Disclaimer: You recognize the character-- not mine.

Author's Note: Here it is, the next chapter (kind of obvious, but oh well). Now let's see, last chapter ended with Kel and Katei dueling, and Prince Roald injured. Here's the rest of the duel and a little bit more.

Chapter 6: There's a murderer in my soup (no seriously)!

Katei swung his glaive in a wide arc to the right, lunging in on Kel. His eyes were narrowed and alert, gravely searching for an opening. Kel was better with the glaive then he had thought, but he was a trained Yamani warrior.

Kel dodged out of the way and twisted her feet around to keep balanced. She blocked another attack and darted foreword, sliding her glaive

up and over his own, knocking him on the head.

The two gripped their glaives with both hands and hitting the other with the glaive horizontally. Katei forced some strength on as his glaive met

with Kel's again. The result was the two glaives breaking in half from the force of the rap.

The two stopped and moved apart, staring at the two pieces their own

glaives were in. Looking from the glaives, to eachother, and then the crowd,

Kel rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. Katei scratched his head and fingered the broken glaive.

"Hmm." was all that Katei said and Kel added a, "Uhhh." Their eyes met and they shrugged.

King Jonathon, sick of waiting announced, "You must continue the fight without weapons." The two nodded and faced eachother again, green eyes meeting green-hazel ones.

The tension broke as Katei hurled his foot up at her chest and then punched her in the face. Kel blocked his next punch with her fists and brought her knee up to his midsection.

They were moving backwards now, Katei forcing Kel back against a wall. Near the wall was a self-serving table, and suddenly inspired, Kel picked up a bowl and crashed it over Katei's head.

What she didn't know, was that there had been soup in the bowl, and so she was startled to see broth make it's way down his face (hence the title of the chapter). She fought to keep her Yamani mask in place as he shook his head to send soup flying everywhere.

Coming to her senses and realizing that this was a fight, she swiftly upper-cutted him in the neck with her left hand. Moving slightly to the left, she brought her foot up to meet his chest but snapped it back when he suddenly blocked it.

Katei moved to the right as Kel reallocated to the left and they were circling eachother waiting for the other to attack. Katei smirked inwardly, he could outwait Kel, patience was virtue he did have when it came to fighting.

He was right, Kel lunged in, meaning flip him over her shoulder, when Katei picked her up slightly and punched her. Kel immediatly lept up, but was tiring and didn't know how long she could last. 'Damn, what is going to happen if I lose?' was her only thoughts as she blocked Katei's hits.

~~

To Prince Roald in the infirmary:

Prince Roald sat straight up when he awoke, ignoring the pain in his arm, he tried to organize his thoughts. The last thing he remembered was Kel and her friend-- who he found out was Katei of Nirason-- fighting. Then Roald had said something, he couldn't even remember what, and that Katei character had stuck a sword in his arm.

He repeated his last thoughts outloud to vent some emotion, "He stuck a bloody sword in my frickin' arm!"

"Yes, I've heard." Duke Baird of Queenscove entered the room, black robes over his tunic and breeches. Prince Roald ducked his head and apologized, "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, your grace."

"Don't apologize your highness, I am the healer." was the duke's reply as he rested hands on Roald'd shoulders to continue healing the wound.

"The security has been tightened around the infirmary so Katei doesn't get loose and comes here to kill you." Baird informed Roald.

"Where is he now-- and Kel?"

"They're dueling, with glaives that is."

Roald's eyes widened, "I must stop them! I must!" Duke Baird lept to stop Roald from getting up, but Roald was too quick. Before he knew it, the Crown Prince had bounded out of the infirmary.

"Oh Mithros!" Baird said and ran out after the prince.

~~

Back to the duel!

Katei adroitly flipped Kel over his hip and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying a few feet. Kel twisted and slapped the ground like she had done so many time in her training before.

Standing, she ran up to Katei and faked a punch, before dropping to the ground and kicked his feet out from under him. Katei placed his hands on the ground just before he hit the floor and meant to kick up again. But Kel than tackled him and punched him tumultuously.

