Okay, I only have one thing to say: ITS NOT OVER 'TIL I SAY ITS OVER!
I have said nothing about it ending, but I've gotten, like, five emails asking if it's over. ITS NOT. Thank you.
I would like to rant. If you are not interested in my Dom rant, just ignore it, it's not really that important. Now, I could be horribly wrong, so I'm sorry in advance. I don't remember if it says in Lady Knight, but I have always imagined Dom as being not much older than Kel. In Squire, in Kel's first year, he is introduced as their 'new' sergeant. So I assumed that he was maybe, twenty, twenty-one at the most. Kel was 15 at this time, because four years as a page meant that she ended at 14 and started the squiring at 15. So really, he was only about 5 years older than her, in my crazy brain place. If it says it in the book, I'm sorry and ignore me please, but for the sake of my story, I don't really want him that old. I like my Dom young and cute, thank you very much. I am sticking with the 'five years older' thing. AT THE MOST. Please don't complain. It's my story, I'll do what ever I want! (grr...rowf... I'm evil and grumpy. Leave me alone.) no, I just like it that way, and it's not like its really that important. Ok, lets get back to this story!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kel knew what was ahead. A fight. Probably one of the greatest fights she would participate in.
The largest army in Kel's time was sent to Scanra, and Kel was to lead 10 thousand of them. Kel had barely been a knight five years, and she was commanding ten thousand men. It scared her, almost, to know. Keladry of Mindelan, Knight Commander. It sounded strange. She didn't like it.
Dom explained that it shouldn't be intimidating, because the only reason she got the job was that she was amazing. There was nothing else.
The trek to Scanra was slow. Many of the soldiers did not own horses, and those who did had not geldings or stallions, but ponies and mares. (N/A I don't know if that makes any sense. I don't really know horses.) The Crown supplied as many horses as they could, having bred them for four years for the purpose of a massive army. They had enough war horses for a fair part of Kel's army, but not all. The rest traveled in wagons, meaning that they needed more horses to pull them, or they attempted to set a few among the food. But the men could not be trusted to keep to their rations in there.
Nevertheless, they made it to the Scanran border unscathed. They crossed the river at the safest point and stepped onto enemy land.
The men were scared. Any idiot could see that. Kel had nothing to do with them, nothing to tell them. It was not like commanding fifty or a hundred men. She could not just stand on a box and tell them to cheer up. She needed something bigger. She needed a miracle.
Kel sat in her tent one night, wishing she could lie down. Papers were everywhere. Records, orders, requests, everything she needed to keep her men alive. She was working out how long it would take them to get there when someone entered the tent.
Kel looked up and smiled at Neal. "Hello," she said. "What is it?"
He shrugged. "There's nothing in particular. You haven't said a right word to any of us, Keladry." Kel looked straight at him. He never called her Keladry, not unless he was teasing her. "Is this work too much for you? Because that is why you have officers and second in commands. To pass the work on to."
Kel sighed. "I guess. I'm just worried. Worried that everything won't go as planned."
"Well, of course it won't!" Neal said cheerily. Kel glared at him and he sighed. "Kel, you know as well as me, it never goes as planned. Does that mean that you are any less amazing? As far as I can tell, you are better when you do not know what is coming at you."
Kel smiled. "Thanks Neal. So, do you want to help me with this?"
Neal sighed. "You know, I'm not actually second in command. You weren't listening. He was on to the next person."
Kel smiled. "I know that, I'm not stupid. But I don't know Sir Dessir. He is much older and probably a better knight than me, but that doesn't mean I want to spend all the time working with him. I sent him off hours ago to give the orders to the generals."
Neal laughed. "I lied. Maybe you are ready to do this work all by yourself."
Kel smiled, not looking up from the papers she was reading now. "Nice try. Get to work."
Grumbling, Neal pushed some papers out of the way and sat down, ready to work.
* * * * *
They reached the Desmaurads plateau in less than a month. Kel had expected it to take much longer, with troubles from patrols and such, but there were none. They were all in camps and cities, preparing for their big attack- that would never happen. Because there was almost no snow in Scanra in early October, they moved quickly- and they had horses. Kel vowed never again to travel without horses.
