Chapter 14. The Eve of Midwinter.
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Guys I'm really sorry about this I keep forgetting. I know I wrote
midsummer, but it's actually supposed to be midwinter! So just pretend it
was midwinter all along!
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The day was cold, it looked as if they could expect snow and frost by tonight, thought Kel as she ran up the hill from being in town, it was very chilly and Kel had to rub her hands together to keep the circulation going in them. As she entered the palace she got a severe case of frostbite, "Ouch" she winced, well as soon as she got to her room she could have a nice hot bath and warm up in front of the fire. She ran up the corridor, and ran into her room breathlessly.
Lalasa was sitting by the window doing embroidery with the sparrows keeping her company. "Lal I'm really sorry that I'm saying this so late but um-" "I have an outfit ready for you Kel," Lal cut her off, "But - how? -" Kel said speechlessly. "I know you too well to think that you wouldn't leave this to the last minute" the older girl said with a smile. "Oh thank you so much," Kel gasped with relief, "can I see it?" "No that's one of the conditions, you can't see it until it's time to put it on." Lalasa said. "Oh and I also have your Yamani dress ready for you, with matching slippers and a matching katuka." She added. "Lal you're blessed by the mother goddess, what would I do without you to keep me in order?" Kel said thankfully. Lalasa just smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
Kel took several things out from under her bed and sat down with them in her hands. These were all her presents for other people - except Lal seeing as she was in the room -. She had gotten a knife kit, with a sharpening stone in it and a beautiful leather case with silver engraving on it for Neal, (he had a small Raven Armoury dagger), special ink and a golden griffin feather quill that wrote beautifully, for Roald, for Cleon, and Merric she had gotten each their own hamper assorted with sugared candies, cakes, hot drinks (in packets) and sugared almonds, she had put some of her precious bruise balm in a jar and would give that to Seaver and for Faleron she had a small painting and a book on the law and order of the realm. Lalasa's present was the usual gold noble and also as a special thank you she would give her material and cloth for making more dresses.
After she had looked at them all she started to put them away again but paused when she came to Neal's gift. Quickly she grabbed a quill and wrote hurriedly the paper parcel: Dear Neal, Please I beg of you, forgive me, I was acting childish and stupid, Hope you like this gift, happy midwinter, Love from Kel. She hesitated on the love part but then decided to go with it. She looked down at her words sadly, Lal caught the look and read her mind, "don't worry, he'll forgive you, 'cause he wants you to forgive him too" Kel gave her a weak smile and flopped down on the bed.
She must have dozed off because she was suddenly in a small room, and she had no idea where she was, 'oh no!' She thought; I'm dreaming again. Nobody was in the room with her though and that was a relief. She heard noises nearby and glanced 'round hurriedly resting her hand on the hilt of her sword only - it wasn't there!!! "Damn" she muttered. Suddenly the warm voice of a man echoed in her head, "This is a dream, you probably already know that, but it is to give you information that you will need for future reference" he said, "Who are you? What is your name?" Kel asked, after having a moment to get over her shock. "You will never know my name, but I will tell you this: I will watch over you and help you as much as possible, but I can only help you through dreams" the man said. "How do I know I can trust you?" Kel asked exasperatedly.
The voice didn't answer her properly, "go next door" he said. "But how? There's no d-" she stopped. A door was forming out of a swirl of silver mist into the nearest wall. Tentatively she opened it. Outside was a long corridor made of black marble and lit by dusty torches. On her right was a painting of a griffin with golden feathers and silver eggs surrounding it. And on her left was a big oak door with designs of hurroks and spidren and stormwings on it. 'This place seems like immortal land!' Kel joked grimly to herself. The door was slightly ajar and there were voices coming from it so Kel flattened her back against the wall and stayed very quiet to listen. "So you have called up all the immortals, showed them who's boss?" a curt, cold voice of a woman asked. "Yes m'lady, all who would come to us" a whimpering, honeyed voice dripping with fake sweetness answered. Kel could tell it was a man from the deepness detected inside the high pitch tone.
