Hmm. I like this chapter. I suppose this is where the "adventure" comes in when the genre says "action and adventure". And it's also where the "comedy" comes in. Even though it doesn't say this story is a comedy. But it is. At parts.
Song for this Chapter: Off I Go → Greg Laswell. This song is PERFECT for this chapter. Meant to be. Seriously.
Chapter 16: Phoenix
"What happened to him?" Romeli asked franticly as she nearly ran to the king's study. She no longer had anger for Jonathan and his prying questions. The only emotion she could possibly feel at the moment was fear.
The short and stubby messenger struggled to keep up with Romeli's quick, long strides. "I don't know, My Lady. I was only ordered to bring you to him."
As a reply, Romeli only walked faster.
A short time later, Romeli arrived in front of King Jonathan's door. She walked past the guards angrily. They tried to stop her, but one look into her dangerous gaze brought them to the conclusion that that was not a good idea.
Romeli pushed open the study doors and strode in angrily with crystal cold eyes. "What happened?" she choked out, worries.
Jonathan stared at her with a pale face. "There was a large siege at Northwatch where Numair was posted," he said gravely. "Nobody was prepared for the attack. Numair—he was the only one who could hold the fort's defenses until they had time to prepare." He paused as he closed his eyes, fighting off a round of tears.
Romeli was doing the same. He couldn't. He can't—die. Numair can't die! That was impossible! He was one of the strongest mages in the realm! She swallowed hard trying to fight off a burning lump in her throat. It was hard to breathe and dizziness swept over her.
Jonathan spoke once again with a feeble voice. "He drained too much of his Gift. He nearly lost his life."
Relief swept over her as she hung on to that one word: nearly. So he wasn't dead. But something in his voice said that there was more to it than Numair draining his Gift.
"Alanna just sent word through her Gift that she's over there now with Neal. They are trying to heal him—but Romeli, you have to understand that they are both very tired from their quick trip there...plus all the other wounded from the siege..."
Romeli nodded, nerves crawling up and down her skin, forming goose bumps on her arms. Why wouldn't he just cut to the chase?
"Numair is a powerful mage. But some things like losing that much Gift are impossible to overcome. Romeli—he's dying." The last words Jonathan said come out weak and cracked, like he was admitting it to himself for the first time. The words said aloud made it twice as worse. "Alanna said he called for you, saying that you are his only hope now."
Romeli grew pale, her skin clammy and cold. How in the world was she supposed to get to Northwatch in time? She calculated the distance quickly in her head. Two weeks ride!
"I don't know how you'll make it," Jonathan said voicing her thoughts. "But you best try." His voice was quiet, even distanced. Not only was he losing a legendary mage, he was losing a friend.
"Where's Daine?" she asked quickly with a ragged voice as she fought to hold her tears in.
"She should probably be arriving at Northwatch in a couple of days, knowing her speed. And the animals have probably already told her what happened. Romeli go now. We will bring your things with a second party we are sending over there."
Romeli quickly nodded and rushed out of the room. She stopped mid-hallway and let out a frustrated cry as she paced across the floor with her hands on her head. What is the fastest animal that she could transform into?
Humming birds were one of the fastest birds in the world, but she would tire quickly and need to eat more. Something told her that size was the key to getting there on time. Of the large birds falcons were quick, hawks, condors, vultures. She decided with falcon, but falcons would be too small. Condors, but they were too slow. She let out another flustered cry of help.
Romeli! interrupted the voice of Sclythe. His voice made her flinch in surprise as it rang loud in her mind. Transform into an immortal!
"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Romeli yelled to the ceiling, shocked out of her sanity. Then in mind speech she said, are you crazy?! I'll get stuck! I'll-.
Romeli listen to me! Sclythe demanded with bubbling anger. Romeli froze. You have to trust me. Transform into an immortal or you'll father will die!
A larger lump grew in her throat as the reality of the God's words sank in. Her father was on his deathbed halfway across the country and she was the only one who could save him. Which one?
The fastest. The one that you're a part of.
This is no time for riddles Sclythe! Argued Romeli. But it was no time for an argument either. What immortal was a part of her? That hardly even made sense! She wasn't a part of any immortal! But then realization dawned on her. She brought her hand up to the thicker, sparkling jade tresses mixed in with her hair. Her father always insisted they felt like—.
"Dragon," she whispered, wide-eyed.
She ran to the window and opened it. She looked down and gulped at the height. Gods this better work, she thought as she stood up on the bottom rim of the window. If it doesn't I will throttle that cobras neck...and...and...eat him!
She closed her eyes—and jumped.
The wind whistled past her ears as she focused on what she knew of dragons. Fire, erupting through their mouth scorching enemies, smooth, thick scales, and powerfully sharp claws. Wings erupted from her back as she felt herself catch and glide along the air. When she opened her eyes she was soaring over Corus with miraculous speed as an emerald dragon.
Okay how do you fly faster? she thought. She was used to bird shape with having only wings, but wings and arms served as quite a difficult task to handle. And the stress of her dying father didn't help.
