A pile of thanks to my beta, SOPROL! She helped me this time with her usual job of grammar and spelling, and then went above and beyond by adding detail for me. Thanks!

Happy Halloween to everyone! Sorry that I took so long in updating, I was slow in getting it to my beta...although she (like always) was very good about returning it to me corrected in a very short time period.

Duel

Chapter Seven:

(Practice Court-Gareth's POV)

The next day, I was practicing with my sword. I usually practiced for the reason that I needed to practice or I'd get out of shape, and that was just asking to die some dark night or on some battlefield. Today, however, my main purpose for practicing was different: to forget about Aly.

My plan wasn't working. Usually, practice with my sword clears my mind completely. However, the longer I practiced, the more my thoughts were on Aly. I thought about how she was always cheering for me, and jumping up and down with excitement when I won a practice duel, I thought about how the two of us-along with Roald and Lianne-would go for a picnic or out to lunch in the city after I practiced, I thought about how we would joke around while at lunch, and I thought about how her musical laughter would fill up the room. I thought about how her eyes had sparkled when we first met, after I completed a duel, when she laughed, when she was planning something mischievous, when I had asked her if I could court her, and when I had given her the jewelry box and jewelry for her birthday present two days ago.

I stopped for a second to breath. As I had thought about Aly, I had sped up my routine, and now my heart was pounding.

(Blue Harbor Suite-Aly's POV)

I sat in my bedroom with my embroidering materials. After my dinner with Alan last night, I had marched into my room, locked the door, and insisted that I would not come out until King Jasson changed his mind and let me marry Gareth. I had refused to let the maid in to help me dress or clean my room this morning, and I had refused to let her bring me breakfast or lunch today. I told the maid to tell my parents I had no intention of letting anyone in or coming out until I had things my way. I told her I'd starve to death if I had to.

I hated needlework, which I figured made it the perfect thing to keep Gareth off my mind. I hated everything about what I was doing, and I loved everything about Gareth.

My plan wasn't working. As I worked, I thought about the convent, which made me think about how much I hated Jane. Thinking of Jane made me think of Alan. When I thought of Alan, I though of how I now had to marry him, and I couldn't marry Gareth. Once I thought of Gareth, memories of the two of us slammed into me. I thought about how Roald, Lianne and I watched Gareth practice, and I thought about how Gareth made me laugh and smile whenever I was with him. I thought about how we use to have picnic with Lianne and Roald, who were now happily married and Lianne was pregnant.

Why couldn't that be the way it was with Gary and I, Great Mother? I thought. I then frowned Stop it, Aly! I scolded myself. It's not fair to begrudge Lianne and Roald. They would have let you marry Gareth if they had the power. I took a deep breath, and kept working on my work.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, pricking my finger with my needle. I sucked the tip of my finger, and swore.

"That is hardly lady-like, Aly." I could hear Gareth saying those words whenever I cursed or when Lianne and I would race each other in the woods when the four of us were on a picnic.

My thoughts on Gareth were interrupted, though, when there was a loud banging on my door. "Alianne!" my father yelled. "You are acting like a bratty child! Now open this door!"

"No!" I shot back. "Not until King Jasson lets Gareth and me marry!"

"Even if he does let you marry, I will never allow it!"

"I don't care if you don't allow it! I don't care what you want for me anymore!"

"Aly, dear, please come out and eat." that was my mother's voice, soft and soothing. "It's not healthy for you to skip meals."

"I don't want any food." I said, much more calmly than I was with my father. At least she was trying to make the arranged marriage easier; besides, she hadn't supported the marriage right away. My father had arranged it.

"Alianne, if you do not open this door, I will have servants come and break it open!" my father threatened. "The Trebond's are coming over here for dinner tonight, and I will not have them seeing you mope like a small child!"

(Practice Courts-Nobody's POV)

Gareth took his time catching his breath, and just before he started practicing with his sword again, he saw the last person he wanted to see: Alan of Trebond. Seeing Alan made him think of how he and Aly couldn't be married, because he was betrothed to her. He thought about how the only times he had ever seen Aly cry was when she heard her father had betrothed her to Alan, and then again when King Jasson said they couldn't be married.

Before he knew what he was doing, Gareth walked over to Alan. "Hey Alan, feel like a friendly duel?"

