In the last chapter, I talked about how long it took them to get to
Desmaurads. Ignore all of that. It is taking me too long to figure this
out, but I'm just saying that my this time, it's mid-january. I don't care
if I've screwed everything up, I know I didn't go back in time, so we'll
just say they were on the road for about two months. It makes sense,
really, seeing as it was winter, and they were on foot, going across an
entire country. Anyway, it's mid-january. Remember that.
Oh, and there is some definite PG, if not PG-13 material in here. Near the end has some serious violence. Well, not serious by today's standards, but just in case.
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"How are we going to do this?" Dom asked as they trekked towards the city. They had waited until nightfall so that they would not be seen, but it was still dangerous.
Kel kept looking straight ahead. "I don't know."
Dom stopped walking. "What?"
Kel kept going. She didn't answer.
Dom ran to catch up with her. "What do you mean, you don't know?" He said, out of breath.
Kel stopped and looked at him. "I'm going to play it by ear. There's no point in having a plan. I don't know the city, I don't know the guards or the soldiers, and unless I do, there's no plan that will work. When I get to the wall, I'll figure out how to get over it. once I'm inside, I'll work from there."
Dom's mouth fell open. "You can't be serious-how will we keep it together?"
"We shouldn't have to keep it together!" Kel snapped. "I was supposed to be doing this myself, so I wouldn't have to deal with instructing another person."
Dom looked down. "Oh." He said quietly.
Kel saw the look on his face and felt something inside of her break. She fell down onto the snow and started crying.
"Kel, what's wrong?" Dom said.
Kel shook her head. She was crying too much to talk; her tears were freezing on her cheeks. "It's just too much." She finally choked out. Dom put his arm around her. He didn't say anything. "He just sent me out here by myself, expecting so much of me, telling me I'll probably get killed doing it, but he doesn't care, as long as I do it! And none of my friends even know, they're going to think I was just being stupid running off like this again and they're going to have that as their last memory of me and I don't know-"
Dom put a finger to her lips. "Shh, it's going to be alright. You're going to be fine. You always are."
She shook her head. "It's not."
Dom sighed. "You're right. It probably won't be alright. But that doesn't mean you are going to get killed. You will come out of this city. Do you understand?"
Kel nodded. "I'm alright." She stood up. They walked in silence for a little while, until they came up to the wall. "Dom," Kel said as they searched for a way in, "what am I going to do?"
Dom chuckled. "You're going to kill King Maggur, Lady Knight."
Kel frowned. "That's not helping."
Dom smiled as they walked along the wall. They lapsed into silence for a moment. "Ah, here we go." Dom said.
Kel almost jumped. "What, what is it?" She asked, running up to him.
"You see this section of wall?" He was pointing at the wall directly beside one of the gates. "Look closely."
Kel closed her eyes and sighed. "Decorative bricks. You're going to make me climb this wall, aren't you?"
Dom frowned. "You're not scared, are you? It's only about 40 metres. You've climbed trees higher than that!" he said, though Kel could see, he looked a bit green.
"But in the trees I couldn't see below me, there were branches all around me. Kel sighed. "Well, let's get this over with." She started to climb, but couldn't get more than a metre up. "My pack is too heavy to climb with." She said. "My centre of balance is off, I'm going to fall backwards."
Dom frowned. "That's not good. We can't leave them here for someone to find."
Kel smiled. "I'm so glad I brought proper supplies."
Dom gave her a questioning look.
Kel just winked and pulled her length of rope out of her bag. "Grab yours."
Dom quickly pulled his length of rope off of his pack, and Kel tied the ends together. She then tied one end of their now very long rope to the packs, and one end she wrapped around Dom and tied at side. "Take your weapons with you, just in case this doesn't work."
Dom nodded slowly, still looking confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.
Kel sighed. "Dom, we're going to climb up the wall and then pull the packs up."
He nodded. "Oh."
Kel went first. They had to work quickly; she thought it would take some time to get them and their packs up, and they wanted time to find somewhere to sleep that was completely safe before dawn broke. Actually, a long time before dawn broke, just in case any one got up early.
She took a deep breath. "I can do this." She muttered quietly to herself. She put her hand on the first stone. It was icy and slippery, and it felt like she would slip off if she didn't hold on with all her might. She started slowly up the wall. She could do this speed, she was confident that if she went very slowly, she would be all right. She kept going, slowly up the wall.
"How are you doing, Dom?" She asked as loudly as she dared.
"I'm all right. You?"
She closed her eyes. "Horrible. But I'll make it." She looked up at this point. She had about 10 metres to go. "We're almost there."
She reached for the next stone up. It broke in her hand. She gave a little scream, and jerked down a bit. "I can't do it, I can't!" She said.
She felt Dom's hand on her ankle. He had taken his support off the wall, 30 metres up , to comfort her. It worked. If he could do that, she could make it up the wall. She took a deep breath and pushed herself high enough to reach the stone above the one that broke. She wanted to test it's strength, but to push herself high enough to reach it, she had o put weight on it. It held, and she kept going, testing every rock after that one.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, she reached the top and peered over. She sighed. The Scanrans were cocky; they knew no one was stupid enough to come to Scanra in the middle of winter, and didn't even have any guards out. If anything, they were expecting an army, which would not have been able to get to the city in one night, and would either be seen in the evening, or the early morning. They weren't expecting Kel. She did one more scan of the wall, and saw nothing.
"All clear." She said, and pushed herself over the wall.
Dom didn't follow. "Dom?" She said. Oh god, she thought, he fell. She looked over the wall. It seemed much less dizzying now that she had climbed it. Dom was just below the edge trying to reach it.
"Dom, just push yourself up." She said.
He grunted. "We ran out of rope. I am pushing."
Kel sighed. "Of course, we had to run out of rope." She thought for a second. "Can you untie it yourself? If you can, I can take the end of the rope and you can climb up."
He nodded. "I think so." He put one hand down to untie it, and Kel could see his fingers sliding back on the stone.
"Dom!" She said. H quickly grabbed the rock with his other hand and pulled himself back up.
"I guess I can't." He said.
Kel frowned. "Wait. Give me your hand." He did, and she gripped it tightly with both of her hands. "Now untie it with your other hand. I won't drop you, as long as you hold on to me too."
He nodded, and Kel felt his grip tighten on his hand as she leaned forward slightly to give him slack. Her head spun from leaning over the wall.
A moment later, she had the rope in her hand, and not a moment too soon, because she had felt her grip slipping.
She gave him a quick hug, glad that they were both alive. They then set to work pulling up their packs, which was harder than Kel had expected. The packs kept getting stuck on stones as they pulled it up, and they just didn't have the strength to pull it up straight. They finally figured out to move slightly further down the wall where there were no stones sticking out and pull the rope around a pole by the stairs.
Fifteen minutes later, they had their packs on their backs and were ready to go.
Kel pulled out her sword. "We have to be silent. Anyone could wake up." They decided on using the Owns hand signals. They quietly went down the stairs into the town square. Thankfully, the snow was cleared from the main paths, just like in Corus, and they didn't leave any prints.
They ended up finding a small, obviously abandoned building with a well concealed cellar. It had one door to the outside, found in a small pathway off of an alley. It was perfect for their needs, it was obvious that no one went there, and the path between the buildings was small enough that they could walk along the walls of the two buildings, pushing on them with their hands and feet, so that they left no prints. It worked, and they found themselves in the perfect place. Kel lit a candle inside while Dom stayed out to see if anyone would be able to see it. It was fine, even in the complete darkness.
