Written by Kitty
1. THE NEEDLE
Numair Salamalin, mage in the realm of Tortall stared at his student for a moment then gave a sigh of complete exasperation. "Daine – if you so much as dream of doing this again then I’ll…" Daine grinned down at him. This was rather unusual because Numair – at six feet five inches towered over his students modest five foot five. But no human could ever be taller then the monstrous piece of engineering Daine was standing on -
Balors Needle.
The mage ran nervous hands though his mane of black hair, which – if he had to go through anything like this again, would go white. Numair was certain of that! It felt he was getting white threads in it just staring at her. Daine was standing very high up on the needle, perched precariously on the rickety outer staircase. Wind whipping her smoky brown curls into a worse tangle then usual – face flushed.
"All this for a Kitten!" he muttered to himself "A gods forsaken fool of a kitten who decided to climb up the needle, and was too afraid to climb down."
He remembered the conversation he’d had with Daine earlier that morning. One of the palaces many rat-catchers – in this case a mother cat had come to her in the middle of a lesson (Killer unicorns and their various habits) in obvious distress. It seemed that the one of the cats eight kittens had gone exploring, and was stuck atop Balors needle.
Of course Daine had insisted that she had to go after "The poor little thing" and that "It would get blown away if nothing was done about it"
Numair had tried to dissuade her saying that she would be the one who would get "blown away" if she went up there; to no avail.
"And that cat had seven other kittens" Numair muttered feeling ill as a particular strong gust of wind sent Daine staggering. "One less wouldn’t make that much difference!"
~
Veralidaine Sarrasri swore violently as the wind knocked her sideways, things were not going very well. The wind was a lot stronger up here then it was on the ground and the stranded kitten was paralysed with fear, it wouldn’t move an inch.
*Paw brother* Daine called out with her mind
*Come out, you won’t get blown away – I’m here*
*Scared! * The little grey kitten meowed piteously *If I move then I’ll fall, it’s too high up. I want my mama! *
Daine sighed – It was going to be a long day.
The kitten was crouched, back facing the needle against a railing, wind buffeting it from all directions. The thing was – he was on the opposite side of the railing from Daine, only the thin bit of wood he was standing on kept the kitten from falling to its death on the ground.
It would have been a lot easier for Daine if the kitten had plucked up its courage and crawled to the other side of the railing, where Daine would have picked him up and taken back to the safety and solidarity of the ground. But this kitten wasn’t courageous. It was scared, and wasn’t going to move.
Muttering an oath against all inquisitive felines, Daine slowly got down on hands and knees – wincing as splinters entered her palms. * Don’t worry paw brother * Daine mind-spoke, trying to bathe the kitten in reassurance. * I’m coming, just stay… * Suddenly a loud voice broke through her mind narrative –
"What in the name of Mithross are you doing!?! A very angry Numair stood at the foot of the needle – pale and sweating. Daine didn’t answer; she couldn’t afford to lose her concentration as she crawled under the railing, reaching for the kitten…
Numair glared at Daine feeling horribly frightened. What the hell was she doing up there? Why was she on hands and knees on the other of the railing, nothing to protect her if she… If she fell –
He shook his head, Numair did not want to think about that.
Daine, eyes half closed against the wind, grabbed the kitten by the scruff of its neck – and slipped.
~
The whole thing couldn’t have lasted for more then afew seconds. But to Numair at least looking back afterwards everything seemed to be in some sort of slow motion. He heard a scream from above his head and the next thing he knew Daine was falling.
Falling. Falling. Falling….
The mage threw out a net of his power franticly trying to slow her down.
Down. Down. Down…
Stop.
Daine; caught up in Numair's power drifted gently to the ground at the foot of the needle.
Numair sprinted towards his student, hoping against hope that she hadn't sustained any serious injuries during her decent.
Having reached her the mage knelt at Daine's side. He heard a muffled 'mew' from somewhere underneath her and started. Numair had completely forgotten about the Kitten.
Gently Numair raised Daine a little, bracing her head against his arm. The kitten had been trapped beneath the girls back and now freed, was not in a good mood. With a hiss that shook the kitten's diminutive frame, the Kitten whisked out, bit Numair on the finger and ran off.
