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Fanfic
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Alanna's Dominion
Lady Alanna
Chapter Two: Run in with Raoul
Alanna shaded her eyes, looking far into the distance. They were nearly to Pirates Swoop, yet the woman still wanted to pull her hair out from boredom. To her surprise, a tall man stood off toward the forest by the side of the road. What was a man doing all alone in the wilderness? she asked herself, puzzled. As the stagecoach approached, Alanna noted that he was a thickly built man, over six feet tall with a ruddy, tan face and tightly curled black hair, with...
"George!" Alanna cried, startling her companion. "Wait! That's Raoul!"
"By George, it is!" he exclaimed, laughing at his silly pun. "But why, I wonder?"
"Stop the coach," Alanna instructed, heart racing. Why was Lord Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malories Peak, the knight commander of the King's Own standing alone by the forest?
"Stop the blasted stagecoach," she roared, as no one had heard her the first time. When the coach stopped, Alanna hurled herself from the carriage, sword in hand. She nearly tripped over her own skirts in the process. Curse them! she though angrily. If only the Carthaki's thought breeches presentable on woman!
"Raoul!" she cried, running across the springy grass. "Raoul, what in the blazes are you doing?" The large man looked up.
"Mithros, is that you, Alanna?" he murmured, giving her a one-armed hug.
"You didn't answer my question. Why are you here, all alone?" she demanded, hugging her friend back.
"Don't worry about it. It's not your concern-well actually, it really is something you ought to be involved in, but Jon wanted to tell you himself and-" Alanna cut him off.
"Wrong answer."
Raoul sighed, and straightened his King's Own uniform. "Like I said, Jon wants to tell you himself," he said, his dark eyes serious.
"I don't want to wait, do you understand? I'm the King's Champion, not just a normal knight. I need to know, Raoul!" Alanna struggled to keep herself calm. A famed Lioness outburst would not do here and now, she thought, biting her lip.
Raoul could sense her tensing up, and gave in. "The Dominion Jewel was stolen. King Maggur managed to slip it right out from under our noses." An eerie silence hung in the air.
"He didn't!" Alanna snarled. "And we all wondered why the Scanrans gave up so quickly! Oh, poor Jon!"
"Poor us, is more like it," Raoul said glumly. "And that's not even all. The spidrens have formed an army."
"A what?" she gasped. "I had no idea they're that intelligent!" A spidren army. The very thought gave her chills. Not excited chills, the chills that came with bloodshed.
"They're not," George interjected, ambling over, frowning. "A human must be behind it. Maggur's my guess." Raoul gave George a sickly grin, and filled him in on what he had missed.
"Somethin's not right here. The Scanrans are down thousands of men; many more then us. Jon said that Maggur's losin' grip on the clans. How, how, how can they be behind it?" Alanna looked from Raoul to George, who both looked as bewildered as she.
"One thing's certain. We need to talk to Jon."
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