Chapter Seven -Judgements.
"Oh for Goddess sake, if they have him now, I'm going down there!" Neal's voice shook with venom. "That whoreson in the same castle as you…I'm going down…"
"Neal. No, you know you can't"
Kel's tone was balm- she knew Neal's rages well and she soothed this one. A squire had just delivered the report that Raoul and Alanna's party had returned to Corus, towing three particular criminals. Neal hardly waited until the squire had gone before blowing up. She tried not to show how her hands trembled at the news, longing to position themselves around the throat of Joren of Stone Mountain and send him to the Realms of the Dead.
Neal clenched his fists frustratedly and blinked at her. "I know you're feeling just the same, Kel, however much you cover it."
Kel looked up at him grimly, her face showing nothing. His green eyes were fixed expectantly on hers. She looked away; he was right.
"He's in the hands of Turomot now, and much good may it do him," she thought of the thin, aging magistrate- a champion of justice and general all-round miserable old sod. She knew from experience he would be completely impartial.
"We can hope for trial by combat at least."
"And then I'll rip his…"
"You won't do anything. I will. It's me he injured. You can't let Tortall think one of its Knights will let another fight her battles for her."
Neal exhaled.
"Of course Kel: I still forget sometimes that you've always fought your own battles. It just makes me feel like a bloody page again, worrying sick when you disappeared into the halls at night…I forget I can't defend your honour by ripping his limbs off." He scrutinized her warily… "I think you're trying to turn me grey."
He still looked riled as he paced the fencing gallery.
Kel stopped him and kissed him squarely, breathing in the woody scent of his skin.
After finishing up a little too close to finding solace behind a wall-hanging for both their comforts, they smoothed their clothes and sauntered out.
A smiling Raoul was waiting for them in the stands.
"Ah, Young lovers!" he crooned liltingly. "I though, for one minute you were going to get entirely too loving for my presence and I'd have to leave. Nice to know Tortall's finest have self-control alongside all that unbridled passion.
Kel turned red. Neal raised an eyebrow.
His voice hardened a little. "I suppose you want to know what we're doing with that sack of scum and his cronies?"
"Yes sir" Neal affirmed.
"The day after tomorrow, Turomot's Chambers. The trial begins at midday; The Lioness and I will testify; Baird and Cleon too. There is no question of his guilt. The main question is, what will you fight with?"
Kel felt a roaring in her ears and she gulped back tears of thanks. She crossed to where Raoul sat and kissed him once on the forehead. His big arm caught her tightly around the shoulder. Then she padded from her room shielding her face.
Neal watched her leave, frowning, then went to sit next to Lord Raoul. There was a pause before the younger man spoke.
"Sir…. Raoul…It means so much to her that that ba…that Joren of Stone Mountain be captured. I know you and Lady Alanna have worked bloody hard to…I can't thank you enough." He trailed off, looking down.
Raoul laid his hand on Neal's shoulder.
"Neal, you and Kel have been squires to both me and The Lioness. The best of squires - and friends too. When I saw you both beaten up that day, heard about your child…it's been a long time since I felt such a rage inside me…"
He smiled grimly. "I swear to the Goddess if Kel doesn't pulverise that bastard, hang the law, I'll go into the circle and rip off his head myself."
I'll be with you thought Neal as he gripped Raoul's shoulder in silent thanks and left the Gallery.
Neal found Kel in the yard, pattern dancing so fast she blurred. He watched her admiringly before waving for her attention. She slowed almost reluctantly and looked wanly at him. He pulled a stern face-
"What am I going to do with you, eh?"
Kel let herself be led to her chamber, where she stripped for a freshly poured bath. Neal observed her as she climbed in, last fading bruises on sinewy beauty; he had no doubt of her power at all. She turned her head to see him watching and smiled. He walked towards her.
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The morning came, insistent and cold, with a rapping on the door of Kel's chamber. Neal spelled open the lock lazily, and Owen's cheery face appeared.
"Sorry to interrupt. Is she?"
"Not yet." Neal groaned as he swung his legs out of bed. "She's been dreaming about it all night though, I've been listening. Crying out when I get hit." Neal's voice was neutral, his expression veiled.
Owen came into the room, followed by Merric. "We brought you breakfast. The best stuff we could get; didn't think you'd want to face the mess today."
"You would be right."
Neal got up and stretched. His long linen breeches couldn't hide the masses of fading bruise on his lean torso. His friends tried not to gawk as he found four cups and set a blaze in the hearth and under the kettle with his fingertips
"What time is it?" he enquired abruptly
"You have three hours. Best leave her to sleep for a little while." Owen looked at Kel fondly.
"Neal…" Seaver began.
Neal knew that tone. "What is it?"
"It's Cleon," Owen rushed in "He's refusing to testify that he saw you uninjured before the attack…"
"He what!" Neal was furious "But Turomot has already been informed… That's as good as saying we could've been attacked by anybody…or that we did it to each other."
"One hell of a domestic." Seaver began, eying the faded blue of Neal's ribs.
"What the bloody hell is he playing at?" He threw on a shirt. "Stay with Kel, will you? Tell her I've gone to take the air, or the truth. Whichever sounds most believable."
He raced from the chamber.
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Cleon of Kennan was in the stable saddling up his mount when a whirring ball of energy tore into the stables and smacked him in the jaw. "Hey!"
"I owed you that Kennan! I thought we'd forgotten what happened that day, between us, I mean…"
Cleon was silent, jaw gritted. Neal smacked him again.
