Hello again! Another chapter awaits you! Sorry it took longer than i was expecting - i was hoping to get it up at the start of the week, but i've been busy on other fics and life in general, and my brother finally returned from hols with the new HP. Anyway, should have at least one chp up at the weekend.

Em, the plot gets a little far-fetched again, but it works for me!

Thanks once again to my reviewers! estranged, bring back padfoot (i wholeheartedly agree with your name btw), USNA, Tortall's Resident Wildchild and Daine (I'll let you in on a secret... i've already written almost all of it, I'm just editing mostly)

Disclaimer: Once again, none of these characters belong to me because they're owned by TP, except Loki who appeared a few Chps. back and won't be appearing again... If these characters really were mine, i would be publishing this as a book, and not on here...

It took some persuading to let Jonathon finally allow the pair to leave for Midwinter. Finally, Thayet had reminded him sternly that the only reason they were going to see Alanna and George away from the Palace in the first place was his fault, and if he wanted them to stay put, he should make up with Alanna. Jonathon had given in after that, quailing visibly under Thayet's harsh tone. They travelled a week before the festivities began, accompanied by Sir Myles and his wife Eleni, and finally arrived in Trebond six days later, having been delayed by bad weather.

They were greeted by Aly and Alan astride their two small ponies, and a gruff looking tall man. This was Coram, master of Trebond, and Alanna's childhood mentor. The children rushed to them, their horses spraying mud behind them. Once they had greeted the group, the eight riders travelled down the remainder of Trebond Road.

Arriving at the small castle, they were greeted by a flurry of servants, taking their horses and packs and leading them to their rooms where hot steaming baths waited. Daine beat Numair to it, and slid in gratefully, a smile covering her face; Goddess she was glad to be out of the cold and mud. Numair scowled when he found her in the bath behind the changing screen. Daine peeped an eye open and grinned at the mage who merely glowered at her and stalked off.

"You know, Numair, you could join me if you really wanted – there's enough room here for two, even when one of them is you."

Numair meandered round the screen, a sly smile spreading across his face. "You know Magelet, it really wouldn't be proper. What if someone were to catch us?" he asked innocently.

Daine smirked. "You know as well as I do that no one here would care any less whether we shared a bath or not – we share a bed."

Numair grinned. "Well in that case." He shed his clothes quickly, stumbling as his foot caught in the leg of his breeches as Daine giggled. Coming round behind Daine, he picked up the large jug that was filled with hot water. "Are you ready?" She nodded. He poured it over her head, washing the suds in her hair away, letting it trickle down over her scalp. He rubbed his hands in her hair; Daine relaxed, enjoying the feeling. His hands slid down to her neck, rubbing her shoulders. Pausing for a moment, he twisted so he faced her back, his feet in the bath and slid down into the bath behind her. He pulled her back so she leant against his chest, his legs around her. Kissing her shoulders and neck, he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She half twisted to see him. "Numair!" she whispered, shocked. Numair's only reply was to meet her eyes with his as he kissed her shoulder. She turned round so that she faced him; Numair growled and pulled her down to meet him. Lips met in a desperate and hungry kiss, leaving the two gasping. Numair slid under the water, taking Daine with him. Opening her eyes against the sting of the soap, she saw the mage grinning; he blew bubbles in her face. She surged upwards and shrieked, barely managing not to swallow half the bath tub water as she did so. Numair surfaced, laughing, and hugged her as she shook. "Love you."

She scowled at him, and bringing water up with her hand, splashed his face. The look of shock on his face forced a laugh out of her. "Love you too."

A knock came on the door and George's voice drawled, "When you two lovers are quite finished, you may want to come and join the festivities."

Daine giggled at the appalled look on Numair's face as he swore at the man on the other side of the door.

"Is that any way to greet your host?" came the reply, and they could hear George chuckling as his footsteps receded.

"C'mon Numair. We'd best get dressed."

