AA Part 6

Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part Six
By: The CRWS

Willow was still out cold, although Corey had managed to lever the girl up onto the bed. With Aram's help, of course. Corey's friend was sleeping soundly now, peace written all over her features. A maid had come to fetch them, but Corey had thanked her to leave them both alone, excusing them by saying that they would find the baths when Willow had woken.
'Do th' ladies requiah anythin' else?' the woman had asked. She was middle-aged, with a shining face and well-kempt clothes. Corey could not help but to smile. 'M'Lord has let us poor servants be of some service t' his new guests.'
'Would you mind bringing us some extra drink and food? Perhaps just some water and bread and a little meat?'
'Of course, M'Lady. Right away,' the maid had complied and shut the door as she bustled away.
Corey sat on one side of the bed, stroking Aram's fur gently. "You know, I'd feel better around here if I was armed. Everyone else I've seen so far has been. At least, the men have been." She made a face. "Stupid chivalry...."
~ Poor cub. Without her claws and teeth and gone away from the den.~ Corey glared at him.
"Gee, you're helpful." He licked her cheek. "Thanks so much," she muttered grudgingly. "I tell you one thing though—they better give me breeches and a shirt and boots. Because I'm sure as Hell not wearing a dress and petticoats!"
~I have a feeling that you'll wear whatever Lawrence tells you to.~ Corey wrinkled her nose.
"Not if I can help it." There was a soft knock at her door. Thinking it to be the serving-woman, Corey went to open it a crack and was confronted with a man dressed less richly than the palace men and carrying a harp over his shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at him and opened her mouth to yell for the guards but nothing came out. She vaguely noticed the harp in the man's hands and his fingers strumming the strings, but paid little attention to the fact. Backing away in a daze, she opened the door to let him in and closed it behind him.
There was a loud clang and a grunt of pain, accompanied by a snarl. The man blinked at the floor but froze under the great wolf holding him to the floor. Corey blinked, coming out of her trance to hear Aram snappishly reprimanding the intruder.
~—do not interfere with the girl! If I must, I will kill you, bard, do you understand me?! Magic will not be played with, and its instruments not played with either, especially when the instrument is under my watch!~
"Who are you and how did you just get in my room?" Corey snapped.
"I am a Song Weaver, like that girl on the bed. Is she a friend of yours?" he asked in a soothing voice.
"That's none of yours to know."
"If you call it off—"
"He does as he pleases."
"If you'll ask him to get off, then, I'll explain myself." Corey bit her lip in hesitation, then crossed her arms over her chest and sat on the bed between the bard and Willow. "Aram, please get off him."
~Very well.~ Fur still bristled, the great wolf rose from the man's back and leapt on the bed next to the girl, watching the bard intently. The man got up and stood, brushing himself off. He looked up with a smile.
"I'm sorry to have put a spell on you."

The cat trotted ahead of them tirelessly. Chance glared at her feline friend, resentful of the cat's energy. Paul had to hold the catari girl about the waist and her left arm was over his shoulders. They were making slow, very slow, progress down a path through a stand of trees. They'd been walking for around 2 hours.
"What's your name?" he asked her abruptly.
Chance licked her dry lips, and choked out, "Freedom Chancy... call me... Chance...."
"Well, I'm Paul.... How do you know the prince?"
Surprised, Chance let her head flop to the side so she could look at the man. "Eh...? Oh, right. You're a mind mage.... He's a friend...." At this point she found she hurt too much to talk anymore. She yelped once as her leg nearly buckled for the umpteenth time.
Paul glanced at the girl. "Do you think I could carry you?"
She winced and nodded. "I don't... weigh much...." She gave a wry smile. She had, in fact, lost over 20 pounds since her capture.
Gently, the mind mage lifted her up. He was surprised. She really was very light. He started walking again, following the cat along the path. Chance had pointed it out as they'd left the little village/hideout and said that it led to the castle.
Chance moaned as Paul carried her. Her back was still very sore from all her whippings and there was scarcely a spot where she hadn't been scored. But, if she could survive this long... surely she could make it to the castle at least.
"If I'm not awake... when we get there," she gasped, "could you tell Bryant... that I found the ring stone?"
"Of course," replied Paul, confused. He had no idea what the catari was talking about.
"Good," she whispered and then was asleep.
Up ahead, the cat trotted out into a clearing. Paul followed her. Looking around, he recognized the scenery. This was the private park behind the castle.

