The Threads of Life: Chapter 18

Mindelan Take Two

A/N: Once again, it's been a seriously long time since a chapter has come out. I'm so sorry! But anyway, I hope you enjoy! And last chapter I forgot to cheer about my hundredth review, so here goes: CHEER CHEER! Ahem, anyway. Onto the chapter…


The sun shone brightly through the bare trees, but the warmth did not quite reach the people who were quietly gathered by the rushing river.

"I don't quite understand how we are going to do this," said a very confused looking Dom.

Beside him, Kel sighed and rolled her eyes. "Men don't understand anything."

"But that still doesn't explain to me how we're not going to get ourselves killed in your home town. And have you sent any reports to Raoul and Jonathan yet? You know they wanted to be kept informed of what was happening."

"I haven't."

Dom turned towards Kel. "Why? They need to know what's happening here."

Kel sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "They wouldn't approve of what I was doing. They would say that this job is best left to the Own or the Riders or something."

Dom frowned. "Well isn't it?" He was very confused. Kel let out a quiet noise of frustration.

"No. Don't you understand? They don't care about Mindelan. They don't have ties to Mindelan. Their whole families weren't killed by the evil, horrible, sick man that is controlling this place. He's spreading his hatred over Mindelan, and pretty soon the entire town will be just like him. Bitter and ruthless. But those Riders or whoever don't care about that." Kel's eyes shone with rancor, and Dom was surprised. She very rarely showed emotion, especially after her family was killed. When she thought about that, she usually went stony-faced and sealed herself up.

Abruptly, she turned and sat on a rock, burying her face in her arms. Dom awkwardly approached her, patting her on the back, since there wasn't room for him to sit down next to her, and besides, he wanted to stay alert in case guards from Mindelan were patrolling.

Finally, she looked up, her eyes totally dry. Dom's eyes went wide; these people had killed her entire family and she didn't so much as shed a tear as she recalled that terrible day when she had found out.

She stood up abruptly and turned towards her other charges, who had all stood there, watching the scene unfold with utter shock.

"Well," she said slowly. "We better get going then."

"Can you explain again what we're doing?" asked Owen, with a quizzical look on his face.

"Today we're not going to go very far. Our goal is to get information, not start a battle. We want to know why this is happening and what Burchard has planned for Mindelan."

"Right," said Dom, nodding. "Let's start then shall we?"

The group started off towards the wall of Mindelan, moving parallel to the wall so that they were directly opposite the rock which marked the tunnel entrance.

"Now," Kel whispered to her men, "it is about noontime, and the guards on this south wall will break for lunch. There is a space of fifteen minutes when the walls are unguarded." All the men nodded, except for Neal, who of course had something to say.

"Are you sure your information is trustworthy," he asked, seemingly incredulous. Kel just rolled her eyes.

"If you knew Burchard, you would know that my information is trustworthy. Call it women's intuition if you don't believe me."

Neal fell silent, not wanting to start an argument, and they watched as the last of the men stepped down from the parapet to have lunch.

"Now!" said Kel, and they all made a break for the rock. Once there, the men flattened themselves against the wall as Kel searched for the tunnel.


Five minutes later, they were all alive, safe and breathing in a dark, damp tunnel.

"Ugh. It smells like Taurus in here," complained Neal. Kel frowned.

"Don't say bad things about immortals. They can't help who they are."

"Right," she heard Neal whisper under his breath. Kel thought it sounded suspiciously like the person who had made the lewd remark about her and Dom at the midwinter party last night.

"Neal," she said warningly. "If you're not quiet, I'll tell Yuki you've been bad." The other men chuckled as Neal pretended to swoon. Watching them, Kel decided that they could rest in the tunnel for a while; the men deserved a break. After all, except for last night, they had practically been working around the clock.

"So," she heard a deep voice say behind her, making her shiver. She felt hands go to her waist, and she twisted around so she could see Dom.

"What?" she asked cheekily.

"Letting the men have a break, are we?" he asked.

"Yes. They deserve it. You know how hard they've been working."

Dom laughed quietly. "You need to know when other people are teasing you. I know how hard they've been working – I've been working almost as hard, and I'm wiped out. Although," he paused slightly, "that could be for an entirely different reason." He smiled down a few inches at her.

"You're awful, you know that?" said Kel, reaching up and tweaking his nose. He scrunched it up under her hand, making her laugh. As their laughter died down, their eyes locked, and Dom bent down the small distance to kiss her. Like always, when he kissed her, she felt like she was going to faint. She felt him open his mouth slightly, and—

"That's enough of that, you two!" said Neal, pushing them apart. "We had quite enough of a show last night." Kel turned red, and turned away, but not before catching a glimpse of the other men's faces; they were all grinning lewdly. She cleared her throat and turned around.

"Right, well, we better get going then." She turned to lead the men away, but she could feel the men still grinning behind her back. Dom was somewhere behind the rest of them.

After ten minutes, they finally got to the tunnel exit, and Kel turned to her men. Not one for speeches, she just gave them a few parting words.

"Come on men, let's win us some information!"


A/N: I know, I know, horrible, totally corny line, but it's a chapter up, and you like that, don't you? And sorry if Kel was OOC. I just couldn't write her today.

Answers to questions from unolimbo:

Manliness of scheming (ch17): Well, how much else do they have to do out there in the wilderness?
Dom's injuries (ch14): He just got his arm hurt, so he's actually pretty mobile. The reason he seemed like he was almost dead was because of the cold.
Angry at Dom's rescuing her (ch13): Even though she doesn't admit it, she is worried for him, and she's mad that he risked his life for her.
Crazy tortured? (ch12): She was a little bit, but he wanted to keep her whole, so no markings and no permanent stuff. (I know, sort of useful…)
Purposefulness of sounding like Cleon(ch6): I must admit, I didn't do it on purpose, but to me, Cleon and Dom are very similar people, except for the whole arranged marriage bit. So I suppose that's just how I characterize him.
Double-spacing(ch2): I suppose I should go back and fix that.

And now for a beg: If you read HP fanfiction, please do read my "How It All Began" fic and review it, because it is in sad, desperate need of reviews!

God, I hate begging. And I'm sorry for the long author's note, I know they're boring.

-Crystaltambaia