A.N Hello again, did you miss me?

First of all I would like to say thank you to all of my reviewers for the last chapter-inktongue58 (Thanks, I'll try to avoid cliffies in the next chapter/s ), xxTunstall Chickxx, abyssgirl, Heather the Writer, BeautifulInsanity13, Aly-Of-Tortall13, kittykatloren, doveofdreams, oirishgoddess, UN.eXisting-love, Kelly Masbolle (Thanks, I have a really bad habbit with the "-" he said. "-" she chuckled, but I am trying really hard to break out of it) and PuppyBekaCooper. Thank you s-o-o much!

Sorry about this being a little late, hope you all enjoy this chapter and I can promise you that it gets a lot more interesting from here in xD

Disclaimer: They said that they were allowed to come out of TP's book for a holiday, honest!

Chapter 4:

Messages

During Kel's years with Raoul and the Own she had never objected to doing paperwork. Sometimes it was the life blood of the kingdom, but sometimes it was a plague. Either way it always had to be done, no exceptions. Paperwork only became a plague for Kel when she took over command of Haven. She could still remember the day that Numair introduced her to the clerks. Sadly they were no longer alive.

After she returned from Scanra, Lord Wyldon presented her with seven new clerks, two men, two women and three teenage boys. In Kel's opinion, it was one of the best things that could have happened. If she asked them to draw up a table or a graph they would get right to it instead of protesting like her earlier helpers. There was a down side to having clerks and Kel new that well. Without any paperwork to distract her mind from its thoughts, she was finding it practically impossible to stop thinking about Dom.

Had he really meant to kiss her? What could a man of his stature see in her, in Kel…..in mother? He could have any woman this side of the Roof of the World, why would he fancy the Yamani lump above his court ladies? Maybe he was only flirting with her and she had taken it a little too seriously. He was probably bored out of his mind with nothing better to do than mess with her. That had to be it. He wasn't interested in her, he was only looking for fun.

Her thoughts were disrupted by a soft knock on her door. She jumped from her chair and hurried across the room without thinking. When she reached the door she paused, her hand on the doorknob. What if it was Dom on the other side of the door? How would she explain why she ran away from him?

"Lady Knight Keladry?" A man's voice called. "I have a message for you from Lord Wyldon of Cavall."

Kel took a deep breath and inched the door open to find one of her clerks frowning at her. "Thank the gods it's only you Nolon, come in."

Nolon's frown deepened as he stepped through the door and took a seat in the visitors chair that stood in front of her desk. When Kel sat down opposite him, he pulled a scroll from a deep pocket in his grey robes and placed it on her side of the desk.

"Did the messenger bring any other news?" Kel asked as she slit the seal on the scroll with her boot knife. It was not unusual for the bearer of these letters to carry verbal messages as well as the written sort.

"Nothing new," Nolon sighed. "The clean up on the Scanran border is going well and the reconstruction of Fort Giantkiller has almost finished. The man did say that Lord Wyldon has some news that he will be sending to you shortly."

"Did he say what the nature of this news was?"

"No, but I would suspect it to be of the secret kind."

Kel smiled at the clerk over her letter. "Thank you Nolon, you may go now."

Nolon muttered something about the Own's inability to fill out paperwork properly as he bowed to Kel and hurried from her office. She had to agree with him there, Third Company were absolutely hopeless with their paperwork.

She waited for the door to click shut before she continued to read. Most of the letter contained details that were related to the losses on the Scanran border and the latest increases in food supplies for the northern forts. There was one bit that caught her attention though.

Earlier this week, a small Scanran raiding party breached the Tortallan border and looted the village of Goatstrack. As it has only recently been rebuilt, Goatstrack can no longer support itself. Many refugees have been put into temporary placements in neighboring forts but most are already too full to provide sanctuary for them. As New Hope is the closest refugee camp to their position it must be used as a shelter for the Goatstrack villagers until we can rebuild their village. The building committee is unsure of the time it will take to rebuild as we are only just finishing our work on Fort Giantkiller. Third Company is to stay at New Hope until such time as the refugees are returned to their village. Lord Raoul will be needed at Fort Steadfast in one weeks time to report on the needs of New Hope and Third Company. Third Company will be left under the eye of Lord Raoul's second in command until the time of his return.

We have organized for rations to be sent with the villagers that should support the increase in demand until New Hope has the means to provide for them itself. There will also be a messenger with the refugees. He will bring you some news that is too sensitive to be put into this letter or to be given verbally to the bearer of this letter. The messenger will also be there to protect the refugee train from bandits and to add to New Hope's magical defenses. He will not be able to stay for long.

May Bright Mithros and the Mother Goddess guide you,

Lord Wyldon

Kel sighed as she rolled the letter back up, just when she thought that she had everything under control fate decided to throw something else into the mix. If Lord Wyldon could not trust the first messenger with his information it was sure to be something bad. Something that Kel would not want to know. But what could require such a level of secrecy?

It had been a while now since Kel ate her breakfast and her stomach had begun to growl loudly in protest. She thought on the problem some more as she made her way to New Hope's mess hall and only succeeded in giving herself a headache. She was thinking so much that she collected her food and sat down at her usual table without noticing what she was doing. She only realized that she had sat down, and had her tray before her, when Neal leant across the table and poked her in the shoulder.

"Is something the matter Kel?" He asked as he held his hand to her forehead. "You don't appear to have a fever."