"What is it, you oaf? My Gods, I thought you loved her once. How can you do this to her?"
Cleon swore, his face turning red with anger. "That is exactly the point Queenscove, I loved her. She was mine and you took her…"
Neal spluttered incoherently.
"What? I'm afraid I'll have to get my ears cleaned out, because I thought you said-"
"She was MINE Queenscove, and you stole her."
Neal exploded.
"Kennan, you are engaged, betrothed to another woman. You finished with Kel, and you broke her heart- in a way - and now you have the nerve to say I've stolen her?"
"It's the truth Queenscove."
Neal stood, hands on hips, face white with rage. When he spoke, his tone was icy.
"You can hate me all you like, you utter moron…but if you don't testify today, you could skew the case. You cannot do this to her."
Cleon looked at his mount's hooves.
"What time?"
"Two and a half hours in Turomot's chambers. And don't try leg it."
"I'll be there"
The two men stood facing each other, breath steaming in the cold air.
"You're unfathomable Kennan, really."
"Yeah, well." Cleon started to remove the saddle as Neal paced away.
And that was that.
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Back in the chamber, Kel was being serenaded by Owen and Seaver. The young men sang in harmony, a crude Gallan ditty along the lines of "Ten Friendly Fishwives." The song made Kel snort with laughter, as they poker faced their way through ten verses of unending filth. Neal arrived to find them finishing a small jig.
"Such talented people," Kel informed him delightedly "Where have you been?"
Neal looked at Owen. "Taking the air, I think."
Kel smiled at them all. She felt a lot braver with her friends around her.
She was ready for him.
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Her heart beat calmly as she took her seat in the Chambers of Duke Turomot of Wellam. The old man sat upon his lectern, staring down at them over an aquiline nose. He looks like Scanrans just stormed the palace Kel thought, eying his dour expression.
The trial of the three nobles had gathered a great crowd, and privately Kel thought a great deal of the audience should not strictly be there.
"Look at them," Neal muttered half to himself. "Like children at the circus. Hope the Duke tells them all where to go…especially them."
Joren's family glared at Kel, still bewildered that as soon as they had discovered their Joren to be alive, they had also discovered him a thug and a would-be rapist. Kel stared back at them, face stony.
As the prisoners came to the stand, her heart began to pound. Joren was huge and grimy in his convicts clothing, but she stood resolutely as the court said a prayer. Joren's eyes flicked lazily up and down her form. Neal gripped her hand discreetly.
The trial passed in a blur, Turomot paused several times to irately remove protestors from the chamber. They left hollering abuse at Kel.
Joren was so clearly contemptuous of the court, it was all the Lord Magistrate could do to keep his temper. The blond prisoner failed to answer questions, except with an insolent stare, and claimed among other things, that the assault took place because he had 'carnal knowledge' of Kel, and Neal was angry about it. As Baird catalogued Kel's injuries finally listing 'miscarriage', a murmur went up in the court. Across the room, Joren caught her eye, and smirked.
When Duke Turomot called a recess Kel went to hit the wall in the corridor until her knuckles were raw. Neal sealed them wordlessly.
To her immense satisfaction, Garvey of Runnerspring and Zahir ibn Alhaz received a sentence of fifteen years rock breaking on the coast. She watched as the men were led away, their eyes downcast. Now she waited for Joren. Turomot cleared his throat.
"It is an unusual step to take in these modern times…" he said the word as if it were something nasty he had stepped in. "…but, after a discussion with my peers, a thorough examination of this vile and degenerate crime and the guidance of Mithros, I have decided that this sentence is only proper. For the wronged Knight I allow the Gods to judge- Trial by combat.
Kel's ears rang, blotting out the roar of the spectators. The chosen weapon was the spear.
On the stand Joren of Stone Mountain stood to his full height, hard and uncompromising muscle. He smiled emptily at her, but she felt undaunted; here she could do something. She had two weeks.
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She had never trained nor eaten as well as she did in that week. She and Neal ran for an hour in the mornings, building her legs and stamina and cooling the worked-up feeling in her soul. She saw Hakuim Seastone in the afternoons, who helped her prime the swiftness of her reactions.
"You'll have to rely on your speed Kel," he told her as she threw him for the hundredth time that morning. "I can't do anything for your muscle- it'd take weeks to build more, and you'll never be as big as that brute. I still struggle to believe that the same half-girl I taught to tumble- no offence"
Kel scowled
"Well it is, and he absolutely loathes me."
Hakuim grinned "'Feeling's mutual then?"
"Right on."
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The night before the trial Kel watched Neal playing with one of his tiny nephews at a noble's dinner. He magicked small floating multicoloured bubbles, which the little boy tried to grab and eat, looking astonished when they popped. Neal gave a light-hearted laugh and raised the child up to blow a raspberry on his belly, planting a kiss on his chuckling face. He turned to see Kel watching him, a pained expression hovering in his eyes.
Kel thought back suddenly to the small, wise face of the girl-seer Irnai, who had predicted to Kel that Neal's daughter would one day try for knighthood.
The road of his life is littered with surprises
She suddenly wondered how much the girl had known.
"Give it a few years darling, and we'll have ten of them…that is…if you're up to it..."
Kel pretended to wince, then gave him a slow spreading smile. He came over and kissed her warmly.
"Bravest woman I know," he told her matter of factly "Now go out there tomorrow and make me even prouder."