Alrighty, I'm super proud of this chapter, and hopefully you guys will be too! My grounding is sort of lifted (I'm not sure what's really going on right now - I have to more days of school/finals), and I'm assuming it will be until my mom gets my report card. Which, hopefully, will have all As and A+s so I won't get grounded again, or worse, have my beloved laptop taken away, which is where all these files are stored. I don't own anything of Tamora Pierce's, just so you lot know… on with the story, of course!

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Chapter 4

Daine was pacing around in the bathing room of their inn room nervously. She had just bathed herself in a welcomed tub of heated water, and had dried herself off as best she could. Now her wet curls clung to her neck and the shoulder line of her blue nightgown. She knew this was Numair's favorite color on her, and she wanted to look good for him.

Why are you being as nervous as a mouse? Daine demanded of herself soundlessly as she paced. You're just sleeping in the same bed with Numair. How hard could this be?

"Magelet?" Numair gently rapped on the door, his voice concerned. "Magelet, are you all right? I can get you a separate room still if you're not-"

"I'll be out in a moment," Daine replied, just barely keeping the shakiness from her voice. "I'm just combing through these dratted curls!"

"All right. Come on out when you're ready, sweet." Was it possible that he sounded just as nervous as she was?

Spirit, who was on the other side of the door as well, seemed to sense her agitation. Daine couldn't see her, but she heard the little fox cub say, Mother Wildmage, why nervous so?

I've never shared a den with my mate before. What use was it to lie to an animal? Daine ran her fingers through her wet curls, and flicked the water from them back into the still full tub. Someone would come and drain it in the night, she had no doubt. I don't know exactly what I should do. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered around excitedly.

She could swear she heard Spirit snort on the other side of the door. Mother Wildmage, you worry. Needless worrying. Mate loves you. Happy night tonight.

Daine blushed, and took one last look at the reflecting glass above the washing basin. Her stormy gray eyes were wide, and there was anxiety in their depths. Her skin was flushed, but whether that was from the heat or the nervousness she had no idea. There was a wild smile on her face and almost an excited posture about that just seemed to buzz with her anticipation for tonight.

Now, she knew that there would not be anything else other than holding and perhaps a little kissing, but that didn't reduce the fact that Daine was so excited. Tonight would be the first night she and Numair would ever spend together, and oh how she loved him.

With a deep, calming breath, Daine smiled once more to her reflection and turned to head on out the door. The cool air rushed in the instant she opened it up, and she shivered from the sudden chilliness.

But in that same instant, a warm hand was caressing her cheek. Daine looked up to see Numair's own dark eyes gazing down at her, nothing but love in their shady depths.

"You're beautiful, magelet," he whispered, and bent his head down to meet her lips with his own.

Daine sighed against his lips. If she could, she would spend all of her time kissing Numair. His lips moved against her own, feeling like silk and velvet against her skin. A burning that had nothing to do with the temperature in the room started to swell with in her, like it did every time he kissed her. It was a passion that felt like a hot wind blowing throughout her entire torso, belly, and lower abdomen. And just like the first time they'd kissed, she was super-aware of all the places their bodies touched.

Numair pulled away after a moment, sucking in a breath. Daine looked up at him, and suddenly her cheeks burned bright red. It was then that she realized… Numair wasn't wearing a shirt. All he seemed to be wearing was a pair of wool breeches - a pair purely designed for bed-wear.

"Is something the matter, sweetling?" he asked her softly.

"I… you… you're not wearing a shirt, Numair. I thought you hated being cold," Daine managed to get out, her cheeks a flaming red. A chortle from the corner told her that Kitten was in the room, somewhere to the left of the bed.

Numair laughed, but it was a quiet laugh. "Magelet, I don't think I'm going to be too cold tonight with you beside me. You've seen me with my shirt off before."

Daine flushed even more with no response to give, if that were possible. Suddenly a yawn began to overcome her, and she struggled to hide it. But ultimately, Numair chuckled softly.

