop, I kept on thinking about Princess Kalasin. I hadn't seen her for over six years, ever since the day I had stepped out of King Jonathan's antechamber as a knight of the realm.

She and I had grown up together and had stayed close friends through my training as a page and a squire. I had been twelve when I started training as a page, a little older then most, and had finished my training at twenty one, three years older them most knights were when they were knighted. But then, I was doing it behind my mother's back. Da knew about it and helped me conceal my training from her. He knew of my dream to become a knight as well as a mage, so he had sent me to Corus to train under Numair Salmalin, the greatest mage to ever live, as well as become a page.

But, in my last year as squire to Roald, Kalasin's older brother, something changed between us. The friendship we had had became something more. At least on my part. For a woman of twenty two, she had been beautiful. And I fell hard. That's all I can say to describe it. But, I was too shy to tell her the truth, so I hid my heart and watched her being wooed by knights, keeping my pain inside.

Finally, on the night I was to enter the Chapel of the Ordeal, I asked her to be my wife, bearing my heart to her for the first time. And all I received was scornful laughter and her refusal. So, after I was knighted, I left Corus, never looking back. And since then, I had not seen her.

A passing fishing boat had pulled along side us a while ago with a message saying that Princess Kalasin was in residence at the Swoop, meeting with my parents over matters of business. Fear wedged itself inside me as we drew closer and questions raced through my mind. How would she treat me? Would she ignore me? Or would she act as if nothing had happened? I sincerely hoped that it would be neither of these. Both would hurt, but the latter would tear my heart in two.

The captain began to call out orders as we pulled into port. Looking up at the monstrous castle on the cliffs, I pushed thoughts of Kalasin from my mind. I was home, and that was all that mattered.

Kalasin

Being Queen had its ups and downs. There were times when one was delighted to serve others and others where one wanted to rip out her hair. Or the hair of anyone handy.

In the full three months that I been queen, I had run into many problems. Most of them were minor ones that could be deal with easily such as approving minor changes in district leadership and small scuffles. Others were more complicated. Much more complicated.

The week after my coronation I ran into the problem with Sir Joren of Stone Mountain getting in the way of the Fourth Company of the King's Own. He and a few other knights had taken to tagging along behind the Own and giving them a hard time. They had also raised a few false alarms, causing the Own to go to a place that didn't need them.

Garvey of Runnerspring had also been causing trouble, harassing various Rider groups of the Queen's riders. Buri had become enraged when she had found out and wanted to go after them, so I had to hold her back as well as deal with these two knights. Raoul was no help either. He became as angry as Buri and I had to set a guard for him to keep him in line.

Instead of personally reprimanding the two knights, I had sent Domitan of Masbolle, Kel's husband with a message to them. Dom had come back madder then both Raoul and Buri because they had sent him packing. I had to put him in solitary confinement for a good couple of hours in order to get him to calm down.

After that, I had been at loss at what to do about these two knights who were going against the code of honor that they had sworn to.

Because of these problems, as well as minor ones various knights had been pressing upon me, I hadn't had a moment's peace, not to mention time to even set up my council. That's why I was here at Pirate's Swoop meeting with Alanna and George, to discuss the troublesome knights as well as choose my council.

Both Alanna and I had been sitting in a small meeting room for the better part of the day discussing who would be a part of my council.

"Alright," Alanna said, looking at the list of names we had written down. "So we have Numair as your head mage as well as your chief advisor." She looked up at me a questioning look in her eyes. "Are you sure you want Numair to have two prominent positions in your council?"

"Positive," I assured. "I mean, he's one of the most powerful men known and he also happens to have a brain."

Alanna sighed. "What I meant was that most mages are book smart but don't exactly have too much common sense."

"That's true," I said contemplating what she was saying.

"Keep him on the council though," Alanna said, "Just give the position of Chief advisor to someone else."

"But who?" I asked, accepting Alanna's judgment.

"I would suggest that you leave Gary in his current position," Alanna told me. "He knows more about the workings of the kingdom then a thousand kings."

"That would sure be a help," I replied.

"Next you have Dom as the leader of the King's Own," Alanna said, glancing down. "Good choice."

I smiled. Not only was he a good leader, but he had been a part of the Own for fifteen years. He had been trained under Raoul, and knew the ropes. Besides that, he had proven himself loyal.

Alanna glanced at the list again. She quickly glanced up, a shocked expression on her face. "You have Kel as your Master of War?"

