Title: The Traitors in Our Midst
Author: Pickzee
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst
Pairing(s): Kel/Cleon, Kel/Dom
Spoilers: Up through Squire; written as though Lady Knight wasn't published.
Summary: In her first year as a knight Kel discovers a bit more about traitors than she ever wished to know. She finds that in the war against the Scanrans one of the most trusted of her friends is really the most traitorous of enemies. To make matters worse her relationship with Cleon deepens and in a moment of distraction the one she finds most traitorous is herself. Or Kel's gonna have a baby... in a Scanran prison.
A/N: Before I go into my rant I have something actually important; I changing the genre from Romance to Angst because for I while there will be a lot more Angst than anything that could be remotely deemed Romance. FOUR REVIEWS?!?!?! I write and post the pivotal chapter in less than a week and I get FIVE REVIEWS?!?! Damn I'd rather have flames than no reviews at all. Thank you so much to the people who care about me and do review (Kris you count you give un-posted reviews) but I do urge you all to review, how would you like it if I read your story and liked it but didn't review or even if I didn't like it I want constructive criticism so I know how to make people like it. I was in major shit (if anyone reviews saying shit happens I will kill them, stalk them down and kill them) that wasn't my fault when I wrote it so that was part of the reason why I hacked that out in a day so I understand if it was crappier than usual but I like to know what you think. Okee dokee rant over.
Disclaimer: I come I disclaim I leave. If I wanted to deal with legal crap I would be planning for a career as a lawyer instead of for a job as a vet, an author, or a journalist.
~Chapter 7~ ~Devolo~
Kel was sitting on the floor of her private cell her feet curled under her. She had been here for a week and she had not been "culled" as Erik, now her personal guard, had said she might be. It was a twisted sort of compliment to have a personal guard, it meant that the wardens thought you were dangerous or clever enough to free yourself or harm the other prisoners or themselves. The same criteria applied to her personal cell. There was nothing to do now, other than slowly going mad from being left alone with just your mind. Kel was slipping into a warm blanket of memories, the memories of Dom, both as friends and as lovers, the memories of Neal, his sharp wit, boring philosophy, and bad poetry, the memories of Owen, always "Jolly!", memories of Yuki, always smiling behind her well practiced Yamani mask, memories of Merric, Roald, Shinko, even Cleon. But the most surprising memories were of Faleron back in the good old days when he was loyal and kind. Memories were dangerous though, they brought back the ifs, the when's, the how's; everything that Kel did not and was not sure if she wanted to know.
"Wench, it's time fer yer medical look over." Erik was back from a meeting with the head warden, he was the only one who called her wench any more after she backhanded a fellow prisoner who tried to get her to answer to it. The only reason why she did not give Erik the same treatment was because she would be sentenced to some cruel fate for assaulting an "employee" of Malaeduraeterrae.
"What medical look over? I was never told of any such thing when I arrived." Kel was unsure of nature of this visit with the healer and was justifiably worried.
"Jest routine, we like our charges te live through their sentences." Erik gave a wolfish grin and lead her up to the healer's chambers.
~
"Majesty, we have all the reason in the world to believe that the Scanrans are behind the kidnapping of Keladry. Maggur is a growing threat, with his machines and his uniting of the clans. I propose that we go to war with them as soon as we are sure that the passes to the north are clear." Raoul was acting as diplomatically as possible in the situation. He was trying to convince Jonathan to declare war on Scanra without giving away how worried he was about the girl who might as well have been his daughter.
"Lord Wyldon, Lord HaMinche, what are your opinions on this... situation?" Jon asked the two other men in the war room.
Wyldon spoke first surprisingly agreeing with Raoul. "We might as well declare war, we know that it is inevitable that we will need to attack so I say we declare war and get the edge on Scanrans now while we have the chance to possibly take them by surprise."
"Thank you Wyldon. Padriag do you have anything to say?"
The new training master was gruff and terse in his answer. "We should avoid war at all costs with the Scanrans and we should especially not initiate it."
Buri rushed in to the room of the war council, her hair a mess. "What did I miss?"