She began to focus on only her wing muscles as she quickly drew them up and down like she would as a bird. She smiled, noticeably picking up speed and height.
She went as high as possible without cutting her oxygen off. The higher she went the quicker she would travel. She silently thanked Ma a million times over for drilling her with flying animals so much, even if it did get tiring.
Come on! she urged herself. She looked down to see where she was and if she was even going the right way, but all that she could see was a cloudy blanket blocking her view from the ground completely. With a sigh she lowered herself with a wobbly glide. She felt cool water droplets glide across her scales, becoming one with the clouds. At last she had a good view of what was below her.
There were many more hills and there was a considerable drop in temperature—she was going north then. Well, at least it was the right direction. There was also a wide and well made road a little to her left. It had to be the Great Road North. Soon enough she would come to a river—the Brown River. She had to follow that river until it combined with a different river. Then she should take a sharp right to Northwatch. She then began to thank her father a million times over for his geography lessons—even if they were twice as boring as the bird ones with Daine.
Hurry up! she told herself. There will be nothing to be thankful for if your father dies! Her scales lost some of their sheen in worry. With a push of her wings, she picked up speed.
She had been following the Brown River for quite a while when she found the fork where it split in two. Okay, now for the hard part. She took a sharp turns towards—what she hoped was—Northwatch.
She flew harder.
Gods there it was. She saw it clearly through her keen eyes though there were few lights at this time of night. She flew as close as she dared to it and began to transform into a hawk in midair.
That however was quite difficult. And during her attempt to transform from dragon to hawk, she lost both forms and plummeted down to the ground in her human shape. She swallowed down her waves of fear as she tried to ignore a voice in her head telling her that it was going to hurt when she hit the ground. With great effort and a quick prayer to the God, she quickly swooped up in the air as a hawk and continued to the fortress.
At last she landed on the ground. She snuck into the laundry maids' workroom and grabbed some clothes in her human shape, then she sprinted as fast as she could to what she hoped was the infirmary. A wave of exhaustion from the flight was beginning to take over. But Numair dying was enough of a kick start to keep her energy pumping for a while.
She barged through the door to indeed find that it was the infirmary. There were so many injured people there, but Numair was easy to spot. She quickly ran to his bed only about ten cots away, ignoring people's stares.
"Da?" she croaked when she saw him. She also ignored Neal's and Alanna's wild looks as they wondered how the hell she got here so fast. She was too busy taking in Numair's state.
He was a deadly white pale—so white that she could see the veins in his arms and face. Sweat was dripping off of his brow as he tried to hold onto his life. The effort made him tremble in weakness. He opened his eyes when he heard Romeli's voice and smiled when he looked at her.
"Romeli," he rasped as he slowly reached for her with a shaky hand.
"Da," she whispered as tears ran down her cheeks. She went to her knees on the side of his bed and put her head on his chest. Numair rested his hand on her back as she sobbed into his shirt.
"How—did you get—here?" he asked, his voice was nearly inaudible. He was leaving fast as his Gift slowly took away his life force.
Romeli tried to laugh, but came out more as a watery cough as the lump in her throat formed again. "Dragon shape, Da," she whispered.
Numair's brows furrowed in confusion. He held Romeli closer to him, though his grip was growing weaker by the moment. His muscles wanted a rest. "I don't—even want to know."
"It's going to be okay," she told him as she wiped his sweaty brow with a towel and stroked his ebony hair.
Numair smiled as he closed his eyes. He stayed like that for a while, too weak to do much but lay. Then at last he spoke, his words nearly inaudible. "I'll miss you Romeli."
"Da?" she rasped. She checked his pulse. It was decreasing slowly with each laboring beat. He was leaving for good. "Da, no," she cried. "You can't leave me like this—I need you, Da. I need you!"
He didn't open his eyes as Romeli waited for his low, comforting voice. He parted his lips just slightly and Romeli had to lean in to hear him. "Miss you."
Tears erupted from her eyes and galloped down her blotchy cheeks as she leaned her head on his chest, sobbing harder than she could ever remember. "What about Daine Da? You can't just leave her like this. She never got to see you—never got to say goodbye. You can't do this!"
No answer came except for his chest barely rising.
Romeli took out her Gift and poured her powers into his life. She would make him live!
"Come on Da!" she cried when his heart quickly slowed after she used her Gift. She forced in more of her life, giving it to him.
"Work, please!"
But his heart only slowed along with his even, shallow, breaths.
She did as much as she could, used as much power as she dared, and still nothing worked. She felt his life slip away and off of her fingers as his last breaths came. She cried as she watched him die in her helpless arms. She took his hand and grasped it in her own as she followed his breath with her raggedly drawn in one. In and out, in and out.
Then it stopped.
"No Da, you can't leave me like this," she whispered to him as she still held his hand. "You can't. You can't. You have so much to teach me; so much I haven't learned from you. I only got to duel you once, and you promised I could duel you again. You promised Da, and you never break your promises. Never. Don't start breaking them now. You can't do this to me; it isn't your time! Please Da," she pleaded as she sobbed.