When the two finally emerged, blushing, it was to knowing looks from George and Coram, who promptly stopped when their respective ladies elbowed them in the ribs. Alanna greeted Numair with a hug, and Daine with a kiss. Catching sight of Daine's ring on the chain around her neck, she gasped, exclaiming, "Goddess, that's a beauty." She grinned up at Numair. "How much did that set your coffers back oh mighty mage?" Numair blushed and shook his head, smiling slightly.

"He won't tell me," Daine sighed. "Can you get it out of him?"

George grinned. "I'll give it my best shot." He came up to them and eyed the ring. "Careful where you go with that one. You wouldn't want to lose it to a lucky rogue. I can teach you some signs if you want, to let you pass, but then I'm sure you can defend yourself, and if you can't then you have an army of animals to help you, not to mention Master Mage over there." The Baron grinned, then made a joke about at least having of waited till they'd gone to bed.

"Not something I remember ye doin'," Coram growled at the man.

"Ignore him, Daine," Alanna said, aiming a kick at her husband, then cursing as he dodged out her way and caught her foot. Smiling cruelly, a mischievous glint in his eye, he took one step backward, then another, forcing the Lioness to hop to keep her balance. Alanna grabbed Daine's shoulder, fighting for her balance as she tried to keep up with her husband. She twisted her foot, forcing George to turn, and then flicking her other leg up in a scissor movement. George yelped and let go as Alanna came crashing to the ground, rolling over and up. "See old man! I can beat you, so don't try and be smart with me."

George shrugged and wrapped his arms around Alanna's waist. "Never did I doubt it." George leaned closer to Alanna's face, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"That's enough of that," Coram interrupted. "Is there not something ye wanted to discuss with the two, after you called them all the way up here?"

George sighed regretfully, and loosened his grip on Alanna. "Aye, there is. When we were at the Swoop, the earthquake. You said you saw orange and gold magic lass. Are you sure?" George led them through to a room, obviously a study, where Myles and Eleni already waited. Closing the door, George locked it as Alanna flicked purple balls to the corner of the room, a spell against eavesdropping. When the spell was in place, Alanna turned and sank into a chair, drawing her knees up beneath her chin.

"Is this really necessary?" Daine asked quietly.

Alanna nodded her head. "We believe so. All that we've found makes for uncomfortable reading." She reached over to the desk and handed the pile of documents on it to Numair. He flicked through them, his eyes skimming over the pages, his eyebrows rising. "This is worrying reading Alanna – it's hard to believe that it's at all possible."

Alanna shook her head. "I know. That's why I'm asking for your help." Numair handed the documents to Daine. "We're not entirely sure how to handle it."

Daine read through them. They seemed to detail the life of Duke Roger of Conté, who had lead an attack on the King at his coronation, using the very ground itself as a weapon. Alanna had slain him in the vaults of the Palace – Daine had seen Alanna's old sword embedded in the rock there. There was also mention of various advanced spells – Daine didn't bother to read through the processes involved in them, merely their outcome. The Sorcerer's Sleep she had heard of; it was what the Duke had used when Alanna killed him the first time so that he could be brought back to life. It wouldn't work, however, on a body that had been burned. Various other spells were detailed, each more sinister looking than the last, finishing with the ability to harness someone's magical Gift, dead or alive, to use at your own will.

"Shouldn't you speak to Jon about this?" Numair asked. "He can set the mages at the university to reading through the library. There's only so much I can do without beginning to look things up."

Daine spluttered. "With your encyclopaedic knowledge of the entire magical history of the Eastern lands?"

Numair smirked at her as George spoke. "We've sent him the details, and Myles has spoken to him about it, but my lass here is still to stubborn to speak to him."

Alanna stood. "Well, until the prig overrules that oaf of a training master, why should I? He deserves everything he gets."

"Alanna, will you calm down?" George stood, putting his hands on Alanna's shoulders and propelling her back down into her seat.

"Yes my dear," Myles put in. "I fear we may have greater dangers to worry about than whether you are allowed to speak to Page Keladry. I keep an eye out for her – she does well already, despite the fact that she fights. But then, you were not much different, were you? You both have a powerful sense of wrong and right, and you'd follow your Code of Chivalry to the end, but this is a matter for another discussion." He smiled kindly at his adoptive daughter. "Put your anger with the King aside and concentrate on your priorities."

