I'm on a roll. Best to keep writing.

Much thanks to Me and Nessie for the corrections/helpful advice. I'll be going over the previous chapter later on today to fix any errors I encounter, and this one too I suppose. There's bound to be a mistake or two lurking about the place.

Thanks again to Nessie for being my 100th reviewer for this story.


It took Dom a lot longer than he would have liked to give his report to Raoul.

To replay the events and actions in his head, to speak them aloud to another person and to have them recorded, had taken more out of him than he imagined they would. The whole event left him drained, and when he finally emerged from Raoul's office (which also doubled as his sleeping accommodation) hours later, all he wanted to do was sleep.

That wasn't going to happen anytime soon though.

Heading through the camp he had first been intercepted by his squad. The men from the Kings Own had hunkered down in a shady spot in the trees, the sun still high in the sky though ready to make its decent later on and be superseded by the moon.

They sat round an empty fire pit, ready for use later on. Drawing him into their circle, he did belong there after all.

Looking round at them all Dom wondered, and not for the first time, whether any of them resented him for being younger than the majority yet being the one in charge.

As he took his seat he was handed a simple meal of bread, meat and some cheese with a little apple juice to wash it all down. As he ate the conversation continued around him. Several members of the Own who had travelled up to the Vasaa with Raoul where recounting the battle that had taken place in their absence.

Painting a grand scene where man and beast struggled against each other for dominance, where metallic creatures stalked the edges ready to take down those who got in their path, and of the eerie silence on the field when one by one, those creatures had fallen.

Victory after that had been swift. It was then that the additional troops that had been smuggled, sneaked and conveyed into the Fort under the guidance of General H'Minch and Lord Wyldon, had taken centre stage and overrun the enemy. Leaving many to lay amongst the grass in an eternal sleep, and sending little safely back to their homeland.

It was then Dom's squads turn to recount tales of their travels, and although they left out the part at the beginning, no one questioned them. All seeming to believe that they had just stumbled across Lady Knight Keladry within the ruins of Giant Killer and taken to her cause, no questions asked.

If they went slightly overboard in their description of Stenmum Kinslayer, in the plans that Kel cooked up to lessen the number of the enemy and of the battle at the Keep, Dom let them.

He knew that no matter how much the King and his advisors tried, that the story would leak out in drips and drabs. Whispers would become stories and stories would become legends, legends of the first Lady Knight in over a centaury conquering the enemy in there own homeland. Of bringing an entire army to its knees by destroying their main weapon. This Lady Knight and her loyal band of followers.

Though Dom knew that by the fifth time that the story was told that he and his men along with Neal and all the other Knights, would either be replaced or removed from the story altogether. Making the tale seem even more fairytale like and guaranteeing that Kel's name would be spoken long after she eventually, and hopefully a long time in coming, left this world.

He couldn't begrudge Kel that though.

He sat and listened for a long time, offering up pieces of information when he was asked, downplaying some of his own heroics and joining in with the praises towards his cousin, for allowing many of them to retain their limbs and their life's.

The conversation looking like it was going to continue long into the evening, and that odd look Wolset got on his face, Dom decided it was time to move on. He only hoped that the tales that where due to come up, and soon if Wolset got his way, were added to the rumour pile later down the line or never reached the ears of a certain person or two.

Leaving the men to it, he made his way across the makeshift camp. Nodding his head in greeting to many that he passed. Whether they were soldier, civilian or child.

He paused outside the tent marked with the healers sign and stuck his head through the gap designed to be the door. Many of the beds where full with sleeping people, each looking a lot healthier and life like than they had on the road. Each now thankful for a full healing, though never once berating the actions of their young, lone healer who had patched them all up the best he could.

The one that was currently snoring for Tortall in the last bed.

Catching his uncles eye when he looked up from his position at the foot of Neal's bed, Duke Baird beckoned his nephew in.

Dom made his way quietly across to where his uncle sat. Resting a hand on his shoulder, Dom peered over at his younger cousin who seemed to be sleeping peacefully, if not rather noisily, on the makeshift bed.

At least he's no longer the same colour as the sheets he's sleeping in Dom thought to himself before speaking in hushed tones to the Duke.

"How is he?"

"Tired," the older man replied "He just needs a little rest before he's back to his old annoying self"

Dom smiled down at his uncle "You wouldn't it any other way"

Duke Baird chuckled quietly before turning in his seat and looking Dom over. "What about you? Any injuries needing patched up?"

Dom shook his head "You know me," he said "I usually managed to get out of these things unscathed"

The Duke nodded, a small smile on his face.

"What about everyone else?" Dom asked "Are they all going to be ok?"

His uncle nodded before standing up and moving quietly away from his sons bed. "Most of them only received minor injuries that required some patching up. The more serious ones where dealt with by Neal on the way back. He did what he could for them and in most cases that was enough."

They moved the back of the tent where a small area had been set aside for Duke Baird and the small team of healers who had accompanied him up to this small makeshift camp on the edge of the Vasaa. The Duke poured himself a cup of tea from the small kettle sitting on a warming stone, before pulling out another cup from a bag and handing in to Dom.

Having been round his uncle and Neal a lot in his younger years, Dom took the cup wearily and took a sniff before looking into the amused face of Duke Baird.

"I haven't poisoned it you know" he said, taking a sip of his own tea.

"You're a healer uncle," Dom replied, still eyeing the cup and the liquid it held "Your idea of poison and mine are completely different" he said before taking a sip.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and took a look at the cup he held before taking another, longer sip, drawing a quiet chuckle from his uncle.

"Compared to some of the concoctions you've fed me over the years, that ones actually not that bad" Dom admitted before finishing off the tea and placing the cup back down on the desk.

He stood there in silence while his uncle sat himself down. The older man cradling the warm cup in his hand and taking the first proper break he had been able to take all day.

Dom bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Was there something else?" the Duke asked, a knowing smile on his face as he watched his nephew try to come up with a suitable way of phrasing what he wanted.

"She's not here," the Duke eventually said, putting the young man out of his misery.

"Who?" Dom asked, trying to show his confusion and failing terribly.

Duke Baird gave him a look that clearly said don't play games with me, you know who I'm talking about "I cleaned her up earlier and offered her a place for the night but she said she needed to be somewhere"

"So she was ok?" Dom asked, dropping his pretence.

"The initial wound had cut into the muscle, but Neal had dealt with most of it. It just needed a slight touch now and there. I believe the most worrying thing would have been the blood lose, but that's nothing a good rest wont be able to cure." The Duke told him.

Dom pondered for a moment. "Did she say where she was going?"

The Duke shook his head before smiling again.

"If you do run into her though," he said as he stood, placing an arm on Dom's shoulder and leading him back out into the main part of the healers tent "Make sure she's feeling ok, and tell her if she needs anything then to come by"

They had reached the entrance of the tent, and Duke Baird drew back the cloth cover used as the door. The sun was setting fast and the evening was soon to turn to night. Placing his hand lower, over Dom's shoulder blade, the Duke gave him a little shove out of the tent.

"Well go on then" he said when Dom turned and looked at him. Duke Baird simply stood in the doorway, a knowing smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

Shaking his head at his uncle strange behaviour Dom wondered off.

Standing in the middle of the small camp he brought his hands up to rest on his hips as he turned this way and that, observing all that was going on around him and trying to casually look for Kel.

Giving up and deciding she wasn't in the immediate area, Dom brought one of his hands up and ran it through his hair, idly wondering where, oh where the Lady Knight could be.