Katei bit his lip and threw her off himself, leaping up to pursue his attack. Kel kicked off a wall and slammed her other foot in his chest, in which he grabbed her foot and twisted it, sending her twirling horizontally through the air.

Cursing in Yamani, Kel got up again and blocked Katei's punch, barely, but then he brought his knee up to chin, shocking her momentarily.

Just then, Prince Roald skidded into the Great Hall and came to a halt when he saw the fight, eyes wide. Katei stopped all attacks on Kel and stared at Roald with narrowed eyes.

~~

Kel's POV:

Kel watched as Katei's eyes focused intensely on Roald and thought desperately, 'I have to get Katei away from Roald before he kills him!'

Without sparing a second to think, Kel put all her strength into a punch to Katei's jaw, and watched as Katei snapped back to her. Glaring, he reached out to hit her, when she kicked him hard and bolted away.

Glancing back, to make sure he was following, Kel led the way out of the Great Hall, thinking the whole way, 'Must get him away from Roald!'

~~

Katei's POV:

Ignoring that dratted prince, Katei ran as fast as he could after Kel. He had to finish this fight first!

Watching the back of Kel's head, he unconsciencely let his thought drift as he ran. And they drifted right to where he wanted them least to go; Kel. The irony of this whole situation was to great for him. He had searched for her to kill, and she had searched for him to kill, when they finally met up-- they fell in love and kissed! He pursed his lips tightly and shook his head to clear it from such thoughts.

~~

Third person narration:

Kel saw the doors to the palace and knew that they led into the Royal Forest, but the farther from Roald, the better. She bolted out the doors and glanced around, the moon cast shadows from the trees farther out but it was still light enough to see.

She was in a wide, open meadow that led up to the Royal Forest, and it seemed safe enough for a fight. She whirled around just in time to see Katei standing right in back of her, scarcely five inches away.

Looking up to him, determined to keep her emotionless mask up, she calmed her breathing as best she could. Katei gazed down at her and ran a finger down her chin, whispering softly, "That wasn't very polite, Kel."

He brought his hand back a upper cut her in the belly. Breathing hard again, Kel brought her head up again before he could knee her in the face. She jumped in the air, with intentions of kicking him. He lept up at the same time and they met in the middle, smacking into eachother hard.

The momentum of their meeting sent them tumbling down a nearby slope that they had neared from their exchange of hits. The two rolled down the hill and into the river at the bottom. Fight forgotten, the two struggled to stay up in the swift water rapids.

Coldness seeped through their clothing and right down to their bones, making them shiver as they tried to keep upright in the water. The river continued to flow hard, crashing into rocks violently.

Kel reached out and grabbed a rock, and she made it! Her hand faltered because it was so stiff with cold and slipped off the rock. She went under, splashing hard to get back up. She couldn't see Katei anywhere, but the main problem in her mind was to get out of the water. She shot up through the water, taking in as much air as possible before she went down again.

The rapids sent her crashing into another rock, this time knocking her unconscious. So she didn't notice when two hands lifted her gingerly from the water and dumped her onto the warm sand of the night.

~~

The next morning:

Kel awoke to the bright sunlight, dry and pained. Sitting up slowly, she looked around, a few feet away lay the river that she had tumbled into with Katei. She had somehow gotten out, but where was Katei?

Moving her hand up, she found a piece of parchment clutched in her fist. Opening it with trembling hands, she read:

Kel,

Thank you for leading me to the palace, it is greatly appreciated. And now that I'm in no harm's way (once again thanks to you) I will continue my quest to kill the Prince. So keep an eye out for me! I am sorry that things didn't work out between you and I. I only wish things could've been different, if only

you were not a Mindelan and I not well, me. But I will be forever grateful to you for opening the path to Roald for me. Cheers!

Love always,

Katei

As Kel finished reading the note, she felt to emotions well up inside of her. One that she acknowledged-- anger-- and the other she tried to ignore. Could it be sadness? She thought suddenly, but pushed that thought away. She did not want to be sad over some inconsiderate asshole like Katei.