"What do you mean all who would come to us?" the woman asked. "Some.resisted if you want to call it that" the man's voice replied. "Resisted??? Who resisted, who dared to question the power of The Lady Sulia Serafines?" she demanded. The quiver in the man's voice was very plain "Quite a few bands of centaurs, not all of them though!" he hurriedly assured her, "A difficult group of griffins for some reason did too but the reason is not clear to me." (This story is after Kel's had her griffin but she's still in her third year of being a squire) "Some stormwings said they would bow their heads to nobody but their own kings, they said that just to be difficult but apart from that everyone else will join us." The woman growled softly, "I hope you dealt with them all accordingly Randall.
"Well.we did.some of them m'lady but we couldn't others." Randall said tentatively, "We only killed two of the centaurs, they had bows and arrows and some had magic, one of my men is injured, the griffins got away but not before we maimed one of them but the stormwings, we killed all but four out of a group of twenty-seven. The four managed to fly to safety in the trees." Randall said his voice barely above a whisper. The woman called Sulia cursed loudly and suddenly Randall was screaming in agony. Then it stopped and all was quiet.
"You're in luck Randall; I have thought of another use for you, I won't let you die, yet" she laughed, a cold, high laugh that made Kel shiver. "You might be some use in the coming war with the three T's. Kel had no idea what she meant by this. Oh and, Lord Randall Wintak, (Kel gasped softly) did you dispose of those people who had heard some 'rumours?" She said Randall's name in a mocking and mean tone. "N.n.not yet m'lady but it will be done, you can count on it" Randall sounded positively terrified! "You have heard all you need to for now; we will meet again, Keladry of Mindelan. Goodbye" the warm voice said. Suddenly the world started to swirl and Kel woke up on her bed.
The first thing she did was write down everything she heard so she would remember it all. Lalasa had gone from the room but had left her embroidery behind. Kel then made herself smart before appearing before Master Oakbridge, the Master of etiquette and ceremonies with all the rest of the squires and pages for a last night check that everything was in order for the feast and the ball. All her friends were there and they smiled at her but Neal just averted his eyes towards something else. When they were discussing uniforms Master Oakbridge asked Kel if she would wear the squire uniform or a dress of her own. So of course she told him about her Yamani dress and he agreed to let her wear it for serving at the feast.
Later on that night Kel and Lalasa sat around the fire talking, laughing, telling stories, eating sugared candies and drinking green tea. When Kel went to bed that night after having a long soak in the bath, she felt warm and contented. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Hope you liked that chapter, please review and if you think it's bad tell me how to improve it but just PLEASE review!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The day was cold, it looked as if they could expect snow and frost by tonight, thought Kel as she ran up the hill from being in town, it was very chilly and Kel had to rub her hands together to keep the circulation going in them. As she entered the palace she got a severe case of frostbite, "Ouch" she winced, well as soon as she got to her room she could have a nice hot bath and warm up in front of the fire. She ran up the corridor, and ran into her room breathlessly.
Lalasa was sitting by the window doing embroidery with the sparrows keeping her company. "Lal I'm really sorry that I'm saying this so late but um-" "I have an outfit ready for you Kel," Lal cut her off, "But - how? -" Kel said speechlessly. "I know you too well to think that you wouldn't leave this to the last minute" the older girl said with a smile. "Oh thank you so much," Kel gasped with relief, "can I see it?" "No that's one of the conditions, you can't see it until it's time to put it on." Lalasa said. "Oh and I also have your Yamani dress ready for you, with matching slippers and a matching katuka." She added. "Lal you're blessed by the mother goddess, what would I do without you to keep me in order?" Kel said thankfully. Lalasa just smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
Kel took several things out from under her bed and sat down with them in her hands. These were all her presents for other people - except Lal seeing as she was in the room -. She had gotten a knife kit, with a sharpening stone in it and a beautiful leather case with silver engraving on it for Neal, (he had a small Raven Armoury dagger), special ink and a golden griffin feather quill that wrote beautifully, for Roald, for Cleon, and Merric she had gotten each their own hamper assorted with sugared candies, cakes, hot drinks (in packets) and sugared almonds, she had put some of her precious bruise balm in a jar and would give that to Seaver and for Faleron she had a small painting and a book on the law and order of the realm. Lalasa's present was the usual gold noble and also as a special thank you she would give her material and cloth for making more dresses.
After she had looked at them all she started to put them away again but paused when she came to Neal's gift. Quickly she grabbed a quill and wrote hurriedly the paper parcel: Dear Neal, Please I beg of you, forgive me, I was acting childish and stupid, Hope you like this gift, happy midwinter, Love from Kel. She hesitated on the love part but then decided to go with it. She looked down at her words sadly, Lal caught the look and read her mind, "don't worry, he'll forgive you, 'cause he wants you to forgive him too" Kel gave her a weak smile and flopped down on the bed.
