They didn't know about Leesa, and they certainly didn't know she was half of the reason he was gone so soon, and without any word. Neal ran his long bony fingers down the back of his neck, relieving it of the hot afternoon sun. He may have left at midwinter, but Carthak knew no seasons, it was hot, and that was it. Awfully, sweltering, just plain hot. And he hated it. But he was doing this for a reason, and the reason was a good one.
At least he kept telling himself that.
-----------------------
"Neal! You've made it!" The brown haired, blue eyed girl squealed. It was a taller, leaner (if that was possible), Leesa, and his heart filled with joy. Ever since the first day he had seen her, he had thought she was beautiful. His friends teased him about it, for she held a striking resemblance to the wild-mage Daine. But he knew better, this was real, and this is what he wanted. It only made it easier when he found out he was to be assigned on the Carthakian border, just to see how things were working out, and Leesa's father just happened to be in Carthak for the winter, and so she would be too.
It had all started a couple months before mid-winter. She had been sent as a court guest, as a prospective wife for Jasson, or one of the other of the King's son's. But Neal had caught her eye first, and she his. They were soon "courting", and then, had waited vigil for him before his ordeal. It was more than he could ever ask for in a woman. The loyalty, the beauty, and the love. So when she had asked him if she could introduce him to her father, he had said yes, and so now he was there, at her father's fief in Carthak.
----------------------
"I've missed you Lees, you've been gone too long, I've been gone too long" he whispered, into her sweet, flower fragrant hair.
"I know, that's why I asked you here you dolt! Neal, father is waiting for you, don't you think we should go?"
He was too tired from the journey to get up, but that innosense in her eyes, and the urging in them made him sit up. "You just have me wrapped onto your litte finger don't you love?" he said with a teasing tone, as he tweaked her nose. She giggled, and they both rose to go meet "father".
--------------------
"Announcing, Nealan of Queenscove, on duty from Corus, capital of Tortall, country in the rule of King Jonathan the Third, and Queen Thayet." The announcer bellowed. Neal wasn't used to formal introductions, in fact, he wasn't used to any introductions at all. Duke Vais was sitting at the head of the table, at the other end of the room. He looked young for his age, a little too young. Leesa looked nothing like him. He had dusty blonde hair, and green eyes, nothing like Leesa at all. "She must take after her mother" he though. But looking around the table, he didn't see a mother to speak of, and now that he thought about it, Leesa had never mentioned a "mother". But that didn't bother him, he was here to have a good time, and maybe even to propose...
Leesa lead him up to a chair next to her father, it was the "guest" seat, and she took the other seat next to Neal. "Father, this is the Neal I've been saying so much about"
The man looked Neal up and down, as if he was taking a test, and Duke Vais was the instructor telling him if he passed or not. He didn't like the feeling at all, "but," he thought, "I guess that what comes of falling in love with a noble."
"So this is the Nealan who the social circles have been speaking of? You look a little old to be a new knight..."
"Ah, well i started late my Lord, I was nearly 15 when i started. It's quite a long story, and if you have the time I don't mind telling it..." Duke Vais paused, as if contemplating whether to hear his story or not, but then abruptly changed the subject. Talking on and on about some cattle he had just raised, or the new Yamani Stallion he had just bought. It had hurt Neal a bit, just to be shrugged off like that, but soon enough, he was whisked off into his quarters. Obviously, and purposly placed very far from Leesa's, and on the opposite side of the wing.
-----------------------
He woke early, for something about being on Tortallan time, and then Carthakian time messed up the time he woke and slept. "No bother," he thought, "I'll just go attend to NightSky" Nightsky was his horse Leesa had gifted him with on the day of his knighting. She was a beautiful mare, dark, and it had that sort of brooding look she, and now he, had liked in horses.
On the way to the stables he got lost, which didn't surprise him at all, the Duke's place being so big and all. He tried to find a servant, or a stable hand to help him find his way, so stopped at a door that was marked "Workroom". He was about to knock, when he heard three voices.
