A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers! Here is Chapter 6! Things are getting a bit more interesting, but things won't really fall into place until next chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The new characters are mine. The world is Tamora Pierce's.
Silence and Shadows: Chapter 6
The stars glittered in the night sky as the fall wind blew through trees that were just beginning to change colors. The trees swayed softly, and the wind quieted, but it was the beginning of fall, and a slight chill clung to the air and the ground.
Keianna tossed and turned in her bedroll, trying to ignore the restlessness that had been building ever since she had lain down to sleep, but theit persisted.
Giving up on sleep, Keianna rolled out of her bedroll, careful not to wake the others, and slid into her boots. Standing up, she brushed the raven black hair out of her face. Kei stood quietly for a moment, the restlessness stilled as she stared up at the pocket of starry sky that stared down, surrounded by the treetops. But then the restlessness stirred again, and she silently made her way towards the towering oak tree that stood at the far side of the copse they were camped in. Glad that she was wearing breeches and a shirt, Kei pulled herself easily onto the lower branches, and began her upward ascent.
Kaelyn awoke with a start as her cat pendant pulsed softly with heat, not urgently this time, like it had twice before. She had often puzzled over the fact that her pendant seemed to heat up when Lady Keianna was around, but she could never make head or tail of it, so she let it be. Groggily, she sat up from where she slept between Alec and Jamal, and looked around, brushing hair out of her face as she did so. She glanced over at Lady Keianna's bedroll, and as she suspected, the other girl was nowhere to be seen. Kaelyn got up cautiously, not wanting to wake her brother or Alec, and found her boots. Putting them on, she looked around. She watched as Tacy, the golden cat, raced towards a towering tree at the end of the copse, and she watched, astonished, as Amaya got up and followed.
Intrigued, Kaelyn began to follow, but a deep snort stopped her. She turned to where they had tied their horses the night before, and made her way to where her black mare was.
"Shhh, Nisha," she crooned softly, rubbing her horse's nose, "quiet now."
A nudge at her elbow drew her attention to her brother's chestnut stallion Kamali, a tall horse who would tolerate you for only a few seconds unless he trusted you. Petting the stallion, Kaelyn slowly moved away, trying to not to spook Lady Keianna's Whisper, or Alec's bay stallion.
Setting out on her original journey, Kaelyn crossed softly to the base of the tree, peering up into the branches, wondering how Lady Keianna had managed to climb such a towering giant.
Keianna pushed the last few branches aside and found herself looking up at the starry sky. She settled onto a thick branch, the restlessness finally subsiding as she found herself faced with such a familiar view. The sliver of a moon gave off a weak light, but it was enough to see by. A purr distracted Keiher thoughts,and with a small smile, she picked up Tacy. Another cat slid into view, and Kei frowned slightly. She had seen such a cat before, but where? The cat was black, that much she could tell, and it had a sprinkling of white hairs dusted onto its back. The cat turned towards her, and in the weak moonlight, Kei caught the color of its eyes.
She gasped, leaning back in surprise, and almost succeeded in tumbling off her branch. Steadying herself, she instinctively grasped the fine silver chain at her neck, and pulled her pendant out from beneath her shirt. The same sapphire eyes sparkled at her in the moonlight, and except for the white hairs, the two cats were the same. Feeling the blood drain from her face, Kei almost missed the soft whisper that floated up to her on the cold fall wind.
"Lady Keianna?" It was Kaelyn.
"Lady Keianna?" Kaelyn called tentatively, wondering if the other girl was even up there. A rustling of leaves was her answer, and so, throwing caution into the wind, she began to climb. She slid a few times, not at all used to climbing trees, but thanks to her training in the fighting arts, she managed to make to the top before she fell.
Kei shifted, listening to Lady Kaelyn work her way up the tree. Kei watched as the other girl slipped, green eyes wide, and lost her grip. Holding on with one hand, Kaelyn clung to the bark, afraid of the horrific drop that she faced if she let go. Her hand slipped again, and she whimpered, afraid to make any more noise. Seeing the other girl's fear, Kei reached out a hand and grabbed the girl's hand just as it slipped from the bark, hauling her up to sit beside her on the large branch.
Kaelyn breathed in deeply, trying to steady her pounding heart. Amaya came over and curled into her lap, and Kaelyn stroked the familiar black fur until she felt calm again. There was silence as both girls gazed up at the starry sky and listened to the wind rustle the leaves in its mad dash through the air.
Kei started as Kaelyn began to hum a tune that seemed vaguely familiar to her, as if she had heard it before, long ago. The tune tugged at the foggy memories deep at the back of her brain, but the memory refused to be unearthed. Kei listened to the end of the song, and then turned to the other girl.
"Where did you learn that tune?" She asked, and Kaelyn seemed surprised.
"I don't know," she admitted, avoiding Kei's gaze. "I made it up."
Kei shook her head. "If you made it up, then why do I recognize it?"
Kaelyn looked puzzled for a moment; then she shook her head. "I don't know, Lady Keianna."
Kei grimaced, annoyed by the title. She turned to the other girl and looked her straight in the eye for the first time. "I don't use titles, Kaelyn," she said firmly, deliberately using the girl's name, not her title. Kei continued, "Seeing as we are out here with each other for as long as our journey lasts, I would appreciate if you would call me Kei."
