Disclaimer (before anything else) I won nothing. (I TRIED to keep it short)
A.N I think I'm gonna just make things easy for myself here. I'll get a bit lazy this chapter.
But first some shoutouts. Thanks to all who have reviewed! (I hope to have the paragraphs a little longer and there'll probably only be a couple more chapters. This chappie also contains maybe my first ever fight scene, so please be critical with it)
Merry: I'm sorry I hurt Dom! Well, I just needed him to be there and I couldn't think of a good excuse J
White-wolf: I'm glad you like it. I hope you love this chapter too!
Liger and Lady Queenscove: tee hee. I'm glad I put in the Dom-chaperone thing too. YAY! More people to read my fic! Thank you!
Keita: Well, thanks for all those emails J I wish I could read Lady Knight now. And my dad WON'T let me buy it for big bucks off Amazon. 'Patience' he says. Grrr
Larzdinn: Like I said-hopefully it'll be more in paragraphs than separate chunks this time. Apparently LK comes out on the 27th August in the US, but I won't get it til later 'cos Australia gets the UK version. We'll have to wait a little bit for shipping and stuff. L
Lady Knight: Hope you like this one, whatever happens!
Sunkisses643: Well, here's the next chapter! Please review!
DragonRaye: Yes! I am a true K/N fan. But I might end up twisting this the other way. But I'm not gonna spoil it yet! You know that no main character of Tammy's (in Tortall, at least) has got with a guy under 5 years older! (Or is Jon 4 years older? Well-she didn't marry him though!)
KeladryLadyKnight: Well, I can still hope you luv it (and that did NOT imply anything) Do you want me to keep emailing you for every chapter?
Nari: Did you buy any more of the tropical Vitafresh? You know that you're the only person that likes it. I luuuuv raspberry. I finished my cookie dough. Gotta get more. I hope you like this chapter!
Whew. I'm not sure if I'll do that next chapter. It takes up too much room and people might complain. Well, in your review please tell me how I can make my writing better ^_^
.
Internal Misgivings
As they said goodbye to Dom, Neal could see Kel was sad to see him go, but anxious about what lay ahead. The border was getting close, and local villages feared that Scanran raiders would attack from behind while all Tortall's strongest fighters were at the border. They had been glad to teach a few of the townspeople some skills they might use in self-defence, but there was Kel's ever-longing to see Cleon and it kept them moving.
Neal had to admit, that while he didn't particularly like the idea of them fawning over each other that much (he didn't quite know why), it would make her happy, and that's really what Neal wanted.
They rode away from Dom and fief Teron in silence, both deep in their own thoughts. It was quite some time before Kel realised the sparrows were gone.
"Neal? She asked, slightly panicking, after she found that Jump had disappeared too.
"Mmm?"
"D'you know where Jump, Kuri and the rest of the sparrows have gone?" (A/N Kuri is a name I gave a sparrow)
"I can't say that I - woh!" He halted his mare.
"There's something…someone up ahead. Can you hear it?"
Kel started to worry. Could the enemy be nearby? At the moment she feared more for the animals' safety than their own.
"Maybe we should-we should get off the road a bit. Then at least we'll be prepared."
As quiet as possible they dismounted and led their horses near a clump of trees, out of the way. Kel didn't want to have to worry about them too. She pulled out Griffin just in case.
They waited. Neal's sharp ears picked up a distant cry. The sparrows, Kuri included, all flew down to Kel as fast as they could, twittering madly.
"Something's up."
"I'll say. You know they don't just go mad for nothing. Shiga-where's Jump?" she asked a sparrow, and that was the last thing she got to say before the stamping came-almost deafening after the silence. It was like steady thunder getting closer, closer - hooves clattered and Kel could see Jump. He pelted towards her at the last minute, before the stallions and their dark riders lunged at the two knights. Kel lifted Griffin and reached for her belt daggers.
There were six-for the moment-two on mean horses, and they charged vigorously, aiming for Neal first. Metal clashed. Two of the four men on foot were battering Neal with their swords, but they were no match for the Wyldon-trained knight. As soon as Neal found an opening, he took it, slicing his sword through the man's torso.
Kel herself was having problems. A rider came at her, bringing down a blade of sharp-edged steel. She lifted her sword arm to block the blow, ever so slowly. Slowly? What was happening? Kel found herself unable to compete with their speed. The rider tried hitting her head with his sword's hilt. 'I don't get knocked out that easily' Kel though, grim and firm.
