I know. Y'all are mad at me. I seriously tried. It's not like I have any excuses. I mean having a heap of homework, going to bed at all hours, having mild writer's block. *tear* just shoot me after you finish reading the chapter. Anyway enjoy.
Kel woke up early the next day. She had had a horrible night. It became a task to fall asleep when she started thinking about Dom, Cleon … and Joren. That stupid kiss. She sighed. Joren seemed to insist on making this quest as difficult as possible.
Deciding that she would like to work off a bit of her stress, she carefully took her bag full of weapons and snook out of the inn. Soundlessly she reached the back of the inn to start her weapon exercises.
Opening the bag she took out two long knives. Deftly, she started twirling them in her hands, then around her body, increasing the level of difficulty. Finally, she started jabbing and dodging invisible enemies. Finished with those weapons, she then took out her Yamani throwing stars, and her black glove. It wouldn't do, for her to slice her hand. Turning to the thick stable wall she started to throw the stars in rapid succession. She went back to her bag to get another of her weapons but then thought twice about it. She didn't need Joren to find out about it.
Glancing up at the sky she shrugged. She still had to learn how to see through the damned illusion. Added to that, she had promised to spar with Jace. Little did she know that someone was watching her.
~ ~
Joren woke up groaning. He hadn't had the best night of rest. A certain part of his anatomy had ached through out the entire night. Looking down as he got into the water filled basin he noticed that his member was swollen and bruised black and blue. He would have to get Daren to heal him if he wanted to ride Darkness without pain for the next three days.
Shit this is embarrassing, he thought going red. That twerp better not ask any questions.
Ten minutes later, Joren was knocking on Daren's and the other guards' room. Hopefully those other peasant's brats won't be in. he heard footsteps than the door opened to reveal a scowling Daren. Shoving past him Joren stepped into the room, checking to see if any of the other guards were there. He turned to see Daren closing the door.
" If your looking for Lady Kel to apologize she's outside sparring with Jace."
" Why would I be apologizing to that wench?" Joren exclaimed sneering.
" Arric saw what you did to her last night. You better beware of him, he'[s not very happy with you."
" Beware a filthy commoner and a Scanran savage? Please spare me. And I wouldn't apologize to the Lump if she held a sword to my throat."
At that Daren's eyes darkened in anger. If only he were allowed to attack a knight. Ignoring Daren's glares, Joren thought it about time for his healing. His "gift" was steadily getting worse.
"Listen twerp, I need you to heal my… my… monster?"
Joren was answered with a blank face.
" My pride? Woody? Gift? Brain? Member? Jewel? Nuts? My manhood? Gods kid! Do you not know anything?! How the hell did you get into this world? Your father put his–"
" You can stop now, I understand!" Daren called out, his face turning six shades of red. Who knew it was possible?
" What's wrong with it?" he asked cautiously.
" It's black, blue, purple, swollen. Shall I go on?" Suddenly Joren grabbed the boy by his collar and lifted him off the ground.
" If you dare speak to anyone about this brat I'll gut you." Loosening his hold, Joren let go of the other male. He was surprised when he only heard laughter. Daren had tried but he just couldn't hold it in. Peal after peal of laughter escaped his throat. Joren tightly reigned in his anger.
"What's wrong with you boy?"
" She kicked you didn't she? Arric had hinted but-" the rest of the sentence was lost in his uncontrollable chuckles.
" What do you mean Arric had hinted?"
" Well why do you think I said for you to be wary of Arric?"
" Hmph. Perfect. Well what are you waiting for twerp? Heal me."
Daren abruptly froze, no longer laughing. His eyes widened.
" You don't mean that I'll have to t-tou-touch -"
" Gods brat, who taught you how to heal. You don't have to necessarily touch the inflicted area."
" Oh."
" Well get on with it."
" Yes, sir."
" Actually before you heal me get one of the inn's wenches to tell the others that we will be leaving in half an hour."
" Right Sir Joren."
Before leaving Daren peeked his head back in and said, " Make sure you don't hurt yourself now." He yelped when a throwing knife bit into the doorframe, an inch from his face.
" Watch yourself whelp." Joren said coldly. Daren nodded and ran.
