Thanks to: Farah (thanks for telling me about Min), Keita, Stacey (YOU REVIEWED! YAY!),
clarylissa, huzzahuzza, Min! :D (welcome back!!), StarFire, Lady Sandrilene, Jossie (your
review showed up twice...)
Kaaaate--where are you? :O
I've almost gotten my goal from last chapter--one more review! So with this one I'd like
to make my goal 140 - 145. Please? :D I love all of my reviewers forever and ever.
Sorry about the lack of length for this one. I had to write it or else the following chapters
wouldn't make any sense. *shrug* But I won't tell you what happens in this one just
'cause I figure you would rather read this than nothing.
**Chapter 16: The One-Armed Man**
When the group finally arrived in Corus, they rode on the king's welcome. They
arrived at the palace in no time, finding the refugees from Mindelan there, waiting
for Kel. Her parents and relatives greeted her first, then the servants, and her nanny.
She was glad to see that her nanny had survived and gave her an extra hug--the woman
had been like another mother to her in the Yamani Islands.
"Neal, I would like you to meet my nanny," Kel said, tugging him over to where the
grey-haired Yamani stood. "Matsukaira, this is Neal."
As he shook the old woman's hand, he smiled. "Sir Duke Neal of Queenscove at your
service, m'lady."
Sighing, Kel shook her head. Matsukaira just grinned and told him in very pronounced
Common, "Hello, Sir Duke Neal of Queenscove. I've heard much about you."
Neal laughed and looked at Kel. "Told your nanny about me, did you?"
"Of course, Meathead," she answered. "Remember the whole 'best friends' thing?"
He caught her around the waist as she hit his shoulder playfully. "More than best friends
now, right?"
Blushing, Kel replied with, "I hope so."
Matsukaira chuckled and told them, "I'll leave you two alone for a while. I have to go
meet the king that everyone is so enthusiastic about."
"Ja ne," Neal called.
Matsukaira gave Neal an odd look, shook her head, and walked back over to Kel's
parents.
Laughing, Kel snuggled up against Neal. To tell the truth, she had never felt happier
or more content than when she was with Neal, not even when she had thought herself
in love with Cleon or Dom. When Yuki and Dom bypassed them and headed into the palace
to greet the others, Kel let go of Neal and stretched. "I suppose we should go inside?"
"Yeah," Neal agreed. "We know that whoever it is will contact you again with a time you
have to go..."
"If that's the case, I can take care of him myself," Kel told him.
A bit surprised, Neal just nodded. "I'm sure..."
Kel led him into the palace then to find that the king had called Kel, her parents, and
anyone else involved with the attack on Mindelan into the war chambers. After asking,
Neal decided to tag along and see what the king had to say about Mindelan.
Once everyone had seated themselves around the war chamber's table, the king spoke.
"I realize that not everyone here knows what happened. While I was staying in
Queenscove with the duke, my family--"
"Excuse me, my lord?" Evin Larse from the Queen's Riders interrupted. "But didn't the
duke...?"
Neal raised his hand, "I'm the Duke of Queenscove now."
Sparing a glance at Neal, Evin nodded, satisfied.
Jon grinned at Neal and continued. "As I was saying, while I stayed in Queenscove with
the duke, our lady knights, my family, and one of the King's Own sergeants, I recieved
an urgent message from my cousin, Duke Gareth the Younger. It seems that the day
he arrived at Corus, he found refugees from Mindelan standing in the parlor, waiting for
my uncle, Duke Gareth the Elder, to meet with them. Gary listened to their story. It
seems that while Lady Knight Keladry had come to Queenscove with Duke Nealan,
someone made an attack on Mindelan. They burned Mindelan to the ground and knocked
over that which wouldn't burn and pounded it to the ground. All except for the very heart
of the castle. We had every survivor here at the palace, Gary wrote. No livestock or
crops lasted, no animals except those that were with the survivors. They literally came
to Mindelan on foot. Ladies and noblemen, you are looking at the sole survivors of
Mindelan."
Jonathan took a breath and sorted through his thoughts. "They also said that they left
Keladry's room intact, with a message burned onto the shutters. It said, 'To my sweet:
The time for our joining draws near. Meet with our link at our place for further conver-
sation. Love: the master of your heart.' We have a few suspects as to who or what
could have burned the message into the window, or had ordered the bandits or raiders
to do so. For now, we will house the Mindelan refugees here in the palace, and we
will continue to investigate this. Myles?"
