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, Mysh, Adelaide, Kara, Francis, Mandy, Elissa and Arianne.
Chapter Twenty: The MiracleAnd she got her miracle. Though not in form of divine intervention, unless of course you call a grubby young boy of twelve riding his father's war mount divine intervention.
She was woken by shouting just outside her tent. She had obviously fallen asleep at some point near dawn and someone, she presumed her brother, had gently turned her around so that she slept with her head in the tent.
"What are you doing trying to get into the Lady Knight's tent?" Raoul snapped. His tone made it clear exactly what he thought the intruder had been trying to do.
"My Lord, I need to…"
"No you don't!" Raoul yelled. "What were you doing?"
"My Lord, I had a message for her!" the intruder replied and Kel recognised that voice. It was Lachran, her nephew.
"Lach?" she called, crawling out of the tent on her stomach. Suddenly the events of the previous day came flooding back and Kel wanted to crawl back into her tent and cry where no one could see her. "What are you doing here?" Mindelan was a good twenty-five miles away and he had no reason to know she was even here.
"Papa sent me," he gabbled, looking nervously at the legend that was the Giantkiller.
"You know this boy?" Raoul asked, studying Lachran as if he didn't think that Kel would know anyone like this.
Kel nodded. "Sir, this is my nephew Lachran of Mindelan, he's a page at the palace." She scratched her head. "Is it your summer break already?"
Lachran nodded.
"And Lachran, this is Lord Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, Knight Commander of the King's Own."
Raoul offered his hand to shake; more relaxed now that he knew this was no thief. "I'm sorry about that Lachran, we don't normally have small boys trying to crawl into the Lady Knight's tent." He turned to Kel. "Are you okay?"
Kel shook her head. "Of course not. Did you honestly expect me to say yes?"
"Most people do."
"Yamani training I guess," Kel admitted. "We were always told to be truthful when it came to your state of mind or health because that could endanger others in battle."
"Makes sense. Want some breakfast?" he asked, Lachran forgotten.
"Auntie Kel!" Lachran cried. "I've got an urgent message! From Papa! He said to make sure you got it as soon as possible!"
Kel nodded. "Well tell me then," she said, gesturing for Lachran to sit down next to her by the campfire and then she accepted the porridge that Raoul collected for her from the servers. He'd even got some for Lachran.
"Papa says that a Sergeant Domica…maybe it was Domitan? Well anyway, he said this sergeant was at our house and you'd want to know."
"What?" Kel yelled, startling some of the sleepier members of the Third Company into consciousness.
Lachran seemed surprised at his Aunt's reaction. To him she always seemed like she was completely in control and she never yelled.
Kel sat back, her mind racing. "I…"
"I'll saddle the horses," a voice yelled from the opposite side of the campfire and Kel saw Lerant sprinting towards the horses and rapidly saddling first Kel's horse, then Raoul's and his own.
"And a spare one for Lachran!" Raoul called over. "His is worn out." Raoul stood up and marched to a rock. Leaping onto it with ease, he clapped his hands, gaining the attention of men he commanded. "It seems we have found the elusive sergeant we've been searching for. He's sheltering at Mindelan. Who's coming to get him?"
There was a rush of activity as men dropped what they were doing and ran for their horses.
- - -
They were almost at the edge of Mindelan when Kel spoke for the first time since her outburst at Lachran almost an hour earlier.
"So how did he end up at our home?" her voice was quiet and she had to repeat her question for Lachran was too busy enjoying the sensation of riding at the front of over a hundred men.
"Adelaide had spotted the smoke coming from Blue Harbour," Lachran said, naming his cousin, one of Inness' children. "She told Papa who took out the Mindelan guard with the idea of helping. They were nearly there when they saw a man riding as fast as his horse could up the slopes. The raiders were pursuing him. Papa and the guard killed the raiders and then Papa said that he recognised the man as someone he had seen you with earlier in the year and now that I think about it, he was the man that came with you to Grandfather's funeral!"
Kel nodded her head silently.
Lachran continued, "Papa and the guard turned around and took the man to our house, this was late last night. I was asleep. But Papa came to wake me up just before dawn and told me to find you and tell you this man had come." His eyes flickered with mischief. "This man means a lot to you?"
Kel was perfectly capable of being mischievous herself. "Oh, about as much as Kara means to you," she replied, talking of one of the village girls that she knew Lachran had fallen for.
He blushed and grinned ruefully. "I should have known you wouldn't miss that."
Kel smiled and reached out and tousled his hair. "Of course. I promise I won't tell your Papa though."
Lachran smiled. "Thanks."