They went inside and set up their bedrolls. It was cool inside, but it would be a warmer sleep than they had had in days.
Kel sat down on her roll with a piece of jerky. She warmed her hands with the candle and sighed. "Now how am I going to get to Maggur? He's probably the most well guarded person in Desmaurads. I doubt I can get any where near him."
Dom shook his head. "He's obviously very cocky, he didn't even put guards up. He must think he's invincible."
Kel raised an eyebrow, but Dom nodded. "I've heard of it, and it happens to event he smartest people. they never get hurt, and everything goes right for them, and then they think that they're invincible. He's going to do stupid things now, and give us plenty of opportunities.
"I think I've even got an idea." He said, showing Kel a sign he had pulled off a wall on their way in. "Midwinter, Kel. They also celebrate it. They have different customs, though, and they celebrate it later! Look!"
She read the sign. It was a public poster, advertising the annual Winter Carnival. In large letters on top it read: Annual Winter Carnival January 31 to February 2 Annual Parade starting at noon on January 31.
Kel shrugged. "So? That just means we have to be extra careful not to get caught. Unless we kill him in the next two weeks, of course."
Dom rolled his eyes. "That's not it at all. We can use this day. We take our bows on top of the building, and wait for the procession."
Kel sighed. "What if the king isn't in the procession?"
Dom shrugged. "So we kill him at the carnival. It's not like he wouldn't go."
Kel coughed. "Excuse me? You want to go into the palace to kill him? Did you read everything on that sign? They're not going to hold this carnival outside for very much of it. It's too cold. It takes place in the palace."
They talked for a while, and finally decided to wait on the roof just in case the king was there for the procession.
That night, they went up to the roof to see the space they would have, the cover, and what their view of Maggur would be like.
Just as they were crouching at the edge of the roof when Kel saw something against the moon: an eagle was circling above them. "This could be bad." Dom said, when the eagle cried out.
They both ran back to the door and, as quietly as they could, ran down the stairs to the cellar.
A moment later, they heard quiet footsteps on the stairs down to the cellar. "Kel?" A voice said. Kel sat up. "Kel? Are you down here?" the voice whispered.
Kel stood up and drew her sword. "Who's there?" She knew the voice; it sounded so calm and sweet, so familiar.
"It's me, Kel. Daine."
Kel put down her sword as Daine came into the room. Dom quickly lit a candle. Kel hugged Daine as soon as she could see her.
"What are you doing here?" Kel asked.
Daine smiled. "I found out that you two had been at the palace when I got back. I also found out about your little adventure, and decided you needed help. No, not me." She said, as Kel opened her mouth to protest. "An old friend, by the name of Quaro. But you would not know that. You never learned his name."
Kel nodded slowly, confused. "Do you need to know our plan?"
Daine nodded. "That would be wonderful."
Kel explained everything she and Dom had talked about.
Daine smiled. "It sounds risky, but I know you'll be fine. Your transportation will be here at noon on the January 31."
She stood up. "I must be going. I have to be gone by daybreak. They don't often see eagles here in winter. In fact, we don't either."
Kel gave her a hug. "Thank you so much."
Kel went upstairs with her to see her off. She watched as Daine flew back towards Tortall.
"It's amazing," Kel said when she got back to the cellar, "that she flew all the way out here in this winter cold."
Dom shrugged. "Maybe Quaro helped her, too. Do you know who this Quaro character is?" He asked sceptically.
Kel shook her head, frowning. "No idea."
Dom sat down on his bedroll. "Are we sure we can trust him?"
Kel gave him an appraising look. "If Daine said he would help, than he will help. She wouldn't lie. And no one would lie to her. She was probably one of the only people who got the truth about why we left."
* * * * *
The next two weeks went by slowly. Kel was constantly hungry, because their food supplies were running low, and she was constantly cold, because they couldn't afford the danger of having more than one candle lit at a time. She spent her time silently practicing with her glaive, and talking with Dom.
"Are you nervous?" Dom asked her the night before, as she lay in his arms.
She shook her head. "No. I thought I would be horribly nervous, but I've realized, there's nothing to be nervous about. I'll get the job done, that much I know."
Dom kissed her forehead. "You have to come home. You know that, right? Not just for me."
Kel looked at him. "Why?"
"Fhire would be thoroughly disappointed of you didn't show up to her Ordeal."
Kel sat up. "Gods, that's next Midwinter! Why did you have to remind me?"
Dom held her hand and pulled her back down. "So you'll know that you're needed just as much at home."
Kel woke early the next morning. She ate the biggest breakfast she had eaten since she left Corus, just in case of a fight. While she was on the roof preparing, Dom was going to go into the grocers next door and steal some provisions. He would buy them, really, because he would leave money, but the grocer wouldn't know about it. They knew that all the stores would be closed, they would all be out for the procession.
Kel checked her weapons thoroughly that morning. Her trusty Raven sword, Griffin, which Alanna had given her almost ten years ago, still shone as brightly as ever, and she had checked her bow strings so many times in the past few days that there was not a single thread loose. She had three arrows with griffin cock feathers. She had saved the bag of feathers for years, using them really only for arrows, and still rarely then.
She tied around her head, holding her hair back, just in case the king had safety precautions in the form of magic.
Finally, she put on her armour. She had everything on except her helm. She wanted Maggur to see who it was that killed him.
By eleven thirty, the had packed all of their bags, strapped their weapons on to them, and were on the roof. They had barred the doors from the inside so that Maggurs men could not get in, and they were ready. Kel looked around. No sign of anyone she knew. She crawled to the other side of the roof and looked down. There, crouched in the little path off of the alley, she could see something familiar.
She smiled. "Hello, Quaro." He looked up, but didn't say anything. Kel could see a smile in his eyes.
Dom crawled over to her. "Is he here?" He asked.
Kel nodded and pointed down. Dom looked over the edge and blanched. "Goddess save us." He said.
Kel smiled. "Don't worry, I think she will."
"But, won't people see him?" He asked.
Kel shook her head. "The only people who would come back here are adventurous children, and they will all be watching the procession."
She crawled back to the front of the building and risked a look over. It reminded her of the procession from when she was a squire. People standing everywhere, bright flags in hand, awaiting the parade. That's what it was, Kel could see it in the distance. Maggur and a few others on horses at the front, but also animals and people in carnival costumes, firebreathers, men on stilts, and people with instruments. Kel wished it had been in Corus; she would have been down there in a second. She didn't have time to think about that, though. He was getting closer.
When Maggur was just about to reach her, Kel stood up. No one noticed, which Kel had expected. She whistled loudly, attracting Maggurs attention. He glanced up quickly, and looked down again. As soon as he did, he looked back up at the girl with an arrow pointed at him.
"Hello, you majesty." She said.
He smiled. "Keladry. How wonderful of you to join us."
Kel nodded slightly. All eyes were on her.
"You are being very silly, my dear girl. You didn't realize, my men are making their way up to you right now."
Kel didn't flinch. "You are being very silly yourself, King Maggur."
"That's your majesty to you." A man beside him said, frowning.
Kel looked at him for a second. "No it isn't." A few people whispered on the ground. "Who is she?" She heard someone say.
