Fortress (Chapter 3 up)

Subject: Re: Fortress (Chapter 3 up) Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:47 am

When Kista regained consciousness, she was in her bed, her head pounding and her body aching. She was completely unaware of how she had gotten to her dorm room.

“It’s about time,” said a voice beside her. “I was beginning to think you’d be asleep for the next week.”

Kista sat up and saw her roommate, Amy Triano, sitting on her bed across from Kista’s. Amy wasn’t a Mage like Kista was, she was a messenger for Lord Robdel and Lady Cassandra, the leaders of Fortress. Amy was always running around to all corners of Fortress, from the sentries top level boardwalks to the village that sat behind Fortress to the household of the Lord and Lady themselves.

“Don’t sit up so fast,” Amy said, rising and walking over towards Kista’s bed, “or else you’re gonna pass out again.”

“Again?” she said weakly, “How’d I get here?”

“You don’t remember? Of course you don’t.” Amy said before Kista could answer.

“What happened?”

“From what I was told, you used a lot of energy up in your lesson today and when you tried to go upstairs you fainted. Ya know, if Morgan hadn’t been there you probably would’ve cracked your head right open!”

“Morgan?!” she bolted upright, ignoring the slight lightheadedness that followed.

“Yeah. When you fainted, he caught you then carried you upstairs to our room. Then he put you to bed and waited until I came back from my daily run. Told me the whole thing then left. He also said he would send someone up with your evening meal. You need to get your strength back up.”

Kista was speechless. Morgan had saved her life! Well, perhaps that was pushing it a bit, but she was still very happy. This proved that Morgan really did care about her. He brought her up to her room and waited with her and everything. Kista sank back into her pillow, a smile spreading across her face. Amy leaned a little closer to Kista and asked if she was feeling all right.

“Just fine.” Kista said dreamily.

Amy rolled her eyes and decided to change the subject. “Did you hear all that howling this morning?”

“How could I not?” Kista replied, snapping out of her fantasy about Morgan and back into reality. “You’d have to be deaf and stupid not to have heard it. What was it all about?”

“You mean you didn’t hear?”

“Hear what? I was in lessons all this morning.”

“Well, according to Sir Duncan. . .”

A loud pounding on the door interrupted Amy in mid-sentence. “It’s open!” She shouted, clearly upset about being interrupted in the middle of something probably very good. Amy had always been a bit of a gossip and being a messenger for the Lord and Lady of Fortress gave her access to lots of juicy little tid bits.

The door creaked open and in sulked Nai with a tray stacked with two loaves of bread, a bowl of steaming soup and a tall mug of orvud, a thick beverage made of boiled tree roots, assorted nuts and flavored by different types of herbs depending on the taste of the drinker. Nai had her head down, obviously watching the tray to make sure she didn’t spill anything, and was muttering to herself.

“Hello Nai.” Amy said sweetly. Amy, like Kista and many other people in Fortress, wasn’t too fond of Nai and always loved to see her have to suffer with such demeaning tasks. “I didn’t know you were bring Kista her evening meal. That’s very nice of you.”

Nai looked up, “Stupid Morgan made me do it. I could be practicing with the other Mages on wounded soldiers and spies but no, I have to play servant to this big faker!”

“She’s not faking Nai. Kista really did faint.”

“She just did it so she could get out of lessons. She looks perfectly fine to me.”

Kista pushed herself up in bed. “Mage Andera set me here because I used up a lot of my energy Nai, you were there. You saw.”

“She just wanted to get rid of you. Don’t you know? Right after you left that spy you tried to heal died.”

“What?!” Kista nearly leapt out of bed.

“Don’t listen to her Kista.” Amy said quickly. “If one of our spies died I would’ve heard about it.”

“How could you if you’ve been here all this time?” Nai said smugly, her mouth curving into a thin smile.

“I’ve only been here for a few minutes Nai. Trust me, if someone in Fortress does something, I’m one of the first to hear about it.” Amy folded her arms and glared. “Don’t you have something else you could be doing? Just give Kista her meal and go slither back under your rock.” She was clearing getting upset with Nai.

Nai glared right back at Amy, narrowing her eyes for a moment then thrust out the tray. “Kista looks better to me. Why doesn’t she just get out of bed and get it herself.”

