Second part


Kel was too giddy over last night to do her morning warm ups. Besides all she was going to do was take her medal and ride home! She was entitled to a little extra sleep! Just as her head hit the pillow for a second time, she heard three sharp knocks. "So much for getting a little more sleep!" She grumbled. "Coming!" she steadied herself on her feet and flew to the door. Not completely awake, she fell flat on her face.

Apollo pushed open the door when he heard the thump. He saw Keladry on her face in her nightclothes. Apollo burst out laughing. "Are you alright?" he asked still chuckling. He extended a hand and helped her up. He noticed she was blushing profusely.
"I normally am up but ...not this morning." She said then yawned for effect.
"Up to late being romanced?" he added and then walked out of the room.
Kel stood there dumb founded. How did he know? She thought. She pulled on some clothes as fast as she could and raced out to see Apollo go over to the practice fields, he was shaking his head.
Kel ran to catch up with him. He was fast but she caught up pretty quickly. She got to him huffing and puffing. She didn't say anything, her flushed face spoke for her. "So are you and blondie an item?" He asked.
She just shrugged and looked down to blush again. This was too new for her! What was she supposed to say? "I don't think so."
He laughed again. Ok Miss Jousting queen, stretch and I'll show you some real hard training."
She bent down to touch her toes. She didn't like the way he assumed they didn't train the squires hard enough. She would just have to prove to him they did!
They got off to a fast start with simple sprints. There pase matched each others perfectly. After that, Apollo showed her some shang kicks and puches to drill her on. She discovered quickly that she preferred these to her regular pattern dance. They were hard work but it wasn't anything Kel couldn't handle.
"Your good." He said approvingly.
"Ok, now that we have established my capability, we must work on yours. Go get a sword." She pointed to a bin of wooden practice swords.
For the next half hour they worked on sword technique. He was smooth and fast. He held to it like a snake coiled around a prey. Every time Kel asked him if he had handeled a sword before, he had said no.]
"With practice, you'll be as good as a squire!" She exclaimed.
"I could say the same thing about you with shang." He retorted.
They walked in silence for a few moments. "Where are you going when you leave?" Kel asked suddenly.
"I don't know. I guess I could go home but I don't think I want to."
"Oh."
A few more steps they took in silence.
"Actually, I want to find out who my dad is!" he burst out.
"Well do you know if he was a knight or a soldier, or how about a shang, like you?"
"All I know is that he wasn't exactly liked."
"Oh, well you could ... come back to Corus with me and Joren." She suggested lightly.
"Hmm, maybe I will."
"Kel saw Joren come by out of the corner of her eye. "Well I better pack and stuff. Bye!" And she ran off to the confides of her room.


~*~*~*~



After packing they left. Kel sat on the field of grass that seemed to reach for miles and miles and gazed at the stars. They were extremely close and you could see the carbon and helium burn, it was almost hypnotizing. Peach blossom was next to her sitting down being, well, unlike himself! Joren was sitting next to her, blowng on a blade of grass making it whistle and twirl. Everything was just perfect. The wind, the weather, and maybe, just maybe, she liked her company as well. But Kel wasn't thinking about Joren or even jousting for the matter. She was thinking about what Apollo had said. Who could his father had been? She wondered.

She just sighed and sat up. Joren looked but didn't move, he was obviously content too. She walked to the tree and paced up and back. Sighing, Joren got up too and started to walk with her. "What's up?" he asked.

"You know the shang I jousted against?"
"Yeah, Apollo was his name?"
"Yeah him. Well he and I got to talking and he told me his father was a noble."
"So what is he doing in the shang?"
"Well, he said that no one cared for his father much, so basically his whole family got shunned."
"Oh."

They sat in silence for a couple more minutes. When Sir Paxton of nod came over. "It's time you should get to bed now. We'll be getting an early start. We should reach Corus early."

Kel said her good nights and hit the sack with big thoughts in her mind.



~*~*~*~


They did start early but to Kel that was a good thing. They reached Corus around lunch. Kel went to her room and dumped her stuff on her bed and ran Out to the mess. She burst in and all she could hear was the creek of the door. Kel was baffled. Where was everyone? It was only a few moments after the lunch bell. She ran Out of the mess and back down the squires wing. Nobody. The air just hung there undisturbed. Kel went to Lord Wildons office next. She knocked on his door. After a few moments of getting no answer she walked in. Like the mess hall it was completely abandoned. She set her mettle of being the jousting winner down on Lord Wildons desk. Then once again went on the scavenger hunt to find her friends.

After an hour she gave up. They were no where to be found and Kel was getting scared. Just then she heard footsteps behind her, she spun and saw Joren with the same worried expression she wore. "Do you know where everyone is?"
Kel asked.

"No. You?"
"Nope."

"Maybe they went to go camping or something."
"It's possible. A little early but possible."


~*~*~*~


They went outside and looked around. What they saw shocked them. Bodies and blood were lying on the field. Keladry ran out, going against what she was taught. Most of the people on the field were people she didn't recognize. She took that as a good sign. Stumbling along the bodies she heard a groan. She quickly changed direction and listened for the moan again. There it was! Carefully examining each body, she came across a face she knew. "Cleon!"

"Cleon, What happened?"
"Attack ... They all came at once... could only just get through."

She checked his wounds. He lost a lot of blood but he would be ok if he saw a healer soon.

Kel looked around. Joren was looking at other bodies. So Kel heaved up Cleons body and jogged him to her room and put him on the bed to rest. He was heavy but she was pretty strong. And her adrenalin was pumped.

She jogged back to Joren, this time with Peach blossom and Kryptonite, his horse. "Lets go. Were out of here."

A/N I'm sorry all you Cleon lovers !!! I just can't stand him !!! So if you don't here a lot from him he's injured, K? I know this was a little uneventful but oh well. Please review !!!




Chapter 3


Joren turned and stared at her. She's crazy! He thought. "Your crazy!" he then yelled at her. "If you go marching down there right now you'll get pounded or maybe even killed!"
She turned away and he grabbed her. "Let go of me!" she screeched. Her eyes were a blazed with fury.
"Keladry, listen! You can't!" His grip tightened and Kel automatically put her senses on alert. She flipped him over her back with ease.
"Are you a squire or a little kid?" she started to walk away. As she mounted Peach blossom she turned to look at him. He stumbled up, his white hair was dancing with the wind and his cold eyes were as alert as her own green brown eyes. With a single nod she knew he would come. And with that they trotted off.

~*~*~


Apollo could feel, in the air the winds shifting. It was the worst omen he had ever felt. As he stepped on the earth he felt the gently sloping land sigh. His lessons as a boy had taught him that whenever a battle had taken place great mother goddess and Mithros went in the ground and sighed for the loss of men and trees and... life. He shivered as the wind suddenly pulled him in the opposite direction. As the dirt blew into his eyes he blinked. When the light found his vision he blinked again. A blood wash had covered his eyes everything was red. He was told that those with the gift often saw colors, but he had been tested and showed no traces of magic. The Gods must have sent for him. He decided not to fight them. He let the howling stream of air drag him back to Corus.


~*~*~