Perhaps she was unable to challenge the unworthy squire, perhaps she was unable to grind him to a pulp, but they weren't. Stone Mountain was going to pay some blood – even if it wasn't essentially to Kel, she was their girl. It was almost as good.

Several of the men went hunting that night – Wolset, Fulcher, Derom, Emmit, Aiden, and half a dozen others wandered the halls searching for a particular bully. Dom was mysteriously absent when Emmit had gone to enlist him – irritating, because Dom was easily the best of them at sneaking. It must have been all of that sneaking around the castle he'd done as a boy.

They looked for a good hour before they found him – he was leaning against a tree, nursing a bleeding broken nose.

"Stone Mountain!" Aiden called across the Courtyard.

"Not more bloody King's Own!" Joren protested.

"More bloody King's Own," Fulcher said with a sneer. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"I'm getting mighty sick of you lot," Joren spat.

"Not half as sorry as you're about to be," Derom said, launching to the air.

It was an easy scuffle – Fulcher broke Joren's nose again, while the others focused on rearranging his organs and providing free dentistry. Only the whistled call to attention by the previously mysteriously missing Sergeant ceased Derom's tirade of violence.

"I think that's enough, boys," Dom said quietly, his eyes narrowed. "I think we've done our girl some justice."

Nobody messed with the King's Own Girl.