No answer came to Numair Salmalin.
"No, it isn't your time!" she pleaded again. Alanna came over to her and grabbed her away from her father.
"Romeli listen. I know this is hard, but Numair is gone. He isn't coming back, and you'll have to let him go. Leave him in peace. Let him be free." She looked into Romeli's eyes with her red puffy ones. Alanna too had been crying.
"I will never let him go. He isn't dead," she whispered. She tried to fight Alanna's hold but couldn't. When she tried to look at Neal for support, her emerald eyes full of pain, he looked down instead of at her.
"Sorry Romeli. It was his fate," he said sadly, eyes glued to the ground.
"Let go of me!" she wailed as tears escaped her eyes and dripped quickly down her face. "I'll put my Gift in him for years if I have to!" she struggled some more, but Lady Alanna was strong.
"You can't Romeli," Alanna said sternly trying to let the thought that Numair was gone enter Romeli's head. "You'll waste your life for one that is already gone. Numair lived a good memorable life. Let him go!
"Never!" she cried. "My Gift can't drain out. I have to. He's still alive!" with a last cry, sparrows came to her rescue and pecked Alanna until she loosened her grip enough to let her go. She ran over to Numair's still body.
"Da, you'll be okay. I won't let the Black God take you." She poured her Gift into his body trying to make him breathe once again with her right hand on his chest. With her left hand she produced a shield around them to keep the healers from pulling her away. She silently called the birds off of Alanna.
"I still haven't tried one thing," she whispered. She read it in a restricted spell book that Numair kept on the highest of his shelves. It was called the Phoenix Spell. Only so many mages had accomplished it—all of them had died. One of them happened to be Alanna's twin, Thom. It was supposed to bring people back from the dead, and damn the Gods if they would get mad at her. She wanted her father back.
She cut off her Gift from Numair and the shield. Alanna quickly came over to try and grab her again with a pale face. Many of the awakened soldiers watched amazed.
She looked into her violet eyes making them hold with hers.
"Don't touch me," she said darkly. Her eyes were burning with danger, and Alanna knew if she moved now Romeli would be merciless. "I'm doing the Phoenix spell."
Both Alanna and Neal went pale as they struggled to comprehend what she said. Then at the same time they erupted in disbelief and yelled, "ROMELI ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
Romeli just stared at them and ignored their protests as she closed her eyes to gain power in her Gift and remember the spell.
"The Gods will get angry," Alanna protested. "Something might go wrong, You'll die! You'll be sacrificing yourself for someone who is already dead. Romeli!" Neal made a series of noises in disbelief.
With closed eyes she answered patiently. "I don't care about the Gods right now. And living without my Da is worse than dying."
She ignored the rest of their protests as she magnified the power of her Gift as much as humanly possible. Soon she shone a magnificent emerald that hurt to look at. Many of the watching soldiers shielded their eyes. The air around her rippled and gave off a green tinge in power.
She breathed in and began to recite the ancient words to the spell in a distant voice. There were other voices with her, so familiar. There were many. The voices were magnificent yet horrible as they followed her. She knew those voices, but couldn't place them in her mind. It was almost like they were—family? She spoke with confidence, she knew that whoever they were, were helping her. Perhaps the Gods wouldn't be angry after all.
She raised her hands as she recited the last line, and threw every ounce of her Gift into Numair.
Waves of pain hit over her as she shrieked. It was like she was Numair. That she was his body, soul, everything. She knew his thoughts, his secrets, she was Numair.
This wasn't supposed to happen in the Phoenix Spell. She knew it wasn't as she gasped in pain in Numair's body, yet being herself at the same time. It was because of her inner balance. She knew it was. She just didn't know why.
She forgot about the Phoenix Spell completely as she instead healed Numair while inside him. He had no Gift left in him, so she called it back, forcing it into his life force.
They gasped for air, slowly coming back to life. They opened their eyes wide from the sudden shock to their heart and turned their head to see her daughter lying motionless in Neal's arms.
Romeli gasped at seeing her own body and shocked herself back into the right perspective with another wave of pain.
She opened her eyes in Neal's arms and tried to stand up. Numair was staring at her.
She quickly pushed herself out of Neal's arms and stumbled over to her father—he was smiling at her. She fell to her knees on the side of his bed and hugged him tight, sobbing into his shirt. He hugged her back.
"Da," she murmured, her voice muffled from the fabric. Her words were choked with tears and she could hardly breathe. "Da, I thought you left me."
"Shh," he cooed as he rubbed her back with his hand. "I'm here now."
No words could express how relieved Romeli was as she hugged Numair tight. She never wanted to let go in fear he would leave again. But a yawn betrayed her and Neal was at her side in seconds.
"You should rest young one," he said as he held out a hand for her to take. "The Gods know that you need it."
Romeli took his hand as she stifled another yawn and stood up to lie down on a bed next to Numair's. "Tell me if you need any help with healing," she said with another yawn as she closed her tired eyes.
Neal chuckled. "I don't think that will be necessary."
Romeli smiled. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Good night, Da."
