A/N: Okay......it's been forEVER since I updated and I'm so sorry! I hope y'all are still reading...Well, enjoy this next chap -- oh and thanks in advance for your reviews! *winks* Oh yeah and I forgot -- email me PLEASE ( faerie-dragon@home.com ) and IM me PLEASE (LadySquireKel. Thanks! Comments welcome, criticism accepted, and flames used to warm me up!
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN IT FOR GOODNESS' SAKE! I DON'T KNOW WHY I EVEN BOTHER TO DO THESE THINGS; TP DON'T CARE ABOUT FANFICTION!!!! OH! But I DO own the plot!!! *looks very proud of herself*
~~~~~
After Conal had stormed off, Neal stared at his friend. "What are you on?" he asked dumbly.
She didn't answer, just waited until Lord Wyldon said, "Nealan, Keladry, you'd better get to class. I won't excuse your lateness."
"Oh for -- " Neal made a face. "Never mind."
Kel reached down to grab her four pieces of math homework and held them up together. Then she sighed. Neal reached over her shoulder and touched his finger to the broken seams. The sides wove themselves back together, so that they formed one piece of paper with only the slimmest white strips to show where Neal had mended it. "There," he said. "Now let's go!" He grabbed Kel's arm and half-drug, half-ran with her towards the stables.
"Oh -- I forgot. You're not jousting first, you're with Eda," Lord Wyldon called to them.
They turned around, looked at him, then at each other, faces unreadable. Lord Wyldon laughed, beckoning them over. "Come on, we're headed out the same way. I'll tell her you got caught up doing chores."
"What else do we do but chores," muttered Neal, getting a laugh from Kel. They joined the group as it went outside, then separated to join their class.
~~~~~
"So, Lioness, what brings you out here?" asked Lord Wyldon. Alanna glared at Jonathan. "Ask Jonathan. He says it's my duty. Of course, this from the man who, four years ago, told me it was my duty to stay away." Her cold smile portrayed the intense anger at her sire's hypocrisy.
The king sighed. "You're going to stay mad at me this whole time, aren't you?"
"Damn right I am!"
The three adults gathered the pages into one large group upon reaching the field.
"Now, I'm sure those of you who are 4th year pages, or have friends who were last year, know about the mock battles." Lord Wyldon looked too the crowd for affirmation. Most of them nodded and Owen grinned, but there were some confused faces as well.
"Well for those of you who don't, the idea is to teach you how to lead and follow orders in a battle situation," Jonathan said, then looked to his Champion to continue. And, after being sure to throw him an icy glare, she did: "When we were trained, knights were taught to work alone, and some of us had to get out of the habit real fast in order to save our skins. Ask Lord Raoul sometime -- he'll tell you."
"The purpose of this lesson is to show the new pages right off how this technique works, give the older pages some more insight into it, and to give the squires some work so they don't get rusty." Eda Bell had stepped out from behind a work-shed with all the squires following her. Arms crossed, she faced her group of rag-tag squires made up of first-year squires not yet chosen and early-returning second, third, and fourth years. "Shall we do a demonstration, hm? The usual groups."
The squires split in half raggedly, and faced their teacher once again. "Nominate leaders!" she barked.
Everyone in Kel's group looked at her and Joren's group did the same. "Well I'd say that's pretty clear," Eda muttered, wondering if she ought to tell them to give someone else practice, but shook it off. Keladry is good at leading; it's just how her mind works, she thought. And when she goes up against Joren, she gets a sort of spark of energy, she just wants to beat him so, she told herself.
The two groups eyed each other with mistrust. When Eda gave the signal to get ready -- after leading everyone to the woods and warning to audience that they might want to stay out of the way: things could get pretty rough -- they prepared to face off.
Joren, Garvey, Vincent, and Zahir stood in a line, Kel, Neal, Merric, Cleon, and Roald opposite them.
"Is it fair for their group to have more?" asked a boy with dark, curly hair and an upturned nose.
"Combat situations won't always be fair," murmured Alanna. "Watch." She said this, not only because that was the point of the battle, but because she wanted to study Keladry's -- or Kel, as she now knew she wanted to be called -- technique.
The two groups were then placed a fair distance from each other, and Kel's group tried to out-maneuver Joren's by sneaking around to the back of their force, but failed miserably -- Cleon's tunic snagged a branch and he toppled forward, alerting their "enemies" to their presence. The instant they realized they were under attack, Joren sprung up from his resting place on the ground and quickly gave orders to attack.
He wanted a straight out fight. No sneaking and no lookouts. Just them and the staffs they carried. Quickly, Eda, Jonathan, Alanna, and Wyldon all moved in to tag anyone who was "fatally" hit, and lead them off to the sidelines.
In an instant, Kel and Joren were sparring, wood striking viciously against wood. A high block -- then a low --
"Roald -- to the left!" Kel warned, seeing Zahir sneaking up behind him. Then -- "Neal, take Vincent."
All the while as Kel struck again and again at Joren, she watched for threats to the others. Joren, on the other hand was too busy fighting off her blows to lead his group, leaving them in the cold to fend for themselves. They froze, and began working out of sync with each other, unlike Kel's group. Within moments, Joren's followers were down to Zahir, Joren, and Garvey.
