Dislcaimer: I do not own any of the character or places.
"What is it My Lord?"
"The good new or the bad new first?" asked Lord Raoul. She could tell that he really wanted to tell her the good news.
"The bad one first please. To get it over with."
"An army of several hundred was spotted crossing the Vassa close to here. It is moving rather slowly. We assume that it will attack soon. It will not be this week, but probably the next week. All the Scaran forces across the border are deserted. We do not yet know what is the target. It could be New Hope, Mastiff or Giantkiller. All three fort will be, within the next week, heavily protected. We will add security to all three. You will take care of New Hope. I will be at Mastiff and Lord Raoul will be at Giantkiller. Here is a communication necklace. Put it on." She slipped the necklace on, as she noticed that Raoul and Lord Wyldon also wore one. "First company will be at Giantkiller, and the Second at Mastiff. You will hold the Third here. The moment there is an attack on New Hope you activate the necklace and we will rush here. If you feel the necklace go hot, rush to Mastiff with Third company. If it goes cold to Giantkiller. We will corner the scaran between the three companies"
She nodded. "Yes Sir"
"Now no one knows about this turn of events, and we do not want to ruin the atmosphere here. You will not inform anyone except, Sir Nealan, who will take your duty if you need to leave for Mastiff or Giantkiller, Capitain Flynndan of Third company, and the sergeants of the Third" said Lord Raoul
"Of Course" she replied
Then Lord Raoul grinned at her. "Now the good news Kel!"
He handed her a piece of parchment with the royal insignia on it. She carefully opened the seal.
Dear Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan,
We, Queen Thayet and King Jonathan, would like to thank you for your effort in the Scaran war. We know that we are indebted to you for the fall of the Killing Devices and of Blayce the Gallan. We would like to offer you our gratitude.
As a reward for you, we would like to dub you the Lady Knight Commander of the King's Own alongside of Sir Raoul. When peace will prevail, you will share the duty of Lord Raoul and lead the King's Own.
Sincerely
King Jonathan of Conte
Queen Thayet of Conte
Kel reread the letters several times. She was very well aware that her mouth was hanging open in disbelief.
Lord Wyldon smiled at her stunned expression. He personallythought that no one would do a better job as the commander of the king's own than her. "Congratulation Lady Knight Commander"
"Thank you My Lord" she replied automatically
"You've earned it, Keladry" said Lord Wyldon
She blushed "Coming from you it means a lot to me"
Lord Raoul and Kel left together. "Ok Kel, how about this. I do all the fighting in the field, you do the paper work and all the social event?" he asked her with a grin
"My Lord, You are a bad man" she replied.
He laughed "How about this. You lead the third since you know then so well and I remind the first who is the knight commander?"
"Sounds good to me" she said. He kissed her forehead. "Now go tell the people"
She ran to Dom "Guess what?" she asked excitedly.
Dom was at lost at what would make Kel so excited. "Meathead is stubborn?"
She laughed "Well yes, but that's not what I meant!"
"What did you mean" he then looked around to see if people were watching "my love" he finished when he saw no one close by.
"I got promoted" she replied smiling
"To what?" he asked.
"To Lady Knight Commander of the King's Own, so that makes me your superior!" she replied with a smile.
He smiled "I'm so happy for you. But do you know what that means now?"
"I can order you around?" she asked
"No" he replied with a shake of his head "Us poor soldier need our entertainment. What better way to entertain ourselves than with pranking our commander, or should I say commanders?"
She groaned "You better not prank me Domitan of Masbolle" she said
He just laughed. "Let's go tell your news to the Meathead, do you know which company you will ride with?" he asked, with a gleam in his eyes.
Seeing the gleam she answered "Well I asked to ride with the First, I mean they are so much better than the Second and the Third but apparently My Lord did not want to..." she couldn't finish as Dom pushed her a little and she fell down. "Fine" she said "I'm riding with the Third" He smiled as he bent down, hiding her from anyone who would happen to walk by, even if no one was there, and lightly kissed her.
"Now I'll get to keep an eye on you" he said.
She announced her news to the camp, who rejoiced that their Lady was being so honoured. Neal just looked at her and said "Great, now Dom will have even more time to corrupt you after all the hard work I put into you"
Tobe was very happy for her. He was so happy in part because she was extremely overjoyed at her promotion.
Her brothers had looked at her and whispered to one another "Damn it, she's green, greener than us and she's already a commander... oh well it will look good on the Mindelan's and maybe the girls will look our way more". Her sisters, who had arrived and decided to stay with Kel since they didn't know her very well, had just told one another "Wow, she may get so much praise, but I'll stand by what I said, that girl is made along the lines of a cow"
Iliane of Mindelan, who was also in New Hope, had heard her and asked Kel to put Orannie on the laundry detail until every sheet was wrung out.
That night she had a meeting in her study. Neal, Capitain Flyn and all the squad of the King's Own were present. She told them what Lord Raoul had told her. They all nodded and left after the meeting.
When they were all gone except Dom, he came over to her and put his arms around her. Nuzzling her neck he whispered "Everything will be fine Commander" she smiled at her new title.
He kissed her on the lips and left for his bed. The next morning Iliane of Mindelan came to find her daughter.
"Hello Keladry" she said as she poked her head in Kel's room.
"Mama" yelped Kel as she turned from a pattern dance. She ushered her mom in and prepared some green tea. Kel and Iliane sat on the floor with their Yamani cups.
