Goldeneyedwildmage: All will be revealed…. smiles annoyingly

Neals Chick: Thank you.

Silverlake: Thank you. I like writing about Alanna, she's interesting.

Dolphin Dreamer: I liked that bit too. I like describing city scenes so I'm glad you commented on it.

Daine's Daughter: You'll have to wait a bit longer to find out who he is…

Aikia Riyen: Sounds squashed. Good memories?

Lela-of-Bast: Thank you. I've become obsessive about updating once a day, although it may slow day to every other day towards the end as the chapters are getting longer.

Sonnet Lacewing: You now know everything…

Celuna Cirrus: They were made for each other. I could never have seen Alanna as queen or married to Jon. That would have certainly ended in divorce!

Disclaimer: Its not mine, its Tamora's.

Chapter 14 – Horse-Hearted

Daine went down to the stables the morning after Alanna's arrival, leaving Numair stirring in his bed that they had shared that night. He had been up till fairly late with Harailt, trying to find a way to break the gagging spell that was stopping Thomer Varsgen from divulging precious information. And they he had taken her to bed; passion and desire keeping them awake until the new hours of the next day.

The stables were still in good order and little needed doing, just the usual morning tasks of mucking out, leading the horses that had stayed in the stables overnight into the fields and checking their general health and perhaps a touch of grooming. One of the horses had shown signs of sweet itch, a condition caused by an allergic reaction to midge bites. Daine had healed him the previous day, but was sure that he would need treating again. She went to his stable first, wanting to check on him before she let him out into the fields. To her dismay, she found him lying down, his eyes closed and unnervingly still and quiet. She knew as she stepped into his enclosure that he had died, she could sense it with her magic. Going towards him, she reached out with her copper magic and tried to find what had caused him to return to the Goddess. All she could detect were the faint remainders of the sweet itch, no other symptoms were apparent.

She stepped out of the stables and began to check each horse thoroughly; some of the mounts snorting at her and pulling away from her as she gently placed her hands on them and identified any signs of illness. Two more of the horses showed that they had the beginnings of sweet itch. Daine found this strange; they had not been anywhere near places that were known for the small flies that caused the illness. It was quite a rare thing among the horses kept in the stables for the Riders, Own and other member of the palace staff and royal family. Horses that had sweet itch were not used for breeding, as it was thought that the inclination to develop the reaction was hereditary. It was also not contagious. Daine sat down on the fence that separated the stables from the large field, watching the mounts that were frolicking about. This was not normal, she knew. One case of sweet itch she could accept, although August was a strange month to develop such an affliction. Two more occurring overnight was plainly bizarre, especially when they hadn't been outside or near any wet areas, such as woodlands or rivers or marches, and although there were very few physical symptoms at present as the horses hadn't yet started rubbing and making the area visibly sore, she could tell that damage was occurring under the skin.

Daine called the herd that had been outside over night to her one at time, knowing that her horses that had been outdoors were more likely to have been bitten. All were clear, including Cloud.

"Have you seen anything strange lately?" She asked her mount. "Any odd people lurking about?"

Nothing stranger than usual. Is it the itchy thing? There have been lots of flies, more than normal. Cloud answered in her abrupt manner.

Daine wondered how her horse had gotten so smart. "I haven't seen any," she told Cloud.

You wouldn't notice, they don't bite you. Besides, even if they did you'd be oblivious. Stork-man is all you think about nowadays! The horse retorted.

"Are they the normal flies?" she asked, realising the oddity of what was happening.

They're a bit smaller, and they're not so bothered about not being near the wet, Cloud replied. I'm going back to my salt lick. See if the stork man will help you. And with that, Cloud hoofed off into the field, leaving Daine to roll her eyes in amusement at her horse's behaviour.