Getting gingerly to her feet, Kel dusted herself off and started to make her way back to the castle, not knowing that Katei was sitting up in a tree watching her depart at that very moment.

~~

Three weeks later:

Katei whistled as he walked through the crowded streets of the lower city in Corus. He was gathering equipment that he knew he would need for his break-in. He was still going to kill Prince Roald, but this was different from all the other murders he had committed. Those were all just fiefs, this-- this was the palace!

'Two days until break-in!' Katei thought gleefully. He would have all his special equipment ready and would finally get to do what he had been wanting to do for over a year now: kill Roald.

Over the last week, he had stayed at a local inn that often housed criminals, so he would not look suspicious. Many times he had to tell himself not to think about Kel, it was over forever. 'And besides,' he thought to himself, 'It never would've worked out, we're way to different!'

Katei stopped at a market shop and stared down at a beautiful long sword. It was a gleaming silver with a weightless gold hilt with emeralds carved into it. He tested the edge and happily saw that it drew blood at the slightest touch. T'would be a waste not to take such a fine sword, one only fit to kill the prince of Tortall.

Normally, he would just steal the sword, without a single doubt, but something nagged at the back of his mind.

Kel;s voice came floating back to him, 'I know, but I do have an appreciation for fine stuff, and I would never take something like that without paying.'

Shaking his head, Katei paid for the sword and went on his way down the street. He inspected the sword closely as he walked into his inn and upstairs to his room. Yes, he was correct, only a sword as fine as this one was fit to kill the Crown Prince of Tortall.

~~

Back at the palace:

Kel had resumed her training as being a squire, her absence of a year forgotten, but had to stay at the castle anyway. It scared her to watch Roald sometimes, he would glance about himself to make sure that no one was behind him.

It was almost as if he expected murderers to come jumping out at him from the shadows. And to make things worse, Roald had been going to bed with court ladies to put off being alone in his rooms. It made his friends feel sick at how cowardly he had become, sinking so low to as bed women to feel safe!

~~

That night at study group, in the lesser library, Roald's POV:

Roald tried to concentrate on his book but could resist the urge to glance up and around every few seconds. His eyes darted everywhere, searching every shadow with suspicion and every bookcase that could be hiding- someone- with hatred.

For the hundredth time, Roald raised his head to glance about the room, this time meeting the eyes of all his friends.

They stared at him and Merric asked, "Uh, Roald, are you okay?" Roald faked surprise, he grinned and said, "Of course! After study, I'll be meeting up with Doanna of Fenrigh."

His friends either gagged, pretended to choke, or feigned throwing-up. Kel remembered Doanna only vaguely, she had been the lady to poke fun of her when she had been a second-year page at Midwinter.

"That's... nice, Roald." Kel said a little-too-sweetly, and turned back to her book. Roald's shoulders slumped, he was annoying his friends but he knew that Katei was out there somewhere, and would soon make his move.

Two greasy hands slipped their way around his shoulders, thinking it was the murderer, Roald jumped out of his chair and threw the person over his shoulder. Then, he heard wailing, and it struck him; murderers do not cry! Blinking, his eyes met a vision of Doanna of Fenrigh lying on the table where he had just thrown her, sobbing into a book.

"Oh, Doanna, I'm so sorry!" he cried and rushed to help her off the table. Glancing at his friends, he saw that they were all fighting back laughter. Even Kel, who normally had her emotions under control, was shaking from suppressed laughter. He grinned weakly in response and helped the limping Doanna out of the room.

He waited patiently for minutes upon minutes for her crying to subside, but it never did. She had taken to weeping on his shoulder-- 'getting it all wet' Roald thought testily-- and hugging Roald so tightly that he thought he might pop.

'It's times like these where I wonder if I'd rather just go meet up with Katei.' Roald thought wryly.

~~

Author's Note: I'll just tell you this, next chapter will involve Katei and how he sneaks into the palace and what-not. Titled: How to Kill a Prince For Dummies-- and I will add in my disclaimer that the whole 'How... for dummies' is not mine. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter-- review again please! Cheers.

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