Hey, EmiStone here. Don't kill me! I'm giving you this extra-long chapter to make up for my lack of updating!
Disclaimer: Name's Not Tamora Pierce
"Mom, we'll be fine." I said, desperately trying to detach myself from Fanche's quite smothering grip. Toko and I were heading out to Blue Harbor today to send out a letter to Toko's brother. We made this trip every couple of months or so, because Toko was horribly paranoid and only trusted a specific messanger and herself to get the message to him. For some reason Fanche was being particularly paranoid this trip, and was acting as if she would never see us again. Toko was actually making a big deal too, having caught her worry, leaving me the only person not worried. We must have gone this route a hundred times in the four years we had been living here and nothing had ever happened before.
"Ok, Liza. Ok, Maura. I love you very very much. I'll be back soon." I paused, starting to get a little worried myself, "If I'm not though. Just remember. I love you, OK? I love you very very much." They nodded, serious for once. I hugged them tightly before setting them down and tweaking their noses. With another "Love you" I walked out.
"If we don't come back, we might not be able to send letters. I promise, though, I absolutely promise to take care of Lia. And one day, we'll be back. I promise. One way, we'll find you." Toko promised fiercely to Fanche and Gothar. They nodded and hugged her hard, then doing the same with me. Gother whispering in my ear,
"I'm real proud o' you." I gave them both a watery smile and waved until they were out of sight.
It was a completely normal trip to the harbor, and was even a normal trip into the office of the messenger, until we got into his office.
"Lady Tokmara?" He questioned in a panic, closing the door firmly and shutting the shades.
"Yes, Jabar? What is wrong?" She asked apprehensively, signaling me to guard the door.
"The Yamanis. They're here." He replied, wringing his hands.
"What?"
"One of them saw you two months ago and sent a search party. They have been watching my office for weeks. I didn't dare send anything to you. They've been following my messengers!" Jabar replied, staring at her nervously, and checking out the window. "We're surrounded." He said in a hopeless tone. Toko spared only one minute to panic.
"Jabar. Can you hide Lia?" She asked, seriously.
"No! Toko, I can..." I trailed off as I took in her expression.
"You listen to me Lia. You are going to hide. When they get me, they are going to leave. When Jabar says their gone, go to the palace and ask for my brother. OK?" I nodded frantically, swallowing. "Tell him who you are and what happened. He'll take care of you and get you to Fanche; you'll be OK. Go with Jabar, he'll keep you safe." Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I nodded again. She hugged me quickly, before pushing me into the closet door Jabar was holding open. I watched through the slits in the closet door as she opened the door and said goodbye to Jabar. I watched as she walked out nonchalantly and was attacked. I watched as she fought back and was subdued, I watched in horror as Jabar was closing the door a guard came in a shoved him roughly to the ground. He, and a couple other guards, searched the office, to Toko's glares. They went right past the closet I was in and went out, closing the door behind them. I broke into tears.
That night I ate dinner with Jabar and his wife, who fussed over me to an enormous degree, but I just felt numb. The next morning, Jabar and I headed out the door carefully, trying to seem normal. We made sure to get lost in the morning traffic and we walked through the market, in the hopes of losing anyone who was tailing us. We were on the outskirts of the city when it happened. Warriors jumped from the roofs of the houses to the side of us, while others came running out of alley-ways in front and behind us. There was a moment of complete silence as Jabar scrambled for his knives and I slid my sword, which Alanna got me and I promptly dubbed Phoenix (to Toko's everlasting blushing.) Then,
"If you surrender we will not hurt you. We do not wish you harm." One of the men, clearly the Captain, said in Yamani.
"Who are you all? Why are you attacking two Tortallan citizens in Tortall?" I replied in Common, pretending I didn't understand him.
"We do not wish you harm." He said slowly in heavily accented Common.
"Then why are you surrounding my father and I?" I asked, lying through my teeth.
"He is not your father. We have watched. You arrived with the Princess. She has hidden you. We wish to know why." He said, clearly frustrated. I thought for a minute, obviously if I told them the truth I would be captured too...
"She was in need of a travel companion." I said, hoping this would work, "To carry her bags. She was staying at my uncle's inn in Goatstrack. My mom volunteered me, and she gave me this sword to protect myself. It has been in my family for ages. I even polished it. When the Lady was taken I stayed with Jabar. I'm going back to my mom's now." It was always best to have truth is lies. I waved my sword in front of me in an inexperienced way, causing some chuckling from the line.
"Ah, what is your mother's name?" The Captain said, not believing me. I was about to reply when he turned to Jabar to answer.
"Fanche. Fanche Weir, sir. Her and her husband Gothar are real good to this here youngster." He said, causing me to give him an exasperated look at the youngster comment. The group deliberated as I turned back to Jabar.
"If anything happens tell mom I love her. And that I'll be OK, Oh, and that I'll see her again. And tell Liza and Maura I love them. And I'm real proud of them. And tell Gothar I love him too. Tell them all I'll find a way, OK?" He nodded frantically, as I turned back to the lines.
"Clearly whatever problem ya got here is wid me." I said, maximizing my peasant accent, "Can Jabar go backta his family? O' course, I'd like ta get backta mine." This caused another large-scale argument, before a break opened in the line for Jabar.
