Disclaimer: Characters are not mine :( really wish they were...
Come Back To Me:
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Kel had been on the road for four days she had gone quite a distance, she only stopped to eat and to rest Peachblossom. She had never really taken the time to look at the world around her, and as she traveled she looked at all the trees and the flowers and the open fields, and she noticed all the wildlife that was thriving hidden from those who only gave the trees a passing glance unless they were hunters.
There was one thing Kel couldn't get rid of and that was a feeling of being watched. Kel first felt it the second day after she left, and it would come and go as if someone was just trying to make sure she was still on course.
On that fourth day Kel came upon a village as she dismounted the headman of the village came out to greet her.
"Welcome, Lady, to our village how may we serve you on this fine day?"
"I was hoping that you might have a spare room at the inn that I might rest in for the night, I have traveled far, and my horse deserves a night in a stable."
"Very well, Lady….
"Keladry, Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan"
"The Protector of the Small?" the headman asked curiously
"I do believe that is what some people call me" Kel was groaning inside, she had hoped that her name wouldn't have come this far south
"Lady Knight, we are honored by your presence, this building here is the inn, and if you need anything, anything at all, please don't worry about asking for it."
"Thank you very much" Kel told the man with a small smile.
Kel sat down in the dining room after she had taken a warm bath and she sat observing all the people in the town. Shortly she felt something tugging at her sleeve, she looked down and saw a small girl who looked to be around eight years old.
"Can I help you little one?"
"Are you the lady knight?" She asked very seriously
"That's me" Kel told her with a smile, and then she was shocked as the little girl climbed up into her lap and snuggled up against her.
"I want to be just like you when I'm older so that I can stop the bad men, and then I would have saved Sarah. But Daddy says that its not safe to be a knight, but its not safe to be here either, at least I don't think so"
"Little one who are these bad men?" Kel asked the adorable little girl
"They come out of the woods sometimes after night, and then they attack, and they steal people, and then if someone tries to fight them they kill them" she sniffed a little as if she was replaying the memories in her head. "Like they did with Sarah"
Kel sat there with the little girl until she fell asleep, and then as Kel got up carrying the girl cradled against her and went to find the headman
"Sir, I just heard a rather interesting story. Do you have bandits who keep coming back?"
"Lady, we had hoped that you wouldn't find out, we are handling it as best we can.
"Forgive me, but it seems that you aren't if an eight year old already wants to go and be a knight so that she can save you from the bad men, as she puts it"
"Lady they are the older sons of some of the men here, we can't kill them. I won't put fathers against their own sons."
"Fine, I will take care of it. If anyone wants to help tell them the can have bows and arrows and aim them at the bandits from the windows, but when they come back I will deal with them myself" Kel was angry at the man for letting them get away with robbery just because they were family.
Kel looked around the town and laid out her plan, she would shoot some of the men down from the roof, and she was sure she could be down and off the roof by the time they reached the gate.
Kel was sure that she would have the advantage because she had a long weapon but she knew that she would have to be extra careful to not let them surround her.
Night seemed to take a long time to come, Kel was waiting in silence as fifteen men came up on the road riding horses….
Kel waited patiently till they were in range. One arrow, two arrows, three arrows, four arrows, were shot, and four men fell and the horses ran through the town ahead of the rest of the men.
The men pulled up to the gate where they were blocked by a figure mounted on an armored horse, and she had her own armor and her shield was shining in the moonlight
"Stop now. You will not go further."
"Oh and whose going to stop us girlie?" the leader leered at her
"I will"
"Why should you care bout these peasants? They don't try to stop us, so why should you?"
"Because I took an oath, that I would stop bastards like you from ruining the lives of families."
"Men, take her."
Two of the bandits came up and tried to pull Kel off her horse, they were met by her glaive slashing through them and they fell to the ground on either side
Kel looked at the man and raised an eyebrow
"Well it seems you do know how to use that weapon after all… Men get her now"
This time they all came forward Kel backed Peachblossom up and then had him run to meet them, her glaive held low, she hacked three men off their horses and turned to face the last six. In the darkness Kel couldn't see how one was holding back a little…
They tried to surround her again, but Peachblossom planted a solid kick on one of the bandits mounts and as the horse reared the man fell down, and didn't get up. Kel turned to face the rest and she used both ends of her glaive, it's staff to block one of the men's swords and the other to blade to block and give out mortal wounds as well.
Kel had only 4 men left alive when she saw the foam on Peachblossom's back and knew that he still had not quite recovered from the hard journey he had been on. So she dismounted, a stupid thing to do, but she knew that she could take the men. What she hadn't counted on was the arrows.
As she struck one of the last men down she felt a sudden pain…
The first one struck her in the shoulder, the second in the leg, she never let go of her weapon. She killed one more man as the other arrow hit her other leg, driving her to the ground.
