Thank you for the great reviews, everyone! You all make me so happy! A few replies:

To all of those who figured out, yes, "'Ana cow" is "Ardana the Cow" aka Ardana Flinteyes. I had always wondered what happened to her, so I decided to find out, which is where this story came from.

M3mOrii: Yeah, I didn't write a plot down, per se. This whole story spawned from the mental image brought on by the music in the last chapter and a curiosity of whatever happened to Ardana. Basically, I have the scene from the last chapter and the final battle scene is percolating in its little cubby hole in my brain, and I make the rest of it up as I go.

HellPhyre: I'm confused. How did who survive what kamikaze attacks? I haven't read many of the later books ML has come out with. Did I miss something?

BTW, I purposely left out Faram's plans for Kero's greatneice. It's a great scene that is destined to be put in later in the story.

Music: Audioslave's I am the Highway, Deaftone's Minerva, Mendelsohnn's Reformation Symphony (Symphony #5), Rufus Wainright's Hallelujah, Moby's Natural Blues

THIS CHAPTER RATED FOR VIOLENCE

Disclaimer: hoochimajigger

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Chapter 11

Faram regarded them from the depths of the scrying bowl Elspeth was using to connect them to Rethwellen. He frowned, then crossed his arms.

"Your family can never do anything the easy way, can you."

Kero returned his gaze, all protesting innocence. "I did not ask my brother and his wife to reproduce, nor did I ask for their little monsters to produce copies of themselves. For that matter, I did not ask for a brother. I would have been content being an only child, instead of the youngest of two. Do you know how much he beat me up as a child?"

Daren snorted. "I think the appropriate question is does Faram know how often you beat up your brother as a child."

"Nonsense. He was weapons trained. I merely stole his weapons, which earned quite a thumping from time to time."

"Back to the matter at hand," Faram intoned. "I will do what I can from this end. In the meantime, Captain, I suggest you finally get married."

Kero squirmed as the other women in the room turned their eyes to her, making her feel like a pinned rodent.

"Good day, neice. Captain. Everyone else." Faram nodded and gestured to his court mage, who broke the spell. Elspeth began cleaning everything up on their end as Kero leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, contemplating her future.

"So, Kero." Selenay leaned forward in her own chair, a gleam of anticipation in her eyes. "Let's plan your wedding."

"Well, that's enough for me." Eldan rose from his chair next to Kero and stretched. "I'd better go relieve Alberich. Dami has probably charmed him out of every sweet he could find and Acacia-"

Kero's arm shot out and she fisted her hand in his Whites, dragging back into his chair.

"Sit. If we're doing this, you, by the goddess, are going to suffer with me."

Selenay grinned even wider as Daren and Elspeth arranged themselves on either side of her, effectively pitting the three of them against Kero and Eldan.

"Look," Kero began. "Faram won't be able to get things straightened out for several weeks on his end, then the documents have to be transported up here and the mountain passes are still closed, so by the time everything is said and done, we still a few months."

"Exactly," Selenay said. "It takes a few months to plan a great wedding, Kero."

"We don't want a great wedding, we want a few vows when we get around to doing it. We can plan that in about a day. There is absolutely no need to plan a huge wedding for a two people who won't appreciate it. Right, Eldan?"

"Right." Eldan nodded gamely.

Daren grinned and leaned back in his chair, enjoying watching his best friend squirm. "You might not enjoy a large wedding, but the rest of this kingdom and a whole Company of mercenaries in particular will greatly enjoy it, not to mention an entire Shin'a'in clan."

"They are doomed to disappointment."

"Now Kero-" Selenay broke off as a messenger burst into the room.

"Message for the Captain!" he gasped out.

Kero smirked as she accepted the folded parchment from the messenger. :Saved by the catastrophe: she Sent to Eldan. Then she froze.

"Kero?"

"I have to go." She rose from her chair and turned to Eldan. "Tell the girls that I said bye and that I love them." Then she darted down and quickly planted a kiss on his lips. "I love you, too. Now I have to go kill Ardana."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Skybolts had gathered on the crest of a hill that stood between the invading army of mercenaries and the small border town that had been deeded to the Bolts. The air crackled and a great light rent the sky. Then Kero came charging through the gap left in its wake and joined her troops. The foul weather that always accompanied a Gating broke and cold rain began to pour down on the battlefield. Shallan rode out of the mist caused by the rain and joined Kero as she and Sayvil headed for a vantage point to observe Ardana's army.

"What is our situation?"

"Nothing we can't handle, Captain." Coldness bit in Shallan's voice.

Kero allowed herself some amusement. "Goodness, Shallan. Someone would think Ardana had tried to decimate the Company a decade or two ago, from the way you are acting."

Shallan smiled grimly. "I am looking forward to decimating her, Captain."

"I think we all are. Have the specialists spotted her?"

Now Shallan frowned. "No, Captain. Her army is here, but we have not spotter her or the mage."

"If Dami is as powerful as Elspeth thinks she is, we might not have a mage to worry about."

Shallan grinned again. "You have to love that little munchkin."

"Remind me to tell you about what Eldan and I are going to have to do to keep them, later."

Shallan's grin turned mischievous. "Will I be winning any money off of this?"