But her speed - she had slowed right down. Fighting was almost killing her. Only a terrible injury would have this effect on her, but she was yet to feel the pain. Unless-
"Kel! Mage!" Neal cried out. He fought back against the second last standing man as Kel brought Griffin to the leg of the man's horse. It caused him to fall from his lame horse to the ground, faltering. With stone determination, Kel tried to fight the magic that was making her so low-geared and bring Griffin down on the fallen rider.
Neal had already worked his way to their mage, unnoticed at present. The magic worker was so busy concentrating on his incantations he never realised the Tortallan knight was behind him until it was too late.
The sparrows were wildly darting at Kel's last enemy, pecking at whatever skin became exposed.
'It's too bad you don't have armour' Kel thought sardonically and raised Griffin-
For a moment her attention was gripped by something else. Jump did his namesake and aimed for the man's heads, but fell to the ground. She stopped breathing (A/N think Lord of the Rings movie when Boromir died) "What?" was all should could say. An arrow stuck in his side. Her heart faltered.
"Jump! Noo…" she whispered. "Argh!"
The man tried to use this broken moment to his advantage. He kicked Kel to the ground, but was mistaking her anger. She used it - binding hate and twisting it against him, wielding her sword to her advantage.
"Kel! Daggers!" Neal yelled.
She threw them in his general direction as soon as they were out of her belt. Neal had already spotted the archer, their seventh enemy. The man gave a painful cry before he fell from his perch atop a tree; the daggers lodged deep in his throat.
Kel took one more glance at her dog, her friend, and used all her strength and brought it upon the last of the enemy.
.
Kel's attention was first drawn to Jump. When she happily discovered that the arrow hadn't been fatal for him, they set about cleaning and bandaging the wound. He would be alright.
They were riding slowly, taking their time to find a campsite.
"So- you think they were raiders?"
'Well they definitely weren't Tortallan. Let's just hope there isn't a whole Scanran base camp around here somewhere."
Kel nodded in agreement and in less than an hour they had found a suitable place to rest up and camp for the night. Neal was putting out the fire as Kel drew up her sleeping roll around her. 'I know Jump is going to be ok,' she thought. 'I just hope Cleon and everyone else its.'
~*~*~
Please. Review.
_______________________________________
Thank you
A.N I think I'm gonna just make things easy for myself here. I'll get a bit lazy this chapter.
But first some shoutouts. Thanks to all who have reviewed! (I hope to have the paragraphs a little longer and there'll probably only be a couple more chapters. This chappie also contains maybe my first ever fight scene, so please be critical with it)
Merry: I'm sorry I hurt Dom! Well, I just needed him to be there and I couldn't think of a good excuse J
White-wolf: I'm glad you like it. I hope you love this chapter too!
Liger and Lady Queenscove: tee hee. I'm glad I put in the Dom-chaperone thing too. YAY! More people to read my fic! Thank you!
Keita: Well, thanks for all those emails J I wish I could read Lady Knight now. And my dad WON'T let me buy it for big bucks off Amazon. 'Patience' he says. Grrr
Larzdinn: Like I said-hopefully it'll be more in paragraphs than separate chunks this time. Apparently LK comes out on the 27th August in the US, but I won't get it til later 'cos Australia gets the UK version. We'll have to wait a little bit for shipping and stuff. L
Lady Knight: Hope you like this one, whatever happens!
Sunkisses643: Well, here's the next chapter! Please review!
DragonRaye: Yes! I am a true K/N fan. But I might end up twisting this the other way. But I'm not gonna spoil it yet! You know that no main character of Tammy's (in Tortall, at least) has got with a guy under 5 years older! (Or is Jon 4 years older? Well-she didn't marry him though!)
KeladryLadyKnight: Well, I can still hope you luv it (and that did NOT imply anything) Do you want me to keep emailing you for every chapter?
Nari: Did you buy any more of the tropical Vitafresh? You know that you're the only person that likes it. I luuuuv raspberry. I finished my cookie dough. Gotta get more. I hope you like this chapter!
Whew. I'm not sure if I'll do that next chapter. It takes up too much room and people might complain. Well, in your review please tell me how I can make my writing better ^_^
.
Internal Misgivings
As they said goodbye to Dom, Neal could see Kel was sad to see him go, but anxious about what lay ahead. The border was getting close, and local villages feared that Scanran raiders would attack from behind while all Tortall's strongest fighters were at the border. They had been glad to teach a few of the townspeople some skills they might use in self-defence, but there was Kel's ever-longing to see Cleon and it kept them moving.