"Vais, I mean Ganthe, he said it himself. I've got him wrapped around my finger" Neal gasped, Leesa? he thought, was that her talking?
"Very good, he's the first part of that damn fore-sight reading I got. Who's the other Rubrik?"
"Another knight, but in Corus. Cal, no, Caldry? Oh wait, here, it's Keladry of Mindalen. I think that may be her name, I'm pretty sure" The cackle in his voice would haunt Neal for the days to come
"Very good," Vais, or "Ganthe" answered. "Then we're almost ready."
"Ready? The Isle won't be ready for another year at least, I say we just take over both of them Ganthe, having him here only makes it easier. We have them in separate places. We should get rid of all of them, The Tortallans, The Isle's men, and our two destiny destroyers over here." Leesa's voice said.
"Patience my dear flower, just patience. It will all pay off in the end."
With that Neal turned away from the door, a thousand things flowing into his mind. Was Leesa betraying him? He knew it was too good to be true, but damn it, he had waited this long for it, He deserved it! And Kel! Oh Mithros gracious Kel! How her name had ended up in the conversation he didn't know. Destiny Destroyers? What did that mean?? He thought, and Vais being Ganthe. He hadn't even heard of a Ganthe anywhere before. But he knew one thing, and that was he had to get out, now.
--------------------
"Neal? Where are you going love?" Leesa said. He jerked his head towards the door. He hadn't even been expecting her. His plan had been to leave quietly, leave a note, and be gone. He had to go back to Corus to warm SOMEONE! But now she was here, she being part of the plan he feared, and she being the one he thought he had loved.
"I.I.I'm not going anywhere" he stammered, "Just trying to organize my things..."
"Into your packs?"
"Well, you know what the stump says, got to always be ready for an attack!" once the words escaped his mouth, he knew she wouldn't be laughing. She wouldn't be laughing like Kel would've, Kel would've loved any comment about the Stump, or Lord Wyldon to be more formal. But that's what made Kel,
Kel, she was like him, Leesa was a woman....right?
"The Stump?"
"Oh, nevermind. Just something i used to say with Merric and Owen at home..."
"You know I don't have to stay in my rooms tonight right?" she said, in a way he hadn't heard her say it before.
"Uh, mm hmm, but I thought your father specifically put us APART. I mean i wouldn't want to go upsetting your father" he said, doing what looked like a very silly crab walk, backwards, while she advanced on him on the bed.
"My fath...oh yes, my father..." she mumbled. "He won't mind, TRUST ME" she said, with a force he just couldn't escape...
-------------------
"Damn you boy! Get back here!" Vais's voice rung through the cold dawn air.
It was a week later and he had made it, he had made the escape. Nightsky's hooves pounded the ground harder and harder, but so did Vais's Elliot, and the dust they kicked up was a site to see.
All he had to do was make it to the border, or make it somewhere, somewhere safe, and somewhere where he could get away un-noticed. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt NightSky yanked out from under him, and they both went crashing to the ground. The next thing he knew Vais was up next to him, dismounted and holding his neck with a gloved hand. "What do you think you're doing you little bastard"
"I've figured out enough GANTHE, and I'm saving myself thank you very much. It's what MOST SANE PEOPLE WOULD DO!!!!" and with that, he executed the moves he did so very poorly in in Shang Class, but in this case, they actually worked, and Vais, or Ganthe, was on the ground in seconds. So he ran, and ran, until Vais's bulky armor was only a shadow in the distance.
------------------
"Need....water....." his parched voice cried.
"Slow down boy, there's some there in a pitcher on the table, but the group of drunkies. Help yourself." He nodded in thanks to the woman. He wasn't exactly sure where he was, but he was in an Inn of some sort. And the "Drunkies" were a group of men probably a couple years younger than him, who, just by listening to them, sounded very much like a boy he knew in Corus, Joren. Once he had drunk about 4 cups of water, he spoke up. "I need a disguise, now, boys, have you got a knife you can spare, or perhaps some mud?"
