Opening one of the doors, she turned and looked around at the place she had come to know as her home. Then sadly, she slipped out, quietly shutting the door after her.
Russet was waiting outside for her, regarding her quietly, his golden eyes glowing in the dark. "Are you all right?" he asked. "I know this must be hard for you. We've both come to know this place as our home. It's the first we both knew."
Alanna sighed deeply, biting her lip to prevent the tears from falling. "I' ll live," she said it flatly.
Russet didn't believe her. He was her soul after all. "Do you expect me to believe you? I know you too well. We don't have to leave."
"Yes we do," Alanna said flatly. "If we stay here, we die, accused of trying to ruin Lord Brintley. He won't rest until he captures us. We have to leave. Or we die."
Russet sighed. "Come on then. Might as well put as much distance between us and Lord Brintley." He turned and slunk away into the darkness. Alanna reluctantly followed him.
They weaved in and out through the streets of Norders, putting as much distance between them and the palace. The further away they got, the more relieved they felt. But they also felt a twinge of sadness. They were leaving the one home they had known. And how could rhey be sure they could find another?
They finally reached the palace wall - and ran into a problem.
"How on earth are we to get over them?" Alanna asked, gazing up to the top of the wall. "The gates are locked."
"Get a rope and I'll tell you," Russet said calmly. Alanna rummaged around and came back holding a long string of rope.
"Get this," Russet said, moving a three hooked object with his paw. The hooks were curved at the end. "Tie it around the rope," he instructed. Alanna picked it up and tied the rope around the end and swing it up, over the wall. Alanna did so. It took several tries but she eventually did it and the metal object and the rope went sailing over the wall. She pulled it slightly and it swung back. But then the three hooks caught hold of jagged deep cracks in the wall and held. Alanna tugged it and when she was sure it would hold she began to climb.
It was difficult, as she had never climbed a thing in her life before, but she would not give up. She gripped the rope in both hands and hung on for dear life. Her soft-skin books often slipped on the smooth wall, but she didn't let that discourage her. She kept on climbing, thinking of what would happen if she stayed in Norders. It would certainly be worse than this.
Finally, she reached the top of the wall. She eased out the hook and untied it from the rope. She was about to throw it away, when, after thinking, she slid it into her bag. It might be useful. Then she stuffed the rope in after it. Who knew? This stuff could become useful. Then slinging her bag across her shoulder she leapt down off the wall, onto the soft ground below.
She landed on her hands and knees and grimaced, as she bruised them badly. Putting the pain to the back of hermind and biting her lip, to prevent herself from crying out, she stood and turned to face the wall. "Russ?" she whispered. "Come on, hurry up!"
Seconds later, her daemon flew over the wall, in the guise of a golden eagle. It landed on the ground and hobbling awkwardly, began to change.
Alanna smiled. She knew Russet hated the eagle shape, disliking it, but she didn't mind it personally. But she was unsure she would like it if Russet decided to stay in the guise of an eagle for life, when he had to choose the guise he wanted to stay in for life, when she turned into an adult. It was the way things had always been. When a person became an adult, their daemon had to choose the guise of an animal to stay in for life. That was far off yet though, of that Alanna was glad. She didn't like Russet to have to choose which animal he wanted to stay as for life.
Russet, now in the form of a wildcat, yowled quietly. "Come on!" Russet said crossly. "You were in such a hurry to get me moving before!" He faded into the darkness at a quick trot.
Laughing, Alanna followed her daemon into the darkness.
~~~~~
They carried on for a few hours, moving quickly through the countryisde, determined to put as much space between them and Norders. Finally a few hours before dawn, Russet spoke.
"You're tired. We need to stop and get some rest. I'll scout ahead and find some place for us to rest, deal?"
Alanna nodded, tiredly. She had been afraid to mention it, but she was tired and sleep sounded wonderful. "Just don't go too far ahead," she told him. "I don't need the pull tonight all right?"
The daemon nodded and trotted off a little bit ahead, scouting around.
'The pull' Alanna had been referring to, was when a daemon strained against its master, trying to get them to follow them to a place their master or mistress didn't want to go. The pain was unbearable, it was said, the feeling of loneliness and sadness was supposed to be worse than dying. Russet and Alanna had never tried it, they didn't want to feel that sort of pain - ever.
