Well, let¡¯s see¡­ Kel and Joren are 18 (I don¡¯t believe you age when you die), Neal is twenty-three, Cleon and Thom are 20, Alex is¡­ 23/24, and Roger is about 27 or 28. So, in conclusion, what is Kel thinking? Cleon is older than her!

Eek!!! Trickster¡¯s Choice is so good! Much better than the PotS series anyway! Nicola and Aaron, or anyone else I know, if any of you are reading this, I want it and the 2nd one (if it¡¯s out) for my birthday!

IF you see weird character thingys instead of apostrophes, go to ¡®view¡¯ on your toolbar and select ¡®encoding¡¯. Then select ¡®Auto-select¡¯ and it should be ok¡­ I¡¯m trying to fix the problem!!!! Really I am!

*We don¡¯t own the characters. We own the depressing story we put them in.*

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Chapter six: Of confessions, tea, and kissing another redhead

Joren muttered under his breath as he knocked on Thom¡¯s door. ¡°Why me,¡± he repeated, over and over. Then, the door opened and Joren felt the breath knocked out of him as this young redheaded man stood before him.

He was GORGEOUS!¡± Joren gasped, and saw Thom smile with amusement.

¡°Hello,¡± the man greeted him warmly. ¡°How may I help you?¡±

Joren continued to stare.

The man raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come in?¡±

Joren did not remember how he could have gotten into the room and onto the couch with such shaky legs.

¡°Would you like some tea?¡± asked Thom, and Joren was aware of his pounding heart and dry mouth so he just nodded.

Thom rang a bell, sat back in his chair and folded hands in his lap. ¡°Now, would you care to tell me why you¡¯re here?¡±

¡°Joren opened his mouth. ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡±

Thom smiled.

Joren suddenly leaned forward and kissed Thom on the mouth. Then he froze.

¡°Oh my gosh,¡± he cried, ¡°OH MY GOSH! I¡¯m so sorry!¡± He turned and ran out of the room.

Thom watched him leave, amused.

¡°Tea¡¯s here,¡± said the maid.

As son as he got out of the room, Joren ran straight into Alex.

Alex smirked. ¡°I heard your little discord in there, and I must say that I¡¯m terribly disappointed.¡±

¡°Yeah, well, I couldn¡¯t -¡± Joren whined.

Alex cut him off. ¡°Come with me.¡± He took Joren¡¯s arm and steered a very red Joren back into the room, where Thom was sitting, still amused, with a steaming teapot on the coffee table.

He looked up as they entered, his smile fading a little when he saw Alex. He opened his mouth.

But Alex spoke first. ¡°Thom of Trebond. I am ashamed to say that we need your help.¡±

Thom glared. ¡°Let me guess. This new ¡®triangle¡¯ of yours, involving Roger too?¡±

Alex looked confused. ¡°That didn¡¯t make sense,¡± he said.

Thom threw up his hands. ¡°You know what I mean.¡± Seeing as Alex still didn¡¯t understand, he said, exasperated, ¡°So what do you want me to do?¡±

¡°I believe that Joren has already told you.¡±

Thom smiled, ¡°Joren did nothing but kiss me.¡±

At this point Joren turned red again. ¡°I - didn¡¯t -¡± he babbled.

Alex glared at him, and he quietened down. ¡°In that case, I will be brief.¡±

***

Kel buckled up her boots and looked around her room. What shall I train with today? She thought. I really should practice more with my sword, but the glaive¡­

Her thoughts were interrupted with Cleon breaking down her door. ¡°Hi wife!¡± he yelled, ¡°Come quick, Husband¡¯s sitting in the duck pond!¡± with that, Cleon ran back out of the room.

Exasperated, Kel quickly grabbed her sword and followed. She wondered why Neal would be sitting in the duck pond. But then again, he had been rather strange ¨C he hadn¡¯t talked to her for the past three days.

And, indeed, in the middle of the Pages¡¯ courtyard, Neal was sitting in the duck pond, up to his neck in water. Kel took in his grief-stricken face and felt a surge of affection towards him... How much he had changed in the past few days! He had become so much thinner.

¡°There he is!¡± announced Cleon, smiling.

