Snow Chapter one: Surprises By Aeris I don’t own these characters Tamora Pierce does, I would like to but I’m poor. *Sob* I’m just a person writing fan fiction because I have nothing to do! Okay, okay. I don’t own the Tamora Pierce characters or Tortall. I do own the Bat-Demons and i.e. Ateo, Queen Ratellciea and others, the Empire of Imp, Emperor Imp, the Wolf-Demons, and other demons. I own, made up, Buck and Myka the Shang Owl. If you wish to use them e-mail me at kurumi2244@aol.com The winter snow fell briskly onto the ground. The frosty winters night made the palace a chilly place to be. Fires burned in the hearths in the many rooms. Pages, and Squires served the new Knights and nobles at the mid-winter feasts. Tortall was a winter wonderland not an inch of land had not been covered with snow. "You know Kel," Nealan of Queenscove said. "I like being on this side better." "Maybe you do," Owen of Jesslaw, a squire, muttered. "I like it better here too, Neal." Kel agreed with a cheerful smile. I wonder where Cleon is. He’s been gone for so long now I really miss him. Kel though grimly. "I think out friend has been hit by a horse." Neal remarked with a half smile trying to cheer up Kel. "I’m sure lover boy will be home soon." "Are we a worst kept secret then Raoul and Beri?" Kel asked dryly as she looked at her food. "About as bad as a ten foot bear trying to hid behind a tree." Neal told her. Kel sighed and returned to picking at her food. "You really love him, don’t you." Kel chocked on her food, the "l" word. The unspoken word, but known, she hoped. Truth be told she liked Cleon a lot but wasn’t sure if she loved him. She didn’t get those feelings in her stomach like she used to for Neal or did for Dom. She tossed around several ideas like this. Hum, maybe she doesn’t love him. Neal though as he looked at Kel’s face. "Kel?" "Huh?" Kel said jumping in surprise. Neal was about to answer when the next course came. Oh well, next time. Neal promised himself as the dinner continued. *~* "You look beautiful my lady." Lalasa told Kel that night. "You know I hate balls," Kel scowled as Lalasa did her hair, "And why is it that knights just have to go?" "You’ve became more like your former knight-master," Lalasa teased her. "And balls aren’t that bad my lady." Lalasa patted Kel’s shoulder. "Now you look like a lady knight should. Be feminine, yet strong, spirited, yet kind, be a lady, but a knight as well." Kel smiled at Lalasa and thanked her for the new dress. It was a red dress that befriended Kel’s figure. "That dress looks good on you my lady." "Oh Lalasa, you could make Lord Wyldon look good in a dress." Kel told her and thanked her again and Lalasa laughed. "I’m not so sure I could make Lord Wyldon look so good in a dress, he has no figure." Lalasa told her. "You’d be amazed," Merric said as he, Neal, and Owen came in for their inspection. "You couldn’t get The Stump in a dress for his life. Even if you did Kel’s very beautiful red dress would not suit him, no he needs a spicy purple dress, to really bring out his feminine side." Neal said as he looked at his lady knight friend. She looked very beautiful, he noted. "I’m sure a spicy purple dress would look lovely on you too Neal." Kel said as she shock her head at Neal. "Honestly, you look a mess. Did you even bother to comb your hair?" "Yes, but my darned fingers just mess it up again," he replied grinning. Lalasa, too, shook her head at Neal’s messy hair. Other then that he looked rather attractive in his tunic and formal breeches. Lalasa and Kel straitened out them, eventually. "What would we do without you Kel?" "Be dirty." Kel replied as she and he friends made her way to the royal hall. Merric went to find his date, a short and scrawny blond with mysterious brown eyes. Owen’s date was a tall red head with several freckles and a bewitching smile. Neal had no date, nor did Kel. She hoped that Cleon would be back by now, she mentally sighed. "Shall we go in?" Neal said offering her his arm. Kel stared at him. "I don’t bite, and besides it’s just as friends. You don’t have anyone to go in with, I don’t have anyone to in with." "We both win then, huh?" Kel said smiling at him. "Besides, what fun is it alone?" Neal asked as they went in. "Doesn’t the queen look simply marvelous tonight?" "You know she is taken." Kel said sighing at her friend’s behavior around beautiful women. "Ah, yes but it is fun