Zahir tripped over a stick he hadn't seen, and Neal gave him a good whack before tripping over him. Alanna darted in to mark the Bazhir boy, and Neal rolled off him, groaning. She grinned at him, when he asked, "Can I just be dead now, and get it done with?"
Sulkily, Zahir kicked Neal and then stomped to the side. Alanna opened her mouth to protest, but Neal shook his head, and stood up, grabbing hold of his staff again. And stepping back from Garvey's thrust, he slipped his weapon under Garvey's and twisted it out of his grip, sending it flying. Then, he darted in and --
Fell over backwards as Joren rammed into his side, bringing Kel, Neal, and Garvey with him. The kids all froze, and the referees looked at each other, unsure of who had been "killed". Finally, they decided to just leave it be, because nothing could be proven. Kel took note of who was still left in her group as the four of them stood up and brushed themselves off. Roald, Cleon, and Neal were still in commission, but Merric had gotten hit. Okay, she thought. This is okay. We still have more people.
They all waited for the signal to begin again, and instantly, Joren was sparring against Kel again. She wondered momentarily why he put so much concentration into her, instead of her group as a whole, leaving his group on it's own, but dismissed it. Right now she just really wanted to beat his face in. Or at least give him a few bruises.
His face twisted in disgust, Joren slammed into Kel's side, knocking her into a tree. Her head banged on a low branch; she saw stars for a moment. Shaking her head, Kel quickly popped back up to smack his biceps, thighs, and belly with her staff. Viciously he beat back on the staff, forcing her backwards. Her foot caught on a root, sending her flying onto the ground on her butt. Quickly, Kel stood up again. Joren was less than half a foot away -- too close for any traditional staff maneuvers. She swung her staff around in a glaive movement and stole Joren's balance away from him. Looking again at her surroundings, she found that the others had successfully eliminated the rest of Joren's teammates and were grinning, celebrating their victory. Turning to face Lord Wyldon, however, an entirely different sight greeted her.
"What was that?" the training master nearly screamed. The king seemed in agreement with Wyldon. "I don't believe I've ever seen staff maneuvers like that before," he said suspiciously, eyeing her. Kel and her friends exchanged glances at the same time that Alanna turned on Jonathan furiously. "Tell me Jonathan, in battle is everything always done properly? No! You work with what you have when you have it, and you do what you've got to. What Keladry did was perfectly appropriate for the situation!"
Ali sidled over and whispered, "Now they're going to be going at it like cats an' dogs." She sighed. "It's awful when they get angry at each other . . . " Roald nodded, eyes darting between his father and the King's Champion. "I'd rather be anywhere but here right now."
Ali and the others whole-heartedly agreed. Kel put a hand to her forehead. "Oh Gods," she muttered. "What?" Neal asked, taking his eyes off of the arguing group for a moment. Kel shook her head and said, "I am so stupid. I shouldn't have done that."
Neal threw up his hands in exasperation. "Kel -- what are you talking about?! We won because of you -- whether or not they choose to call it winning." He glared at their training master (though he didn't quite dare to grace the king with his gaze).
After a few minutes of watching the fight (Alanna was furiously defending Kel, not caring what people thought of it; Jon and Wyldon were shouting that it wasn't proper use of a staff; and Eda Bell was attempting to calm them down, while saying that "Alanna's right, Keladry did what anyone does in the heat of battle -- whatever it is that needs to be done".
Finally, Eda said, "Can this wait until later -- the children don't need to see their teachers fighting like this." They seemed to only just realize that they weren't alone.
Wyldon waved an arm. "Go joust or something."
They looked at him like he'd suddenly sprouted a third head. The first years looked terrified, having had no experience whatsoever in jousting and half -- at least -- knew they wouldn't recognize a lance if it bopped them on the head. The squires, though, got the feeling that they'd be the ones doing the educating and they weren't any happier than the first years.
"Um, sir . . . ?" a first year with dark hair and strikingly light eyes tentatively raised an arm. "We, uh . . . we don't know how to joust." Lord Wyldon seemed to be shocked at this revelation. "You don't . . . well how did you get this far . . . " suddenly she realized he was speaking to a first year. "Oh. Well, they'll teach -- "
But even before Lord Wyldon had finished, Neal was backing away. "No. No -- no, no, no, no. No. I am not going to teach anyone to joust." The others wholeheartedly agreed.
Wyldon turned sharp eyes on Kel and impatiently growled, "Go get your horse and lance and teach them."
Her eyes widened. "What -- no way. Uh-uh, I ca -- " he glared at her and barked, "Go on girl." Kel stared at him, but when she opened her mouth to argue again, his eyes narrowed. Kel sighed and turned away. "Dammit, dammit, dammit," she muttered as they walked to the stables. "Dammit!"
Neal ran up beside her. "Language Kel-dear, language." He grinned silly-ly and waggled his eyebrows. She grabbed his arm. "You're helping -- you think you aren't helping?" At the look on her face, he knew there was no arguing with her. So Neal resigned himself to assisting in this crazy venture.
Kel left Neal in the tilting yards to organize the pages and headed to the stables to get Peachblossom. Somehow, this didn't seem like such a good idea, but she'd have to be a fool to attempt to tell Lord Wyldon that now. And crazy she may be, she was no fool, at least not today.