At the plateau, they had their hardest part. They had to wait for all of the armies, the four others, to meet up. Kel could see two in the distance when she climbed a tree, and she wasn't sure, but she thought she might see a third, almost four days travel away.
After they all arrived, they needed to get across the plateau. They could just go straight there, but it was almost a days journey across the plateau, and they would be seen instantly, and Desmaurads would be ready. They could try to sneak to the nearest forest and have very little extra to travel, but they would surely be seen even before they could get out of the forests.
This was what everyone thought the problem was. But Kel knew better. She already had a plan for that. When Scanra woke up at dawn, there would be an army waiting for them.
Numair arrived with the second army, and Kel knew how she could solve her problem. The first morning that every army was there, almost a week later, Kel spoke to the commanders of every army. Because she had been to Desmaurads before, and had now been there the longest, everyone listened to her.
"Alright," she said, "we will leave at sundown in three days. Numair will perform magic to make it the blackest of nights, and we will travel quickly, on horse and foot, no wagons, to the city. It is imperative that we arrive before sunrise. As I said, it will be the blackest of nights, and we shall have no lanterns nor torches. I want all of you to memorize the road, so you can walk it by memory. The front will be composed of two groups: one, to get over the wall, which will be about ten men, all good climbers and either mages with powerful attack magic, or great skill in explosives; and the other, also composed of powerful mages and explosive experts.
These men, in the darkness, will set the explosives at the gate, and get as far away as they can. There is a great risk to the men inside, and I expect them to know that, and to be given the choice to back out if they wish. Hopefully before dawn breaks, but possibly right at, or after, the explosives will go off, blasting a rather large hole in the wall. Before it is blown up, Numair, who will also be inside, will set up similar explosives in three places: the soldiers barracks; the soldiers stables; and the armoury. I have instructed him in where all of these are.
"Normally, I do not like to attack while the enemy is sleeping, but we have no choice. Anyway, all five explosions will go off at once. We will go from there. I want as many men as possible inside the city after that. Under no circumstance shall anyone attack a child or a woman who is not attacking back, is that understood? We do not intend to destroy their race, only stop them from attacking back."
The other commanders and generals nodded.
Kel sighed. "Very well. I will lead one squad of the King's Own into the castle. Since we will have aimed all our attacks at soldiers, they will expect more of that, and while the guard will most definitely go up at the palace, with some expertise, we can get in. none of the rest of that is important. Are there any questions?"
Numair sat up. Kel nodded. "Keladry, I have a problem." He looked her in the eye and continued. "I cannot perform all three magicks myself." Kel raised an eyebrow. "One, easily, two, with difficulty. But it will be easier with a second mage. You see, the explosions give off a great flash to set up, which will be brighter than daylight. It is highly likely that it will arouse soldiers."
Kel sighed. "Very well. I will work something out to give you another mage." She looked around. "Anything else?" No one said anything, and Kel dismissed them. She breathed out as soon as they were all gone. She was so sure that they were all going to question her so much, but she had overreacted. She was glad to be done with that. She just wanted to be done with this war, too.
Everything worked perfectly. Kel was surprised, actually. She was still on the idea Neal had presented, that she was better when unorganized. Nevertheless, everything went accordingly, and Kel found herself leading a squad into the palace.
She put her hand up telling them to come forward. She looked around a corner and, seeing a guard on duty, took out her bow and silently shot him. He fell to the ground with a soft thump. She strung her bow quickly, hearing footsteps of another man running up to him. As soon as he did, she shot him. She signalled to her men that they didn't have time for this. "Let's go." She whispered.
She was glad that they had spies in Scanra. Otherwise, she would never have been able to find her way around the palace. It was a maze of corridors. She racked her brain for the route. Left, right, straight, left, right, straight, right, right, left, up the stairs, through the grand hall, up again, left twice, straight, and then right. Already breathing heavily, Kel saw, just around the corner, great wooden doors, guarded by two men. She could hear voices inside. She looked around. There had to be a way around. She could see, around the corner, beside that door, a tapestry hanging. She had an idea. She turned back down the hall she was in and ran a circle around to the next hall. Sure enough, she could see the tapestry again. But now she was about five feet from the men.
