Post by lisabounce on Apr 23, 2010 23:03:55 GMT 10
Title: In Another Then... (III)
Rating: G
Length: 520
Summary: It's not Daine but Dan. Genderswap and AU.
Dan stared at Numair. The older man sat cross legged on his bedroll on the other side of the fire, his dragon asleep with its head on his knee. The rest of Dan's Rider group were asleep. They were nominally in friendly territory hereabouts, some five miles out from a bandit group's camp. “You raised the dead?”
He nodded tiredly. “Yes, magelet.”
“The stories about everything that happened down there are true, then?”
Numair's lips quirked in a tired smile. “That depends on what the stories are.”
“Well-” Dan shifted uncomfortably and looked over Numair, fingers drumming on the stock of his crossbow. “We were at the Rider barracks for the most part while you were with the Carthaks so we got all the news. They were saying you'd....” He blushed and looked away. “The new emperor, Kaddar. They said that you were canoodling with him and some fellow who was the head of the University and then Ozorne had you killed because he's jealous.” Spoken aloud, it sounded ludicrous. One of the Riders knew a man who knew a fellow in the scriptorium and he'd made a copy of a portrait of Kaddar that had been passed around the barracks – the boy was, even in the picture, very handsome.
Numair, at least, had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “My dear, you have to understand that I learned my lesson about 'canoodling' as you put it with royalty before you were even walking. And as for Lindhall, well, that was a long time ago.”
Dan shook his head. He didn't mention the part where he'd run south, with no plan even for getting across the Inland Sea. Besides, they'd caught up with him after eighty miles, Farant had slapped him five kinds of silly and then sat on him while Miri told him the newest news from Corus. “Anyway, the next thing we'd heard, you weren't dead after all and you'd raised the dead...”
“No. Ozorne murdered a simulacrum I made because I'd thought something like this might happen. Ozorne was always... jealous. I... lost my temper, magelet. His mages convinced me you were dead before they put the simulacrum to death. And then the Graveyard Hag came visiting and offered me a wonderful gift.” He looked sad and stared out into the night.
Dan just stared at him, wide-eyed. Later, he said, “The Badger came and visited me again, after- He said I hadn't been attending to my lessons well enough because if I had, I might have been able to do more than just convince some racehorses to take me south. He said if I tried, I'd be able to enter the minds of any animal I wanted, use their eyes or ears or noses like I would my own.”
“You came after me?”
“You were dead! They said Ozorne killed you for treason and I was going to make him pay,” Dan muttered.
“Oh, magelet. And the Badger visited you? I think you and I have some work to do.”
Rating: G
Length: 520
Summary: It's not Daine but Dan. Genderswap and AU.
Dan stared at Numair. The older man sat cross legged on his bedroll on the other side of the fire, his dragon asleep with its head on his knee. The rest of Dan's Rider group were asleep. They were nominally in friendly territory hereabouts, some five miles out from a bandit group's camp. “You raised the dead?”
He nodded tiredly. “Yes, magelet.”
“The stories about everything that happened down there are true, then?”
Numair's lips quirked in a tired smile. “That depends on what the stories are.”
“Well-” Dan shifted uncomfortably and looked over Numair, fingers drumming on the stock of his crossbow. “We were at the Rider barracks for the most part while you were with the Carthaks so we got all the news. They were saying you'd....” He blushed and looked away. “The new emperor, Kaddar. They said that you were canoodling with him and some fellow who was the head of the University and then Ozorne had you killed because he's jealous.” Spoken aloud, it sounded ludicrous. One of the Riders knew a man who knew a fellow in the scriptorium and he'd made a copy of a portrait of Kaddar that had been passed around the barracks – the boy was, even in the picture, very handsome.
Numair, at least, had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “My dear, you have to understand that I learned my lesson about 'canoodling' as you put it with royalty before you were even walking. And as for Lindhall, well, that was a long time ago.”
Dan shook his head. He didn't mention the part where he'd run south, with no plan even for getting across the Inland Sea. Besides, they'd caught up with him after eighty miles, Farant had slapped him five kinds of silly and then sat on him while Miri told him the newest news from Corus. “Anyway, the next thing we'd heard, you weren't dead after all and you'd raised the dead...”
“No. Ozorne murdered a simulacrum I made because I'd thought something like this might happen. Ozorne was always... jealous. I... lost my temper, magelet. His mages convinced me you were dead before they put the simulacrum to death. And then the Graveyard Hag came visiting and offered me a wonderful gift.” He looked sad and stared out into the night.
Dan just stared at him, wide-eyed. Later, he said, “The Badger came and visited me again, after- He said I hadn't been attending to my lessons well enough because if I had, I might have been able to do more than just convince some racehorses to take me south. He said if I tried, I'd be able to enter the minds of any animal I wanted, use their eyes or ears or noses like I would my own.”
“You came after me?”
“You were dead! They said Ozorne killed you for treason and I was going to make him pay,” Dan muttered.
“Oh, magelet. And the Badger visited you? I think you and I have some work to do.”
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!