Chapter 10: Helpless
Kula stirred at her usual time, about half an hour before daybreak. She glanced at Adalia's bed, and saw that she wasn't there. Thinking that she must have managed to already be up, she just struggled outside to wash her face and change into clean clothes; nothing could make her jump in a freezing cold stream this close to winter!
Face and hair wet, she trudged back to the tent. Seeing Anika, chestnut hide glistening, leaning into the tent, she did a double take – there was not supposed to be an opening there! She dropped her dirty clothes, feeling a sudden pang of doom and sprinted up to the tent. Going to Anika's side she saw in sudden horror that there was a large gash in the tent's canvas. She then spotted the note on Adalia's bed role.
Oh, Gods! She thought in horror, and sprinted to Eda on the hammock, shaking her awake. "Eda! Eda wake up! S-Something's happened to Adalia!"
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Half an hour later the pages were sitting silently around the campfire, all deadly white, imagining what kind of horrors Adalia could be going through at that very moment. The three adults were conversing together, "What the hell do we do? What can we do?" Eda Bell was flinging the letter around, a horrified look on her face.
Lord Padraig was stalking around in circles, face grim. "We are going to have to inform the King."
"How?" Eda and Hakim said together.
Kula spoke up, "I can send to Numair in the fire."
The adults sighed in relief; they had a means to get word to the people who could do something about it. "Do it now. I want every page out, except for Kula. Go tend to your mounts." Lord Padraig commanded.
Kula watched them go. She could see Anika stalking around in circles, apparently knowing that her rider was in danger. Kula shook herself, and then pointed to the fireplace. It burst into flames.
All left gathered around the fire, and Kula brought her glistening gift out, focusing it on the flames, which turned blue. "Numair?" Kula called into the flames.
All of a sudden, Numair's face appeared in the flames, as he noticed that Kula was calling to him. He seemed to be in his rooms, and then he faced the fireplace to see those in the clearing talking to him. He noticed their harried looks, and quickly jumped down to be leaning over the flames.
"What happened?"
Lord Padraig was the next to talk. "There is no easy way to say this, so here it is… Adalia has been kidnapped."
Numair's eyes widened and his face turned deathly pale; he knew Adalia like he knew his own children, and this cut him deeply. "D-do you know who did it?"
Lord Padraig nodded grimly, brandishing a note, "This was left by the kidnappers. I'll read it to you:
To whom it may concern:
I have taken the Lioness's granddaughter. You must give me one hundred untraceable gold nobles and free passage out of Tortall, and she will come back to you unharmed.
Disobey my order, and she will be killed slowly and painfully. Meet me in five day's time at the border to Galla, near Goldenlake.
Signed: Marcus Wood
"MARCUS WOOD?!" At this, Numair cussed like a sailor for a few moments, and then seeming to remember it would do no good, he forced himself to stop.
"That makes the situation worse. Since Alanna was able to stop his slavery network, he has been able to somehow avoid all of the animals and Sarra, not to mention the Own and the Riders. Adalia is probably drugged too, which means she won't be able to escape…" Numair added to himself.
"How would she hope to escape even if she weren't drugged? Hakim went over the area and he found a makeshift camp. It looks like there is a company of twenty, maybe more." Lord Padraig broke in.
Numair was thinking fast, hands on his temples. "You need to start coming back to the palace –"
"No. That we won't do. We will join the Own. It won't hurt to give these youngsters a sense of how we deal with kidnappers." Lord Padraig said forcefully. Truthfully, he was just as worried for Adalia as was the boys, and he also knew that if he were to try to force them back to the castle, most of them would probably just sneak away at night to attempt a rescue mission.
Numair, understanding the training master's vehemence nodded, "Then keep following The Great Road East. You should be able to meet up with the Own, as well as the Lioness in about a day; they were around there looking for the scumbag. You all pack up and go." Numair then cut the conversation.
He sighed, thinking he would give any amount of money not to have to send to the next person. Reluctantly, he cast some magic into the fire and said, "Alanna?"
