The Threads of Life

Chapter 10 (Into Double Digits!)

Mindelan

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers! Keep it coming! Also, this chapter has a lot about the layout of Mindelan, which I assure you is all in my imagination.


It was a cold winter morning and Kel was scouting in the forest a few miles southwest of Mindelan. She was starting to get frustrated. 'There must be something out here, else why would Lord Raoul send us out here? They must have scryed something.' These thoughts and others filled her mind as she scouted rather lazily. Finally she made up her mind. Jogging back to camp, she got out a piece of paper and scribbled a note.

"Nothing out while scouting this morning, leaving to visit Mindelan around noon, be back in three hours – Kel."

Even though it hurt her to think of going back to her home, devoid of her family, she decided to do it. If she didn't do it now, she wouldn't ever be able to do it. Anyway, she was the sole heir of Mindelan now. It was currently being watched over by a steward trusted by her parents until such time as she could come back and reclaim it.

A half hour later, Kel was coming to the end of the forest. She relaxed a little bit coming into the familiar territory. She followed the river that she had fought the spidren at all those years ago, before she had become a knight. Getting closer, she realized that it was very quiet. She could see the walls of Mindelan now and there weren't any guards patrolling them. At that, she frowned. Was this steward so naive that he thought there couldn't be any attacks? With the war, especially, there should be double the guards. She proceeded carefully, wary of any noises. Getting to the gates, she shouted.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She waited a couple of seconds, but then a smiling guard popped his head over the parapet.

"Name and purpose?" he asked. She sighed in relief. She had just been imagining things. This guard was being very good and thorough.

"Keladry of Mindelan," she stated. "Visiting." The guard looked faintly surprised, but nodded.

"Wait a minute. I have to check with the Steward and then we will open the gate for you." She nodded acknowledgment and waited outside. A few minutes later, the gate was opened by two under-nourished guards. She raised her eyebrows at that. Either there wasn't enough food here, which was likely, or the steward wasn't giving them good rations, which could be likely if he was greedy. She proceeded through the eerily quiet town and up to the big house where her family used to live. She was greeted there by a small mousy man in regal robes she supposed were worn to make him look bigger. His voice was even squeakier.

"Lady Keladry, what a pleasure to have you here! We weren't expecting it. I'll order a feast be prepared right away." Kel held up a hand to forestall any further speech.

"You don't need to do that for me. I've been walking all day. I'd really like a bath." In fact, she didn't want a bath – she had been out for much longer in much worse conditions before, and taking one made her feel a little guilty, but it would get this man out of her hair and give her a chance to look around while walking to her rooms. "After that, I would like to meet with the Steward here, and then I really must be going." The man's face fell. She wondered why.

"Miss, I am the Steward. My name is Reeve." At that, he signaled two servants that had been lurking by the door of the house. "These servants can take you to your rooms." Kel shook her head and dismissed the servants.

"Thank you Reeve, but this is my house, I know how to get to my rooms." She gave him a diplomatic smile and turned around in the direction of her rooms. As she walked, she thought. She felt slightly bad that she hadn't realized the little man was the Steward, but not that bad. For some reason, she disliked him strongly. He seemed a little too much like a rat for her liking. A thieving one at that. She also wondered at the servants. While her family had been alive, they had been well taken care of and happy. They were also friendly with the family. It didn't look like Reeve had been to friendly with either the house servants or the guard.


Getting to her rooms, she didn't draw a bath. She took out some paper and began to write everything she had seen while being here. She tip-toed outside and walked to the end of the hallway down the servants' stairs to the kitchen. Looking around, she could see no-one, so she walked down and found the trapdoor she knew was in the floor. She lifted it out and stepped inside. She ran quickly down the dank, dark passage until she came to another trap door. She lifted the cleverly made fake stone and found herself outside the fief walls.

Once outside, she gathered some nice branches and stripped them with her dagger. She lay them in a Yamani symbol that she had taught Neal: one for 'information,' and dug a hole next to them in the snow. Once she got to the packed earth, she picked up another branch and scraped out a hole in the ground. She lay the paper inside the hole, and packed the earth back together. She only hoped that the paper wouldn't rot. Then, she got back inside the passage and walked back, thinking about her plan. It looked like something ominous was going on inside Mindelan, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. She had left the note for the squads to find if for some reason she didn't return inside the three hours, one of which was already gone.

She got back to her rooms with ease, and washed her face of the sweat and grime it had on it. She then slipped on a dress she had had in her rooms from the last time she had been here. She grimaced as she realized it was three inches too short, but went to work hiding daggers in her dress as only she knew how. After fifteen minutes, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said, and a timid looking girl of about fifteen opened the door.

"If it pleases you miss, I was sent in here to dress you." Then she looked at Kel and realized that she had already changed. The girl turned bright red.

"Thank you kindly miss --?" Keladry asked.

"Rae, miss. Can I help you find anything else to put on miss?" Kel cringed inwardly at the girl's nervousness. She tried to speak gently.

"Rae, I would like you to lead me to where I can speak with Steward Reeve. Can you do that for me?" Rae nodded, and ducked out of the room. Kel followed after twitching her dress to better hide a dagger.

Rae led Kel to the main hall, and brought her inside. Two stony faced guards shut the big double doors ominously behind her. She still couldn't shake that feeling of foreboding. Looking ahead, she saw the Steward sitting alone at the High Table. It had obviously been brought out since he had taken control, since the Mindelan's didn't use a high table. She walked up and bowed, even though that made her feel inferior in his eyes, since he refrained from bowing in return. He motioned to the seat next to him and she walked over and sat down. She frowned at the food. She decided not to eat it, but instead cut it up and made the food look like it had been eaten.

During dinner, she attempted to make polite conversation with Reeve, but to no avail. He just answered in short, curt statements. All the while, his eyes were nervously flicking towards the door. Kel frowned, and wondered what he was up to. About halfway through dinner, there was a noise outside the door and Kel looked up. The doors slowly opened, and a tall, regal looking man with white hair swept through. He was eerily familiar looking. As he got closer, Kel gasped. Reeve smirked.

"Burchard!" she managed to choke out. She tried to stand up, but couldn't. The man grinned evilly.

"Burchard of Stone Mountain," said Reeve. Once again, Kel tried to move, but to no avail.

She was trapped.


A/N: Uh OH!!! This chapter was all plot and no romance, but it's getting interesting isn't it? Is Burchard the one who killed Kel's family? Reeve? Or someone else? Tune in next time for another episode of "The Threads of Life," written and directed by Crystaltambaia. (hehe that was fun!) Anyway, I hope you like it! This is one of my longest chapters, but there isnt much dialogue. Have a good day!

Crystaltambaia