Myles looked up. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Get your best spies and place them around Tortall. Tell them to keep their eyes and
ears open at all times and to take note of anything about an attack on any fief in
Tortall. Tell them to take notes on anyone named 'the Master of Hearts' or 'the Master'
or anything pertaining to something that says 'the master of your heart'," Jonathan
instructed.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Myles replied, as he wrote down Jon's instructions.
"Evin," Thayet spoke. He looked up at the queen. "Take some of the Riders out--
groups one, five, nine, and ten--and spread them out. Give them regions to cover."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Evin agreed, also taking note of Thayet's instructions.
"Daine," Jonathan said, turning his attention to the wild mage. "Could you tell any
animals around Mindelan to keep their eyes and ears open, and tell some of the
horses and ponies to listen to their masters' conversations?"
Thinking, Daine nodded. "I can try."
"Numair, could you try scrying? I know it's an obscure thing to scry for, but we're
grasping at straws right now," Jonathan explained.
Numair nodded, aloof. "I'll try, but I don't promise anything."
"That's all I ask," Jon assured Daine and Numair. "Raoul, I trust your judgment about
where to place your troops."
Nodding, Raoul said, "Thanks, Jon."
"And...Alanna, you and I will try scrying too. Thank you, everyone, for coming to
this meeting," Jonathan told them. Everyone stood and began to leave when Jon said,
"Neal, Kel, would you stay behind a moment?"
They both sat back down as the room cleared of everyone but the three of them.
"Your Majesty?" Neal asked.
"I know we just got back home and everything, but do you suppose you could ride
up to Mindelan and look at what's left? Kel, you know that place better than anyone
I have right now, and I don't want to send someone who isn't fully trained in the
sort of things knights are going up with you," Jon explained. "If you can't, or don't
want to, I'll understand. If they are any survivors or if any of the raiders or bandits
got trapped up there, I need Neal to heal them enough so they can be interrogated."
Bewildered, Kel looked to Neal and then back at Jon. "I...I guess we can. Can we
leave tomorrow though? I'd like to spend a little time with what's left of my family
and we'd like to have a day to recuperate."
"Certainly," Jon agreed. "I would like you to come see me before you leave though,
just so I can know where my knights have gone."
Neal nodded, rising with Kel and bowing to their king. As they left, Jon called after
them, "Have either of you seen Merric of Hollyrose?"
"No, sir," they answered in unison.
Jon frowned. "All right. He seems to have gone missing..."
Kel and Neal exchanged glances and ducked out of the war chambers. They were
mobbed by Owen the instant they appeared.
"Kel! Neal! Jolly good to see you!" he cried, hugging Kel, then hugging Neal, then
hugging Kel again.
"Hey, hey!" Neal protested. He waved Owen away from Kel and wrapped an arm
around the lady knight's waist.
Puzzled, Owen looked from Kel to Neal and back to Kel. "You...and him...?"
Kel nodded. "Yeah, Meathead and me."
"What about Yuki and Dom?" Owen wanted to know.
"They...found each other, I guess," Neal answered. "I don't know...you should ask
them."
Owen just shrugged it off. "Well, jolly good for you two! I always wondered if you
two fancied each other..."
Neal and Kel laughed and excused themselves, walking down the hallways with their
arms around the others' waist. As they approached Kel's rooms, someone jumped
in front of them, snarling.
Both knights reached for their swords, staring at their attacker.
Kel's eyes went wide. "Udaan?!"
Udaan ignored Kel and swung a dagger in Neal's vicinity. Neal ducked and tried to
grab another arm that wasn't there. Suddenly, he remembered where he had seen
this person before--it was Kel's kidnapper that had lost a hand!
"Hey...didn't I just cut off your hand? Not your arm?" Neal asked as Kel subdued the
once-kidnapper.
"Udaan," she said softly, holding his single arm behind his back. "What happened to
you?"
"Yer *boyfriend*," Udaan snarled the word viciously, "cut me hand off 'n He couldn'
save me arm..."
Neal felt no remorse as he apologized.
"'He'?" Kel inquired quietly. She had developed somewhat of a friendship with Gherash
and Udaan--more Udaan than Gherash--since they had nabbed her on her way to
Corus.
"You know who," Udaan grunted. "Leggo of me arm, Kel. I ain't gonna touch yer boy
if ye don' wan' me too."
"I don't," Kel agreed, releasing his arm. He stumbled to his feet, slidding his dagger
into its belt sheath. "Udaan, I would like you to meet Neal."
Udaan regarded Neal aggressively, barely resisting the urge to grab for his dagger.
However, he did offer a callused hand, which Neal reluctantly shook.
