Disclaimer: I guess it's this time again. I don't own any of Tammy's creations, however I do own: Ked, Jhedy, Tait, Salin, Jamil, Lord Parrton, Feran, the little girl with the gift at Mindelan, Judge Tremont (who gets no more than a brief mention), the black haired man that is a friend of Piers and Ilane, Farant, Saul, Ana, Naomi, Lora, Jacey, Essa, Jak, Ortun (a place, not a person), the street urchin, the merchant and the captain (Mysh).
Chapter Seventeen: Of Selling Horses and Other Things"You must be joking Farant!"
Farant shook his head and his mop of curly brown locks flew out. "No, I got it straight from the King's mouth."
"We aren't body guards!" Saul, the newest member of the group protested. "Can't the girl's father send his own guards after her? We aren't paid to go traipsing all over the country to catch a run-away noble girl."
"If you would let me finish explaining?" Farant asked him with humour in his voice. "This isn't any run-away noble girl."
"Don't tell me Lianne's run away again!" Ana complained, thinking of the last time that the young royal had run away and the massive search that had taken place.
Naomi grinned. "I hardly think she would dare to anything like that again. His Majesty was most annoyed when she was finally recovered."
Farant nodded. "You're right, she wouldn't do anything like that. It isn't her we're after. Have any of you heard of Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan?"
All of them nodded, even Lora who had only just got back from Carthak and her duties to Kalasin there.
Farant smiled. "I thought you might have. What I'm about to tell you is completely confidential, and you can tell no one. Understand?"
His Riders nodded.
"I'm sure you knew that the Lady Knight was originally a Tortallan page and that she then trained for four years at the Yamani Emperor's Court to become one of the Emperor's Chosen Warriors. She spent a further two years in Yaman serving her Warrior Lord and then they came over here to guard the Yamani Princess. She had to return to the Yamani Isles so that she could take the Yamani version of the Chamber of Ordeal, but the Emperor had declared her a traitor, for reasons we don't know. He had her family killed as soon as they entered Yamani waters. Lady Kel survived and returned to the palace and was knighted. I'm pretty certain that you know all of what I have just told you." Farant looked around, closed the windows and the door, then sat back down again. "However, a week ago the King received an official message from the Yamani Emperor and his diplomats, saying that they had to hand Lady Kel over to them so that she could face the 'appropriate' justice or there would be war. The King informs me that 'appropriate' justice would be public flogging and then a long and very painful death. The King refused and most of his council agreed with him. They tried to hide what had happened from Lady Kel, as it was the general consensus that if the Lady Knight knew about what they had decided, she would insist on leaving for the Isles anyway. It appears that it hasn't worked though, she found out what had happened and left for the Isles last night. We are to catch up with her and persuade her to return to the castle."
"I hate to burst your bubble," Jacey said wryly. "But I highly doubt that we can persuade the Lady Knight to return to the castle."
"And if we have to fight her, we'd only get injured!" Essa pointed out. "I've seen her fighting with the long pole arm of hers; she wields it as well as Lady Alanna wields her sword."
"Better than, actually," Jak added. "And I heard she had beaten Lady Alanna at a sword duel."
Farant held up his hands to stop the comments. "I know. That's why the King insisted that we bring two others along with us. Apparently they'll be able to convince her that she's to come with us."
"Who?" Saul asked as he reached for a drink.
Farant shrugged. "The King said that they would meet us at the Rider stables."
"Of all the stupid things we have had to do, I think this one is the most ridiculous! Rescuing a Lady Knight from getting herself killed because she wants to hand herself over? Why don't we just let her hand herself over and then we would never have to fight a war?"
Farant sighed. "I've no idea; all I can presume is that Lady Kel means something to a lot of important people in this realm and that she can provide some sort of invaluable assistance if we ever do go to war." He stood. "Jacey, Naomi, Lora and Saul, I want you to pack your bags and then find us some food for the first part of the journey. Essa and Jak, can you find us a recent picture of the Lady Knight? Ana, you get us sixty gold nobles from the treasury and I'll start to ready the horses. Once you have the things I've asked for, meet me in the stables."