"Hello boy," Kel whispered, stroking the horses' velvet muzzle. "Let's go ride, huh?" He snorted, causing Kel to smile. She tacked him up and led him outside. Strangely, she noted, Joren was handing out lances to the first year pages; she heard him say, "To get the feel of it." Shaking her head, she thought, now is this déja vu or what?
Joren passed a lance to a small boy with blondish hair, who seemed incredibly nervous. He opened his mouth to say something, glanced at Joren and thought better of it, and turned to Neal instead, who seemed to calm the child down. Then Ali moved up to take a lance. Kel watched her eyes widen in surprise as she nearly dropped it. Joren's eyes glittered maliciously, and Kel saw the telltale circles on the lance where the wood had been gouged out, the hole filled with lead, and then covered again. Quickly, Kel tied Peachblossom to the fence and raced over to Joren and Ali. Grabbing a hold of her younger friend's shoulder, she said coldly, "Will you give every girl who comes here a weighted lance then, Joren?" She loosened Alianne's hold on the lance (the girl's hands were white from gripping it so tightly, in order to not drop it) and handed it back to the pretty boy. He took it, and a kind of hatred seemed to fill his face until his entire body trembled with disliking. Even Kel was becoming a bit unnerved by his strange behavior. Clutching the lance in both hands, he began to raise it over his head; the lance shook violently. The pages began to back up, and Kel just had the chance to push Ali out of the way before something came crashing down on her left shoulder.
A burning pain filled her; everything swam around her for a moment. Then she realized that her knees were on the ground and she was doubled over. Fighting to stand, gritting her teeth, Kel tried to ignore the icy fire blazing down her arm. The entire left side of her body ached. The lance had clattered to the ground, and now Joren was standing before her, fists clenched, rage apparent in his eyes. In the background she could hear shrieking but that didn't matter. Suddenly he turned heel and fled.
"Lord Wyldon!" Neal shouted, but he was already coming, horrified. He'd happened to glance over just as the lance struck Kel. All four adults raced over. Just as they reached them, Kel said, "Would somebody kill him for me please?"
"Anything," Wyldon gasped, "so long as you're okay." He raked a hand through his near-non-existent hair. Kel's look plainly said, "I didn't know you cared." His anger at her attack on Joren had vanished, and now he seemed as distraught as if she were dying -- which she was pretty sure she wasn't, no matter how much pain she was in.
Alanna was about to rush over to Kel and try to heal her, but Jon grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?" he whispered fiercely. Hotly, the Lioness snapped, "I'm a healer, remember Your High-and-Mighty?" She tried to wrench out of his grip and he leaned in so close she could feel his hot breath on her face. "You know you're to stay away from her," he whispered dangerously. She pushed him away and said, "Well then why did you make me come here?" And, before he could answer, she turned around and went to Kel.
Neal's face was white. "Lioness!" he cried when he saw her. "I think it's broken." Alanna arched an eyebrow at him, and Kel muttered, "I know it's broken, you dolt," wincing as she said it. She was clutching her collarbone with her right hand and sweat trickled down her forehead, but strangely everything was quite clear to her.
Alanna slowly peeled the girl's fingers away from her collar-bone, trying not to hurt her. Kel's face was lined with pain, but she didn't cry out. Coolness spread from the Lioness' fingers into the fire to dull the pain some. Carefully Alanna pulled Kel's shirt over to reveal her shoulder. Then she bit her lip, glanced at Kel, and said, "She has to go inside, to the healer's wing."
Lord Wyldon nodded, and started to lead them through the crowd of people. All of Kel's friends followed them; the king had disappeared. On the way to the healer's wing they received many strange looks, though Kel didn't notice. The Lioness murmured to her the entire time: "Now don't move your arm, that'll hurt -- just keep it nice and steady." Her voice, like Lord Wyldon's, had something about it that managed to calm her.
Finally they reached the healers; Duke Baird raced out and his jaw hit the floor with a bang. "Mithros and Goddess, what happened here?" Without waiting for an answer, he shooed them inside, cast a disapproving eye on all the extra people, and then forced Kel to sit. Trying to figure out how to examine her injured collarbone without embarrassing her (and himself), he cut off her tunic and then pushed her shirt down over her shoulder. Looking at it, and feeling it with his magic, he raised an eyebrow. "Now what, my dear, did you do to earn this?" He really seemed to expect an answer, so Kel said the only thing that came to mind: "Ummmm . . . " He raised an eyebrow at her, and when she still didn't say anything, Neal informed him, "She said something stupid to Joren."
Kel didn't answer. She shivered -- the room was cold suddenly -- and clenching her jaw tightly as it shook her arm. When her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, the Lioness eyes her seriously. She prodded Duke Baird with an elbow and gestured toward Keladry with her head, and gave him a questioning look. Baird nodded. Owen nervously asked, "What's wrong?" and the Lioness told him, "That's shock."
Owen was confused. "But she knows Joren hit her; she saw it happen. Why would she be shocked?"