"Keladry, I talked to Tobe last night" she said.
Kel looked up, intrigued. It was not what she had expected.
"I had heard of what you did to him, how you gave him hope. And it is clear in his eye. You are his saviour. He would do anything for you. I had heard of the fact that you wished to adopt him. Is that true?"
"Yes, Mother, I wish to adopt him" she replied, her face Yamani blank.
"Well my dear Kel, I believe I have all the paperwork here. Why don't we go tell my grandson that her is now part of my family?" said her mother.
Kel jumped up and hugged her around the waist.
"There, There, Kel. You will need to find him godparents, and witness', one who represent the crown, and two who you have known for a long time"
Tobe wondered what the Lady wanted. She never needed him around this time of the day. He went to go find her, dreading that she would leave him.
"Tobe come in" she said when he knocked on her door.
He came in and sat where she indicated. "Tobe, I need to talk to you about something. I know that your contract states you are an indenture servant for 7 years and you have not reached the fulfilment now" she started.
He felt himself being close to tears. Usually indenture servant would rejoice that their master would let them go before their time was up, but not him.
"I do not want you to be my servant anymore" she said. He felt his heart break. She was just like the other master he had had. She had given him the closest thing to a home and she was letting his dream fall apart. He hung his head low. "I want you to be my son"
His head snapped up. He stared at her "What?"
"I want to adopt you, I've got all the paperwork, the witness, everything. All I need now is for you to agree" she said. She looked at him in the eye "You mean a lot to me Tobe and I really want you to be my son. I will rexpect your choice if you choose otherwise and I will always care for you. But please consider it"
"Of course" he replied "Of course I'll be your son.... Mom" it felt so right to him to call her mom. He looked at her. He saw the joy in her eyes when he had called her mom.
Who would of believed it. Tobeis Boon, a Scaran by-blow, a indenture servant who had almost been whipped into servitude a year ago was now the son of the greatest Knight and a noble at that.
Three hours later, Neal, Raoul, Wyldon, Dom, Yuki and Alanna, who was actually only in an oval of purple fire, since she was at the coast, were in a semi circle facing the priestess. Around them stood the whole refugee camp and Third Company. In the middle stood Kel and Tobe. The Priestess addressed Kel. "Lady Knight Commander Keladry of Mindelan, You wish to take Tobeis Boon has your son, do you promise to always love him and cherish him and treat him like the son of your blood?"
"I do" she whispered looking at Tobe. She had to admit, he looked good today. He was wearing her colour.
"Tobeis Boon, Lady Knight Commander Keladry of Mindelan wishes to adopt you has part of her family, do you swear to treat her with respect and love and let her become your mother?"
"I do" he whispered, looking up at Kel.
The priestess grabbed Kel arm and made a small cut on her wrist, she did the same with Tobe. She united their hands together and tied them with a red ribbon. "You now are one. Your blood is shared. You are now Tobeis of Mindelan" This ceremony was Bazhir based. but ever since King Jonathan had become the Voice of the Tribe, this tradition had become a ritual whenever an adoption was taking place. The crowds erupted.
Neal and Yuki than swore to become godparents to Tobe. Lord Raoul and Alanne then agreed to the same term. Dom and Lord Wyldon and her mother signed as witness.
Keladry of Mindelan, a glorious 19 years old knight had a 12 year old son that she loved with all her heart.
Lord Wyldon and Lord Raoul left for their respective fort the next day. That day Kel spent matching up knights with squads. She had matched herself with Dom, Aiden and Quasim squads. She knew that she had chosen them because most of those mean were her friends, and they respected her. And Dom just gave her puppy eyes when she was making the decision and she couldn't resist the pleading in his eyes.
A week passed with several small skirmishes, which she made sure most new soldiers and knight knew the terrain and could obey her. It had been weird when she had yelled at Conal to follow her instructions. But he had looked at her, nodded and complied. He later told her not to worry about yelling at him. On the field she was the commander, not his sister.
Neal and Dom were playing chess together one day. Yuki was with Kel's mother therefore leaving Neal free.
"I wanted to ask you, how did Kel manage to get hit by that arrow?" he asked Dom
"I actually have no idea." He replied thinking. "I thought she was out of the path ahead of me. But then I turned to the right and I saw her fall."
"Did you see the archer?"
"No, she was between me and him" replied Dom
Neal looked at Dom, who was not paying attention to him and trying to get the next move right.
"Check mate, Meathead" he said has he rose and left. Neal stared at the board. "Damn it" he whispered.
Someone was pounding on her door. She opened it, to reveal Neal.
She let him in. "So Kel, you never answered me? Why did you put yourself in the path of the arrow?"
She stared at him. She thought he was over that. "It hit me, I wasn't aware that there was an archer" she did not want Neal to know the real reason.
"Really?" he asked "Because form the storied I've heard, you changed position before being hit, and I've looked at your wound. You threw yourself in the path of it, Why?"
She blushed "I couldn't see him hurt" she whispered.
He looked at her. "You love him" It was a statement, not a question.
She blushed and looked away.
When Neal left Kel's room, he decided he needed the help of a few people, but he was going to hook up his cousin with his best friend.
After a few days the horn sounded. She rushed to the wall. In front of New Hope stood an army of hundreds. The fight had come to New Hope after all.
Thank you for the reviews. once again if you find mistakes let me know and I will fix them. And i'm sorry to jenny-harkness for yet another cliffhanger! I just couldn't help myself! :) I hope you all like it!