Kel looked back to Maggur. "As I was saying, you didn't realize, I don't care."
He raised his eyebrows. "Don't you?"
Kel smiled, causing a few people in the streets to look around nervously. "No. You will die anyway, and I will get out of here anyway."
Maggur lifted a hand and made a forward motion with two fingers. Ten archers in the procession brought out their bows and pointed them at her.
"I wouldn't do that, Maggur." Kel said. He raised an eyebrow. "Quaro!" She said loudly.
Maggur looked confused. "What, Karo? What is Karo?" But he was cut off by a loud screech and the sound of wings beating.
A few people screamed, and many ran as the griffin rose up from behind the building.
"Very nice, my dear." He said, unfazed. "You trained a griffin. Right."
"Quaro. Pick it up."
Maggur looked nervous. He thought Kel was talking about him, but the griffin just picked up the straps of Kel's pack in his beak. Dom was wearing his own.
Kel's fingers were going to start trembling soon. She had to act. "Goodbye, King Maggur." She said, and let her arrow loose. It flew straight towards Maggur and pierced him in the eye before he could move. He slowly toppled over to the ground. All eyes followed him, except for Kel's. She had looked to her right, where Dom had run up. He squeezed her hand, and Quaro picked them up in his claws. With what seemed to Kel like a fair amount of difficulty, as they were heavy with their packs and armour, he flew them away from the city.
Kel looked back. The gates were opening, and men were pouring out on horseback to chase them... but it was no good. The horses were just too slow in the snow. There was a road, but they weren't flying over it. Kel faced forward again, and looked down. As soon as she did, she realized where she was and what she was doing. She was almost a hundred feet in the air, in the claws of a friendly griffin who was having trouble holding them up.
Dom noticed the look of horror on her face and squeezed her hand again. "It's going to be okay." He said loudly, but Kel could barely hear him for the rushing of the wind in her ears.
Finally, when they were far enough from the city gates, Quaro put them down. He screeched loudly to Kel. She shook her head, her ears ringing.
She looked up at the great griffin. She hadn't seen him since he was a very young child, when she was a squire. He was now very large, almost ten feet tall, and very strong.
"You're much bigger than your parents were." Kel said to him. She put her hand up, and he nipped at her hand playfully. He had matured into a completely different creature.
Daine flew down from a nearby tree. "He said you're welcome." She said. Quaro screeched again. "Yes, I'll her, don't worry!" She said sharply. She turned to Kel. "He wants you to know he's sorry he can't take you any further, but it would be dangerous for him."
Kel smiled. "That's all right. We've covered a day's walk just there."
Daine nodded. "He wants you to know that you are even. You helped him, and now he has helped you in return. But he has a connection with you that he has with no other human. If he needs help, it will be you he comes to." She patted him. "I don't think he'll be needing help any time soon, though."
He screeched again, and flew up into the sky. Daine smiled. "He has to get back to his family. He has a child now, and his mate is going to have another soon. He has to get back to them."
Dom grinned. "He seems to be pretty wise."
Daine laughed. "Griffins are not notorious for their brains, but people still often think they aren't as smart as they really are."
She turned back into an eagle, leaving her head in her normal human form. "I'm going to catch a ride in his wind stream. It will make an easier ride. No one will know if you have succeeded or not until you get back. I was not told I could come, so this probably shouldn't be something we talk about."
She flew into the air, where Quaro was hovering, higher up. Kel waved, but Daine was facing the other way.
Kel put on her pack and they started walking. They didn't talk for a while.
"Kel, that was amazing." Dom finally said.
Kel smiled. "Thank you. I was so nervous, I was shaking so much I was afraid I was going to miss. That's why I talked for so long. I needed to calm myself down."
She paused for a moment, deep in thought. "I didn't think he would ever remember me. Actually, I never gave him any thought."
Dom smiled. "I guess Daine was right. Griffins are smarter than they're given credit for."
* * * * *
The walk back to Corus was long, and February was cold. But, as it came closer to March, the snow slowly began to melt slowly, making everything wet. It was still below zero at night, and their clothing froze. Finally, after almost a month and a half of walking, they reached Steadfast.
"I'm sorry." Raoul said, after they were let in and warmed up. "Jon told me to send your horses back to Corus at the end of February if you weren't back. We had a messenger come last week, and I sent them back with him."
Kel sighed. "You had to listen to him. I liked it better when he had no authority." She snapped.
Dom laughed, but Raoul looked confused. Dom rolled his eyes and told him to forget it.
Raoul had almost no horses left, and now that they were going to be going home soon, they needed them for the journey. It was harder to bring an entire fort home on foot than two people. Kel and Dom set out the next morning with fresh provisions and dry clothes.
"I can't decide if that was a good thing or not." Dom finally said.
Kel cocked her head. "Why?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, is it better that he didn't give our horses away at Steadfast, or is it bad that Jon assumed we wouldn't come back?"
Kel smiled. "I don't think it really matters, does it?"
The walk took almost two weeks. They usually rode, and in good conditions it took almost a week. There was less and less snow with each passing mile and day, but more mud and at night, more ice.
Kel had always hated the mud the most. It always got stuck in her armour, her clothes, and her food.
By the time they were halfway to Corus, it was warm enough that all Kel was wearing was her winter cloak, and she had her parka and all of its extremities strapped to her pack. She left her armour on, though, in case of bandits. If they were attacked, they would be very vulnerable; low numbers, on foot, and very tired.
Six days from Corus, they encountered exactly what Kel had hoped they wouldn't: bandits.
"What is it?" Kel said when the sparrows came barrelling towards her, chirping madly.
They flew in a circle, with the leader, Sequin, staying still in the middle. It was the sign for bandits.
"Bloody hell." Kel muttered. She threw her pack into a bush, concealing it, threw off her cloak, and pulled out her glaive. She wanted to be able to attack them from a distance, in case they were on horses. She looked around for a hiding spot, but there was no cover that they would be safe in. If they took the risk and were found, they would have no chance of surviving in a fight, because they wouldn't be ready. Direct combat would be easier.
"Well, well. Roux, look what we have here!" One of the bandits said, riding up to the two of them standing in the middle of the road.
The man called Roux grinned a toothless grin. Kel grimaced. He was going to try to take advantage of her, she could tell.
"Good night, do you know a woman walks with you?" He asked.
Dom smiled and glanced at Kel. These bandits must not get around much. They either didn't know about the Lady Knight, which was unlikely, or they just didn't connect the woman in front of them as her. "I do." He said. "Is there some sort of problem?"
"I like her. Savage, bring her over here." Roux said, still smiling and staring at Kel.
She put on her Yamani lump face. The man walked towards her, and before he could get close enough to grab Kel's wrist, she hooked her glaive around and gutted him.
Roux blanched and looked scared for a second, but caught himself. "We've got us a warrior here, boys." He lifted a hand and did a signal. Kel didn't know what it meant.
Three men came down to the ground and advanced at her with swords. Another two went towards Dom.
Kel sighed. Why did bandits have to learn from their mistakes? The three men were in her reach now. She stabbed the first with her glaive, hooking it onto his other side. He screamed in pain as she swung him around and hit the second man with him, knocking them both over. "Come on, Jack! Gut her for me!" Roux yelled to the third man.
Jack took a step back as Kel's glaive came out of the first man and splattered Jack in the face with blood.