Neal rolled his eyes. Even being completely pissed off at Joren, Owen was still . . . well, Owen. And Owen made people laugh, though usually not on purpose. "Not that kind of shock, silly," he informed the younger boy, "it's a healer's term -- it means that something really bad has happened to someone or they've been hurt badly and the rest of their body puts most of its strength into helping the hurt part, or their mind." Then he looked to Kel intently, nervously. She smiled at him shakily, or tried to, but a frosted look came over her eyes and she closed them briefly, fighting a wave of nausea.
Baird shook his head. "This is what your boys do?" he asked Wyldon, who was entirely distraught and wringing his hands anxiously.
Indignantly, he said, "Well then!" And: "If you'll say that, then you ought say 'girls' as well, for Keladry's a student as well."
Kel looked up, her eyes still somewhat vacant and misty. "Well now that we've established that," she said a tad bit sarcastically, "can we please -- " and she gestured to her collarbone with her opposite hand. Her strained voice showed, to those more observant of her behavior, her obvious pain. Neal scrubbed at his forehead, upset.
Wyldon's eyes narrowed. "I'll make leave of your pain," he told her, though he seemed to be relieved that she was still lucid.
Sliding cool hands over her collarbone, the King's Champion began to heal Kel. Duke Baird placed his own hands on her temples, presumably assisting Alanna in reducing her pain. Un-pain flowed from their fingertips and into Kel, racing through her veins to her nerves. It was cold, but not unbearably so like the pain was unbearably hot. She felt a twinge of sharpness, like a knife through her bone -- though how that would work, she didn't know -- and twitched slightly. The Lioness glanced down at her and smiled encouragingly. Baird murmured, "That's only the bone mending itself Kel, that bit of sharpness there." She made a non-committal noise.
Reality was flowing back around her, emerging from the oily shadows that slipped and slid around her mind. It was then that Kel realized that Alanna the Lioness, King's Champion and well-known and recognized hero had just spoken to her. Her! Keladry of Mindelan, the very girl she'd been ordered away from. The irony -- Neal'd love it once he realized it. Though he probably already had. She snuck a peek at him and realized that he probably didn't even realize that she was alive. His face was milky white and his fists seemed to be permanently clenched; there was murder in his eyes. Murder most likely directed at Joren. Looking around the room, without moving her head, Kel decided that the very last person she'd want to be at this moment was Joren.
Deftly, Alanna inspected Keladry's collarbone, running her fingers over it to make sure the bone was in one piece once more. Finally she nodded, satisfied.
Duke Baird asked the Lioness to fetch a length of cloth from a cabinet. While she was doing this, he turned to Kel and said, "The break has healed, but your bone is still fragile. You did quite a number on it, young lady." Kel blushed slightly; she liked Duke Baird and this was a bit embarrassing. "Thing is -- thank you Alanna," he said, accepting the fraying and yellowed fabric from her. "Thing is," he repeated, "it won't stay healed -- which is, of course, the purpose -- unless you help it along." This was followed by a stern look at her and a meaningful glance towards her friends. "In other words, no messing with it until I say so. And no jousting."
Kel stared at him, defiantly. She opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head. "Absolutely none. And I don't want you doing anything physical."
"Not. Fair." Kel bit her cheek to keep from saying anything more.
"Not fair?" Baird repeated. "No, certainly not fair. But better than having a useless arm, eh?"
Kel thought about it, but didn't answer. She wasn't so sure. She couldn't get better if she didn't practice and she wasn't allowed to practice. Besides, Anders' foot was permanently hurt and he was still an effective fighter and influential knight. She sighed mentally. It still certainly wasn't her first choice. I suppose I'll just have to listen, she thought unhappily. "How long?" she asked.
"I'm not sure . . . " The healer turned to the Lioness and asked, "How long do you think it will take for Kel to be back to full activities?"
Alanna eyed Kel critically. "It'll prob'ly take a week or so, if she has healings everyday." Her gaze returned to Baird. "Is that what you were planning on doing?" The man nodded, then ruffled Kel's hair, making her look up at him with an 'what-on-earth-are-you-doing' expression on her face. He only grinned and leaned to whisper in her ear, "Maybe I can arrange for a certain healer to be here everyday . . . " Kel could practically hear the smile in his voice. When he pulled back, he smiled softly and said, "Now go to bed; you're going to very tired after a healing like that."
Kel tried to slide off the table, nearly lost her footing, and then winced as Neal grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Uhm . . . " she said, quietly. "Oh!" he cried, and let go quickly, only to grab the hand of her opposite arm and yank her forward. "Come on," he said, strangely serious.
"What's your problem?" Kel muttered. She would have stopped and bowed to Lord Wyldon and Duke Baird . . . and the Lioness, but no one seemed to care if she did or not -- plus, she hurt. And she wanted to go to sleep. And she wanted Neal to let go. That last one, though, did not seem like a possibility.
Neal drug her to her rooms and said, quickly and quietly, "I need to talk to you -- I'll sneak out late tonight after everyone's asleep. Give me your key so I can get it, all right?"
Being confused and tired and in pain, Kel obviously gave him the key. And then realized that she had no way to get in.