"Just stick your head in over there!" A boy said, still drunk, and the rest laughed. But Neal didn't care, he needed time, and even if that substance turned his head into a cow, he wouldnt care, it was better than going around looking like himself. If Vais caught him again, he would surely kill him.
The bucket was a large wooden one, it was hardly a bucket at all. It looked more like a vat, but it was filled with a clear liquid, which smelled like the servants workrooms in Corus. "Mithros help me if I die!" he whispered, and then dunked his head in the "water" the burned his skin.
"DAMMIT!!! WHAT WAS THAT??" he screamed. The drunkies all laughed, and the head of the Inn, the woman was holding back giggles. "B..B..leach!" she said, laughter following her word. The drunkies were correct all right, the bleach would disguise him very, very well.
----------------
What will Kel think of me now? he thought, eyeing his new blonde hair. He found himself asking himself that a lot these days. "What would Kel do? What would Kel think?" In a way, it was bothering him, because he was starting to feel a way he hadn't ever before, at least, not a feeling which was associated with her.
"Hurry, You're fortune awaits young sun" The Doi woman said. She was staying at another inn he was at, and doing readings, Neal thought that it wouldn't hurt, so had decided to get his fate read. Slowly she traced the lines of his hands, and then eyed him for a long long time, until she finally said.
"You're love and you are at the end of a battle which is just arising. You must find her young sun, and save her, and she will save you, and you both, will be saving your country." With that she was off, into the shadows again. "My Love?" he thought. "She certainly wasn't talking about Leesa, for he felt nothing but hate, and betrayal from her now. Finding out from people along the route that Vais was not a Duke, but a Dark Mage, who's wife was in fact Leesa, and partner the man whose voice he'd only heard, Rubrik. The journey had been long, but he had walked most of the way, to the edge of Carthak, and then stealing onto a boat, so now in Tortall. But he heard Vais was still on his tail, and now also the tail of Corus. There was war going on, and messages only going to the palace now. He had to get back fast, and save his love...which only brought him back to the subject of that. Who was this love, could it possibly be, no but it couldn't....but of course his heart told him otherwise....
Kel?
------------------
"You LOVE me!" Leesa screamed. It was only him and her in a room, he didn't even know how she had gotten there, but from what he found out, Vais and Rubrik were already headed towards the Capital, not even bothering with him anymore, now with the other "destiny destroyer" Kel. And he had to warn her, for more reasons than one.
"STUMP DROPPINGS I DO!, YOU ONLY "LOVED" ME SO YOUR REAL LOVER COULD HAVE POWER, AND WHAT HE WANTS. YOU ARE A LYING, BETRAYING BITCH!" startled at himself saying those words, he sort of backed off, and she took that as an advantage, elbowing him in the chest, and choking him with her other hand. Fortunately she was light, and he easily threw her off him, flinging her against the wall, knocking her unconcious. but he didn't have time to think, didn't have time to do anything but leave, leave and go save Kel, and like the Doi woman said, the country.
-------------------
The horse was stolen, and his clothes were torn, but the good thing was, was that damned bleach wasn't wearing off, yet. It was less than an hour away from the palace, where he would let his heart free, his secrets loose, and of course, tell the King what Vais, or Ganthe was up to.
The late afternoon sun beat down on his back, probably bleaching his hair even more. He knew his eyes were paler, paled by the fleeing he had done, and the emotional strain he had been to. But there was still something to look forward to, and he had been thinking about it this whole time. She had always been his friend, best friend in fact. But he had never considered her a woman, but realized, that's actually what he didn't want. He wanted someone he could talk to, joke with, and TRUST. And she had all that. Suddenly, he saw her, the dimmed sunlight lighting her skin just right so that, as Cleon had put it once, she looked "fit". It was Kel, his loving, darling Kel...
