Chapter 9: Camping

The next morning, Adalia actually woke up early (for once) and was putting the finishing touches on her packing when she heard a tentative knock on the door. "Come in." She called, not bothering to look up from hunting for her practise sword, which she could have sworn was in her room a moment ago.

"Hello." Adalia looked up at the voice, and scowled, "What? Has Daine sent a goodbye party?"

"More like a you-better-wake-up party." Rye retorted, eyes sparkling. "But I can see you are already awake."

At this Adalia just shrug and said sarcastically, "Oh really? How would I ever know without you saying so, my noble mage?" She turned back to the problem at hand, and started throwing clothes out of her bag.

"What are you doing?" Rye questioned, as he sat on her bed.

She scowled at him, "Looking for something. That is the only reason I would be rifling through my bags." She then rolled her eyes, as he looked thoughtful.

"Something?"

"My practise sword." Having reached the bottom of her bag, she stood up and started looking around the room.

"Um, I hate to be the one to inform you…but…"

"What? Just spit it out so I can get back to looking!"

"You are wearing your sword."

Adalia slowly looked down and saw the sheath at her belt, thinking she really ought to have looked there first. Rye was rolling on the bed, clutching his stomach in laughter. "T-the l-look on your face… it's priceless!" He managed to say.

Adalia snapped and quickly drew her sword, leaving it to rest at the base of his throat. He stopped laughing immediately.

They looked at each other, and Adalia made a crooked smile, lowering her sword, "No, my laddybuck. The look on your face is priceless." She sheathed her sword, and just when Rye thought he was safe, she pivoted and whacked him on the head.

"Oww. I come in here, out of the goodness of my heat, and you hit me for helping you find your sword." He whined.

"You were enjoying it too much." Adalia informed him, haphazardly throwing the clothes back in her bag. She then picked it up and carried it out of the door, locking it behind her. She couldn't say bye to her grandparents, as George was still at Pirate's Swoop, and Alanna was still hunting Marcus Wood, who was proving to be a slippery scum bag, although she had managed to close down the slavery network, returning all those captured back to their homes.

Rye slipped out just before she locked him in. Adalia saw him move to carry her bag, but she brushed him off, irritably saying, "If I couldn't carry a bag, do you think I would have bothered go into training to be a knight?"

He just stepped back and followed her to the pages wing, where they broke off, saying goodbye. Adalia was sorry that she wouldn't have time off in ages, but brightened quickly at the thought that she could go flying and find him.

She strode into her room and dumped her bags down. She was debating whether to unpack when a crowd of people came in.

"What? No knocking?" She asked, smiling at seeing the familiar faces of Dameon, Nathan, Kaden, Daniel, Charlie and Kula filing into her room. They all greeted each other boisterously.

"Nice work on Lord Padraig, by the way. It was art." Daniel told her after a while, with an approving nod in her direction.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Adalia replied teasingly.

The others had heard this and were looking at Adalia in surprise. "That was you?" Kula asked, a smile breaking through her Yamani mask.

"I thought that pink was a good colour on him, myself." Charlie put in, grinning from ear to ear.

Kaden just looked at the two, "How do you know she did it?" He whispered; none of them wanted to draw Lord Padraig's attention to this particular conversation.

"Just an educated guess." Daniel replied

Adalia snorted, "Educated?"

"Well, you're the only one that could have done it without getting caught."

At this, Adalia smiled sheepishly, "Sometimes having a spymaster as mother really comes in handy."

The others just shook their heads, and started to talk about the free time they had. Kula had visited her mother in Queenscove, and she was telling them about it when Lord Padraig stuck his face through the open doorway shouting, "All pages line up NOW."

They quickly filed out and lined the corridor. Lord Padraig began his speech, "Okay. Now, we have about a month before the new pages come, so, as usual we are going on our survival camp. I expect everyone to be up and ready, with minimal luggage tomorrow at the crack of dawn, lining up with your mounts! Dismissed."

Adalia looked at Kula, one eyebrow cocked, "Survival camp?"

"All the pages but first years do it. We ride out to a location of Lord Padraig's choosing, and have to hunt for our own food. Usually the Shang masters join us. Bring a bed roll and I hope you don't complain." Kula told Adalia.

