A/N: Sorry, sorry, I know slow updates but this is one of my things that just hangs around to work on when I can't think of anything for my other story.

Please read and review :D thank you

I am not Tamora PierceChapter

Last Breath of the Lioness

Swarms of people crowded around. The ceremony had to be moved from the chapel to one of the large banquet halls, and even then people were still forced to stand rather than sit. Dour looks pulled each face tight as he inspected the growing crowd and sighed. His sapphire blue eyes were sad as he mentally prepared himself for what was to come. "A great hero has fallen, and now we must remember her in our hearts as the woman who has shook this very country with her own hands until all that we accepted had been changed." His deep voice boomed across the room as faces looked up from the ground, but his eyes were down cast as he thought about that day.

*--*--*

The party rode their mounts over the rough terrain. The men-at-arms from Naxen had been dismissed so that they could move more quickly without extra people. She scowled at him from under her riding cloak; she had asked him not to come to the training camp this year, but he demanded to go and visit his wife.

Her firey red hair framed her violet eyes that scanned the wilderness around them and the squad of the King's Own that surrounded them. Suddenly, a horn call was choked off in the distance, and her head jerked up abruptly. Her eyes darted around to look at her son that was still a green knight and who only had his shield for a little under a year, then that violet gaze landed on him and it hardened.

"Fall in!" She yelled. "And hurry!"

*--*--*

"She didn't just rewrite history for us all, she made history." His voice carried over them again. He looked at the congregation of commoners, nobles, mages, magistrates, and ambassadors. "She was one of the reasons so many young women -common and noble- have so many options. And she didn't even realize what she was doing other than fulfilling her own dreams!"

*--*--*

The party rode hard trying to move fast over the rugged terrain but a yell ripped through the air and one of the soldiers fell from his horse; a bandit's arrow in his back. "Move!" She screamed over the cries of battle as the enemy fell in on them.

His hands closed around the hilt of the sword on his hip and he pulled it free to block the oncoming assault from a small battle ax.He looked over his shoulder and saw his friend and her son back to back, keeping their attackers away with fierce strokes of their own swords.

His arm flared with pain as another blow from the ax collided with his sword. Horn calls blared from the sentries surrounding them now, all of them were calling for help. Sweat rolled off his brow and stung his eyes, he looked and saw that her son, his godschild, was bleeding immensely and her eyes were wild with fear as she held the attackers away from him, throwing her own body between them and her son.

*--*--*

"She went against all things that were considered 'proper', she has saved my life many times -and then again- without the slightest flutter of an eyelash." He ran a hand over his graying beard as he tried to hide the dour look on his face. "She was a hero, but she was a real person as well, she was devoted to protecting her country, her friends, her ideals, her family," his voice broke in a choked off sob.

*--*--*

The young man's strawberry blond hair was matted down from sweat as blood pumped out of a gash than ran along his neck and chest. Her eyes burned angrily as she fought the men around her and her son off with her blade and her violet Gift.

"No," he mumbled as he broke free from his battel and raced towards them before he saw that one of the men broke through and raised his blade up above the young man's head, "No!"

The copper haired woman spun around in one strong motion, plunged her sword deep into the man and wrenched her weapon free of him and slashed it across another's chest. All the while, her lips moved in silent prayer for help to come quickly.

*--*--*

"Noble. Gallant. Courageous. She was easily described with all those words, but more than that, she was loving, and tender, and cherished the simplest of things, such as the warmth of the sun," he told them and a small movement from a group of dark skinned Bazhir guests told him they understood her well. "She was also the one you didn't want toto cross verbal swords with, let alone the more deadly kind." The queen smiled from her place just below the podium as several men sitting nearby grinned broadly.

"But she was also a mother, and wife, and friend to those who looked past the oddities that made her unique." His blue eyes locked on to the hazel ones of one of his friends, sitting off to the side of the room with two young men next to him, one young man with copper locks of hair, the other had strawberry blond strands falling into his tear filled eyes and brushing the scar on his neck.

His blue eyes stayed with his friend as they both privately thought about the last tragic moments of this remarkable woman.

*--*--*

He rushed towards them both but relief surged through him when he saw a group of Riders galloping hard to drive off the attack from their small party. The bandits were not discouraged though, they fought even more.

He finally reached his friend and her son but her violet eyes glared at him before he could help defend them, "Heal him," she commanded.

"Let me--"

"Heal him. Now. Please." This time it was a commanding plea that came from her lips and so he did as she told. His blue magic flowed into the young man to heal him and he heard the crash of battle behind him. Then one, no two, he corrected himself, men were yelling at his friend. She was fighting them both off, single handed.

One of the burly men was about to cut into her friend who was busy with her son. She blocked the blow with a swift strike of her own sword, but saw the smirk on her opponents face.

Then, pain flowed through her body and warm liquid began spilling from her mouth, staining her lips and face. She looked down and saw the point of a sword protruding from her chest, right where her heart was.

Realization dawned on her as her body shook with anger at the men that were ripping her from life, but she refused to go alone. She slit the first man's throat in a clean swipe then spun around to see the astonished look on the man's face that had plunged his own weapon into her. She gave him the same fate as she was about to receive and ran her sword through his heart as well before pulling her sword free of his collapsing body.

She placed her hand upon the blade stick out of her chest and momentarily admired the strong, blood stained metal. She crumbled to the ground with empty eyes, unaware that her friend that was pouring his Gift into her and her son, trying to save them both.

All she knew for sure was that she had done her part in protecting the crown, and her family. Two things she never would have thought she would have any responsibility for. Yet, her friends, and her family were the last thoughts that fluttered in her mind as her life was handed over to the Black God.

*--*--*

Baron George Cooper nodded at his long time friend, Jonathan IV of Conte the King of Tortall, encouraging him to continue on in the last lines of the speech. Jonathan's voice grew passionate and increased in volume as he spoke his final words, "She was 'Alan', she was 'The Woman that Rides like a Man', 'The Burning Brightly One', she was our hero The Lioness, but she was our dear friend and first Lady Knight on over a century, may her memories and deeds continue to inspire our progression, and may we always cherish the memories of Lady Knight Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, The Lioness!"

A/N: What did you think? Have any comments? I'll take 'em, or if you have any particular character or situation you want to see, let em know and I'll probably get it done pretty quickly.

THANKS
KATE