~ ~
The tall and broad form of a man stood over a black bowl of water. He looked on as a troop of warriors traveled through a forest by horse. He was turning his head from the image when two of the warriors caught his attention. Looking at the one with hazel eyes, he noticed that she was a she and quite lovely at that. He grinned wolfishly, than turned his attention to the blond warrior in front of her. He is somebody I should be wary of. I shall keep a close eye on this man. Aloud he said, " Better yet, I will be rid of them tonight. I think I shall send the shadow raiders, since these seem to be worthy opponents."
Suddenly his coal black eyes turned to a large shadow leaning on the wall.
" What do you want Fenrir? I may be mortal but I am not stupid."
Ignoring his question the man in the shadows asked his own question.
" Still looking for the chalice Codane?"
Through gritted teeth Codane answered firmly yet sarcastically. " My name is Kato, son of Loki, Lord of Destruction and Raedis, Lady of Corruption."
" Have you forgotten your own brother?"
" Ah ye, Brother to Fenrir, Child of Disruption," Codane continued rolling his eyes.
" Brother you know as well as I, that you hold no title as long as you remain ungodly. You are Codane the Nameless until you earn the right to be called your proper name."
" Have you come to bait me brother?"
" No, to warn you. Those two warriors that you saw in your vision are great obstacles in your search for the Chalice of Iluriel. You must eliminate them."
" What? Do you know something you're not telling me?"
" All in due time brother. Do not underestimate the girl. I will be seeing you soon."
When Fenrir's form had completely melted into the shadows, Codane could only say, " You always did like to show off. But this is not the time. To work."
~ ~
Kel rode into the forest thinking about the past two days. It had been two days since her incident with Joren. The insufferable man would wink at her any time he caught her eye, knowing he was annoying her. She tried to hide her reactions but these days her Yamani mask wasn't doing so well. Deciding she rather think of something else, her mind brought up the subject of the toad/candle illusion. Yesterday she had seen through the illusion for about five seconds before her concentration was broken. She had tried again but nothing had happened. To make a long story short, she wasn't in the best of moods. She was startled out of her revelry, when, a question was asked by Jace.
" So when do we reach Tyra?"
" In three days. Right now we are near a village named Beechbirk." Joren answered the question though you could hardly see him in the gathering shadows.
" Joren it's about time we stopped," Kel spoke up. " Soon it will be impossible to see anything. The trees are blocking the moonlight."
" Of course. I know you're eager to hit the sheets. Come to think of it, I am also." It was evident that he was probably smirking.
Before Kel could react, Arric was moving past her and quickly at that. Luckily Raven blocked the angry man with his horse. He whispered a few words that Kel didn't catch. She watched as the tension in Arric's shoulders was released. Than she heard the air breathed in, as Joren was about to say something. Sadly, he was interrupted when Daren's voice came out of the darkness.
" Is it me or are there more shadows than there should be? And why do I feel like we're being watched?"
The older warriors suddenly froze and listened. Their eyes widened as they unmistakably heard the deep snort of horse coming from afar. Except there was something wrong with the sound. The wind and shadows were weaved into it.
" Ride now!" the harsh words seemed like they had been ripped from Raven's throat. " Towards the open clearing ahead."
Without thinking the rest of the group obeyed his orders. Raven turned around and watched a large group of shadows following them. Their only chance was to reach the clearing where the moon could partially offer them her protection. Arric's usually quiet voice boomed over the pounding of their horses' hooves.
" As soon as you get to the edge of the clearing, get off your horse. These are no ordinary bandits."
" Our horses know how to-" Kel began to reply before she was cut off by Arric.
" If you do not get off your horses, they will throw you and we cannot risk that. Just listen!"
To say the least, everyone was surprised. They had never heard Arric speak in such a fashion or with such vehemence. Something was very wrong, so they didn't hesitate to get off their horses when they reached the clearing. Raven spoke up.
" We are lucky that there is a full moon out. Everyone arm up and don't underestimate this group. They are quite a match for us."
Kel quickly opened her saddlebag, which was on Hoshi, and started placing weapons on various parts of her body.
" They're here."
Turning around, Kel was greeted with a creepy sight. The horses that the bandits had ridden screamed and dissolved as they were illuminated by the moonlight. Too bad these men are made of stronger substance, thought Kel. Abruptly their horses rolled their eyes and bolted for the forest. Guess that was what Arric was talking about. Kel's train of thought was broken when she got a clearer view of the bandits. Though her face was emotionless, inwardly she gasped. At first she had just thought that these men were dressed in black. But in reality they were dressed by shadows. As they moved, they gathered the shadows surrounding them, making them increasingly substantial. Fortunately most of the shadows being cast were on the other side of the clearing.