"I think someone needs to get to bed a little earlier than usual, Veralidaine Sarrasri," he chuckled. Ever so gently, and slowly to make sure that Daine didn't have an issue with him holding her so, he picked her up in the style a husband would to his new bride and carried her to the bed. He set her down, and Daine relished in the feel of the soft plush mattress.

Though she did enjoy sleeping on the ground, this was quite enjoyable too.

Daine turned onto her side and curled up as she usually did to fall asleep, and looked up. To her panic, Numair was nowhere to be seen.

But the panic was short lived. A weight seemed to sink on the bed behind her, and suddenly a warm pair of arms encircled its away around her waist. Numair's body curled up around her own, and Daine was suddenly very warm. He pulled the blankets around them, and took care with making sure Daine was completely covered before completely settling back down again.

"Is this alright, magelet?" he questioned.

"Mm," Daine said with another yawn. "Comfortable," she managed to sigh contentedly as one of his arms slipped underneath her head to act like a pillow. Another arm wrapped around her waist, and she let out a deep breath. Numair pulled her close, and curled his legs around to come up behind hers.

"No matter how many times someone may and try to tell you differently, magelet, I love you. So much." Ever so gently, his lips touched the junction where her shoulder met her neck, and Daine shivered. Misinterpreting it, Numair pulled her closer as if to make her warmer. Not that Daine minded, of course. She sighed again as Numair then whispered, "I don't how I've managed to avoid this for so long, sweetling. It feels good to have you in my arms. It feels right."

"It does," Daine answered, her eyes steadily drooping. "Love you… Numair." And she was asleep.

Numair buried his face into her hair as her breathing became long and steady, deep and even. What he had said earlier was true - he had no idea how he'd avoided this for so long. Holding Daine like this, he felt no restraint at all. Though, admitted, feeling Daine's body so completely against him did leave a little tension down below, but it was easy to ignore. Because Daine was just so… she was soft. Warm. He could lay like this here with her forever. Her hair, still a little damp from her bath, smelt so divine and wonderful he could just smell that scent for the rest of eternity and never get tired of it. As he considered this, his own eyes began to droop.

Carefully, so as not to disturb her, Numair gently tucked Daine's head underneath his chin, and ever so slowly he drifted off to sleep. It enveloped him almost as if in an embrace, and he settled down for the best sleep he'd ever had in his life.

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A pounding on the door awoke Numair from his rest.

"Sire! Sire!" It sounded like a young man pounding at the door. His voice was raised with fear and anxiety. "The village is under attack!"

Daine stirred beside him, but Numair was already gone at the door. He pulled it open just a fraction, and the boy screamed in his face,

"The village is under attack, sire! The spider-humans are attacking the village! The innkeeper sent me to come fetch you, he said you would be able to help! Please, sire, my father is out fighting! Please help!"

"I'll be there in just a moment, young man. I'll help your village as soon as I get some proper clothes on." And he shut the door and rushed to the window.

Outside, it was pure chaos. There were spidrens, more than he could have possible considered when first given this mission, outside fighting with the men of Whelan. It was strange, he had never seen spidrens battle in such a way before. If they were after bodies to feed on, surely all they needed to do was grab someone and take off. They were fighting instead. Why? The question troubled him, and as he pulled on a fresh pair of breeches, another soft voice came that made him freeze.

"Numair, what's happening?"

Numair looked to Daine. He wished he could admire her beauty, smile at her and tell her how much he loved her, but he knew there was no time. "Spidrens are attacking the village. I have to get down there."

"We have to get down there." There was no joking around in her voice as Daine got up from the bed herself. She scrambled and got up, and shut her eyes. Numair tugged on his shirt and by the time he'd pushed his head through the shirt hole, Daine was a golden eagle - her favorite form. Respectfully, he went and opened the window.

He watched as Daine pointedly turned her head to Spirit, Runner, and Kitten. She was no doubt warning them to stay here.

