Dom looked out to the shore that they had just departed from, it was horribly empty. His friend, the one he had known since he was twenty-one,was gone forever. Yes, many of his other comrades had died in battles, and he had wept over their deaths as well but, this was different. There was no proof that Kel was dead, yet they had left her. If she was alive, they left her to die. The whole idea of it was eating him alive.

While he was brooding they had landed on the opposite shore. The jerk that the stopping of the boat gave, was enough to topple him forward and out of his dream land. As he looked up and onto the shore he saw that they had a landing party waiting for them, it included Lord Wyldon, Raoul, Neal, Merric, as well as a large portion of the third company of the King's Own. His heart wrenched again at the though of telling these people, Kel's great friends, what had happened. As they climbed off the rickety boat Dom busied himself helping the wounded get off, without jostling their wounds any further, attempting to get his mind off of her.

As they all painfully got out of the boat he saw the waiting party look around for the person who was not coming home. Dom slowly walked up and put a reassuring hand on Neal's shoulder, for it was him that would tell the waiting party, the horrible news.

Neal slowly approached them as he would a wild animal, afraid of an outburst of questions from one or all of them. Raoul was the first of them to speak "I see that you have returned safely, now tell me where my ex-squire is, it is most urgent that I speak with her".

Neal took a big breath, gulp included, he looked back at his companions as if to change his mind about telling them. Dom gave him what he hoped was a reassuring nod before looking at the ground again afraid to look up in to their eyes.

Raoul could sense the tension in the air and knew immediately that something was wrong, really wrong. Neal started to speak while keeping his eyes to the ground, shuffling and moving his weight from foot to foot.. Neal whispered just loud enough so that everyone could hear, even the wind stopped as if it too wanted to listen to what Neal had to say. "Sir, I mean My Lord. Kel is not with us in fact she hasn't been sense we left Blayce's castle. She's gone sir."

Raoul's eyes flashed several emotions within a matter of seconds, confusion, to sorrow, then to anger and fury. He yanked Dom towards him by the chain mail colar and shouted at him "How the hell did this happen, you were supposed to look out for her, and follow her orders, not allow her to get killed!" while saying this he had lifted Dom slightly above the ground and shook him with the anger and sadness only a greving person could posses.

"Put me down and I will tell you" Dom managed to say through the shaking, his shoulder and neck burned where his chain mail dug into his skin. Raoul roughly dropped him in a heap forcing the dirt of the road to jump up and cloud Dom's vision.,Raoul stood over Dom challenging him to attempt to get up, Dom didn't even look up, instead he looked at the dirt in front of him and began the story that told of Kel's demise.

"It was about half a candle mark after we planned how the ambush of the castle was going to work, that I realized that Kel was planning to go face Blayce and his body guard on his own. Neal seemed to come to the same conclusion for no words were neccesary in order for us to go talk to her.

"She told us that this was the task that the Chamber of the ordeal meant for her to complete and how there was a possiblitiy that she would die on this violent and dangerous task.

"We entered the castle after one of her men opened the gate. From then on there was choas. Bodies were everywhere both alive and dead. It was so dark, it was next to impossible to see who you were fighting. But soon I, and all the other fighters on our side, relized that the people that were in sleeping garments or only partially armed up were the enemy. About after an hour the enemy was completely destroyed but not without casualties of our own.

"Soon after I cut down the last man near me, I realized that Kel was not in sight. I asked Neal and he said how he saw her enter the keep's main doors. I ran up to it, and turned the knob and pushed, but the door didn't move. I pushed even harder, nothing. I shoved all my weight in to the wood, it groaned but still did not budge.

I went back to Neal, who told me to help bring him all of the wounded. I followed his instruction for he was the most powerful healer that there was within the walls, it also helped me keep my my mind off the fact that Kel still was not back.

"Several minutes later I started to ask around to see if anyone had seen the Lady Knight, but no one had. I went back up to the door and tried again, it was still bolted shut. By that time I told Neal who seemed incredibly supprised. We slowly packed up all the supplies and we had to make a decision. Either we could leave Kel and make our escape with all of the children, or wait around for Kel to hopefully come up, with the possiblity of the Scaran army getting word and coming to the keep to slaughter us.

"Neal and I were forced to decide on the first option, for Kel hadn't come back there was a high possiblity that she wasn't coming back at all. We left for our and the refugees saftey, it's what she would have wanted.

"So we left, but in the case that she did somehow still live, we tied Peachblossom to a tree so that she would be able to make her break for freedom. We left around noon of the day following the battle, it has been a long and hard trek but we finally made it, but it seems as if Kel did not."

Dom slowly looked back up from the ground to meet Raoul's eyes. They were filled with so many emotions to a bursting point until only one was dominant, Absolute fury, fueled by the pain of his loss.

Untill his anger exploded " YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT" He yelled. Dom scrambled backward away from Raoul and his rage. "YOU DON'T KNOW THAT SHE IS DEAD, FOR ALL YOU KNOW SHE COULD BE BACK AT THE CASTLE SLOWLY BLEEDING TO DEATH, ONE OF THE MOST PAINFUL WAYS TO DIE, AWAY FROM HER COUNTRY, FRIENDS AND FAMILY, OF ALL THE IDIOTIC THINGS TO DO!

Dom continued to squirm away from Raoul who has steadily coming closer. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING THAT WAS SO DAM IMPORTANT THAT YOU COULDN'T SPEND FIVE MINUTES LOOKING FOR HER!"

"Well sir, I mean My Lord there were lots of wounded and they needed help and so I. . . . helped them" he finished lamely.If glaring could kill Dom would be dead ten times over.. "YOU CALL YOURSELF HER FRIEND, SHE WAS LIKE DAUGHTER I NEVER HAD, AND YOU ALLOWED HER TO DIE BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T SPARE THE TIME? YOU SON OF A STORMWING, I WANT TO HANG YOU BY YOUR LOIN CLOTH AT THE TOP OF THE HIGHEST TREE AND LEAVE YOU THERE INTILL YOU ARE EATEN ALIVE BY THE WORST CREATURES IMAGINEABLE. THEN I WILL THROW YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CLOLDEST RIVER I CAN FIND AND STRANGLE YOU, THEN I WILL . . . . . . . .(use your imagination)"

Dom looked down, he was ashamed of what his discion was, even if it did save many lives, his choice killed the person who was the most deserving to stay alive. For all he knew she could be in the hands of the Scarans 'nah, what's the chances of that' he thought

Raoul had started talking again but in a much more normal volume: "because of your STUPID mistakes I am going to try to get Numair to find her, or at least her body and THAT will be your punishment, take what you need but you WILL bring her body back to me for a decent burial, she deserves at least that much, before her soul can leave this earth and join the heavens.

"Yes, My Lord" Dom replied in a wisper. The new arivals and the waiting party slowly headed back to Steadfast in silence in respect for their lost comrade and friend.

I know that Raoul is out of Character in this chapter but he also just recived news that his squire was "killed" and that the only reason for this was becasue the one person he trusted most to bring her back couldn't take the time to find a way in to the castle. His rage is fueled by pain.

Sorry for the long wait but exams are coming up soon and i hated the way that all of these chapters turned out so I am re-do ing this entire story one chapter at atime witch is taking forever. I still don't like the way that this turned out but it is better, though i still might re-do it a third time, O well.