Chapter Six

"Mithros," breathed Raoul in what appeared to be awe. "How did you do that?"

Kel gulped as she realised just why she had a bad feeling about coming to the Rider barracks. The whole entire building was covered in hot pink paint, white lace and various other random ornaments. The curtains had been replaced with frilly pink and white lace monstrosities and the door had been painted bright purple with a sign on it declaring this to be 'Pansy's Place'.

"Well," sputtered Alanna through her laughter, "at least now we know what you two really think of the Riders."

Kel and Dom didn't reply. They could only stare at the building before them, horrified. But that was ok. Alanna hadn't really been expecting a reply anyway. In the part of Kel's mind that could still think rationally (it was a very small part), she wondered if Alanna and Raoul's uniforms would get dirty with them rolling around on the ground like that, and whether laughing that hard was actually good for them. Because if they burst something, neither her nor Dom were in any position to get them to a Healer.

"S-s-sir," Dom finally squeaked, voice trembling. "You're not going to make us clean that up are you? And apologize to the Riders?"

Raoul cackled with glee as he thought of hundreds of incensed Riders bearing down on Dom and Kel. Not to mention Sarge, Onua, Thayet and Buri. But then again, if Buri found out that one of his men was responsible for this (he doubted anyone would place the blame on Kel, as it was already widely believed that it was Dom's fault she got drunk in the first place) she would most likely skin him alive. And that would hurt.

He looked at the barracks again and burst into a fresh wave of laughter. He definitely appreciated what Kel and Dom had done. He certainly wouldn't want to see such effort and ingenuity wasted. Even if it was at the Rider's expense. Especially because it was at the Rider's expense. The trick would be getting everyone to believe that none of his men had done it. That was going to be a challenge.

"No, I'm not going to make you clean it up. Or apologize to the Riders. But you two owe me big time for this, you hear?"

Kel and Dom nodded, relieved. Kel's face was Yamani smooth, but inside she was feeling somewhat suspicious as she wondered why Alanna and Raoul were in the marketplace today. Her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as she thought about how wonderful their timing had been with the foot-man. And she had been feeling like they were being followed all day…

'Oh, I'm so going to get them for this,' she thought furiously. And Kel began to plan.

"Kel?" Dom asked, noticing her slightly vacant expression. "We're going into the forest to look for Neal, are you coming?"

"Sure," she smiled at him. "It'd probably be better if we split up though, so we can cover more ground. So you two start here and work that way and we'll start over there and meet you in the middle. If anyone sees Neal, just shout out, okay?"

Raoul grinned and saluted her.

"Sure thing Commander Keladry."

Kel blushed and dragged Dom into the forest with her.

Alanna chuckled and winked at Raoul.

"Wonder why Kel wanted to be alone with Dom."

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Dom frowned as he studied Kel and wondered if he would be able to ask her what was wrong without getting his head bitten off. Women were scary when they got into a bad mood, and Kel was a very scary woman.

"Kel?" he ventured, after he had nearly smashed into a tree for the third time, due to the fact that Kel still had a hold of his arm, and was stomping through the forest at a rather fast pace, "You okay?"

Kel stopped, turned to face him and then just looked at him blankly for a moment before an extremely evil grin came over her face that made Dom shudder.

"Oh I'm just fine," she purred evilly. Dom hadn't even known that it was possible to purr evilly. Apparently it was.

"Um…well, in that case, do you think I could have my arm back?" he asked tentatively, then immediately cringed back, expecting Kel to blow up at him. He was therefore somewhat surprised when she just glanced at him distractedly, let go of his arm muttering "sure" and set off into the forest again.

Stunned, Dom just stood there for a moment before he finally realised that he could no longer see Kel's retreating back, and set off in the direction that she had disappeared in.

"Kel! Kel, where are you?...What are you?...KEL!"

After ten minutes of fruitlessly trying to find the runaway knight, Dom sighed and turned back, resigned to the fate of explaining to two angry knights just how he had managed to lose Kel. Plus he still hadn't found Neal. Sighing morosely, he sidestepped a tree and….

SMACK

Ran straight into the very person he had been looking for. Literally.

"Kel," Dom cried, shocked. He began to worry when Kel didn't answer him, and peered over her shoulder to try and see what she was so avidly staring at. And promptly burst into uncontrollable, and somewhat maniacal, laughter.

"Dom?" Kel asked, craning around to get a good look at the man who was currently rolling around on the ground, tears pouring out of his eyes. "You alright down there? That laughter has a bit of a hysterical note to it, you know."

Dom, however, just flashed his gorgeous grin up at her and smiled, "No, I'm good," before promptly collapsing with more laughter.

Neal, who had witnessed the whole thing from the tree he was tied to, cried "Shut up you stupid fool", but it was somewhat hampered by the gag in his mouth and thus came out as more of a "Mmph muh moo moopid ool."

This, however, only caused Dom to laugh harder.

"Mithros, Minnoss and Shakith," he cried (this expression had traveled from Numair to Raoul, and then spread further to the King's Own. It was now a widely-used saying, and Numair had been heard complaining about people copying him. Alanna told him to stop being such a baby). "What did we do?"

"I don't know," Kel grinned. "Maybe we should ask Neal."

Seconds later, the woods were filled with the sound of loud shouts and cursing. Neal was horrified to note that due to the fact that he hadn't ingested any fluids in the past 24 hours or so, and had had a gag in his mouth for nearly the same amount of time; his voice came out sounding rather like a chipmunk. Which of course only made Dom laugh all the more.

Kel titled her head to the side, listening to Neal's tirade and trying to understand what the high-pitched chipmunk noises meant. She was sure she had heard something about rotten fruit, and a phrase that sounded a lot like "I'll target practice you", along with rather a lot of threats of death and disembowelment, but other than that, nothing.

"Well that's not very nice," Dom suddenly commented placidly, apparently having controlled his fit of hilarity. "Just for that, Meathead, I don't think I'm going to untie you know."

Kel rolled her eyes at the now-bickering cousins, and moved to untie Neal, mind still fixed on thoughts of revenge against Raoul and Alanna. She winced and covered her nose as she approached her friend, who was covered in smushed-up bits of rotten fruit. Surprisingly, it all seemed to be centered on Neal and she smiled as she realised that at least she could aim, even when drunk.

Halfheartedly listening to Dom and Neal's bickering, which had by now reduced to them hurling childish taunts at each, Kel grabbed Dom by the arm and dragged him in close to her to whisper in his ear.

"Dom," she muttered, and he looked intently at her, his interest peaked, "don't you think it was a little bit strange that Alanna and Raoul were there to save the day right when that guy tried to attack my feet? I mean, what were they doing at the marketplace in the first place?"

Dom's head snapped around to stare at her as he picked up the hidden meaning in her voice.

"You think they were the ones following us? Why?"

"I don't know. I think they were trying to get us in more trouble."

Neal narrowed his eyes, annoyed at his cousin and friend for ignoring him after they had put him through such a terrible ordeal.

"What are you two whispering about?"

Kel and Dom paid no attention him however, and Neal began sulking, but brightened when he thought that maybe he could get some sympathy from Yuki.

"Well, we can't let them get away with that now can we?" Dom asked, his blue eyes glittering with mischief.

"No, of course not," Kel grinned back. "Only I've got not idea what we could do."

Dom stared hard at Neal for a few seconds, before grinning the biggest grin Kel had ever seen in her whole entire life.

"I might have a few ideas."