Kista couldn’t understand why Nai was being so rude to her. Perhaps it was because Morgan was showing some affection for her and Nai was jealous. Slowly, Kista began to get out of bed. She was starting to feel lightheaded again, probably from all the moving around she had been doing. Amy objected at first, saying she’d get it, but Kista wouldn’t listen. Besides, she thought, I am feeling a little bit better. If I just go slowly, I’ll be fine. But when she had finally gotten to her feet and reached for the tray, Nai released her grip and let it crash to the ground.

“Oops.” She said in a mocking tone. “Sorry Kista. It just slipped. I’m sure some of it’s still salvageable.”

Kista stood, staring stupidly at the mess of food that lay at her feet. She didn’t see Nai leave, her smile growing wider on her narrow face. Amy knelt beside Kista and began picking up pieces of the soup bowl that had shattered from the drop.

“It’s all right Kista. I’ll clean this up then go down to the meal hall and get you something new to eat.”

“But we’re not allow to have extra portions.” Kista muttered.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t had my meal yet. I’ll just go get mine then bring it here. We can share.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Kista said, slowly returning to her bed. She was beginning to feel a little dizzy.

“It’s okay Kista. I’m not that hungry anyway and you need to get your strength back. Just get some sleep, I’ll be back in a flash.” And with that, Amy disappeared through the door, shutting it gently behind her.

Kista sat back down on her bed, her head drooped low. She was really beginning to feel bad now. Her head was spinning and everything was fading in front of her, turning black before her eyes. The sounds outside her window of birds chirping and people talking were being muffled, as if someone had just stuffed cotton in her ears. A cold sweat started breaking on her forehead but she felt as if she was baking in an oven. Kista tried to swing her legs back onto the bed, but she couldn’t find the strength. She merely let herself collapse.

The world went silent and black around her and when she opened her eyes again, she saw Amy standing over her.

“Are you all right?” She exclaimed.

Kista wasn’t about to lie to her best friend. A long, pitiful “No” escaped from her lips. Amy set down a new tray on the dresser beside Kista’s bed then she helped get Kista into the correct position on her bed. “Did you faint again Kista?”

Kista managed a small nod of the head this time. Amy rolled her eyes and turned to the tray. “You really need to eat something Kista.”

“I’m never. . .eating. . .again.” Kista managed.

“You have to eat. We’ll start you off with something small.” Amy scanned the room for a minute, then disappeared from Kista’s sight and returned shortly with a chair in tow. She placed the chair beside the bed then took the mug of orvud from the tray. “Drink this.”

Kista sat up a little and took a sip of the orvud. It was a little spicy and tart, just the way Amy liked it. Kista would’ve preferred the orvud sweet and warm but she was in no position to argue. When she had drunk her fill, Kista leaned back to lie down again. Amy placed a hand on her back and forced her back up.

“Don’t lie down just yet. You need to get some food in that stomach of yours. I forgot to ask before, what did you eat this morning?”

Kista thought for a moment before answering, “I had a bowl of oatmeal.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

Amy shook her head. “Morgan asked me to asked you that. He said that you probably used up so much energy so fast and fainted because you didn’t eat enough this morning. I know you’re all about keeping your girly figure, but you really should start eating more for breakfast. You’ll have more energy then.”

“I’ll remember that.” Especially if Morgan thinks I should do so. Kista added her mind.

“Here,” Amy handed Kista a piece of bread that had been soaking in the soup, “try this.”

Kista took it and munched on it slowly. Her stomach churned as it received new foods making her feel a little nauseous. She fought the urge to throw up and continued munching the bread. “So,” she said between bites, “what was all that howling about? Were the dragons under attack or something?”

“No. Nothing like that. I was making my rounds this morning when I heard all the commotion. Scared the hell outta me I’ll tell ya that much. I’ve never heard anything as bad as that before. Anyway, I was on my way to the temple because the Lord and Lady are always there in the mornings to pay homage to the Feldari. When I got to the temple I saw a couple Dragon Knights talkin’ to Lord Robdel. I was gonna sneak over and eavesdrop on what they were talking about but Lord Robdel saw me and called me over. He asked me to go the Dragon Knights’ quarters and find Sir Duncan.”