Letting one of the stable boys know about the death of Riven, she began to make her way to the room where she knew Numair and Harailt would be, carrying out their trials to see if the could break Makheen's spell without draining themselves. From what she could here from outside the room they were obviously having a great deal of success. Tentatively, she opened the door and watched as the two mages proceeded to slap each other on the back in congratulations, acting in a way that Daine had never seen two women behave. She smiled in puzzlement as Numair finally noticed her, leaving Harailt to join her, kissing her quickly of the lips. She briefly grinned at the show of public affection, and then her face fell as she remembered the reason for what she had come.

"I need you to open one of those windows so I can speak to Onua," she told him. "Could you do that? I wouldn't want you to use too much of your gift, but I really need to speak with her…" she said, her voice shaking slightly.

Numair looked at her, his heart shining in his eyes. "If you need to speak with her that badly, then of course. I'll have to hear what you say, though."

Daine nodded, "It's probably best if you a Harailt hear this as well."

Numair used his gift to find the horse mistress, discovering that she was less than an hour's ride from Corus. He opened the magical space closing the distance so Daine could begin her conversation.

She told Onua what she had discovered in the stables, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks as she realised the loss of a friend. Onua was obviously stunned by the news, reiterating what Daine had thought about the usual chronology of sweet itch.

"There are no other reasons as to why Riven dies?" Onua asked the wildmage.

Daine shook her head. "Apart from that there wasn't even any germs in the small bit where he's started to rub. He was healthy. If I thought he'd have been sick I'd have stayed with him over night. Now two more have got sweet itch, though they've not been near any marshy or wet areas recently enough to get bit. Cloud says there are really small flies pestering them, I've not seen any, but she wouldn't make that up."

Onua sighed deeply. "I'll be there really soon, Daine. Keep treating the two horses that are infected and check the others every hour, if you can. Numair, Harailt," she addressed the two mages, "Does any of this sound as if its related to your field of expertise?"

"Possibly. It would fit with Karrum Makheen's style of attack, to use magic to control flies to go out of their natural habitat," Harailt interjected.

"Also, it wouldn't be a drain for him to add an extra something to the bite of the flies. Maybe Harailt or I should take a look at the horse that's dies, and see if we can get hold of any of the flies, although that may be tricky," Numair added.

Onua nodded. "You'd better close this window, Numair. It sounds as if you're going to have a busy day." They quickly said their goodbyes and Numair relaxed the magic, looking at Daine with some concern.

"We'll go now, Daine, and see what we can find out. We won't be seeing Thomer Varsgen until later, probably this evening, so we will do what we can now," Harailt reassured her.

They made their way back down to the stables and the field. Daine pointed the mages in the direction of where the stable boys would have moved the corpse to. She knew that she couldn't face seeing Riven, the feelings of guilt and sadness overwhelming her. She began to recheck the two mounts she had identified earlier as having sweet itch, noting that their general condition had worsened. She began to heal them, pulling strands of copper fire from the well within her and applying her magic. Although it looked as if the inflammation and swelling which has quickly appeared has begun to heal, the spirits of the horses were still dimmed. Daine could almost feel the life being drawn from them, as if someone was using a magnet to take away their ability to breathe and survive, and she found that she could not stop it. She repeatedly tried to reinforce the life that they had left in them, each time to no avail. She felt herself beginning to tire but forced herself to go on and in between attempts she searched through the rest of the herd, checking for similar symptoms. Unfortunately, she found three more, causing her heart to sink deep into her stomach, her insides silently shrieking with pain at the inadequacy she felt as she failed to alter their seemingly inevitable destiny.

Numair found her, along with Onua, propped up against the fence that ringed the field looking pale, wan and broken. Onua had automatically begun to check through the mounts herself, noticing the lack of physical damage done by the affliction but sensing the damage that had been done.

"It's magic, sweet," Numair told her, pulling her weary body into his arms as he sat down next to her. "The same mage who tainted the water and has placed a gagging spell on at least two prisoners. I'm beginning to recognise his signature."

Daine nodded weakly. "How?"

"The flies. They are carrying a small amount of water hemlock in their bite. It's fatal to horses, causing sudden death. There is something we can do, although it will depend on how much Makheen has amplified the strength of the poison," Numair send softly.