"Good luck, girly. If ya, get out come to my office. If not, I'll be sure to tell your mom." He said as he passed me. He made his escape, and then I made a move towards the break, but it closed. I manipulated my expression to be one of fear, a big no-no in Yamani society. There was another pause before they came to an agreement.
"So, you know the Princess? You were her travel companion?" A man, obviously the translator stepped forward, that was good, the smaller the rank the less they thought my position was. I relaxed minutely.
"Ya. From Goatstrack all the way ta here. Never been outta Goatstrack, ya see. It's pretty." I said, gesturing to the ocean, which I had never seen, supposedly.
"What was she doing?" He questioned, I manipulated my face to look thoughtful, which wasn't hard because my brain was racing.
"Don't know, do I? Sometimes she'd go inta the forest, at night ya know. And in da mornings. Don't know what she did." I replied, hoping this would work.
"Indeed. And you didn't find this interesting at all? You never checked?"
"I was bein' paid a pretty penny not ta. O' course, probably not gonna get dat now." My hands were sweating, causing my sword to slip. He noticed.
"You know how to use that." He said, gesturing to my sword. I stuck it in the ground and wiped my hands discreetly as I did so, before picking it up again.
"Nah really well... OK, I guess." I held it with two hands, even though it was a one hand sword, leading them to believe this. They had another conference, which I discreetly listened in on.
"I'd say she is a common peasant, but she changes expressions stiffly, as if she is a Yamani pretending to be a Tortallan. That and the Princesses reluctance to talk leads me to believe she is more than a simple peasant. We could offer for her to be the Princesses traveling companion in Yaman. What young girl does not want to be a Princess'... wait..." He said in Yamani, cutting off abruptly.
"Why did you not seem surprised at the identity of the Princess?" He asked, in Common, knowing they had me. I cursed, holding my sword in the correct fashion, right before they attacked. I fought back furiously, but I wasn't even a full Shang yet, and Toko couldn't even take this many Yamani knights when they were surrounding her. I took down many of them, but eventually one of them got behind me and roughly put me into a headlock, pushing a cloth against my mouth. I breathed in the substance on the cloth sharply, the substance stinging as everything grew black.
. . . . .
I woke up to darkness, a swaying feeling, and a gigantic headache. There was a damp cloth on my forehead with a hand soothingly wiped it across. I groaned.
"Lia?" A voice said, edged with panic. I sat up abruptly, causing me to gasp and groan again as my headache increased ten-fold.
"Toko?" I replied, looking around but only seeing gray shapes due to the extremely small amount of light coming from the only window, which was oddly circular as if... I gasped.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice now the one edged with panic.
"I don't know. They just came in with your completely unconscious body, which they then laid on the bed, completely nonchalant about the entire incident I swear." She said, her voice tight, pushing me back down onto the bed. My eyes adjusted enough to see her worried expression.
"What happened after that?" I asked, now extraordinarily curious.
"They left the room, locked the doors, and pushed off. We've been sailing for hours. It's nighttime now." She said, going back to wiping my brow. I stopped her.
"I'm fine." I said, looking right into her eyes. She nodded, and sighted in relief. "The only thing bruised is my pride." She smiled.
"That isn't the only thing bruised on your opponents. I heard the guards talking about it. I think you did a very honorable thing, not killing any of them. I know you could have, I saw you on those raids." She got up from her chair, causing me to prop myself up and look around. The room was actually quite nice, with two beds, a table, and some chairs. There were even hangings on the wall, shining slightly showing they were silk, and a bookshelf filled with tomes. Toko went to the table, which even had a table cloth and picked up a bowl and a cup. She put them on a small table next to my bed and sat back down on her chair.
"I figured they didn't deserve to die for following orders. And I just don't have it in me to kill people who weren't trying to kill me." I replied, sitting up and taking the bowl, eating a spoonful of the surprisingly rich food. Toko chuckled when she noticed me looking around in shook.
"We may be prisoners. But, we're royal prisoners. At least... well you know." She said, signaling that we could be overheard.
"So, they don't know?" I asked, genuinely curious now.
"They suspect. I think my silence made it worse." She said. I nodded at her, still not sure if I should reveal that I spoke Yamani.
"So, what happened?" She asked, as I was finishing my soup. I took a sip of the water and started,
"Jabar and I were heading out on a side road when troops jumped off the buildings to the side and ran in front and behind us from alleyways. We took fighting stances, obviously. One of them, who looked as if he was in charge, said something in Yamani. Then I asked him why he was attacking. He said that he meant no harm. I pretended Jabar was my father. He didn't buy it. So I told him the truth. I was your traveling companion from Goatstrack because my uncle is the innkeeper there. He didn't believe me, or maybe he did. But I accidentally acknowledged that I knew your title, and they attacked. I fought back, but one of them got behind me and got me into a headlock. He shoved a cloth with some substance on it on my nose and mouth. I had to breath in, eventually. And then everything went black... Oh, my goddess... What happened to Phoenix?" Toko started to laugh, both from relief and humor.
"Only you would be worried about your sword at a time like this."
"Hey! That was a gift!" I said, starting to laugh along with her. Eventually we stopped laughing, and she sighed.
"I'm going to go to sleep, I suggest you do the same. We have a long trip ahead of us, and we most likely have a long day tomorrow." She said, getting into the other bed. I was asleep soon after, wondering what was to come.