He recovered himself just soon enough to feel Kel's glaive slice his throat. Kel looked over at Dom. He had just stabbed the first man, and was in the process of cutting off the seconds head.
Roux growled at them. "You leave me no choice, young lady."
He made another signal, and all of the bandits came towards her. There were about fifteen in all left, since Kel and Dom had killed six.
"Goddess protect." Kel muttered to herself as she held up her glaive to fight off Roux, who was the first man coming towards her, wielding an axe. Dom, who was on the other side of the road, took out two men on the outside, and knocked a third off his horse.
Kel took a swing at Roux's horse, who collapsed, throwing Roux further along the road.
The sparrows attacked one man's face and his horses face, causing his horse to buck him off, while bothering him too much to let him stop himself from falling onto his head and breaking his neck. Kel gutted two more men, Dom, the same.
Kel was about to swing when she realized that she and Dom were circled. Five men, on horseback, and one on foot. Roux stepped out from in between two horses.
"That was very rude, My Lady." He said, no longer smiling. "It was a good trick, though."
"Would you like to see my next one?" Before he could do anything, she and Dom both charged forward, gutting two more men. "Roux, I think it's time you left. We've killed 16 of your men in less than fifteen minutes. Don't you want to keep five?"
He glared at her for a second. "Ay! Retreat!" He jumped back on his horse, with the other horseless man behind him. They galloped off in the other direction.
Kel collapsed on the first piece of clean ground she could find. "Mithros," she said, "I am so tired right now. Why do I keep having to fight people?"
Dom smiled, taking a drink from his flask of water. "I thought you liked fighting?" He said, tossing her the flask.
Kel took a gulp of water. "I do. Just not when I'm this tired." She smiled as she lay on her back.
Dom stood up. "Come on, Kel. You know you hate mud in your clothes. Don't lie in it." He walked over to her and gave her his hand, helping her up. "Let's go. The faster we get home, the faster we can have warm, clean baths."
Kel put on her cloak and picked up her pack. "We've still got a week, Dom. Don't be thinking about baths yet."
Dom grinned. "It's a shame, really." He looked at Kel. "We're going to be heroes, you know. Greater heroes than any of our fellow knights. Sure, Raoul has killed giants, and Alanna got the Dominion Jewel, but we, we killed the Great King Maggur Rathhausak! Nothing, not nothing, is better than this!"
Kel looked on. "What is this leading to? How is it a shame?"
Dom blushed. "Oh, right. I was getting to that. Well, I was saying that it's a shame that we'll get back to Corus looking like pigs, and on foot. A more glamorous entrance would be nice."
Kel kissed him, wrapping her arms around him. "Dom, it will be the best entrance we could get. We won't look like we just rode in and everything came easily to us. We'll look like we worked for it, and we had real hardships to overcome. We'll be considered the better for it."
Dom smiled. "I like this. You've gotten back on the optimistic side." He said as they started to walk. "For a while, you had been incredibly pessimistic, and I thought you were gone for good."
Kel punched him in the arm and immediately regretted it. He was wearing armour. She shook her hand, mouthing an 'ouch' sound. Dom laughed.
"Beautiful." He kissed her hand. "there. All better."
* * * * *
A week later, they could see the gates of Corus. Kel sighed. "Home sweet home." She said, running down towards the gates. Dom followed closely behind.
A guard looked down from the wall. It was midday, so the gates of the city were open, but he checked anyway.
"Who goes there?" He called down.
"Keladry of Mindelan and Domitan of Masbolle!" Kel called back up. The man's eyes widened and he disappeared. Kel looked at Dom, who shrugged. They walked into the city and up the long road to the palace. Just as they were coming to the stairs, a horn cried out through the city, followed by the great bell, ringing out from the palace.
Kel raised her eyebrows as they rang out. It was a signal. There were many different ones, warning sounds, celebration sounds, and many more, all combinations of the horn and the bell. This one was celebration.
A moment later, the king came out from the palace, followed by Thayet and an array of other knights, and many of the pages, who were all curious to see what had happened.
King Jon was frowning. "Who rang that bell? Absolutely preposterous! All of you, back to where you belong! There is no cause for celebration here!" He looked at Kel and winked. "Come with me." He said to the two of them.
Kel and Dom followed him into the first empty room they came to. Jon couldn't wait to find out how it had gone.
"Well?" He said. "What happened?"
Kel smiled. "Maggur Rathhausak is dead."
Jon clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess there is cause for celebration!" He gestured to their bags. "Leave your things here, they will turn up at your door tomorrow, cleaned and mended."
Kel slipped off her cloak and proceeded to unstrap her armour. Jon sighed. "I will make sure there is a bath waiting for each of you."
He turned to leave. "Your majesty." Kel said. He turned. "Our horses. You sent them home, did they arrive?"
He smiled. "All in one piece? Yes, of course."
He bowed slightly, and Dom and Kel did the same.
By the time the latch on the door had closed, Kel had gotten rid of her armour and put it in a pile in the middle of the room.
"I guess we had better go back to our rooms before we take anything else off." She said. She kissed Dom quickly. "Thank you for coming. I would not have been able to do it alone."
She kissed him again and walked back to her room with the goal of making up for all of the bath time she had missed in the four and a half months.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love that chapter. So much happens, I never really wanted to stop writing. Besides, I promised a new chapter at 150, and we're only at 148. But, I love this chapter so much that I can't wait, so here it is! Yeah!
Rootless Californian: I'm sorry, but it actually took me almost a week to write it!
PsychoLioness13: Of course. This should satisfy you for a while!
Wake-Robin: Well, now you know. I think this is one of my greatest downfalls: going to Scanra for that could be an entire story, and I end up writing it in just two chapters.
AJ 4EVA: sure thing!
Legofiance: not much fluff in this chapter, but I too noticed the lack of it. There will be more next time. It's just that every time I tried to have a fluff scene, I remembered that they were in very large and cumbersome parkas, and it kind of ruined the mood. That's why they barely even kissed until the got back to Tortall.
Rubber Duck: Nice. You're going to remember that, for sure. And that's sarcasm, if you're also drunk this time. (jokes, jokes)
Anon: Thanks. Yeah...I was thinking French at the time, and I'm really bad with names, and I was picking random syllables and putting them together, but it was from my French book. It's a long and complicated process, but there was no offence meant to the French. I promise. I actually find that I often forget the setting. I've found that fan fiction has helped all of my writing tremendously! Don't worry, I've written page long reviews before...
Anonymous: wait, what are we talking about now? Oh, chapter two... I don't even remember what happens that early in the story! Well, I should do some back reading...
Incensio Lady: absopositivilutely.
Kelly Masbolle: Yes I did! I will check it right now! But which story is it? I couldn't find it...I might be coming to you for help...
Lady Wolfspeaker: heehee...oops....that's one of my other downfalls. I always forget characters, and I always want to add in a stray sentence that says something like 'oh, it's a shame poor Tobe died in that saddle incident three months ago..." see? It's perfect! Wow, I'm a horrible person. I should be shot.
Lady-kitty: Sweet...I do that all the time too, and I'm glad you didn't get bored!
Ophelia-waterhouse: interesting.....
Angels-Sweet-Chikadey: Thank you so much! Great compliment, that's going to be one of my great proud ones...
Pinky: sweet...here's more!