Sighing, Kel ushered both of them into her rooms, locking the door behind her. "What
brings you here, Udaan?"
Udaan sent a dubious look in Neal's direction, obviously expressing his opinion of
having the knight *not* in the Master's inner circle in the room. Kel threw Neal an
apologetic look and glared at Udaan. Flinching, Udaan started his story. "After Sir
Blade-happy cut off me hand, I took off back t' the meetin' place. I went t' Him an'
told Him what happened t' me, and He told me he wouldn' touch me bloodied stump
of a hand with a ten-foot pole, He did. So's He summoned one of 'Is healers an' gave
the job t' them. They couldn' do nothin' 'bout nothin', so's I lost me arm. He told me
t' come back an' git ye, but I had a score t' settle with Rides Like a Loon. D'ye even
know what He wants wit' ye, Kel?"
Shaking her head, Kel replied, "No, I haven't the faintest idea."
"I'd tell ye but Swings Prematurely would tell yer king an' I kinna have tha' happenin',"
Udaan explained.
Neal's fingers danced over the hilt of his sword. "Would you care to call me another
derogatory name, Udaan? I can arrange so you have no arm and a stump."
"Er, no thanks, Sir Neal," Udaan told him. He turned back to Kel, sweeping his
remaining hand through his dark hair. Although he looked somewhat of Scanran descent,
he looked a lot like a Bazhir, with tanned skin, dark hair, and dark eyes to match. His
lilting, commoner-born accent proved he had come from somewhere in central Tortall,
perhaps even the Lower City in Corus. "Kel, where d'ye and yer's plan on headin'?"
"Up to Mindelan," she answered with an air of sadness. "I trust you know what
happened."
The tumblers fell into place in Neal's head. Apparently, Udaan had hired someone to
torch Mindelan to the ground. He had had the nerve to show his face in Corus and to
Kel.
Growling, Neal headed over to Kel's bed and flopped down on it.
"I *do* know what happened," Udaan admitted, almost regretfully. "And lemme tell ye
summat, Kel. I tried t' tell 'em that you ain't gonna cause much trouble at all, and if
we just explain t' ye what we want then ye had a better chance of agreein' t' it. They
wouldn' hear none of it..."
Kel shook her head. "It's all right, Udaan."
"They had no business burnin' Mindelan," he told her, anger permeating his voice.
"No business at all. I tried t' stop 'em, Kel, I really did--"
"I know." She patted his shoulder.
He hugged her with his one arm, and Neal jumped up the instant Udaan got his arm
even halfway around her. "Let her go! Kel, he's obviously a Player--"
Kel broke away from Udaan and looked at Neal. "You don't have to act so over-
protective, Neal. Didn't you hear any of what Udaan just told me? He tried to stop
those who burned Mindelan from burning it. He doesn't want to hurt me."
Neal looked at her as if she had gone mad. "He just said that whoever this
mysterious 'He' is sent him to come kidnap you again."
Slowly, Kel approached Neal and hugged him close. "Stop it. If he tried anything,
you'd stop him if I couldn't," she whispered. She kissed him tenderly and turned
back to Udaan. "I'm sorry." She stayed close to Neal though, aware of his pro-
tectiveness. "You should just not go back to Him."
Frowning, Neal wrapped an arm around Kel's waist and held her tightly to him.
"Ye know I kinna do that," Udaan told her. "I kinna do it 'cause He'd jus' come
after me an' do much worse 'n what He did t' yer family an' yer land."
"Then come with us," Kel offered.
"Kel!" Neal cried.
"He has nowhere else to go and I trust him, Neal," Kel argued.
Somewhat miffed, Neal released Kel, shot a dirty look at Udaan, and plopped down
outside the door after nearly ripping it from his hinges. He hated the way Kel could
make him so crazy and so protective, even though she could take care of herself--
especially in her own room against a one-armed man armed only with a dagger. He
couldn't help it though, not since Udaan and his partner had kidnapped her.
Justice nudged his hand, having followed him out, and wagged her tail.
"Okay," he said, sighing. "Let's go."
***
At Justice's insistance, Neal had gone out to the stables. He found Daine in the hay-
loft, helping a cat birth kittens, and looked up at her.
"'Lo, Wild Mage," Neal called from the stable floors.
"'Lo, Sir Knight," Daine called back, immitating his voice.
"How fares you?" he inquired.
"Fair busy at the moment," she grunted. "You?"
"Cogitating," he admitted.
"Cogi--cogi-*what*?" she repeated.