"We had been discussing the possibility of going to war with Scanra as soon as we know that the passes are clear. Would you like to share any opinions commander?"
"We should go to war. They've started to pick off our soldiers one by one. Haven't you heard the reports from the border patrols? Single members disappearing and no body being found plus there was the snatching of Keladry from right inside the palace walls. If we let this continue they will believe us to weak to fight and charge the castle themselves. And no offense Your Majesty but the palace couldn't take a beating like that and stay safe. Plus with them going through Corus think of how many innocents would be killed."
"The majority of you have pressed for war so when the roads north are clear we march," Jonathan declared raising a roar of approval. Alanna briskly nodded her head showing her support of the plan and Raoul patted him on the back. The man left out of the party was HaMinche, not because he was bitter but simply because he knew that something bad would happen if they marched.
~
The healer's quarters were as dank and dismal as the rest of the prison. Or at least so it seemed until three globes of Gift induced light illuminated the room. The pallet that had appeared gray was now stark white and diagrams of the human body covered the walls.
"Well, well, well, here is my newest patient. A woman, it's been quite a long time since we have had female in Malaeduraeterrae." The man's voice sounded a lot like this man was a mad mage and at the realization that his newest patient was a woman his eyes glowed lasciviously. "Up on the pallet with you, I need to do your inspection.
The healer poked and prodded at Kel with both his hands and his Gift, occasionally letting his hands 'slip' in places that Kel was very uncomfortable with. The man's hand seemed to be permanently anchored to her chest and his other hand seemed to be prying its way between her tightly closed legs far too often.
I thought it was illegal for a healer to do this to a patient, Kel thought as she tried to squirm away from the healer's wandering hands.
"You're healthy but you'll need to come to me once a week to have checkups on the baby. We wouldn't want you losing the child now would we?"
Actually there's nothing more that I'd like in the world other than getting out of this place but you wouldn't understand so I'm not going to tell you.
~
Dom's squad had their burnooses drawn so high up above their faces that it was almost impossible to tell one man from another. The fact that each man was wearing multiple cloaks was not helping to distinguish them. Traveling through mountains in late February was by no means a comfortable journey, nor a warm one. In most circumstances no one would be insane enough to attempt crossing the mountains but the squad's dedication to Kel and their commander and Dom's love for Kel were enough for them to jump into a frozen lake in Scanra at Midwinter. Needless to say that despite their reasons for going on a near suicidal journey they were still complaining.
"Good Gods it's cold up here! If I get back to Corus alive I'll take up the Alanna's habit of not working in the winter and staying away from mountains," one indiscriminate lump proclaimed.
"Here, here! You're never going to see this Own near a mountain ever again," replied another.
"Don't any of you care about Kel?" said a rider who could only be Dom.
"Of course we care. But couldn't it be warmer?"
And now not only were the soldiers cold, but without knowing, they were horribly lost as well. ~
Erik was having far too much fun with the new found information about Kel's pregnancy.
"So the wench really is a wench. Who is the father of your little bastard? Some street scum without enough honor to make his whore honorable?"
Kel shrank in her cell until she was up against the back wall. He was going straight to her mental pressure points. He might as well been pinching her palm with all his strength for what this interrogation was doing to her psyche. "He was a knight if you really must know."
"What kind o' knight was 'e te leave ye pregnant with his bastard?" Kel felt like crying now because she had been asking herself that every night since Cleon had told her about his mother's refusal to let them wed.
"A bad one."
The burly Scanran chuckled maliciously. "A wench like yerself don't deserve any more than that."
"I'm no wench."
"Then why are ye carrying some knight's bastard?"
"Because he deserves to go to Chaos. And it's all his fault"
"One can't make a child can he?"
"I would be married now if it were not for that," Kel used some very bad language to discribe Cleon's mother, "and then this child would have a real father. If Faleron had not kidnapped me I would be married in the next few months to person who really cared about me enough to keep my honor."
"But he did and yer not."
Erik chuckled again.
A/N: You don't want to know how much I hate that last section. I needed to write it though so you're stuck reading it.