"Well-"

"Great!" Gareth said, dragging him to the part of the practice court he had been practicing in.

"Gareth, I really don't have time to do this." Alan said, sounding terrified. "You see, my family is having dinner with Lady Alianne and her family soon, and-"

Gareth cut him off. "Trust me; Alianne likes a man who works with his sword."

Alan looked unsure, but Gareth already had his sword out, and was ready to begin. Alan pulled out his sword and tried to prepare for the oncoming attack. Gareth lunged in and out with his sword. Gareth told himself to pull back before he would cut Alan, but he would had no problem allowing Alan to gain a few bruises from this duel. If he couldn't be able to protect Aly, he was going to make sure Alan knew how to do it!

Swinging his sword around, Gareth attempted to hit Alan's shoulder but was blocked by Alan's sword as a sound of metal resonated around them. Alan then began to shakily chop at Gareth in a pathetic attempt to gain the upper hand but failing miserably as Gareth blocked with ease. This went for a minute or so until Gareth had had enough and started to inflict as much pain to Alan as he could without it seeming obvious to the small crowd that had gathered to watch the match.

Gareth used his foot to knock Alan to the ground after allowing him to collect a half hour's worth of bruises. Alan stumbled backwards to the floor. Gareth brought his sword to Alan's throat, and saw Alan gasping for breath.

"I-" Alan took a gulp of air. "I yield!"

Gareth nodded, and put his sword away, then pulled Alan to his feet.

"Gods, Gareth!" Alan said, his breath slowly returning, as Gareth walked away. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were trying to hurt or even kill me."

Gareth stopped at those words. Had he been trying to get rid of Alan? If something had gone wrong and Alan had been killed, Aly would be free to marry again, and he could do the proper thing and ask Sir Thomas if he could court Aly...he could have redone everything, and he could have redone everything right. Was he subconsciously thinking that? Gareth didn't want to think he would be so cruel as to seriously consider murdering someone...even if it would mean he'd get Aly. He walked off the practice court, without answering Alan.

(Blue Harbor Suite)

"I wonder where Alan could be." Lady Alanna of Trebond said. "It isn't like him to be late."

"I'm sure he is with some friends and just lost track of time." Lady Jennaya said.

"Or he went to the library and lost track of time while reading a history book or something." Lord Bradley said.

"No matter what the reason is," Lady Jennaya said. "We can wait for him before beginning supper."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. A servant went to open it, and a small gasp was heard. Everyone turned to the door, and gasped or stared as Alan walked in, battered and bruised. His clothes were in shreds.

"Alan!" Lady Alanna exclaimed, and raced to her son's side.

"What happened, son?" Lord Bradley asked, grabbing Alan's shoulder. Alan winced.

Aly was at his side. "Alan, are you alright?"

"Practice duel." Alan answered meekly.

"All of this happened in a practice duel? Against who, son?"

Aly had a fairly good idea of who it was that Alan was dueling. She didn't want to find out in front of her parents, however.

"Mother, father, as Alan's betrothed, it is my duty to tend to his wounds. May we be excused?"

"Of course, dear," Lady Jennaya said. "Do you want me to bring the healer's bag?"

"Yes, please." Alianne said. "And, Lord Bradley, is there anyway to get Alan a new set of clothes? Once I heal him, he'll need to change. As you can see, his clothes are hardly fitting for anything more than rags."

"Yes, yes I can see that." Lord Bradley said. "I'll go get a set of clothing myself."

Aly nodded, and-with her mother's help-brought Alan to the privy, where she had him sit down.

"Are you bruised all over? I saw you wince when your father touched your shoulder."

Alan nodded. "My shoulder and torso are."

"Then you need to take off your shirt, so I can see what I am healing."

Alan hesitated for a minute.

"Alan, I have the Gift, and have been trained in healing." Aly said. "Trust me. Besides, we will be married in a few months. I'll be seeing more than your top half then." Nobody heard the unspoken "unfortunately" that resonated through Aly's mind.

Alan blushed as Aly bold words. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"It's Jane." Jane's voice said. "Aly, your mother told me to bring you your healer's bag."

Aly looked at Alan. "Take off your tunic and shirt." she ordered, then opened the door. Jane handed her the bag.

"Thanks." Aly said.