Well, that's it for today. It's going to be a while before I update soon, I've got way too much work to do this week, because I slacked off last week.
"I am the pusher robot. I shove the blind people across the road. WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE TERRIBLE SECRET OF SPACE."
-unolimbo
Oh, and there is some definite PG, if not PG-13 material in here. Near the end has some serious violence. Well, not serious by today's standards, but just in case.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How are we going to do this?" Dom asked as they trekked towards the city. They had waited until nightfall so that they would not be seen, but it was still dangerous.
Kel kept looking straight ahead. "I don't know."
Dom stopped walking. "What?"
Kel kept going. She didn't answer.
Dom ran to catch up with her. "What do you mean, you don't know?" He said, out of breath.
Kel stopped and looked at him. "I'm going to play it by ear. There's no point in having a plan. I don't know the city, I don't know the guards or the soldiers, and unless I do, there's no plan that will work. When I get to the wall, I'll figure out how to get over it. once I'm inside, I'll work from there."
Dom's mouth fell open. "You can't be serious-how will we keep it together?"
"We shouldn't have to keep it together!" Kel snapped. "I was supposed to be doing this myself, so I wouldn't have to deal with instructing another person."
Dom looked down. "Oh." He said quietly.
Kel saw the look on his face and felt something inside of her break. She fell down onto the snow and started crying.
"Kel, what's wrong?" Dom said.
Kel shook her head. She was crying too much to talk; her tears were freezing on her cheeks. "It's just too much." She finally choked out. Dom put his arm around her. He didn't say anything. "He just sent me out here by myself, expecting so much of me, telling me I'll probably get killed doing it, but he doesn't care, as long as I do it! And none of my friends even know, they're going to think I was just being stupid running off like this again and they're going to have that as their last memory of me and I don't know-"
Dom put a finger to her lips. "Shh, it's going to be alright. You're going to be fine. You always are."
She shook her head. "It's not."
Dom sighed. "You're right. It probably won't be alright. But that doesn't mean you are going to get killed. You will come out of this city. Do you understand?"
Kel nodded. "I'm alright." She stood up. They walked in silence for a little while, until they came up to the wall. "Dom," Kel said as they searched for a way in, "what am I going to do?"
Dom chuckled. "You're going to kill King Maggur, Lady Knight."
Kel frowned. "That's not helping."
Dom smiled as they walked along the wall. They lapsed into silence for a moment. "Ah, here we go." Dom said.
Kel almost jumped. "What, what is it?" She asked, running up to him.
"You see this section of wall?" He was pointing at the wall directly beside one of the gates. "Look closely."
Kel closed her eyes and sighed. "Decorative bricks. You're going to make me climb this wall, aren't you?"
Dom frowned. "You're not scared, are you? It's only about 40 metres. You've climbed trees higher than that!" he said, though Kel could see, he looked a bit green.
"But in the trees I couldn't see below me, there were branches all around me. Kel sighed. "Well, let's get this over with." She started to climb, but couldn't get more than a metre up. "My pack is too heavy to climb with." She said. "My centre of balance is off, I'm going to fall backwards."
Dom frowned. "That's not good. We can't leave them here for someone to find."
Kel smiled. "I'm so glad I brought proper supplies."
Dom gave her a questioning look.
Kel just winked and pulled her length of rope out of her bag. "Grab yours."
Dom quickly pulled his length of rope off of his pack, and Kel tied the ends together. She then tied one end of their now very long rope to the packs, and one end she wrapped around Dom and tied at side. "Take your weapons with you, just in case this doesn't work."
Dom nodded slowly, still looking confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.
Kel sighed. "Dom, we're going to climb up the wall and then pull the packs up."
He nodded. "Oh."
Kel went first. They had to work quickly; she thought it would take some time to get them and their packs up, and they wanted time to find somewhere to sleep that was completely safe before dawn broke. Actually, a long time before dawn broke, just in case any one got up early.
She took a deep breath. "I can do this." She muttered quietly to herself. She put her hand on the first stone. It was icy and slippery, and it felt like she would slip off if she didn't hold on with all her might. She started slowly up the wall. She could do this speed, she was confident that if she went very slowly, she would be all right. She kept going, slowly up the wall.
"How are you doing, Dom?" She asked as loudly as she dared.
"I'm all right. You?"
She closed her eyes. "Horrible. But I'll make it." She looked up at this point. She had about 10 metres to go. "We're almost there."
She reached for the next stone up. It broke in her hand. She gave a little scream, and jerked down a bit. "I can't do it, I can't!" She said.
She felt Dom's hand on her ankle. He had taken his support off the wall, 30 metres up , to comfort her. It worked. If he could do that, she could make it up the wall. She took a deep breath and pushed herself high enough to reach the stone above the one that broke. She wanted to test it's strength, but to push herself high enough to reach it, she had o put weight on it. It held, and she kept going, testing every rock after that one.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, she reached the top and peered over. She sighed. The Scanrans were cocky; they knew no one was stupid enough to come to Scanra in the middle of winter, and didn't even have any guards out. If anything, they were expecting an army, which would not have been able to get to the city in one night, and would either be seen in the evening, or the early morning. They weren't expecting Kel. She did one more scan of the wall, and saw nothing.
"All clear." She said, and pushed herself over the wall.
Dom didn't follow. "Dom?" She said. Oh god, she thought, he fell. She looked over the wall. It seemed much less dizzying now that she had climbed it. Dom was just below the edge trying to reach it.
"Dom, just push yourself up." She said.
He grunted. "We ran out of rope. I am pushing."
Kel sighed. "Of course, we had to run out of rope." She thought for a second. "Can you untie it yourself? If you can, I can take the end of the rope and you can climb up."
He nodded. "I think so." He put one hand down to untie it, and Kel could see his fingers sliding back on the stone.
"Dom!" She said. H quickly grabbed the rock with his other hand and pulled himself back up.
"I guess I can't." He said.
Kel frowned. "Wait. Give me your hand." He did, and she gripped it tightly with both of her hands. "Now untie it with your other hand. I won't drop you, as long as you hold on to me too."
He nodded, and Kel felt his grip tighten on his hand as she leaned forward slightly to give him slack. Her head spun from leaning over the wall.
A moment later, she had the rope in her hand, and not a moment too soon, because she had felt her grip slipping.
She gave him a quick hug, glad that they were both alive. They then set to work pulling up their packs, which was harder than Kel had expected. The packs kept getting stuck on stones as they pulled it up, and they just didn't have the strength to pull it up straight. They finally figured out to move slightly further down the wall where there were no stones sticking out and pull the rope around a pole by the stairs.
Fifteen minutes later, they had their packs on their backs and were ready to go.
Kel pulled out her sword. "We have to be silent. Anyone could wake up." They decided on using the Owns hand signals. They quietly went down the stairs into the town square. Thankfully, the snow was cleared from the main paths, just like in Corus, and they didn't leave any prints.
They ended up finding a small, obviously abandoned building with a well concealed cellar. It had one door to the outside, found in a small pathway off of an alley. It was perfect for their needs, it was obvious that no one went there, and the path between the buildings was small enough that they could walk along the walls of the two buildings, pushing on them with their hands and feet, so that they left no prints. It worked, and they found themselves in the perfect place. Kel lit a candle inside while Dom stayed out to see if anyone would be able to see it. It was fine, even in the complete darkness.