"Cogitating. Thinking," he reiterated.
"Oh." A few minutes later, she climbed down the ladder, wiping her hands on the
edge of her tunic. "So why did you seek me out? I would think you'd go to Kel."
"Actually, I didn't seek you out," Neal confessed. "Justice here led me."
Justice pawed at Daine's foot until the wild mage's foot until she stooped and
coddled the puppy. Smiling, Daine looked at Neal. "She says her dam and her
sire brought her here, saying she was fair smart pup."
Neal laughed, scratching the back of his head. "By her 'dam' I suppose she means
Kel, and by her 'sire' I'd guess she means me."
Daine chuckled and set Justice back on the ground. "She likes you two a lot. She
doesn't even remember her mother."
He smiled at the puppy and crouched to pet her.
"What's on your mind?" Daine wondered, sitting on a bale of hay and patting the
spot next to her.
Accepting the invitation, Neal picked Justice up and sat on the hay next to Daine.
"As you've probably heard by now, Kel and I have started courting one another.
I don't understand what happened, but Kel has made friends with one of the people
that kidnapped her, and she wants him to come along with us to Mindelan to see if
we can find any bandits trapped there that survived. I can't seem to talk any
sense into her--she doesn't want to listen to me and she wants to trust a man that
wants to kidnap her *again* and will most likely hurt her!"
Daine watched Neal for a few moments before answering. "It sounds like you want
to protect someone who has spent the majority of her life protecting herself and
learning how to do so." He didn't say anything, so she continued. "Kel's a free
spirit, just like Alanna. You of all people should have recognized that. True, I can
understand how you would like to keep her safe from someone who has kidnapped
her before--that *does* give the impression she can't take care of herself too well.
But, you know, Kel does a fair good job of defending herself when she has to. You
should trust her like you have before, and she won't lead you astray."
Neal mulled over this in his mind. Sighing, he got off of the bale of hay and looked
at Daine with a resigned expression. "How can everyone else see what I can't?"
Daine shrugged. "Humans act a lot like intelligent animals, so I guess I can do a fair
good job of reading people too. Anyway, I have to go to the lake now and see if I
can follow the king's orders."
"Thanks!" he called after her.
"You're welcome!" she called back, already pretty far away.
***
Neal found Kel in the training yard, teaching Udaan some one-handed attacks with
his dagger. She flinched when he approached and focused even more on Udaan,
showing him how to twist and thrust a dagger up underneath someone's ribcage.
Waiting, Neal watched her teach Udaan and realized that she did trust him, or else
she wouldn't show him how to use his dagger with one hand.
"Kel."
She looked at him. "What?"
"May I speak with you for a moment?" he asked, putting on his kicked puppy look.
She gave him the Yamani Lump look in return. "Kel..." he pouted. She continued
to ignore him. "Kel...please? Please?"
Udaan glanced at him and looked at Kel. "Why don't ye take a break, Kel, an' lemme
test out me own arm without ye?" he told her. Winking at Neal, Udaan began to
practice without Kel.
Sighing, Kel walked over to Neal and nodded towards the fence. Neal followed and
leaned against it as she perched upon the top rung. "What do you want, Neal?"
"I'm sorry." He looked at the ground. "I'm so used to courting a court female that
I forgot you can take care of yourself. I mean, especially after the month and a half
I spent looking for you, I guess I just got in my head that you couldn't defend yourself
against the likes of him." Shrugging, he pointed to Udaan.
"He has one arm."
"I know."
"And he can't use a dagger very well."
"I can see that."
"He wanted to kill you, you know."
"I thought so, after him jumping out at us like that."
"I told him that I love you."
Neal stopped and looked up at her. Slowly, a smile, a genuine smile, spread across
his face. "Will you tell me that you love me?"
*Oh, gods. Way to go, Kel,* she berated herself mentally. *If I say something...well,
Udaan knows anyway. I might as well.*
She hopped off of the fence and stood toe-to-toe with him. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He kissed her gently, glad that she had forgiven him for acting like
a moron and that he had forgiven her for the most part for trusting someone who had
kidnapped her.
Udaan cleared his throat.
They broke apart and looked at Udaan. Kel coughed and blushed, looking up at Neal
once before addressing Udaan. "You ready to learn something else, Udaan?"
"Actu'lly, Kel, I'm a might tired," he admitted. "Kin we have another go at it later?"
"I'm leaving early tomorrow morning," Kel told him. "Sorry. Unless you decided to
join us?"
"If Neal don't mind," Udaan conceded.
