Threads of Life: Chapter Twelve
...And Rescue
A/N: I want to post a special response here. It's to Aly of Pirate's Swoop. The compliments she gave me were probably some of the best I've ever gotten for my writing. Thank you so much! Oh and sorry, I forgot that Neal was in Dom's squad. I didn't really mention him...I'll add that back in :)
Dom and the others arrived at Mindelan around daybreak. For the last mile, they had left their horses and continued stealthily on foot. So far they had noticed no sentries, which they thought was weird. From what Kel had told Dom of Ilane and Piers of Mindelan, she would have posted scouts out here, especially in these times of war. Approaching the river at the end of the forest, they slowed down. Dom turned to the others.
"Here's where we split up, men. What we're looking for is a sign, probably in Yamani, that Kel left. I think she taught you all the Yamani help signs, right?" The other men nodded. "If you find anything, bring it back here. We will all meet here in another hour to check in. Jerrold, you go around back. Kaven, you search the woods. I'll search the front, and Owen, you search everywhere else." Owen rolled his eyes at that, but nodded.
"Jolly good, sir. We're going to find Kel if it's the last thing we do. Besides, if we don't, I think our poor Sergeant here will go throw himself in a lake," finished Owen wickedly. Dom found himself going red, and turned around so no one could see. He cleared his throat, then turned back round.
"Well," he said, "What are you waiting for? Get going!" The others scrambled off to do their respective spying, and Dom was left alone for a minute. He sighed, 'Am I really that obvious?' He shook his head no, telling himself that Owen had just guessed very well. He set off to do his portion of searching, though he doubted Kel would have left anything at the front of Mindelan.
The first half hour was fruitless, mainly because Dom spent the time avoiding a parade of troops that were drilling in front of Mindelan. He ended up watching it, waiting for them to be done. He winced along with the unfortunate drillees, who looked no more like soldiers than Dom looked like a pirate from the Copper Isles. Luckily, they had been at it for a while, and it was starting to get warmer, so before long they went back into Mindelan. For a few seconds, Dom wondered why soldiers were being trained at Mindelan without Kel's authority, but dismissed it as something to ask Kel when they got her. 'If we get her,' a reasonable part of his mind said, but he dismissed that as well. He was not going to let one of his best friends – the girl he was possibly in love with – die.
He crept up to the wall, unseen by the guards, who evidently thought that the likeliness of an attack was low. He was lucky that there was an overhang, which put him in darkness. Sidling along the edges of the wall, he kept his eyes out for anything unusual, which he saw not long after he began searching. Close to the wall, there was a large stone, and next to it, lying in the half melted snow, was an array of sticks. To most people, the sticks would mean nothing, but they were stripped of their bark and put into a pattern which he recognized as Yamani. Quickly, he dropped down into the snow next to the sticks and dug. Once he got through the layer of frost, he looked for an area of dirt that would be freshly dug up, not frozen. He found it. Excitedly, he dug through the dirt, and when he found the paper, held it up as if it were a prize. He tucked it into his jacket, and in his excitement, forgot to be careful. He was spotted.
"Hey! You there! Who are you and what are you doing?" Dom grimaced, then ran. The guard shouted to someone inside the walls. "We have a spy! Alert Lord Burchard now!" Dom gasped at the name, but had no time to wonder, because they had started shooting arrows. He prayed that none would be lucky enough to hit him in the fifteen feet he had left to go to the forest. None did.
Once inside the wooded copse, he didn't stop. He did slow down, however, in order to cover his trail. He doubted these guards were very good trackers. After covering his trail for a while, he made his way back to their meeting place by the river. The others were already there. Had it been an hour already? He walked up to them.
"We heard guards shouting," said Jerrold, "Was that you?" Dom nodded with a forced smile.
"Yes. Let's just say that even commanders make mistakes. I did find something though." He took the paper out of his jacket and opened it. "It's a letter from Kel. To Dom or Owen or Merric or Neal: There has been an overtaking here at Mindelan. At this point, I do not know the full extent of it, but I'm sure that by the time you find this, I will. Something is wrong, but I can't leave now. If you get this, it means I am captured. Do not risk getting me out." At that, Dom stopped and rolled his eyes.