Alanna sighed and pulled her legs up, hiding her face behind them as her fingers drummed her knees. George stood behind her, rubbing his hands up and down her back, whispering in her ear. Finally, she nodded and lifted her head, and George smiled and sat back down in his seat, pulling it closer to Alanna's and taking her hand in his. "Now," he said, "we have to find some way of tackling the problem."

"Well, first of all, we have to establish exactly what the problem is," Myles sighed. "We still can't be exactly sure. If this is Duke Roger's power, and we have little way of knowing if it is –"

Alanna intercepted, "It must be. It was orange, who else?"

Numair answered in a dubious tone. "There must be plenty of mages with orange Gifts, Alanna." When she went to interrupt, he turned to Daine. "We could look and see what you saw, if you don't mind? I would need to enter your mind though. Or Alanna, as she has far more experience than I of what the magic looks like."

Daine nodded. "Do I need to do anything?" She had seen Numair and Alanna do this kind of trick many times before, but had never had it done to her.

"No youngling," Alanna smiled. "I just need to connect – I won't see anything but what I'm looking for." Coming over to Daine and crouching in front of her, she put her fingers on her temples as violet flowers danced behind Daine's eyes. "Just relax." Images flashed in front of Daine's eyes, then there it was, the image of the cliff covered in a white net, and beneath it, orange and gold flares. Suddenly, the image disappeared and Daine swayed a little. Alanna stood up, frowning, and placed the back of her hand against Daine's forehead. Numair handed her a glass of water, which Daine swallowed.

"I'm okay now," she announced, a faint smile on her face. She still felt a little wobbly, but it was nothing she hadn't felt before. Alanna pulled away, a strange look on her face.

"It was Roger's magic alright. But it was tinged with something…"

"Immortal magic," Daine supplied. "It was definitely immortal, and wild." Numair looked at her. "You know it was," she told him. "You felt it through me."

"So, the magic combined three different types – Roger's Gift, immortal, and wild. We have to work out how the combination was arrived at," Numair sighed.

"The obvious solution," Myles put in, "is that whoever harnessed Roger's magic is either immortal, or controls immortals."

"But the wild magic?" George asked.

"Some immortals carry wild magic," Numair said, "akin to the animal which they are most closely derived from, but only those that have no human element to their composition, such as centaurs. So unicorns have horse magic in them, the magical appearance of a Taurus is similar to that of a bovine. Mixed immortals like Griffins have a balance between cat and eagle, although the dominance as to which species varies from individual to individual, but any traces that immortals do have of wild magic is very, very faint – it's not something that you can usually sense, is it, Daine?"

Daine shook her head, "But it was definitely there this time. There was no mistaking it."

"It's possible it could have been amplified in some way," Numair pondered aloud, tugging his nose. "How though? There are many ways to actually increase you magical Gift – well, not increase, but spread it over a larger area than normal."

"You mean like in Dunlath, where Tristan Staghorn used image magic?" Daine queried.

"Exactly like," he smiled at her. "In theory, that could magnify the immortal magic to the point where Daine could sense the wild element to it."

"So, ruling out immortal mages for the time being – we have no way to discriminate between one or another – let us look at possible human mages who have the power to do such a thing," Myles decided.

"There are only a few mages potentially strong enough in the Eastern lands to do such a thing," Numair commented. "Alanna, Jon, Harailt and myself in Corus, Master Dassjon in the City of the Gods, and Master Janassra of Galla."

"I doubt that I could manage it actually. Not quite to the same success you could, and it's not something I would be willing to try. I've had magic other than my own attached to me before – it's not something I would be willing to repeat, and that was my twin's Gift. There would be no other magic closer than his to my own, but still, it made me ill."

"We can discard our names anyway," Numair added. "You and I are both the least likely candidates to try to send the Swoop crashing to the ground; it's your family home, and I was in it. Jon, Harailt and Dassjon can also be excluded for similar reasons, and I doubt Janassra's Gift is powerful enough to send such a force from Cria, and besides, Galla is allied with Tortall – such an act could be construed as war, and we would have had notification of that by now," he paused for a moment and thought, tugging his nose. "There is one other possibility." The others looked at him. "Well, there was. Inar Hadensra. He would be the only other powerful mage in the Eastern lands able to do such a thing, but I killed him at Legann."

