A/N: OH MY GOODNESS! I actually looked at the followers/favorites and there are 56 followers and 16 favorites! Thank you all so much! And yeah, I guess that was a pretty amazing chapter XD so anyway! Here goes the next one!

Remember…I don't own the characters or places…simply the scenarios…

Angelbaby1991: I'm glad you loved it!

Fluffybluepenguins: btw—I absolutely ADORE your username…you'll find out if she does or not J

Song of The Knight: thank you so much for your kind words! I hope this next one is up to par…

GingerHannah: Idk if I'm gonna have Joren, to be honest, that's a good idea…I may just incorporate it XD

Oreathyia: I'm glad you liked chapter 1

The feel of Peachblossom's hooves thundering along on the ground beneath her made Kel feel like she was riding an avalanche…or at least a small one. The wind ruffled her hair, which she had kept chin-length. She felt the urge to grin but her years in Yamani made her face barely twitch. The group rode for a few minutes across the plain and into a groves of trees before slowing down. They all looked towards Dom for orders. He dismounted and gestured for everyone to follow him. Kel wasn't sure whether to leave her glaive in the saddle or not so she just shrugged and kept her sword in its sheath, and left the other weapons behind. The group of them all stood in a circle around the black haired and blue eyed man, who was crouched down. Dom began speaking, and he drew a small map in the ground as he did.

"So the bandits that his Lordship has sent us after have been raiding the smaller villages in this area for quite a while. It's a small group, maybe 15 of them at the most. All we know is that they were spotted somewhere in this area." At that he pointed to one area of the crude map he had just drawn. "Any ideas on how we should go about this?" Dom looked around the circle. Neal stared at his cousin in slight confusion. Dom's our leader; he doesn't need to ask us, he's a captain in the Kings Own for Mithros sake! Why on earth would he ask us…could it be he's testing Kel? The healer and knight wondered. He turned his green eyes on their newest addition and watched as her impassive face stayed still even as her eyes examined the picture on the ground intensely. Kel squatted to get a better view of the map, and Neal observed as Dom's eyes followed her. Thoughts began tumbling through his head that had nothing to do with their current objective but with plans and pranks concerning his two best friends and his skill in match making.

"Could we split up, into 2 groups possibly? Faleron, Marek, Owen, and Cleon going this way, while Neal, Roald, Dom and I go this direction. That way if one group finds the bandits they have at least 1 person who can signal with a horn, and won't be too terribly outnumbered. Also, we should find them quick enough on horseback this way. Lord Raoul did say we have to be back by nightfall." Kel finished speaking and looked up. She hadn't realized how close to Dom she had gotten by crouching down. His face was a little under a foot away from hers, and his eyes bored into her own. Neither of them saw the looks exchanged by their companions as they were so absorbed in the close proximity they shared. Cleon felt a little bit of jealousy go through him, one he was immediately ashamed of and attributed to the sibling like relationship he had with the new comer. Neal raised an eyebrow and nudged Owen, who almost said something out loud. Marek stopped the youngest of them by quickly covering his mouth with a hand. Owen began to struggle until Neal gripped his upper arm and leaned in to whisper something.

The flurry of movement caught the attention of the two on the ground, who stood up faster than necessary, both flushing. Kel stumbled backwards a bit, and even as she tripped and began to fall Roald caught her. Outwardly Keladry thanked the prince and straightened her clothing. Inwardly, the woman was groaning and thinking about how even now she was clumsy. "Well, if there're no objections or better ideas, I say we go with it." Dom said. The group all mounted their horses and rode off in 2 different directions.

As Dom led his group in a fast canter his thoughts whirled…and were not focused on finding the bandits at all. When he had stood up he had almost fallen, but instead straightened his own clothing. Imagine his shock when he looked and saw that Kel was in Roald's arms and then copying his movements almost exactly. The momentary anger and rage at Kel being touched by someone else had shocked the man. Dom didn't notice when Kel kept glancing at him as they rode for he was so involved in his thoughts. He felt guilty and ashamed for the way he had reacted, even if no one knew how he had felt towards his friend. Neal watched both of them, and was uncharacteristically quiet. Only Roald noticed that anything was going on, and smiled, shaking his head. The prince did not protest the quiet and was content to leave his friends to their thoughts. Kel had answered quite a few of his questions concerning his bride so he had nothing to speak of with her. They continued the semi-fast past across the small cleared area they were in.