She must have dozed off because she was suddenly in a small room, and she had no idea where she was, 'oh no!' She thought; I'm dreaming again. Nobody was in the room with her though and that was a relief. She heard noises nearby and glanced 'round hurriedly resting her hand on the hilt of her sword only - it wasn't there!!! "Damn" she muttered. Suddenly the warm voice of a man echoed in her head, "This is a dream, you probably already know that, but it is to give you information that you will need for future reference" he said, "Who are you? What is your name?" Kel asked, after having a moment to get over her shock. "You will never know my name, but I will tell you this: I will watch over you and help you as much as possible, but I can only help you through dreams" the man said. "How do I know I can trust you?" Kel asked exasperatedly.
The voice didn't answer her properly, "go next door" he said. "But how? There's no d-" she stopped. A door was forming out of a swirl of silver mist into the nearest wall. Tentatively she opened it. Outside was a long corridor made of black marble and lit by dusty torches. On her right was a painting of a griffin with golden feathers and silver eggs surrounding it. And on her left was a big oak door with designs of hurroks and spidren and stormwings on it. 'This place seems like immortal land!' Kel joked grimly to herself. The door was slightly ajar and there were voices coming from it so Kel flattened her back against the wall and stayed very quiet to listen. "So you have called up all the immortals, showed them who's boss?" a curt, cold voice of a woman asked. "Yes m'lady, all who would come to us" a whimpering, honeyed voice dripping with fake sweetness answered. Kel could tell it was a man from the deepness detected inside the high pitch tone.
"What do you mean all who would come to us?" the woman asked. "Some.resisted if you want to call it that" the man's voice replied. "Resisted??? Who resisted, who dared to question the power of The Lady Sulia Serafines?" she demanded. The quiver in the man's voice was very plain "Quite a few bands of centaurs, not all of them though!" he hurriedly assured her, "A difficult group of griffins for some reason did too but the reason is not clear to me." (This story is after Kel's had her griffin but she's still in her third year of being a squire) "Some stormwings said they would bow their heads to nobody but their own kings, they said that just to be difficult but apart from that everyone else will join us." The woman growled softly, "I hope you dealt with them all accordingly Randall.
"Well.we did.some of them m'lady but we couldn't others." Randall said tentatively, "We only killed two of the centaurs, they had bows and arrows and some had magic, one of my men is injured, the griffins got away but not before we maimed one of them but the stormwings, we killed all but four out of a group of twenty-seven. The four managed to fly to safety in the trees." Randall said his voice barely above a whisper. The woman called Sulia cursed loudly and suddenly Randall was screaming in agony. Then it stopped and all was quiet.
"You're in luck Randall; I have thought of another use for you, I won't let you die, yet" she laughed, a cold, high laugh that made Kel shiver. "You might be some use in the coming war with the three T's. Kel had no idea what she meant by this. Oh and, Lord Randall Wintak, (Kel gasped softly) did you dispose of those people who had heard some 'rumours?" She said Randall's name in a mocking and mean tone. "N.n.not yet m'lady but it will be done, you can count on it" Randall sounded positively terrified! "You have heard all you need to for now; we will meet again, Keladry of Mindelan. Goodbye" the warm voice said. Suddenly the world started to swirl and Kel woke up on her bed.
The first thing she did was write down everything she heard so she would remember it all. Lalasa had gone from the room but had left her embroidery behind. Kel then made herself smart before appearing before Master Oakbridge, the Master of etiquette and ceremonies with all the rest of the squires and pages for a last night check that everything was in order for the feast and the ball. All her friends were there and they smiled at her but Neal just averted his eyes towards something else. When they were discussing uniforms Master Oakbridge asked Kel if she would wear the squire uniform or a dress of her own. So of course she told him about her Yamani dress and he agreed to let her wear it for serving at the feast.
Later on that night Kel and Lalasa sat around the fire talking, laughing, telling stories, eating sugared candies and drinking green tea. When Kel went to bed that night after having a long soak in the bath, she felt warm and contented. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Hope you liked that chapter, please review and if you think it's bad tell me how to improve it but just PLEASE review!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*