Snow
Chapter three: Discoveries
By: Aeris
I don't own the Tamora Pierce characters or Tortall. I do own the Bat-Demons and i.e. Ateo, Queen Ratellciea and others, the Empire of Imp, Emperor Imp, the Wolf-Demons, and other demons. And Buck. If you wish to use them e-mail me at kurumi2244@aol.com
~*~
Kel watched as Neal unpacked his things into the room where her Squire would live if she had one. She was happy that Neal decided to stay with her, after the kings speech she didn't feel safe. What really bothered her is that the knights that were at the north haven't returned yet. Are they dead? Did the Demons get to them? Her mind swarmed with thoughts like these. "Hum," she asked when she realized that Neal had asked her a question.
"I asked if we could go eat now! They have blueberry pie! You know how much I love blue berry pie." Neal told her.
"Oh okay," Kel said as she followed him out of her room into the mess where the knights ate.
"Did you hear?" Merric asked when the two sat next to him and Seaver.
"Hear what?" Neal asked as he ate his dessert first.
"Eat your vegetables." Kel instructed him.
"The knights were found, only a few survived. They said that bat-people attached them. They must mean the bat demons. I think that a dozen or so came back. They were the ones that were hunting. Saw the fight and ran I guess." Merric informed them.
"You think Cleon came back?" Neal asked as he stuffed his fried potatoes and carrots into his mouth.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Kel told him but she was praying to the gods that he had survived.
"Yes mother." Neal mumbled.
"I don't know, I did hear anything about him or any one else for that matter. We can go check the healers ward after dinner, seems that they ran into some trouble on the way back to Cours." Seaver put in. The rest nodded with agreement to his plan.
~*~
The four walked down to the healer's ward that night after a filling dinner. "I don't think I've had blueberry pie that good in ages. Nope, not since I was Pirates Swoop, Alanna's husband can cook." Neal said with a pleased sigh. (A/N: I don't know if George can cook, I just remember reading that Alanna wasn't the best cook. Okay I'm babbling now.)
"Is all you can think about is Pie?!" Kel demanded and glared at Neal.
"I'm sorry Kel." Neal said symptomatically. "I'm sure that Lover boys okay." Kel kept her face Yamani-smooth and didn't reply. They walked into the healer's ward. Men with all different types of injuries lay on the beds before them.
"What can I do for you?" Barid of Queenscove asked when they entered the room.
"Is Cleon of Kennan here?" Kel asked hopeful. The chief healer shocks his head a sad no.
"Sorry Kel," He told her.
"Cleon of Kennan? He was a brave lad indeed." One of the soldiers told them. The four walked over to the man that the voice belonged to bed. He had been blinded in his right eye and he wore a bandage over it. His right leg was rapped and his left arm as well. He had sandy blond hair and was in his thirties. He was tall and buff as well. "Ye can call me Buck. That's what me friends call me." He sat up in his bed, "You should've seen that Cleon in action, he defended Tortall with honor. He saved these men was a grave sight it was. Then poof! He disappeared, just like that `inta thin air!"
"Are we talking about the same Cleon of Kennan here?" Neal wanted to know. "Ow!" he muttered when Kel hit him in the arm.
"Shut up Queenscove." Kel told him and bit back tears.
"Aye, now run a long kids." The man said moving them along.
~*~
"What are we going to do?" Alanna asked as she and Jon looked at the reports from the wide range of Tortall. "All theses sightings and attaches. More then 50 are under the sleep spell. One hundred deaths from attaches, this is horrible."
"Yes, and the attaches are spreading to Tyra and even into Scanra. A combination of 2 hundred and 14 attaches that have been reported, that's including the sleep spell. And in Tortall one hundred and sixty four total." The King shook his head. "Look at this, in Carthaki seventy-five people dead, forty- five under the sleep spell. These figures," he covered his mouth. "Are unsightly."
~*~
"Daine! Daine! Wake up!" Numair called that night. "Come here!"
"What is it Numair?" Daine said as she got out of their bed to see what Numair was talking about. "It's midnight."
"Look, these are the figures from those dead or under the sleep spell this year. And these are those from 400 years ago." Numair told her pointing at the papers.
"I see that, now come to bed, it's late." Daine told him.
"No look, really. They are exactly the same, to the very last detail. Battle tactics are the same ones we used in the Demon invasions under King Jordan's rule. It's sorcery, someone is controlling this." Numair told her.
"But know one has that power except you, the rest are dead…" Daine told him.
"Imp wouldn't do that, would he?"
"No he wouldn't, he has some honor. No they brought someone from the dead. Someone extremely powerful," Numair's face darkened. "And I know who, I must tell the king."
"But it's midnight Numair." Daine protested. "Even Kings sleep."
"I know my love, but this is urgent." Numair told her and kissed her on her brow and left to find the king.
~*~
Neal woke to the sound of Kel's steady crying. He pulled on his robe and went into Kel's room through the adjoining door that was left open. Neal rubbed his eyes. "You okay Kel?"
"Hum, yeah." She said as she sat up on her bed, her eyes red and puffed up.
"No you're not. You were crying." He sat down next to her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing okay." The lady knight told him. The fire burned steadily in her hearth and a filled into Kel's room. Outside three more inches of snow had fallen.
"I'm your best friend Kel, it's about Cleon isn't it?" He asked.
Kel buried her face into her hands and cried some more. Neal hugged her and let Kel cry into his shirt. "I'm just sorry to see him go," She sniffed it w as muffled because she had buried her head into his shoulder. "It's always hard to see someone go."
"You really loved him, didn't you?" Neal asked her, letting her cry more into his shirt.
"That's part of it, I don't know if I did care for him that way. I mean I like him a lot, it's just, oh Neal." Kel said crying. He's warm, very warm. Kel though. That made her cry even more, she was ashamed to like being in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist. He ran his fingers through her soft hair. Kel sighed and let their lips meet--
"No." Neal said and pulled away. "I can't take advantage of you in this state. You're getting over Cleon."
"That's not it, Neal I…"
~*~
Hahaha, evil ain't I? You'll just have to wait to see what Kel says. Kel/Cleon fans may be surprised as well as Kel/Neal fans. Either way, keep reading. *Please? =)* Review!! Thankies!
Preview of next chapter:
I can't put one without it being a spoiler, sorry! But what I can tell you is that I don't plan to end it in the next chapter. And that a new character comes along.