"What?" Kel started. She could hear Wolset and the rest of the Own laughing behind her but decided to ignore them. Someone had probably jumped onto a table and started doing an impression of one of their latest pranks on Raoul.

"I asked if there was something bothering you," Neal said, rapidly becoming impatient when Kel didn't answer. "Well, is there?"

"No, no. I was only thinking about a letter that arrived today from Lord Wyldon today. Goatstrack has been attacked and we are going to get a new batch of refugees sometime this week."

"More trouble," Neal moaned. "Please tell me that there wasn't any other news from Wyldon."

"Nothing new really, a few bits about the Scanran raiders, new food supplies, oh, and Raoul has to go to Fort Steadfast at the end of the week."

Neal stopped playing with his food and frowned. There was a loud bang from the table that seated the Own followed by the splash of a discarded wine glass. "If Raoul is going to be away, pray tell me, who will be in charge of Third Company?"

"Lord Wyldon said that it would be Raoul's second in command, whoever that is."

Neal's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he dropped his spoon back into his bowl of lumpy meat stew. "Did you just say that they would be left in charge of his second in command?"

"That is the normal procedure for these sorts of things Neal," Kel said slowly. Maybe Neal had finally lost it. "Why are you so surprised?"

"Because Roul's second in command is-"

Neal was cut off by another loud bang, though this time it didn't come from the Own's table. Kel looked up to see two booted feet firmly planted on their table in the gap between their lunch trays.

"Did someone say my name?" Dom laughed as he jumped from the tabletop and slid down into a space on the bench beside Kel.

"Don't tell me that you're the second in command," Kel groaned.

"Why wouldn't I be? Dear Captain Flyndan had some matters to attend to at home and in the light of past events Lord Raoul decided to promote me to his temporary second in command. I'm sure that I have told you all of this before though."

"You probably did," she smiled before her expression turned serious when she remembered what had happened on the battlements earlier that day. "My memory has gone to the hag though."

"I can bear witness to that," Neal said, he was bored with being ignored. "And so could Raoul if he didn't have to follow Lord Wyldon's orders."

"What was that about orders from Lord Wyldon?" Dom asked.

Kel explained as she started to pack away her lunch. "Lord Raoul has to go to Fort Steadfast at the end of the week and his second in command will be left in charge of Third Company."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Dom frowned.

"Definitely not if it's you who will be in charge-"

"Hey! That's not what I meant at all. I was wondering if it's wise for Raoul to go to Fort Steadfast right now."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Dom pulled out his fingers and began to count on them. "Well, there's all of those rogue Scanrans that are lurking on the border, ready to pick off any travelers. Then there are those raiders who seem to be very ignorant about staying on their side of the border. I also got word of a new tribe of killer centaurs living near Fort Mastiff and there are those bloodthirsty unicorns that we chased off last week."

"That's enough," Neal interrupted his cousin before he could continue. "I think we get your point."

Kel nodded in agreement before she stood and lifted her tray from the table. "Please excuse me, but I have a lot things to do today and not much time to do them in."

"But I only just got here," Dom protested.

"Sorry, but I really must go."

"Then I'll come with you," he smiled. "Surely you would like a bit of help with all these things that you have to do."

"Ah," Kel said as she tried to come up with an excuse for Dom to stay behind.

"I wouldn't be any trouble-"

Neal could see the tension between his friend and cousin and decided that it was time for him to take his leave. "I should get going too; I have to go sew someone's head back together. I'll see you two at dinner."

Dom and Kel watched Neal hurry from the mess hall, both had frowns on their faces. Kel was about to go back to convincing Dom why he couldn't go with her when she noticed a window on the far side of the mess. Why create a false excuse when there was a perfectly good reason walking towards her office?

"I'm sorry Dom but I have to show Lord Wyldon's letter to Lord Raoul and I just saw him walk past. I guess I'll see you later."

"Kel wait!" Dom called as she ran down the aisle to the door. "Why did you say that you guess that you'll see me later?"

"Don't worry about her," Wolset said from where he had appeared behind Dom. "The poor lass is just confused, but I can see that you're feelin' blue so listen to this. Third Company is planning a card game tonight, we're going to hold it in the stables though it's going to be secret like, not even Raoul or the Lady Knight will now about it. So sarge, are you in?"

Dom stared at the door that Kel had disappeared through for a moment before he answered. "I'm in, what time are we meeting?"

"Midnight."

"Midnight?" Dom asked, rolling his eyes.

"I know, I know," Wolset chuckled. "It wasn't my idea, it was the boys. Players the lot of them."

"So midnight in the stables?"

Wolset sighed and shuffled. "How many times must I tell you?"

"No more than you just have," Dom grinned. "I'll be there but I'm not going to play the fool again."

Wolset laughed in response and called after Dom's retreating back. "How were we supposed to know that you can't hold your drink very well?"

E.N And so the plot thickens! Sorry about the whole 'filler' thing but it was needed, honest. Don't worry, the humour will return. I have the whole thing planned out and the big twist is about to come up so this was basically building up to it

Hope you all liked it, please review and let me know what you think (I think that my writing has improved dramatically thanks to everyones comments and pointers and it wouldn't be anywhere near what it is today without you) I would also like to know if you like this length chapter better than the monster that was my first chapter xD

Happy April Fool's Day for tomorrow! (I hope that no one pulls anything evil on any of you)

-Jess-

Many thanks to my beta