"Ungrateful little mongrel!" Numair muttered irritably, rubbing his finger. Suddenly he felt Daine stir - "Wha'?" Daine sat up blinking stupidly "Numair? Where am I… where's the Kitten?"
Numair couldn’t believe his ears.
"The Kitten?! You're asking for the kitten? You fiend! You little fiend! Is it a hobby of yours to try and give me heart attacks? For you seem to be very prone to doing so magelet!"
Numair started to pace. "You nearly kill yourself, fall of the needle, frighten me out of my wits and all you can think off is the kitten!?
Daine glared at him
"The Kitten is perfectly safe magelet," Numair said with a sigh "It ran off a few minutes ago and I forbid you to do anything like this again! If you ever do anything remotely similar to what has happened today then I will - "
Daine stook up, feeling rather shaky "I know Numair! You will trap me into the deepest glacier known to man and leave me there. But, can I at least catch my breath first? I've had enough near death experiences for one day."
Numair sighed and gathered her up into a hug. He could feel her trembling in his arms, the fall seemed to have shocked her more then he realised, or was it just the fall?
Gently Numair broke the hug, squeezed Daine's hand and strode off.
Daine watched him go feeling twice as shaky as before. That hug was so close, and she had felt so - safe. Daine couldn’t explain it; it was just a hug between friends - wasn't it?
Shaking her head over her own foolishness, Daine set off in the other direction. Towards her room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
2. THE DESK & THE CLERK
Daine, still recovering from falling off the needle ran into Perin the clerk on the way back to her room. She sighed, the last thing she wanted to do at that moment was trying to make polite conversation with somebody who's eyes always seemed to stray away from her face and rest on other parts of her body.
"Ah - Daine, just the person I want to spend the day with! You look perfectly radiant this morning. Don't get me wrong - you look gorgeous all the time, but today in particular your beauty strikes me anew."
"How nice" Daine gave her best fake smile at the lust struck clerk and walked away quickly in the opposite direction.
But Perin wouldn’t take the hint.
"Daine, don't go! We were having such a nice conversation"
"We were?" Daine replied sounding very surprised eyes wide.
"Yes we were, so lets continue it - can I walk with you" Perin was grinning at his own quick wit, mistaking Daine's sarcasm for adoration.
"You are already" Daine sighed, resigning herself to an afternoon of unimaginable boredom.
~
Numair had returned to his own rooms after the Needle incident, feeling centauries older then his 30 odd years.
"This sort of thing is not good for me!" Numair said wryly - thinking aloud, sinking into the nearest chair. Drumming his fingers on the work bench which took up rather too much space in his room, (Numair, never any good with practical matters, had simply chosen the biggest bench in the shop. Which, even though it was a very handsome piece of furniture and perfect for arcane experiments, took up at least three-quarters of the tiny apartment.) The mage began to think about his life.
Well, one thing was certain, whatever else his life had lacked, it was never short of female company. Starting with Varice Kingsford and ending with a classical tortallan beauty, Numair had seen them all. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, airheads and intellectuals. Ones with a sense of humour - ones without. And they all had one thing in common - they never lasted. Varice was the only exception, they had lasted years, he might of married her if other things hadn't got in the way. But not now, the person he loved was about as reachable as immortality.
The girl he loved would think of him only as a friend, a close friend maybe, but a plain friend nonetheless. That was all he could hope for, he was too old. He hated to admit that, but it was true.
"The poets say that when in love age is of no account" Numair muttered to himself, laughing, but the laughter had a bitter edge to it.
"How wrong they are" Numair tried to imagine Daine loving him, it was a beautiful picture, but it was very fuzzy around the edges - impossible to see clearly. Staring morosely out the window Numair caught site of Daine, with Perin walking very close too her…
Numair didn’t notice that Daine was walking much more quickly then usual and that her expression was set into a blank mask.
All he noticed was Perin.
Perin putting an arm around Daine.
And another
Perin stoking Daine's hair
Perin kissing Daine.
