A/N: Thank you for all your terrific reviews; I really didn't
expect so many the first time. It's
wonderful, opening your mailbox to find a fresh stack of reviews. So thanks especially to all of you who
reviewed my first chapter, it gave me inspiration for the second one, and then
thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter two, I didn't really know where I was
going to go in here. Now I do. Or did.
Whatever.
Chapter Three: Bake Sale
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If a stranger entered a room in a
palace in a land called Tortall, he probably wouldn't see anything to do with
pies, unless he walked into the kitchen or mess hall. But, if he walked into a certain meeting room, at a certain time
in the realm of Tortall, he would see something like a scene in a bar. In this case, though, it wasn't a bar,
nobody was drunk, and nobody was laughing, except for two of the most dignified
and respected Nobles in the realm. Laughing
like clowns, unashamedly. The worst
part was, they were laughing at something so feared it gave new meaning to the
words 'bravery', 'hero' and the phrase 'foolish beyond reason'.
Keladry of Mindelan had no idea why
she was thinking in third person now. She
didn't feel like an outsider to this, though that is what she wanted more than
anything; have nothing to do with this.
And then the irony set in, she didn't have anything to do with
this, yet she was in the worst trouble of her life. She took in the sight before her: the King in back looking confused, the Queen and Buri catching
flies, the soldiers looking for escape, a man and a woman in the center of the
room in hysterics, a horrified Sergeant, and a pie-dripping Lord. All were frozen stiff. Kel began to curse the reflexes she had just
been praising not five seconds ago. Five
seconds, she thought, it seems like a lifetime.
Her body jumped into action
automatically, though she wanted to run for her life or at least blend in. Unattached hands pulled a handkerchief from
her boot and placed it in his clenched fist.
He didn't stir; she took a step back and looked at Dom. He was still unmoving, like most of the rest
of the room. Reaching out a tentative
hand, she put it on his arm and shook him gently. He jumped, as if he had received a magic shock, and stared into
her eyes. She watched as his conscious
self drifted back into place. He seemed
to be out of his daze, but now he didn't know what to do with himself, neither
did anybody else.
They all watched Wyldon lift his hand
to his face and wipe the pie away from his eyes, flinging the excess onto the
cobblestones. When he had wiped off as
much pie as possible, he folded the kerchief neatly and calmly handed it back
to Kel. She tucked it into her pocket
and realized he was probably at a loss for words. He disproved this when he began to talk to her quietly as soon as
she had finished. Everyone strained to
hear, even though his voice filled the entire room.
" Mindelan, I want you tell me that
there is something in the water-" he stopped, the thought wagon hitting
him head on. "You're drunk. You're all drunk." He seemed to have finally noticed the rest of the room's
occupants. He turned abruptly from Kel
and headed straight to the middle of the room, and stopped in front of Raoul
and Alanna.
" Is this one of your pranks,
Goldenlake?" He hissed, making Kel
notice that it wasn't just the pie's fault that he was now purple-faced.
Raoul didn't bat an eyelash; instead,
he looked rather pleased. "You've
heard of them then?" He beamed. The Lioness couldn't take it anymore; she
began to choke on her now contained laughter until it poured out of her throat
relentlessly. She slid to the floor at
their feet and clamped her hands over her mouth, muffling the noise.
A few of the spectators chuckled
nervously. The King was not one of them. He stormed over to them and stood by Wyldon.
" If this is a prank, Raoul, if all
this has been your doing, you'll regret it."
He all but screamed. "Did
you see the Nobles? They were ready to send me to the black god himself!"
The Lioness got to her feet and dusted
herself off. "Oh, well, you owe me
for that one trip I prevented, so we'll call it even?"
He had no answer to that. "I'll find out if this was a trick,
Lioness, mark my words." Wyldon said
scathingly. "Mindelan and you,
here, now." He ordered, pointing at
Dom.
Kel winced; she had been hoping they
had forgotten about her and Dom. Now,
she realized she was about to get everyone into deep trouble. Then brilliance struck. She approached cautiously and bowed to them
all. Dom copied her, the color
returning to his face as her told Wyldon his name and rank.
The King smiled. "The proof is all
around us. Tell us Domitan, how exactly
did you get pie on your face."
" I fell down, Sir." He said to Wyldon, who was standing not a
foot from him, daring him to lie. Kel
almost laughed, if not for Dom's quick lie, then for the look of utter
disbelief on Wyldon's face.
" It's the truth, My Lord." She said, trying to help Dom out, even
though he had gone Eldorne on her.
" What about them?" He yelled, finally losing his cool facade
and waving frantically at the rest of the pied men.