They went inside and set up their bedrolls. It was cool inside, but it would be a warmer sleep than they had had in days.
Kel sat down on her roll with a piece of jerky. She warmed her hands with the candle and sighed. "Now how am I going to get to Maggur? He's probably the most well guarded person in Desmaurads. I doubt I can get any where near him."
Dom shook his head. "He's obviously very cocky, he didn't even put guards up. He must think he's invincible."
Kel raised an eyebrow, but Dom nodded. "I've heard of it, and it happens to event he smartest people. they never get hurt, and everything goes right for them, and then they think that they're invincible. He's going to do stupid things now, and give us plenty of opportunities.
"I think I've even got an idea." He said, showing Kel a sign he had pulled off a wall on their way in. "Midwinter, Kel. They also celebrate it. They have different customs, though, and they celebrate it later! Look!"
She read the sign. It was a public poster, advertising the annual Winter Carnival. In large letters on top it read: Annual Winter Carnival January 31 to February 2 Annual Parade starting at noon on January 31.
Kel shrugged. "So? That just means we have to be extra careful not to get caught. Unless we kill him in the next two weeks, of course."
Dom rolled his eyes. "That's not it at all. We can use this day. We take our bows on top of the building, and wait for the procession."
Kel sighed. "What if the king isn't in the procession?"
Dom shrugged. "So we kill him at the carnival. It's not like he wouldn't go."
Kel coughed. "Excuse me? You want to go into the palace to kill him? Did you read everything on that sign? They're not going to hold this carnival outside for very much of it. It's too cold. It takes place in the palace."
They talked for a while, and finally decided to wait on the roof just in case the king was there for the procession.
That night, they went up to the roof to see the space they would have, the cover, and what their view of Maggur would be like.
Just as they were crouching at the edge of the roof when Kel saw something against the moon: an eagle was circling above them. "This could be bad." Dom said, when the eagle cried out.
They both ran back to the door and, as quietly as they could, ran down the stairs to the cellar.
A moment later, they heard quiet footsteps on the stairs down to the cellar. "Kel?" A voice said. Kel sat up. "Kel? Are you down here?" the voice whispered.
Kel stood up and drew her sword. "Who's there?" She knew the voice; it sounded so calm and sweet, so familiar.
"It's me, Kel. Daine."
Kel put down her sword as Daine came into the room. Dom quickly lit a candle. Kel hugged Daine as soon as she could see her.
"What are you doing here?" Kel asked.
Daine smiled. "I found out that you two had been at the palace when I got back. I also found out about your little adventure, and decided you needed help. No, not me." She said, as Kel opened her mouth to protest. "An old friend, by the name of Quaro. But you would not know that. You never learned his name."
Kel nodded slowly, confused. "Do you need to know our plan?"
Daine nodded. "That would be wonderful."
Kel explained everything she and Dom had talked about.
Daine smiled. "It sounds risky, but I know you'll be fine. Your transportation will be here at noon on the January 31."
She stood up. "I must be going. I have to be gone by daybreak. They don't often see eagles here in winter. In fact, we don't either."
Kel gave her a hug. "Thank you so much."
Kel went upstairs with her to see her off. She watched as Daine flew back towards Tortall.
"It's amazing," Kel said when she got back to the cellar, "that she flew all the way out here in this winter cold."
Dom shrugged. "Maybe Quaro helped her, too. Do you know who this Quaro character is?" He asked sceptically.
Kel shook her head, frowning. "No idea."
Dom sat down on his bedroll. "Are we sure we can trust him?"
Kel gave him an appraising look. "If Daine said he would help, than he will help. She wouldn't lie. And no one would lie to her. She was probably one of the only people who got the truth about why we left."
* * * * *
The next two weeks went by slowly. Kel was constantly hungry, because their food supplies were running low, and she was constantly cold, because they couldn't afford the danger of having more than one candle lit at a time. She spent her time silently practicing with her glaive, and talking with Dom.
"Are you nervous?" Dom asked her the night before, as she lay in his arms.
She shook her head. "No. I thought I would be horribly nervous, but I've realized, there's nothing to be nervous about. I'll get the job done, that much I know."
Dom kissed her forehead. "You have to come home. You know that, right? Not just for me."
Kel looked at him. "Why?"
"Fhire would be thoroughly disappointed of you didn't show up to her Ordeal."
Kel sat up. "Gods, that's next Midwinter! Why did you have to remind me?"
Dom held her hand and pulled her back down. "So you'll know that you're needed just as much at home."
Kel woke early the next morning. She ate the biggest breakfast she had eaten since she left Corus, just in case of a fight. While she was on the roof preparing, Dom was going to go into the grocers next door and steal some provisions. He would buy them, really, because he would leave money, but the grocer wouldn't know about it. They knew that all the stores would be closed, they would all be out for the procession.
Kel checked her weapons thoroughly that morning. Her trusty Raven sword, Griffin, which Alanna had given her almost ten years ago, still shone as brightly as ever, and she had checked her bow strings so many times in the past few days that there was not a single thread loose. She had three arrows with griffin cock feathers. She had saved the bag of feathers for years, using them really only for arrows, and still rarely then.
She tied around her head, holding her hair back, just in case the king had safety precautions in the form of magic.
Finally, she put on her armour. She had everything on except her helm. She wanted Maggur to see who it was that killed him.
By eleven thirty, the had packed all of their bags, strapped their weapons on to them, and were on the roof. They had barred the doors from the inside so that Maggurs men could not get in, and they were ready. Kel looked around. No sign of anyone she knew. She crawled to the other side of the roof and looked down. There, crouched in the little path off of the alley, she could see something familiar.
She smiled. "Hello, Quaro." He looked up, but didn't say anything. Kel could see a smile in his eyes.
Dom crawled over to her. "Is he here?" He asked.
Kel nodded and pointed down. Dom looked over the edge and blanched. "Goddess save us." He said.
Kel smiled. "Don't worry, I think she will."
"But, won't people see him?" He asked.
Kel shook her head. "The only people who would come back here are adventurous children, and they will all be watching the procession."
She crawled back to the front of the building and risked a look over. It reminded her of the procession from when she was a squire. People standing everywhere, bright flags in hand, awaiting the parade. That's what it was, Kel could see it in the distance. Maggur and a few others on horses at the front, but also animals and people in carnival costumes, firebreathers, men on stilts, and people with instruments. Kel wished it had been in Corus; she would have been down there in a second. She didn't have time to think about that, though. He was getting closer.
When Maggur was just about to reach her, Kel stood up. No one noticed, which Kel had expected. She whistled loudly, attracting Maggurs attention. He glanced up quickly, and looked down again. As soon as he did, he looked back up at the girl with an arrow pointed at him.
"Hello, you majesty." She said.
He smiled. "Keladry. How wonderful of you to join us."
Kel nodded slightly. All eyes were on her.
"You are being very silly, my dear girl. You didn't realize, my men are making their way up to you right now."
Kel didn't flinch. "You are being very silly yourself, King Maggur."
"That's your majesty to you." A man beside him said, frowning.
Kel looked at him for a second. "No it isn't." A few people whispered on the ground. "Who is she?" She heard someone say.
Kel looked back to Maggur. "As I was saying, you didn't realize, I don't care."
He raised his eyebrows. "Don't you?"
Kel smiled, causing a few people in the streets to look around nervously. "No. You will die anyway, and I will get out of here anyway."