So she tried her hardest to keep up with her daemon, to avoid that sort of pain. After climbing slowly over a wide ditch and leaping over a small stream directly below it, so saw Russet sitting down, waiting patiently for her. He was in his favourite guise, a fox. "I found a small hut. It's empty, the owner must have died a long time ago as a hermit. It's perfect for us, to rest." He leaped up and trotted over towards it.
They were now in the Royal Forest, outside Norders. The hut was crudely built from logs, but it had sprung no leaks and was sturdy. It was buily directly until the shelter of a large oak, its outstretched branches acting as a second roof. Alanna slowly pushed open the door and winced as it protested loudly. She peered inside, but she needn't have worried. The place was deserted, just as Russet had told her. Alanna immediately felt ashamed on having not trusted her daemon.
"It's all right," Russet told her. "Better safe than sorry." He trotted inside and immediately started nosing at a blanket. Alanna smiled gratefully. She hated arguing with Russet and preferred it when they were friends, which was nearly all the time. It was very rare when they had any serious argument.
She sat on the bed at the corner of the hut and pulled out some bread and cheese, which she shared with Russet and downed it with some milk for her and water for Russet. Then she crawled inside the covers and went asleep, content for the moment, all her fears and worries gone until she woke up again. Russet curled up at the end of the bed and drifted off to sleep himself.
~~~~~
Ash Collerez whistled gently as he crossed the woods towards his home. His daemon, Kalla, in the guise of a grey wolf, loped quietly beside him, grey ears twitching around. She was always wary of her surroundings. "Oh, stop worrying Kalla," Ash sighed. "There's no one following us."
Kalla fixed her golden eyes on him. "I do it, for safety Ash. Do you think I want to be captured and gutted?"
Ash chuckled and said, "No Kalla. Never you." His daemon just sighed, used to his twisted humour. Well, it was twisted in her opinion anyway.
They reached their home, a little hut under a giant oak. It had been Ash's home for the last two years, after Ash's parents had abandoned him in the woods, when he had only been fourteen. Ash had been forced to survive on his own, in the deepest part of the woods, building his hut and learning how to survive. Kalla had helped him. Good old Kalla. She had been the one to comfort him, when he had realised his parents had abandoned him in the forest on purpose, not wanting him anymore. Even though they were often at odds with one another, they had a bond that was so deep, that could never be broken. They would gladly sacrifice their life for the other if the other was in danger, even though it would mean they would never be whole again. A person could never survive without its daemon, its soul and vice versa. Anyone who tried to get a person and its daemon apart was sick and twisted in Ash's opinion.
Suddenly Kalla growled, her hackles rising. "What's wrong Kalla?" Ash whispered. She did not often get like this.
"There's someone in the hut," Kalla said and growled even deeper, her fangs bared.
Ash quietly unsheathed his dagger and pushed the door open. He and Kalla glided in, making no sound. Ash gently put the rabbit he'd snared onto a table, intending to skin it later. He went quietly over to the bed, where a huddled shape lay. He quick;y twitched the blankets away with one finger and his eyes widened.
A young girl, possibly around a year younger than Ash, who was sixteen. She was asleep and breathing evenly. She had long dark hair and Ash knew he would discover the colour of her eyes when she awoke. She was dressed simply in a white shirt, breeches and boots. Ash quietly put the blankets back. From the looks of it, the girl was a runaway, and had been travelling from Norders.
Then he heard a low snarl behind him and came face to face with the girl's daemon, who was in the guise of a fox. Kalla snarled at him, her message intent, "Touch him in any way and I will rip you to shreds." Ash lay a hand on Kalla, to get her to back down. She did, but she still growled low, her eyes never leaving the other daemon.
"Oh!" the voice was female and Ash whirled around to see the girl was awake, and had seen him. Her large brown eyes were wide and she was bright red. "I - I -"
"It's all right," Ash said, quickly. "I should have let you sleep a while longer. You look tired." He crossed over to a chair opposite the bed and sat down, Kalla sitting down beside the chair. The girl's daemon hurled himself into her arms and he gazed calmly at the girl, who was watching him with terrifed eyes.