Kaelyn sat and thought about this. Call an unknown noblewoman by her name not her title? She looked up, and matched Kei's blue-gray eyes with her green ones. "I will try to remember that, Kei," she said, amusement creeping into her voice as she remembered something Alec had told her once.
Kei smiled, but then cocked her head and looked at her companion, who seemed to find something amusing. "What?" she asked, feeling slightly defensive.
The other girl turned to her green eyes sparkling with mirth in the weak moonlight. "Alec once told me you were unlike any of the other noblewomen your age," she said, laughter in her voice.
Kei laughed at this, and admitted ruefully, "That is something Alec would say about me."
Both girls grinned at each other in mutual amusement, and then both fell silent, lost in their own thoughts. Neither of the two girls noticed that while they were both stroking their cats, their hands rose and fell with each stroke in a steady, matching beat.
Kei yawned, and felt sleepier than she had when she had lain down to sleep. "Well," she murmured, "I suppose we should go back to sleep before the dawn creeps up on us." She saw Kaelyn glance at the ground from their height and gulp nervously, and she grinned.
"Don't worry," she assured the other girl, "I'll make sure you don't fall." She reached out her hand, and Kaelyn stared at it for a moment. Kei waited, and finally Kaelyn reached out her own hand, so similar to Kei's, and grasped it. Together, two girls and two cats made their way down the tree and back to their bedrolls, into the dark realm of sleep.
Kaelyn nudged Nisha onward, watching the woods around her warily. I was about midday the next day, and they had continued their journey towards Corus. Keianna rode next to her, wearing a mulish expression. Kaelyn knew that Kei and Alec had argued about going back to Corus, but Kaelyn knew, somehow, that Kei was relieved to going back the royal city. Kaelyn was one with her in that respect, for she missed the grand palace and all it held, including her little sister.
Riding on a little further, she thought she spied something moving in the shadows of the trees a little farther ahead of her. Wordlessly, she grabbed her bow from where it lay slung over her back, and one of the arrows from her quiver. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jamal and Alec draw their swords simultaneously. Next to her, Kei watched her and then pulled her dagger of its sheath in her belt just as the bandits exploded onto the path in front of them, armed to the teeth with weapons of all kinds.
Kei watched the bandits spill onto the path, counting twenty. Twenty against four, not very good odds. Pushing Whisper forward, she flung the dagger in her hand at the nearest bandit, killing him instantly. Beside her, she heard the zing of arrows flying as Kaelyn shot arrow after arrow, taking down bandit after bandit. Another time, Kei would have admired her skill with the bow, but she was too preoccupied in finding another dagger.
Grabbing a dagger out of her saddlebags, Kei killed another bandit. Jamal and Alec were beside her now, swords flashing. Kei felt something graze her leg; a bandit had managed to cut her thigh. Ignoring the pain in her thigh as well as the pain in her reopened arm wound, Kei flung her dagger at the man.
Out of twenty bandits, nine remained. Kei killed two, and Jamal and Alec killed another two. Five still remained. Kei twisted around, searching desperately for Kaelyn. For some reason, she felt that the other girl was in danger, and that scared her. Jamal looked at her, the same scared look on his face, and then they found her.
Kaelyn was fighting against the last five bandits. She had managed, during the fighting, to separate herself from the others, and the bandits had surrounded her. At such close range, she could have easily shot them, but one of the bandits had managed to grab her crossbow. Helpless, she was using only a small dagger to defend herself.
Kei felt the rage boil in her veins at what they were doing to her new-found friend, and from the look on his face, Jamal felt the same. Through her anger, Kei noticed that her pendant was building up a blinding heat, and suddenly, the blue fire grew in the center of her pendant, raced down her arms and pooled into her hands.
Without thinking, without even realizing what she was doing or why she had it, Kei hurled the blue fire at the bandits. In this confusion, no one noticed the figure that had crept out from behind the trees to watch the battle and now stood ready, waiting.
The blue fire roared across the ground, straight towards the bandits. Two were dead immediately before the fire extinguished itself. Kei saw Kaelyn staring at her, wide-eyed, and she felt the other two's stares.
The remaining three bandits stood around in wide-eyed confusion, but before they could move again, the figure had moved. In a blur so fast that they didn't see him before he was on them, the figure landed in the midst of the bandits. What followed was a series of punches and kicks in alightening speed that Kei couldn't follow. She stared in awe as this stranger killed the bandits and stood, barely out of breath before them.
He glanced at them:wounded and pale Alec and Jamal, shocked and woundedKeianna, and a white and scratchedKaelyn. His eyes flickered over Kei and Kaelyn for a minute, and his face registered surprise, but a moment later the surprise was gone.
He looked them over, and asmall grin crept onto his face. "Welcome." He said simply, and at this, Kei seemed to find her voice.
"Who are you?" She asked, and as he looked at her, recognition seemed to dawn on his face, but he quickly masked it before she could see it.
He fixedthem allwith a piercing stare, and then bowed low toKeianna and Kaelyn, who had moved side by side during the last part of the battle.His gaze traveled between the two of them ashesaid, "Miladies, I am the Shang Wolf."
A/N: Good? Bad? Intriguing?I know, the POV's were really short, and I'll try to make them longer next chapter. Tell me what you think by reviewing!