"Why are you doing this?" Kel asked, spinning around, trying to see something in the blackness she was standing in.
Rhian appeared before her. Kel could see nothing but her smiling face. "Make yourself comfortable, Keladry," she said. "This is your home now."
Kel spat at her feet. "This can never be my home." She said, angered.
Rhian just smiled. "I am afraid you are mistaken," she said, and snapped her fingers. Before Kel could do anything, she felt a cold air against her back and fell unconscious.
Kel woke up in darkness, as she had been when she had fallen unconscious. It was different, though. She could feel that she was not on the floor as she had been before, but on something of a bed or chaise lounge. She slipped off of it and walked toward a reddish light she could see on the other side of the room. There was a window behind it, she could see, covered in some thick, blood coloured fabric.
Kel pushed the fabric to the side and frowned at the sight she saw out of the window. Scanran landscape, as far as the eye could see. She knew it was Scanra instantly, she recognized the scraggly landscape with the sparse trees and distant mountains. She also recognized the men below her. She could see barracks below her, large, light haired men pouring out of them into the morning sunlight. Kel's head spun as she looked down, and she quickly stepped away.
She was high, very high. Probably in a castle, so she thought. She pushed open the curtains completely, bathing the room in warm light.
The room was beautiful. The blood red cloth that covered the windows covered the walls of the circular room as well, making the room seem like one giant cushion. A large four poster bed sat at the other side of the room. A small table with one chair, the chaise lounge she had been on earlier, and a bookcase with many, many books stood to her left. A hearth, which Kel noticed was now lit, as if by magic, was on her right, set in an uncovered stone wall.
Kel's armour, sword, and glaive lay against the wall by her bed.
No one came all day. There was no door to the room, only a small trapdoor in the floor, which Kel pushed the bookcase over when night fell, just in case.
She found some food in a chest near the fire, fresh cheese and fruit and bread and wine, but ate little.
She sat down on the chaise lounge, her back rigid and unmoving, her hands folded neatly across her lap. She held her head high and stared forward out the open window, through which she could see only the passing clouds on the darkening sky.
Rhian appeared in the morning, rendering Kel's bookcase useless. Kel looked at her, unmoving.
Rhian smiled warmly, her eyes sparkling with the reflection of the fire that she quickly relit. "Please forgive me, my lady," she said sweetly, "I thought you would find this room comfortable."
Kel looked at the mage, searching her face. "I can find no comfort here." She said, her voice strong and clear, showing no signs of the fear that swam through her body.
Rhian sighed. "Well, I shan't put all this effort into your room if you are not to use it." She snapped her fingers, and every luxury that Kel had been permitted was gone.
The cloth was replaced with the cold stone that lined the hearth, only the hearth was gone, replaced by a single candle. The chaise lounge she was sitting on hardened into a stone bench. The books, food, and table disappeared. The bed, still untouched, was replaced by a bale of hay.
The windows were few and barred. Kel cursed under her breath.
Rhian smiled again. "Well, Keladry, do you have anything to say? Or shall I leave you for the day?"
Kel stood up. "Tell me why you are here, Rhian." She said.
Rhian sighed. "Of course. You are a strong leader, Keladry. you could do great things, but your country is holding you back. I could control this entire realm and more, but I do not wish to. I have no need to control the world, it only means more work. But I was willing to retrieve one last warrior. One warrior to lead the Scanran people to victory over Tortall, over Galla and Tusaine and the Copper Isles, even over the Carthaki Empire. Everywhere. You are that warrior, Keladry, and you will lead Scanra to victory."
Kel scoffed. "I would never." She said, her eyes narrowed. And she wouldn't. Tortall and all of the realm as part of Scanra? And Kel would be the one to do it? It was preposterous.
Rhian sighed. "Think of your choices, Keladry. it is not like we are going to send you back from whence you came."
Kel just glared at the mage until she disappeared. Kel broke down in tears as soon as she was gone. What was she expected to do? She would not, could not lead the Scanrans against Tortall. She would rather die. But did Rhian mean that as her option? There could be no other. Scanra, or death.
She would take death.