- - -
"Of all the stupid things to do!" Conal growled as he stood by his fastest horse outside the Rider stables.
Dom just shrugged. As soon as the King had told them what he and his council had decided, he knew that if Kel found out she would have found some way to get to the Yamani Isles. Then the King had gone on to say that she had been sighted heading north, presumably to Blue Harbour and Dom hadn't been surprised.
"Doesn't she realise that none of us want her dead?" Conal continued. "I would have thought that she would have been more considerate. She saw how loosing mother and father affected the family! Why didn't she think?"
"Ask her when we find her," Dom replied.
"You don't seem surprised that she had left," Conal said almost suspiciously.
"I'm not. I knew she wouldn't want men and women to die for her. She's had enough of people dying."
A man cleared his throat behind them and both Conal and Dom turned to see a man dressed in Rider uniform with the sign of a commander of his tunic. His curly brown hair fell into bright blue eyes.
"Commander Farant?" Conal asked.
The man nodded. "Yes. And you are?"
"Sir Conal of Mindelan and this is Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle."
"You are Lady Kel's husband?" Farant asked of Conal.
"Gods no!" Conal exclaimed. "I'm her brother. I take it we are leaving as soon as possible?"
Farant nodded and walked into the stables. With a practised deftness he started saddle the horses. "Can you tell me why His Majesty is so eager to get Lady Kel back?"
Conal shrugged and it was Dom who answered. "She has a detailed knowledge of the Yamani army and that is something that the King is anxious to get back. Also, her parents had many friends most of whom were also close to Kel and they aren't happy at the thought of her being killed."
"Farant!" a voice yelled and a dark skinned woman ran into the yard, accompanied by a fair-headed man. The women threw a folder at Farant and when Dom studied her closely he decided she must be of Bazhir descent. The man grinned at Dom and walked over.
"You'd do well to keep off Essa, I think you'll find she's mine."
Dom grinned, thinking of Kel. "No problems there. I'm Dom of Masbolle." He held out his hand to shake.
The man grasped his hand. "Jak of Coppercove. I'll presume you're one of the men who are meant to be persuading Lady Kel to come home?"
Dom nodded. "Yeah, the other man over there is her brother, some of the only remaining close family she has. If the two of us can't do it, we'll have to rely on brute force. She isn't leaving this country."
Jak tilted his head to the side and considered Dom's tone. At first he had thought that the whole mission was stupid, but now he wasn't so sure. Dom sounded like Jak knew he would if Essa had gone missing and was stupid enough to try and give herself over to people who would kill her. "We'll get her back."
Dom nodded. "We'd better." As other people started to pour into the yard, he said, "Care to tell me who they are?"
Jak nodded and led his already saddled horse out of the stables. "The tanned woman is Lora, she serves the Empress Kalasin in Carthak whenever the Empress goes on a progress. The man next to her, on the dapple pony is Jacey. He's cheeky but means well. The man talking with Jacey is his younger brother Saul. Naomi is the black-haired woman fighting the spirited pony. Keep out of her pony's way, he can be very vicious when he wants. Essa's my girl, she's the one you saw me with earlier and is a Bazhir. I'm sure you already know Farant and Ana is his second-in-command. She's the tall girl handing over the money. If it turns out that Lady Kel's left the country, it'll be Ana that will take charge of the chase. She's a sea merchants daughter and is used to sailing."
Dom nodded and committed the names to memory.
Farant swung into his saddle. "Shall we get going?"