Silently, she snuck up to the first man, slitting his throat with her glaive before he could say anything. The thump roused the other man, who she immediately stabbed. Before her men could make it all the way down the hall to her, she threw the doors open, and saw the king and his generals standing there.
Only, she couldn't tell which was the king. No one man had a crown, a better made robe, any specific marking. They were all armed, and they looked up at her as she stood there. Her men ran up behind her, and they found themselves against almost twenty armed generals.
"Kill them all." Kel said before anything happened. She whipped her glaive out and gutted a man, swinging him around and cutting off another mans sword hand. His scream filled the room.
Five minutes later, all of their enemies were either dead or injured. Kel leaned down to each living one and checked them for anything that would tell her if they were king. None had anything, so she stood up and issued the order again.
The last man screamed before she made contact. "Wait!" He said in common tongue. "I am not the king. He was." He pointed at the corpse of the man next to him.
Kel frowned. "I'm not going to believe you."
He threw up his hands and started speaking quickly in Scanran. "It is the crest!" He said, flailing his arms towards the body. "See, under his breast, his family crest. Underneath it is a crown, don't you see? That marks him as the king."
"Huh." Kel said, leaning over and inspecting the mans bloody tunic. "Imagine that." She felt like she was going to vomit, but she held it back. "Oh well," she said. "Kill 'em."
She stood up and walked toward the door as she heard the man scream in pain as a sword went through him. There was another sound, though. Someone was clapping. Kel looked around. It was none of her squad. Suddenly, a man appeared at the doorway, out of thin air.
Kel stared at him. She knew this man...
"Keladry of Mindelan. Welcome back to Scanra for what, the fourth time? Fifth? This time, you deserve to learn my name." Kel realized why he looked so intimidating. He was floating, bobbing up and down slightly, but a good foot higher than everyone else. "My name," he said, "is Jasson Mecdalen."
Kel's eyes narrowed and her hands began to shake. She did know this man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whew, I thought it was really short, but it was still 2000 words...weird.
And don't worry, it will be the first thing you learn next time, I promise. It will come soon.
I broke 200. Go me. Let's break 250, people. I love you! You all rock!
Wake-Robin: The wedding thing? It will take a while. and gosh, I can't wait, because I've got such a good idea...and Fhire, you will see. Be patient, young grasshopper...have I answered this review already? I think I did. Oh well.
Anon: indeed I did. And a long weekend helped, too. And no, I have never seen it. I just couldn't think of a name.
Pinky: you will see. I promise!
Smiles28: of course!
Lady of Masbolle: yay synergy. I rock the synergies. Woo, lots of reviews... yep...Fhire is independent, and there will be more to come on her, probably, I think. I was going to, but now I might not...I don't know yet. I agree with they jumping thing! Butterflies indeed! I actually used to put those quotes at the end of every chapter, but the I ran out for a while, but I want to start again. They make a happy end to a tense/sad chapter.
AJ 4EVA: I'm sorry! I didn't meant to insult you! Wah! ( :( ( :(
Rubber Duck: ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Yes, she did decide to marry him. Hence the receiving of the ring. W/e. it's all good. I actually find them equally hard to write. I have a very small vocabulary, you see, and while I know how to use it well, it's still very small! I often have trouble with the whole 'imagery' thing. And you'll find out what they say later. They haven't discussed it yet.
Lady Helada: *backing away slowly...and run!* Sorry, I haven't read the Alanna books, and Alanna bothers me (I did read one of them, and it bugged me. I think I read it too fast...in a car, in an hour...) so let's play pretend just for me? ( :)
Ellabelle1: yeah. I hate that too. And I do this ALL the time. I come home from school, and rather than watching tv to relax, I write fan fiction. Yeah. I was thinking the exact same thing. There are so many other knights, right? But when I thought about it, Kel is perfect, just because of how much she has done in my story alone. I just decided that she was best for it, even if there were older, more experienced knights around. Besides, my story is about KEL, not random knight #12.
Pinky: thanks!
"It's not what it looks like. Unless it looks like we're stealing your priceless artefact, 'cause that's what we're doing."