"It's no problem, especially because you wouldn't believe who I fell for at your age."
"Who? Who?" Lachran pestered and Kel couldn't help but laugh.
She shook her head. "That I'm not telling you."
- - -
"Anders!" Kel cried as she tumbled off of her horse.
Anders hugged her tight and shoved her in the direction of the house. "Go on, he's waiting to see you. I've put him in the room opposite yours."
Kel nodded and tried to walk sedately towards the house.
"Get a move on woman!" Raoul yelled cheekily at her. "I thought you actually wanted to see him!"
"Talking about me?" a voice inquired from above them. Kel looked up and saw Dom leaning out of a window. She struggled not to squeal and run towards him. Instead she nodded and settled for quickening her pace.
Once inside and away from the eyes of those watching she broke into a run and tore up the spiralling stairs in the west wing of the house.
Dom stood leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe. He had a cut on his cheek and there were still marks of soot in hair. He had donned clean clothes though, clothes that Kel recognised as Anders'. She stopped at the end of corridor and enjoyed the feeling that she was seeing him alive.
"Now do you know how I felt when you ran off?" he asked. His voice was gentle but reprimanding.
Kel hung her head in shame; suddenly aware of how much worry she must have caused him. "I'm sorry," she uttered, feeling the tears prick at the corner of her eyes. She stayed staring at the dusty floorboards. This wing of the house had belonged to the women of the house and her parents. None of them were left now. Both her sisters had got married and her parents were gone.
Cool fingers forced her to look up and when she met his mischievous blue eyes she found strength again.
"If you did this just to pay me back, you are going to be in big trouble, Sergeant!"
Dom wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her slowly, easing his mouth over hers and gently stroking her neck. Kel forgot all her fears. She pushed him away. "So did you?"
Dom grinned and shook his head. "No, of course not. I wouldn't want to put you through that." He pushed her hair away from her cheeks and found the tear streaks left on her face from yesterday. "Kel!" he exclaimed, sympathy deep in his voice. She didn't cry over many people and to be honest, he hadn't expected her to cry over him.
Kel lowered her gaze, not ashamed to have cried about him, but the way his sapphire eyes studied her intently unnerved her slightly. He kissed first one cheek and then the other.
"There," he said satisfied. "All better now!"
Kel couldn't help but laugh. And then it hit her, Dom was alive. "You're alive," she whispered, resting her head against his shoulder.
He placed his arms around her and started to spin around slowly. "Yes, I'm alive, you're alive." Suddenly he picked her up and swung her around and around.
"Dom!" she shrieked. "Put me down!"
There was a timid knock on the door at the end of the corridor and Kel wriggled out of Dom's hold to turn and see who it was.
"Auntie Kel!" young voices yelled as she grinned to see her younger nieces and nephews charging towards her. Conal stood behind them.
"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I couldn't keep them away."
Kel grinned as they all clambered on top of her and pestered her to be held. She turned to Dom who just grinned and leant back against the wall. "We'll finish all that later," he promised with a cheeky grin. "Do you want some help?"
Kel nodded and gratefully handed him three of the children. They drew back to look at him with curiosity etched on their faces. They whispered among themselves for a while and Kel could see Dom growing redder and redder.
"What are you saying?" she asked them she tickled Adelaide and caught Francis as he fell towards the ground.
"We were only discwussing Uncle Dom!" they protested in childish speech and Kel laughed. She could see what had caused Dom to blush.
"He's not your uncle!" Kel managed to get out through her laughter.
They wore puzzled expressions. "But he's your hubwand!" Mandy exclaimed, joining in.
"No," Kel said gently. "He's not."
"He is!" Francis stated with the righteousness of all of his three years.
Kel shook her head. "He's not. He's my…" she struggled to think of a way to explain it to the children.
"Hubwand!" Mandy cried.
"Kids!" a voice yelled up the stairs. "Your Mama wants you down here. You can talk with Auntie Kel some other time!"
Kel saw Dom sigh with relief as the children scrambled away.
"What a week!" he sighed. "You run off, we barely catch you, then we run into raiders and I get chased out of town and then your nieces and nephews have us married within three minutes of having seen you!"
Kel shrugged. "I'm sorry about that. I don't know how many young kids you know, but these ones refuse to believe anything you tell them."
"Ah, the cynical young!" Dom said almost dreamily and Kel giggled. He had sounded do like Neal there, sometimes it was easy to see that they were related.
"Do you want to go and find Raoul and the rest of your friends?" Kel asked reluctantly. She didn't really want to let Dom go just yet, but his friends would want to see him as well.
Dom shook his head. "Not yet. I want to have you to myself for while longer. How about we go for a walk?"