Author: Pickzee
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst
Pairing(s): Kel/Cleon, Kel/Dom
Spoilers: Up through Squire; written as though Lady Knight wasn't published.
Summary: In her first year as a knight Kel discovers a bit more about traitors than she ever wished to know. She finds that in the war against the Scanrans one of the most trusted of her friends is really the most traitorous of enemies. To make matters worse her relationship with Cleon deepens and in a moment of distraction the one she finds most traitorous is herself. Or Kel's gonna have a baby... in a Scanran prison.
A/N: Before I go into my rant I have something actually important; I changing the genre from Romance to Angst because for I while there will be a lot more Angst than anything that could be remotely deemed Romance. FOUR REVIEWS?!?!?! I write and post the pivotal chapter in less than a week and I get FIVE REVIEWS?!?! Damn I'd rather have flames than no reviews at all. Thank you so much to the people who care about me and do review (Kris you count you give un-posted reviews) but I do urge you all to review, how would you like it if I read your story and liked it but didn't review or even if I didn't like it I want constructive criticism so I know how to make people like it. I was in major shit (if anyone reviews saying shit happens I will kill them, stalk them down and kill them) that wasn't my fault when I wrote it so that was part of the reason why I hacked that out in a day so I understand if it was crappier than usual but I like to know what you think. Okee dokee rant over.
Disclaimer: I come I disclaim I leave. If I wanted to deal with legal crap I would be planning for a career as a lawyer instead of for a job as a vet, an author, or a journalist.
~Chapter 7~ ~Devolo~
Kel was sitting on the floor of her private cell her feet curled under her. She had been here for a week and she had not been "culled" as Erik, now her personal guard, had said she might be. It was a twisted sort of compliment to have a personal guard, it meant that the wardens thought you were dangerous or clever enough to free yourself or harm the other prisoners or themselves. The same criteria applied to her personal cell. There was nothing to do now, other than slowly going mad from being left alone with just your mind. Kel was slipping into a warm blanket of memories, the memories of Dom, both as friends and as lovers, the memories of Neal, his sharp wit, boring philosophy, and bad poetry, the memories of Owen, always "Jolly!", memories of Yuki, always smiling behind her well practiced Yamani mask, memories of Merric, Roald, Shinko, even Cleon. But the most surprising memories were of Faleron back in the good old days when he was loyal and kind. Memories were dangerous though, they brought back the ifs, the when's, the how's; everything that Kel did not and was not sure if she wanted to know.
"Wench, it's time fer yer medical look over." Erik was back from a meeting with the head warden, he was the only one who called her wench any more after she backhanded a fellow prisoner who tried to get her to answer to it. The only reason why she did not give Erik the same treatment was because she would be sentenced to some cruel fate for assaulting an "employee" of Malaeduraeterrae.
"What medical look over? I was never told of any such thing when I arrived." Kel was unsure of nature of this visit with the healer and was justifiably worried.
"Jest routine, we like our charges te live through their sentences." Erik gave a wolfish grin and lead her up to the healer's chambers.
~
"Majesty, we have all the reason in the world to believe that the Scanrans are behind the kidnapping of Keladry. Maggur is a growing threat, with his machines and his uniting of the clans. I propose that we go to war with them as soon as we are sure that the passes to the north are clear." Raoul was acting as diplomatically as possible in the situation. He was trying to convince Jonathan to declare war on Scanra without giving away how worried he was about the girl who might as well have been his daughter.
"Lord Wyldon, Lord HaMinche, what are your opinions on this... situation?" Jon asked the two other men in the war room.
Wyldon spoke first surprisingly agreeing with Raoul. "We might as well declare war, we know that it is inevitable that we will need to attack so I say we declare war and get the edge on Scanrans now while we have the chance to possibly take them by surprise."
"Thank you Wyldon. Padriag do you have anything to say?"
The new training master was gruff and terse in his answer. "We should avoid war at all costs with the Scanrans and we should especially not initiate it."
Buri rushed in to the room of the war council, her hair a mess. "What did I miss?"