"What about a Carthaki? A renegade of course," George added quickly. "Kaddar does his best, but I know he can't control all his nobles, and some of them are at the University, and are fare powerful themselves by all accounts."

Myles tugged his beard as he considered who it could be, as the others glanced at each other. Finally, Daine spoke up. "What about Varice Kingsford?"

"Impossible," Numair said immediately. He blushed as Daine eyed him sharply. "I'm not defending her, but she doesn't have that sort of power. She doesn't even have a Mastery."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that she couldn't do it," Alanna pointed out. "Hadensra didn't have a black robe, but he had the skill and power to, if he'd wanted."

"But," Numair began.

"Varice Kingsford is a possibility then."

"Why though?" Numair said. "I mean, she has no reason to."

Daine looked at him. "You know as well as I do that she does." She twiddled with the ring on her neck chain, breaking eye contact with him. "She's shown that already."

Numair sighed. "She has, but she didn't know about the engagement before it was announced."

"That may not necessarily be the case, Numair. We knew about it," Alanna said as George nodded.

"But you're our friends!" Numair exclaimed. "There's no way she could have known."

"What's to say she doesn't scry on you? Did you never scry on her when you left Carthak?" Daine demanded. "You've never scryed on me?"

"Well, yes, but –"

"But nothing, Numair," Daine cut in.

Eleni nodded, "There is every way she could have found out about it. I heard plenty of whispers before it was announced officially, even before you'd returned to the Palace. Soldiers and knights who retuned from Legann were full of news, and I know I heard it mentioned more than once. You know these rumours and speculations spread like wild fire."

Numair sighed, "Varice is a possibility then. But where did she get enough power to do such a thing? And to control an immortal's power? It still makes it hard to believe."

"Well, if she managed to harness and control Roger's power, then she could control an immortal," Alanna said.

"There is the possibility that she used some sort of slave collar to control an immortal. Could she force it to use it's magic that way?" Myles queried.

"It's an option, I suppose," Numair commented, rubbing his head. "But we still don't know if it is Varice. There was none of her magic involved in the net, was there?"

Daine shook her head. "I only saw gold and orange."

"But if she had brought Roger back?" George asked.

"Impossible," Alanna snapped.

"I know you don't like the possibility, lass, but what if?" Coram growled.

"His body was burned on Traitor's Hill!" Alanna exclaimed. "I set the torch to his pyre myself! I speared him with Lightning! He can't have survived, not a second time."

"What about a variation on the Assemblage Spell?" George asked. "She could easily have gathered that information from the Imperial University, maybe even changed it to work for her purposes."

"How?" Alanna demanded.

"You know as well as I that if you go about it the right way, you can weave anything into the net of a spell. It's like a tapestry. Mayhap she could've altered the spell in some way so that it gathered even the tiniest ashes." Alanna shook her head vigorously, her face pale against her flash of copper hair, but George continued regardless. "It can be done, lass."

"And if Roger is involved in some way, then it would make sense to target the Swoop. He knows that that's where your home is, your family. He might not have thought to see if you were there or not – attacking your family would hurt you the most," Myles spoke kindly.

"And if it was Varice – well, then killing me wouldn't hurt her plans to get you back, would it?" Daine asked.

Numair shook his head sadly. "That's why I wanted you away – to keep you safe."

"I know," Daine said quietly.

"Well I for one am glad you came back," George interrupted. "We'd be in a fair bind if you hadn't."

"Anyway," Alanna stepped in. "We only have one person with a possible motive, and it's debatable as to whether she has enough power. Anyone else? Numair?"

"Well, Tristan Staghorn had some circle of influence in Carthak. Maybe one of his friends is out to get revenge on me." Numair sighed.

"Maybe he was friends with Varice," Daine reminded him.

"Possibly. Maybe she has an accomplice."

