The Rainy Day Trip
(Part I)
By Saphron
Quittance: (Fancy word for disclaimer, I was getting sick of al those 'disclaimers' and thought I'd try a different vocab word) Nothing belongs to me…yada…yada…yada, and even the plot is only half-mine. I used various rumors for the next book in POTS to create a simple version of 'Squire', I skipped the part where she was picked by a knight-master and just jumped into her first adventure. Enjoy!
A/N: My very second fic! How exciting. (And thanks for all of you who reviewed my first fic, Flames) Hopefully this will become a very long series. It depends how responsive all you peeps out there all. If I get a lot of reviews I'll continue this little story, and if not, well, I suppose that I won't. ::Hint::hint:: So please, please, please, I beg of you, take time to review even if it's just one little word, and maybe throw in some ideas too. Right, on with the story.
"Well, it's final. I'm leaving, tomorrow," said Keladry of Mindelan dejectedly, "Raoul, me and the rest of the King's Own are heading north to take care of the pest problem they can't get under control."
"Aww-you can't leave, things were just getting good with the Stump," Owen, one of her friends, a small pudgy boy with brown curls, said. He was referring to the fact that lord Wyldon, or "the Stump," as he was called, was being particularly nasty to everybody, especially Keladry, ever since they became squires. He seemed resentful of the fact that she had remained as the only girl page, so he'd gotten into this habit of dumping all the hardest and evilest tasks upon her.
She snorted, "yeah, I'm going to miss him soooooo much."
"Since when have you become so sarcastic?" Asked a tall boy, well, young man really.
"It's all you, you've been a bad influence," she retorted,
"I'm crushed."
"Good, you should be."
"So cold."
They continued arguing for awhile with neither gaining the upper hand, until Merric, a fellow knight-in-training, interrupted. "Ok guys, enough already. Sheesh, you're giving me a headache!" Upon that, the two former arguers both looked at each other, grinned wickedly, and threw their apple cores from the apples they had been eating at their friend, who ducked and retaliated with some grapes. All chaos broke out. (Well, not really, but it sounds good doesn't it?) The rest of the group took sides and soon there was a mini-food-fight going on. The Stump barked at them to quit horsing around, so with contained laughter they all put away their trays and left for math class.
*
It was a gray, wet day when Keladry, or Kel as her friends called her, woke up and saw the thick drops of water pelting her window. Great, she thought, I get to go ride in the mud. What fun
Today was the day she left with her knight-master for the Grimhold Mountains up north, (real place in TP's fantasy land, check the map in SOTL) where a group of villagers had complained to the king about wild immortal beasts attacking their village. King Jonathon III had already sent some men to take care of the minor problem, but it turned out to be not so minor as he'd thought. The men had all come back sporting various miscellaneous wounds, some of which had not been very pretty.
So the king decided to send the commander of the King's Own, his men, and his squire, to deal with it.
Now his squire at the moment was not exactly looking forward to sloshing through slush and sludge, but a squire had to do what a squire had to do. (Pardon me for the cliché.)
She had already said goodbye to her friends who were still at the palace; Neal, Owen, Faleron, Merric, Seaver, and her other friends had all slapped her on her back and told her to make sure she came back in one piece. Personally she thought the ride was going to be a lot worse than battling a few wild creatures, and the wet weather wasn't the only reason.
Unfortunately for her, a very unpleasant person was going to be accompanying them with his knight-master (who was surpassingly pretty nice), Joren of Stone Mountain, a fellow squire with a bad attitude. Lately he had actually been acting pretty civil towards Kel and her friends, but first impressions last and Kel still didn't trust him.
They left early at dawn; equipment packed and ready, horses feed and watered, hearts set for an adventure. An adventure's an adventure all the way to the end, Kel muttered to herself as they set off. Looks like we're on our way again. (I don't own this phrase! All credit goes to Jackie French Koller and her publishers in volume two of her draggling collector's edition book. I just had to borrow it though. Fit's nicely, huh?)
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