- - -
Kel shivered as she rubbed Hoshi down in the cold water of the stream, trying to remove the dust from his shining black coat. She had heard that there was a horse fair in Ortun, the next village along. She would be selling Hoshi there and would then walk the rest of the way to Blue Harbour where she would hopefully be able to secure herself a ship to take her to the Isles. She could take Hoshi with her, but as soon as she arrived on Yamani soil, everything she had would belong to the Emperor because of the warrant out for her arrest. Although she didn't want her prized sword to go the Emperor, she wasn't going to venture over there unarmed. But she didn't need to take Hoshi so she was leaving him. If she took him with her, he would be killed, something that Kel wanted to avoid if she could. Hopefully whoever bought him would look after him.
"Come on boy, let's get you to the fair." She mounted up, bare back for she had sold the tack to a merchant a few miles back. Clucking to Hoshi, she headed for the fair.
There seemed to be more humans than horses, most of them haggling over prices and none of the horses seemed happy. They were covered in fleas, had matted coats and open sores.
"I can't sell you to any of these people!" Kel whispered to Hoshi. "Not if they're going to look after you like that!" As she was about to leave, she heard the clatter of horses hooves and the coaxing voice of a woman.
"Come on! Just a little further!"
Kel turned to see a woman she recognised. It was Onua, the horsemistress for the Riders. It had been she who had been assigned to look after the horses for the delegates from the Yamani Isles. Kel turned to Hoshi. "Want to go to Onua?"
Hoshi whinnied and gently head-butted Kel's shoulder.
Kel laughed, but her laughter was filled with sadness. She would miss her horse, they'd fought well together and it was the only thing that she had left from her time in the Yamani Isles because she had left Hoshi behind when she went for her Tribulation as the boat master hadn't liked horses. Then Kel sighed. How was she meant to sell Hoshi without Onua recognising her? If Onua knew where she was, no doubt she'd find some way to let Jon know.
"You!" Kel yelled to a street urchin who was busy trying to pick a merchant's pocket. "Come here!"
The child backed off, not wanting to be caught.
"Do you want to earn gold nobles?" Kel asked.
The child's eyes widened at the thought of so much money. "What do I have to do?" he asked suspiciously.
"Take this horse and sell it to the woman over there." Kel pointed at Onua. "If you get me thirty gold nobles for it, I'll give you ten."
The boy nodded and took Hoshi's reins.
Kel placed her arms around Hoshi's neck. "Be good. Maybe one day a proper knight will ride you." She turned to the boy. "Take him," she ordered. As she watched the boy walk off, she bit back the tears that threatened to cascade down her cheeks. If she allowed herself to cry, she'd loose face. As she saw the child approach Onua, she slipped off into the crowd. She couldn't stay, Onua would want to know where the boy had got the horse, and he'd point her out. He could keep the money. Right now she had more important things to be doing. She needed to make her way to Blue Harbour and from there to the Yamani Isles and the cells in the palace dungeons.
- - -
Onua Chamtong looked at the fine horse that the street urchin was selling. "Where did you get this?" she asked sharply. A horse like this was worth at least fifty gold nobles, an urchin wouldn't have a horse like this. An urchin wouldn't have a horse at all!
"The noble Lady said she'd give me ten gold nobles to sell this to you for thirty gold nobles," the urchin explained.
"Which noble Lady?" Onua demanded. She had seen this horse before, she was sure of it.
"That o…" the boy turned around and started to point but couldn't find his target. "She's gone miss!"
Onua sighed. "What did she look like?"
"Um…very tall, brown hair. She wore breeches and had a sword and shield. She looked like something out of the myths, a lady knight. But that weren't no Lady Alanna!"
"Horse Lords! Jon is going to kill me!" Onua swore as she recognised the horse and by that, the rider. She'd just let Keladry of Mindelan disappear.
- - -
"Kind sir, can you tell me where you got this?" Dom asked a passing merchant as he gestured to a saddle that was hanging off of the side of the merchant's caravan.