Jane nodded, and walked off.

"Alan, who were you dueling?" Aly asked, as soon as she was sure Jane was far enough away. "Was it Gareth?"

Alan nodded weakly. "He said it was a friendly duel!"

"There is nothing friendly about these bruises." Aly said as she looked at the damage. There were no cuts or even scrapes, but there was bruising everywhere. She laid her hand on Alan's chest, and checked with her gift. There were no breaks.

"This will be quick and almost painless." Aly promised. "Your shoulder is badly bruised, and that will hurt, but besides that, it will be fine."

Alan nodded, and held still while Aly did a quick healing job. She stepped back when she was done and nodded, pleased with her work.

"I may be your betrothed, but it would be improper to see you get changed. So, I am leaving you alone to get changed. Leave your old clothes out here...like I said, they are good for rags now...maybe I can make a small blanket or a small outfit out of it, but I'd have to check it over."

With that, Alianne left. "Lord Bradley, you can take his clothes into him." she said. Alan's father raced to go help his son. Aly added as he reached the privy. "Leave his torn clothes in the front of my room. I'll make use of them."

Once Lord Bradley was with Alan, Aly turned to her parents "Excuse me, mother and father. I'll be back shortly. I need to talk to one of the palace healers, and make sure they don't have any advice for anything else that should be done."

Lady Jennaya and Lord Thomas nodded.

Aly left the room, and then headed strait to the Naxen suite; a certain knight had some explaining to do.

"Hello Lady Alianne." Duchess Elspeth said when Aly arrived.

"Hello, your grace." Aly curtsied. "May I please speak with Gareth in private for a moment?"

Duchess Elspeth hesitated for a moment.

"I promise, we'll be right outside in the hallway."

Gareth and Lianne's mother nodded, and Gareth got up and walked outside, closing the door behind him.

"What is it, Aly?"

"Why did you do that to Alan?"

"Do what?"

"Don't lie to me, Gareth." Aly whispered harshly. "Alan arrived for supper with my family in a bruised and tattered mess. When I was healing him, he told me everything."

"I did it for you."

"For me? Explain that to me, please."

"If I couldn't marry you, he needed to know how to protect you when I wasn't around."

"So you brutally beat him up?"

"It was an accident." Gareth said meekly.

"Gareth, you are more than twice the swordsman Alan is. You could have easily killed him tonight! Was this some desperate last attempt to marry me? Believe me, if it was, I am flattered. But it would have failed! You would have been arrested for murder if things had gotten out of hand! And my father still would have refused to let us marry, because you murdered the man he had in store for me!"

"I wasn't trying to kill him." Gareth argued back. "I didn't even want to hurt him."

"Then go apologize to him." Aly ordered.

"What?"

"Go apologize." she repeated, as a flash of anger became visible

"I would, Aly, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because...as bad as this makes me sound...I am not sorry. Yes, I didn't mean it, but I think deep down there was a part of me that wanted him dead."

Aly shook her head. "Where is the man I fell in love with and am still madly in love with? He is a gentleman, and he would realize that he made a mistake. He would suck up his manly pride and apologize! That is one of the things I love about him...he isn't arrogant."

With that, Aly marched off, leaving Gareth feeling like a small child who had just been chastened by his mother. Only he felt much worse than his mother had ever made him feel. He sighed, and then stuck his head in the room. "Mother, father, I'll be right back. I have an errand I need to do quickly."

Review Reply

xxTunstall Chickxx: I have no problem having you be repetitive. There are a few people at my school tend to think I am not much good at anything (and they tell me as much), so if you have something good to say about my writing, I can always use it (even if you tell me a million times)

The Shang Kudarung: Your right, that kind of reviews you send are mush better than screaming UPDATE SOON, and leaving. Thanks for reviewing.

zropin: Good, I am glad you like it. The person you were thinking of in your review is Ralon, and don't worry, I have planns for the two of them...(instert evil laugh here) I'll leave what I mean by plans for Alanna and Ralon up to your imagination...although I am pretty sure you won't be able to guess it...but feel free to try!

chico wildcat: Thanks!

Kate of Carlay: Yes, she is with Alan...for now. Just remember, the story isn't over until the author writes "The End"...that's all I am saying on that matter for now...

brezzybrez: Thanks!