"Be careful, magelet," he warned her as she took flight. Numair rushed out of their room, and down the stairs of the small inn. The boy who'd called him was waiting downstairs, and together they rushed out into the fray.

Without a second thought, Numair began entering the small battle with his Gift. It was shimmering like a black shroud around his hands, and he blasted a spidren with it. It shrieked as it exploded into several pieces, and Numair let out a small breath as he felt the magic and a minimal amount of strength leave him.

Another spidren scuttled away into an alley between two houses. Numair went after it, alone, refusing to leave any spidrens in this battle alive.

He heard a shriek above him, and suddenly Daine was streaking across the sky above his head. She was going for something behind him, and suddenly he heard the yowl of a wildcat. For a split second, he allowed his eyes to trail behind him, where he saw Daine battling a spidren that had been coming at him from behind. I would definitely be dead without her, he thought to himself as he turned to face another spidren.

But this one, however, didn't attack him. Numair raised his hands to blast the thing with his Gift when it lifted a great spindly leg and its human face grinned with its razor sharp teeth. "Numair Salmalín, great mage of King Jonathan of Tortall. My name is Marmion, and I am the leader of this colony of spidrens. I send you greetings from my employer, who remains nameless."

Only shock stopped Numair from killing the beast. He lowered his hands, but only fractionally. "What's stopping me from blasting you with all the power I've got and killing you?" he hissed. His Gift pulsated with his words as if to prove his point.

The spidren, Marmion, chuckled. "Because I have several of my colony members surrounding this area, and at any notice they can enter this alleyway. And they will not kill you first." His eyes narrowed and his grin widened.

Another yowl made Numair turn. Daine had injured the spidren behind him gravely - there were scratches all over his human skin, but the great immortal reared and threw Daine with three of its spindly legs. Daine went flying past Numair in her wildcat form, and she landed just yards away from Marmion. She spat wildly, scrambling away from the spidren, and the mage had to admire his lover's ferocity as she took a place beside him, hissing. Daine hadn't lost her grip on her shape once, and Numair was proud of her.

But also, at the same time, Marmion's words terrified him. He knew what Marmion was referring to, but how did…

"I have my sources, mage," Marmion growled with pleasure, almost as if he had read Numair's mind. "I know how closely involved you and… the Wildmage are. My employer knows a great deal about you two. Your powers, your alliances, your pasts, your strengths… and your weaknesses." His grin turned nasty, if it wasn't before. "Which, according to my employer, you only have one, Salmalín, while your lover here has many." He cackled.

"What is it that you want? You haven't come here just to taunt me," Numair spat out, even though the spidren's words made him sick to his stomach. Daine growled in agreement, her hackles rising, and tail lashing. She obviously didn't like what the spidren had implied about her and her weaknesses.

Marmion eyed Numair and Daine for a moment. "No, I haven't. I've come here with a proposition. You see, my comrades and I work for a very wealthy merchant who works for someone else, both of whom will remain unnamed. They want the pair of you, for reasons unknown, and we're the lucky folks who get to take you under our wing until my employer sees fit to collect you." Numair's eyes widened in panic. He couldn't let them take Daine, even if he was wanted as well. "Now, we can make this easy, or hard. The easy way, the pair of you come with me now and have yourselves be settled into holding webs. Or, the hard way. Which, if you ask my personal opinion, is the fun way."

When neither Numair nor Daine responded, he continued.

"Now see, these people of Whelan aren't much fun. We'll leave them be, whether you leave here or not. They don't taste to good anyway… too stringy." Marmion made a face. "But wherever you go, my colony and I will follow. And if we ever catch you, whether it be in a forest by yourselves separately or in a town square full of edible folk, we will take you. And my employer won't be too pleased. So, what will it be, mortals? Care to make this easy on a hard worker like myself?"

Numair and Daine exchanged a glance. Numair grinned solemnly. "Tell your employer he will never catch a hold of Numair Salmalín or the Wildmage." And with this, he blasted Marmion away from them.