- - -
Someone stumbling and cursing quietly woke her up. Neal has obviously fallen victim to one of his cousin's childish pranks again, she thought groggily. Then she sat up and realised she wasn't at the palace, she was at home. It wasn't Neal, it was Dom. She pulled on a robe over her flimsy night-dress and walked to the window. She watched as Dom dropped lightly to the ground below. He headed towards the stables and as he turned slightly, Kel could see the tears streaming down his face.She pulled on a pair of boots and climbed down the wall, being careful not to wake the twins, Mandy and Elissa, whose nursery was directly below her room. As her feet touched the ground, she could see a campfire burning a field away where the Own and Riders were camped. A hunched figure sat at the campfire on his own, Kel presumed it was Jak and she paused for a moment, glad that she wasn't doing what he was doing tonight. Then she followed Dom to the stables.
As she clambered up the ladders to the hayloft she saw the lamp burning above her and knew that he was there.
"You know, you're usually the one doing this," she remarked as she hauled herself through the hole and wrapped her arms around Dom. He lay his head against her chest and tried to stop crying. Kel kissed the top of his head. "Cry all you want," she whispered.
He laughed weakly and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. "I'd prefer not to."
Kel shrugged. "Whatever you want." She turned so she could see his face. "What's the matter?"
Dom shook his head. "Doesn't matter."
Kel raised her eyebrows. "Doesn't matter?" She laughed and cuffed his lightly on the ear. "You're crying and you expect me to believe that is doesn't matter?"
Dom nodded and shifted slightly so that his head was lying Kel's lap and he was staring at the ceiling.
"Okay, have it your own way. But I'm not letting you leave until you tell me what's the matter," Kel replied as she ran a hand through his slightly curly brown hair. She saw Dom's determined look and knew that it would take more than threats to make him tell her. "And I don't care how long this will take."
Dom grinned weakly and sat up. "We're going to be here for a long time then."
Kel shrugged. "Well, I'd best get comfortable then, hadn't I?" She flopped down into the hay and stretched out, praying that she wouldn't fall asleep. When a long arm wrapped itself around her waist she smiled contentedly.
Dom lay watching Kel and he was suddenly aware of how pale and drawn she was. She obviously hadn't slept the night previously and he just wanted to wrap both arms around her and hold her close. As he heard her breathing slow and was certain she was asleep he allowed himself to close his eyes and fall deep into slumber himself.
- - -
Conal groaned as his youngest children bounced onto his bed.
"Papa! Papa!" Mandy cried. "Auntie Kel's missing!"
Conal suddenly found himself alert and he sat right up. "How do you know?"
"She's not in her room!" Elissa explained as she grinned at Conal, showing that she had lost yet another of her baby teeth.
Conal sighed with relief and relaxed back into bed. She wasn't missing missing, she just wasn't in her room. "And neither are you!" he retorted. "Why don't you go and find Arianne and you could go and play outside together? It's such a nice day." He pulled the covers back over his head and sighed thankfully as he heard his children clambering off of the bed with cries of "But Papa, it's raining!"
- - -
To Mandy and Elissa, Arianne seemed practically grown-up in all of her seven years and they were perfectly happy to let her take charge. When Arianne insisted that they found somewhere warm and dry to play, they suggested one of the hollow trees in the forest and were perfectly happy when Arianne turned that suggestion down in favour of somewhere that they could all fit into.
- - -
Kel's eyes flickered open and met a pair of blue ones that were studying her intently. As she moved slightly, she felt the hay underneath her and she groaned.
"How did I get here?" she asked groggily. Then she remembered. "Oh yeah, are you going to tell me anything yet?" She wasn't surprised when Dom shook his head and then silenced her protests with a kiss.
However, Dom was surprised when she suddenly pulled away. "What?" he moaned.
Kel placed a finger on his lips to silence him and peered through the hole in the roof.
"Auntie Kel!" voices yelled and Dom heard the pitter-patter of feet as they ran for the ladder.
He groaned. "Are those children everywhere?"
Kel grinned. "No, just bear with them. Please? For me?"
Dom sighed, he knew he couldn't refuse that, especially when Kel looked towards him like that. "Alright."
"Thanks." She kissed him quickly on the cheek then leant forwards to pull the children up through the hole.
"I can manage!" he heard a slightly older voice protest.
"Okay, come on up then." He saw Kel relax back and a child of about seven poked her head through the hole.
The child scrambled, trying desperately to claw her way though the hole on her own. Suddenly Dom dived forwards and grabbed the child's arms, unsure why he did it. Then he heard what his mind had been unconsciously telling him. The ladder creaked, swayed and collapsed on the floor, leaving the child dangling from his hands.