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Alanna, who at that moment was wrapped up in five coats to ward of the cold, yelped when the campfire she was trying to warm up by turned black and emitted Numair's voice, "Alanna?"
She quickly moved in closer, "Numair?"
"Ah, Alanna. We have horrible news." His voice was distressed, and Alanna felt a sudden dread.
"Adalia has been kidnapped while on her survival camp with the pages… by Marcus Wood."
Alanna just stiffened in shock. "That kidnapped Ady?" Her question was answered by Numair's silence. She then cursed eloquently.
Once Alanna had calmed down a bit, the two talked, working out a plan. Numair had also joined the conversation to the King, and they all decided on the best plan of action.
Jon had shut down his line of the conversation, and it was just Alanna and Numair. Alanna stared at Numair, her purple eyes filled with concern for her granddaughter's life. "What will we do if…"
"Hush. Don't say it, Alanna. She will be ok." Numair said strongly, reassuring the both of them. "…She has to be."
The two stared at each other, and then Numair said, "Me and Rye will meet up with you soon. Please have some clothes waiting for us when we get there."
Alanna silently nodded in reply, and then they both broke off the communication.
Alanna abruptly stood up and strode towards her tent. Men of the Own got out of her way, recognising the steely look of determination that meant she wanted to be alone. This situation felt like Aly all over again to Alanna.
Except this time we can get her back Alanna forcibly reminded herself. There is hope.
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That night, a few hours before sundown, the Own were lazily waiting in their temporary camp by the fire when the visitors they were expecting arrived.
Alanna stood up and greeted the man, "Evening, Lord Padraig. I guess your travel was uneventful?"
"Yes. Dismount and set up tents over there." He pointed to a clearing that was free of tents. It seemed to have been there especially for that purpose.
All of the pages had grim looks on their faces; especially five of them that Alanna recognised to be Adalia's close friends. She recognised the chestnut mare that she had gifted to Adalia, and that made her feel worse. She had been told hours ago, and yet the solid evidence of it all seemed to pierce her heart.
"Have you seen her?" Lord Padraig asked Alanna privately.
"Yes, thank the Gods. She looks to be drugged, but intact." This was little reassurance, but those words heartened the man.
Once the pages had finished setting up their tents, Alanna addressed everyone present. "Okay. Get into groups with five of the Own, and one page. We are going to be ambushing them at dawn. I want everyone awake and ready early. The scumbags that did this will be punished."
The men and pages mixed, and then sat down around the fire, eating.
It was around then that Alanna spotted two birds, both eagles swooped down to be flying around her. Alanna strode over to a tent and let them in, closing the flap behind them, "Your clothes are in there."
A few moments later a ruffled Numair and Rye stepped out of the tent. "Rye, tomorrow we need you to scout ahead, and see if you can get some birds to signal if the men are coming. Sarra will be doing that as well."
Rye nodded his understanding. Alanna saw the pain and worry for Adalia on his face, and Alanna wished that these vile men had not gone for Adalia. She would make them pay for what they did to her granddaughter.
The whole camp went to sleep early, anxious to be up early enough so that the plan would be executed perfectly.
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Adalia was slumped on the ground, still mostly out from the drug the despicable men had given her. Her brain was working as fast as ever, but she could not open her eyes, or move much. She could hear some men arguing, and she made an effort to understand
"– should have woken up hours ago! What the hell did you give her?" One man, who was tall and bulky, said to another threateningly.
Adalia's concentration slipped. Just before the drug took hold of her again, she thought It's times like this I wish I weren't a bloody crow! Drugs affect me much worse, so now I have no way to get out. Another thought came to her, a thought that she had never had before. It gave her immense fear.
I am helplessThen she slipped back into the abyss, the drug claiming her again.
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Disclaimer: I am not Tamora Pierce.
Well, I hope you like this chapter. I just can't stop writing, so look out for an update soon!
Next Chapter: Rescue Mission