For eight days, Kel swam in and out of consciousness. Oddly enough, she remembered only the image of Lerant's worried face. Aching all over, Kel finally woke up to see Neal asleep in a chair beside her bed. When she stirred, he opened his beautiful green eyes, and smiled down at her.
"Kel!! Thank the gods you're all right!! How are you? How do you feel?" he asked anxiously. She was only able to answer his first question when Duke Baird came in.
"Ah, you're awake," Baird said. "Now take this draught, and back to bed." With that, the healer left the room. Obediently, Kel took the draught, and promptly fell asleep.
When Kel woke up for a second time, she felt much better. Obviously, Neal was still there, but Kel was the one to ask the questions this time.
"Neal, you don't look good at all," she said.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Neal reassured her.
"Hhmmph. Well, how is the rest of the court. How is Garvey? Has anything happened while I've been unconscious. What color had been in Neal's face drained out, leaving him as white as a piece of parchment.
"Kel," he said softly, "Garvey's dead." Waving aside her gasp of shock, he continued. "It wasn't your fault. He was stupid enough to challenge you. For gods' sake!!! He tried to kill you. Anyways, as to your other question, nothing…uuhhh…um…has really happened…nothing at all."
Immediately, Kel realized that something was wrong. "O.K. Neal, tell me the truth. What's going on?!?"
Neal twisted his hands, and looked around nervously. He finally replied.
"Kel, Joren's back."
Kel felt the blood drain out of her face. Joren? Back? No, no there had to be some mistake. Joren was dead. He had died in the Chamber. She cracked a smile.
"Very funny, Neal. Now tell me what's really going on."
Neal looked very nervous, and he had taken on a pale green tinge.
"I'm not joking, Kel. It was Numair; he was doing an experiment, and he needed a specimen. He wasn't thinking when he picked Joren's body. He didn't think that Joren was gonna come back to life. No one did."
Kel licked her dry lips. "Great. Just what I need. Another enemy out there to kill me. Why the hell does this always have to happen to me?!?"
"Kel-" Neal began.
"No, Neal. I'll deal with this myself. I'll be fine here. After all, all of the healers are really close by. Don't worry. I'll tell you if I'm not comfortable."
Neal sighed and shook his head. "Well, you know best. But that doesn't mean that I won't stay here if I don't think you can handle him by yourself." With that, he kissed her gently and left. Kel lay back in her bed, and stared at the white-washed ceiling. She tried to think about what Joren would do, but she unwittingly drifted back to sleep.
One month later…Raoul looked on jealously as Kel chatted with Neal. Kel is mine. I was the first to love her for who she REALLY is, but then that damn boy had to come along and take her from my grasp. I will prove to Kel that the one she wants is me. Neal will pay for his actions, thought Raoul.
He made his way over to Neal. Raoul gave Neal a shove that sent him toppling over.
"All right," Raoul snarled. "Come on, fag. You took my girl, and I want her back!!!"
Neal rolled up his shirt sleeves with one hand, taking his sword out of
the scabbard with the other. When Raoul had his out, Neal and his sword, Lucky,
lunged toward the Raoul's muscular chest. Raoul, being a very experienced swordsman, danced back, landing a hard smack on Neal's butt. Neal gave a howl of rage, and lunged for Raoul's throat. Then, he did the unexpected; hurling his sword aside, Neal started to choke Raoul! Raoul sniggered, and gave Neal a hard tap on the side of his head. Neal blacked out, and rolled of like a piece of firewood.
Brusquely, Raoul stood up and brushed off his tunic. He looked up to see Kel running towards them; he grinned and spoke.
"Well, love. Look at Neal now. Ain't he big and brave?!?"
Kel looked disgusted.
"I can't believe you and Neal actually got in a fight over me. Men are so stupid! I can't believe I actually dated both of you."
"But-" Raoul started to stutter.
"No buts! You guys are so stupid! When Neal wakes up, tell him not to bother talking to me. In fact you to are not going to talk to me until I say so!!!"
With that, Kel stomped off, seething. Raoul simply stared after her with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
Someone knocked softly on Buri's door. Hastily she opened it. There stood Jon with a hastily packed duffel bag.
"Ready, love?" he asked softly.
"I've been ready my whole life!" she exclaimed.
Jon grinned, and silently embraced her. Giving her arm a gentle tug, he pulled her through the door. They each pulled up the hoods on their cloaks before silently slipping our of the castle.
Thayet ran towards Alanna's room. Without bothering to knock, she flung the door open.
"Alanna! Jon's run off with Buri!" she cried.
Alanna's jaw dropped, while Thayet burst into tears. Alanna started to fume.
"Damn!!! Why didn't they tell me?!? We could have had a threesome!!"
Note: So, what did ya think? Come on, people, we need more reviews!!!
By the way, Everyone who hates Cleon needs to join KCN. We already have eight members, but we can always need more.
If you're interested, email us at cleon_sucks@yahoo.co.uk