"What?" Daine roused herself from her weariness.

"Acetic acid can be used to neutralise water hemlock. You could try getting any horses with symptoms to ingest that," he said, seeing hope roused in her eyes.

"How in the name of Shakith did you find out all of that?" Onua called, walking back towards them from the middle of the field.

Numair smiled slightly. "Poisons were always a speciality, particularly with such jewels as I own. Water hemlock is neither uncommon nor original, so it wasn't particularly hard to detect. I only hope that we've managed to discover it in time to stop any more horses succumbing to it."

"Will the acid thing work?" Daine asked, the tired tone still biting at her voice.

"Hopefully, but there will be no guarantees. It will depend on how infected the horse is as to how well it will work," Numair said softly, not wanting to upset her more, but loathe to lie.

Harailt had gone immediately to the store to find the acid; they would simply use vinegar which was a diluted form of the acid and relatively safe to be ingested in a greater amount than usual. His head was filled with the events of recent days and the possibilities of finally digging some information from someone connected with Karrum Makheen. He went to large store room, used to hold supplies of non-perishable food items, using his gift to light up the dark room. As he was hunting around for the vinegar he began to sense that he wasn't quite alone in the room. Turning round swiftly, expecting to see a maid or a servant hiding from someone or a courting couple having found a place to be private, he caught sight of a tall, fair skinned woman. Taken aback by her presence, his last thought was to arm himself as she threw a blue-black ball of magic directly into his chest, flinging him onto the wall and knocking him unconscious.

Numair began to wonder why Harailt was taking so long. Cursing him, imagining he had seen a pretty girl on the way and was now attempting to flirt with her, he set off to find him, knowing that the sooner they could get the horses to ingest some of the dilute acetic acid, the less likely it was that there would severe losses. He ran quickly to the store room, surprised not to have seen him loitering on the way. Pushing the door open into darkness, he lit his own magic ball of light and stood back in stunned silence as he saw Harailt's still, deathly white body collapsed on the floor.

He went over to his colleague and friend, knowing immediately that he had been attacked by another mage by the scorched clothing adorning his chest like an emblem of assault. He had been knocked severely unconscious by the fall and Numair knew from the blood surrounding his head that the impact has been quite strong. Quickly debating the best course of action, and knowing that it would be foolish to move him in case he broken any bones, which was an exceeding high possibility, he searched the palace for Alanna's presence with his gift and sent her a speech spell, telling her to come urgently and to also send someone for Duke Baird and a messenger to come to Numair. He rummaged on the shelf and found the vinegar, hoping that someone would come soon to take it to Daine and Onua. Alanna arrived barely two minutes after Numair had sent his speech spell, George with her. They looked in horror as the saw Harailt lying on the floor.

Without speaking, Alanna began to check him with her purple fire, he could see her healing bones that were probably broken. Eventually, as the Duke and a squire arrived, she broke away from the Dean of the University and turned to the three men.

"He will be safe to move. I've healed what bones were broken. Luckily his neck was fine, although his head appears to have taken a massive impact," her face looked grim with a combination of anger and worry. "He's suffered a massive trauma to the head." She looked in concern at Duke Baird, who's expression was also pained.

"How's this happened in the palace of all places? And who would know that Harailt, or another of us would be going to this room, or was he followed?" George shook his head. "We need to arrange a search of the palace ground and see if anyone has noticed a stranger wandering."

"The horses have been infected by flies carrying water hemlock in their bite. Harailt was on his way here to find vinegar to try to neutralise the effects," Numair told them, beginning to realise the bitter harshness of their reality. This had obviously been intricately planned. "Whoever has controlled the flies to make them leave their natural habitat and spelled them to carry poison clearly knew what our consequent actions would be." He looked to the squire who had accompanied Duke Baird. It was the Duke's own son, Neal, a fairly trustworthy boy with more than an ounce of sense and intelligence. He handed him two large bottles of the neutralising agent. "Take this to Daine and Onua in the horses' field and explain to them what had happened.