"Complain?"

"It rains every time we go out. I think it must be the Trickster's big joke." Kula explained, sighing. "The boys are terrible when wet is mixed with cold, it's horrible."

All of the pages spent that day packing what they would need. They then went to bed early, in anticipation of the upcoming adventure, even if they had to spend it with their grumpy training master.

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Adalia woke up to ear-piercing crow calls. She fell out of bed, shocked. This made all the crows laugh at her, emitting curious squawks that made Adalia blush in embarrassment.

"What are you doing in my room?" She asked in crow speech.

A large one hopped onto her arm and started pecking her clothes, "Rye-crow said wake up Ady-crow, because it would be fun. We agree with him, so we did."

Adalia went red with anger at the mention that Rye had put them up to it, and she said, "When did he ask you to do this?"

The crow looked at her, abandoning her sleeve, "Last night."

A wicked grin spread across Adalia's face, and she told the crows, "Wouldn't it be fun to wake Rye-crow up as well? He will probably do what I did."

Adalia saw an amused glint creep into the crow's eyes and they all took off, flying back out of her open window. She could take pleasure in the fact that he would get the same treatment. She then noticed that outside it was still dark, but that daybreak was probably in about an hour.

She jumped up off the floor and gathered her things, thinking that she probably shouldn't have set the crows on Rye, seeing as he probably just wanted to make sure she got up. Then she shrugged, thinking, I can only hope he falls out of bed as well.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she left her room and knocked on Kula's door. When Kula just groaned, Adalia slipped some lock picks out of her belt and in no time was barging in the door. She gave a large crow bawl, meaning 'wake up!' and Kula started, nearly falling off the bed.

As Kula looked tiredly up at Adalia, she muttered heatedly, "Where did you learn to do that? You sound just like a crow!"

"Oh, here and there." Adalia told her dismissively, and then dragged her out of bed. She was already wearing her travelling clothes. She moaned as she saw how dark it was outside, but Adalia just smiled wickedly and dragged her into the washroom, splashing water over her face.

"I'm up!" Kula yelled, and then added, "This isn't fair! You never wake up early! I am the one who gets to get you out of bed!"

"This is payback!" Adalia informed her tall friend. She looked at Kula's hair, "You might want to use some leather to tie that out of your eyes."

Kula looked surprised, and then looked at her hair, which was lightly brushing her shoulders. She scowled at it, and then turned to Adalia, a sheepish grin on her face, "Ah, can I borrow a band? I have never needed to before, I'll need to get it cut again."

"Sure." Adalia dropped her bag on the ground, and started rummaging around looking for a band.

As Adalia handed Kula a spare tie, Kula sighed and said, "I don't get how you can keep your hair so long. Mine irritates me when it gets this long!" She was looking at the black plait of Adalia's hair, which stretched down to be about level with the middle of her back.

Adalia looked at her confused, and then grabbed her plait to look at its length. Surprised to find so much, she just shrugged, "It doesn't really bother me. Anyway, I find this a much more practical solution to reminding the boys I am a girl than wearing dresses to every dinner."

Adalia could not stand dresses, and she wasn't about to wear one ever again, if she could help it. Kula just laughed at the dark look on Adalia's face, and guessing the subject of her thoughts, said, "You'll have to wear one sometime."

Adalia just crossed her arms, and then abandoned the subject. "We better get a move on if we want to have Anika and Tama saddled in time." Tama was Kula's strawberry mare. Tama meant jewel in Yamani, and the horse had a not-so-nice temperament towards almost everyone. Kula and Tama got along well, and Adalia had an agreement with the horse, so she was not bitten, but practically everyone else was at risk. Kula was proud of Tama; even more so since Kel had visited her personally and remarked that she was a lot like Peachblossom.

Kula hefted her bag and both girls walked down to the stables, not bothering to even attempt waking up the boys; they didn't want to deprive Lord Padraig the fun of doing it personally.

They took their time grooming the horses, knowing they had plenty. Kula mounted Tama to ride her out to where they were meeting Lord Padraig, and Adalia quickly followed suit.