Numair couldn’t stand any more of this. Abruptly the mage closed the curtains and turned his back to the window.
"Yes" he thought sadly
"Ive got as much chance of her loving me as there is a chance of finding immortality."
If only Numair had kept staring out the window for afew more seconds, I might have been able to finish this chapter on a happy note.
Oh well…
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
3. THE FOREST
During the 17th year of the reign of their majesties King Jonathan and Thayet his queen someone passing though the Royal Forrest of Corus would most likely expect to find a flock of Hurroks and a Spideren.
What they would not expect to see was a clerk kissing a wildly struggling girl.
But today, both girl and clerk were in the forest - and doing just that.
~
Perin was having the time of his life, fate - in all her glory, appeared to be smiling on him. He had spent most of the day talking about his favourite topic - himself - to the beautiful Daine Sarrasri and now he, Perin the charismatic clerk, was kissing her. True, she appeared to be struggling rather violently but - what did that minor detail matter?
Daine was having one of the worst days of her life, fate - in all her glory, appeared to be frowning on her. She had fallen of a piece of god-forsaken structure and then spent most of the day listening to a very boring Perin talk about his very boring favourite topic - himself - and trying to find a plausible excuse to quietly slip away. Now he was kissing her - and Daine was wishing fervently that Perin was a thousand leagues away. True, she liked the kiss well enough, but it was the person behind it that revolted her.
As Perin grew more confident new ideas started to enter his mind - slowly, almost imperceptibly, the clerk began to unbutton the girls blouse…
Daine began to panic, she was pinned against a tree and, even if she succeeded getting out of Perin's clutches, he would most certainly just grab her again.
*Help me! * Daine mind-spoke franticly, cursing herself for not thinking of calling for help earlier, and praying that the help would arrive…
It did. The entire animal population of the Royal seemed to appear - biting, scratching, doing everything in their power to make Perin let go of their friend.
It didn’t take long, Perin dropped Daine as if she were a hot brick and tried - unsuccessfully - to fend off the attacking animals.
"You can stop now," Daine said aloud, grinning. With some reluctance, the animals stopped.
"You bitch" Perin muttered. He looked quite a sight, clothes torn, face a mass of scratches.
Daine stopped grinning,
"Perin, if so much as look in my direction again then the same thing will happen, but I don't know of I could hold the animals back a second time - they get fair protective of me"
"I thought you liked it sweetheart" Perin said with a suggestive leer.
"About as much as I like watching paint dry" Daine retorted.
Perin, about to answer back, saw something that made his normally pale face lose what little colour it possessed… a herd of unicorns. And not the peaceful kind, who avoided human contact whenever possible. No, these were the other type of Unicorn - the killer Unicorns, with talons instead of hooves - and a fetish for human blood…
~
Meanwhile, Numair was still staring at his vast expanse of desk, back to the wall and wondering why in the names of Mithros Minos and Shakith, Daine liked Perin.
Of all the numerous young eligible men in the palace Perin was by far the most two-faced, slimy, boring, ambitious, power hungry and conceited of the lot. What was in him that Daine was attracted to? Numair couldn’t see anything remotely likeable about the man.
"I thought she would have better taste!"
"Talking to yourself again?" A female voice enquired at the door.
Numair whirled round and glared at the eavesdropper.
"Something for you?" he said icily.
Onua laughed.
"Don't worry Numair, I won't tell anyone - Anyway, everyone in the palace knows you're mad - I don't need to tell anyone" Numair smiled inspite of himself
"Thankyou oh so much" he retorted
"Don't mention it"
Onua entered the room and perched on the desk.
"Now - who has better taste?"
Numair glared at the woman, not really wanting to explain himself at that moment - even to one of his best friends.
Onua's expression was kind.
"Numair, stop doing this to yourself! You love Daine - that’s wonderful but please, don't work yourself up about it - that doesn't do anything"
"You knew?" Numair exclaimed, surprised. "Tell me honestly, am I that obvious?"