"Why can't you just accept that maybe, since you last saw her, Varice has changed?" Daine snapped. "She's obviously not the same woman she was – you said that yourself! Maybe she's increased her power, got stronger. Maybe, Numair, just maybe, she's not all sugar and spice anymore. You said she could be determined, when she wants. Maybe she wants us apart. Maybe she wants me dead! Maybe she can do it on her own, without help. You don't know this woman anymore Numair," she said more kindly, "you haven't known her for a long time."

"I know Magelet. I'm sorry. I'm really not trying to defend her, it's just – it's hard to think she could've changed so much."

"But you've seen that she has, Numair! She's already tried to drive us apart once," she looked at him. More quietly she added, "She nearly did."

"She couldn't do that, Daine. You know that," Numair held her hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Maybe she came closer than you thought." Daine stood and looked at Alanna, tugging her hand out of Numair's grip. "Can I get out please? I need some air."

Alanna sighed, and, waving her hand, made a hole in her magic at the door. Daine unlocked it and walked out. She lent back against the door, and behind her could feel the magic returning to it's place. She sighed. It seemed Numair had almost forgotten about that night, the night when she had felt her heart be ripped to a hundred small pieces. Numair had stitched it back together, telling her what had happened, and showing a growing love and care for her daily, but the pain was still there at the back of her mind, threatening to come out and shred her heart once again.

Blinking away the tears which burned her throat and eyes, she decided the best thing to do would be to find a way out of the castle. Mud still covered the ground outside, and she wanted to feel air beneath her. Asking a few servants for directions, she found her way to the top of a turret, and stopping for a moment to embrace the wind as it whirled around her, she let her clothes drop away from her and soared into the wind. As it whipped around her, she felt for a thermal, and was dragged up into the air, climbing so she could see the whole of Trebond in a matter of seconds. She flew, taking in the view, from the woods and flat plains far to the South to the mountains that were Tortall's border with Scanra in the North. The wind blew her towards those mountains now, and she let it carry her to them, not caring how far she went, simply enjoying the breath of air under her wings.

Crows joined her, and they turned and wheeled in circles, falling closer and closer to the ground then pulling up suddenly in an almost vertical climb. She judged a little over an hour had passed since her departure for Trebond, and slowly, regretfully, made her way back.

It was then she noticed something which should not be there, something which, in her upset when she had left, she had overlooked. Now she glided closer for a better look. In a small basin on one side of a small bluff, there were a series of small camp fires, and tents. The land was barren around them, picked clean of the small amount of game there was at this time of year. Daine dared not fly in closer; it was likely that she would be targeted as fair game also if they spotted her. Wheeling around, she fled to the castle.

On the turret, Numair awaited her, clothes in hand. She tumbled down to meet him, landing without grace on his outstretched arm.

"I'm sorry," he began. Daine shook her crow's head and tugged at the clothes. Numair nodded and carried her down to their room. "I am truly sorry though Magelet. I didn't mean to sound like I was defending her, it's just –" he shook his head. "I know how much it must've hurt you Daine – I could see it in your face. The pain in your eyes that night – it made me want to kill myself just for causing you that. I want to make it up to you – I thought that I already had. Not all of the pain, but I thought I'd helped clear some of it away. I want to take it all away Daine, every last bit. Just tell me how." He reached the door for their room and carried her in. She took off, and landed behind the changing screen, resuming her own shape. "Daine?" he asked, his voice puzzled.

"Not now, Numair," she breathed.

"But Daine –" he began.

She stepped out from behind the screen, buttoning her shirt. "I saw something, Numair. I think it's a bandit camp. At least a hundred strong."

He walked over to her, his long strides covering the room in seconds. "Where?" he demanded, hands on her shoulders.

"Just to the north-west. I can show it on a map." Sitting down on the bed, she pulled one sock on, then the other. "Tell the others; I'll be down in a moment." Numair nodded and turned to go; she caught his arm. Puzzled, he turned to look at down at her. She pulled his head down to meet hers and kissed his lips. "I love you."

Numair smiled his dazzling smile, the one he reserved only for her. "I love you too, Magelet. Be quick."