“Ugh!”
Kel moaned. She remembered falling into the hole, and then blackness. She
could feel cold stone under herself, and it wasn’t very comfortable.
“Are you okay?” asked a voice.
Kel groaned.
“I would bet they aren’t okay,
seeing as they just fell out of the sky!” said another voice.
Strange hands helped Kel sit up and lean against the wall. The speakers were
two girls that looked to be only fourteen or fifteen.
“Thank you,” rasped Kel. One of
the girls handed her a water flask. Kel drained it. “If I may ask, who are
you, and where are we?”
“My name is Daja,” said the tall,
dark skinned girl that had spoken first.
“And my name is Tris,” said the
short, slightly plump, redheaded girl. “And we are in the Winding Circle
Temple, one of the Living Circle temples, near Summersea, the Capital of
Emelan, ruled by Duke Vedris IV.”
“You mean we aren’t an hour’s
ride outside of Corus, home of the royal palace, capital of the Realm of Tortall,
one of the Eastern Lands?”
“Huh?” asked Daja.
Suddenly, Alanna and Jon groaned.
Kel struggled to her feet and went to help them up, clinging to the wall for
support.
“Where are we?” asked Jon, dazed.
“And who are you?”
“Tris and Daja, and we’re in a
country called Emelan,” said Kel bitterly. “And I don’t suppose you know how
to get us back to Tortall, your majesty.”
“Kel, please be calm,” pleaded
Alanna.
“It’s kind of hard to be calm
when you are stuck in another world and we don’t know how to get home!”
screamed Kel.
All of a sudden, everyone heard
the pitter-patter of footsteps on stone. A boy, a girl, and five adults came
trotting up, bearing three stretchers.
“Who are they?” asked Kel
skeptically.
“The boy is Briar, the girl is
Sandry, but her real name is Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, great niece of Duke
Vedris IV of Emelan, and cousin of the Empress Berenene of the Namorn Empire,
and the adults are Niko, Crane, Rosethorn, Lark, and Frostpine, our teachers,”
explained Tris.
“Oh.”
“No, really!”
“I figured that out.”
“Tris, don’t start arguing with
them,” said one of the adults. Niko? thought Kel. “And have they introduced
themselves yet?”
“Oh!” said Kel. “I’ll do it!”
She pointed to Jon. “He is his
royal majesty, King Jonathan III of Conté, King of Tortall, and Voice of the
Tribes for the Bazhir.” Kel pointed to Alanna. “She is Sir Alanna of Pirate’s
Swoop and Olau, Knight of the Realm of Tortall, King’s Champion, and a rider
and shaman of the Bloody Hawk tribe of the Bazhir, called the Lioness because
of the Lioness on her shield. I am Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, first
known female page and squire in over a century, called the Protector of the
Small because I actually care about commoners, unlike most people of my
station.”
The Emelanians (Or whatever you
call them) stared.
“What? It’s true!”
“Wow,” said Sandry. “All those
titles are as impressive as mine, if not better.”
“Can you sit up?” asked Briar.
“Should we introduce ourselves too?”
“Sure. I will. My name is
Niklarin (Forgive me if I misspelled Niko’s name!) Goldeye, a mage. Then
there is Rosethorn, a plant mage, Lark, a thread mage, Frostpine, a metal
mage, Crane, a plant mage also, Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, a thread mage also,
Briar Moss, a plant mage, Daja Kisubo, a metal mage like Frostpine, and
Trisana Chandler, a weather mage.”
“You are all mages?” asked Kel.
“Yes Lady Keladry.”
“Call me Kel. Not Keladry. Just
Kel.”
“Well, just Kel, are you mages?”
“Only Alanna and his majesty are.
I’m not.”
“Um, don’t you think we should
bring them to talk with the Duke and Head Dedicate Moonstream?” questioned
Rosethorn.
“Yes, my dear.” Turning to the
Tortallans, he said, “Let us be off now, shall we?”
And they descended the stairs.
To Chapter 7
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