" They fell down too, sir. Clumsy lot, they are, tripping and falling
in our freshly baked pies. The Lioness,
Buri and I spent all yesterday baking them fresh in the kitchens." She realized she was babbling, but she
didn't care. She had to keep going; she
hated lying to someone she respected so much.
"Cherry, apple and blueberry.
We were going to do Blackberry too, but the berries were hard to find
and what we did find weren't ripe yet and we need ripe fruit to make pies,
and-"
"Enough." His voice was a whisper. A very menacing whisper. "Tell me, why exactly were you making
pies, Keladry."
She thought fast. "Bake sale?" It sounded like a question. Everyone turned to look at her, then looked
away and tried to pretend as if they knew what she was talking about. "Yes."
She said more confidently. "A
bake sale. To raise money for."
knowing she was on too much adrenaline to come up with a reasonable guild name,
she coughed harshly and picked up elsewhere.
" Would you like to buy a pie, sir? Apple, cherry or blueberry?"
" I've had enough." He spat.
"Of pies and of lies, I am very disappointed in all of you." He didn't single her out but she could feel
his eyes on her as he said it. He
walked out of the room without even asking who threw the pie, to Dom's vast relief. The King followed him, dragging the Queen
after him.
It took a minute of looking at her
boots, cheeks on fire with shame, before she realized they were all staring at
her. She looked up. Raoul hugged her fiercely and she swore as she
heard her bones cracking. He let go and
took her by the shoulders.
" I'll never doubt you again, Keladry
of Mindelan. No offense Kel, but when
he began to question you, I thought we were dead." He let go of her.
Dom grinned. "Bake sale, now that
was inspiring." He shook his head.
Kel couldn't help it; she smiled back. "I
don't know; I just about died when you told him you fell down. If I had laughed then- I love the
Yamanis."
They all laughed, making Kel conscious of how few 'all' was. Everyone had left except for Dom, Raoul,
Alanna, and Buri.
" Now, can you tell me what in Mithros
name is going on?" She asked them
irritably. "I think you owe it to
me."
She saw the looks of surprise on three faces.
" Dom said you- where is Dom"
Alanna asked.
They looked around, and Kel spotted him running out the door. So, she thought rapidly, he had
told them she was on their side, he had gotten her mixed up in this entire
mess, put her in more than one uncomfortable position and then ran from her
anger. Giving a short bow and excusing
her self she took off after him mumbling various death threats.
" A little... scary, isn't she?" Alanna asked as the others nodded in
agreement.
Kel followed him through the hallways, quickly become aware that even if she
managed to catch up with him and make him pay, she would be lost and never find
her way out. She shook her head and
increased her speed. He turned a sharp
corner and when she had reached it, he was gone. She knew he could never have made it to the end before she even
turned the corner. It was impossible
considering the distance between them and their separate speeds. Which meant he was somewhere in between. Luckily, there were only three doors. She opened the first one quietly. It seemed to be a library, but much smaller
than the one she knew. Kel was torn, if
she went in there to search, he was free if he was in one of the other doors,
but if she went into one of the other rooms, he was free if he was in the
Library. So, she did neither. She stood very still and strained her ears
for any movement or noise.
She smiled, was that someone breathing?
She put her head up against the door labeled 'Broom Closet' and moved
towards the handle. Yanking open the
door suddenly and reaching into the darkness, she pulled out a very surprised
Sergeant by his nose. She let go and
realized he wasn't breathing loudly, he was laughing softly.
" I want you to tell me what you were
thinking and why it had to involve me!"
She hissed softly.
He forced himself to stop laughing; He knew what Keladry was capable of when
provoked, and he had provoked her enough that day to last a lifetime. Or one very thorough beating. He took a few recuperative breaths.
" It all started the day I was new to
the Own- the day you almost fell off Peachblossom while tilting."
" It was a faulty lance." She protested glumly.
He smiled. "Of course it was." He said in a frustratingly patronizing
voice.
" You want me to hurt you, don't you?" She asked him sourly.
He smiled soothingly, in that same
superior way.
"As I was saying before I had the
pleasure of being interrupted by The Protector of the Small. I had yet to prove everything or anything to
these men. They were friendly enough,
sure, but I was but a young lad, and needed their trust and true friendship. That is where my story starts, and"
"Get on with it, Dom!" She said
exasperated.
" You can't rush an artist." He scolded her.
" You're not an artist."
" Haven't you ever heard of the art of
story-telling, Kel."
She rolled her eyes. "Dom?"
" Yes."
" Shut up and tell."
" Yessir."
" As I was saying..."
FLASHBACK
A/N: Hello, my dear companions.
How'd you like it? Review
please, and tell me what you think!
**Valencia