"Yes," I said, wondering why she was asking. Kel and I had become good friends recently, after spending a few years arguing over the place of a woman. I guess it's because we both occupied a postion that is usually given to men.

Alanna smiled. "I knew that girl would one day be a part of the Council."

I smiled back, knowing what Alanna was thinking. Kel had been the first girl to enter as a page with her gender as a girl known. She had proven herself as both a squire and a knight at the northern boarder. Alanna had secretly helped Kel along her journey to become a knight, and had smiled when the girl was knighted.

"Who else do we have here," Alanna said, looking at the list again. Then she burst out laughing.

I sent a puzzled look at her, wondering what could be so funny.

"You are actually putting Neal on your council?" Alanna asked once her laughter quieted somewhat.

"Yes," I answered, still puzzled.

"You actually want my former squire as your head healer?"

"Yes," I said again. "He is Baird's son. Who better for the job?"

Alanna started laughing again, and I gave up. Her laughter had to be in approval, because she didn't say anything against my choice.

After a while, Alanna finally got control of herself, and we proceeded. We kept Daine as the wild mage and made a few minor changes, but otherwise we left the council as it was when my Father was king. I saw no sense in changing it because the people were all very good at what they did and didn't need to be replaced. I only removed Raoul and Baird along with a few other members because they were getting up in their years and had chosen to decline my offer in allowing them to keep their office.

"The last matter of business is who you are going to choose as your Champion," Alanna said.

I nodded. Alanna was getting up in her years and though she was a good knight, she couldn't exactly keep up with all the demands being placed on her. And now with Tortall facing the coming years with having a woman on the throne, the kingdom needed a younger Champion who would be able to protect me.

I mentally went through a list of knights I knew of that might be fit for the job. One by one I marked them off, because I knew that Alanna would never approve of them. They were either too conservative or so liberal that they would turn on me. Not to mention that many of the young knights did not exactly like the fact that I was ruling. The majority of those had also given Kel a hard time when she was a page and a squire.

"What about Alan?" I asked suddenly, mentioning Alanna's youngest son.

Alanna was silent for a moment as she thought about my suggestion. "He would be a wonderful Champion, but I don't think that he's the perfect person for the job."

"Why?" I asked puzzled. For all I knew, Alanna would have been firmly supportive of her son being my Champion. But I guess I was wrong.

"You need someone who is devoted to you," Alanna answered, "who you can trust, no who you already trust."

"Like how Father trusted you," I implied.

"Yes, like how he trusted me. He knew that I would keep him and the kingdom safe no matter what it cost me. You need that same assurance with your Champion."

"I can learn to trust Alan."

"I know you can, but it would take too much time. You are already facing problems, and you haven't been on the throne for more then six months. Learning to trust Alan may take years, and we don't have years. Joren and Garvey think that they can get away with picking on the Own and the Riders, and the other young knights might eventually think that they can get away with anything. Others in the kingdom are not happy that a woman has been put on the throne." Alanna paused for a breath. "George has told me that Tusaine already looks at you as a weak ruler and has already heightened the raids to our boarder."

I sat back in shock at what I was hearing. Tusaine had been peaceful with us for the past thirty years, yet now they were raiding our boarders.

"You need someone you can already trust, a knight that-"

A knock interrupted Alanna, and she abruptly stood, muttering about servants that didn't know that a closed door meant someone wanted to be left alone. She went to the door and rapped twice, a code that meant either 'go away' to servants or 'identify yourself' if you were a spy for George. If the person on the other side recognized the code, and sent the right code back, then they were declared safe and allowed entrance. Usually it as a code of two short soft raps and two harder ones.

But the code that came back was a combination that I had never heard before.

Alanna smiled and quickly unbolted the door. She swung it open to embrace a tall man with deep copper hair. He stood a good head taller then Alanna, and with his head of bright coppery hair, I guess that he was one of Alanna's sons. I was praying that this man was hazel-eyed Alan rather then emerald-eyed Thom.

But the moment he looked up and our gazes met, I knew that my worst fear had become a reality.

I was looking into the emerald gaze of Thom, the face I had not seen in over six years. The face of the man I had fought in the Chamber, and had killed.

OOOOO... Something's gonna happen! I'm not going to be able to post for a great long while, so this is the last chapter for now. I promise to update as soon as I can. L8ters!