-------------------
To find out what happens next (but from Kel's POV) please read my other fic, "The Stranger". It's Kel's story during this time of war and battle, and a stranger, who changes it all.
At least he kept telling himself that.
-----------------------
"Neal! You've made it!" The brown haired, blue eyed girl squealed. It was a taller, leaner (if that was possible), Leesa, and his heart filled with joy. Ever since the first day he had seen her, he had thought she was beautiful. His friends teased him about it, for she held a striking resemblance to the wild-mage Daine. But he knew better, this was real, and this is what he wanted. It only made it easier when he found out he was to be assigned on the Carthakian border, just to see how things were working out, and Leesa's father just happened to be in Carthak for the winter, and so she would be too.
It had all started a couple months before mid-winter. She had been sent as a court guest, as a prospective wife for Jasson, or one of the other of the King's son's. But Neal had caught her eye first, and she his. They were soon "courting", and then, had waited vigil for him before his ordeal. It was more than he could ever ask for in a woman. The loyalty, the beauty, and the love. So when she had asked him if she could introduce him to her father, he had said yes, and so now he was there, at her father's fief in Carthak.
----------------------
"I've missed you Lees, you've been gone too long, I've been gone too long" he whispered, into her sweet, flower fragrant hair.
"I know, that's why I asked you here you dolt! Neal, father is waiting for you, don't you think we should go?"
He was too tired from the journey to get up, but that innosense in her eyes, and the urging in them made him sit up. "You just have me wrapped onto your litte finger don't you love?" he said with a teasing tone, as he tweaked her nose. She giggled, and they both rose to go meet "father".
--------------------
"Announcing, Nealan of Queenscove, on duty from Corus, capital of Tortall, country in the rule of King Jonathan the Third, and Queen Thayet." The announcer bellowed. Neal wasn't used to formal introductions, in fact, he wasn't used to any introductions at all. Duke Vais was sitting at the head of the table, at the other end of the room. He looked young for his age, a little too young. Leesa looked nothing like him. He had dusty blonde hair, and green eyes, nothing like Leesa at all. "She must take after her mother" he though. But looking around the table, he didn't see a mother to speak of, and now that he thought about it, Leesa had never mentioned a "mother". But that didn't bother him, he was here to have a good time, and maybe even to propose...
Leesa lead him up to a chair next to her father, it was the "guest" seat, and she took the other seat next to Neal. "Father, this is the Neal I've been saying so much about"
The man looked Neal up and down, as if he was taking a test, and Duke Vais was the instructor telling him if he passed or not. He didn't like the feeling at all, "but," he thought, "I guess that what comes of falling in love with a noble."
"So this is the Nealan who the social circles have been speaking of? You look a little old to be a new knight..."
"Ah, well i started late my Lord, I was nearly 15 when i started. It's quite a long story, and if you have the time I don't mind telling it..." Duke Vais paused, as if contemplating whether to hear his story or not, but then abruptly changed the subject. Talking on and on about some cattle he had just raised, or the new Yamani Stallion he had just bought. It had hurt Neal a bit, just to be shrugged off like that, but soon enough, he was whisked off into his quarters. Obviously, and purposly placed very far from Leesa's, and on the opposite side of the wing.
-----------------------
He woke early, for something about being on Tortallan time, and then Carthakian time messed up the time he woke and slept. "No bother," he thought, "I'll just go attend to NightSky" Nightsky was his horse Leesa had gifted him with on the day of his knighting. She was a beautiful mare, dark, and it had that sort of brooding look she, and now he, had liked in horses.
On the way to the stables he got lost, which didn't surprise him at all, the Duke's place being so big and all. He tried to find a servant, or a stable hand to help him find his way, so stopped at a door that was marked "Workroom". He was about to knock, when he heard three voices.
"Vais, I mean Ganthe, he said it himself. I've got him wrapped around my finger" Neal gasped, Leesa? he thought, was that her talking?