~~~~~
A/N: Ooooh....what's Neal wanna get into her room for? STOP THAT YOU PERVERTS; DON'T THINK THAT! Well, pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase review, even if I don't deserve it. I do have an excuse (and no, it's not "I fell down"). I'm taking 2 years of high school math....and I'm only in 8th grade. So I'm just a tad bit stressed with homework sometimes. But, if y'all are good an' ya review....I might just post my songfic that I've had finished for a loooong time and never posted. Sooo....pls review!!! *grins*
~Dani
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN IT FOR GOODNESS' SAKE! I DON'T KNOW WHY I EVEN BOTHER TO DO THESE THINGS; TP DON'T CARE ABOUT FANFICTION!!!! OH! But I DO own the plot!!! *looks very proud of herself*
~~~~~
After Conal had stormed off, Neal stared at his friend. "What are you on?" he asked dumbly.
She didn't answer, just waited until Lord Wyldon said, "Nealan, Keladry, you'd better get to class. I won't excuse your lateness."
"Oh for -- " Neal made a face. "Never mind."
Kel reached down to grab her four pieces of math homework and held them up together. Then she sighed. Neal reached over her shoulder and touched his finger to the broken seams. The sides wove themselves back together, so that they formed one piece of paper with only the slimmest white strips to show where Neal had mended it. "There," he said. "Now let's go!" He grabbed Kel's arm and half-drug, half-ran with her towards the stables.
"Oh -- I forgot. You're not jousting first, you're with Eda," Lord Wyldon called to them.
They turned around, looked at him, then at each other, faces unreadable. Lord Wyldon laughed, beckoning them over. "Come on, we're headed out the same way. I'll tell her you got caught up doing chores."
"What else do we do but chores," muttered Neal, getting a laugh from Kel. They joined the group as it went outside, then separated to join their class.
~~~~~
"So, Lioness, what brings you out here?" asked Lord Wyldon. Alanna glared at Jonathan. "Ask Jonathan. He says it's my duty. Of course, this from the man who, four years ago, told me it was my duty to stay away." Her cold smile portrayed the intense anger at her sire's hypocrisy.
The king sighed. "You're going to stay mad at me this whole time, aren't you?"
"Damn right I am!"
The three adults gathered the pages into one large group upon reaching the field.
"Now, I'm sure those of you who are 4th year pages, or have friends who were last year, know about the mock battles." Lord Wyldon looked too the crowd for affirmation. Most of them nodded and Owen grinned, but there were some confused faces as well.
"Well for those of you who don't, the idea is to teach you how to lead and follow orders in a battle situation," Jonathan said, then looked to his Champion to continue. And, after being sure to throw him an icy glare, she did: "When we were trained, knights were taught to work alone, and some of us had to get out of the habit real fast in order to save our skins. Ask Lord Raoul sometime -- he'll tell you."
"The purpose of this lesson is to show the new pages right off how this technique works, give the older pages some more insight into it, and to give the squires some work so they don't get rusty." Eda Bell had stepped out from behind a work-shed with all the squires following her. Arms crossed, she faced her group of rag-tag squires made up of first-year squires not yet chosen and early-returning second, third, and fourth years. "Shall we do a demonstration, hm? The usual groups."
The squires split in half raggedly, and faced their teacher once again. "Nominate leaders!" she barked.
Everyone in Kel's group looked at her and Joren's group did the same. "Well I'd say that's pretty clear," Eda muttered, wondering if she ought to tell them to give someone else practice, but shook it off. Keladry is good at leading; it's just how her mind works, she thought. And when she goes up against Joren, she gets a sort of spark of energy, she just wants to beat him so, she told herself.
The two groups eyed each other with mistrust. When Eda gave the signal to get ready -- after leading everyone to the woods and warning to audience that they might want to stay out of the way: things could get pretty rough -- they prepared to face off.
Joren, Garvey, Vincent, and Zahir stood in a line, Kel, Neal, Merric, Cleon, and Roald opposite them.
"Is it fair for their group to have more?" asked a boy with dark, curly hair and an upturned nose.
"Combat situations won't always be fair," murmured Alanna. "Watch." She said this, not only because that was the point of the battle, but because she wanted to study Keladry's -- or Kel, as she now knew she wanted to be called -- technique.
The two groups were then placed a fair distance from each other, and Kel's group tried to out-maneuver Joren's by sneaking around to the back of their force, but failed miserably -- Cleon's tunic snagged a branch and he toppled forward, alerting their "enemies" to their presence. The instant they realized they were under attack, Joren sprung up from his resting place on the ground and quickly gave orders to attack.
He wanted a straight out fight. No sneaking and no lookouts. Just them and the staffs they carried. Quickly, Eda, Jonathan, Alanna, and Wyldon all moved in to tag anyone who was "fatally" hit, and lead them off to the sidelines.
In an instant, Kel and Joren were sparring, wood striking viciously against wood. A high block -- then a low --
"Roald -- to the left!" Kel warned, seeing Zahir sneaking up behind him. Then -- "Neal, take Vincent."
All the while as Kel struck again and again at Joren, she watched for threats to the others. Joren, on the other hand was too busy fighting off her blows to lead his group, leaving them in the cold to fend for themselves. They froze, and began working out of sync with each other, unlike Kel's group. Within moments, Joren's followers were down to Zahir, Joren, and Garvey.
Zahir tripped over a stick he hadn't seen, and Neal gave him a good whack before tripping over him. Alanna darted in to mark the Bazhir boy, and Neal rolled off him, groaning. She grinned at him, when he asked, "Can I just be dead now, and get it done with?"
