This one's slightly longer than the last chap, so let me know what you prefer in regards to length. Please review at the end! and be nice!
Disclaimer: This all belongs to TP, apart from the plot...
That night, Daine woke with a panic. She was falling head over heals, bare flesh pressed against cold, razor sharp steel, feeling it biting into her skin. She tried to cover herself, searching for exposed flesh. She recognised the smell – spices and metal, a tangy and unforgettable combination – as she rolled. Grabbing her badger's claw, she held it between fore- and index- fingers as she lashed out, screaming her defiance.
Strong arms held her, gently rocking as a voice shushed her. "It's alright Daine; it's a dream, just a dream. I've got you, you're safe now. It's all over – Ozorne's gone." The soft, deep voice continued, soothing her, the arms holding her against a smooth, bare chest. "It's over now."
She woke next morning, sore, as if the nightmare had been real. She peeked under her nightshirt, relieved to see only scars, no fresh cuts. Ganeil was right, she thought. Mortals do have more vivid dreams with immortals around.
Anxious peeping caught he attention. Looking around, she found its source, a flock of sparrows on a windowsill. She tiptoed over, not wanting to wake Kitten who still slept in the bed, and opened the window. – What is wrong wing-friends? – She need not have asked, as she could feel what worried them all around her, in the air. It was a crackling, a buzzing, so loud she could almost hear it. She grabbed a nearby robe, and ran to find Numair as she put it on.
Numair, however, was not the source. Inside the courtyard stool a short, stocky red head, hands on her hips. The tension was coming from her.
"Alanna!" Daine cried, running to her. Turning, the Lioness swept her into a hug, holding her tightly. Daine hugged back fiercely, and was shocked when she released her friend, not only to feel wetness on her own cheeks, but to see it on her friend's too. As Alanna quickly wiped her eyes, Darkmoon whinnied, trying to comfort his mistress, and attract Daine's attention at the same time. The young woman smiled, leading the war horse to the stables where there were oats. Turning, she was surprised to see the small woman had followed her.
"I'm sorry. I should calm down. I must be frightening your friends – Darkmoon's been fidgeting ever since I left Corus." Alanna tried to smile, failing.
"What happened?" Daine's eyes were full of concern for her friend. Alanna quickly explained.
"I leave for my tribe tomorrow. They can always find something for me to do… they don't care who I am – to them, I'm the Woman who Rides like a Man – sexless – they let me train their girls. I even trained their shamans for Mithros' sake."
Daine put a comforting arm round the woman's shoulders as she led her inside. "The King'll want you back soon though, won't he?"
"Well he's going to have a lot of apologising to do before I even go near the Capital." The Lioness's other famous trait was her stubbornness.
Numair found them on the top floor, observing the view. He held Alanna out a cup of vile smelling liquid. "Drink," he ordered.
Alanna scowled at him as she swallowed. "You should stop visiting Eleni to compare herbal drinks. Anyway," she changed the subject, smiling brightly, "I hear you two are getting hitched."
Numair grinned. "If Daine'll have me!"
"Well, how can he expect me to live in filth like this," Daine squeaked in mock outrage, dragging her finger along the surface of a nearby bookshelf and showing Alanna as the Champion smiled. "Kitten keeps sneezing and things light up." At this, Numair and Alanna laughed outright.
Alanna smiled. "She has a point, Numair – how could you bring your newly wed wife back to this? Or your children?" She swept a hand round the room, indicating dust and numerous piles of books in her gesture. "You have to get a housemaid."
"Well, I don't have any children, not yet anyway, and even if I did, they shouldn't be in my workroom anyway. And neither should a maid." The Champion grinned as Numair stalked out of the room, mumbling something which sounded suspiciously like "Women!" Turning to Daine, she said, "We should get you dressed." The girl shivered as an autumn breeze blew through an open window, and followed the Lioness down the stairs.
The crackling had begun to subside by the time Daine came out from behind a screen fully dressed, 10 minutes later. Alanna was perched on the end of the bed.
"I've never been so angry with him." She said. Daine nodded, assuming she meant the King, and sat next to her. "Even when we were in the desert, and he thought I would marry him, I wasn't this angry with him. I suppose I expected too much, that Wlydon would refuse to take a girl straight away, but I never thought Jon would agree with him… He never wrote it in the law, so there's no need for this Keladry to do a probationary year. I don't know. I thought maybe she would just be accepted, like I was, but I was disguised then, they didn't know I was a girl." Alanna sighed, shoulders drooping. Daine nodded, biting her lip in sympathy for her friend.