"That's Kel alright," said Owen, "Always playing the jolly hero."
"Anyway," continued Dom, "For spying purposes, there is a passage under the rock that is by this letter. It leads to the kitchens. I understand if you don't want to risk yourselves by going through, but if you do, I ask you this: Don't let yourself be caught. There is a steward here, but I believe he is not the real villain." At that, Dom stopped, wide-eyed. "Burchard! Of course!" The others gave him questioning looks. "When I was running away from the guards, they said something about notifying Burchard." Owen shuddered, and the other two just shrugged.
"Burchard of Stone Mountain," said Owen by way of explanation. "The father of the evilest page and squire ever known."
"We have to go down that passage and save Kel," said Dom. The others hid grins, and Dom wondered what Owen had been telling them before he arrived.
An hour later, they were in the passage. Their plan was simple: rescue Kel. They reached the end, and Dom turned around to face the others.
"Okay men, here's where we split up." They all nodded, their faces serious, and Dom lifted up the trapdoor carefully. He looked around, but there was no one there, and he signaled the all-clear. He clambered out and kept watch for the others, but the passage was deserted. They split up for the second time that day.
After an hour of fruitless searching, Dom was ready to give up, no matter how much he did or did not love Kel. He wandered aimlessly down the passages, and by an insurmountable amount of luck, stumbled right into the room where she was kept.
Kel was shocked. She had heard the door open, and groaned. It was probably Burchard, come to torment her some more. She tried to move her head, and found that it didn't hurt as much as it had before. The person she saw made her gasp. It was Dom!
"Wh-wha-?" she gibbered. Inwardly, she grimaced at her speech, but then she remembered. "Wait! Don't close the door! There's an inward locking spell on it." She stared at him, suddenly registering just who it was. "What are you doing here?" she said angrily. "I told you not to risk it!"
"I thought maybe you wanted a gallant prince to rescue you," he said charmingly. Kel scowled.
"I did not want a charming prince to--," her speech was forestalled by Dom, who held up a hand.
"If you indeed want to leave, we better get going now." Kel nodded, then stood up. Her head swam, but she did manage it. Taking the steps to Dom took all of her energy, and she practically collapsed into Dom's arms. He led her out of the room, first checking to make sure no one was coming. As soon as they were out, Kel shrugged out of Dom's grasp.
"I DON'T need your help." Dom shrugged.
"Suit yourself." By another stroke of luck, they managed to get to the passage without getting caught. To Kel's utter disgust, he carried her into the passage, telling her to start her way to the end while he waited for the others to check in.
Dom laughed at his day. He had had one miracle after another, the latest one being getting back to their camp without being noticed. Those guards truly were horrible, and half of them were probably still out in the woods searching for him. Once they had gotten to camp, Dom had told Kel to go to bed, which inevitably led to a large argument over whether Kel was actually hurt or not. Dom won, but only because he threatened to tell Raoul never to let Kel go scouting alone again.
That evening, he went to check on Kel in her tent. He lifted the tent flap to find her sitting up, looking very guilty. Dom laughed.
"Planning on sneaking out, were we?" At Kel's look, he sobered. "Look, Kel, I'm really sorr--," he was interrupted by Kel, who stood.
"You should be," she said coldly, no emotion visible on her face.
"I-I had no reason to shout at you like that." He stepped forward, closer to Kel. Her proximity to him made him feel uncomfortable. Luckily, it was too dark for Kel to see him blushing.
"I didn't either," admitted Kel, who looked up at him. Blue eyes met hazel and locked. The words caught in Dom's throat, and he swallowed, suddenly very nervous. Then he decided. He leaned down and quickly kissed Kel on the lips, trying to ignore the sudden flare of feeling he had felt upon touching her lips. He turned around and walked out of the tent, bright red.
Kel stood in the tent, frozen from shock, her fingers touching her lips.
A/N: FINALLY!! Took me long enough, huh? It took all my resolve not to say "Kel stood there, completely poleaxed," which is the line from Squire, but I didn't. What's going to happen? Will Kel return Dom's feelings? What happens when Burchard finds out Kel is gone? Will the Neal finally find out what's been happening? See all this on the next episode of "The Threads of Life."
Crystaltambaia
