Chapter 4

"Look!" Leo exclaimed. "Home!" Eliena's sharp eyes caught him about to urge his mount into a gallop. She grabbed his reins. He glared at her. "What, Eli?"

"You stay with the group," she instructed. For a moment, Eliena thought Leo was going to tear off anyway, but he sighed.

"Fine," he sighed. "Your highness." Eliena dropped her hold and glared at Leo.

"Excuse me for following orders," she snapped. Leo looked at her.

"Aw, Eli. Don't be like that," he said. "I'm sorry, Eli. I really am."

"Don't use my title against me, Leo. Because I'll turn around and show you what it can really do." Leo wondered what she meant by that as she trotted to catch up with Thayet.

"Eliena!" Eliena glanced in the direction of the voice. Tyler was waving at her. She waved back and kept going. "Come here!" She sighed. Now she had to be polite. She maneuvered Abyss over to him.

"What, Tyler? I have to go ride with Lady Thayet." While she didn't use the title when around Thayet, she used it when speaking to others. It was only fair. Tyler looked hurt.

"You don't want to ride with me?" he asked, batting his eyelashes. Eliena smiled at him.

"You know I really would, Tyler, but I can't," she replied. "Now, if you will excuse me." She trotted to the front where Thayet was.

"Tyler Mason?" Thayet guessed. Eliena nodded and made a face.

"He annoys me," she replied.

"You could always ignore him. He is beneath you," Thayet remarked. Eliena's eyes flashed.

"Great Mithros, why is everyone talking about my royalty?" she asked. "First Leo calls me your highness like he was talking about Stormwings, and now you're telling me I can not talk to Tyler because I'm the princess. Why does it matter so gods-cursed much that I'm the heiress?"

Thayet smiled sympathetically. "You don't need to tell me that, Eli. I was a princess too, remember." Eliena nodded.

"That's true. But you weren't allowed to inherit anything," she reminded her. Thayet nodded.

"But everyone thought I shouldn't do anything because I would hurt myself. You're lucky your mother is Alanna, Eliena. She can talk Jonathan around to a lot. If Jonathan had married anyone else, you would be at the convent right now." Eliena shuddered and Thayet laughed. "Exactly."

"I suppose you're right," Eliena sighed. "But I still wish I weren't royal. Sometimes I just want to be Eliena." Thayet smiled.

"You know, your mother told me the same thing not three days ago. She was the Lioness, and she gave that up to be the queen," Thayet told the girl. Eliena nodded.

"But father promised that she'll get to fight again someday," Eliena replied. "He said if we ever go to war, she's the commander."

"But when wartime comes around, will he remember?" Thayet asked. "War isn't anything glamorous, Eli. Raoul, Gary, Myles, and your parents will tell you that. When wartime comes, Alanna will be called upon to act as queen. And if the queen is on the battlefield, Tortall is in a lot of trouble."

"She'll fight," Eliena assured Thayet. "Mother will be sure of it." Thayet laughed.

"I've no doubt she will. And be assured she won't remind him gently!" They were riding into the main courtyard of Pirate's Swoop Fortress. Two people stood in the main doorway. One was a tall, lanky man who looked like an older Leo, with a larger nose. The other was a curvy woman with red-brown hair. Her eyes were a lovely golden-brown color.

"Well if it isn't her royal highness Princess Eliena of Conté herself!" the woman remarked. Eliena dismounted and went to them. The woman hugged Eliena.

"Hello, Uncle George. Hello, Aunt Rose," Eliena greeted. She hugged the man. "I missed you!"

"Where's our son?" the man, Baron George Cooper of Pirate's Swoop, asked. "I thought he was coming."

"Well, thanks!" Eliena laughed. "He's coming. He's father back, though. You know, being a page and all. We need him to defend us." Rose and George laughed, knowing that Eliena was probably more skilled with knight weapons than their son at that point.

"Eliena, aren't you going to introduce your new friend?" Thayet called. Eliena blushed.

"Oops." She beckoned to Daine. Daine came over. "Daine, this is Baroness Rose Cooper of Pirate's Swoop and Baron George Cooper of Pirate's Swoop. These are Leo's parents. Aunt Rose, Uncle George, this is Veralidaine Sarrasri. She had wild magic." Daine curtsied.

"No need to curtsy, demoiselle," Rose told the girl. "We're all informal here. George and I are both common born and bred."

"From your name, so are you," George remarked. Daine blushed slightly and nodded. Eliena gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Not long before, Daine had told Eliena about her last name: Sarrasri, and how her mother had been killed by bandits.

"They won't judge you, Daine," Eliena assured her friend. "We're not like that here. Can I tell her, Uncle George?" George nodded. "Uncle George is the former King of Thieves. Some of his…men are former thieves." George smiled, knowing that Eliena was well aware that George's spy work was supposed to be a secret.

"Where is Leo?" Rose muttered. Eliena turned and cupped her mouth to amplify her voice.

"Leonard of Pirate's Swoop! Aren't you going to greet your parents?" she yelled. Moments later, Leo was charging into his father's arms. "Thank you." Eliena tilted her head toward the door to indicate she wanted to go in. "C'mon, Daine. I have normal rooms here. Can she have the room next door?" Rose nodded.

