"I am finally going to face my worst fear." she said out loud to herself and the animals that had boarded in her room for the night.
She dressed and walked over to the palace. She walked into the big conference room where King Jonathan and Queen Thayet waited for her.
"Good morning, Daine."said Thayet moving gracefully around the room. Daine looked at Thayet and saw how beautiful she looked that morning. Thayet had her long dark hair tumbling around her shoulders and down her back, her lips were red, she had rosy cheeks and fair skin that looked flawless. Then there was the handsome Jonathan, he had dark hair and short dark beard that brought out his sparkling blue eyes. They were the perfect couple and the best rulers Tortall had ever had.
"Good Morning."said Daine.
"Please have a seat, Numair should be here soon. While we wait would you like something to eat?"said Jon pointing to the middle of the table where there was some fruit and tea.
"Yes, thank you."said Daine, taking an apple while Thayet poured her some tea.
"Excuse me but I should go check on the children."said Thayet leaving the room.
"I hope I am not to late." said Numair walking in. He looked tired and like he hadn't slept to well. Daine guessed he was up late studying spells or doing an experiment.
"No, it's quite all right. I would like to say sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday and getting you up so early today. First I would like to discuss supplies. It takes about three weeks to get to Snowsdale with no major delays so I have had three months worth of rations prepared for the trip. Mithros knows how long you will be there. Also there is transportation. I am assuming you want Cloud, Mangle, and Spots?"said Jonathan
"Yes, they are most use to me and Numair, and I am sure they will be glad to go."said Daine sipping some of her tea.
"Good, I will get Stefan to ready them immediately. I believe we discussed everything else yesterday. So I leave you to get ready for your journey and Goddess bless you." he said
A few minutes later Daine and Numair were in the stables. Daine loved the stables all the horses were nice and she loved all the smells of horses, hay and oats.
"Good morning."she said to the hostler Stefan.
"Good mornin', lass. Ain't this a grand mornin for travelin?" he said loading their packs onto the horse Mangle and saddling Cloud and Spots.
"Why must we always wake up so early?"complained Cloud.
"Because we need to get an early start."said Daine petting her horses muzzle.
An hour later they were out of Corus and on the Great Road East. Daine loved looking at all the scenery the trees, flowers, and the animals that stopped to greet her.They had just stopped and ate lunch. Daine was feeding a chipmunk when all of a sudden she felt a fuzzy tingling sensation in the back of her mind.
Numair seeing Daine suddenly come alert said "Daine, what is wrong? Do you sense something?"
"Yes."said Daine a smile spreading over her face. "It's a dragon." Just as she said that a yellow dragon appeared in the sky and descended to a clearing by the road. The horses only used to the small dragon Skysong panicked. So Daine soothed them. Only half convinced they took cover behind some trees.This dragon was about 30 feet long with an extra 15 feet for his tail.
" I have a message from the dragonet Skysong and the Basilisk Tkaa they want to tell you that Wingstar is celebrating being another century older and they would like to stay in the Dragonlands for the celebration. They will look upon you often and if there is trouble they will come to you. After the celebration they wish to join you and shall do so."
"Thank you for delivering the message. What is your name?" asked Daine
"I am called Sunshine." said the dragon. Sunshine said good bye and with that he took to the air and disappeared. Numair and Daine rode on the rest of the day. Sometimes stopping to let the horses graze and to rest. Daine hardly got bored, Numair would entertain her with endless stories and they would talk about all kinds of things. When it started to get dark they picked a nice little clearing away from the rode to set up camp. Each knew what to do with out conferring with each other. Daine gathered firewood, unloaded the horses and dug the trench. Numair started a fire, cooked, brushed the horses and put a guard around the camp. They had a nice meal of soup and some bread and cheese. They talked about the future, new things Daine could learn, traveling. Daine wanted to go to the desert and meet the Bazhir tribes that lived there. She had heard so much from Alanna's time there and thought it would be a good idea to see for herself. Numair also wanted to travel to different places. When they were done eating and talking Daine cleaned up after their meal and they rolled out their bedrolls. Numair kissed her goodnight and they went to sleep. Some time during that night Daine had a dream.
"Daine, we are very proud of you for going back." said Sarra her mother. Daine saw her Ma and Weiryn, her Da, sitting in a garden. Her Ma looked beautiful hand tanned face and rosy cheeks. Weiryn put his arm around Sarra.
"But there is danger. Some old foes and some new ones."said Weiryn.
"Use your badger claw if you despratly need help. The Badger is very busy with spring breeding seasons, so only use it when your life is in peril. We love you." said Sarra.
