One Wish-Chapter Four: Illusions

A/N: Well, here it is, the next chapter. Hopefully it will clear some stuff up for you. I blame the bathtuub for this chapter. As always, reviews are welcome, even flames. Right now I don't care. I really really and truly want to know what you think. I for one think that I am lazy, and that I can't type for beans. See? That wasn't so hard. Well, on with the show.

Disclaimer: Ooo! I actually own something! Adelie is mine. I'll put you in one of the next chapters ifanyone can tell me what kind of animal and Adelie is. I found out from my planbook--which is odd, because that stupid thing is never useful. Excet for now. Well, anything else you recognise is Tammy's.

My heart says something

But my head contradicts

Every time I open my eyes

I see darkness

Blinding confusion

I want to be there where you are

I want to catch you when you fall

I want to be the name you call

When you wake up in the night screaming

I'll always hold you in my heart

And half a heart is just a question mark…

Numair gripped the rail of the ship with white knuckles, his hair flapping in the breeze. His appearance was calm and unshadowed, his face staring blankly across the wide expanse of water that was The Great Inland Sea. But inside, his soul raged with emotions. The red heat of his anger even overwhelmed even the blue-grey of grief and numbness that had dominated his emotions for the past two weeks. Why? Why had Jonathon, a man he called his friend, ordered him and Alanna shipped to Carthak—like parcels?

"Like very nice parcels, though," Alanna had remarked dryly when he had told her. Her face had been twisted into a grimace: however much she disliked formal events, she disliked ships even more. They were torture to her. He had tried to smile for her then, but all that showed was a sad twitch of his cheek muscles. He had tried to smile for her because she understood. Somehow, the Lioness understood what he was going through in a way that no one else had. Perhaps it was because she had lost so many people that she had truly loved, or perhaps it was because she was one of his oldest and best friends. He didn't know, and for once, he did not care to find out the why. Now, it was simply enough to know that irrevocable fact.

Numair sighed. In two weeks, Kaddar, Emperor of Carthak, and Adelie, Princess of Jindazhen would be wed, sealing the alliance between the powerful Carthaki Empire, and the distant, exotic land to the Northwest. Delegations were coming in from all over, eager to see the strange princess, and not willing to risk the wrath of Carthak. With the marriage, Jindazhen pledged alliance to Carthak and her allies. Along with Alanna and Numair in the Tortallan delegation were Duke Gareth the Elder, Gareth the Younger, Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, and Duke Baird of Queenscove, but today, they were all nowhere to be found. With another sigh, Numair turned back to the ship. The best thing to do now was to sleep, and try to escape this reality.

- /-

Numair stood at the prow of the ship SunStar, baking in the noonday sun. Spread out over the distant horizon was the grey mass of Carthak, growing ever closer. He stared at the water, wanting to lose himself in the inky depths of blackness, so different than the pools of blue-grey he had once loved to drown himself in. It seemed so inviting…He could forget everything, and leave all his troubles behind, and finally be with Daine… He leaned closer over the rail, until he was perilously inclined over the edge, until one small move could push him in. He pressed his face closer, ready to fall into oblivion.

A firm hand held him back. It pulled him back until his feet touched down onto the sturdy wooden planks of the ship. He turned, and saw Daine standing beside him, smoky-brown curls thrown wildly back from her face, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Her eyes were sharp. "You promised," she said, her voice an expressionless whisper. He watched her lips as they moved, then reached out to touch her.

The second he moved towards her, she was gone.

A/N: Well, that was terribly short, as all of my writing seems to be, and very cliched. Oh well. I even gave you a cliffie... Well, press the little button, and see what happens. Interesting things always do happen when you press buttons, like this one over here...:KABOOM! Ooops! Wrong button! Oh well, enjoy!

MoD