Sulkily, Zahir kicked Neal and then stomped to the side. Alanna opened her mouth to protest, but Neal shook his head, and stood up, grabbing hold of his staff again. And stepping back from Garvey's thrust, he slipped his weapon under Garvey's and twisted it out of his grip, sending it flying. Then, he darted in and --
Fell over backwards as Joren rammed into his side, bringing Kel, Neal, and Garvey with him. The kids all froze, and the referees looked at each other, unsure of who had been "killed". Finally, they decided to just leave it be, because nothing could be proven. Kel took note of who was still left in her group as the four of them stood up and brushed themselves off. Roald, Cleon, and Neal were still in commission, but Merric had gotten hit. Okay, she thought. This is okay. We still have more people.
They all waited for the signal to begin again, and instantly, Joren was sparring against Kel again. She wondered momentarily why he put so much concentration into her, instead of her group as a whole, leaving his group on it's own, but dismissed it. Right now she just really wanted to beat his face in. Or at least give him a few bruises.
His face twisted in disgust, Joren slammed into Kel's side, knocking her into a tree. Her head banged on a low branch; she saw stars for a moment. Shaking her head, Kel quickly popped back up to smack his biceps, thighs, and belly with her staff. Viciously he beat back on the staff, forcing her backwards. Her foot caught on a root, sending her flying onto the ground on her butt. Quickly, Kel stood up again. Joren was less than half a foot away -- too close for any traditional staff maneuvers. She swung her staff around in a glaive movement and stole Joren's balance away from him. Looking again at her surroundings, she found that the others had successfully eliminated the rest of Joren's teammates and were grinning, celebrating their victory. Turning to face Lord Wyldon, however, an entirely different sight greeted her.
"What was that?" the training master nearly screamed. The king seemed in agreement with Wyldon. "I don't believe I've ever seen staff maneuvers like that before," he said suspiciously, eyeing her. Kel and her friends exchanged glances at the same time that Alanna turned on Jonathan furiously. "Tell me Jonathan, in battle is everything always done properly? No! You work with what you have when you have it, and you do what you've got to. What Keladry did was perfectly appropriate for the situation!"
Ali sidled over and whispered, "Now they're going to be going at it like cats an' dogs." She sighed. "It's awful when they get angry at each other . . . " Roald nodded, eyes darting between his father and the King's Champion. "I'd rather be anywhere but here right now."
Ali and the others whole-heartedly agreed. Kel put a hand to her forehead. "Oh Gods," she muttered. "What?" Neal asked, taking his eyes off of the arguing group for a moment. Kel shook her head and said, "I am so stupid. I shouldn't have done that."
Neal threw up his hands in exasperation. "Kel -- what are you talking about?! We won because of you -- whether or not they choose to call it winning." He glared at their training master (though he didn't quite dare to grace the king with his gaze).
After a few minutes of watching the fight (Alanna was furiously defending Kel, not caring what people thought of it; Jon and Wyldon were shouting that it wasn't proper use of a staff; and Eda Bell was attempting to calm them down, while saying that "Alanna's right, Keladry did what anyone does in the heat of battle -- whatever it is that needs to be done".
Finally, Eda said, "Can this wait until later -- the children don't need to see their teachers fighting like this." They seemed to only just realize that they weren't alone.
Wyldon waved an arm. "Go joust or something."
They looked at him like he'd suddenly sprouted a third head. The first years looked terrified, having had no experience whatsoever in jousting and half -- at least -- knew they wouldn't recognize a lance if it bopped them on the head. The squires, though, got the feeling that they'd be the ones doing the educating and they weren't any happier than the first years.
"Um, sir . . . ?" a first year with dark hair and strikingly light eyes tentatively raised an arm. "We, uh . . . we don't know how to joust." Lord Wyldon seemed to be shocked at this revelation. "You don't . . . well how did you get this far . . . " suddenly she realized he was speaking to a first year. "Oh. Well, they'll teach -- "
But even before Lord Wyldon had finished, Neal was backing away. "No. No -- no, no, no, no. No. I am not going to teach anyone to joust." The others wholeheartedly agreed.
Wyldon turned sharp eyes on Kel and impatiently growled, "Go get your horse and lance and teach them."
Her eyes widened. "What -- no way. Uh-uh, I ca -- " he glared at her and barked, "Go on girl." Kel stared at him, but when she opened her mouth to argue again, his eyes narrowed. Kel sighed and turned away. "Dammit, dammit, dammit," she muttered as they walked to the stables. "Dammit!"
Neal ran up beside her. "Language Kel-dear, language." He grinned silly-ly and waggled his eyebrows. She grabbed his arm. "You're helping -- you think you aren't helping?" At the look on her face, he knew there was no arguing with her. So Neal resigned himself to assisting in this crazy venture.
Kel left Neal in the tilting yards to organize the pages and headed to the stables to get Peachblossom. Somehow, this didn't seem like such a good idea, but she'd have to be a fool to attempt to tell Lord Wyldon that now. And crazy she may be, she was no fool, at least not today.