“That name sounds familiar. Isn’t he the Empress’s rider?”

“Yup. When I found him, he was completely out of it. It was like he was in a trance or something. Nothing I said or did could snap him out of it.”

Kista was about to ask just what she could’ve done to Sir Duncan but decided against it. Amy was a very unpredictable person so what she had done may have been something Kista didn’t want to hear about.

“Finally,” Amy continued, “some of the other Dragon Knights arrived and told me not to worry. Not to worry they said! The guy was sitting on the edge of his bed with the most vacant look on his face. Of course I was gonna worry! I thought he might’ve taken something weird. You know how some of those older soldiers can be. Taking who knows what to try and improve their actions. But I’m getting off subject again. The other Knights told me that he was just feeling the side effects from the broken bond between him and the Empress.”

“Broken bond? What does that mean?”

“You’ve lived your whole life in Fortress and you don’t know anything about the dragons and the knights?”

Feeling a bit ashamed, Kista looked down, “Not really.”

“Dragon Knights share a bond with their dragon.” Amy explained. ‘When one of them dies, that bond is broken and usually the end result is the immediate death of the other. Sometimes it’s because the one no longer has the other to live for they kill themselves, other times they just die out of depression of losing the other and sometimes it’s just an age thing. This was depression though. Poor Sir Duncan.”

“You mean. . . all that howling was the Empress dying? She made all that noise by herself?!”

“No. The first howl was hers then all the other dragons joined in. It’s a kind of custom among dragons. When one dies, it calls to it’s kin. Then the rest of the clan answer the first one’s call. They all howl and roar until the one dies. It’s supposed to help guide the dragon’s soul to its finally resting place in the spirit world.” Amy shrugged. “I just think it’s loud.”

Kista thought for a moment. The Empress was dead? Kista knew she should feel bad, sorry, something, but she didn’t feel anything. Maybe because she didn’t really know the dragons. She knew they were the pride and joy of Fortress, everybody loved them because they protected Fortress and its people. Kista was thankful for that, so why didn’t she feel bad about the Empress dying? Another thought popped into her mind at that point. Reluctantly she asked, “Amy? What will happen to Sir Duncan? Is he. . .?”

“He’s not going to die if that’s what you were gonna ask. He’s still kinda young. His father was the original rider of the Empress but he died in combat. It was pure luck that Sir Duncan was able to take his father’s place and become the Empress’s rider. If he hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t’ve had an Empress today.”

“Really?”

“Well, no. We would’ve had an Empress but the whole dragon clan order would’ve been messed up. Or so I’ve heard.”

“So what’ll happen now?”

“The other Knights are gonna try to keep Sir Duncan alive until the new Empress is chosen. Hopefully, he’ll become bonded to her.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“They’ll pick someone else. Ya know there’s gonna be a big tournament to choose the new Empress. It’s gonna be between three of her daughters.”

“When?”

“In a week. There’s some kind of mourning period first. Then comes the fight. I wish I could get to see it.”

“Why wouldn’t you? You’re a messenger for the Lord and Lady.”

“Yeah but the tournament is viewed only by a select few. The clan dragons, the Knights, the Lord and Lady and I heard that Geshte will be coming out to watch.”

“Geshte?! Why?”

“He’s the Feldari of the animals, right? Maybe he’s gonna be the referee for the fight.”

“Amy! Don’t say things like that! It’s disrespectful to the Feldari.”

“Sorry Kista. Don’t get so mad. I was only kidding around. But still, he could be watching to make sure none of the dragons get hurt.” Amy sighed. “I’d really like to see that fight though.”

“I’m surprised Amy. You usually don’t let these kinds of things get you down. I’m sure you find a way into the fight and then you’ll tell me all about it.”

“Yeah!” Amy said, starting to cheer up. “I know every nook and cranny in all of Fortress. I’ll see that fight, one way or another!”
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Empress Dragoniangirl:
Dressing men in drag since 2004

Honor and Virtue Joined : 01 Apr 2007 Posts : 4279

Awesome.

I actually like Nai's character - I have trouble writing minor baddies, and it's nice to see someone pull it off.
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Subject: Re: Fortress (Chapter 3 up) Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:47 pm

beautiful again! This is going really well.