Harailt was taken to the infirmary, Alanna and Duke Baird escorting him. Numair could tell by the expression Alanna wore on her face that she had begun to take these attacks personally. He almost pitied whoever Karrum Makheen was, for when the Lioness got hold of him he would certainly pay dearly for the damage and hurt that he had caused. Numair began to hurry to the cells where Thomer Varsgen was being held, knowing that he could attempt to break the gagging spell without causing too much damage to himself. Even if the man didn't want to speak, once the spell had been destroyed it would be possible for Numair to draw the information from his mind anyway, although he cringed at the thought of doing this.

The cells were noisy with the cries and demands of the prisoners being held there, and it was not unlike the atmosphere that had been blatant at Port Legann; people seemed to be shouting of torture and unfair treatment, criticising Tortall and the king more so than they usually would have done. Numair nodded to a guard who let him into Varsgen's current abode.

The man was sat down at a table, holding his head in his hands as if racked with anguish. Numair sat down facing him, almost feeling some sort of sympathy for Varsgen as he saw that he was not much more than a boy, probably only Daine's age. Varsgen looked up at him, meeting Numair's deep brown eyes with his blue ones.

"Can you make it stop?" he whispered, his voice wrapped with anxiety and almost sounding feverish with pain.

"What is happening?" Numair asked, his voice surprisingly soft.

"Every time I think about him, or about what has happened I feel like a dagger's gone in my head," he replied, causing Numair to recall Harailt's predicament and felt a well of anger fill up in his chest.

"I think I can, but this may be uncomfortable," he warned, standing up and leaning over the table, the palms of his hands covering the man's temples. He sent his powerful gift deep into the man's head, feeling the barrier created by Karrum Makheen. He probed it, as he had done before, finding its strong, almost unbreakable resistance. He also felt Varsgen's pain, and the man's knowledge of how he was being controlled. Numair closed his mind to the outside noises and focused on the strength of magic building up in him. He began to chant the words that he and Harailt had discovered, almost like a mantra, beginning to feel his gift amplify and pulsate through his finger tips into Varsgen's head. He could hear the man whimper in agony as his magic and Makheen's met, vibrating as the two different gifts reverberated against each other. Numair called on the ancient spell again, the two words growing in volume. He felt an almighty wave of power zip thorough his body and heard Varsgen scream as he felt the painful release from the focus, the gagging spell fractured and spilt back into nothingness.

Numair removed his hands from Varsgen's head, stepping back. He felt surprisingly awake and alive; the Defigo Figere spell that they had learnt from a dusty old volume belonging to a mage from half a millennium ago had stopped any drainage of his gift. At least he wouldn't have to face the wrath of Jonathan. He watched as the man looked up at him, smiling weakly.

"That feels better," he said, tiredly, but his voice now free of pain.

"Do you think you could answer some question?" Numair asked, prepared for Varsgen to be too tired to be able to do so.

Varsgen nodded.

"How did you meet Karrum Makheen?" Numair began.

"My friends knew of him. He came to a village outside of Corus and started telling them about how it would be better for them if Kind Jonathan wasn't in charge. We've not got much money, or chance of getting any, and he told us how it could be different and said that we should help him get a rebellion going and that now was the right time to do it, with Tortall and the King's army being weak," Varsgen seemed to tire greatly as he spoke.

"When did he make you do some of these things, like attack Baron Cooper? Did you not want to do it?"

Varsgen shook his head, not looking Numair in the eye. "I went to meet him because my friends were saying how good he was, but I didn't like him. I think he could tell, because someone knocked me out when I walked home. After that I had to do what he told me."

"How would he tell you?"

"I don't know. I would just hear his voice in my head. If I tried to talk about him or what we were doing to anyone I shouldn't have I wouldn't be able to speak," the trauma of what had happened to him caused the young man to begin to shake and his eyes welled up with tears. Numair realised his feelings of violation and wondered if he should leave more questions until later.

"One last thing; where did the meeting take place?"

"In a room above a shop in Worvield."