"Hello boy," Kel whispered, stroking the horses' velvet muzzle. "Let's go ride, huh?" He snorted, causing Kel to smile. She tacked him up and led him outside. Strangely, she noted, Joren was handing out lances to the first year pages; she heard him say, "To get the feel of it." Shaking her head, she thought, now is this déja vu or what?
Joren passed a lance to a small boy with blondish hair, who seemed incredibly nervous. He opened his mouth to say something, glanced at Joren and thought better of it, and turned to Neal instead, who seemed to calm the child down. Then Ali moved up to take a lance. Kel watched her eyes widen in surprise as she nearly dropped it. Joren's eyes glittered maliciously, and Kel saw the telltale circles on the lance where the wood had been gouged out, the hole filled with lead, and then covered again. Quickly, Kel tied Peachblossom to the fence and raced over to Joren and Ali. Grabbing a hold of her younger friend's shoulder, she said coldly, "Will you give every girl who comes here a weighted lance then, Joren?" She loosened Alianne's hold on the lance (the girl's hands were white from gripping it so tightly, in order to not drop it) and handed it back to the pretty boy. He took it, and a kind of hatred seemed to fill his face until his entire body trembled with disliking. Even Kel was becoming a bit unnerved by his strange behavior. Clutching the lance in both hands, he began to raise it over his head; the lance shook violently. The pages began to back up, and Kel just had the chance to push Ali out of the way before something came crashing down on her left shoulder.
A burning pain filled her; everything swam around her for a moment. Then she realized that her knees were on the ground and she was doubled over. Fighting to stand, gritting her teeth, Kel tried to ignore the icy fire blazing down her arm. The entire left side of her body ached. The lance had clattered to the ground, and now Joren was standing before her, fists clenched, rage apparent in his eyes. In the background she could hear shrieking but that didn't matter. Suddenly he turned heel and fled.
"Lord Wyldon!" Neal shouted, but he was already coming, horrified. He'd happened to glance over just as the lance struck Kel. All four adults raced over. Just as they reached them, Kel said, "Would somebody kill him for me please?"
"Anything," Wyldon gasped, "so long as you're okay." He raked a hand through his near-non-existent hair. Kel's look plainly said, "I didn't know you cared." His anger at her attack on Joren had vanished, and now he seemed as distraught as if she were dying -- which she was pretty sure she wasn't, no matter how much pain she was in.
Alanna was about to rush over to Kel and try to heal her, but Jon grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?" he whispered fiercely. Hotly, the Lioness snapped, "I'm a healer, remember Your High-and-Mighty?" She tried to wrench out of his grip and he leaned in so close she could feel his hot breath on her face. "You know you're to stay away from her," he whispered dangerously. She pushed him away and said, "Well then why did you make me come here?" And, before he could answer, she turned around and went to Kel.
Neal's face was white. "Lioness!" he cried when he saw her. "I think it's broken." Alanna arched an eyebrow at him, and Kel muttered, "I know it's broken, you dolt," wincing as she said it. She was clutching her collarbone with her right hand and sweat trickled down her forehead, but strangely everything was quite clear to her.
Alanna slowly peeled the girl's fingers away from her collar-bone, trying not to hurt her. Kel's face was lined with pain, but she didn't cry out. Coolness spread from the Lioness' fingers into the fire to dull the pain some. Carefully Alanna pulled Kel's shirt over to reveal her shoulder. Then she bit her lip, glanced at Kel, and said, "She has to go inside, to the healer's wing."
Lord Wyldon nodded, and started to lead them through the crowd of people. All of Kel's friends followed them; the king had disappeared. On the way to the healer's wing they received many strange looks, though Kel didn't notice. The Lioness murmured to her the entire time: "Now don't move your arm, that'll hurt -- just keep it nice and steady." Her voice, like Lord Wyldon's, had something about it that managed to calm her.
Finally they reached the healers; Duke Baird raced out and his jaw hit the floor with a bang. "Mithros and Goddess, what happened here?" Without waiting for an answer, he shooed them inside, cast a disapproving eye on all the extra people, and then forced Kel to sit. Trying to figure out how to examine her injured collarbone without embarrassing her (and himself), he cut off her tunic and then pushed her shirt down over her shoulder. Looking at it, and feeling it with his magic, he raised an eyebrow. "Now what, my dear, did you do to earn this?" He really seemed to expect an answer, so Kel said the only thing that came to mind: "Ummmm . . . " He raised an eyebrow at her, and when she still didn't say anything, Neal informed him, "She said something stupid to Joren."
Kel didn't answer. She shivered -- the room was cold suddenly -- and clenching her jaw tightly as it shook her arm. When her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, the Lioness eyes her seriously. She prodded Duke Baird with an elbow and gestured toward Keladry with her head, and gave him a questioning look. Baird nodded. Owen nervously asked, "What's wrong?" and the Lioness told him, "That's shock."
Owen was confused. "But she knows Joren hit her; she saw it happen. Why would she be shocked?"
Neal rolled his eyes. Even being completely pissed off at Joren, Owen was still . . . well, Owen. And Owen made people laugh, though usually not on purpose. "Not that kind of shock, silly," he informed the younger boy, "it's a healer's term -- it means that something really bad has happened to someone or they've been hurt badly and the rest of their body puts most of its strength into helping the hurt part, or their mind." Then he looked to Kel intently, nervously. She smiled at him shakily, or tried to, but a frosted look came over her eyes and she closed them briefly, fighting a wave of nausea.
