Chapter Seven

New Victims

This time she was awake when she heard his voice, awake and running.

"Lady Keladry, Lady Keladry, are we going to play now?"

"Get out of my head!" she screamed and turned to see Neal's terrified eyes on her. She shook her head and forced Peachblossom harder, faster. It was all Neal's gelding could do to keep up.

"Kel where are we going?" Neal called to Kel, and she shook her head.

"We're going to the voice," she answered.

"The voice is in your head, how do you know where it is?" Neal was terrified, but he tried not to sound it.

"We're going to ask it," Kel gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. "Where are you?"

"Oh, so now you want to talk, now that you need something from me. I don't think I want to talk under those conditions," he mocked her pain.

"Tell us where you are or get out of her head," Neal's voice growled in Kel's mind, and she turned to find that they had stopped, and he had his hands on her shoulders; his eyes were closed with a great look of concentration on his face.

"Come on Neal, we've got to keep going," she whispered out loud, but he was too far-gone.

"Vicious one aren't you? Come now, it's only your cousin," Kel could almost envision his twisted smile.

"You will pay for this," Neal's voice was a low rumble by now, barely audible through his anger, and his grip on her shoulders tightened intensely.

"Temper, temper, you've been around the Lady Alanna for far too long," the way he kept calm only infuriated Neal further.

"You leave Alanna out of this!"

"Oh don't worry, your Knight Master will get hers in due time, she'll fall along with her precious King. I'll see to that…unless…Lady Keladry still does want to play," as he said her name his voice became more childish, more like a little boy that genuinely wanted to go outside and play sword fight.

"Bring it," Kel whispered, and he clapped his hands together, or he must have, because there was a clapping sound in her head.

"Go to the place where you're to be expecting Roald," he instructed, and Neal's eyes snapped open as he stepped back.

"No," he whispered, and they both mounted as fast as they could and turned their mounts, fearing it wouldn't be too late.

"Alanna," Neal said out loud, calling her with what strength he had left. Kel could see how weak his magic was. "Dammit," he muttered and shook his head, ready to try again.

"Don't," Kel ordered. "You'll pass out if you do, and I need you for this Neal, Dom needs you," she looked over to him, and he nodded and set his jaw.

*

They rode all night and much of the morning until Kel knew she had to stop or Neal would pass out in exhaustion. When they stopped she had to pull him off his horse and lean him against a tree. She looked him over and saw that he was drenched in sweat and nearly unconscious.

"Neal?" she whispered and tried to wake him from the daze he was in. After a few more moments he seemed to almost awake and look at her with clear eyes.

"Kel? Where are we? Where's Dom? What about Roald?" he questioned.

"We're not there yet Neal; we have at least another three days ride, and that would be nonstop," Kel explained. "We can't do that nonstop. We have to rest."

"No, we've got to…" he tried to stand but slumped up against the trees once more. "We've got to go…"

"No Neal," Kel forced him down and looked up to the sky. "Goddess, I'm sorry that I put you through this Neal."

"Put me…you didn't put me through…Dom is my cousin, and I would do anything for him, and for you," he smiled weakly, and Kel looked at the black circles under his eyes and his face drenched in sweat; his green eyes were forlorn and dull.

"Sleep Neal, sleep," she instructed and laid out a bedroll for him and helped him onto it.

"Thanks Kel," he managed to mutter before falling into a dark and undisturbed sleep.

Kel took Peachblossom and Neal's gelding that was called Atervultus for its stormy coloring, to a nearby creek and watered them, filling several canteens full of water. She sat down next to Neal and felt his forehead; he wasn't just exhausted, he had a fever. She looked to the sky again and prayed for him as she opened one of the canteens and tore off a piece of her shirt, then soaked the fabric and put it to his forehead. She looked after him for four hours, until the fever broke, then weary beyond belief and sore to boot, she fell onto the ground and slept. But her sleep couldn't be as blessed as Neal's and this time, when she dreamt, she saw Dom.

"What do you think of the idea Lady Keladry? Brilliant if I do say so myself. Bring them here with me, take them to the village that I'm about to ransack, the village that Prince Roald will just happen to be staying at. I'll lure you here, and then…oh wait…I'm not supposed to tell you that, well…I guess you already assumed that I wasn't just bringing you here so you could spoil of my fun. Oh no, I have bigger plans for you, and who knows, maybe if you're a good girl and don't give me too much trouble I'll let them die easily. I won't torture them before," he looked around, and Kel's eyes moved to Dom and Tobe who were both chained and bound.

"Dom, Tobe!" Kel shouted, and her eyes turned back to her assailant, angry as the sun. "Murderer! Why?! They're innocent! If you want me, come and take me! You don't need them!"

"Oh but see that wouldn't be easy, to just break into camp and take you. I had to get you on your own, and then I could take you, but someone always seems to be following you. First it was this stable boy, so I took him, then it was this Sergeant, so I took him, and now it's a Mage of all people. I thought it would be easy to get rid of him, I wouldn't even have to get my hands dirty, but not with you, oh no. You had to go and cure the fever! I guess I'll just have to think of something new and original now. What a bother, oh well, it keeps me strong."

Dom's eyes met Kel's and she nodded, it was Neal. His head lowered, and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry," Kel whispered, and he shook his head and looked into her eyes. All that was there was confidence. If anyone could save him, she could.

"Stop, this isn't about you," a burst of dark colored magic sent Dom sprawling to the ground in pain, curled up in a ball, unable to help himself because his hands were bound.

Tobe knelt by him, but his hands were bound as well so there was little he could do.