"If Kel trusts you, then I trust you."
"Then I'll go wit' ye."
clarylissa, huzzahuzza, Min! :D (welcome back!!), StarFire, Lady Sandrilene, Jossie (your
review showed up twice...)
Kaaaate--where are you? :O
I've almost gotten my goal from last chapter--one more review! So with this one I'd like
to make my goal 140 - 145. Please? :D I love all of my reviewers forever and ever.
Sorry about the lack of length for this one. I had to write it or else the following chapters
wouldn't make any sense. *shrug* But I won't tell you what happens in this one just
'cause I figure you would rather read this than nothing.
**Chapter 16: The One-Armed Man**
When the group finally arrived in Corus, they rode on the king's welcome. They
arrived at the palace in no time, finding the refugees from Mindelan there, waiting
for Kel. Her parents and relatives greeted her first, then the servants, and her nanny.
She was glad to see that her nanny had survived and gave her an extra hug--the woman
had been like another mother to her in the Yamani Islands.
"Neal, I would like you to meet my nanny," Kel said, tugging him over to where the
grey-haired Yamani stood. "Matsukaira, this is Neal."
As he shook the old woman's hand, he smiled. "Sir Duke Neal of Queenscove at your
service, m'lady."
Sighing, Kel shook her head. Matsukaira just grinned and told him in very pronounced
Common, "Hello, Sir Duke Neal of Queenscove. I've heard much about you."
Neal laughed and looked at Kel. "Told your nanny about me, did you?"
"Of course, Meathead," she answered. "Remember the whole 'best friends' thing?"
He caught her around the waist as she hit his shoulder playfully. "More than best friends
now, right?"
Blushing, Kel replied with, "I hope so."
Matsukaira chuckled and told them, "I'll leave you two alone for a while. I have to go
meet the king that everyone is so enthusiastic about."
"Ja ne," Neal called.
Matsukaira gave Neal an odd look, shook her head, and walked back over to Kel's
parents.
Laughing, Kel snuggled up against Neal. To tell the truth, she had never felt happier
or more content than when she was with Neal, not even when she had thought herself
in love with Cleon or Dom. When Yuki and Dom bypassed them and headed into the palace
to greet the others, Kel let go of Neal and stretched. "I suppose we should go inside?"
"Yeah," Neal agreed. "We know that whoever it is will contact you again with a time you
have to go..."
"If that's the case, I can take care of him myself," Kel told him.
A bit surprised, Neal just nodded. "I'm sure..."
Kel led him into the palace then to find that the king had called Kel, her parents, and
anyone else involved with the attack on Mindelan into the war chambers. After asking,
Neal decided to tag along and see what the king had to say about Mindelan.
Once everyone had seated themselves around the war chamber's table, the king spoke.
"I realize that not everyone here knows what happened. While I was staying in
Queenscove with the duke, my family--"
"Excuse me, my lord?" Evin Larse from the Queen's Riders interrupted. "But didn't the
duke...?"
Neal raised his hand, "I'm the Duke of Queenscove now."
Sparing a glance at Neal, Evin nodded, satisfied.
Jon grinned at Neal and continued. "As I was saying, while I stayed in Queenscove with
the duke, our lady knights, my family, and one of the King's Own sergeants, I recieved
an urgent message from my cousin, Duke Gareth the Younger. It seems that the day
he arrived at Corus, he found refugees from Mindelan standing in the parlor, waiting for
my uncle, Duke Gareth the Elder, to meet with them. Gary listened to their story. It
seems that while Lady Knight Keladry had come to Queenscove with Duke Nealan,
someone made an attack on Mindelan. They burned Mindelan to the ground and knocked
over that which wouldn't burn and pounded it to the ground. All except for the very heart
of the castle. We had every survivor here at the palace, Gary wrote. No livestock or
crops lasted, no animals except those that were with the survivors. They literally came
to Mindelan on foot. Ladies and noblemen, you are looking at the sole survivors of
Mindelan."
Jonathan took a breath and sorted through his thoughts. "They also said that they left
Keladry's room intact, with a message burned onto the shutters. It said, 'To my sweet:
The time for our joining draws near. Meet with our link at our place for further conver-
sation. Love: the master of your heart.' We have a few suspects as to who or what
could have burned the message into the window, or had ordered the bandits or raiders
to do so. For now, we will house the Mindelan refugees here in the palace, and we
will continue to investigate this. Myles?"