There was a deep-throated chuckle from her left. "Good night Romeli."
Romeli went to bed with a smile on her lips. She knew her father would still be there when she woke up.
OOO
The Gods aren't mad are they? she asked Sclythe as they once again sat on the forest floor.
Sclythe flicked out his tongue. No they aren't. They would be however, if you weren't who you are.
Then who am I? she asked playing with an orange leaf on the dry forest floor. What makes me so unique that the Gods treat me differently from everyone else?
Sclythe didn't bother replying, but instead found himself suddenly fascinated with the dry brush beneath him.
Romeli grew frustrated. Everyone treated her differently. Different looks, different powers, different hair, eyes, and for all she knew...she had a different lifestyle too! No words could even come close to expressing how much she hated the term different right now.
Her mind soon tugged to her dragon shape that she had taken in pursuit to save her father. So I can transform into immortals?
No. You can only transform into a dragon because being a dragon is a part of you, Sclythe explained. If a stormwing had a child with a human, that child would have the part of a stormwing as well and could take shape of a stormwing.
Oh. Her brow furrowed. Wait..what?!
Sclythe then raised his head up to the sky and tasted the air with his tongue. He then turned to Romeli. I have to go, he informed, and then he vanished in a pop of silvery smoke.
Once again Romeli felt herself drift to her dreams.
OOO
When Romeli woke up, the first thing she did was look over next to her at her Da's bed. He was sleeping soundly with his blanket all the way over his head to block out the quiet noise of the infirmary. Healers were bustling about, working on various patients.
She sat up on her bed and stretched out her arms lazily. She was sore all over from using much more Gift than she usually did. It was all for good reason, however. Her father was back, and that was all she could ask for.
Romeli looked around the infirmary until she spotted Alanna staring at her. Romeli grinned at her aunt as she came over to her bed.
"How are you feeling?" Alanna asked as she poured some herbal tea for her niece.
Romeli took it gratefully and gagged it down her throat. It tasted horrible, but the aches and kinks in her body loosened. "I feel like a brand new person." There was slight sarcasm in her words. "How's Numair? Does he still have his Gift?"
Alanna grinned. "You really pulled a miracle this time Romeli. Numair is fine, and he even has his full Gift."
"Good." Romeli looked around her. "Can I help? Pleeaase?" She gave Alanna a begging puppy dog face that would make even the toughest of thieves crack a smile.
Alanna grinned. "If you're up to it."
Romeli's face lit up and she immediately rose from her bed.
"Hold on there youngster," Alanna sad putting her hand up. "You didn't happen to bring any of your things did you?"
Romeli's shoulders drooped. She didn't did she. She left right after the king had told her about Numair, and he told her not to bring anything. He said a second group was coming here soon, and they would bring her things with them. But that was at least a week and a half's ride, which meant a week and a half without her horse, weapons, books, not good at all.
Romeli looked at Alanna. "I couldn't because I came here transformed. But the king is ordering more people here, and they are bringing some belongings."
Alanna nodded. "Very well. I'm sure you can borrow some of the clothes that the laundry maids made. As for practicing weapons, we have some you can borrow, and if you pay the smith, he may make you another bladed staff. I'm sure you'll be plenty busy with helping animals and spending time with Numair however."
"Speaking of Peop—animals, did Daine arrive yet?" Romeli asked.
"No she hasn't, but we are keeping people on watch for her," the Lioness replied. "Now if you excuse me, I have to work on healing Roaul over there."
Romeli followed her wanting to help. When she arrived at Roaul's bed only a few away from hers, Alanna smiled at the gigantic knight as she went to get some tea.
Romeli stared at the man as he grinned kindly at Alanna. She had only met him once before, at the king's meeting, but she had heard of a few heroic tasks he had completed from her parents.
Roaul felt Romeli's eyes on him and he turned his head to look at her with a weak smile. The siege must have been a bloody fight. Roaul sported an ugly, deep wound on his right arm, an unattractive black eye, a long gash on his cheek, and probably other wounds that were hidden by his blanket.
"Hello Romeli," Roaul greeted kindly as he looked at her. Romeli was shocked to find that he actually remembered her name, but quickly shook it off as she smiled.
"Hi. Let me help you with those wounds," she summoned her Gift with closed eyes and brought it out. The emerald fire was held elegantly on her hand as she leaned over towards Roaul. The muscular knight closed his eyes patiently, obviously used to healings. She first put her fingers on his badly swollen eye. It slowly but surely lost some of it's unwanted bulk as it simmered down to the correct size. Her Gift helped with the swelling, but the skin around his eye still held a black and blue tinge. She then started to work on the long gash on his cheek. She healed broken tissue and burned off a minor infection that was brewing in the cut. All that was left was a dashing scar on his cheekbone. With that done, she began to work on his dreadful arm wound.
This however was much more difficult. She first had to remove a thick bandage that was close to bleeding through.
"Okay get ready for a sting," she warned as she held a hot cloth in her hand to wipe away the blood.
Roaul nodded. Romeli carefully wiped and dabbed his bloody arm with the cloth as he winced. She made sure that all of his excess blood was wiped away before summoning her Gift once again.