"Very good, he's the first part of that damn fore-sight reading I got. Who's the other Rubrik?"
"Another knight, but in Corus. Cal, no, Caldry? Oh wait, here, it's Keladry of Mindalen. I think that may be her name, I'm pretty sure" The cackle in his voice would haunt Neal for the days to come
"Very good," Vais, or "Ganthe" answered. "Then we're almost ready."
"Ready? The Isle won't be ready for another year at least, I say we just take over both of them Ganthe, having him here only makes it easier. We have them in separate places. We should get rid of all of them, The Tortallans, The Isle's men, and our two destiny destroyers over here." Leesa's voice said.
"Patience my dear flower, just patience. It will all pay off in the end."
With that Neal turned away from the door, a thousand things flowing into his mind. Was Leesa betraying him? He knew it was too good to be true, but damn it, he had waited this long for it, He deserved it! And Kel! Oh Mithros gracious Kel! How her name had ended up in the conversation he didn't know. Destiny Destroyers? What did that mean?? He thought, and Vais being Ganthe. He hadn't even heard of a Ganthe anywhere before. But he knew one thing, and that was he had to get out, now.
--------------------
"Neal? Where are you going love?" Leesa said. He jerked his head towards the door. He hadn't even been expecting her. His plan had been to leave quietly, leave a note, and be gone. He had to go back to Corus to warm SOMEONE! But now she was here, she being part of the plan he feared, and she being the one he thought he had loved.
"I.I.I'm not going anywhere" he stammered, "Just trying to organize my things..."
"Into your packs?"
"Well, you know what the stump says, got to always be ready for an attack!" once the words escaped his mouth, he knew she wouldn't be laughing. She wouldn't be laughing like Kel would've, Kel would've loved any comment about the Stump, or Lord Wyldon to be more formal. But that's what made Kel,
Kel, she was like him, Leesa was a woman....right?
"The Stump?"
"Oh, nevermind. Just something i used to say with Merric and Owen at home..."
"You know I don't have to stay in my rooms tonight right?" she said, in a way he hadn't heard her say it before.
"Uh, mm hmm, but I thought your father specifically put us APART. I mean i wouldn't want to go upsetting your father" he said, doing what looked like a very silly crab walk, backwards, while she advanced on him on the bed.
"My fath...oh yes, my father..." she mumbled. "He won't mind, TRUST ME" she said, with a force he just couldn't escape...
-------------------
"Damn you boy! Get back here!" Vais's voice rung through the cold dawn air.
It was a week later and he had made it, he had made the escape. Nightsky's hooves pounded the ground harder and harder, but so did Vais's Elliot, and the dust they kicked up was a site to see.
All he had to do was make it to the border, or make it somewhere, somewhere safe, and somewhere where he could get away un-noticed. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt NightSky yanked out from under him, and they both went crashing to the ground. The next thing he knew Vais was up next to him, dismounted and holding his neck with a gloved hand. "What do you think you're doing you little bastard"
"I've figured out enough GANTHE, and I'm saving myself thank you very much. It's what MOST SANE PEOPLE WOULD DO!!!!" and with that, he executed the moves he did so very poorly in in Shang Class, but in this case, they actually worked, and Vais, or Ganthe, was on the ground in seconds. So he ran, and ran, until Vais's bulky armor was only a shadow in the distance.
------------------
"Need....water....." his parched voice cried.
"Slow down boy, there's some there in a pitcher on the table, but the group of drunkies. Help yourself." He nodded in thanks to the woman. He wasn't exactly sure where he was, but he was in an Inn of some sort. And the "Drunkies" were a group of men probably a couple years younger than him, who, just by listening to them, sounded very much like a boy he knew in Corus, Joren. Once he had drunk about 4 cups of water, he spoke up. "I need a disguise, now, boys, have you got a knife you can spare, or perhaps some mud?"