"Numair you are the most tragically obvious person I have ever met when it comes to romantic yearnings! And thankyou - Alanna and I bet ten gold nobles on whether you would tell the Lioness or myself first. You’ve just filled my purse up for me.
"I am so glad that my emotions have made you a wealthier person" Numair drawled sarcastically
"And they will make me richer yet" Onua said with a grin
"Oh, how so?"
"Alanna and I have a bet for 50 galleons that you profess your love to Daine and she reciprocates directly after the summer solstice."
"Then you bet in vain Onua, Daine will never know" Numair said sadly "I would love to win that bet for you - but it will never be.
"You are to dramatic and pessimistic Arram - worse then a housewife on market day" Onua said firmly "No - Don't object, its all true!" Jumping off the desk she gave a final piece of advice,
"Numair, go outside - you need the exercise"
~
"What is it Perin?"
The clerk's rapid change of expression from angry to scared had got Daine worried. She turned around and her own expression altered alarmingly. The wildmage struggled to remember everything - anything - she had learned on killer unicorns.
"They don't have very good eyesight - they rely on hearing" Daine thought to herself "So if I stay absolutely still - "
Perin gave a loud moan of terror and fled, jerking the unicorns into hunting mode - looking around, ears moving independently the immortals tried to work out what had moved. They started to move in a body towards the girl "Onononononononononono" Daine thought wildly, still unmoving. "Nononononononnonononononono - go away unicorns, come on, be good - go away" The people were crying out loudly in her mind - they wanted to rip, tear, maim and kill the immortals that were a danger to The Girl Who is The People. Daine even though she was terrified out of her wits - kept her will on them, refusing to let any of the people die.
~
Numair decided to take Onua's advice and go for a walk - it was no use moping over that moronic damn irritating two-faced, obsessed son of a…. Sighing Numair tried to think about something else.
The mages peace was short lived however, for at that moment a very white faced badly scratched and peck marked Perin came running towards him.
"Perin, what in the blazes - " Numair paled
"You were with Daine - Where is Daine?"
Perin stared at the mage, too scared to speak. Numair lost patience
"Where is Daine? Mithros damn you - where is she!???"
Perin pointed wordlessly in the direction of the Royal Forest
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
4. THE UNICORNS
"Oi! Alanna"
Sir Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau looked warily at the grinning K`mir in her doorway.
"Yes Onua?"
"Pay up"
"Oh?"
"Alanna of Trebond, you owe me to the sum of ten gold Nobles. C'mon - I'm a busy woman, cough it up lady knight"
A slow grin spread across the kings champions face.
"So we were right"
"Oh yes - I never doubted that now, pay up"
"You have a one track mind Onua Chamtong"
"I do don't I? Pay up"
Sighing, Alanna tossed Onua a leather bag, the woman caught it deftly then settled comfortably in the nearest chair.
"My day is complete, now I can relax and no nothing for the rest of the day"
"At my expense" Alanna muttered in mock indignation. "Anyway - I thought you said you were a busy woman."
"That was a lie"
"Obviously. Now - how did you find out?"
~
Numair had thought he was frightened when Daine had fallen off the needle, but that was nothing - nothing, to how he felt now.
"Perin, as much as I hate to admit it - you are the only one who can help me find Daine right now. What happened?"
"K-k-killer - killer unicorns, at least twenty of the damn things! Gave me the fright of my life so I ran."
Numair drew a long breath - trying to stop himself from strangling the younger man.
"So - you see some carnivorous unicorns, run off and leave Daine stranded!?
"Er.. That's about right"
"You little fool… Onua, Alanna! Get over here - quickly! Numair's voice - magnified by magic, echoed around the palace.
~
"So, Onua - you are telling me that Numair is moping round the place, believing that Daine will never love him?" Alanna inquired curiously."
"That’s the head and tail of it" The K`mir replied "The pessimistic fool that he is."
The two womans' conversation was cut short by a sudden blast of sound - … 'Onua, Alanna! Get over here - quickly"
"What in the name of Mithros?" Onua whispered, startled
"No time to ponder it!" Alanna cut in quickly "We'd best get moving"
~
Numair paced the perimeter of the yard, wishing that he could vent his frustration on something - Perin would be ideal. But, as much as the idea tempted him, Numair decided that murder would not be the smart thing to do. Pleasant, but not smart.