The leader of the pack stood over her grinning wolfishly at her "See girlie, you aren't no match for us. And just to be nice, I'm going to let Danny over her take care of you nice and quick"
Kel knew that she shouldn't have attacked so many, or at least that she should have had a better plan.
With the last bit of strength she could muster, she moved quickly thrusting her glaive in to the leader's stomach and pulled it out. Blood splashed on her and the smell was terrible, but her sight was wavering.
She looked up and saw the last bandit standing out of reach, an arrow in his bow. She saw him pull it back, and she saw him release, and then all she knew was darkness.
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Roald had pushed his horse even harder then Kel had pushed Peachblossom. Of course Roald knew Kel, and knew without a doubt that she would have already been changing something or helping someone. Roald kept tabs on where Kel was, calling upon his magic to help guide him to her.
Roald have never liked to use his magic, he felt that it seemed like a crutch when he was in battle and he wasn't a man who needed to show off.
Roald had found Kel's trail fairly quickly since she hadn't been trying to hide it, and so he rode straight through the night and he was half a day behind Kel when he saw that she was in a village and he gave a small sigh of relief. What kind of trouble can she get in at a tiny village such as that one he asked himself. So he began to relax, he knew that he would reach the town after midnight, he figured he would have time to be there before Kel started changing how the men thought.
Nevertheless Roald was still very much surprised when he rode up to the village and saw the bodies laying at the gate, he moved Darkness into the village suddenly very alert, looking for signs of the bandits and for Kel.
For the first time in his life Roald was very afraid for Kel, he saw her last thrust and he saw her look at the arrow. All he could think of was that he couldn't let her die.
So as the arrow was released he let out a shield of blue magic with out thinking, and the arrow exploded when it was inches away from Kel's face.
The explosion knocked the last bandit standing to his knees and Roald watched as Kel slumped over, the arrows still protruding from her body. Roald ran over and put a spell on the bandit to keep him from getting away, and he lifted Kel up in his arms and carried her into the nearest house.
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Roald watched the healer the village had provided, as he probed with his magic into Kel's body.
"She won't live"
"Excuse me" Roald said in a quite voice
"She was struck by three arrows I don't have the power to heal her completely. I don't even have the power to take out all three arrows safely. I can't help. I am sorry my Lord" the physician said nervously
"Then please leave, I will see to her myself"
"My lord, are you trained in healing? If you aren't then whatever you think you could do, could end up making her worse" the healer protested
"Out" Was all Roald said and the healer took one look at his blazing blue eyes and left the building
Roald set down next to Kel and took her hand and he sent his own magic into her body. It was bad, the arrows were buried deep in her limbs, the only blessing he could see was that they had avoided hitting anything major.
His mind went back to the lesson he had had when he was ten years old, and at Pirates Swoop when the Pirates attacked. He remember watching his sister and Maud healing patients together and he remembered them dealing with a person who had been struck with two arrows
First he had to pull out the arrow heads, but he had to do it so that he didn't injure anything else. He decided to do these one at a time, hoping that Kel wouldn't and hadn't lost too much blood so that he could do them separately.
The first arrow came out easily, it was the one in her shoulder, and luckily it hadn't been imbedded in the bone. He cleaned it and the sent his magic in to knit the flesh and muscle together and then to finally close the wound. The second one went much the same way.
It was pulling the third arrow out, that Kel started to bleed quite heavily through the open wound, Roald could feel that she was losing to much blood, so he panicked and was afraid that he was going to lose her so he sent the rest of his magic in with only the direction to heal.
Roald spent all of his magic and it was with a large sigh of relief that he saw the wound begin to close and the flesh began to heal. Then his eyes started to waiver. He had exhausted himself making sure that she would live. The last thing he saw was her hazel eyes fluttering open and her eye met his and she gave a little smile
"I love you, Dom"
And then both sets of eyes fluttered shut.
When the healer came back in to check on them he smiled and pulled up an extra cot for Roald, and moved him without disturbing the hand that still held Kel. He then proceeded to run his own checks on both, and was surprised that Roald had had the much magic to save her. And as he turned to walk out a ring caught his eye he looked at it a little more carefully, and he saw the crest of the Conte line looking at Roald he knew who now really graced the small village. He left the building to go alert the others so that they would be prepared to offer all they could to the Prince of the kingdom.
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Well…. What do you think? I love getting all of those reviews they make my day so much brighter! So keep doing it!!! Thanks for all the encouragement :) I am also trying to reply to every one who has sent me a message, but sometimes I either miss one, or I haven't had time, so please feel free to ask questions or have your own input... after all none of the story is prewritten... Love you all for the confidence you have shown in this piece this early on!!!
~Kari