"I appreciate your honesty. Not, you know, much."
-unolimbo
I have said nothing about it ending, but I've gotten, like, five emails asking if it's over. ITS NOT. Thank you.
I would like to rant. If you are not interested in my Dom rant, just ignore it, it's not really that important. Now, I could be horribly wrong, so I'm sorry in advance. I don't remember if it says in Lady Knight, but I have always imagined Dom as being not much older than Kel. In Squire, in Kel's first year, he is introduced as their 'new' sergeant. So I assumed that he was maybe, twenty, twenty-one at the most. Kel was 15 at this time, because four years as a page meant that she ended at 14 and started the squiring at 15. So really, he was only about 5 years older than her, in my crazy brain place. If it says it in the book, I'm sorry and ignore me please, but for the sake of my story, I don't really want him that old. I like my Dom young and cute, thank you very much. I am sticking with the 'five years older' thing. AT THE MOST. Please don't complain. It's my story, I'll do what ever I want! (grr...rowf... I'm evil and grumpy. Leave me alone.) no, I just like it that way, and it's not like its really that important. Ok, lets get back to this story!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kel knew what was ahead. A fight. Probably one of the greatest fights she would participate in.
The largest army in Kel's time was sent to Scanra, and Kel was to lead 10 thousand of them. Kel had barely been a knight five years, and she was commanding ten thousand men. It scared her, almost, to know. Keladry of Mindelan, Knight Commander. It sounded strange. She didn't like it.
Dom explained that it shouldn't be intimidating, because the only reason she got the job was that she was amazing. There was nothing else.
The trek to Scanra was slow. Many of the soldiers did not own horses, and those who did had not geldings or stallions, but ponies and mares. (N/A I don't know if that makes any sense. I don't really know horses.) The Crown supplied as many horses as they could, having bred them for four years for the purpose of a massive army. They had enough war horses for a fair part of Kel's army, but not all. The rest traveled in wagons, meaning that they needed more horses to pull them, or they attempted to set a few among the food. But the men could not be trusted to keep to their rations in there.
Nevertheless, they made it to the Scanran border unscathed. They crossed the river at the safest point and stepped onto enemy land.
The men were scared. Any idiot could see that. Kel had nothing to do with them, nothing to tell them. It was not like commanding fifty or a hundred men. She could not just stand on a box and tell them to cheer up. She needed something bigger. She needed a miracle.
Kel sat in her tent one night, wishing she could lie down. Papers were everywhere. Records, orders, requests, everything she needed to keep her men alive. She was working out how long it would take them to get there when someone entered the tent.
Kel looked up and smiled at Neal. "Hello," she said. "What is it?"
He shrugged. "There's nothing in particular. You haven't said a right word to any of us, Keladry." Kel looked straight at him. He never called her Keladry, not unless he was teasing her. "Is this work too much for you? Because that is why you have officers and second in commands. To pass the work on to."
Kel sighed. "I guess. I'm just worried. Worried that everything won't go as planned."
"Well, of course it won't!" Neal said cheerily. Kel glared at him and he sighed. "Kel, you know as well as me, it never goes as planned. Does that mean that you are any less amazing? As far as I can tell, you are better when you do not know what is coming at you."
Kel smiled. "Thanks Neal. So, do you want to help me with this?"
Neal sighed. "You know, I'm not actually second in command. You weren't listening. He was on to the next person."
Kel smiled. "I know that, I'm not stupid. But I don't know Sir Dessir. He is much older and probably a better knight than me, but that doesn't mean I want to spend all the time working with him. I sent him off hours ago to give the orders to the generals."
Neal laughed. "I lied. Maybe you are ready to do this work all by yourself."
Kel smiled, not looking up from the papers she was reading now. "Nice try. Get to work."
Grumbling, Neal pushed some papers out of the way and sat down, ready to work.
* * * * *
They reached the Desmaurads plateau in less than a month. Kel had expected it to take much longer, with troubles from patrols and such, but there were none. They were all in camps and cities, preparing for their big attack- that would never happen. Because there was almost no snow in Scanra in early October, they moved quickly- and they had horses. Kel vowed never again to travel without horses.