"Even if Daine's alive - " Perin's irritating voice cut through the mages chain of thought, "She's too old for you master Salmalin" The clerk pronounced the word 'master' like most would say 'cockroach'
"You don't stand a chance" With this last remark - Perin fled.
Now Numair thought that perhaps, no definitely, murder wasn't the smart option. Slow torture was the way to go.
"Unfortunately the idiot has a point" Numair muttered quietly. Pulling himself out of a well of self pity the mage looked around.
"Where are they?" Numair felt like he had been waiting for hours and Onua and Alanna still hadn't turned up.
"Right here" Numair started and turned to see where the voice was coming from. When he found that it had come from a stocky redhead with a slight height deficiency, the mage sagged against the nearest wall.
"Alanna - where in the name of Mithros and Goddess have you been?"
"Finding you - what did you think?" Onua answered waspishly. "So what's happened?"
"That two faced little son of a…" Numair sighed and tried to gain control of himself. "Perin took Daine into the Royal Forest, they got cornered by some killer unicorns. Perin ran and got out, Daine's still there."
~
Killer unicorns - these creatures seemed to be playing havoc with one petrified girl's nervous system.
Try as she might Daine couldn't move an inch. Of course, it didn't help that the entire population of the royal forest was clamoring to attack the immortals.
Suddenly one of the unicorns lowered its head, the light showing off the single - very sharp bit of ivory that was attached to it.
Daine fainted.
Later she would look back on the incident and curse herself for not shape-shifting, but at that moment Daine wasn't looking at anything.
~
It was too quiet.
There was only the sensation of the intense absence of noise, which produced by someone who was making as little noise as possible. It was eerie, not a bird called, no animal stirred.
"Of course" Alanna thought to herself, moving noiselessly through the forest. "Daine would of stopped all the animals from making a sound or moving, the noble little idiot"
Alanna was, to say the least, was frantic. Onua, Numair and herself had split up and none of them had had any success what so ever in finding Daine.
A thump, followed by the noise of stampeding animals broke the silence.
"Oh gods"
Alanna ran towards the tumultuous noise, sword drawn and finding herself watching a heard of killer unicorns hurling themselves full pelt at a prone figure.
"Oh gods"
The Lioness threw a bolt of purple fire at the nearest unicorn, it went up in flames - setting others on fire with sparks that flew out in all directions. Before long the chain reaction had set the whole herd alight. As soon as the horrible task of killing the unicorns had been completed, Alanna doused the flames and ran towards the fallen girl.
"Oh gods"
Daine was a mess, a scorch mark ran along her left arm while a trail of blood ran along her right. Her face and body were covered in an assortment of bruises, and blood seeped through a cut on her abdomen. Yes, the phrase ' oh gods ' just about summed it up.
Onua came running at the sound of stampeding (Then burning) animals and took everything in. Alanna, Daine, dead unicorns…
"Oh gods"
~
Numair was on the verge of a nervous breakdown - where was Daine? That one little phrase ran through his head repeatedly as the mage desperately tried to find the girl. If only he had a focus - something- to track her down magically with! But he didn't have anything of that sort and as it happened, he no longer needed one. A bunch of charred unicorns gave a clear enough picture.
"Oh gods! Daine, she's -"
"She is not dead Numair" Onua's tired voice cut the mage off mid-sentence.
"Just a tad battered"
Numair blinked, yes Daine was breathing. "Thank the gods for that!"
~
Numair Salamalin sat quietly at the end of a bed, holding the now bandaged hand of its sleeping occupant. He'd been in this position for an hour now, waiting for Daine to wake up. Numair was on the point of dozing off when he suddenly saw his student shoot up into a sitting position, eyes wide and seeing something only she could see.
"Cloud! Don't tell me what to do like that - I may be human, but I'm not stupid"
Daine's voice rang out across the room.
"Stop it Cloud, I promise I won't fall in the ditch again, just let go of my shoulder!"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%