Sitting down in front of the mirror, Alanna came to stand behind her, taking the brush from Daine's hand and combing it through her hair. Alanna's touch was surprisingly gentle, for all her calloused, working hands, muscles and reputation, and the rage currently emanating from her, but Daine could feel the Lioness tremble behind her. "I don't know what to think anymore… It just feels like – it feels like he's betrayed me somehow. All these years – thirteen years! – I've been his Champion, and ten more his friend. For four years he helped disguise me, he loved me for three of them. He would have married me if I wanted to." She drifted off, threading a leather throng through Daine's hair, trapping any that might try to escape. In the mirror, Alanna's violet eyes were sparkling with unshed tears.
"And now he's done this. He knows exactly what he's done, and he probably has his reasons for it." She tried to smile as the tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "He always does. Always has… But he's banned me from going anywhere near her. Says it'll cause more rumours… All I wanted to do was help with training, help her build up more muscles or something of the like. It's not like I'll magick her. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't. Battle and magic just don't mix. It's cheating. Most of the time anyway."
Daine and Numair stood on the curtain wall, waving to the speck that was Alanna as she rode home. They were under strict instructions to keep an eye on George and the children, visit the Swoop soon, to keep in touch and to get a maid. Daine smiled at this. George could no doubt take care of himself and the children – he'd been King of the Rogue of Tortall when Alanna was just a fresh page, and knew very well how to watch his back, and others' too. The fact that it was George who had taught the Lioness hand-to-hand combat skills and knife-work obviously didn't count for anything at this moment in time either. Thom, the oldest of the children would be starting at the Royal University in a few years, and Alan and Alianne were more than capable of looking after themselves, even at seven. George and Alanna's skills were not kept to themselves. After all, you could not expect the children of the King's Champion and Spymaster to be unable to defend themselves, filled with the Gift, the Sight and the heritage that they were.
When Daine could no longer see Alanna, eagle eyes in place of her own, she sighed and smiled up at her tall lover. Numair was holding Kitten, bouncing her as he would a small child and talking to her. Kitten chirped back, her understanding of Common better than some human's who spoke it. She croaked, making Numair's black opal drop he wore under his shirt light up, as the mage grinned.
"Come Magelet," he said, shivering as a cold wind tore at his shirt sleeves. "Let's go to work."
"What work?" Daine asked as she followed him back into the tower.
Numair glanced back over his shoulder, still bouncing Kitten. "We have to find a maid. I do want to marry you, you know."
Daine grinned. "We'll see, my love. We'll see."
Later that night, Daine was shaken awake with urgent whispering in her ear. "Daine, wake up quickly! Wake up!" Instinctively, Daine grappled for the bow and quiver at her side that wasn't there. She opened her eyes only to discover that she was sleeping in Numair's bed, her quiver and bow on the other side of the room.
"What's the trouble?" she asked, as she quickly sat and swung her legs out of bed.
"None at all sweetling." Seeing Daine's confused, tired look, Numair said, "Just grab a robe and come with me." Scooping Kitten out of her cot, to be greeted by an infuriated squawk, he hurried out of the room and up the stairs. Daine followed, taking her bow and quiver anyway. If her time in Tortall had taught her anything, it was to always be prepared.
Joining Numair on the roof of the tower, she set her bow down beside her, and took a tailors-seat next to the tall mage. Following his gave, she looked up at the dark night sky, only to find bright shafts of light beam across the sky.
"What is it?" she gasped, shivering against the cold night air. Glancing at Numair, she saw him frown and mutter something as the stones around them began to radiate heat. She smiled gratefully at him and snuggled under his arm.
"It's similar to the war-lights of the Immortal's Realm," he told her, watching greens, blues and rose colours dance across the sky. "Here, it's called 'Tears of the Goddess'. The lights are supposed to symbolise her tears falling. It's meant to mean one of her patrons has died. There is some evidence to support this – when –"
"Numair," the young woman warned him gently.
The mage grinned. "Sorry, love. Anyway, their normally best seen in the North of the world, of the far South. You've never seen them before?" Daine shook her head mutely, watching in awe at the starburst of light that decorated the sky. It was as if it was a cloudy day, but beams of sunlight shone through gaps in the clouds, except there were no clouds, only a dark patch of sky surrounded by a burst of colours, ever changing in position.