to dream." He told her. "You never aim to high, do you?" She asked mocking him. "Me, I aim for the starts and higher!" he said with a laugh making Kel laugh. "You know Neal, you never cease to amaze me." Kel remarked dryly. "I do know! It’s dull in here, people dancing that’s all, not even good music." Neal said with a sigh of boredom. "The king should do away with these retched things." He waved his hands. "If you were with a beautiful woman you’d be giddy as well." Kel pointed out to him. "I am, and I’m not." He said with that grin that could be a smirk. "Let us go outside, so we may be free of this horrible blood wrenching experience that has been shoved toward us." "You sound as if you are a dieing cow." Kel said as she followed Neal outside. "Don’t say that in front of Daine," he told her. The garden of the palace was covered with layers of snow that hasn’t been stepped on. The trees supported the snow that lay on the branches were leaves once had been. Icicles hung off rooftops and gave the palace a spectacular radiance. Few patches of green grass shown through the very white flakes from the horses that carried the pages. "I like winter when I’m not being forced by the Stump to ride or run in it." Neal said as he and Kel looked at the work of Jack Frost had done. "You like everything better as a knight." Kel pointed out. "Yes, yes I do." He said nodding causing Kel to laugh. "So much more freedom as a knight, you still have to obey orders from someone though." He sighed. "Kel, you really do look really beautiful tonight." A faint blush crossed his cheeks. Kel smiled, "Thank you Neal." *~* A week passed by and there was still no sign of Cleon or the other knights. King Jonathan decided against sending out more knights. The king sighed and turned in his bed, Thayet sound asleep next to him. He hated war no he loathed war. He sighed and finally went to sleep. In his dreams there stood a Goddess, no a Demon in the mist of the night she shimmered with beauty. Her face was cold as night and as pure as the moon. She had wings that were of bats and ears too. Her cloth was nothing more then a simple black dress that showed her stomach, arms, and a majority of her legs. She smirked and laughed a cruel high-pitched laugh as her small callused hands into a tight fist. A simple black rose appeared in front of her she grasped it and a white power fell over her. She chuckled and clenched the power in her hands, it gave her ever more eerie glow the memorized her features. She lowered down, as if she was bowing laughed and flew away. Jonathan woke with a jolt and started panting; he looked over at his Queen and gaped. "Thayet." He cried. Chapter two: The Bat Queen There she stood. Her black wings stuck to her back. "Batavia." A man said as he came from behind. He looked at her his black violent eyes met her violet ones. He too, had wings and ears of a bat. "Ateo, Ateo, Ateo," The bad-lady said speaking slowly, "Give me a good reason why I should spare your worthless life." "My lady, my Queen, you wouldn’t hurt me would you?" Ateo asked and stepped back. "Don’t call me ‘Batavia’ either you moron you know my name. What you did, that stunt with the Black God… you’re lucky you stand on this ground. Bring back the dead you fool! And that man you brought back… Roger no wonder the Black God didn’t kill you." She said and started to pace. "But, he’ll still frown upon the Bat-Demons forever." "He’s happy to help ageists those mortals, if you call them that. Roger, he’s a fair mage, not like that Numair guy but he’ll do. There are some, minor problems, like that wretched lady companion of the kings--" "Lady Companion?" The demon queen smiled, a bitter smile. "This won’t be so easy will it? Not with lady knights. They are the ones with strength men, can you say idiot?" "Queen Ratellciea, I don’t think that men are any different in strength then women, if fact I do believe that they are--" "Do not say anything you ignoramus, you go tend to that little mortal and report to me when you are through. Ateo vanished into the night his wings carrying him swiftly. ~*~ "Bat-what?" The Lioness asked that night at a meeting. "Bat-demons," Was the kings stern reply. "They come a night, in your dreams. Attach you with your fears and dreams. They can suck you into a word of bewildered fantasy and slowly kill you. You don’t wake up you just sleep. Signs come, you sweat, you cry out for