It was 15 minutes until they were to leave when they heard the ear-splitting roar that meant Lord Padraig was in the process of waking up the pages. Adalia and Kula looked on, laughing uproariously as a line of sleepy boys trekked out, into the stables. Some had only one boot on, or their shirts halfway over their head. The two Shang Masters, Hakim Seastone (the Horse) and Eda Bell (The Wildcat) were also there, and joined in the laughter.

The boys half-heartedly glared at the girls who were in tears of laughter, and then they caught the unmistakable sound of Lord Padraig stomping up behind them, and they went into the stables to ready their horses.

While they were waiting, Lord Padraig went over to the two and checked their bags to see if they were too heavy. Declaring them fine, he told them to strap them to their saddles. He was surprisingly cheerful, but the girls thought it was an evil kind of cheerfulness; come out of the delight in forcing the boys out of bed.

They waited, Adalia patient for once, as the boys came out, one by one leading their mounts and joining the line up.

Once Lord Padraig had deemed all of their bags the appropriate weight, he shouted "Mount Up."

Adalia caught Kula's eye and they shared a pained look, both thinking, 'is there any way to mount down?' Even so, they did as he commanded and were shortly sitting in the saddle. Adalia could already hear Tama warning the horse on her other side not to get close, and she watched Daniel's mount quickly shuffle to the side, eyeing Tama with apprehension.

Lord Padraig lead the way out of the palace, saying "Off to Wellam!"

Adalia lent closer to Kula; the pages were riding in twos, and said quietly, "Wellam?"

"It's about a three-day ride from here, and it has a pretty dense forest that I bet Lord Padraig will place our camp." Adalia sighed at this, thinking there probably wouldn't be much room for tents.

The first day of riding was pleasant. They all chatted, and Adalia and Kula got much amusement from the antics of Tama; Adalia was in giggles most of the time, listening to the threats the mare issued. The only horse Tama tolerated was Anika, because she had promised to, and the two horses became good friends.

After Tama had streaked up to nip Daniel's mount for the second time in 30 minutes, he was grumbling because he had fallen off when his horse had jumped involuntarily. He looked back to Adalia, "Why does that devil horse not hurt you?" He asked in exasperation, rubbing his rump.

Adalia laughed and said, "Well, for one thing I don't call her 'the devil horse'…"

Tama snorted and made a jump for Daniel's arm, but he pulled it out of her way. He winced when he heard her jaws click together, and kicked Rebel into a trot, "I think I will go and ride with Kaden."

"Good idea!" Kula yelled at his retreating back. The two girls looked at each other and then laughed.

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That night when they stopped, they watered the horses, and then let them graze. They knew that they would not go far, as all the animals had become more intelligent (by human standards) due to Daine's presence at the castle.

Lord Padraig walked over to the girls, and handed Kula a shovel. "Go dig a girl's latrine, and tell Eda where it is once you are done." Then he nodded to Adalia, "You can set up a tent, near wherever Eda decides to set up her hammock. You two will share a tent."

Adalia resisted the urge to inform him that that was what they had been planning, but just barely. She picked up her saddle and walked over to where Eda was tying a hammock between two trees. "Ah, lass, you don't have to set that thing up. It won't rain tonight, just lay out the bedrolls."

Adalia grinned appreciatively at the Wildcat; she had known that, but thought it wiser to follow Lord Padraig's orders. Throwing the tent next to her bag, she extracted her and Kula's bedrolls and laid them on the ground. She loved looking at the stars while sleeping, which was part of the reason she left her windows open at night.

She and Kula joined the boys around a campfire that Dameon had lit with his Gift for dinner. "Don't get used to this. Once we reach Wellam you can get your own food or go hungry. Just for the travelling, we have brought food."

They ate while talking around the campfire for a while, and then Lord Padraig ordered them to bed.

Stretching out on her bed role, she gazed at the stars in satisfaction, thinking that she was happy to be a girl page.

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In the morning a grinning Kula shook her awake, "Ha! Now things are back to normal!"

Adalia groaned and rolled over. Kula grabbed her and dragged her bodily from the warm blankets.

"You need to eat more, you're too light." Kula told Adalia, surprised at how easy it was to drag the girl that was almost the same height as her.

"Why not just sleep more?"