"Are they magic?" she asked abruptly, sighing as bands of green and scarlet light weaved together.
"Yes," Numair murmured. "The same sort as that which binds the Bazhir to the desert, or Jon to the Crown. Ancient, natural, untouchable magic."
Kitten chirped softly, relaxing both mages. The last thing that Daine remembered was watching the pale green and silver lights dance across the sky, leaving darkness in their train, as Kitten snuggled between her and Numair as the mage held her against him.
Daine was again plagued by nightmares that night. As Numair murmured soothingly in her ear, she fought back the feelings of nausea, pain and weakness which accompanied those memories of smells, sights and sounds. Numair held her tightly while she shook with fear, stroked the tears from her cheeks as she sobbed, smoothed her wild hair from her face. While she tossed and turned Numair calmed her, until eventually she could slip again into a deep, trouble less sleep.
She awoke to find Numair watching her intently. At some point during the night they had returned to his bedroom. She smiled at him weakly.
"Ozorne?" he asked. Daine nodded, ducking her head so he would not see her overbright eyes. Numair sighed, lifting her chin till she faced him, and pulled her closer, his arms around her. She rested gratefully against his chest, rubbing her cheek in his chest hair as he had once chastised her for.
Numair slept bare-chested, only in his loincloth. Daine had discovered this on their return to Port Legann, when the two had returned to the castle after their separate battles to recover. Daine herself slept in an oversized nightshirt and loincloth. Now, feeling his hands against the bare skin of her back and waist, she looked down to discover that at some point during the night's activities her shirt had ridden up. His hands against her skin sent a tingling sensation throughout her body, chased by a warm, comfortable breathlessness. She gasped softly as soon as she could breath again, enjoying the contact of skin. She put one of her hands on his chest, the other lower down on his stomach, sliding one finger just under the waistband of his loincloth. His skin felt hot and smooth under her cool touch.
Numair gasped too, frowning slightly as he looked down at her hands. "You know I can't think when you do that."
"Good," came the murmured reply. "I don't want you too."
"I'm thinking of a way to rid you of your nightmares though."
"What will you do? You can't tamper with the Dream King's magic."
"I know. Maybe some Dreamrose before you sleep…"
"No Numair, I can do without. So stop thinking and relax!" His body tensed slightly, and then relaxed again. He slid both his hands higher, pulling her closer and caressing her lips. She slid under him as he did this, bringing her hounds round to his back, pulling him closer towards her. He slid his tongue between her lips, surprising a gasp from her, stroking hers with his, as his hands moved under her shirt.
Only when Daine slid hers down to his hips, touching the waistband of his loincloth did Numair come to his senses. His whole body became suddenly rigid and he slid off her to sit on the edge of the bed. Daine, shocked, discovered she was suddenly cold. Trembling, she pulled the blankets around her, then turned to look at him, puzzled. Had she done something wrong? Tentatively she reached out a hand to touch his tanned back. He flinched slightly under her touch, but her rested her hand there all the same. "Numair?" she ventured quietly.
"I'm sorry Magelet," he sighed. "This is all too strange for me."
Daine chuckled weakly. "This? Strange? What's so strange about love Numair? I've never felt anything so right. I'm sure you've done more with those you haven't loved than those you have. What's strange Numair? What's so different?"
Although she could not see his face, she could almost feel the troubled look on it, as clear as she heard his sigh and saw his shoulders slump. "For so long now Daine, you've been my student, my companion, my friend. I've laughed off the gaudy jokes at court for your sake, battled with Ozorne for you –" Daine hung her head, remembering her dream, and Numair and the Emperor's on their visit to Carthak. It had – she had – nearly gotten Numair killed. "– and I love you Daine. I've known that for some time, since the barrier collapsed, and I loved you before that. And I like this feeling, I do, but…"
"But," she prompted. Numair turned to face her.
"But it's strange, going from before till now so quickly." The he smiled. "But I wouldn't change it for the world," kissing her forehead lightly. "Just let me adjust Magelet."
She looked up into his eyes longingly, knowing it would make no difference. She saw something flicker in them, then he laughed, kissing her eyelids. She sighed, rolled over, away from him. She felt the bed lift as he stood up. "Don't huff Magelet, it doesn't suit you." She heard rummaging from the general direction of the changing screen. A few minutes later he emerged. "You're still huffing Magelet."
"I'm not, I'm sulking, there's a clear difference." She heard him chuckle as his footsteps moved closer to the door. "Get dressed. I'll see you in the kitchen in a minute, sweet." With that, he walked out the door.