lost things, you kick violently and sometimes vomit. The final stage is when you turn deathly pale and then you die. It’s that easy they kill you. Frightfully scaring for those who watch, can cause them to an early grave." Jonathan had a worried look in his eyes, none of the knights were back yet, and he didn’t need the bat-demons messing with them. "Thayet, Thayet was hit. She was evidently their first target." The said king wiped his misty eyes, "Sorry, anyway this could’ve been prevented, easily. If I had known earlier…" "It’s okay Jon, it’s not your fault it could happen to anyone, me, Raoul, even George. We’ll save Thayet, Jon." Alanna said and Raoul snorted. "Leave me out of this," Raoul muttered. "So, don’t be alone, at all. Not at night, not in the morning, not in the afternoon. Ever." The king said sternly as he eyed the crowed seeing that Numair was missing, Daine just simply shrugged when she saw Roland’s sons face. Jonathan gave her that look that he understood that Numair had locked him self up in his room over a spell. "Our wonderful mage Numair has apparently devoted himself to a spell, hopefully to rid us of these horrible demons." "I still don’t understand something- why are the demons coming out now? No demons have set foot on Tortall in centuries." Neal asked. "Anybody ever realize that all these things happen after Alanna came?" Sir Garth the younger asked to receive a punch in the arm from the Lioness. "Ah hum," The King said glaring at Alanna and Gray. "This goes for all of you, particularly Alanna, don’t play hero, don’t look for trouble. ("I don’t look for trouble!" Alanna scowled.) "The bat-demons are our enemies. They came 400 years ago at the beginning of the Human-Era. When we though that all the immortals had left us be, then demons struck. Other demons came the wolf-demons, gave us the most hostility. They are wolf like creatures with an alarmingly high amount of strength and bodies of wolves with human hands and four tails. We beat their head and they fled so we though we were safe. The bats were the weakest of all the demons, now one of the strongest leagues. The have their own world, the demons that is, called the Empire of Imp." "Empire of Imp?" Alanna said suppressing her laughter. Jonathan ignored Alanna’s remark. "The Imp is their leader, their Rouge, their King, their Emperor, you chose. The Imp is more powerful then the Dominion Jewel." A few gasps came from the mages in the group. "Evil power seldom this great, so be on your guard! I can’t stress this enough, don’t go anywhere alone even to walk to your room were another person is." The king dismissed them and they all shuffled out talking of their new horrible enemies. ~*~ The evil duke smiled an evil smile. He looked into a mirror that shown the Lioness with his cousin sitting next to the sleeping queen. He touched the image, "I hear the third times a charm, oh Lady Knight." Blood dripped from his fingers on to the mirror, "I’ll have me sweet revenge yet, oh sweet one." "I think he’s crazy," A young female bet-demon said as she was looking into Roger’s room. "Yep, he’s only died twice. It’s not like mama, she’s died at least four times and she’s not crazy." Remarked a male bat-demon that appeared to the same age. "Tillion," The girl-bat said. "I think we should go. If he sees us then--" "He won’t see us Buna," The boy-bat, Tillion, told her. "Can we go, please? If mama finds out that we’re gone, she’ll won’t let us hunt with the elders anymore!" Buna told her brother. "Fine, but you worry to much Buna," Tillion said as the two walked down the winding black hall way lit with the same brilliant purple flames that lit the Queen's room. ~*~ Chapter three: Discoveries Kel watched as Neal unpacked his things into the room where her Squire would live if she had one. She was happy that Neal decided to stay with her, after the kings speech she didn’t feel safe. What really bothered her is that the knights that were at the north haven’t returned yet. Are they dead? Did the Demons get to them? Her mind swarmed with thoughts like these. "Hum," she asked when she realized that Neal had asked her a question. "I asked if we could go eat now! They have blueberry pie! You know how much I love blueberry pie." Neal told her. "Oh okay," Kel said as she followed him out of her room into the mess where the knights ate. "Did you hear?" Merric asked when the two sat next to him and