Baird shook his head. "This is what your boys do?" he asked Wyldon, who was entirely distraught and wringing his hands anxiously.
Indignantly, he said, "Well then!" And: "If you'll say that, then you ought say 'girls' as well, for Keladry's a student as well."
Kel looked up, her eyes still somewhat vacant and misty. "Well now that we've established that," she said a tad bit sarcastically, "can we please -- " and she gestured to her collarbone with her opposite hand. Her strained voice showed, to those more observant of her behavior, her obvious pain. Neal scrubbed at his forehead, upset.
Wyldon's eyes narrowed. "I'll make leave of your pain," he told her, though he seemed to be relieved that she was still lucid.
Sliding cool hands over her collarbone, the King's Champion began to heal Kel. Duke Baird placed his own hands on her temples, presumably assisting Alanna in reducing her pain. Un-pain flowed from their fingertips and into Kel, racing through her veins to her nerves. It was cold, but not unbearably so like the pain was unbearably hot. She felt a twinge of sharpness, like a knife through her bone -- though how that would work, she didn't know -- and twitched slightly. The Lioness glanced down at her and smiled encouragingly. Baird murmured, "That's only the bone mending itself Kel, that bit of sharpness there." She made a non-committal noise.
Reality was flowing back around her, emerging from the oily shadows that slipped and slid around her mind. It was then that Kel realized that Alanna the Lioness, King's Champion and well-known and recognized hero had just spoken to her. Her! Keladry of Mindelan, the very girl she'd been ordered away from. The irony -- Neal'd love it once he realized it. Though he probably already had. She snuck a peek at him and realized that he probably didn't even realize that she was alive. His face was milky white and his fists seemed to be permanently clenched; there was murder in his eyes. Murder most likely directed at Joren. Looking around the room, without moving her head, Kel decided that the very last person she'd want to be at this moment was Joren.
Deftly, Alanna inspected Keladry's collarbone, running her fingers over it to make sure the bone was in one piece once more. Finally she nodded, satisfied.
Duke Baird asked the Lioness to fetch a length of cloth from a cabinet. While she was doing this, he turned to Kel and said, "The break has healed, but your bone is still fragile. You did quite a number on it, young lady." Kel blushed slightly; she liked Duke Baird and this was a bit embarrassing. "Thing is -- thank you Alanna," he said, accepting the fraying and yellowed fabric from her. "Thing is," he repeated, "it won't stay healed -- which is, of course, the purpose -- unless you help it along." This was followed by a stern look at her and a meaningful glance towards her friends. "In other words, no messing with it until I say so. And no jousting."
Kel stared at him, defiantly. She opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head. "Absolutely none. And I don't want you doing anything physical."
"Not. Fair." Kel bit her cheek to keep from saying anything more.
"Not fair?" Baird repeated. "No, certainly not fair. But better than having a useless arm, eh?"
Kel thought about it, but didn't answer. She wasn't so sure. She couldn't get better if she didn't practice and she wasn't allowed to practice. Besides, Anders' foot was permanently hurt and he was still an effective fighter and influential knight. She sighed mentally. It still certainly wasn't her first choice. I suppose I'll just have to listen, she thought unhappily. "How long?" she asked.
"I'm not sure . . . " The healer turned to the Lioness and asked, "How long do you think it will take for Kel to be back to full activities?"
Alanna eyed Kel critically. "It'll prob'ly take a week or so, if she has healings everyday." Her gaze returned to Baird. "Is that what you were planning on doing?" The man nodded, then ruffled Kel's hair, making her look up at him with an 'what-on-earth-are-you-doing' expression on her face. He only grinned and leaned to whisper in her ear, "Maybe I can arrange for a certain healer to be here everyday . . . " Kel could practically hear the smile in his voice. When he pulled back, he smiled softly and said, "Now go to bed; you're going to very tired after a healing like that."
Kel tried to slide off the table, nearly lost her footing, and then winced as Neal grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Uhm . . . " she said, quietly. "Oh!" he cried, and let go quickly, only to grab the hand of her opposite arm and yank her forward. "Come on," he said, strangely serious.
"What's your problem?" Kel muttered. She would have stopped and bowed to Lord Wyldon and Duke Baird . . . and the Lioness, but no one seemed to care if she did or not -- plus, she hurt. And she wanted to go to sleep. And she wanted Neal to let go. That last one, though, did not seem like a possibility.
Neal drug her to her rooms and said, quickly and quietly, "I need to talk to you -- I'll sneak out late tonight after everyone's asleep. Give me your key so I can get it, all right?"
Being confused and tired and in pain, Kel obviously gave him the key. And then realized that she had no way to get in.
~~~~~
A/N: Ooooh....what's Neal wanna get into her room for? STOP THAT YOU PERVERTS; DON'T THINK THAT! Well, pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase review, even if I don't deserve it. I do have an excuse (and no, it's not "I fell down"). I'm taking 2 years of high school math....and I'm only in 8th grade. So I'm just a tad bit stressed with homework sometimes. But, if y'all are good an' ya review....I might just post my songfic that I've had finished for a loooong time and never posted. Sooo....pls review!!! *grins*
~Dani