"No, eat. So get up it's breakfast time!" Adalia was too tired to worry that Kula had felt that she was unusually light, so she just dragged herself up from the ground swearing fluently in Kyprish, and looked around for her bag.

She got a little shock seeing Anika leaning over her, but she recovered quickly and gave her a large affectionate stroke. The mare whinnied a greeting, and then moved off to join Tama.

Adalia threw on a fresh shirt and breeches after precariously jumping into a freezing stream. She made her way to the campfire while tying up her hair. The boys and Kula greeted her, then handed her bread and cheese for breakfast. While munching on the bread, she watched the boys collapsing their tents, with Lord Padraig breathing over their shoulders. He was anxious to get a move on.

After finishing breakfast, she trudged back to the girl's sleeping place and packed up her bedroll. Kula was doing likewise, and then she waited for Adalia to finish, sitting on her bag. "Hmm. How do you think we will call the horses?" She asked Adalia.

Adalia looked thoughtful for a second, and then put her hands in her mouth, giving a high-pitched whistle. She was actually calling them silently, but she did the whistle for good measure.

Kula winced at the noise, and then dropped her Yamani mask and threw Adalia a scathing look, "You hurt my ears! At least warn me next time. They probably won't come anyway."

Kula jumped as Tama, who had sneaked up behind her, snorted in her ear. She quickly turned around to see Tama and Anika standing behind them.

"See? It did work!" Adalia told her satisfactorily. She picked up her saddle blanket and started tacking up Anika. Kula just stared bemusedly at Tama, but when the mare butted her softly she laughed and addressed Adalia, "You have to teach me how to do that!"

That day, Adalia taught Kula how to do the whistle, and Kula had gotten quite good at it by the time that they abandoned the road to set up camp.

The drill was the same, except this time Adalia set up the tent, as she could see that it would probably start raining throughout the night. It seemed Eda agreed with her, as she put up a large canvas sheet to keep the rain off above her hammock.

In the morning there was little talk. Everyone pulled on raincoats to try to keep the wet out of their clothes, and then they mounted and followed Lord Padraig back to the road to Wellam.

"I told you it would rain." Kula reminded Adalia gloomily as they looked apprehensively at the dark clouds.

Adalia just shrugged, having not gotten a good night's sleep due to the noise the rain made splattering on the roof of their tent. She was cocooned in two jumpers, under her raincoat. They all trudged on, and Adalia came to agree with Kula; that the boy's complaining was annoying.

Adalia did not complain out loud; she tried to occupy herself by running over all the swear words in the Kyprish language, and then narrowing down the list to find the one that portrayed just how much she hated Lord Padraig. It turned out to be a very long list, but it did help to raise her spirits, as she imagined calling him the particular word. The only problem would be that she would be the only one to understand it, which made it less fun; she would rather him to conceive the gravity of her hatred.

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While the motley group rode by, they didn't notice a man dressed in dark brown clothes to blend in with the trees watching them. He looked over them carefully, and upon seeing a girl with purple eyes, he grinned in wicked delight. He then turned back to signal to the others that he found what they were looking for.

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That night, there was no talk, and they were handed some cold food and sent to put up tents. Kula and Adalia also set up a canvas sheet, so Tama and Anika could have some shelter from the heavy rain. Grunting good night, the exhausted girls dropped into bed, and then into the deep sleep of exhaustion.

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Well past midnight, three rough-looking men approached the camp. They first searched a ring of many tents, but upon not finding their target, they widened the search area. After a few minutes they stumbled upon a lone tent and an old woman sleeping in a hammock. The rain hid their advance, so they crept up to the tent, and then made an opening with a hidden dagger.

The man that had seen the group pass pointed to one of the girls; she had long raven black hair and high cheek bones, with tanned looking skin. Two men reached down to pick her up, but upon discovering she was light, one stepped back to allow the other to place her over his shoulder. Before stepping out of the tent, they left a note on her bedroll.

When they carried her out into the rain, they forced her to drink something that would ensure she would sleep at least until they had her safely tied up, and then stole away into the night.

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Next chapter: Helpless

Disclaimer: I am NOT Tamora Pierce!

So. I hope you all liked that. Stay tuned, because I am going to try to have the next chapter up tomorrow. I can't leave you in suspense for long, I know how cruel it is!!!!