Keladry of Shang—chapter five

An:ok, I'm sorry it's been sooo long, I just couldn't bring myself to stop reading everyone else's magnificent work and get to writing mine.

Here it is!

End of chapter 4:

Kel sighed. "I'd better start at the beginning."

Chapter 5:

"There has always been a prophecy within the shang ranks that one day a warrior would rise, and she would outrank all others, as the mightiest warrior in the world. It is said that her allegiance alone could sway the tide of a battle. The masters of the shang art were to recognize her by her ranking mark. The highest has always been dragon, but this warrior's mark would be that of the Goddess. Her likeness would be carved into the Chosen One's arm. The incarnation of a goddess on earth, the shang Goddess." Kel rubbed the spot on her arm where the tell tale brand had been imprinted on her. She sighed wearily. "and as you can tell from my rash earlier comments, it's me."

The silence lasted a full two minutes as everyone took this in and attempted to process it. Thayet finally asked, " Why is it necessarily a her? Not that I'm not glad it is."

"I don't know, I suppose it could be because the goddess is female." Kel replied, thinking hard.

"I refuse to believe such absolute nonsense. Prophecies. Bah! They're just meaningless twiddle twaddle. She wants to impress us, so that we do't challenge her and see how completely incompetent she is," Wyldon exclaimed vociferously.

"Oh?" Kel asked, her smile turning malicious. She had waited eight years to put him in his place. "Well then, bring me a challenger, and when I beat him, don't complain that the Lioness and I are good fighters because we are chosen by the Goddess, because I'm sure you remember Priyanka of King's Reach, who disappeared over a year ago. She "disappeared" to shang, and is now one of our most talented adepts."

The group gasped and Faleron chuckled. When they stared at him, he explained,"She always said she would do it, and she did. I'm happy for her." Thayet, Alanna and Kel smiled at him approvingly. Wyldon glared and sulked as his last excuse to call girls weak disappeared.

Kel turned back. "Who is your challenger? Hurry up and decide, I don't have all day." Wyldon rose stiffly and ordered, " Come with me," before bowing to the royal couple and leaving the room. Kel followed him. Striding confidently out of the room. The rest of the group looked at each other before silently agreeing to watch the match and judge Kel's skills.

Everyone entered the knights' mess hall. The noise level died down. Wyldon cleared his throat. " This is the former lady page, Keladry of Mindelan. She has requested a match with anyone in this room. Who will meet her challenge?" There was silence as her one-time contemporaries gazed at their changed companion. Finally a voice at the back of the room called out, "I will." Joren of Stone Mountain stood there. He had changed very little, except to grow taller and more masculine. No one would mistake him for a girl now. He leaned casually against one of the beams supporting the ceiling, smirking at his beautiful archnemesis with an air of total confidence.

Kel looked into eyes and saw that the old hatred was still there. She nodded curtly at Wyldon her eyes never leaving Joren's face. They looked at each other silently, daring each other to look away. Finally Wyldon cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence and startling both warriors. Kel sighed and demanded curtly, "what are your weapons of choice?"

"We will fight first with pole arms, then with swords, and lastly we fight unarmed, one round per type of combat." Joren said. As the challenged, it was his right to choose, and he chose to humor his strengths. Kel hid a smile. She was magnificent with anything, but Joren had unknowingly picked items that humored her strongest abilities as well as his own. This match would be extremely enjoyable.

Everyone assembled in the courts, eager to watch the most exciting duel in a very long time. Everywhere, whispers could be heard as people gossiped and made bets with each other about the outcome. Nearly everyone favored Joren.

Kel calmly ignored them all, taking a spear offered to her by one of the pages and quickly settling into the customary shang battle stance used for long weapons. This stance was different form the one Joren, as a knight, had been taught. He sneered at her, thinking that she was unlearned and scoffed when she remained unmoved. An angry fluch creeped up his neck; he was disappointed at not getting a rise out of her. "Die, Lump!" He cried, charging at her. He thrust his long spear at her, trying to disembowel her. Kel impassively stepped just out of his reach before using the sharp blade at the end of the pole to slice off the front half of his weapon. She sighed internally, disapproving of the way he had lost his cool. Joren, enraged, resorted to the time-old trick of insults. He yelled at her andspat on the ground, cursing her name. He then rattled off a long list of insults. Kel merely raised an eyebrow at him. She snorted when she heard some the young men in the audience sigh dreamily at this. Rolling her eyes, she leaped at joren nearly faster than the eye could see, attacking him with a ferocity that caused the Stump to take a step back in fright.

He then purpled with rage and subtly tried to trip Kel as she passed by him, still attacking Joren, who was desperately trying to fend her off. However, Wyldon was so slow comapared to the shang Chosen that he missed, and his momentum from swinging his leg caused him to fall backwards onto his rump with a resounding thump. Jon sighed disapprovingly, and was forced to allow his Champion to punch Wyldon in the face for such blatant disregard of honor. Thayet glared at the training master from her place by her husband's side.

Suddenly they all snapped back to attention, Kel had just one the first round of combat. Wyldon spluttered outrageously, claiming that "the chit had cheated" and other nonsense. Kel smirked.

"Wyldon. If I have cheated, and am, in fact, no good at all, would you do me the honor of teaching me a lesson?"

Wyldon paled visibly but remained silent. Kel snapped her head around and glared at him icily. "Wyldon of Cavall, face your humiliation like a man." She ordered him mercilessly, her eyes boring into his very soul. "Come and feel my vengeance."

An: that's all folks! I am really sorry it took so long. I have been reading fanfics instead of writing them. I am so sorry!

Mythicalmoonstar:thank you so much for telling me about the use of shang godess. I had a feeling I had seen it somewhere but couldn't remember, so I just used it. I am not copying any particular fics, it's more that I am writing something very cliché and used. But I can't help it, I LOVE shang fics! )

Jumping-jo: I am not sure where this prophecy thing will go. I mean, the prophecy sounded like a good idea when I thought about it, but now that I have written it, I don't know what to do. Any ideas?

Bloddsoakedtiger: I am really glad you like the story! I am sorry it's been over a year since I updated, but so much has happened… I am starting to lean towards k/j too, even though I haven't even counted the votes yet. P

The eternity: you are right, kylaia al jmaa should be incredibly old by now. However I sort of incorporated an idea from a comic series I adore, called rurouni kenshin, which is that, with the right training, you can be so physically fit that you retain the physical aspects of youth even into old age. I have told bloodsoakedtiger that I was leaning towards k/j, but I certainly haven't ruled k/n out. It's true that those quotes could totally set up for a romance, however they could also describe the incredible sibling closeness of kel and neal. Besides, even though I love neal, I am by no means a yuki hater! About the goddess tattoo… I actually envision it as her entire figure, not just trhe goddess's face. I see the image as kind of like that girl Hercules likes int the Disney cartoon of Hercules. (what' her name?)

Everyone else, thanks so much for your reviews!