At the plateau, they had their hardest part. They had to wait for all of the armies, the four others, to meet up. Kel could see two in the distance when she climbed a tree, and she wasn't sure, but she thought she might see a third, almost four days travel away.
After they all arrived, they needed to get across the plateau. They could just go straight there, but it was almost a days journey across the plateau, and they would be seen instantly, and Desmaurads would be ready. They could try to sneak to the nearest forest and have very little extra to travel, but they would surely be seen even before they could get out of the forests.
This was what everyone thought the problem was. But Kel knew better. She already had a plan for that. When Scanra woke up at dawn, there would be an army waiting for them.
Numair arrived with the second army, and Kel knew how she could solve her problem. The first morning that every army was there, almost a week later, Kel spoke to the commanders of every army. Because she had been to Desmaurads before, and had now been there the longest, everyone listened to her.
"Alright," she said, "we will leave at sundown in three days. Numair will perform magic to make it the blackest of nights, and we will travel quickly, on horse and foot, no wagons, to the city. It is imperative that we arrive before sunrise. As I said, it will be the blackest of nights, and we shall have no lanterns nor torches. I want all of you to memorize the road, so you can walk it by memory. The front will be composed of two groups: one, to get over the wall, which will be about ten men, all good climbers and either mages with powerful attack magic, or great skill in explosives; and the other, also composed of powerful mages and explosive experts.
These men, in the darkness, will set the explosives at the gate, and get as far away as they can. There is a great risk to the men inside, and I expect them to know that, and to be given the choice to back out if they wish. Hopefully before dawn breaks, but possibly right at, or after, the explosives will go off, blasting a rather large hole in the wall. Before it is blown up, Numair, who will also be inside, will set up similar explosives in three places: the soldiers barracks; the soldiers stables; and the armoury. I have instructed him in where all of these are.
"Normally, I do not like to attack while the enemy is sleeping, but we have no choice. Anyway, all five explosions will go off at once. We will go from there. I want as many men as possible inside the city after that. Under no circumstance shall anyone attack a child or a woman who is not attacking back, is that understood? We do not intend to destroy their race, only stop them from attacking back."
The other commanders and generals nodded.
Kel sighed. "Very well. I will lead one squad of the King's Own into the castle. Since we will have aimed all our attacks at soldiers, they will expect more of that, and while the guard will most definitely go up at the palace, with some expertise, we can get in. none of the rest of that is important. Are there any questions?"
Numair sat up. Kel nodded. "Keladry, I have a problem." He looked her in the eye and continued. "I cannot perform all three magicks myself." Kel raised an eyebrow. "One, easily, two, with difficulty. But it will be easier with a second mage. You see, the explosions give off a great flash to set up, which will be brighter than daylight. It is highly likely that it will arouse soldiers."
Kel sighed. "Very well. I will work something out to give you another mage." She looked around. "Anything else?" No one said anything, and Kel dismissed them. She breathed out as soon as they were all gone. She was so sure that they were all going to question her so much, but she had overreacted. She was glad to be done with that. She just wanted to be done with this war, too.
Everything worked perfectly. Kel was surprised, actually. She was still on the idea Neal had presented, that she was better when unorganized. Nevertheless, everything went accordingly, and Kel found herself leading a squad into the palace.
She put her hand up telling them to come forward. She looked around a corner and, seeing a guard on duty, took out her bow and silently shot him. He fell to the ground with a soft thump. She strung her bow quickly, hearing footsteps of another man running up to him. As soon as he did, she shot him. She signalled to her men that they didn't have time for this. "Let's go." She whispered.
She was glad that they had spies in Scanra. Otherwise, she would never have been able to find her way around the palace. It was a maze of corridors. She racked her brain for the route. Left, right, straight, left, right, straight, right, right, left, up the stairs, through the grand hall, up again, left twice, straight, and then right. Already breathing heavily, Kel saw, just around the corner, great wooden doors, guarded by two men. She could hear voices inside. She looked around. There had to be a way around. She could see, around the corner, beside that door, a tapestry hanging. She had an idea. She turned back down the hall she was in and ran a circle around to the next hall. Sure enough, she could see the tapestry again. But now she was about five feet from the men.
