A/N: Hope you like this chapter. This is our first fanfiction. Yay!! Please review!! BTW, thoughts are in italics.
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to us- it all belongs to Tamora Pierce.
"Mithros, Mynoss, and Shakith!" muttered the King under his breath so the commanders riding beside him would not hear. How could I have been so stupid?
The King and the First Company of the King's Own were riding back from the small town of Avesta after settling a dispute among the people there.
"We'll be arriving in Corus shortly," the commander nearest to Jonathan informed him.
"Wonderful," he said putting on a fake smile. He let it fade as he turned away. Alanna is going to kill me. Why couldn't she be back in Pirates Swoop when I arrive back? As the palace came into view, the ruler of Tortall thought to himself, I'm usually so happy to be back at the palace, but now, I'm dreading it.
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"What's taking him so long?" Alanna grumbled, more to herself than the others in the room.
"I'm sure he'll be here any minute now," Raoul answered. Alanna continued pacing with her hands shoved in her pockets.
"I just hope he settled the dispute of Avesta, because we have enough to deal with now that Emperor Kaddar is coming."
I'm not surprised that boy's still causing problems, Numair irritably thought to himself. I wonder what Daine-
The King entered the room, cutting off the mage's thoughts.
"Finally, it's about time," Alanna muttered. Jon was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to pay attention to Alanna's complaints.
"Oh, good, everyone's here," he said as he took his seat at the head of the table. "I called all of you here today to discuss what took place while I was in Avesta."
"Did you settle the dispute?" Gary inquired.
"Oh yes, everything is fine in Avesta."
From his seat next to the King, Numair noticed how nervous Jon seemed. He's always so composed. Something must be wrong.
The Queen leaned towards her husband and whispered to him, "Is everything alright?" She had also noticed how apprehensive he seemed.
"Well, you see... umm... while I was in Avesta... well..."
"Spit it out, Jon," Alanna said forcefully.
"The Dominion Jewel is gone." There was silence among the council members as they all stared at the King in shock. Jonathan began nervously fidgeting under the stares of the men and women seated around the table.
"You idiot! What happened?" Alanna yelled at him.
"I was attacked by a Stormwing... I believe his name was Vergor Thunderstar-"
"Attacked?" Raoul asked. "I thought the First Company was with you."
"Oh, right, well they weren't exactly there when it happend."
Myles spoke for the first time since the start of the meeting. "What really happened?"
The King finally gave in. "I couldn't sleep one night so I went for a walk through Avesta. I met a stormwing along the way. He was being very civil until he told me to look behind me... I don't quite recall what he said. I did and the next thing I knew, he was flying away with the Jewel in its pouch, laughing." He began turning a shade of pink as he told the embarrassing event.
Alanna gave him a menacing stare as she began turning purple out of rage. She was speechless.
"You fell for the oldest trick in the book?" Numair said.
Jon looked up towards the end of the table when he heard hysterical laughter. Alanna kicked her husband in the shin. "This is not funny! He lost the Dominion Jewel. Do you realize what this means! Stop laughing!" George did not respond, but continued laughing and pounding on the table. This made the King feel even more uncomfortable.
Thayet moved towards her husband and put her hand on his arm. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"I guess I was just so ashamed of my own stupidity," he told her quietly.
"I don't believe 'stupidity' adequately describes the situation," Buri snapped.
"I'm sure it will all turn out fine in the end. I'm sure the stormwings can't even use the Jewel," Raoul said logically.
Alanna suddenly said, "I can't believe this! I mean, of all things. The Jewel is missing, we still have to deal with Emperor Kaddar's arrival-"
"What did you just say? Emperor Kaddar?" Jonathan paled as he asked numbly.
"Yes. Emperor Kaddar is coming accompanied by five of his advisors. He is supposed to arrive one day from now. He's traveling on the same boat as Commander Keladry's unit," Lindhall explained. As he heard the news, Jonathan sat down and put his head in his hands.
"Why me?" he said to no one in particular.
"Hello everyone! I just arrived-" Daine paused as she surveyed the scene before her. Numair walked over to her to explain the situation.
"Daine, the Dominion Jewel was taken away by a stormwing by the name of Vergor Thunderstar."
Just because we broke up, he can't call me 'Magelet' anymore? Daine wondered to herself as she listened to Numair's explaination. He continued to tell her what Jonathan had said to the rest of the council.
"Oh, Gods," Daine muttered.
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