Farant cursed the King and his insistence that they had taken these two along. It was a wonder that the realm wasn't over-run by raiders and immortals if this was the sort of man that made up the King's Own. He would have thought that considering what Jak had told him about Dom's relationship with Lady Kel, Dom would have been more eager to find Kel and wouldn't have been off shopping, as it appeared he was.
"Dom, we need to get riding! We want to catch Lady Kel before she leaves Tortallan waters! Preferably before she leaves dry land."
"Hang on!" Dom held out his hand as he listened to the merchant's reply.
"A Lady Warrior sold it to me yesterday. Were you looking to buy it?"
"Which way did she go?" Dom asked. No other Lady Warrior would have a saddle with the Yamani symbols for health and victory burnt into them. And if his translation of the Yamani writing on the back was correct, and he wasn't sure it was because Kel had only been teaching him for a few months, but it was a phrase he had seen engraved into all of her weapons and most of her possessions. She had told him once that it meant 'property of the Yamani Emperor'.
The merchant seemed surprised at Dom's question but answered it nonetheless. "She asked about a horse fair at Ortun, maybe she was headed there."
Dom nodded his thanks and gave the merchant five gold nobles for the saddle.
"Are you quite finished the shopping?" Farant asked of Dom.
"She went to Ortun," Dom replied as he tied the saddle onto his saddlebags. "To the horse fair." He gestured to the saddle. "That was hers, just in case you weren't listening. She's obviously selling on her stuff and is planning on walking the rest of the way to Blue Harbour. That was yesterday. If she ran, she could be at Blue Harbour now."
"To Ortun then!" Farant cried as he wheeled his pony around towards the coastal town.
- - -
"Onua!" Lora called as the Riders dismounted fluently. "I don't suppose you've seen Lady Keladry, have you?"
Onua sighed and turned away.
"Onua!" Farant called as he ran up behind her. "We need to know!"
Onua nodded. "I know. She was here. I didn't see her though."
"Then how do you know she was here?" Ana asked brusquely.
"Hoshi!" Dom cried as Onua gestured to the horse picketed by four others. To Farant he said, "It's her horse!"
"She gave it to a street urchin with orders to sell it to me for thirty gold nobles and that he would get ten of them, but she left before he could give her the money."
"When was this?" Conal asked as he rode forwards.
"Late last night," Onua replied. "She'll be at Blue Harbour by now."
Ana cursed. "With this sort of weather she'll have no trouble finding someone to take her across, if she has the right amount of money."
Dom looked up at the summer sun that was bearing heavily down on the coast. "You're right," he said, his voice heavy with sadness. "We'll be lucky to catch her now." But he still took Hoshi's reins when Onua offered them to him.
"Don't give up!" Jak ordered as he turned his pony around. "We'll catch her yet."
- - -
"Visiting family?" the captain asked as he negotiated the tricky waters just outside the Blue Harbour.
Kel shook her head. "No, I've got an urgent appointment with the Emperor. He won't be happy if I miss it."
The young man grinned, showing he was missing a tooth. "Well we'll just have to make sure we get you there quickly then, won't we?"
Kel nodded and put a calm face on as she watched the docks disappearing and with them, every chance she had of living.
- - -
A/N: Another chapter finished. What did you think? The good news for you people is that I've finished the final drafts of the next chapters and I'm just trying to get the internet to work so I can upload it. I'll try to have up to Chapter Twenty-two up for Saturday. However, after that the updates will be a lot less frequent because my sister and I are being shipped off to boarding school. FUN! Not! However, I will try my best to get this whole story finished by the end of September.
And one more thing… If any of you people out there are reading my other story, Protector of the King's Own, the next chapter is getting there. Ducks behind shield to avoid rotten fruit And yes I know it's been ages, but I'm great at procrastinating. My mum says that if there was a GCSE in it, I'd pass with A star. I promise I'll have another chapter up before September. And once I've finished this, you can expect much more frequent updates. This is the last time I try to write two stories at once. Well, two that I'm sticking up here. I don't see how you guys do it!
Hannah