peerless_thayet | (no subject)

(no subject)

Just before dawn, the raiders close in on the village and Pirate's Swoop, expecting to tighten their net and catch the Tortallans unaware. Instead they invade an empty village and face the castle's closed gates. On the wall, warriors and villagers alike stare down at them, fully armed.

Their surprise is a morale boost that is sorely needed when the sun's light spills over the horizon and the unnatural fog rolls in, the dampening spells contained within making Gifted individuals weak and unable to work the simplest magic.

Ignoring Buri's token protests, Thayet finishes a quick meal, pulls her hair into a tight bun and climbs the stairs to the observation deck with her bow and arrows. She takes two trainees along, Elnore and Padrach, and nods to George and his guards.

The fog is thick, almost gritty on her skin. Aside from various consultations with George, Onua and Numair, all she can do is wait.

[Scene and some dialogue taken from Wild Magic, by Tamora Pierce.]

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He nods again. "It won't come to that, but yes."

Yes, he is that sure, why do you ask?

His assurance is appreciated; ignored, but appreciated.

"If it does," she says firmly, "I'd like to know that my children will be similarly looked after. The additional responsibility is a lot to ask, I know, but my lord and I would be eternally grateful."

She'll fight to the end, if she knows Roald and Kally are safe.

Raph only allows himself enough pause to blink in surprise, before responding.

"It would be my honor."

He's making a mental note to figure out exactly how to break news of an oath like this to Abigail.

The prince and princess will be fiercely guarded by everyone within these walls. That said, there are reasons Thayet asks this of Raph, and they have everything to do with who he truly is and where he's truly from.

"Thank you."

She wonders, briefly, what Abigail would make of Milliways.

"Since that is settled..." White teeth flash in a quick smile. "Has your sweetheart forgiven you for being on a first name basis with the Queen of Tortall?"

Yeah...remember how he was damn near oozing bravado a second ago?
Not quite so much anymore. In an effort to avoid further eye contact, Raph has once again begun to scan where he believes the horizon to be. Damn fog.

"Time will tell," he says with a sigh.

"In many ways."

She starts asking another question, this time about his Shang training, when Daine, Thom, Jamie and Roald come up on deck. Smiling, she crooks a finger at her son and says, "Come talk to me."

The prince obeys, while the former three go speak with George and Numair.

He's not entirely sure if he's just been dismissed or not, so Raph continues his examination of the completely impenetrable fog.

He hasn't.

After Roald gives Thayet a kiss on the cheek, she glances up.

"Say hello to Raph."

"Hullo, Raph." Roald also looks out to sea, or where it usually can be found. "I don't like this fog."

Edited 2009-06-16 03:20 (UTC)

Raph turns when he overhears Thayet
"I ain't a huge fan of it neither, Roald. How you doin'? Keepin' outta trouble?"

The boy nods. "Yes. We came up with Daine, from the stables. She had to talk to the ponies. Also the village animals -- she explained to them."

The children had easily accepted the possibility of Daine's wild magic and thought it fascinating.

"Explained why they are here?" asks Thayet.

Roald nods again, a lock of black hair falling in his eyes. "They said someone should've explained raiders ages ago. They wouldn't have been so much trouble all the times before," he says with his father's smile.

As Roald speaks, Raph turns and casts a wary eye at the girl called Daine.

"We were a little occupied at the time."

Roald manages to get out a "No" before Thayet shakes her head and explains to Raph, "Not this time. Others. Raider attacks are not uncommon at Pirate's Swoop, just not on this scale."

She smiles wryly.

"This is altogether different."

"Great," he deadpans. "Glad I could make it."

Which...he really is, he just wishes that the siege hadn't happened during what was supposed to be a vacation.

Oddly enough, the surrounding army evinced no concern for either his vacation plans or Thayet's training schedule. Obviously they should be made to suffer for it.

The trainees will be distracted for weeks.

Sighing, Thayet straightens and lets her eyes roam over the deck. Numair is frowning. Daine looks pale. She twitches, like there's a sharp pain behind her eyes, and suddenly yells, "Bows!"

The queen moves fast, automatically reaching for an arrow.

"Bows! Stormwing in the air!" Daine finishes.

Roald looks up; Thayet shoves him down.

It's only after Daine's words cease their reverberating in Raph's mind that Raph smells it. The winds have changed. The fog is moving.

"DOWN!" he bellows, reaching for his own bow, and the first of what will surely be many arrows.

Those standing closest to the children push they down towards the wall, shielding them from the attack from above.

Dimly, Thayet hears Numair say that their enemies don't need the fog anymore, that the spells will adhere to anything the fog has been touching. The dirty, almost itchy feeling the fog had left on her skin begins to fade as the wind picks up and clears the air, but what's revealed is far worse.

At first it's hard to see in the unexpectedly bright sunlight. Then she starts to think perhaps her eyes are playing tricks on her, as she alternately scans the sky for the Stormwing and studies the cove below. But it's no trick.

Galleys, barges and at least seven smaller vessels, each manned with warriors, fill the cove. The barges carry wooden catapults and the large, destructive stone balls they hurl.

The Stormwing Daine sensed is still out of sight, so Thayet grabs a spyglass and moves closer to the others for a better look.

Raph's bow begins to slowly drop.

"Oh you gotta be kiddin' me!"

Thayet slowly lowers the spyglass and looks back at Raph. The corner of her mouth lifts in a half smile, but nothing else about her expression suggests she's at all amused.

"I'm afraid not. Those are war barges -- the terror of the Carthaki Navy." She looks through the spyglass again. "The smaller ones must be from the Copper Isles."

"Can they launch from the barges? Or are they going to need to make land fall."

He's only ever had to defend a castle against the living dead, never catapult.

"They can," Thayet answers. "Each barge is counterbalanced with magic and ballast so the catapults can hurl stone balls or liquid fire. They can pound the walls of a place like this to rubble in the space of a day."

Harsh but true. Thayet looks down and offers the spyglass to Daine.

"How'd I know you were gonna say that..."

Were he younger, and had he no other responsibilities, he would be over this wall and half way across the village by now, making for the water and then the barges.

But he's no longer that headstrong brawler he used to be, which is clearly evidenced by the fact that he's responsible for not only Alanna and Adam's brood...but the crown Prince of Tortall as well.

Raph sighs in frustration. His hands grip at the masonry until his knuckles turn white.

Jamie's eyes are on Daine's face. Crouched, he watches her search the skies with the spyglass. He doesn't like her worried expression. Lifting his head enough to see over the wall, he looks where she looks and sees the cause of it: the Stormwing she'd warned them about spirals down to the deck of one of the ships, landing hard as the humans scurry away.

One of the guards gently presses on Jamie's head until he ducks back down.

"The Stormwing's on one of the ships," he whispers to his brother, then promptly tries to see over the wall again.

Thom grunts. It's part Okay and part Shut up so I can listen!

The adults are discussing whether or not this means they are at war with Carthak.

No flags or uniforms Thom starts to point out, but then Onua does it for him.

"So it's not official?" Jamie exclaims in Thom's ear. "But the queen said those're Carthaki barges! Seems a declaration of war to me if they use 'em!"

Sighing, Thom swats Jamie and uses both his hands to do a makeshift chin up on the wall.

"Definitely not official. Not until they all say it's war. I bet their ambassador is still at court."