Numair's eyebrows rose. Worvield was the first place he and Daine discovered to have had their water supply tainted; eleven of their population had died after drinking the water. Healers had gone there frequently to check on the health of those who had recovered from the poisoning. Numair wondered if the residents of Worvield had put the illness down to the actions of those in charge of the country. He imagined that any who had suspected the newcomer to their village would have had the same treatment as Varsgen.

"You know you will be safe here," Numair tried to reassure the man who was now consumed with what looked like shame and guilt. "I made need you to answer some more questions later, though."

Varsgen nodded, not even looking up at the mage as he stood to leave the room.

The palace was humming with people trying to innocently look for the perpetrator of Harailt's injury. Numair rushed quickly past them, wanting to find both Jonathan and George to update them on the information he had gotten from Thomer Varsgen. He discovered that Jonathan and Thayet had both left the palace for the day to meet with officials in Corus regarding the riots that had occurred in the Corus gaols. George was in the small study he used; a bare, empty room, containing only an old wooden table and three rickety chairs. He had been joined by a man that Numair had never met before; he had prominent cheekbones and a neatly cut crop of brown hair. Other than that he was unremarkable. Numair doubted he would have recognised him if he had seen him before. George gestured for him to sit down with them at the table. He didn't introduce them; this was George's domain now and certain ordinary rules did not apply. If George had thought it necessary for Numair to know the man's name he would have told him.

"Thomer Varsgen has said that he met Makheen in Worvield," Numair enlightened.

George nodded at the man, and then looked over to Numair. "I heard yesterday from a reliable source that he is staying in Low Wood. It may be that he is staying in one area and lying low there, while conducting business in other places. Too much in one area would draw too much attention to himself an' not his cause, and ultimately his aim. A shop named Zespers's has also been mentioned. Does that mean anything to you, Numair?" George asked him.

"Vaguely. I know of it. It used to be run by an ex-teacher at the Carthaki University who was outcast for his radical thinking and treatment of certain students. It was always known as a place where any illegal ingredients could be purchased and as a safe house for illegal immigrants and people wanted for questioning. Given thought, it would be the type of place I could have associated with what Makheen is attempting to so, although I doubt he has stepped foot in there," Numair said seriously.

George nodded. "I don't suppose that there is any chance of Zesper being our mad mage, is there?"

Numair shook his head. "Zesper was not a particularly powerful mage, although his was wizened in the field of mind control, so I would imagine that there would be some connection between the two. Zesper would also be around ninety years old, or maybe more. I'm not even sure if he has anything to do with the shop now, or if it's a protégé of his who runs it."

Again, George nodded, looking at the stranger. "Someone is going to go an' do a bit of work for me in Low Wood, and now Worvield as well," he looked at Numair and then at the stranger again. The stranger stood up, bowing his head slightly at both George and Numair and left silently. "I may ask Daine to pay a visit to Zesper's, if you would help her; just to see if she overhears anything useful. Of course, I won't be asking her until the horses are all well." The last remark was made as George saw the look on Numair's face.

"I had better go and see how Daine and Onua have done with the acetic acid solution, and how the horses are doing. If it affects many of them we will be in serious trouble. It will effectively weaken our defences," Numair said, standing up from the creaking chair.

"Is there anyway to stop the flies?" George asked.

Numair shrugged. "That will be my next step. I would think so. I also imagine that we will be able to immunise the horses against the toxin."

George accompanied Numair outside to the stables. They saw Onua, making her way towards them.

"Numair!" She called, alarm and worry in her voice. "Come quickly! Cloud's showing symptoms too!"

Numair picked up speed, racing towards the stables. Inside he saw Daine, tears streaming down her cheeks like a monsoon, crying silently as she knelt beside the horse who was now saw limply on the floor.

"She's just not getting better," his lover wept, her voice shaking with emotion. He sat next to her, feeling sadness overcome him. "The other horses are responding to the treatment, but Cloud…"

He watched as she buried her head in her friends mane and realised he didn't know what to do.

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