"Of course," Rose replied. "I wouldn't have it any other way." As they walked into the house, Eliena explained:

"Leo and I are very close. And our parents are close, too. Since I was little, my mother has brought me to the Swoop for a month in the summer. I have rooms that they keep all ready for me so I can come any time I want. Sometimes being a princess is too much, and I come down here. Oh, gods, that sounded wrong, didn't it? I'm sorry, Daine. I hate it when I sound like a princess." They reached the rooms. Eliena opened one door, revealing a plain room that looked like any other room in the Tortallan palace. "This is your room." She walked to another door and opened it. It was a connecting door to another room that looked like Eliena's room at the palace. "And this is mine. "My keeper usually stays in this room. But there's another connecting room that my keeper can stay in this time." Daine laughed. She loved the way Eliena described her guards as her keepers. On this trip, though, Numair was her official keeper. Daine couldn't help but wonder if Numair would sleep in the connecting room, being a man. Daine figured he might, since he was going to be teaching both Eliena and Daine on this trip.

"Can we go to the water?" Daine asked. "I've never seen an ocean before." Eliena laughed.

"Of course, Daine. I forgot. Come," she replied. A violet ball appeared in her hand. "Numair, Daine and I are going to the water. I'll keep her safe, don't worry."

"You had better, Eliena," Numair said, faux-sternly. Eliena stuck her tongue out and the ball vanished.

"Come on, Daine. I'll bet there are do- oh! Let's get Miri and Evin!" Miri and Evin were two of their Rider trainee friends. George had recommended Evin to the Riders. Evin's family were Players, and he had all sorts of useless talents.

"But we should- Eliena?" Eliena was disappearing, a violet aura around her.

"I'll be right back, Daine. Promise." Eliena vanished, and moments later she reappeared. "They'll meet us there."

"What was that?" Daine asked. "You just… vanished!" Eliena smiled.

"You've never seen me do that before? Uncle Thom taught me. I can use my Gift to transport me over small distances. I could go from here to Corus like that," Eliena replied.

"Why didn't you do that, then?" Daine wanted to know.

"I'd rather ride, but its handy to do something quick," Eliena explained. "Besides, it saves useless running time. Sometimes I do that if I don't want to wait for a servant." Daine shook her head. It was very strange. "Come on!" Daine noticed that Eliena was halfway down the hall. "Are you coming or not?"

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"Uncle George…" Eliena tugged on George's tunic to get his attention. George looked up from his papers.

"Yes, Eli?" he asked.

"There's something strange going on." Eliena rubbed her goose bumped arms. "Something magic strange. I can feel it in my Gift. It makes me shiver." George looked at his shivering niece and shuddered. Eliena's Gift was powerful, and if she felt something….

"Can you call Numair? I want him to see you," George said. Eliena nodded and held up her hand. Numair's face appeared in the violet ball.

"Can you come to George's study?" Eliena asked.

"One moment." Soon after, Numair was walking in. "Eliena? What's wrong?" She was sitting in a chair, rubbing her arms to keep warm. Numair grabbed a pillow. "Do you need this, George?" George shook his head and Numair promptly turned it into a cloak. He wrapped it around Eliena. "What's wrong?"

"There's some strange magic," Eliena explained. "And I don't like it."

"I wonder why… Goddess." Numair was looking out the window. Two miles out a fog bank lay on the ocean, its top as high as the tallest tower at the Swoop. It took Eliena a minute of looking before she saw what was wrong: the curved dome was clean, as if the thing were shaped by a sculptor. It was also dead on the water. Fog was neither tidy nor slow. It moved fast and overwhelmed everything in its way. This close, they shouldn't not have been able to see the sky, and she ought to have seen it move by now. (WILD MAGIC, pg. 288-289, italics direct quotes)

"That's not right," Eliena remarked.

"Magic," George murmured. "Its magic." Numair nodded.

"I'm not affected, but Eliena isn't as old as I am, nor as experienced," Numair said. Eliena nodded, rubbing her arms.

"George…" Thayet stood in the doorway, Daine beside her. "Daine has some news…"

"We're surrounded," Daine said. "I was talking to the owls, and they said there are people all around." She held out a paper. "They mapped it for me." George took it and whistled.

"They must be waiting for dawn," he remarked. "Waiting for the fog." Daine looked and saw the fog. She knew without anyone saying that there was something very wrong. George looked at Eliena. "Eliena, your parents have to know."

"But how?" she asked. "Any messenger that tries to get through the camps will be killed!" George was silent.

"Wait, Eliena," Daine replied. "When you went to get Miri and Evin before, didn't you say you could get from here to Corus the same way?" Eliena nodded slowly. "So why don't you tell them?"

"What is she talking about, Eliena?" Numair asked.

"Uncle Thom taught me how to magically transport myself. He said if there were ever danger, I could get from the palace to Legann that way," Eliena replied softly. "And we're closer than Legann."

"But is it safe?" George asked. "If anything happened to you, Eliena, your mother would have my head."

"Perfectly," Numair replied. "As long as she knows how to work it." Eliena nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard. The sooner she alerts them, the sooner we can get reinforcements here. The Riders alone won't be enough, even with your guard."

"But we might need her skills," Thayet protested. "Eliena can use a sword almost as well as her mother!"

"If I go now, I'll be back soon," Eliena said. "It doesn't take too long."

"They'll want more information. They'll hold a long meeting in the war chamber…" George remarked.

"No, they won't," Eliena disagreed. "My parents are no fools, Uncle George. They'll send a company of the Own right out."

"Raoul," Thayet whispered. "They'll send Raoul's company." Eliena shrugged.

"If he's closest," she replied. She turned to George. "I have to go Uncle George. Otherwise we'll be in more danger than it's worth."

"I'm a fair shot with a bow," Daine put in. "I can do that if need be."

"And we have Numair's magic," Thayet added.

"We can avoid attack, George," Numair said. "We have to." George sighed.

"All right. Go, Eliena. Go now and hurry." Eliena nodded and vanished.

Author's Note- REVIEW.