When the Unexpected Happens

by an anonymous geek

A/N: Hiya, dudes. So, I lied. I do have internet access. I forgot that my dad owns a laptop. Well, this will probably be the only time I will be updating this week because I'm preoccupied. I'm on vacation, in a really big house, with a huge tv with 900 channels, huge room to myself with a king size bed, lots of food, and millions of good books. Don't tell me you wouldn't be busy. Thanks to all the reviewer dudes. I luv ya! Anyway, I think you would rather be reading my story, so. . .


Chapter Two

She walked through a huge forest. No sound could be heard but that of her heartbeat. She walked on and on and the maze of the forest never seemed to end. She was sure that she was walking in circles. Didn't she see that tree only a few minutes ago? Hadn't she walked down this path before?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, came a pack of spidrens. There must have been dozens of them, their razor sharp teeth glinting from the shine of the blazing hot sun overhead. They formed a circle around her and moved forward. She forced herself to stay calm and not panic. She cursed herself inwardly that she had not thought to bring her glaive or her sword with her. She was weaponless. Quickly, she tried to figure out what to do. But not quickly enough. Spidren web was hurled at her, but fortunately, she was prepared for at least that one. She fell to the ground and rolled herself out of the spidren's way. Soon more spidren webs came at her, but she averted those too. She was doing well. But she knew that she could not do this forever.

At one point they would catch her. They would lock her in their webs. They would surround her. Then they would dig their teeth into her, and eat her alive, while she was still warm. They might even save some of her for fodder for their young. And the baby spidrens would tear her apart too. She grimaced at the thought of these things, and began to despair. This caused her to slow down. As if in slow motion, she saw one particularly large spidren hurl its web at her.

The thick web entwined itself around her, and she struggled. But this only caused to her to become even more trapped in the web. The spidrens' leering faces drew closer and closer, and she struggled all the more, even though she knew that it was to no avail. The large spidren that had captured her with its web walked over to her and drew its face close to her own. She closed her eyes and prayed to the gods to give her mercy, although she knew that her doom had come at last.

But, all of a sudden, she heard a yell from inside to forest. She slightly recognized the voice, but she couldn't quite place it. The spidrens must have heard the voice too, because they all turned their heads toward the forest. Then one of the spidrens fell to the ground with an arrow through its head. This angered the other spidrens greatly and they approached the figure, filled with fury. Several more fell to the ground with similar injuries. Then the figure stepped out of the forest and Kel recognized him as Joren. Joren? What was he doing here? Why was he saving her?

He pulled a sword from its sheath, and cut off the legs of several unsuspecting spidrens, while at the same time, dodging several webs that were thrown at him. He was doing all these things very fast. In only a matter of minutes he had killed the majority of them, without receiving any injuries himself. After a few minutes, he had killed all but two, and he soon finished them off. He wiped off his sword in the grass of the clearing, and then placed it back in its sheath. Only then did he walk over to Kel.

"Kel, are you okay?" he asked, and Kel was surprised that he did not use his traditional name for her, like Lump or Mindelan, but used her real name.

"I'm-I'm fine."

"Well, you don't look it, all tied up in that web. Here, let me get you out of this mess." She was also surprised by the softness of his voice, and the kindness clearly written on his face. He seemed as if he really cared. No, this couldn't be. This was not the Joren she knew. Who now gently cut through the web with a knife, careful not to hurt her.

After a few minutes, he had cut her free, and was helping her to her feet. Then she winced in pain. Her ankle throbbed. She must have twisted it when she had fallen to the ground, and not noticed it since she was so deep in concentration.

Joren noticed her ankle, so he gently picked her up. Without saying a word, he carried her though the forest on a path that she had not noticed before, but now guessed was the one he had come from. Soon, they were out of the forest, and were standing right outside her father's fief. She tried to get down, and Joren slowly helped her to the ground, and allowed her to lean against him. She knew that she must say something to break the silence.

"Thank you, Joren. You saved my life, and I am forever in your debt." He looked down at her and searched her eyes for something. He moved in closer. Kel knew exactly what he was doing, but she did nothing to stop it.

His lips gently touched her own, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she allowed him to kiss her. He pulled his head back and looked at her with ice blue eyes that didn't seem cold at all now. He smiled at her, and then everything disappeared.

~ * ~

Kel woke up in the room at the inn. It took her a while to realize where she was, but when she did, she groaned and got out of bed. As soon as her feet touched the cold ground, she jumped back into her warm bed. It was winter, and the cold was unbearable in Tortall.

Finally, she ventured out of bed, wincing from the cold. She stripped off her nightclothes and quickly, very quickly, donned her breeches and shirt. After she had pulled on her boots, she walked over to a basin of warm water that a maid had brought in, and cleaned her face and hands. Then she remembered her dream. She stepped away from the basin and grimaced. How could she think up something as gross and sick as that? Joren kissing her!?

She knew that she must be going mad, having dreams like that. After she had eaten her breakfast and paid the innkeeper, she walked off to the stables. There she found Peachblossom, ready to go. 'Tobe must have been here already,' she thought.

Sure enough, right in the next stall, Tobe was saddling his own horse. Once he had finished, they rode out of the stables, headed straight for Corus.

~ * ~

Kel wasn't the only one having strange dreams. Joren was having them also. And he, too, was in a forest. As he walked down a path, he noticed many moving shapes ahead of him. He hurried down the path and came to a clearing where dozens of spidrens surrounded a tied up human being. He yelled at the spidrens and they turned toward him. Then he started fighting them until he had killed all of them.

Once he had done this, he walked over to the human and was shocked to see that it was Kel. He laughed inwardly at the thought of him, Joren of Stone Mountain, saving Keladry of Mindelan, the damsel in distress.

After he had cut through the web, he helped her up and noticed that her ankle was sprained, so he carried her. He liked feeling that he was the strong and powerful one, and she was the weak one, who needed to depend on him. He wouldn't admit, even to himself, that he liked the feeling of her in his arms.

Then he helped her down and she thanked him, sincerity written on his face. He was frightened to admit that she looked pretty then, her hazel eyes bright with happiness. He couldn't help it. He leaned in to kiss her. He expected her to pull away immediately, but she did not. Then he pulled away and looked into her face. He didn't see any anger there, only surprise, and something else he couldn't identify. Then everything vanished and he woke up.

He got dressed, ate breakfast, and then walked into the stables, where he saw Kel. Then he remembered his dream with disgust. Who would ever think of her as pretty, let alone kiss her?

She was the Lump, and nothing would change that. But in days to come, he would remember that dream, and look on it no longer with distaste, but with something else. Something else that even he did not understand.

He saddled his horse, mounted, and rode away.

~ * ~

Hey, dudes. Now don't freak at me because of the grammar in this thing, where I begin every sentence with "he" or "she." This is only how I write dreams that I begin sentences like this. Okay?

Oh, and another thing. Don't freak at me for going too fast, because, don't worry, I will not. When they see each other in Corus, they still hate each other (or so they think, muahahahahahaa). Okay, there's something you need to know. I won't update until have 10 more reviews. So, if you really want me to update, all ya need to do it tell your friends to read this story, and to review it.

Thanks.

I'm sorry that his chapter is mainly dreams, but the next chapter will be more exciting, I promise.