Myles looked up. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Get your best spies and place them around Tortall. Tell them to keep their eyes and
ears open at all times and to take note of anything about an attack on any fief in
Tortall. Tell them to take notes on anyone named 'the Master of Hearts' or 'the Master'
or anything pertaining to something that says 'the master of your heart'," Jonathan
instructed.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Myles replied, as he wrote down Jon's instructions.
"Evin," Thayet spoke. He looked up at the queen. "Take some of the Riders out--
groups one, five, nine, and ten--and spread them out. Give them regions to cover."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Evin agreed, also taking note of Thayet's instructions.
"Daine," Jonathan said, turning his attention to the wild mage. "Could you tell any
animals around Mindelan to keep their eyes and ears open, and tell some of the
horses and ponies to listen to their masters' conversations?"
Thinking, Daine nodded. "I can try."
"Numair, could you try scrying? I know it's an obscure thing to scry for, but we're
grasping at straws right now," Jonathan explained.
Numair nodded, aloof. "I'll try, but I don't promise anything."
"That's all I ask," Jon assured Daine and Numair. "Raoul, I trust your judgment about
where to place your troops."
Nodding, Raoul said, "Thanks, Jon."
"And...Alanna, you and I will try scrying too. Thank you, everyone, for coming to
this meeting," Jonathan told them. Everyone stood and began to leave when Jon said,
"Neal, Kel, would you stay behind a moment?"
They both sat back down as the room cleared of everyone but the three of them.
"Your Majesty?" Neal asked.
"I know we just got back home and everything, but do you suppose you could ride
up to Mindelan and look at what's left? Kel, you know that place better than anyone
I have right now, and I don't want to send someone who isn't fully trained in the
sort of things knights are going up with you," Jon explained. "If you can't, or don't
want to, I'll understand. If they are any survivors or if any of the raiders or bandits
got trapped up there, I need Neal to heal them enough so they can be interrogated."
Bewildered, Kel looked to Neal and then back at Jon. "I...I guess we can. Can we
leave tomorrow though? I'd like to spend a little time with what's left of my family
and we'd like to have a day to recuperate."
"Certainly," Jon agreed. "I would like you to come see me before you leave though,
just so I can know where my knights have gone."
Neal nodded, rising with Kel and bowing to their king. As they left, Jon called after
them, "Have either of you seen Merric of Hollyrose?"
"No, sir," they answered in unison.
Jon frowned. "All right. He seems to have gone missing..."
Kel and Neal exchanged glances and ducked out of the war chambers. They were
mobbed by Owen the instant they appeared.
"Kel! Neal! Jolly good to see you!" he cried, hugging Kel, then hugging Neal, then
hugging Kel again.
"Hey, hey!" Neal protested. He waved Owen away from Kel and wrapped an arm
around the lady knight's waist.
Puzzled, Owen looked from Kel to Neal and back to Kel. "You...and him...?"
Kel nodded. "Yeah, Meathead and me."
"What about Yuki and Dom?" Owen wanted to know.
"They...found each other, I guess," Neal answered. "I don't know...you should ask
them."
Owen just shrugged it off. "Well, jolly good for you two! I always wondered if you
two fancied each other..."
Neal and Kel laughed and excused themselves, walking down the hallways with their
arms around the others' waist. As they approached Kel's rooms, someone jumped
in front of them, snarling.
Both knights reached for their swords, staring at their attacker.
Kel's eyes went wide. "Udaan?!"
Udaan ignored Kel and swung a dagger in Neal's vicinity. Neal ducked and tried to
grab another arm that wasn't there. Suddenly, he remembered where he had seen
this person before--it was Kel's kidnapper that had lost a hand!
"Hey...didn't I just cut off your hand? Not your arm?" Neal asked as Kel subdued the
once-kidnapper.
"Udaan," she said softly, holding his single arm behind his back. "What happened to
you?"
"Yer *boyfriend*," Udaan snarled the word viciously, "cut me hand off 'n He couldn'
save me arm..."
Neal felt no remorse as he apologized.
"'He'?" Kel inquired quietly. She had developed somewhat of a friendship with Gherash
and Udaan--more Udaan than Gherash--since they had nabbed her on her way to
Corus.
"You know who," Udaan grunted. "Leggo of me arm, Kel. I ain't gonna touch yer boy
if ye don' wan' me too."
"I don't," Kel agreed, releasing his arm. He stumbled to his feet, slidding his dagger
into its belt sheath. "Udaan, I would like you to meet Neal."
Udaan regarded Neal aggressively, barely resisting the urge to grab for his dagger.
However, he did offer a callused hand, which Neal reluctantly shook.