Seaver. "Hear what?" Neal asked as he ate his dessert first. "Eat your vegetables." Kel instructed him. "The knights were found, only a few survived. They said that bat-people attached them. They must mean the bat demons. I think that a dozen or so came back. They were the ones that were hunting. Saw the fight and ran I guess." Merric informed them. "You think Cleon came back?" Neal asked as he stuffed his fried potatoes and carrots into his mouth. "Don’t talk with your mouth full." Kel told him but she was praying to the gods that he had survived. "Yes mother." Neal mumbled. "I don’t know, I did hear anything about him or any one else for that matter. We can go check the healers ward after dinner, seems that they ran into some trouble on the way back to Courus." Seaver put in. The rest nodded with agreement to his plan. ~*~ The four walked down to the healer’s ward that night after a filling dinner. "I don’t think I’ve had blueberry pie that good in ages. Nope, not since I was Pirates Swoop, Alanna’s husband can cook." Neal said with a pleased sigh. (A/N: I don’t know if George can cook, I just remember reading that Alanna wasn’t the best cook. Okay I’m babbling now.) "Is all you can think about is Pie?!" Kel demanded and glared at Neal. "I’m sorry Kel." Neal said symptomatically. "I’m sure that Lover boys okay." Kel kept her face Yamani-smooth and didn’t reply. They walked into the healer’s ward. Men with all different types of injuries lay on the beds before them. "What can I do for you?" Baird of Queenscove asked when they entered the room. "Is Cleon of Kennan here?" Kel asked hopeful. The chief healer shocks his head a sad no. "Sorry Kel," He told her. "Cleon of Kennan? He was a brave lad indeed." One of the soldiers told them. The four walked over to the man that the voice belonged to bed. He had been blinded in his right eye and he wore a bandage over it. His right leg was rapped and his left arm as well. He had sandy blond hair and was in his thirties. He was tall and buff as well. "Ye can call me Buck. That’s what me friends call me." He sat up in his bed, "You should’ve seen that Cleon in action, he defended Tortall with honor. He saved these men was a grave sight it was. Then poof! He disappeared, just like that `inta thin air!" "Are we talking about the same Cleon of Kennan here?" Neal wanted to know. "Ow!" he muttered when Kel hit him in the arm. "Shut up Queenscove." Kel told him and bit back tears. "Aye, now run a long kids." The man said moving them along. ~*~ "What are we going to do?" Alanna asked as she and Jon looked at the reports from the wide range of Tortall. "All theses sightings and attaches. More then 50 are under the sleep spell. One hundred deaths from attaches, this is horrible." "Yes, and the attacks are spreading to Tyra and even into Scanra. A combination of 2 hundred and 14 attaches that have been reported, that’s including the sleep spell. And in Tortall one hundred and sixty four total." The King shook his head. "Look at this, in Carthaki seventy-five people dead, forty- five under the sleep spell. These figures," he covered his mouth. "Are unsightly." ~*~ "Daine! Daine! Wake up!" Numair called that night. "Come here!" "What is it Numair?" Daine said as she got out of their bed to see what Numair was talking about. "It’s midnight." "Look, these are the figures from those dead or under the sleep spell this year. And these are those from 400 years ago." Numair told her pointing at the papers. "I see that, now come to bed, it’s late." Daine told him. "No look, really. They are exactly the same, to the very last detail. Battle tactics are the same ones we used in the Demon invasions under King Jordan’s rule. It’s sorcery, someone is controlling this." Numair told her. "But know one has that power except you, the rest are dead…" Daine told him. "Imp wouldn’t do that, would he?" "No he wouldn’t, he has some honor. No they brought someone from the dead. Someone extremely powerful," Numair’s face darkened. "And I know who, I must tell the king." "But it’s midnight Numair." Daine protested. "Even Kings sleep." "I know my love, but this is urgent." Numair told her and kissed her on her brow and left to find the king. ~*~ Neal woke to the sound of Kel’s steady crying. He pulled on his robe and went into Kel’s room through the adjoining door that was left open. Neal rubbed his eyes. "You okay Kel?" "Hum, yeah." She said as