She carefully began to heal the long wound, doing her best not to miss any of the infection or fatal germs. Missing some of the infection could mean the death of the patient, and that wouldn't do. Especially with Lord Roaul.
When she opened her eyes, Alanna was standing next to her holding a hot cup of tea, and Roaul's long wound looked much better, though it still wasn't completely healed. It was up to Roaul's body to heal the rest of it now.
Alanna briskly gave Roaul the tea that was supposed to kill off pain for a little while. Roaul took a sip and shuttered. "This tastes nasty, Alanna. What did you do to it?"
"Just suck it up and drink, Lord Sissy Child, Ruler Of Complainers," Alanna retorted. Roaul shuddered at his new name and gagged down the rest of the tea. When he had finished it, he nearly drank a tankard of water to drown out the vile taste.
"So how do you think she did Roaul?" asked Alanna referring to Romeli's healing on him. His beady eyes crinkled in amusement.
He lifted up his wounded arm and flexed it, making he massive muscles bulge against his skin. Romeli's eyes grew wide as she stared.
"Roaul stop that, you're scaring her," Alanna said teasingly. Romeli began to protest.
"I don't think scaring is the right word Alanna," Roaul said as he rested his arm on his blanket. "I think she's just attracted to my manly-man arm strength." Alanna punched Roaul with a friendly fist.
Romeli blinked and then smiled. "Good bye...Lord Manly-man of I-like-to-run-away-from-social-events-because-I'm-too-manly...house." Alanna left out a laugh. Romeli turned on her heel towards her father.
"How are you feeling, Da?" she asked when she arrived. She sat on the side of his bed.
He smiled at her. "I'm well enough," he said as he leaned his head back on the wall. "Where's Daine?"
Romeli smiled. Numair must really miss her. "She should be here any minute now. She was on her way to the forts a couple of days ago to catch up on things here. And then that night I heard about—the attack." A lump grew in her throat making it hard to talk. And when she did her voice was weak and higher in pitch. "I flew over here as fast as I could, and Gods Dad I'm just so glad you're okay!" She leaned over and hugged him around the neck as she buried her head in his shoulder. Romeli fought to hold her tears in.
Numair wrapped his arms around her and held his daughter tight. "It's okay, I'm not leaving any time soon."
"Glad to hear it," Romeli said as she let go and sniffed from a runny nose.
"So how did you get here so fast?" Numair asked, eyes intent.
"I already told you, dragon shape," Romeli answered as she tried to stifle a laugh from Numair's surprised face.
"Dragon shape? How in Mithros's name did you transform back?"
Romeli shrugged as she thought. "They just told me to do it. I thought they were crazy, but they...insisted."
Numair nodded knowing that by 'they', Romeli meant Guardians. Romeli grinned at her father and excused herself to do more healing. She couldn't stand lazing around in an infirmary while there were wounded soldiers all around her—and staring at her.
She walked over to one soldier lying on a bed. He had brown hair that was neatly kept and mischievous blue eyes. He had the King's Own uniform and a band around his arm saying that he was a sergeant. He looked surprisingly like Neal and even a little like her friends, especially Sereem. She shook it off as quickly as she thought about it. There was no way...
"Hello," she greeted as she came over. She looked at a nasty wound on his shoulder and a cut above his left eye. "My name is Romeli Salmalin. I can heal those cuts if you want me to."
The soldier looked up into her eyes. They quickly grew wide and his lips slightly parted. "Domitan of Masbolle," he greeted as he held out his hand. Romeli's eyes widened as she slowly took it. "I would love to have such a beautiful lady heal me," he told her with a joking grin.
Romeli smiled as she got out a damp towel to clean his wounds. That explained everything. He had to be Sereem's father, and Neal's relative of sorts. "You're Sereem's father?" she asked as she carefully worked on the cut above his eye.
Instead of nodding, he spoke as to not jostle her work. "Yes I am," he answered. "Do you know him? Or...did he just get in trouble again?"
Romeli laughed, liking Domitan's sense of humor. "We're both friends of sorts," she said. Frankly she wasn't sure if Sereem wanted to be her friend. He still hadn't talked to her since her breakdown less than a week ago. "As for him being in trouble, I wouldn't know. I only met him a few weeks ago."
"How old are you?" Dom asked curiously. He fought to not wince as she began to clean his shoulder wound.
"Fourteen, almost fifteen," she replied buried in her work.
Dom was fascinated. "That's excellent! A marriage!" He was grinning again. "You and Sereem would be—."
"We're...just friends," Romeli repeated, laughing a little, uneasily.
"Oh I'm just kidding! Aren't you a little young to be in the middle of a war? And you are only a girl after all," Dom said all too seriously.
Romeli stiffened, but continued quickly with her cleaning. "Tell that to Alanna, and she will happily prove you otherwise."
"Yeah tell that to my wife and she'll prove me otherwise," Domitan murmured, laughing at some memory.
Romeli continued her banter. "And if you tell that to me ever again, I would happily love to beat your ass in a weapons duel. Then we'll see who's the girl here."