Kel watched in horror as the ladder collapsed under Conal's eldest child and the only thing between her and a nasty fall was Dom's tight grip on her arms. As Dom hauled her up through the hole so that she lay flat on her stomach, Kel released the breath she didn't realise she was holding.
Dom glanced at her with a cheeky grin. "See, everything's under control."
Kel placed both her arms around Arianne and held her whilst the child whimpered. "Shush, it's okay. Dom saved you."
Arianne took her face out of Kel's night-robe and turned to look curiously at Dom. "He's your husband?"
Kel laughed but knew that Arianne would understand much easier than her younger siblings did. "No, a close friend."
Arianne blinked as she took this in and then grinned happily as she threw herself at Dom. "So he'll marry me when I get old enough?"
"Um…I – I…" Dom stuttered, but to his credit he didn't blush this time.
"But I thought you wanted to marry Lachran!" Kel protested on behalf of Dom. "Or at least, you did last time I saw you. Don't you remember showing me where you were going to get married and your drawings of your wedding dress?"
Arianne looked stumped. "Oh yeah," she said finally. "Oh well, if Lachran gets married to someone else, I'll marry Dom."
Kel grinned widely. "I'm sure Dom would be happy to let you marry him. Won't you Dom?" she nudged him.
"Um…oh, yes, yes."
"Good," Arianne said in a satisfied tone. Then she tilted her head and looked sad. "But Auntie Kel, who'll you marry?"
Kel smiled and rescued Mandy from the edge of the hole where she was threatening to fall off. "I'm a knight Ary," she explained, using her nickname for the child. "That means I have to fight, I've got work to do."
"You have a sword?" Arianne exclaimed, her eyes lighting up, suddenly forgetting Dom.
Kel nodded. "But it's in my room."
"I want to see it!" Arianne cried. "I'm going to be a knight!"
Dom smothered a grin at the thought of this child training to be a knight, she seemed far more suited to be a convent lady and he expected that would be where she ended up.
"Me too!" Elissa echoed.
"And me, don't forget me!" Mandy looked cross at having been the last one to say she wanted to see the sword. She crossed her arms across her chest and scowled.
"I wouldn't forget you!" Kel protested. She turned towards Dom. "Would you mind if we did go to my rooms? Because they won't rest until they've seen the sword."
Dom shrugged. "No problem. But how are we going to get the children out? We have no ladder!"
Kel vaulted through the hole, ignoring the cries of the children who didn't want her to leave. She turned to look up and Dom. "Pass them down."
He turned to Mandy and gripped her under the arms. Lowering her carefully through the hole, he allowed her to drop a few feet into Kel's arms. He did the same for Elissa and then turned to Arianne.
"Down you go," he said as he gripped her under the arms and swung her over the hole.
"I want to do it on my own!" she protested, kicking thin air.
Dom peered down at Kel who shook her head. "Sorry Ary," he told the child. "You're doing it the same way as everyone else." He lowered the kicking and screaming child through the hole and into Kel's arms. He heard a cry of pain and quickly threw himself through the hole to reach Kel. "What's the matter?" he asked, taking Ary from her.
Kel shook her head. "It was nothing, Ary kicked me, that was all."
Dom drew her hand away from her cheek and saw a flaming red mark on her cheek and jaw. It took all his restraint not to turn on Ary and strangle her. "Do you want me to kiss it better?" he asked in a low voice that made Kel shiver.
Kel laughed. "Not while the kids are here, maybe later." She turned to the three waiting children. "Do you want to see this sword or not?" she asked.
As they jumped up and down in excitement, Kel picked up Mandy and handed Elissa to Dom. Then she turned to Arianne. "You'll have to run to keep up with us. We don't want to get wet, do we?"
Arianne shook her head and followed her Auntie and the man she was determined to marry as fast as her little legs would carry her. She laughed and danced as the rain soaked through her night-dress.
- - -
"I wish mother and father could be here to watch this," Anders remarked as he stood in the doorway with Conal, watching Kel and Dom with Conal's children.
Conal nodded and turned back to the scene in front of him, they seemed like a big happy family. Dom sat on the bed, reading to Mandy and Elissa who sat one on each knee. They had towels wrapped around them and their dark brown hair was dripping onto Dom's tunic, but it appeared he didn't care. Kel was standing in a clear space with Arianne. The seven-year old wore clothes that were too big for her, some of Kel's old stuff and she held a heavy sword in her hand. Her hair was dripping down her back, but someone had tightly braided it. She swung the sword, and Kel ducked out of the way laughing.