Sighing, Kel ushered both of them into her rooms, locking the door behind her. "What
brings you here, Udaan?"
Udaan sent a dubious look in Neal's direction, obviously expressing his opinion of
having the knight *not* in the Master's inner circle in the room. Kel threw Neal an
apologetic look and glared at Udaan. Flinching, Udaan started his story. "After Sir
Blade-happy cut off me hand, I took off back t' the meetin' place. I went t' Him an'
told Him what happened t' me, and He told me he wouldn' touch me bloodied stump
of a hand with a ten-foot pole, He did. So's He summoned one of 'Is healers an' gave
the job t' them. They couldn' do nothin' 'bout nothin', so's I lost me arm. He told me
t' come back an' git ye, but I had a score t' settle with Rides Like a Loon. D'ye even
know what He wants wit' ye, Kel?"
Shaking her head, Kel replied, "No, I haven't the faintest idea."
"I'd tell ye but Swings Prematurely would tell yer king an' I kinna have tha' happenin',"
Udaan explained.
Neal's fingers danced over the hilt of his sword. "Would you care to call me another
derogatory name, Udaan? I can arrange so you have no arm and a stump."
"Er, no thanks, Sir Neal," Udaan told him. He turned back to Kel, sweeping his
remaining hand through his dark hair. Although he looked somewhat of Scanran descent,
he looked a lot like a Bazhir, with tanned skin, dark hair, and dark eyes to match. His
lilting, commoner-born accent proved he had come from somewhere in central Tortall,
perhaps even the Lower City in Corus. "Kel, where d'ye and yer's plan on headin'?"
"Up to Mindelan," she answered with an air of sadness. "I trust you know what
happened."
The tumblers fell into place in Neal's head. Apparently, Udaan had hired someone to
torch Mindelan to the ground. He had had the nerve to show his face in Corus and to
Kel.
Growling, Neal headed over to Kel's bed and flopped down on it.
"I *do* know what happened," Udaan admitted, almost regretfully. "And lemme tell ye
summat, Kel. I tried t' tell 'em that you ain't gonna cause much trouble at all, and if
we just explain t' ye what we want then ye had a better chance of agreein' t' it. They
wouldn' hear none of it..."
Kel shook her head. "It's all right, Udaan."
"They had no business burnin' Mindelan," he told her, anger permeating his voice.
"No business at all. I tried t' stop 'em, Kel, I really did--"
"I know." She patted his shoulder.
He hugged her with his one arm, and Neal jumped up the instant Udaan got his arm
even halfway around her. "Let her go! Kel, he's obviously a Player--"
Kel broke away from Udaan and looked at Neal. "You don't have to act so over-
protective, Neal. Didn't you hear any of what Udaan just told me? He tried to stop
those who burned Mindelan from burning it. He doesn't want to hurt me."
Neal looked at her as if she had gone mad. "He just said that whoever this
mysterious 'He' is sent him to come kidnap you again."
Slowly, Kel approached Neal and hugged him close. "Stop it. If he tried anything,
you'd stop him if I couldn't," she whispered. She kissed him tenderly and turned
back to Udaan. "I'm sorry." She stayed close to Neal though, aware of his pro-
tectiveness. "You should just not go back to Him."
Frowning, Neal wrapped an arm around Kel's waist and held her tightly to him.
"Ye know I kinna do that," Udaan told her. "I kinna do it 'cause He'd jus' come
after me an' do much worse 'n what He did t' yer family an' yer land."
"Then come with us," Kel offered.
"Kel!" Neal cried.
"He has nowhere else to go and I trust him, Neal," Kel argued.
Somewhat miffed, Neal released Kel, shot a dirty look at Udaan, and plopped down
outside the door after nearly ripping it from his hinges. He hated the way Kel could
make him so crazy and so protective, even though she could take care of herself--
especially in her own room against a one-armed man armed only with a dagger. He
couldn't help it though, not since Udaan and his partner had kidnapped her.
Justice nudged his hand, having followed him out, and wagged her tail.
"Okay," he said, sighing. "Let's go."
***
At Justice's insistance, Neal had gone out to the stables. He found Daine in the hay-
loft, helping a cat birth kittens, and looked up at her.
"'Lo, Wild Mage," Neal called from the stable floors.
"'Lo, Sir Knight," Daine called back, immitating his voice.
"How fares you?" he inquired.
"Fair busy at the moment," she grunted. "You?"
"Cogitating," he admitted.
"Cogi--cogi-*what*?" she repeated.
"Cogitating. Thinking," he reiterated.