Daine lay there for a minute or two longer, then stood up, moving over to the window. In the distance, she heard a buzzard. She greeted it, and listened to it's chat about her, her mate and the nest they were building, and then the bird invited Daine to join them. Daine hesitated, then slid off her nightshirt. Kitten stirred wearily behind her. "Kit, tell Numair not to worry. I'll be back soon."
Kitten murmured an agreement and then dozed off. Daine opened the window, and leaped out, feeling fingers turn to feathers as wind rushed through them. She soared up over the courtyard wall, greeting Cloud, Mangle and Spots on the way. Buzzards could be fast when diving for pray, but not when moving across ground. Daine had taken the shape of a sparrow hawk in her rush to meet the birds. Now she remembered the last time she took this shape. On the way to battle Ozorne for the final time. Daine panicked as memories came rushing back to her, vivid as if she were in the middle of it now, and not months ago, overwhelming her, and almost lost her shape. Quickly, she grabbed at the next bird which came to her mind, a sea eagle, and flew to meet the buzzards. She sailed over the land familiar to her from the ground, enjoying the alternative perspective of the world. Up here, she didn't have to worry about Numair, or Alanna and the King's argument, or anything. She could forget about the last year entirely if she wanted.
After racing the buzzards for a while, and helping them gather materials for the nest, Daine decided it was time to fly back to the tower. On the way, she noticed a lone rider, astride a golden horse with a dark mane. Smiling to herself as she recognised the rider, she flew down to meet her.
On seeing her, the Champion frowned. "Is that you Daine?" Darkmoon whinnied and pranced in delight, confirming the bird's identity to Alanna. "So this is where you've been hiding."
Daine, shaping herself as a starling , while changing her vocal cords and beak to that of a human, landed on the Lioness's saddle horn. "I've not been hiding anywhere," she objected. "Anyway, how do you know I've been 'hiding'?"
"Do you know what time it is? Numair's been going frantic with worry. You've been gone nearly four hours." The Lioness watched as the small bird in front of her glanced at the sun, and shivered. She still found it unnerving seeing and hearing her young friend's voice coming from animal's bodies. "He's been in contact with us, Fief Tameran, Corus, Legann, the King…" Alanna trailed off. "Anyway," she continued, "you should've at least let him know where you were going."
Daine began to object, then stopped, continuing a moment later. "I did tell Kit, but then she went back to sleep and… Numair still doesn't understand her as I do… Oh well, I suppose I should go back. Is this you off then?"
"Yes. I told Bloody Hawk I was coming yesterday, so they're ready for me. I don't know if I'll spend all winter there, but at least they'll have work for me."
Daine nodded, then asked, "Will George not miss you? Seems to me, with this war, you've barely seen each other, or the children."
Alanna sighed. "You're right. But George understands. He knows I can't just sit around twiddling my thumbs, especially when I'm angry. I have to do something. Something useful. And besides, he's made me promise to come home for Midwinter, and he can visit if he wants. It's not far from the Swoop. I just wish he could come with me. But he's getting reports from Scanra, warnings about new problems there. And the winter raids soon as well. I'm thinking of going to Trebond to help. Taking the others with me, of course," she added quickly after seeing Daine open her mouth. "For Midwinter. Myles and Eleni were thinking of going there too. Father says he's bored with Court festivities, but he says that every year." Pausing, she added, "You and Numair would be welcome too, if he doesn't cook you alive for not getting back." Daine grinned, and said her farewells to the Champion and her mount, then took off, changing to a hawk for speed.
She arrived to find Numair on the observation deck, the roof of the tower, surrounded by mirrors, crystals and water. He's been scrying for her. Black, glittering fire flowed from his hands to cover one particular bowl of water. He whispered something, then ended the spell, frowning as he rubbed his head and muttering to himself. Daine changed to a bullfinch, a small, round, beautifully coloured bird and landed on his shoulder. Numair looked up. "Daine, if that's you, this better be good." He watched, as the bird dropped into his lap, changing to a black cat with white socks, and began to purr. Numair couldn't help himself. He smiled and stroked the animal as it nuzzled him. "You are in so much trouble," he murmured as the girl/cat licked his hand. "I was so worried about you…" Daine stretched on her hind legs, front paws on his shoulder blades, and licked his nose, purring. Numair kissed her lightly on the head, then scooped the cat up and carried her downstairs.