Maggur lifted a hand and made a forward motion with two fingers. Ten archers in the procession brought out their bows and pointed them at her.
"I wouldn't do that, Maggur." Kel said. He raised an eyebrow. "Quaro!" She said loudly.
Maggur looked confused. "What, Karo? What is Karo?" But he was cut off by a loud screech and the sound of wings beating.
A few people screamed, and many ran as the griffin rose up from behind the building.
"Very nice, my dear." He said, unfazed. "You trained a griffin. Right."
"Quaro. Pick it up."
Maggur looked nervous. He thought Kel was talking about him, but the griffin just picked up the straps of Kel's pack in his beak. Dom was wearing his own.
Kel's fingers were going to start trembling soon. She had to act. "Goodbye, King Maggur." She said, and let her arrow loose. It flew straight towards Maggur and pierced him in the eye before he could move. He slowly toppled over to the ground. All eyes followed him, except for Kel's. She had looked to her right, where Dom had run up. He squeezed her hand, and Quaro picked them up in his claws. With what seemed to Kel like a fair amount of difficulty, as they were heavy with their packs and armour, he flew them away from the city.
Kel looked back. The gates were opening, and men were pouring out on horseback to chase them... but it was no good. The horses were just too slow in the snow. There was a road, but they weren't flying over it. Kel faced forward again, and looked down. As soon as she did, she realized where she was and what she was doing. She was almost a hundred feet in the air, in the claws of a friendly griffin who was having trouble holding them up.
Dom noticed the look of horror on her face and squeezed her hand again. "It's going to be okay." He said loudly, but Kel could barely hear him for the rushing of the wind in her ears.
Finally, when they were far enough from the city gates, Quaro put them down. He screeched loudly to Kel. She shook her head, her ears ringing.
She looked up at the great griffin. She hadn't seen him since he was a very young child, when she was a squire. He was now very large, almost ten feet tall, and very strong.
"You're much bigger than your parents were." Kel said to him. She put her hand up, and he nipped at her hand playfully. He had matured into a completely different creature.
Daine flew down from a nearby tree. "He said you're welcome." She said. Quaro screeched again. "Yes, I'll her, don't worry!" She said sharply. She turned to Kel. "He wants you to know he's sorry he can't take you any further, but it would be dangerous for him."
Kel smiled. "That's all right. We've covered a day's walk just there."
Daine nodded. "He wants you to know that you are even. You helped him, and now he has helped you in return. But he has a connection with you that he has with no other human. If he needs help, it will be you he comes to." She patted him. "I don't think he'll be needing help any time soon, though."
He screeched again, and flew up into the sky. Daine smiled. "He has to get back to his family. He has a child now, and his mate is going to have another soon. He has to get back to them."
Dom grinned. "He seems to be pretty wise."
Daine laughed. "Griffins are not notorious for their brains, but people still often think they aren't as smart as they really are."
She turned back into an eagle, leaving her head in her normal human form. "I'm going to catch a ride in his wind stream. It will make an easier ride. No one will know if you have succeeded or not until you get back. I was not told I could come, so this probably shouldn't be something we talk about."
She flew into the air, where Quaro was hovering, higher up. Kel waved, but Daine was facing the other way.
Kel put on her pack and they started walking. They didn't talk for a while.
"Kel, that was amazing." Dom finally said.
Kel smiled. "Thank you. I was so nervous, I was shaking so much I was afraid I was going to miss. That's why I talked for so long. I needed to calm myself down."
She paused for a moment, deep in thought. "I didn't think he would ever remember me. Actually, I never gave him any thought."
Dom smiled. "I guess Daine was right. Griffins are smarter than they're given credit for."
* * * * *
The walk back to Corus was long, and February was cold. But, as it came closer to March, the snow slowly began to melt slowly, making everything wet. It was still below zero at night, and their clothing froze. Finally, after almost a month and a half of walking, they reached Steadfast.
"I'm sorry." Raoul said, after they were let in and warmed up. "Jon told me to send your horses back to Corus at the end of February if you weren't back. We had a messenger come last week, and I sent them back with him."
Kel sighed. "You had to listen to him. I liked it better when he had no authority." She snapped.
Dom laughed, but Raoul looked confused. Dom rolled his eyes and told him to forget it.
Raoul had almost no horses left, and now that they were going to be going home soon, they needed them for the journey. It was harder to bring an entire fort home on foot than two people. Kel and Dom set out the next morning with fresh provisions and dry clothes.
"I can't decide if that was a good thing or not." Dom finally said.
Kel cocked her head. "Why?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, is it better that he didn't give our horses away at Steadfast, or is it bad that Jon assumed we wouldn't come back?"
Kel smiled. "I don't think it really matters, does it?"
The walk took almost two weeks. They usually rode, and in good conditions it took almost a week. There was less and less snow with each passing mile and day, but more mud and at night, more ice.
Kel had always hated the mud the most. It always got stuck in her armour, her clothes, and her food.
By the time they were halfway to Corus, it was warm enough that all Kel was wearing was her winter cloak, and she had her parka and all of its extremities strapped to her pack. She left her armour on, though, in case of bandits. If they were attacked, they would be very vulnerable; low numbers, on foot, and very tired.
Six days from Corus, they encountered exactly what Kel had hoped they wouldn't: bandits.
"What is it?" Kel said when the sparrows came barrelling towards her, chirping madly.
They flew in a circle, with the leader, Sequin, staying still in the middle. It was the sign for bandits.
"Bloody hell." Kel muttered. She threw her pack into a bush, concealing it, threw off her cloak, and pulled out her glaive. She wanted to be able to attack them from a distance, in case they were on horses. She looked around for a hiding spot, but there was no cover that they would be safe in. If they took the risk and were found, they would have no chance of surviving in a fight, because they wouldn't be ready. Direct combat would be easier.
"Well, well. Roux, look what we have here!" One of the bandits said, riding up to the two of them standing in the middle of the road.
The man called Roux grinned a toothless grin. Kel grimaced. He was going to try to take advantage of her, she could tell.
"Good night, do you know a woman walks with you?" He asked.
Dom smiled and glanced at Kel. These bandits must not get around much. They either didn't know about the Lady Knight, which was unlikely, or they just didn't connect the woman in front of them as her. "I do." He said. "Is there some sort of problem?"
"I like her. Savage, bring her over here." Roux said, still smiling and staring at Kel.
She put on her Yamani lump face. The man walked towards her, and before he could get close enough to grab Kel's wrist, she hooked her glaive around and gutted him.
Roux blanched and looked scared for a second, but caught himself. "We've got us a warrior here, boys." He lifted a hand and did a signal. Kel didn't know what it meant.
Three men came down to the ground and advanced at her with swords. Another two went towards Dom.
Kel sighed. Why did bandits have to learn from their mistakes? The three men were in her reach now. She stabbed the first with her glaive, hooking it onto his other side. He screamed in pain as she swung him around and hit the second man with him, knocking them both over. "Come on, Jack! Gut her for me!" Roux yelled to the third man.
Jack took a step back as Kel's glaive came out of the first man and splattered Jack in the face with blood.
He recovered himself just soon enough to feel Kel's glaive slice his throat. Kel looked over at Dom. He had just stabbed the first man, and was in the process of cutting off the seconds head.
Roux growled at them. "You leave me no choice, young lady."