"Oh." A few minutes later, she climbed down the ladder, wiping her hands on the
edge of her tunic. "So why did you seek me out? I would think you'd go to Kel."
"Actually, I didn't seek you out," Neal confessed. "Justice here led me."
Justice pawed at Daine's foot until the wild mage's foot until she stooped and
coddled the puppy. Smiling, Daine looked at Neal. "She says her dam and her
sire brought her here, saying she was fair smart pup."
Neal laughed, scratching the back of his head. "By her 'dam' I suppose she means
Kel, and by her 'sire' I'd guess she means me."
Daine chuckled and set Justice back on the ground. "She likes you two a lot. She
doesn't even remember her mother."
He smiled at the puppy and crouched to pet her.
"What's on your mind?" Daine wondered, sitting on a bale of hay and patting the
spot next to her.
Accepting the invitation, Neal picked Justice up and sat on the hay next to Daine.
"As you've probably heard by now, Kel and I have started courting one another.
I don't understand what happened, but Kel has made friends with one of the people
that kidnapped her, and she wants him to come along with us to Mindelan to see if
we can find any bandits trapped there that survived. I can't seem to talk any
sense into her--she doesn't want to listen to me and she wants to trust a man that
wants to kidnap her *again* and will most likely hurt her!"
Daine watched Neal for a few moments before answering. "It sounds like you want
to protect someone who has spent the majority of her life protecting herself and
learning how to do so." He didn't say anything, so she continued. "Kel's a free
spirit, just like Alanna. You of all people should have recognized that. True, I can
understand how you would like to keep her safe from someone who has kidnapped
her before--that *does* give the impression she can't take care of herself too well.
But, you know, Kel does a fair good job of defending herself when she has to. You
should trust her like you have before, and she won't lead you astray."
Neal mulled over this in his mind. Sighing, he got off of the bale of hay and looked
at Daine with a resigned expression. "How can everyone else see what I can't?"
Daine shrugged. "Humans act a lot like intelligent animals, so I guess I can do a fair
good job of reading people too. Anyway, I have to go to the lake now and see if I
can follow the king's orders."
"Thanks!" he called after her.
"You're welcome!" she called back, already pretty far away.
***
Neal found Kel in the training yard, teaching Udaan some one-handed attacks with
his dagger. She flinched when he approached and focused even more on Udaan,
showing him how to twist and thrust a dagger up underneath someone's ribcage.
Waiting, Neal watched her teach Udaan and realized that she did trust him, or else
she wouldn't show him how to use his dagger with one hand.
"Kel."
She looked at him. "What?"
"May I speak with you for a moment?" he asked, putting on his kicked puppy look.
She gave him the Yamani Lump look in return. "Kel..." he pouted. She continued
to ignore him. "Kel...please? Please?"
Udaan glanced at him and looked at Kel. "Why don't ye take a break, Kel, an' lemme
test out me own arm without ye?" he told her. Winking at Neal, Udaan began to
practice without Kel.
Sighing, Kel walked over to Neal and nodded towards the fence. Neal followed and
leaned against it as she perched upon the top rung. "What do you want, Neal?"
"I'm sorry." He looked at the ground. "I'm so used to courting a court female that
I forgot you can take care of yourself. I mean, especially after the month and a half
I spent looking for you, I guess I just got in my head that you couldn't defend yourself
against the likes of him." Shrugging, he pointed to Udaan.
"He has one arm."
"I know."
"And he can't use a dagger very well."
"I can see that."
"He wanted to kill you, you know."
"I thought so, after him jumping out at us like that."
"I told him that I love you."
Neal stopped and looked up at her. Slowly, a smile, a genuine smile, spread across
his face. "Will you tell me that you love me?"
*Oh, gods. Way to go, Kel,* she berated herself mentally. *If I say something...well,
Udaan knows anyway. I might as well.*
She hopped off of the fence and stood toe-to-toe with him. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He kissed her gently, glad that she had forgiven him for acting like
a moron and that he had forgiven her for the most part for trusting someone who had
kidnapped her.
Udaan cleared his throat.
They broke apart and looked at Udaan. Kel coughed and blushed, looking up at Neal
once before addressing Udaan. "You ready to learn something else, Udaan?"
"Actu'lly, Kel, I'm a might tired," he admitted. "Kin we have another go at it later?"
"I'm leaving early tomorrow morning," Kel told him. "Sorry. Unless you decided to
join us?"
"If Neal don't mind," Udaan conceded.
"If Kel trusts you, then I trust you."
"Then I'll go wit' ye."