Everyone's attention was brought rushing back to the present when they heard the horn signal they had agreed upon beforehand that meant the other group had found the bandits. Kel was the fastest to react and soon was in the lead with Dom and Neal on either side of her, and Roald just behind them, following the sound of a horn being blown and the distant clashing of metal on metal. They reached the tree cover soon enough and had to slow down drastically. This time Dom led the way, and they moved single file along the path to another clearing up ahead, where they could see their friends fighting the bandits. None of the other group had seen them yet and so Marek blew his horn once more, only to be cut off by an attacking bandit swinging a large and curved sword.

They burst into the clearing and joined the fray. Adrenaline raced through Kel like it hadn't for a long time, and she lifted her glaive out of its holder on her saddle (she had taken it out while they were in the trees) and began to swing at the men below her. "Don't bother sparing them!" Dom shouted. Kel nodded in the affirmative and continued separating heads from bodies, and limbs and weapons from torsos. Dom kept in mind his side orders of watching how Kel did and was sitting in a brief moment of respite, observing how graceful her strokes and swings were, and how she didn't seem to be horrified by the battle. Before he knew a searing pain was in his upper left thigh, and he swung with his sword before looking. He missed, and saw that a grizzled bandit, better dressed than the rest of them, had a long pike and had speared him. Dom had unknowingly yelled with pain, attracting the attention of his comrades. Kel was closest and dispatched the man she was disarming before kicking Peachblossom over.

The leader who had gotten Dom turned to see Kel riding over to him and grinned. He turned his pike around so that the butt of it was facing the female warrior and stood waiting. Kel felt something like a battering ram and stick poke her in the ribs, and knew that some were broken even as she went flying out of her saddle. One of the few remaining bandits moved to attack her while she was down but Peachblossom hit him in the head with flying front hooves, downing the man before Neal or Cleon could even move. Kel slowly stood, leaning heavily on her glaive as she did so. Dom was bent over his leg, watching, as was the rest of their group. All of them could move in to help at any time, but even Kel knew that going with them was a test and stood up as straight as she could. The last bandit, the leader, ignored the other fights and ran forward with his pike. He thrust it out and roared as he charged.

That had always struck fear into the hearts of whoever was challenging him before. But this woman was different, and Kel stood in a crouched position calmly waiting for him. Her face was empty, and her mind cold and sharp and ready. His pike passed the blade of her glaive and like lightning she whipped it in a small circle to cut the wood in half. She continued the motion and made a jab towards where his heart was but he moved the rest of his weapon up to block it. It got cut in half but stopped the glaive from killing him. In a gesture that didn't seem to belong to a poor bandit he drew his sword and made a hacking motion towards Kel. She slanted her glaive and used its staff to block the sword. It made only a small indention and her eyes lit up, and small smile appeared on her face. The bandit felt a cold fear fill his veins and made to attack her again.

This time, instead of blocking it, Kel deflected it by swinging the glaive around and spinning so that the butt of her weapon hit him on the head. Either the man was hard headed or she hadn't put enough force behind it, but he just stumbled and didn't fall down. Kel twisted her glaive in an uncommon and only occasionally used move and spun it so that the blade once more faced the man. As she made a series of lightning fast moves and jabs, he was put on the defensive and his parries grew more and more weak and more and more hurried. Kel knew she was toying with him and decided to end it quickly so that they could return to the rest of the Progress. She made one lunge stronger and faster than the rest. The blade of her glaive broke his sword and went straight through his chest. He looked down in shock before falling off her blade and to the ground, dead.

Kel stood up straight with a deep breath, only to double over in pain at her broken ribs. Marek and Faleron were sitting tiredly in their saddles, and shared a grin. Both Own and Cleon dismounted and ran over to help her. Peachblossom practically skipped to meet them, and tossed his head and neighed. Kel grinned at her friends, and glanced over at Dom. Neal was on the ground and standing next to his cousin. She immediately felt guilty: she hadn't even noticed that the handsome man with blue eyes had gotten injured. They shared a look, and when Dom smiled and nodded at her, a happiness and pride filled Kel that she hadn't felt in years…since the first time Shang and her had fought, all that time ago, and she had bested him.