" Shadow Raiders." Kel didn't need to turn around to know that it was Raven who spoke.
" Be ready. Kill don't capture." Joren's voice was cold.
The odds were not the best. There were twelve shadow men and only seven of them. As the dark raiders approached their forms suddenly flickered. But then the moo slightly became shadowed as a small cloud partially covered it.
Swiftly the shadow raiders rushed the tortallan warriors with amazing speed. A shiver crawled down Kel's spine when she noticed the eyes of the raiders were totally black, no whites. Unfortunately, Kel didn't have time to think about this odd phenomena, since one of the raiders was about to engage her in battle.
The man swung his long sword intending to separate Kel's head from her body. At the last moment Kel brought up her own blade to block him. She winced, this was not going to be easy. Changing tactics, he viciously attacked her in a rapid succession of blows. Kel was blocking them but barely. Seeing an opening she lunged forward, her sword biting deeply into the tendons of his right thigh. Yet quicker than the eye could see, he kicked her in the stomach while once again swinging the blade towards her head. She ducked while she cringed in pain. She could see a large dark trail of blood flowing down his leg. Evidently, his wound was not bothering him.
She quickly jumped up and started getting the offensive role. Her muscles screamed from the torture of blocking all of his cuts at her. She wouldn't survive by trying to wear him down. Once again they engaged in battle, the shadow raider having the upper hand.
~ ~
Joren stepped away from the body which had just fallen, his sword buried in its chest. Coldly he saw that its once black eyes were blue. The man had a small smile of peace on his face though it also showed pain.
Grunting from exertion, Joren pulled out his sword from the body as he heard something fall heavily behind him. Flipping around he saw a man on his face with an arrow protruding from his back. Looking up he saw Arric a few feet away from him with two bodies on either side of him. Arric nodded at Joren then dropped his bow while pulling out a long knife to help Daren out of a fix.
Glancing around Joren noticed the other bodies littering the clearing. There was a body behind Raven with a knife in its eye, blood pooling down its face. Raven even now had just slit the throat of another shadow raider. Joren saw that Raven's left wrist was pointed at a wrong angle.
Moving on, he saw Jace on his knees grunting in pain. There was blood running down his temple. He was looking at the three bodies laying a few feet away from him. Two had stab wounds to the chest, while the third had most of his head removed. With a grimace of recognition, Joren knew it was Thomas.
Joren was distracted by the disturbing scene when he heard a loud crack. He turned swiftly to see Arric unconscious against a tree. Apparently he had been thrown into it when he had tried to help Daren. What was surprising was that Daren was slumped beside a body, his sword buried in the back of its head. Didn't know he had it in him, he smirked.
Suddenly he felt something fly past his face. He turned seeing one of Kel's throwing stars buried between the eyes of the shadow raider who was going to attack him from behind. Joren swore. This was the second time that he had been unaware of a bandit's approach. Damn!, he thought running towards Kel.
~ ~
Kel lay on the ground panting. Though she had killed her shadow raider, she was still beaten up pretty badly. Blood ran from a long slash on her arm and across her chest. She could feel the bruises appearing on her face and her right leg. But right now she was fighting for consciousness. Without thinking she had thrown one of her stars at the raider behind Joren, straining her tired muscles to the point when she could actually hear them scream. Her thoughts were interrupted when something heavy fell on top of her. She grimaced with disgust when something wet started dripping onto the back of her head. Pushing herself from underneath the body, her eyes fell on Joren. First thing that came to mind was, He did not just save me?!
~ ~
he knew he wasn't close enough. So in the spur of the moment he hefted his sword, bringing it behind his head. Flinging it, he let go, watching it fly end over end to cut into the man's back. Damn lucky is what she is.
Walking over he watched her struggle to get from underneath the body. Her face was pale and she was dripping blood.
" You're not looking too good Lump."
" I'm fine Joren," she croaked though she contradicted herself as she swayed uncertainly while walking towards him.
" Are you really Lump?" he smirked.
" Listen Joren, I know my own limits, so buzz off and…and…" Kel was plunging forward when she was caught by a pair of strong arms. That was when he understood the amount of blood she had lost.
The last thing Kel acknowledged while she dropped into oblivion was Thomas' body. A single tear rolled down her face as her heavy eyes closed.