"We had been discussing the possibility of going to war with Scanra as soon as we know that the passes are clear. Would you like to share any opinions commander?"
"We should go to war. They've started to pick off our soldiers one by one. Haven't you heard the reports from the border patrols? Single members disappearing and no body being found plus there was the snatching of Keladry from right inside the palace walls. If we let this continue they will believe us to weak to fight and charge the castle themselves. And no offense Your Majesty but the palace couldn't take a beating like that and stay safe. Plus with them going through Corus think of how many innocents would be killed."
"The majority of you have pressed for war so when the roads north are clear we march," Jonathan declared raising a roar of approval. Alanna briskly nodded her head showing her support of the plan and Raoul patted him on the back. The man left out of the party was HaMinche, not because he was bitter but simply because he knew that something bad would happen if they marched.
~
The healer's quarters were as dank and dismal as the rest of the prison. Or at least so it seemed until three globes of Gift induced light illuminated the room. The pallet that had appeared gray was now stark white and diagrams of the human body covered the walls.
"Well, well, well, here is my newest patient. A woman, it's been quite a long time since we have had female in Malaeduraeterrae." The man's voice sounded a lot like this man was a mad mage and at the realization that his newest patient was a woman his eyes glowed lasciviously. "Up on the pallet with you, I need to do your inspection.
The healer poked and prodded at Kel with both his hands and his Gift, occasionally letting his hands 'slip' in places that Kel was very uncomfortable with. The man's hand seemed to be permanently anchored to her chest and his other hand seemed to be prying its way between her tightly closed legs far too often.
I thought it was illegal for a healer to do this to a patient, Kel thought as she tried to squirm away from the healer's wandering hands.
"You're healthy but you'll need to come to me once a week to have checkups on the baby. We wouldn't want you losing the child now would we?"
Actually there's nothing more that I'd like in the world other than getting out of this place but you wouldn't understand so I'm not going to tell you.
~
Dom's squad had their burnooses drawn so high up above their faces that it was almost impossible to tell one man from another. The fact that each man was wearing multiple cloaks was not helping to distinguish them. Traveling through mountains in late February was by no means a comfortable journey, nor a warm one. In most circumstances no one would be insane enough to attempt crossing the mountains but the squad's dedication to Kel and their commander and Dom's love for Kel were enough for them to jump into a frozen lake in Scanra at Midwinter. Needless to say that despite their reasons for going on a near suicidal journey they were still complaining.
"Good Gods it's cold up here! If I get back to Corus alive I'll take up the Alanna's habit of not working in the winter and staying away from mountains," one indiscriminate lump proclaimed.
"Here, here! You're never going to see this Own near a mountain ever again," replied another.
"Don't any of you care about Kel?" said a rider who could only be Dom.
"Of course we care. But couldn't it be warmer?"
And now not only were the soldiers cold, but without knowing, they were horribly lost as well. ~
Erik was having far too much fun with the new found information about Kel's pregnancy.
"So the wench really is a wench. Who is the father of your little bastard? Some street scum without enough honor to make his whore honorable?"
Kel shrank in her cell until she was up against the back wall. He was going straight to her mental pressure points. He might as well been pinching her palm with all his strength for what this interrogation was doing to her psyche. "He was a knight if you really must know."
"What kind o' knight was 'e te leave ye pregnant with his bastard?" Kel felt like crying now because she had been asking herself that every night since Cleon had told her about his mother's refusal to let them wed.
"A bad one."
The burly Scanran chuckled maliciously. "A wench like yerself don't deserve any more than that."
"I'm no wench."
"Then why are ye carrying some knight's bastard?"
"Because he deserves to go to Chaos. And it's all his fault"
"One can't make a child can he?"
"I would be married now if it were not for that," Kel used some very bad language to discribe Cleon's mother, "and then this child would have a real father. If Faleron had not kidnapped me I would be married in the next few months to person who really cared about me enough to keep my honor."
"But he did and yer not."
Erik chuckled again.
A/N: You don't want to know how much I hate that last section. I needed to write it though so you're stuck reading it.