"What weapon do you wield?"
"Double bladed staff, daggers, and bow. Best at the double bladed staff."
"I'll take you whenever you feel like it."
Grinning she looked him in the eye and then returned to her work.
She summoned her Gift quickly and eased his throbbing wounds with her cooling Gift. She heard Dom sigh in comfort as she took care of an annoying headache and healed up his wounds.
Minutes later, Romeli opened her eyes, finished. She nearly jumped when she saw Neal standing beside her.
"I see you've met my cousin," Neal drawled all too like James. "I apologize for the inconvenience."
"Hello Meathead," greeted Dom with an evil grin.
"After twenty years of calling me that, you'd think it would get old. And calling adults names is very immature—especially in front of Romeli."
"Yes, but isn't it an older cousin's right to call his younger relative names?"
"Indeed it is, but you abuse the right with your unfit and stupid nicknames."
"And you would be the master at such things I presume?"
"Why yes…hey that was completely uncalled for."
"Which is exactly why I said it."
"I would call you a stupid person, but that would be an insult to stupid people."
"As low as that was, it still isn't as low as your ratings for good comebacks."
"That was the lamest thing I have ever heard."
"And you would surely know about that too."
"There is no way I'm falling for that again."
"For some odd reason, I wouldn't be surprised if you did."
"You guys are worse then James and Tim," Romeli interrupted as she stared at the two with a laugh. Dom and Neal, who had completely forgotten about her while they were in the middle of their battle, looked at her in shock and then grinned sheepishly like little boys.
Romeli blinked and then looked at Neal. "By the way, where is Tim. Isn't he supposed to be with you?"
Neal thrust his hands into his pockets. "I left him at Mastiff."
"You abandoned your son at Mastiff?"
"Yes. And quite skillfully also—."
"MEATHEAD! HELP ME SEND A REPORT TO JONATHAN!"
"Yes Alanna!" Neal replied then walked away grumbling about stupid cousins who meddled in the affairs of dukes and green haired girls who asked too many questions for their own good.
"STOP SNIGGERING MEATHEAD'S COUSIN!" Alanna bellowed, obviously in one of her moods. Romeli noted to herself not to talk to her aunt for the rest of the morning.
Dom stopped abruptly, not wanting to cross into Alanna's danger zone. "Yes Lioness!" he called. He then quickly closed his eyes to welcome sleep.
Romeli snickered and then continued on to her next patient.
OOO
When Jonathan received the report from Alanna through her Gift, he immediately sent out every runner he could spare to fetch all of the remaining knights, squires, and fourth-year pages to meet at the dining hall. After, he too ran to the hall, stretching out his hands nervously.
"I have called you all here to announce some good and bad news," he announced ten minutes later as he stood on the elevated stage of the room. Men and teenagers were crowded around him, though the group was not massively large. Many of them were pale, wondering what could have happened.
Jonathan continued with a loud voice. "Yesterday morning the northern fort Northwatch was ambushed by Scanran raiders. Northwatch would have been taken if it weren't for Numair Salmalin; our mage had taken a toll, but is getting better thanks to his daughter. Anyone who has further questions can come see me afterwards. Many of our people died fighting the Scanrans at the raid. Fifty in fact. That fort and the other forts in the north need our help. I would like all of the knights and their squires to go up North to help fight for our land. As for you pages, you and your training master will be going to Northwatch to assist with rebuilding the damage and help the soldiers. I expect all knights to be off in four hours. Pages will meet by the stables in the same amount of time, packs and horses ready. That will be all."
The minute the king dismissed the crowd, James' head buzzed with questions. What had happened to Numair? And hadn't he just seen Romeli yesterday? What the hell was she doing in northern Tortall? As he looked around and met the eyes of his friends, they also had puzzled faces, but none of them knew about Romeli as much as James did. Why would they be concerned about her when they left her?
James trudged past his friends. "I'm going to talk to the king," he told them, walking towards Jonathan. Ethan, Sereem, and Whave hesitated then soon followed, their curiosity getting the best of them.
"Sir, how did Romeli get to Northwatch so fast?" James asked after he bowed. His friends who stood behind him raised their brows in silent question.
The king smiled, his crow feet eyes wrinkled in kindness and yet a crease of concern. "I'm not at all sure. Alanna lacked to explain all the details. You want to hear the whole story?" At the boys' nod, he continued. "Well, when Romeli had arrived, Numair was dying, and quickly. Romeli did everything she could, but nothing worked. Numair did die. Alanna said that Romeli was an absolute disaster, but Romeli insisted that there was another way. She performed the Phoenix Spell."
"Is she bloody mad?" Whave blurted, terrified. He knew well enough what the Phoenix spell was, and he knew that coming back from the dead was not to be considered.
James looked like he was going into hysterics. "What an idiot," he whispered with a pale face. She's dead. Romeli is dead. She couldn't have lived past that spell. With a feeble voice he asked the question he feared would be answered. "is she...?"