she sat up on her bed, her eyes red and puffed up. "No you’re not. You were crying." He sat down next to her. "What’s wrong?" "Nothing okay." The lady knight told him. The fire burned steadily in her hearth and a warmth filled into Kel’s room. Outside three more inches of snow had fallen. "I’m your best friend Kel, it’s about Cleon isn’t it?" He asked. Kel buried her face into her hands and cried some more. Neal hugged her and let Kel cry into his shirt. "I’m just sorry to see him go," She sniffed it was muffled because she had buried her head into his shoulder. "It’s always hard to see someone go." "You really loved him, didn’t you?" Neal asked her, letting her cry more into his shirt. "That’s part of it, I don’t know if I did care for him that way. I mean I like him a lot, it’s just, oh Neal." Kel said crying. He’s warm, very warm. Kel though. That made her cry even more, she was ashamed to like being in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist. He ran his fingers through her soft hair. Kel sighed and let their lips met-- "No." Neal said and pulled away. "I can’t take advantage of you in this state. You’re getting over Cleon." "That’s not it, Neal I…" ~*~ Chapter four: Cleon "That’s not it, Neal I…" Kel began but Neal placed a finger on her lips. "Kel, don’t say anything you don’t mean," Neal told her. "Than it’ll just make things weird around us. I like being your friend, but I wouldn’t mind being more." He admitted to her, Kel looked at his green eyes, and she saw something that made her tremble. A half smile came across Neal’s lips. It seemed so wrong, but so right. She didn’t know what to do, she wanted to let him take her in his arms, let him take away all the bad all the hurt all the pain; she also didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good friendship. But won’t you be better friends? A part of her argued in her brain. She wanted it to shut up, she couldn’t love Neal, she just couldn’t. But she did. "Oh, Neal." She told him and let him take away all the pain. ~*~ Jonathan paced around his room. "Roger?" Numair just nodded. "Roger?" Numair nodded again. "Are you sure it’s Roger?" Numair nodded again. "Can this get any worse?" Numair nodded again. "This is horrible, don’t tell Alanna. She’ll go nuts. She killed him twice already." Numair looked puzzled but nodded. "This is nuts. All of it, demons, Roger, Goddess! Why are they doing this?" "Um, Jonathan, I think it is because of unsettled business." Numair told the pacing king. "Unsettled business?" Jonathan blinked at his mage. "King Jordan was a great King, but had one flaw. He was over confident that the demons wouldn’t dare show their faces in Tortall- or the Human Realm ever again. He didn’t put a seal on anything to keep them out and buried all the things his defense force stole. Gold, weapons, sliver, fleets--" "He stole their armies?" The king asked surprised. "Yes, like immortals they die of wounds, but unlike immortals they die of old age, usually around 1,000, or 2,000 years of age." Numair told him. "So there are demons alive under ground?" The king wanted to know. "Yes, and no. Some died." Numair alleged. Jonathan sat down and put his hands to his temples and rubbed. "Well, no wonder they're mad." He sighed, "Well, Mage Numair. It is late, you can go to bed we can talk about tomorrow." Numair bowed and left the room. ~*~ Cleon stared at the pool of water in the dark room he was imprisoned in. There was Kel, who he though was his, lying there with Neal’s arm around her, both of them asleep. He mentally sighed and looked around his room. Surprised to find someone else was put in the same room over the night Cleon sighed once more. The one he loves thinks he’s dead and apparently moved on, he was kidnapped, and now someone else was in the already small enough room. The person was asleep and Cleon stood trying to find a door that would get him out of this dark place. The person moved and jumped up, she was obviously a Shang studier. "Who are you?" She asked and looked at Cleon, equally as surprised to find him there. "I’m Sir Cleon of Kennan, and I was about to ask you the same thing." Cleon muttered still vainly in search of a door or window. "I am Myka the Shang Owl." She told him, "I didn’t see you in here, my apologies Sir Cleon." "Why are you here, where ever here is?" The redhead asked. "Someone’s in a good mood. I was here because when the bat-demons