¡°Dear Gods!¡± Cried Kel, rushing into the pond, ¡°What in the world are you doing? You¡¯ll catch a cold like that!¡±

Neal sat and started blankly.

¡°I told him not to go in!¡± cried Cleon proudly, ¡°I said, ¡®Kel won¡¯t like that¡¯ but he took no heed of my words.¡±

Kel tugged at Neal, but he didn¡¯t budge.

¡°Come ON, Neal!¡± she cried.

Neal turned his blank eyes to her. He talked to her as if coming from a trance. ¡°I loved you, you know,¡± he said slowly, expressionless and hollow-voiced. ¡°And you betrayed me. And now, I shall sit here, and you must never think about me again. You must never be concerned with my troubles Kel, because I will soon be gone from this world. Farewell, my love.¡± And he closed his eyes and fell backwards, his head submerged.

¡°Noooo!¡± wailed Kel, who joined him under the water. Cleon watched, terrified. ¡°Husband! Wife! Where are you going!¡± he ran off into the pong, searching.

Kel reached for Neal, holding her breath tightly. But she couldn¡¯t reach him, for as long as her lungs were full of air; she could not sink to his level.

Her only change was to empty her lungs, swim low and get him up, all within the time of ten seconds. She had a fair chance, she decided, and exhaled.

Immediately she sank lower of Neal. Too close, her face was pressed again his. His eyes were closed. Kel grabbed Neal¡¯s arm and heaved, but such exertion of energy was too much for her oxygen-deprived heart and her head swam as the water flooded her lungs.

She choked, knowing she was going to die soon. She clutched Neal¡¯s arm hard. It was all she could do to hold on to him. She couldn¡¯t see anything, feel anything, except for the pain of her bursting lungs. She was flailing her arms and had sunk lower and lower.

Suddenly, an image floated into her head.

It was blurry and indistinct, but she could make out three men, one of whom was her deceased arch enemy, Joren of Stone Mountain. A redheaded young man stumbled into the scene, and the three of them reached out to him as he lay, uncomprehending, on the floor.

They lashed out at him and Kel tried to shout out. ¡°STOP!¡± she wanted to yell, but her lungs didn¡¯t let her. She raised her sword and swung it at Joren.

But some unseen force stopped her, and she lurched back hard.

Opening her eyes, Kel saw the pale blue sky and Numair peering down at her. Numair sighed with relief. ¡°Whew, you¡¯re alive!¡±

She coughed, and water came out of her mouth. When it was all out she felt much better, but suddenly she remembered why she had gone onto the pond in the first place.

¡°Neal!¡± she cried suddenly. ¡°Where¡¯s Neal?¡± And as if an answer, she heard coughing close to her.

¡°What happened?¡± came Neal¡¯s familiar voice from her left. She turned and found him coughing up water as well. This excited her, and she commenced coughing water again. Neal grinned at her and also coughed water.

Numair rapped his foot. ¡°If you two are DONE coughing water, may I please go back to the palace now?¡±

Kel smiled guiltily and nodded. Numair turned and left.

Neal suddenly sobered up. ¡°I - I¡¯m sorry Kel,¡± said Neal quietly. ¡°I should never have doubted you.¡±

Kel smiled, and threw herself into Neal¡¯s arms. I¡¯m sorry about whatever that happened.¡±

Neal patted her head. ¡°When I was drowning, my whole life flashed before my eye. I saw all the great times we had together, Kel, and I can¡¯t be without you. I love you, Keladry of Mindelan.¡±

¡°I love you too, Nealan of Queenscove,¡± murmured Kel into his chest.

But Neal pushed her away. ¡°And I realised how much you really mean to me and I thought that if you really want to be with Cleon, I wouldn¡¯t stop you.¡± He looked at Kel intently.

Kel shook her head. ¡°No, Neal, it¡¯s you I want to spend the rest of my life with.¡±

¡°Well, that¡¯s settled,¡± smiled Neal. ¡°Speaking of Cleon, where is he, anyway?¡±

Kel shrugged, and led the way back to the palace. ¡° Oh, don¡¯t worry about him, he¡¯s probably gone off to the sandpit.¡±

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Please review, as usual. Reviews can stop us from getting complacent.

Next chapter: Alex, Roger and Joren finally get whom they¡¯ve been waiting for¡­