"Go, magelet, go!" Numair shouted at Daine. She hesitated, but only for a brief second. As soon as Numair started to run, she did. They had no way of knowing if what Marmion said was true - if the spidrens continued attacking, they had to get out of their vulnerable position.

Daine charged out before him, and Numair glanced over her shoulder. Marmion was struggling onto his skinny spider legs, but his glaring eyes were fixed on Numair and the retreating Daine. He bared his teeth at the mage, and Numair could have sworn that he heard the spidren mutter, "You asked for it, mage." Before he turned away and scuttled up a wall and over a rooftop. And then he was gone from sight.

As he came out with Daine into the open square, he saw spidrens abandoning their fights. They were scuttling away, in the same direction Marmion had been headed. The spidren leader hadn't been lying - he was going to leave these folks be in their small little village. Their sole purpose for wreaking any havoc had purely been to draw Daine and Numair here.

An older man, who Numair assumed was the leader of the village, approached them with awe. "Master Mage, the spidrens are leaving! However did you do it?"

"It wasn't exactly me, per se," Numair tried to explain to the older man, but the leader would hear none of it. He was shaking his head before Numair had even finished speaking.

"It was you, sir mage," the leader declared. "I prayed for help from the gods and it came straight from the palace itself. Your Gift seemed to have frightened the whole lot of them off. I am honored to be in your presence, sire. The presence of you and your… your pet, I daresay?"

Daine chortled, though as a wildcat it sounded like a mix between a growl and a hiss. The man jumped back, his eyes wide, as Numair chuckled nervously. "Sir, if I may, Daine here is not a pet of mine, but rather the Wildmage of Tortall. You'll have to forgive her. Shapeshifting does not require clothes, and she cannot become herself again without revealing herself, and she feels uncomfortable…" He let his voice trail off, and the leader's eyes brightened.

"I apologize for the misunderstanding, mistress Wildmage." He bowed deeply to the wildcat.

When he stood up again, he then said, "My name is Darshan. I ask if you and the mistress Wildmage would feel comfortable celebrating with us tonight under the stars? Completely informal, of course, and I wish to honor the pair of you in the most proper way possible-"

"I'm quite sorry, sir, but Veralidaine and I need to return to Corus as quickly as possible," Numair said politely to Darshan. For reasons you wouldn't believe, he added in silence. "There are dangers that need to be dealt with, and the King must be informed of immediately. We must leave as soon as we can."

"At least allow us to provide you with some form of payment…" Darshan tried to say before Numair held up a hand to stop him.

"We are in no need of any payment, Darshan," the mage informed him. "We are merely agents of King Jonathan. We're doing our jobs, if you will."

Darshan seemed disappointed, and let out a sigh. "Then, at least let us prepare your steeds while you get ready to leave. It's the least we can do for the heroes of Whelan. For many years, our mothers will name their children after you, Numair Salmalín and Veralidaine Sarrasri."

Daine dipped her wildcat head next to Numair, a sign of her acknowledgement and embarrassment at the huge honor. He would bet three gold nobles that her face would have been tomato red had she been in her human form. He smiled at the prospect - he liked it when Daine blushed.

"Alright," Numair said. He wanted nothing more right now than to be alone with his love; they needed to discuss this recent development and the news they'd received from Marmion. "If you'll excuse us, Darshan?"

The leader bowed lowly, making both Numair and Daine feel very uncomfortable. When Darshan finally waved them away, Daine and Numair scurried away back to the inn. The innkeeper had not yet returned, much to their relief, and together they ran up to their room - Daine leading the way in her powerful wildcat form. By the time Numair had reached their room, closed the door and locked it behind him, Daine had already disappeared into the washroom - probably to change.

Numair went to get his things together, as Daine was more than capable of putting her own things away. But after only putting one shirt into his pack, he felt to agitated to do anything else other than wait for Daine. Kitten was whistling restlessly in the corner, as Spirit and Runner scurried around. As moments passed, he began to panic. Had she hurt herself? Had an assassin of some kind been waiting for her…?