"Just stick your head in over there!" A boy said, still drunk, and the rest laughed. But Neal didn't care, he needed time, and even if that substance turned his head into a cow, he wouldnt care, it was better than going around looking like himself. If Vais caught him again, he would surely kill him.
The bucket was a large wooden one, it was hardly a bucket at all. It looked more like a vat, but it was filled with a clear liquid, which smelled like the servants workrooms in Corus. "Mithros help me if I die!" he whispered, and then dunked his head in the "water" the burned his skin.
"DAMMIT!!! WHAT WAS THAT??" he screamed. The drunkies all laughed, and the head of the Inn, the woman was holding back giggles. "B..B..leach!" she said, laughter following her word. The drunkies were correct all right, the bleach would disguise him very, very well.
----------------
What will Kel think of me now? he thought, eyeing his new blonde hair. He found himself asking himself that a lot these days. "What would Kel do? What would Kel think?" In a way, it was bothering him, because he was starting to feel a way he hadn't ever before, at least, not a feeling which was associated with her.
"Hurry, You're fortune awaits young sun" The Doi woman said. She was staying at another inn he was at, and doing readings, Neal thought that it wouldn't hurt, so had decided to get his fate read. Slowly she traced the lines of his hands, and then eyed him for a long long time, until she finally said.
"You're love and you are at the end of a battle which is just arising. You must find her young sun, and save her, and she will save you, and you both, will be saving your country." With that she was off, into the shadows again. "My Love?" he thought. "She certainly wasn't talking about Leesa, for he felt nothing but hate, and betrayal from her now. Finding out from people along the route that Vais was not a Duke, but a Dark Mage, who's wife was in fact Leesa, and partner the man whose voice he'd only heard, Rubrik. The journey had been long, but he had walked most of the way, to the edge of Carthak, and then stealing onto a boat, so now in Tortall. But he heard Vais was still on his tail, and now also the tail of Corus. There was war going on, and messages only going to the palace now. He had to get back fast, and save his love...which only brought him back to the subject of that. Who was this love, could it possibly be, no but it couldn't....but of course his heart told him otherwise....
Kel?
------------------
"You LOVE me!" Leesa screamed. It was only him and her in a room, he didn't even know how she had gotten there, but from what he found out, Vais and Rubrik were already headed towards the Capital, not even bothering with him anymore, now with the other "destiny destroyer" Kel. And he had to warn her, for more reasons than one.
"STUMP DROPPINGS I DO!, YOU ONLY "LOVED" ME SO YOUR REAL LOVER COULD HAVE POWER, AND WHAT HE WANTS. YOU ARE A LYING, BETRAYING BITCH!" startled at himself saying those words, he sort of backed off, and she took that as an advantage, elbowing him in the chest, and choking him with her other hand. Fortunately she was light, and he easily threw her off him, flinging her against the wall, knocking her unconcious. but he didn't have time to think, didn't have time to do anything but leave, leave and go save Kel, and like the Doi woman said, the country.
-------------------
The horse was stolen, and his clothes were torn, but the good thing was, was that damned bleach wasn't wearing off, yet. It was less than an hour away from the palace, where he would let his heart free, his secrets loose, and of course, tell the King what Vais, or Ganthe was up to.
The late afternoon sun beat down on his back, probably bleaching his hair even more. He knew his eyes were paler, paled by the fleeing he had done, and the emotional strain he had been to. But there was still something to look forward to, and he had been thinking about it this whole time. She had always been his friend, best friend in fact. But he had never considered her a woman, but realized, that's actually what he didn't want. He wanted someone he could talk to, joke with, and TRUST. And she had all that. Suddenly, he saw her, the dimmed sunlight lighting her skin just right so that, as Cleon had put it once, she looked "fit". It was Kel, his loving, darling Kel...
-------------------
To find out what happens next (but from Kel's POV) please read my other fic, "The Stranger". It's Kel's story during this time of war and battle, and a stranger, who changes it all.