Silently, she snuck up to the first man, slitting his throat with her glaive before he could say anything. The thump roused the other man, who she immediately stabbed. Before her men could make it all the way down the hall to her, she threw the doors open, and saw the king and his generals standing there.
Only, she couldn't tell which was the king. No one man had a crown, a better made robe, any specific marking. They were all armed, and they looked up at her as she stood there. Her men ran up behind her, and they found themselves against almost twenty armed generals.
"Kill them all." Kel said before anything happened. She whipped her glaive out and gutted a man, swinging him around and cutting off another mans sword hand. His scream filled the room.
Five minutes later, all of their enemies were either dead or injured. Kel leaned down to each living one and checked them for anything that would tell her if they were king. None had anything, so she stood up and issued the order again.
The last man screamed before she made contact. "Wait!" He said in common tongue. "I am not the king. He was." He pointed at the corpse of the man next to him.
Kel frowned. "I'm not going to believe you."
He threw up his hands and started speaking quickly in Scanran. "It is the crest!" He said, flailing his arms towards the body. "See, under his breast, his family crest. Underneath it is a crown, don't you see? That marks him as the king."
"Huh." Kel said, leaning over and inspecting the mans bloody tunic. "Imagine that." She felt like she was going to vomit, but she held it back. "Oh well," she said. "Kill 'em."
She stood up and walked toward the door as she heard the man scream in pain as a sword went through him. There was another sound, though. Someone was clapping. Kel looked around. It was none of her squad. Suddenly, a man appeared at the doorway, out of thin air.
Kel stared at him. She knew this man...
"Keladry of Mindelan. Welcome back to Scanra for what, the fourth time? Fifth? This time, you deserve to learn my name." Kel realized why he looked so intimidating. He was floating, bobbing up and down slightly, but a good foot higher than everyone else. "My name," he said, "is Jasson Mecdalen."
Kel's eyes narrowed and her hands began to shake. She did know this man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whew, I thought it was really short, but it was still 2000 words...weird.
And don't worry, it will be the first thing you learn next time, I promise. It will come soon.
I broke 200. Go me. Let's break 250, people. I love you! You all rock!
Wake-Robin: The wedding thing? It will take a while. and gosh, I can't wait, because I've got such a good idea...and Fhire, you will see. Be patient, young grasshopper...have I answered this review already? I think I did. Oh well.
Anon: indeed I did. And a long weekend helped, too. And no, I have never seen it. I just couldn't think of a name.
Pinky: you will see. I promise!
Smiles28: of course!
Lady of Masbolle: yay synergy. I rock the synergies. Woo, lots of reviews... yep...Fhire is independent, and there will be more to come on her, probably, I think. I was going to, but now I might not...I don't know yet. I agree with they jumping thing! Butterflies indeed! I actually used to put those quotes at the end of every chapter, but the I ran out for a while, but I want to start again. They make a happy end to a tense/sad chapter.
AJ 4EVA: I'm sorry! I didn't meant to insult you! Wah! ( :( ( :(
Rubber Duck: ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Yes, she did decide to marry him. Hence the receiving of the ring. W/e. it's all good. I actually find them equally hard to write. I have a very small vocabulary, you see, and while I know how to use it well, it's still very small! I often have trouble with the whole 'imagery' thing. And you'll find out what they say later. They haven't discussed it yet.
Lady Helada: *backing away slowly...and run!* Sorry, I haven't read the Alanna books, and Alanna bothers me (I did read one of them, and it bugged me. I think I read it too fast...in a car, in an hour...) so let's play pretend just for me? ( :)
Ellabelle1: yeah. I hate that too. And I do this ALL the time. I come home from school, and rather than watching tv to relax, I write fan fiction. Yeah. I was thinking the exact same thing. There are so many other knights, right? But when I thought about it, Kel is perfect, just because of how much she has done in my story alone. I just decided that she was best for it, even if there were older, more experienced knights around. Besides, my story is about KEL, not random knight #12.
Pinky: thanks!
"It's not what it looks like. Unless it looks like we're stealing your priceless artefact, 'cause that's what we're doing."
"I appreciate your honesty. Not, you know, much."
-unolimbo