The door opening and Daine emerging from it allowed Numair to let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. But the panic only returned as he saw there was a large bruise on her face, and another one on her shoulder, which was accompanied with a blot of blood oozing from a scratch on her neck.

"Magelet, are you alright?" he demanded, getting up and going to her. Ever so gently, he put a hand underneath her chin to look at the bruises and scratch more properly. He was no healer, and he had no idea what to do with these. He heard Kitten chatter in distress at the sight of the injuries, and Spirit and Runner were crowding at Daine's feet worriedly, putting their paws on her legs or rubbing their heads against her calves.

"I'm fine, Numair," Daine murmured, wincing as he touched the bruise on her cheek. "It doesn't hurt that much, honest. The worst thing is the scratch, and I can patch that up by myself."

Numair could hear in her tone that dignified pride, and he knew well enough to back away and just let her do what she needed. As Daine rummaged through her things for a bandage and some cleaning cream, she said,

"We're going to have to report this to the king, aren't we?"

With her back to him, Numair knew she wouldn't be able to see his nod. "Yes, magelet. Though this is a somewhat personal matter for the pair of us," (he heard her snort from the corner and smiled to himself), "Jon needs to know about this. This may or may not have to do with him. Whatever the case, he has to hear that there's someone else out to cause trouble."

Spirit or Runner must have said something to Daine, because she shushed the two of them before straightening and going to look at the reflective glass above the dresser. She set her healing aids down and began to tend to the scratch as she said,

"Then we'll leave for Corus the instant I get this dratted cut under control."

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One Week Earlier

"Gods blast it, I thought you said the spidrens would have them by now?" the mage roared at the pirate-merchant, his eyes blazing with fury. His hands were clenched as he glared at his newfound business partner. He was not a very patient man. "Why haven't they even reached their destinations yet?"

"Relax, lad," the pirate growled, his voice equally impatient. "Don't get your breeches in a twist - spidrens have their limits like any other creature. And they've got brains of their own to work with, mind you. Marmion and his lot will get to them two victims of yours in time. Ain't your master willing to wait a few more weeks for these two? If they're a part of this grand old plan of yours that you've obviously been thinkin' about for a long time, then you ought to be able to wait a while longer!"

"Don't take that voice with me, scum." The mage bent over the table at which the pirate sat, his expression dangerous. "Or do you need me to remind you that if it weren't for me, or this deal, you would be rotting in my master's jail until the end of your sorry life?"

The pirate snorted. "So you say," he responded, leaning back in his chair with a sly smile. "When am I getting paid, exactly?"

"Be gone with you," the mage snarled. "You'll find out when the time comes. Get out of here before I do something you'll regret."

The pirate scurried away without another word, shutting the door behind him.

Narrowing his eyes at the closed door, the mage began to pace. His master was not a patient man, just like him, and bringing this news that the spidrens had not yet captured Veralidaine Sarrasri and Numair Salmalín would not be a pleasant time for him. After all, they were only the first part of the plan, and both the mage and his master, or king, were anxious to get this operation underway. All preparations had been made, the pair's cell in the dungeon completely magic-proofed. The mage had even studied wild magic, and knew the limits of the girl's magic. He had even created a spell to keep her magic in check.

He smiled at the thought of the cell. After all, he, like so many others, had been to the court at Corus over the past two years. It wasn't hard to see that Salmalín was smitten with the Wildmage, which would make their succumbing all the easier. And, as his master wasn't a complete cruel dog, they would allow Veralidaine and her obvious lover to remain together. For a time, at least.

The mage growled his annoyance again. He wanted the plan to go into motion, and he wanted to go through with it now.


EOC: So... there's the end of another chapter. As usual, I hope you all review! If I don't update by Christmas (which hopefully I will), Merry Christmas to you all! That is, if you celebrate Christmas. See you next time! - Viv