After Cass had finished her bath and changed into the clean clothes she had been given, she sat at the window and gazed out at the beautiful scenery. The window overlooked one of the castle's gardens, and as she sat and watched she thought, if she got the time, that she might try to take a walk out there later. Far into the immense garden, a figure appeared, walking towards the castle. Cass squinted to try and see the person more clearly. Much to her surprise, she recognized him.
"Paul's back!" she announced to the others present. "And he's got someone with him," she added, once she noticed the person on his back. She waved to him from her window. He shouted something in return, but he was still too far away for her to make it out. "What?" she shouted back.
She felt his mind reach out and connect with hers, a sensation she was slowly becoming accustomed to. Tell one of the servants to bring a Healer, he told her. This young woman may not last much longer.
Maye's eyes widened and she ran from the window to relay the message to one of the attendants in the bathing room. The woman ran to find the royal Healer and Cass ran down with another attendant to meet Paul.
She could tell that he was exhausted, mentally and physically, and yet he carried the young woman without complaint up to a room, where he lay her on the bed to wait for the healer. He sat heavily on the chair beside the bed and sighed.
"Are you all right?" Cass asked, and he nodded.
"I'll be fine. I need to relay a message to the prince for this young woman...." He turned and addressed one of the servants in the room. "She wanted me to tell him that she found the ring stone. It's important." The servant girl nodded her blonde head and ran off to deliver the message.
Cass looked down at the unconscious girl. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Chance. She's catari. That's really all I know."
"What happened to her?"
"Captured, tortured... pain and suffering. I don't know any more than that."
"You can't just... look in there and find out?"
Paul gave her a sharp look. "A Mind Mage never looks into the mind of another without permission, except when necessary in the case of an emergency. To violate someone's privacy in such a manner is against the Mind Mage’s sacred code."
Cass nodded. "It makes sense, and I agree with it," she said, and looked down at the unconscious girl again. "But she's so weak.... What if she doesn't make it...?"
Paul seemed to ponder this and looked down at Chance again. As if on cue, the servant who had gone for the healer entered the room. A balding, grey-haired, gangly man followed behind, presumably the Healer.
"I'll need the two of you to step outside for a moment," the Healer said, and Cass and Paul did as they were told.
"I'll stay here until he's done," Paul told her once they were outside.
"I'm going to go and tell the others what's going on," Cass replied. "Could you stay here, and come find us and tell us what happens?"
"Of course," he said, and gave her a weak smile.
"Good, thanks. Most of us are at the women's bathing room right now.... As dirty and smelly as you are, though, I still don't think they'd let you in...." He glared at her and she smirked as she bit back a giggle and continued. "Anyway, that's probably where we'll be, and if we're not, the ladies there will probably be able to tell you where we are." She smiled and patted his arm. "Take it easy, okay? You look exhausted."
He nodded. "Thank you, Cass."
"For what?" she asked, puzzled. He just shrugged. She smiled. "See you later," she told him, and went back to the bathing room to tell her friends what had happened. Entering the room as Liz passed out.

Corey scowled at the man murderously. She wanted nothing more than to have him out of her room immediately. The sooner he left, the more at ease she would be and the safer she and Wil both would be.
“Leave. Now.”
“I’m trying to help your friend, young lady, so if you please....”
“If you’re trying to help her, then why did you put a spell on me?!”
“Because you obviously weren’t going to cooperate. You aren’t cooperating very well now.”
“If you hadn’t put a spell on me,” she growled, “then maybe I’d be a little more cooperative....”
Heavy sigh. “Miss, I’m very sorry. I had no choice.” His gaze turned to Willow’s sleeping form. “Is she alive?”
Silence.
“I must know, is the girl alive?”
“Yes.”
“Good. She didn’t wear herself out.”
“No.”
“My name is Kevranan. I am the Chief Musician of the Bard’s Guild. I felt your friend’s song from afar and I came to see her. She is dangerous, you understand, as untrained as she is. She could kill herself.”
Corey’s eyes narrowed, unsure of whether she could trust this man or not.
~He is a Song Weaver, cub. And he is right... she could kill herself from foolish use of power. I will keep a close eye on him.~ Aram nudged her elbow gently with his nose, sharp yellow eyes darting quickly to the man still on the floor.
“She’s asleep,” Corey said in a low tone. “She’ll wake up, and you can talk to her when she does. Until then, you stay away.” She settled herself further on the bed, leaning on Aram and fiddling with her fingers, ignoring Kevranan completely. The bard got up and moved into a chair, where he looked at his harp intently.
Corey stuck her thumbs in her jeans, shifting and trying to get comfortable. Something was sticking in her thigh through her pocket. Suddenly she grinned and pulled out her ever-present pocketknife and flicked it open. She wondered how she hadn’t lost it in the confusion of everything.
Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
~Easily amused, aren’t we, cub?~
“Yep. Gotta have something to occupy oneself.”