He made another signal, and all of the bandits came towards her. There were about fifteen in all left, since Kel and Dom had killed six.
"Goddess protect." Kel muttered to herself as she held up her glaive to fight off Roux, who was the first man coming towards her, wielding an axe. Dom, who was on the other side of the road, took out two men on the outside, and knocked a third off his horse.
Kel took a swing at Roux's horse, who collapsed, throwing Roux further along the road.
The sparrows attacked one man's face and his horses face, causing his horse to buck him off, while bothering him too much to let him stop himself from falling onto his head and breaking his neck. Kel gutted two more men, Dom, the same.
Kel was about to swing when she realized that she and Dom were circled. Five men, on horseback, and one on foot. Roux stepped out from in between two horses.
"That was very rude, My Lady." He said, no longer smiling. "It was a good trick, though."
"Would you like to see my next one?" Before he could do anything, she and Dom both charged forward, gutting two more men. "Roux, I think it's time you left. We've killed 16 of your men in less than fifteen minutes. Don't you want to keep five?"
He glared at her for a second. "Ay! Retreat!" He jumped back on his horse, with the other horseless man behind him. They galloped off in the other direction.
Kel collapsed on the first piece of clean ground she could find. "Mithros," she said, "I am so tired right now. Why do I keep having to fight people?"
Dom smiled, taking a drink from his flask of water. "I thought you liked fighting?" He said, tossing her the flask.
Kel took a gulp of water. "I do. Just not when I'm this tired." She smiled as she lay on her back.
Dom stood up. "Come on, Kel. You know you hate mud in your clothes. Don't lie in it." He walked over to her and gave her his hand, helping her up. "Let's go. The faster we get home, the faster we can have warm, clean baths."
Kel put on her cloak and picked up her pack. "We've still got a week, Dom. Don't be thinking about baths yet."
Dom grinned. "It's a shame, really." He looked at Kel. "We're going to be heroes, you know. Greater heroes than any of our fellow knights. Sure, Raoul has killed giants, and Alanna got the Dominion Jewel, but we, we killed the Great King Maggur Rathhausak! Nothing, not nothing, is better than this!"
Kel looked on. "What is this leading to? How is it a shame?"
Dom blushed. "Oh, right. I was getting to that. Well, I was saying that it's a shame that we'll get back to Corus looking like pigs, and on foot. A more glamorous entrance would be nice."
Kel kissed him, wrapping her arms around him. "Dom, it will be the best entrance we could get. We won't look like we just rode in and everything came easily to us. We'll look like we worked for it, and we had real hardships to overcome. We'll be considered the better for it."
Dom smiled. "I like this. You've gotten back on the optimistic side." He said as they started to walk. "For a while, you had been incredibly pessimistic, and I thought you were gone for good."
Kel punched him in the arm and immediately regretted it. He was wearing armour. She shook her hand, mouthing an 'ouch' sound. Dom laughed.
"Beautiful." He kissed her hand. "there. All better."
* * * * *
A week later, they could see the gates of Corus. Kel sighed. "Home sweet home." She said, running down towards the gates. Dom followed closely behind.
A guard looked down from the wall. It was midday, so the gates of the city were open, but he checked anyway.
"Who goes there?" He called down.
"Keladry of Mindelan and Domitan of Masbolle!" Kel called back up. The man's eyes widened and he disappeared. Kel looked at Dom, who shrugged. They walked into the city and up the long road to the palace. Just as they were coming to the stairs, a horn cried out through the city, followed by the great bell, ringing out from the palace.
Kel raised her eyebrows as they rang out. It was a signal. There were many different ones, warning sounds, celebration sounds, and many more, all combinations of the horn and the bell. This one was celebration.
A moment later, the king came out from the palace, followed by Thayet and an array of other knights, and many of the pages, who were all curious to see what had happened.
King Jon was frowning. "Who rang that bell? Absolutely preposterous! All of you, back to where you belong! There is no cause for celebration here!" He looked at Kel and winked. "Come with me." He said to the two of them.
Kel and Dom followed him into the first empty room they came to. Jon couldn't wait to find out how it had gone.
"Well?" He said. "What happened?"
Kel smiled. "Maggur Rathhausak is dead."
Jon clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess there is cause for celebration!" He gestured to their bags. "Leave your things here, they will turn up at your door tomorrow, cleaned and mended."
Kel slipped off her cloak and proceeded to unstrap her armour. Jon sighed. "I will make sure there is a bath waiting for each of you."
He turned to leave. "Your majesty." Kel said. He turned. "Our horses. You sent them home, did they arrive?"
He smiled. "All in one piece? Yes, of course."
He bowed slightly, and Dom and Kel did the same.
By the time the latch on the door had closed, Kel had gotten rid of her armour and put it in a pile in the middle of the room.
"I guess we had better go back to our rooms before we take anything else off." She said. She kissed Dom quickly. "Thank you for coming. I would not have been able to do it alone."
She kissed him again and walked back to her room with the goal of making up for all of the bath time she had missed in the four and a half months.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love that chapter. So much happens, I never really wanted to stop writing. Besides, I promised a new chapter at 150, and we're only at 148. But, I love this chapter so much that I can't wait, so here it is! Yeah!
Rootless Californian: I'm sorry, but it actually took me almost a week to write it!
PsychoLioness13: Of course. This should satisfy you for a while!
Wake-Robin: Well, now you know. I think this is one of my greatest downfalls: going to Scanra for that could be an entire story, and I end up writing it in just two chapters.
AJ 4EVA: sure thing!
Legofiance: not much fluff in this chapter, but I too noticed the lack of it. There will be more next time. It's just that every time I tried to have a fluff scene, I remembered that they were in very large and cumbersome parkas, and it kind of ruined the mood. That's why they barely even kissed until the got back to Tortall.
Rubber Duck: Nice. You're going to remember that, for sure. And that's sarcasm, if you're also drunk this time. (jokes, jokes)
Anon: Thanks. Yeah...I was thinking French at the time, and I'm really bad with names, and I was picking random syllables and putting them together, but it was from my French book. It's a long and complicated process, but there was no offence meant to the French. I promise. I actually find that I often forget the setting. I've found that fan fiction has helped all of my writing tremendously! Don't worry, I've written page long reviews before...
Anonymous: wait, what are we talking about now? Oh, chapter two... I don't even remember what happens that early in the story! Well, I should do some back reading...
Incensio Lady: absopositivilutely.
Kelly Masbolle: Yes I did! I will check it right now! But which story is it? I couldn't find it...I might be coming to you for help...
Lady Wolfspeaker: heehee...oops....that's one of my other downfalls. I always forget characters, and I always want to add in a stray sentence that says something like 'oh, it's a shame poor Tobe died in that saddle incident three months ago..." see? It's perfect! Wow, I'm a horrible person. I should be shot.
Lady-kitty: Sweet...I do that all the time too, and I'm glad you didn't get bored!
Ophelia-waterhouse: interesting.....
Angels-Sweet-Chikadey: Thank you so much! Great compliment, that's going to be one of my great proud ones...
Pinky: sweet...here's more!
Well, that's it for today. It's going to be a while before I update soon, I've got way too much work to do this week, because I slacked off last week.
"I am the pusher robot. I shove the blind people across the road. WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE TERRIBLE SECRET OF SPACE."
-unolimbo