-----
Weeks passed. A guard came into Kel's room every morning, to check that Kel was still there and to leave a plate of stale bread and water by the trap door. Kel did not like that there was a man coming into her room every morning, often as she slept. She tried to wake early, but the cold of the room froze her heart and soul and made her sleepy. The guards would sometimes come in and look at her, but she luckily awoke at the clatter of their entrance. Who knew what else they wished to do.
After a few days, Kel pushed her stone bench over the trapdoor. It was difficult work, taking her a long time, exhausting her. No more men came after that, but Rhian appeared at daybreak each morning to check on her.
"I am only leaving your bench because I know you will just move it again." She said sharply. "Luckily, this does not interfere greatly with my schedule."
Kel slowly became unafraid of Rhian. Her power was strong, but she was unintelligent and simple. She never thought to chain Kel's bench to the wall. She had told Kel her plan directly, meaning Kel could train her mind against falling into the traps of believing in Scanra.
Rhian was but a puppet, powerful enough to get what she wanted, but there was something more. A flicker of fear in her eyes some mornings, before her face fell back to it's cold self. If Rhian was as powerful as she said she was, why had she not just transported the Scanran army to Corus directly, making it impossible for Kel to scout her and warn the Tortallans? Numair had beaten her, though not completely.
Kel hoped she would not be there forever.
-----
"She's gone, Dom." Neal was standing in the doorway, ashen.
Dom looked up at him, confused. "Who?"
"Kel."
Dom closed his eyes. They had all known it would happen soon. Dom had told himself he would try and talk to her some time, but now he had lost that chance. Kel was gone. "What about the guards?" He asked, unmoving.
He heard Neal shrug. "The guard said that Kel said goodnight to him and when he went to check on her this morning, the door was locked. He knocked, and there was no answer. When he broke down the door, there was nothing left in her room. The only thing that was gone besides Kel was her weapons and armour. He did not know why."
Dom sighed. "Maybe she decided to leave in the night." He said. "Bored of being watched." He said the words more sharply than he intended.
"No," Neal said. "They checked outside her room. The windows were still locked, and there were no footprints outside her room."
"Why are you telling me this, Neal?" He looked at his cousin.
"Why in god's name wouldn't I tell you?" His cousin shouted. "She is gone, probably somewhere in Scanra, if not dead, and I thought you bloody well might like to know!"
Dom turned his head. Almost seven weeks it had been since he had spoken to her. Kel's image still haunted him, like a ghost of some past wrong. He still loved her, with all his heart, but she fell farther and farther from him each day. She did not speak to him when she passed him. She did not even look at him. She was always 'just leaving' the practice courts or the dining hall when he arrived, and if he was there before her, she would sit as far away from him as she could, speaking with friends he did not know so well. "Well what do you expect me to do?" He shouted back.
Neal frowned at his cousin. "I just thought you might like to know. Seeing as you love her, and all that."
He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
Though Dom was not involved in it, he learned that there was a fair amount of arguing over whether Kel should be sent out for or not. Some said it was a waste of men, sending an army after one knight. Others said that it was their duty to get her. Some said she would be dead already. Others, mostly Kel's friends, said that it would be more dangerous not to go for her.
Almost a week after Neal had told him, Dom received an order. Two squads of the Own, his own included, were to be sent out in search of Kel. they would be accompanied by a troupe of knights who insisted on attending: Neal, Alanna, Merric, Owen, Seaver, Faleron and Esmond.
They set out for Scanra the next morning.
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Ooh... so little, yet so much happened in this chapter!
Alannalovingwriter: I know, don't worry!
Wannabe Archeologist: thanks!
Lady of Masbolle: he is so angsty it's not even funny. Wait, yes it is!
AJ 4EVA: of course!
Mage Light: Ooh, love4! Wahoo!
Macko: tru dat.
ShadowPirate: sounds good... and yes, just wait, you'll find out!
SO/JV: cool! Damnit, I tried, okay?
PsychoLioness13: ha, thanks. (I am also so proud of her name... I looked it up on a baby names website, it means 'magic maiden.' Pretty cool, eh?)
Daisyduke947: wow, thanks!
"What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know."
"We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me."
Ooh, two quotes, because I haven't posted in a while...
-unolimbo
p.s: keep up the good work with the reviews, this story is doing the best for the number of chapters it's got! Love you all!