Neal had to admit, that while he didn't particularly like the idea of them fawning over each other that much (he didn't quite know why), it would make her happy, and that's really what Neal wanted.
They rode away from Dom and fief Teron in silence, both deep in their own thoughts. It was quite some time before Kel realised the sparrows were gone.
"Neal? She asked, slightly panicking, after she found that Jump had disappeared too.
"Mmm?"
"D'you know where Jump, Kuri and the rest of the sparrows have gone?" (A/N Kuri is a name I gave a sparrow)
"I can't say that I - woh!" He halted his mare.
"There's something…someone up ahead. Can you hear it?"
Kel started to worry. Could the enemy be nearby? At the moment she feared more for the animals' safety than their own.
"Maybe we should-we should get off the road a bit. Then at least we'll be prepared."
As quiet as possible they dismounted and led their horses near a clump of trees, out of the way. Kel didn't want to have to worry about them too. She pulled out Griffin just in case.
They waited. Neal's sharp ears picked up a distant cry. The sparrows, Kuri included, all flew down to Kel as fast as they could, twittering madly.
"Something's up."
"I'll say. You know they don't just go mad for nothing. Shiga-where's Jump?" she asked a sparrow, and that was the last thing she got to say before the stamping came-almost deafening after the silence. It was like steady thunder getting closer, closer - hooves clattered and Kel could see Jump. He pelted towards her at the last minute, before the stallions and their dark riders lunged at the two knights. Kel lifted Griffin and reached for her belt daggers.
There were six-for the moment-two on mean horses, and they charged vigorously, aiming for Neal first. Metal clashed. Two of the four men on foot were battering Neal with their swords, but they were no match for the Wyldon-trained knight. As soon as Neal found an opening, he took it, slicing his sword through the man's torso.
Kel herself was having problems. A rider came at her, bringing down a blade of sharp-edged steel. She lifted her sword arm to block the blow, ever so slowly. Slowly? What was happening? Kel found herself unable to compete with their speed. The rider tried hitting her head with his sword's hilt. 'I don't get knocked out that easily' Kel though, grim and firm.
But her speed - she had slowed right down. Fighting was almost killing her. Only a terrible injury would have this effect on her, but she was yet to feel the pain. Unless-
"Kel! Mage!" Neal cried out. He fought back against the second last standing man as Kel brought Griffin to the leg of the man's horse. It caused him to fall from his lame horse to the ground, faltering. With stone determination, Kel tried to fight the magic that was making her so low-geared and bring Griffin down on the fallen rider.
Neal had already worked his way to their mage, unnoticed at present. The magic worker was so busy concentrating on his incantations he never realised the Tortallan knight was behind him until it was too late.
The sparrows were wildly darting at Kel's last enemy, pecking at whatever skin became exposed.
'It's too bad you don't have armour' Kel thought sardonically and raised Griffin-
For a moment her attention was gripped by something else. Jump did his namesake and aimed for the man's heads, but fell to the ground. She stopped breathing (A/N think Lord of the Rings movie when Boromir died) "What?" was all should could say. An arrow stuck in his side. Her heart faltered.
"Jump! Noo…" she whispered. "Argh!"
The man tried to use this broken moment to his advantage. He kicked Kel to the ground, but was mistaking her anger. She used it - binding hate and twisting it against him, wielding her sword to her advantage.
"Kel! Daggers!" Neal yelled.
She threw them in his general direction as soon as they were out of her belt. Neal had already spotted the archer, their seventh enemy. The man gave a painful cry before he fell from his perch atop a tree; the daggers lodged deep in his throat.
Kel took one more glance at her dog, her friend, and used all her strength and brought it upon the last of the enemy.
.
Kel's attention was first drawn to Jump. When she happily discovered that the arrow hadn't been fatal for him, they set about cleaning and bandaging the wound. He would be alright.
They were riding slowly, taking their time to find a campsite.
"So- you think they were raiders?"
'Well they definitely weren't Tortallan. Let's just hope there isn't a whole Scanran base camp around here somewhere."
Kel nodded in agreement and in less than an hour they had found a suitable place to rest up and camp for the night. Neal was putting out the fire as Kel drew up her sleeping roll around her. 'I know Jump is going to be ok,' she thought. 'I just hope Cleon and everyone else its.'
~*~*~
Please. Review.
_______________________________________
Thank you