"See what you make me do? Hurt the people who love you most? Hurt the people you care for most? If you didn't make this so difficult, if you were a bit smarter the game might already be over. I might not have even had to kill the Mage, but you insisted on not asking for help. You're like a man that can't ask for directions when he's lost in the woods. You wouldn't ask for help, so now you'll suffer. Well…you would have suffered anyway, but…maybe not as much."

"Why me?" Kel whispered. "Why do you want me?"

"Because I've taken quite a liking to you. I've watched you develop, watched you defeat all the enemies that ever got in your way. So have I, I've defeated everyone that has ever gotten in my way. We're a lot alike Keladry of Mindelan, a lot alike. I just thought it was time we met, and…conversed. I wanted to swap battle stories over lunch in the palace that will be mine when I take over all of Tortall."

"You'll never defeat Tortall with a series of night raids!" Kel screamed, determined to make this true.

"You're right, but! With a series of night raids, a fevered King and Queen, a country in chaos, a Prince at bay, and the only warriors either cooped up in the palace protecting their fallen leaders, or on some wild goose chase, I think my chances are pretty good if I do say so myself."

"You'll have to get through me first," she snarled and clenched her fists.

"That's precisely my problem, but you'll learn all about my solution to that shortly. Until then, come and find me, you know where to look now. Follow the trails," he smiled sickly and kicked Tobe once, sending him to the ground before the dream faded, and Kel was woken, Neal standing over her.

"I saw him, in my head," Neal said quietly. "During the night, I saw him, and Dom and Tobe."

"Yeah…" Kel said softly. "Neal I want you to go back to the castle, I want you to tell Alanna and Raoul, they need to know. You have to do this, and I have to go on to the coast to meet Raold."

"No Kel," Neal shook his head. "I know what you're trying to do, and I won't leave you."

"You have to," Kel's eyes were demanding. "How will they know? We need some more backup."

"There is no backup, you know it as well as I. I'm not going to run out and play message boy so you can go and save the country against a villainous Mage without me. As much as I'd like to stay inside and sit this one out, I can't do that, not this time," he wouldn't give in.

"You're in serious danger with me," Kel tried the truth then, if nothing else maybe the truth would make him leave. She didn't want to have another hurt on her account.

"You think I don't know that? We're in this together now, and no matter where I go I'm going to be in danger from him; he knows my magic, he's got it traced. I'd be safer with you than I would on a course back to the palace on my own. Come on, we don't have much time, and it's already dawn," and without another word he helped her pack up camp. They left everything they could spare for faster traveling and mounted, heading toward the coast as fast as they could, hoping that they would make it in time.

*

"Follow the trails," it was all Kel could think about for the next five days while she and Neal did follow his trails. For five days all they did was move from charred and destroyed village to charred and destroyed village. The people were all outside, trying to reclaim their shattered lives, but all looking helpless all the same. There was no way they could recover from this. And the closer to the sea they got, the worse it became.

All the buildings were burnt; the raiding had gotten more serious, more professional. The ashes had been burnt; nothing was left standing. All the livestock that had value was taken, as could be seen by the horse prints leading out of the village that quickly disappeared in a creek or field. Everything else had either been used as food or killed. Fewer and fewer people began to escape the raids, and it seemed that Neal and Kel were always only a few hours late. They would push harder and faster, hoping to catch up, but they would always be a few hours too late. There was nothing they could do to help the people they passed, and no way to help the people in front. All they could do was be behind the madness and in front of the wreckage.

On the third day of their traveling they were resting their horses, and Neal said he had enough strength to call Alanna. Kel wanted to protest, but she couldn't. They needed to talk to her, to warn Roald.

"Alanna," he called, holding Kel's wrist, so she could hear as well.

"Where have you been Neal? I've been trying to call you for days!" she screamed in their heads, and Kel managed a weak smile.

"I've had a terrible fever, and I was too weak to use magic," Neal answered calmly. "Thanks for caring."

"What do you have to tell us Alanna?" Kel asked, using the casual name hesitantly still, but knowing that Neal and Alanna would be silent for hours because neither of them would apologize; they were both too stubborn.

"Roald is on his way back, he should be there in two days at most. Daine finally was able to find him," they could hear the smile of relief in her voice. "He'll be able to do a great deal for the people, if not for his father."

"Two days?" Kel whispered, and Neal shook his head.

"What's wrong Kel?" Alanna asked. "What's going on?"

"He's waiting there, for Roald," Kel said hurriedly.

"What? Who?" Alanna was already getting frantic.

"The enemy," Kel answered, and she could feel Alanna pale and grow cold.

"How…how do you know?" she questioned softly.

"He told me, he speaks to me through dreams, he's a very powerful Mage, you knew…well he spoke to me in my head the other day. He was the one who made Neal sick, he took Dom, and Tobe, and he's using them to get me to the sea where he plans to kill Roald. He's burnt every village there, leaving us a trail to find him. If we don't get there before Roald does, it's over. Is there anyway Daine can reach Roald now? To tell him, to postpone it, anything?" Kel explained quickly, thinking as fast as she could.

"I don't know what she can do now that he's halfway across the sea, but I'll try. I'll get you as much time as is possible. If nothing else I can delay the ship once it reaches port," Alanna answered. "Thank you Kel, Neal."

"Thank you Alanna," Kel answered, and they both looked up at each other.

"Two days," Neal said softly and nodded. "We've got to hurry."

A/N: Sorry, didn't mean for this update to be so long coming. I'll try to get them out a bit faster now that summer's here.Hpe you enjoy, and I'm still working on Kel and her love life. I'll figure it out soon I think. The story from here on is almost writing itself, I'm just letting the words fall onto the page, so I'm not sure what's going to happen, nothing is being planned, I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.