"Maybe." Kero repressed a smile of her own. "For now, why don't you tell me how you think we should handle this?"

"Just like we have always planned, Captain. Straight charge. With no mage to worry about, we can go straight in without losing any of the kids. Leave a force behind to protect the town and act as an escape route for us, if needed."

"Has the town been evacuated?"

"Yes, Captain."

She thought about it, pushing markers around a map in her head, then nodded decisively. "Very well. Inform the kids."

Shallan saluted and rode to join the other lieutenants. They nodded at her words and broke to join their sub-companies. At Shallan's signal, Kero rode to her spot in the middle of the front ranks of her Company.

:Where is she?:

:Mm? Are you asking me: Sayvil sounded almost drowsy.

:I suppose I am.:

:Where would you be if you were Ardana:

:Ardana is no coward. That was her one good point. She has to be here.:

:Or somewhere else that is more tactically important.:

Very real fear shot through her. :The girls.:

:I'll warn Roland. You need to concentrate here.:

She nodded again and forced herself to breathe. The girls were a weakness she was not yet accustomed to coping with. They had come to mean a lot to her over the past few weeks and that was overwhelming her now. She forced herself to gently put thoughts of them aside and turn her attention to the problem at hand. With a deep breath, Kero felt herself sink and settle into the concentration that had let her lead a successful career as a mercenary and felt the Skybolts settle with her.

She signaled the charge.

With a roar, the Skybolts poured down the slope to meet the rising tide of Ardana's army. Kero flew at the lead of the Bolts, screaming a war cry and sword ready for battle. Time slowed. The clash of the two armies resounded throughout the valley and the screams of the dying began to fill the air. Sayvil was a flashing whirl as she attacked the soldiers and horses around her while Kero met the blades coming at them. She was quickly overwhelmed by fighters coming in every direction, so many that she did not see that some Bolts on the flanks of the battle were actively looking for enemy soldiers to fight. The rest of the Bolts quickly realized that Kero was being targeted and turned to go to their Captain's aid. As she concentrated grimly on the soldiers trying to injure Sayvil, she did not see the poleaxe that hooked into her armor. With an abrupt jerk, she was airborne. Knowing she could not control the fall, Kero used her moment in the air to draw her second sword. The impact with the ground drove the breath from her and she felt a rib crack as she landed on a rock. Ardana's soldiers, sensing she was injured, moved it for the kill. They underestimated her. The first soldier was quickly dispatched with a sword to the gullet through a weak point in his armor. Using a foot to lever him of her blade, Kero shoved him back into the soldier behind him while lopping off the hand of another soldier with the twin of the first sword. The room created by that maneuver allowed her to gain her feet. Then, the true massacre began. The Captain became a monster right out of most soldiers' nightmares, a lightning-fast creature with two finely honed swords that cleanly removed all flesh to come within sword's reach of her. Blood drenched the ground around her and coated her face and armor as she grimly fought on, occasionally using her feet to viciously crush the bones of opponents, at one time head butting an opponent over locked blades. Spinning from that opponent, Kero used her left sword to finish off another soldier with a slice to the throat and quickly reversed her right sword to stab behind her into another enemy soldier. Her blade became fouled in the other soldier's armor and another took the opportunity presented to charge forward. Sayvil reared up behind him and landed on his head, giving Kero the precious seconds she needed to free her right sword.

:Chosen:

An abrupt jarring and a sudden spearing of cold through her midsection stopped her where she stood. She turned her head to glare into the eyes of the grinning enemy to her left, the man who held the axe firmly planted in her armor. And me…, she thought dazedly. Then she bared her teeth in a growl that would give Shallan nightmares for the next several months, and drew her right blade up, swinging for his throat. He frantically jerked his axe out of her and swung up to block the sword, then it was his turn to freeze in shock as Kero's left blade slid cleanly through his midsection from behind. The Bolts had finally broken through the wall surrounding their Captain and now ringed the two of them. She moved in until her body was tucked in close to his, then angled her head until she could whisper in his ear. His dying breaths echoed loudly in her ears.

"Where is she?"

"Who?" he growled, then gasped as her sword twisted mercilessly.

"Where is the woman who dared to hurt my little girls?" A cold shiver coursed down his spine, leaving him gasping in pain.

"I don't know."

"Try again."

He was gasping for breath now, and death was glazing his eyes. "Won't tell."

Kero tsked. "Come now. She doesn't pay that well." The sword twisted again and he cried out hoarsely. "Tell me where she is," Kero crooned, almost lovingly. "Tell me where she is, and I might let you live."

At this, he laughed as much as a dying man could. "I'd be dead anyway." The strength was fleeing from his legs and he began to sag, his weight settling on Kero, who was not so sure her legs could support her own weight, much less his. "Never tell." He almost sang it. Then the life fled his body and he collapsed, taking Kero with him.

"Captain!" Shallan darted forward and pushed his body off of hers. "Ah, Captain, you're really hurt this time. Stay still."

Kero patted the hand that Shallan had pressed over the gash in Kero's belly. "Clean up for me? Take care of the kids."

"You know I will, Captain. Rest."

Kero nodded. "I'm going to lose consciousness for awhile." Then her eyes rolled back and she went limp.