attached I protected my family, and they took me here. And this is a prison cell, in the Empire of Imp, the Bat Lands to be more specific." "Bat Lands? Bat Demons? All I know is I came here, and I can see what happens in Tortall in that little pool of water." A puzzled Cleon told her. "It’s a Talisman Mirror. See you wish what or whom you want to see and it shows you. The last prisoner must of made it and left it here." Myka told him, "Who’s that?" Myka asked pointing at Kel. "That is Keladry of Mindelan, and that lump next to her is Nealan of Queenscove." He muttered and told her about Kel. "I’m sorry, but you must remember that she thinks your dead and she’s probably grieving right now. You can’t blame her about what she does when she thinks your dead." Myka told him. "Whatever," he said and played with the rocks on the hard floor were they were sitting. ~*~ Over the last week Thayet had moved from the sweating stage to crying out to lost things. Lost items, family members that have dies, Jonathan, her children, and other things. "Well she is okay father?" Roald asked as he sat next to the king. "I don’t know Roald, I honestly don’t. But if she isn’t, we’ll still be a family. You, Kalasin, and me."(A/N, I don’t know if there are any other princes or princess, so don’t kill me!!) Jonathan told his son. "It’ll be okay." ~*~ "Kel! Kel! Neal! Neal!" Seaver called running down the hall and pounded on the two doors. Kel tiredly walked out of her room, and Neal out of the adjoining door into Kel’s room. Seaver went inside, panicked. "It’s Merric!" Seaver exclaimed. "He fell under the sleep spell!" "What?" Kel said suddenly awake. "I think Merric fell under the sleep spell." Neal said yawning. "Wake up you dolt! Our friend is in trouble!" Kel told him. "Trouble, right, lets go." He said and walked to Merric’s room were there was a cot pulled up for Seaver. Kel and Seaver at toe. Owen was there already Seaver must have gotten him. Merric was a pale color and was sweating; his blanket was pulled tight around him. "We have to get him to the Healer’s Ward." Owen said. The four carried their sweating friend to the ward. Others were there as well; crying over friends and loved ones that were dying under their very eyes, children crying over their moms and dads that were taken deathly ill. "It’s like the sweating sickness that happened so many years ago." Duke Barid told the four as he put Merric in a bed. "So many people dying and no one can do anything. Healers vainly trying to heal the already lost, it’s depressing. You run along now, you don’t want to see what has to be done." The four left their friend and returned to bed. Duke Baird rolled Merric on to his stomach and called out his power. A green light covered Merric making him glow. Merric barely noticed what should’ve felt like a thousand needles in his body. Duke Barid flipped him back over and touched Merric on a pressure point on his stomach and stepped back just as Merric vomited a green fluid. Barid nodded, satisfied at his work and moved on to the next patient. ~*~ Cleon sighed and looked at the mirror water. "What is it?" Myka asked when she saw Cleon’s face. "My friend, Merric fell to the sleep spell." He told her looking up at her big blue eyes. She had short jet-black hair and about a head shorter then Kel was, she had tanned skin and big lips. She frowned. "That’s to bad, my da, he fell to it as well before I taken here." Myka confessed to him. "I’m sorry," He told her putting his arm around her shoulder. ~*~ Her scarlet figure nails stretched and tightened over her cup. Her ruby-red lips and her pastel white skin glossed her wicked smile. The amber brown hair caressed her fragile skin and left man wondering. "Roger," she said each letter resting on her mouth. "Yes my dear," The wicked man said touching her hands. His large hand captured her small one. "It’s a shame," She began. "What is my love?" He asked her. "That you’ll die again." She told him. "Oh, I’m alive for good this time my pearl." "Didn’t I tell you?" She asked not waiting for a reply. "Good bye." She slipped her sliver knife into his chest and watched him die. "There just isn’t enough room for me and you here." ~*~ Chapter five: Scarlet Mage "All able bodies to fight! All able bodies to fight!" A messenger cried as he ran down the halls in the Knights floor. He pounded on all the doors shouting the same thing at them all. Al