"I tell you what, why don't we start with something more simple, like staff work?" Kel suggested as she took the sword off of the child.
Arianne shrugged and eagerly reached for a live glaive, just to find Kel take it off of her.
"No, that's not something you want to be practising with. How about we start with a blunted one?"
"Why not that one?" Arianne protested. "It's shiny!"
Kel took it off of the rack and gave it a swing. She swung it past a lone paper streamer that was left in her room from her tenth birthday. It sliced smoothly in half. "It's sharp," she said unnecessarily.
Arianne stared at the weapon in awe. "I want to learn to use that!"
Kel grinned. "Alright, I'll teach you, but not with this one. How about using this one?" She selected a blunt glaive off of the rack and handed it to Arianne. "In fact, you can have it, it was your Grandma's and she gave it to me for my ninth birthday."
Arianne turned the glaive over in her hand, looking upon it in awe. Kel could tell that Arianne really wanted to accept it, but her good manners were stopping her. "But don't you want it? Something to remember Grandma by?"
Kel grinned at her, remembering her mother. "I've got her spare glaive, her sharp one. And besides, I'm pretty certain she'd want you to have it."
"I'm sure she would too," Anders replied, walking in.
Kel looked up in surprise at her eldest brother. "Anders! I didn't hear you come in!"
Anders laughed. "I've been standing in the doorway for more than ten minutes."
"Why didn't you come in?" Kel asked in puzzlement as she ducked an experimental swing of her new glaive by Arianne.
Anders sighed. "I was enjoying watching you and the kids. You remind me so much of how mother was with you."
Kel saw the tears in his eyes and she hugged him tight. Children immediately besieged them.
"What's the matter Papa?" Mandy asked she tugged at her father's trousers.
Dom walked over and swept both Mandy and Elissa up. "I think your Papa's a bit sad, that's all," he explained. "Do you want to get back to the book and find out what happens the Lady Alanna and the Shang Dragon?" The children nodded enthusiastically, even Arianne who must have heard the story many times.
Anders laughed through his tears. "I can remember reading that to you when you were younger!" he said to Kel.
Kel nodded. "I can remember having it read to me. It always had to be you who read it to me because you could do the voices and you were a real knight." She sighed as they watched Dom reading to the children.
"He's a good man," Anders said quietly.
Kel turned to Anders with surprise showing on her face. That was the last thing she had expected Anders to say. She knew that Dom and Anders got on, but Anders wasn't free with his praise. "I know," she said simply.
Anders sighed. "It's been nice having you two stay. You ought to come again, just the two of you."
Kel shrugged. "Maybe, but I doubt we'll have the time, what with the war…"
"War?" Anders echoed and it then that Kel remembered he didn't know about the escapade that had brought them to Mindelan.
"Unless I hand myself over to officials in the Yamani Isles to face justice, Tortall is at war with the Isles. I tried to hand myself over, but the King sent a Rider group after me as well as Dom and Conal. They caught me before I managed to reach international waters. That was how we came to be at the docks when the Yamani raiders attacked."
Anders stood completely still as he thought about the information his younger sister had just given him. "We'll have to make provisions to have the children sent somewhere safer."
Kel nodded. "Yes, I would imagine that they'll want to destroy this place. I'd get everyone out if I were you."
Anders nodded. "We'll see if we can seek refuge with Baron Coram on his lands at Trebond, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to take the villagers and children."
"And you!" Kel said firmly. She held up her hand to stop his protests. "No Anders, I don't care if I have to ask Dom or Raoul to bring the whole of the Third Company here to force you, you are going!" She quietened slightly. "I don't want you dying too."
"Why did Liam have to die?" Kel heard a whiny voice ask.
"To save the King," she heard Dom explain patiently. "Because if Liam didn't die to save the King, the whole land would have been ripped apart from the magic King Jonathan was using and we would have Duke Roger as our King."
Kel watched in amusement as Mandy shivered. "He's evil!" the little girl said.
"Yes," Anders replied. "He is. Now," he held out a hand to the two youngest children. "Why don't we leave Kel and Dom in peace for a while? I'll take you down to the stables and we'll go riding together. Would you like that?"
As her brother left with Conal's three children in tow, Kel shot him a grateful look to which Anders mouthed 'Be good!' and Kel couldn't help but laugh.
- - -
A/N: So, what you people think? I rescued him, got to write about a character that has always interested me (Lachran, don't ask why, even I don't know) and got to embarrass Dom. An all-round…interesting (not in the good sense) chapter. No, seriously, tell me what you thought. I wasn't so sure.