"Surprisingly enough, no," Jonathan answered with a stricken face. It was like hearing the news all over again. He could barely comprehend it himself. "Numair is fine as well and he even still has his Gift."
Sereem, Ethan, Whave, and James nodded dumbly. "And James, Romeli at this moment doesn't have any of her things with her. Could you please prepare her horse, any of her weapons, and some clothes for her please?" James bowed. Jonathan excused himself, and the soon-to-be squires left to pack their things. James had to go to Ryoku's room to tell her the news and where they were going. Then he had to pack both Romeli's things and his.
OOO
"Ma! You're here!" Romeli welcomed as she rushed to her mother at the entrance of the infirmary. Daine was tired and pale, but her face lit up in seeing Romeli. It soon however flashed to confusion.
"How did you get here so fas?" Daine asked as she looked at her from a tight embrace.
Romeli smiled uncertain. "Dragon shape. They told me to, it was the only way I could get to Numair in time."
Fear washed over her mother's face as her cloudy blue eyes glazed over. "He is all right, right? The People said he was—you know."
"He's fine. But go over to him if you don't believe me," her daughter answered. Daine smiled quickly, her thoughts distracted as she rushed over to her husband.
Romeli smiled as she watched her parents kiss from the corner of her eye. She then walked out of the infirmary to search for the mess hall. It was time to grab some lunch.
She hadn't noticed until now how badly in shape Northwatch was. The wall that protected the fortress from raiders was partially crumbled. A watch tower had fallen and was strewn across the ground.
She walked around slowly as she watched burly soldiers carrying planks of wood to semi burned buildings.
Many of the soldiers stopped and stared as the girl walked by them nervously, but they would soon remember their work and continue once again. Romeli tried her best to ignore them, but there were so many people.
Eventually she found the mess hall and thanked her nose for leading her to it. When she entered, many people were wolfing down their food while cooks bustled around with empty salt shakers and butter trays. She walked over to the cooks and got her food before sitting down on the end of a table far away from everyone else.
She choked on her carrot when a tray crashed down in front of her and violet eyes stared into her own.
Romeli's eyes began to water as she coughed. When she got over it, she cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "What are you doing here?" Romeli managed to say.
Alanna smiled with her crow's feet eyes crinkling in amusement. "Eating."
"I can see that," Romeli retorted dryly.
"How observant of you," Alanna said as she tore a piece of chicken in half and ate a portion. Romeli glared and then popped a grape into her mouth.
"What did you say in the report?" Romeli asked as she bit into her salad.
"I told him that you came here and preformed the Phoenix Spell on your father and that you and Numair are okay. He's bringing the fourth year pages over here to help rebuild this place."
Romeli froze. "You told him about the Phoenix Spell? Gods Alanna, why?"
Alanna shrugged. "I didn't want to lie, and it's not like he's going to tell the world about it."
"But that's exactly what he will do!" Romeli protested as she took another bite of her salad.
"How would you know what the king did? I know him best, and I'm positive that he wouldn't tell everyone. Only the people he wants to know. He's not that type of person," Alanna said.
Romeli knew that Alanna was probably right. She did not really know the king at all, to be honest. But what Jonathan did to her only a few days ago made her unconvinced. It wouldn't shock her if he tried to brag to the court that he 'owned' a mage that could bring back the dead. And as much as Romeli was a denizen of Tortall, Jonathan didn't at all own her or her capabilities.
Romeli only nodded as she stared at her food thinking. "Who commands Northwatch?" she eventually asked.
Alanna laughed as she cleared her plate of anything edible. "Mr. Attractive Arm himself." Alanna set down her fork and stared at Romeli's arm. "Romeli what are those bruises from?"
Romeli looked down at her arm and inwardly winced. The bruises were faded but the shapes of light fingerprints still remained. She rubbed it. "Nothing."
"Tell."
"No."
"Tell or I'll tell your parents."
Romeli's eyes narrowed. "Let it be known that I hate you. It was a page okay? Don't worry about it though, I took care of him." She hated lying to her, but she didn't want to sound helpless and make Alanna think it wasn't safe for her around here with all of the soldiers. And as much as she didn't take care of him, she didn't say she was rescued either.
Alanna hardly believed her, but dropped the conversation. Instead they both stood up and handed their dishes to the cooks to wash. "So do you have anywhere to sleep?"
"No where except for the bed in the infirmary. I can sleep in the stables though. I'm sure you need all the spare rooms you can get," Romeli said. Truthfully she would rather sleep in the stables anyway. She would be with the People and would feel more comfortable with them than soldiers. It would also be warmer in the stables with all of the horses. She hated the cold. And if she was supposed to stay up north for winter, she would need all the warmth she could get. Fall had already begun and the rushes of cold were already more then she could stand.
"You can always stay in your parent's room."
"They probably want their privacy," Romeli informed her as they walked back towards the infirmary.
"I guess that you staying in the stables is best then, huh?" Alanna asked. "It would keep the horses healthy for sure."
"I would love to."
Romeli and Alanna took a sharp right towards the stables and got her some things to make her room more suitable.
