The Rainy Day Trip
(Part II)
By Saphron
Abdication (ie: Disclaimer-hey I'm gunna keep ya coming on these vocab words y'know. See how much of the dictionary I can cram into all yar heads.) Once again, you all know the drill, NOTHING belongs to me, not Kel, Cleon, Joren, Raoul, Fief Naxen, etc. etc. Oh! And I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that all credit goes to the wonderful writer Tamora Pierce, I only said nothing is mine. Well ok, I think I've cleared the air now, right? Right! On with reading.
A/N: Part two has arrived. I wrote this right after I submitted part one, so if anyone gave me suggestions/criticism/comments of any kind, then don't think I'm ignoring you. This chapter was just already written. So's the next one for that matter, and part of the next one after that. Right. I told you this wasn't going to be short! Ok, ok, on with reading.
It had been three days since the party had left the palace, and the storm clouds still hadn't cleared. Yesterday it had let up for a brief fifteen minuets, but then started up again just as heavy as before. Today it was only a light drizzle, but the weather was so unpredictable that it was hard to tell when it would start pouring again.
Joren hadn't been as big of a pain as she thought. She just took care to stay out of his way. He was still acting weird though, she wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he really freaked her out.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere the ride was still fun. The scenery, even when sopping wet, was still picturesque and beautiful. The rolling hills were alive with new spring flowers from the gentle April showers, and the trees all looked fresh and clean.
But as they continued north the land grew rougher and harder. Rolling hills gave way to rocky mountains, colorful flowers turned into rocks and stones, and lush evergreen trees became sparse, spindly pines.
Luckily Raoul was a good companion, he shared many stories of his various expeditions, and, knowing how much it meant to his squire, he even spun a few tales of Alanna the Lioness when she was still a squire and page. Alanna was Kel's role model, and she hung onto his every word.
Soon they reached the midpoint of their destination, cold, tired, and stiff after riding for a week in the rain and sleeping on the frigid, damp ground. All Kel wanted to do was take a nice, hot, relaxing bath…maybe daydream about Neal a bit, and then take a nice…long…nap. But of course that was impossible when you've got thirty horses to dry off and stable, some gear to polish and clean, and some errands to run for your knight-master.
They were stopping in this town not for a holiday or little break, but on the contrary, to make more plans for the expedition. They were halfway there, only the problem was, the other half of the way was uncharted and unmapped. They were going to have to leave the horses behind to climb up a rocky mountain side using only a steep, narrow 'path' that was really just a stretch of dirt with a few cleared off bushes that had been hastily uprooted.
Needless to say, with Kel's phobia of heights, she was not exactly looking forward to this.
Fortunately for her, another knight was going to be joining them tomorrow. And he would obviously bring his squire, who just happened to be her friend, Cleon of Kennan. They had just finished taking care of some stormwings up at fief Naxen, (Naxen is up north somewhere, check your maps in SOTL) and they were going to meet up with them and have them join the little band.
Then again, he'll probably tease the life out of me when he arrives, but oh well. It will be nice to see someone my own age, other than Joren. Kel thought to herself. Her funny friend was always teasing and cracking jokes, ever since the first day she had met him.
They rode out again, more slowly and with some difficulty, seeing as how they were off the main road. However, Naxen was a prominent fief and there was a road, if not a very wide one, leading right to the front doorstep.
***
~*Saphron*~
Thanx again for bothering to read this, I'm still not sure about my writing capabilities so I dunno if anyone is going to like this. I really, really, really hope you did. Ok, that's it from the author.