AN: Sorry for the wait guys. I had this chapter all written and was about to send it my beta (love you Kokou) and my computer died and yours truly didn't have the file saved on flash drive. So after all the hassle of the holidays I'm back.
Chapter 7: Cats and Feathers
Alanna stretched at her desk when the door creaked open and a black cat walked in the room. Not thinking anything of it she continued on her report on suspicious bands of bandits that had been plaguing the countryside recently.
The cat jumped to the top of the desk scattering papers and spilling the ink. Alanna swore and went to swipe the cat off the table when she saw the violet eyes looking at her and sat back in the chair with a thump, "Faithful…"
"How many black cats do you know?" the cat meowed at her licking a paw.
Alanna stared at the cat for a few moments before saying glibly, "Well if you count the three in the stables then 7 but none of them have come back from the dead before."
The cat looked up at her and with a swish of the tail in amusement, "You have grown, before you would never have made a joke like that."
"Being mortal means a person can change usually," the King's Champion responded, "Speaking of coming back from the dead. Why are you here?"
"To guide someone that is a pentacle of potential change, though this time without approval. You will be the only person from my last life that will remember me. Pretend not to or I won't be allowed to help at all. I'm not usually allowed to come to the Mortal Realm again so quickly after the last time," was Faithful's response as he sat dignified on the desk.
"May I ask who this person would be?" Alanna asked half knowing the answer.
"You'll find out after she does. For now I must tell you to beware of your patron for the time being," Faithful said jumping down off the desk and slipping out the door.
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Ontillia leaned against the fence watching two squires face off against each other on the practice courts. They were so graceful and swift that it looked like they were dancing and not practicing to kill someone.
"Good aren't they?" Liam said coming up behind her and startling her.
A brief glow around her hands showed how on edge she still was even after being at the palace for two weeks. "Yes they are it's like they're not even trying," Ontillia responded.
"That's because they've been working with the Lioness for the past year as a favor to their knight masters," Liam explained.
They stood there watching for a few minutes more as the squires finished their bout. Ontillia pushed herself upright and was about to head back to her rooms that were now in the guest wing when Liam asked, "Would you like to try to learn a bit of how to use a weapon?"
Ontillia stared at him before saying with a laugh, "The most I've ever used was a bow and knife. I'd probably gut myself trying to use a sword."
"That's why you don't start with a sword," Liam said with a smile, "but with a staff. Look, yes it wasn't too long ago that women weren't allowed to fight except to guard their husband's lands when he was away. These days though, we have two female knights, one of which is the Champion, not to mention the Riders who take women into their ranks. Now if you don't want to I'll understand but just learning some staff work could help you if you are attacked."
Ontillia pondered this for a few minutes before nodding and shyly smiling at Liam, "I'd like to learn then."
"Good," the page responded and lead the way to the armory and then to the practice courts.
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Ontillia winced as someone tapped her shoulder on her way to her rooms, "Ontillia are you alright? You're walking like you're injured," the youngest princess asked.
"Your brother talked me into some basic staff practice…" was all the girl was able to get out before Lianne interrupted.
"I'm going to kill him. He should know better than to be rough a beginner," she said loudly.
"Lianne don't worry about it. I let my guard slip a little and he got me. It doesn't hurt to bad but I shouldn't have done it so soon after my last injury. It's my fault. Besides you should see the bruises he's got on his ribs from where I got him once or twice," the younger brunette said with a small smile.
"Wait you got my brother? Which one were you practicing with?" the princess said stunned.
"Liam, why?"
"You mean you got a hit on Liam? Was he pretending at all?"
Confused Ontillia replied, "He seemed surprised almost with my ability actually."
"You must be a natural. Liam doesn't get beaten often and usually only by the likes of Aunt Alanna or Uncle Gary," the princess said with a smile, "Oh he is going to be so embarrassed."
"Don't hold it over him in front of the others," Ontillia said sympathizing with her male cousin.
"Oh I won't… in front of others," the princess said with a smile and led the way to dinner.
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That night Ontillia walked restlessly around her room. It was on one of the highest levels of the palace so that Lunian could come and go as he wished. She paced awhile wondering where her winged friend was before going to the window. Deciding quickly she locked her door and went again to the window and changed swiftly into a bat. Going outside she listened around for the echoes that only come from a steel winged creature. Not finding any she decided to relax a bit and map out the castle better from this vantage point.
As she went over a small garden she heard the cries of something hurt below. Cautiously she swooped down and listened and heard it to be a cat. Making sure no one was around she landed ungracefully near a tree and morphed back to her human form. A young black kitten was against the tree mewing in pain and hissed slightly when she picked it up.
From the looks of it a bow or something had tried to snatch him for dinner and dropped the kitten from the air. One leg was jutting at an odd angle. Not wanting to be seen but unable to take the kitten back to her room in its current state she looked at the densely leafed tree above her and carefully thought of what she wanted exactly and summoned part of the bronze that made up who she was and jumped. Wings that grew out of her shoulders helped carry her up to a thick branch and she landed with as gracefully as she could.
Once seated she leaned back against the tree and looked at the kitten using the same bronze power as before and Looked to see all that was wrong. Not only was the leg broken but a rib had been snapped and punctured the lung.
Holding the rib away from the lung Ontillia healed the lung. By asking the tissue to bind together and for the infection that had started to leave she healed the lung quickly. Getting the bones to knit back took longer and was harder and by the time she'd finished she dripped in sweat and was starving.
Looking at the moon the girl realized that it must be close to midnight. Cradling the kitten close she glided down to the ground using the wings to slow her descent.
"That was an impressive performance," Daine said from the shadows.
Ontillia instantly froze, startled, "How did you know I was here?"
"She came to me frantic when she came to your room last night and you weren't there. Gave the palace quite a scare," Lunian said from above, "A new pet?" he finished with a raised eyebrow.
Ontillia looked down at the kitten that sniffed her fingers looking for food. "Looks like, he is a sweet little thing….." she trailed off when she saw the eyes on the kitten. Bright violet eyes looked up at her as the kitten mewed again and rubbed his head against her palm.
"Here wrap up before you catch cold. You can take him up to your room," Daine said enclosing Lia in a blanket.
The girl shrugged out of it and shook her head, "Thanks but I'll get back the less traditional way," and closed her eyes and shrunk slightly and let the wings grow. Leaping off the ground with a strong burst and the kitten tucked carefully in her shorter arms the girl flew back to her rooms.
Daine looked after her before turning to Lunian, "How long has she been doing that?"
"Several years… why?" the Stormwing answered with a fake look of innocence.
Apparently it fooled the wild mage who shook her head and started back to the palace thinking, Maybe it was the light… those feathers looked like a lot like metal though.
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AN: Ok figured that was long enough and even gave you a sort of cliff hanger. Can anyone remember why metal feathers might be a bad thing though? :D