They chose to have her sleep in an empty stall where they cleaned out any stray straw. The stall was just big enough to have her lay down a bedroll and have a small chest. Since Romeli had no things, they got her clothes from one of the laundry maids, and a chest and bedroll from a soldier who had died in the siege. Romeli put the chest and bedroll in the stall and then filled the chest with all of her new clothes.
While Romeli was working, many of the curious horses sniffed her hair and clothes. She talked to them all and introduced herself to them saying that she would be staying here for a while. The horses seemed overjoyed to have someone stay with them. Especially someone as fascinating as her.
Romeli spent most of the rest of the day walking around the fortress and getting to know the place. By the hour she knew where the privy, smithy, and soldier's barracks were. Feeling confident around the new place, she walked back to the stables, slightly cold.
After she had warmed up and talked with the horses some more, she walked back out with her coat wrapped tightly around her. Her curiosity to walk on top of the wall got the best of her and she ran up the steps to the top.
The bad part was that the temperature rapidly dropped and her teeth chattered loudly. The view however made most of the miserable cold disappear. It was marvelous. She could see tall mountains capped with icy snow farther up north. To the south there were rolling hills and the Brown River that she had followed, a blue and brown strip in the distance.
She walked along the wall for a while longer as she jumped damaged parts. One part of the wall was completely crumbled exposing part of the fort to the open forests and hills. She would have gone around to the other side to get to the back of the fort wall, but wouldn't be able to because of another crumbled area.
She instead closed her eyes and sprouted raven wings that were big enough to lift her body. Surprisingly her eyes still remained, which was quite odd. She shook it off however, saying that it probably had to do with the dragon being a part of her.
When she landed on the other side and came to the back wall of the fort, her eyes widened in shock.
Gods I have a lot of work to do, Romeli thought as she looked at the site before her.
Replies:
Asha: a new reader? Wow! I'm so touched! Welcome! Yea I like some of the other chaps better, and Romeli is a—unique name. It stands for something secret in a language that I made up. Ooo secret! Romeli is working on defeating 'her'. It's just kinda hard though. You know you just reminded me of that…hmmm. When should I tell her about the prophecy? Don't know. How about it a dream. Yea…I'm sorry if you cried in this chapter. And of course you're not a crybaby! Heehee. I already have a book published actually. But there's only one copy. It's called Threader. I'm going to write another one that I want published in stores and stuff called Phoenix in a Chicken Coop. I'm not starting it until I'm done with this one though. You're Danish? Awesome. I don't mind, it's hard to learn English as a second language. English is your second language right? Or am I just stupid?
HyperLittleCat: I'm sorry! That must really suck. Mmm…sugar! Yummy yummy! Wow you are so hyper! Yay! I like the thingie mabobber too. I'm sorry I blew it up! I have a tendancy to blow things up. (thingie explodes behind me) heehee. Burn! Burn! Oh yes I terrorize the locals all the time! Every Monday morning and Thursday! I'm also going to start on Fridays too! Yes…run run run! I'll blow up the CIA for you! You take the CSI with your halberd thingie mc bobby thing!
Lemonsqueezey: wow nice name! What a high compliment! Why thank you lemondude! I appreciate muchy!
QueenThayet: Yes I get sugar high from sugar all the time! It feels good…lol. Did you look under the part that says Clues in the GOA section on my site thing? I'm going to kill Jonathan so don't worry about it! Roald is going to take the throne cause Queen Thayet will er…dunno yet. But yea. Nice…Florida. It's sunny there. mmm…yummy sun. er…no comment on killing your fav characters.
Lalahatesperkyppl444: yea it is…I've been having issues with her age. (tears out hair frustrated) gah! No Numair didn't die! And as for the second question…no comment. Don't die! We don't want that no do we! Hang in there a new chappie is coming!
Nothing else worked: updated! Tired and sugar high? How does that work? Lol. I like the moose mouse too. It's all—moosey. When I first used it I swear I sat there for an hour just waving the moose thing around the computer. I was so amused.
Ephona: IN THE AFTERNOON! (faints) (wakes up) (reads first sentence again) (faints) your no longer nocturnal! Yeees! Throws a party with moose confetti. Sorry bout the homework thing by the way…
Anonymous: You aren't? oopsies? Sorry bout that. Don't worry it isn't sad…I think it's overly enjoyable that you are a new reader! Huzzah! (high five) Don't worry, I know she's perfect, but that will change soon. I hope. I love cliffies.
Alyios: Why thank you kind person! Dude JK is killing all of my favorite characters! She killed Sirius (my fav) she's gonna kill lupin (another fav) she's gonna kill ron (another fav) and snape (snape is kool). I think she is coming out to get me. At least I still have Fred and George! (huggles F and G)
Wild-wizard-women: that's okay! No don't die! (hires Romeli to use Pheonix spell) there much better! You're back! I hated writing that page part, grr. But I had to. Yea that chappie was depressing. So was the beginning of this one. You cried right? Heehee (faints) YOUR FAVORITE STORY! (faints again) lol. thanks! Spring break in feb is almost over…(cries) no!