Daine jerked up out of her bedroll. She touched a single tear cheek, how she missed her Ma and Da. She had missed her ma since she was killed by bandits, but she only met her da a number of months ago. She got up and went to a creek to wash up. When she got back her and Numair had breakfast and then they cleaned up camp. On the road Daine pondered her dream and soon told Numair. They both felt that there would be terrible danger ahead. For a week they rode peacefully pitching and cleaning up camp. Sometimes Daine would stop to heal an animal that had gotten into trouble some how or another. During the second week of traveling she had another feeling of an immortal. First she smelled then saw, Stormwings. In her mind she could sense she knew them. There came Barzha,her mate Hebakh, and several other stormwings. Daine was not surprised by the visitors but Numair was.
"In the name of Mithros" he said.
"Hello. What are you doing here?"said Daine.
"I wanted to talk with you."said the stormwing, Queen Barzha. She was obviously uncomfortable on the even ground so Daine found a low bare branch she could roost on.
"Alright."said Daine
"Well."she said looking around nervously."Three stormwings in our tribe have been unusually murdered."
Daine hardly thought this unusual. "But you aren't exactly peaceful looking creatures."she said.
"Yes, we know but these were not human killings."said Hebakh looking a little annoyed.
"What happened?"asked Numair stepping back slightly to avoid their smell.
"A few moons ago we were taking a rest around Snowsdale. It was getting dark so we decided to camp in some trees. We had heard that there was something bad going on but we didn't know what. So we sent two males and one female out to keep watch for any danger, they never returned. At dawn we searched for them. We finally found their carcasses. Their feathers laying everywhere,and most of their flesh eaten. These could not have been humans that did this for there was none of your blood, or any other blood for that matter. What kind of animal can tear a stormwing apart feather by feather and not be injured?"said Barzha
"I don't know. What about you Numair?"
"Well it could have been another immortal. What if the stormwings were ambushed? But there most likely would have been bloodshed from both sides. I really don't know." he said. "We saw you on the road to Galla and thought we would tell you, since knowing you two trouble usually follows. Whatever it is it can eat a stormwing and probably have no trouble eating you, too." Then the Stone Tree Nation flew off.
“What if that thing or things that ate the stormwings is what is terrorizing Snowsdale?"said Daine.
"I don't know but if it is it will take a lot to make things right."said Numair. One day when they were riding Daine spotted something hiding in the brush. She got off of Cloud.
"Be careful."said Cloud and Numair both at the same time.
"I will."replied Daine. She walked over to the brush and got down on her hands and knees. She moved back some weeds and there in the midsts of weeds was a baby racoon. Daine looked over to the side and say the decaying body of an adult racoon. The baby racoon moved back in to the weeds as soon as it saw Daine.
"It's alright little one."she said mentally. The racoon finally came closer to Daine and she picked the scared creature up and held it in her hand. Daine could see it was sick so she reached inside of the racoon and began healing it's body.
"Daine are you alright?"asked Numair not being able to see what she was doing.
"Yes, I am alright."said Daine holding the little creature so Numair could see it. "I had to heal him. His ma is dead so he can travel with us."
They rode on through the day and set up camp at night. They continued on their journey without any problems. It was a dreary day when they entered Galla. It was raining so hard it wasn't safe to travel anymore that day. So they stopped at a woman's house. They went and knocked at the door. They were greeted by a beautiful middle aged woman, she had dark hair and kind dancing eyes.
"Hello dears come in and make yourselves at home by the fire out of that nasty weather."said the woman. "My husbands off at his mother's house because she is ill. I just hate being left alone by myself. I forgot to even mention my name" she said in a deep chuckle. "I am Mrs. Lakridge but you can call me Rosy. It's nice to meet you."she said extending a hand.
"I am Daine Sarrasri."she said shaking the woman's hand.
"I am Numair Salmalin."he said kissing her hand.
"Come sit down by the hearth supper will be ready soon."said Rosy going into the next room. She came back with some bowls and three cups of cider. Daine and Numair sat down by the hearth thankful to get out of the rain and cold. Daine looked around the cottage it was very nice and cozy. There were beautiful fresh flowers that gave the room a pleasant scent and cheered it up on that dreary day. Rosy gave them each a cup of cider and a bowl of steaming soup.
"Thank you for your hospitality."said Numair tasting the soup. Him and Daine both loved it. The soup had a rich broth and was filled with garden vegetables and tender meat, seasoned just right. The racoon that Daine had named Lilac stuck her head out of Daine's shirt and was happy to be able to have some soup, too.
