Chapter 13: A Million Unsaid Words

The information Dom had gotten about a centaur attack hadn't been completely wrong. They found out later that the band of centaurs had been on their way to attack the town that Dom had gotten the information from, but when they heard of the wedding celebration at Mindelan, the fief suddenly seemed to be the better catch. What the centaurs saw was a castle full of rich, defenseless nobles with the bonus of the crown princess and princess.

What they didn't bargain for or think about was the fact that ninety percent of those nobles were knighted war veterans who rushed to arm up as soon as the alarm was sounded from Mindelan's walls. The men rushed to the stables while the women got to work, some hurrying to collect their husbands or father's weapons while other went to hurry children off to a safer area of the keep. Everyone did their part and the centaurs fortunately for the human inhabitants of Mindelan, had no clue what they were getting themselves into.

Kel hastily tied the bottom of her skirts into a knot to keep them out of her way as she saw the rush of centaurs tumble out of the trees. A loud horn call blasted from behind them and Kel knew that Nari had reached Dom. Well this is a wonderful state to be in, Kel thought with a grimace. Here she was about to be defending her former home with nothing but a fancy gown and a dagger she'd shoved into her stockings for protection.

She was about to call to a guard to pass her a helm, but suddenly she was thrust into a feeling of déjà vu. Tobe was running up the steps to the wall, her chain mail shirt in one hand and round helm in the other. Cora was not far behind Tobe, Kel's bow and quiver cradled tightly in one arm as she dragged at her skirts with the other. Kel breathed a sigh of relief as she dawned the mail and helm before she gratefully took her bow from Cora.

"Tobe, can you help saddle the horses?" Kel had seen Neal and the rest of her year mates run for the stables as her mother and a few other women had come up to the walls, bows in hand. Tobe nodded and was off without a word while Kel turned to Cora, frowning at her niece. "Thank you, Cora, but for Goddess sake get back inside. Someone will have to keep Hattie and Lorraine from throwing a fit."

Cora smiled and Kel watched her progress through the corner of her eye as the young woman headed back to the safety of the castle. Kel breathed a sigh of relief and a silent prayer to the Goddess when the door was shut just as arrows rained upon them from the centaur archers. There was about twenty or so of them, but Kel didn't waste time counting as she worried about stringing her short bow as quickly as possible.

"Fire at will!" The order came from Anders who had limped up to the wall to order his guards. If it was disconcerting for him to be placed between his mother on one side and Yuki on the other, both holding the deadly Yamani long bows, Kel's brother didn't show it. Kel fired a griffin feather arrow and had already reached for another as one centaur fell with two arrows through his throat, one from Kel and the other from the guard next to her. Another went down, an arrow in his chest. The archers on the walls took almost five centaurs down, but their arrows only wounded most. The centaurs, pushed on by the thoughts of the treasures inside the keep, kept coming. Kel fired another arrow that struck firmly through the shoulder of a dappled grey centaur.

"Open the gate!" Kel took a risk and glanced down into the courtyard, her two other brothers and many of her friends were down there, saddled and armed, ready to take the enemy on the ground. Kel frowned as she saw Merric among them, her heart going out to both him and Lorraine. This was most likely not how they wished to spend their wedding night. She wished she were down there with them, but quickly came to her senses as a centaur's arrow skidded off the top of her helm. Her eyes were only on the fight from that second forward.

The battle didn't last long after the gates opened. As the group of knights struck from the front, Dom's squad struck from the back. None of the centaurs threw down their weapons in surrender and were therefore picked off by the archers as they tried to run. When the last of the enemy lay on the ground, the knights and Own met in friendly greeting, patting each other on the back. A roar of cheers erupted from the wall and taking it as a sign their men were safe, the women who hadn't joined the guard on the walls peeked their heads out of the castle door before filtering out to take in the scene for themselves.

Kel's eyes instantly scanned the ground and it wasn't long before she found who she was looking for. Dom was there, standing next to Neal as they talked in low voices. Each had a similar smile on their faces as Neal rested a hand on his cousin's shoulder. Kel was reassured of both their safety, but her eyes still refused to leave Dom. Her heart raced and her breath hitched in her chest. When she finally turned her eyes to something else, it was only to see if any of their own had been hurt.

She counted faces, family members, friends. Merric and reentered through the gate and after stripping off his mail shirt and flinging it at a laughing Owen, pulled his new wife into his arms. Inness, Kel realized was the only one on the ground, an arrow stuck through his arm, but Neal was already kneeling down beside him. Yuki brushed past Kel seconds later to go see if there was anything she could do to help.

The world was still spinning, all around her people moved, lovers embraced, brothers clasped one another's shoulders thankfully, but Kel only managed to pull her helmet off her head. She rested it on the top of the wall, her legs and hands both shaking.

"Lady Kel? Kel, are you alright? You're not hurt are you?" Tobe was as worried for her health as he had been five years ago, but that wasn't the only similarity to the battle of Northwatch. When Kel finally looked up from where her hands grasped the wood with white knuckles, there was only one pair of eyes she wanted to meet. Her eyes searched the ground where Dom had just been, but when she didn't immediately see him, Kel panicked and rounded to search the courtyard below.

"Kel, what's the matter?"

The lady knight didn't hear her old servant. As soon as Dom walked through the gate, his eyes searching the crowd until finally his eyes met Kel's, she heard nothing but her own heart beat, saw nothing but the question written all over Dom's face.

It was impossible to recall later how with shaking legs she made it onto solid ground. Before she knew it she had descended the stairs and was walking across the courtyard towards him. All she could remember was the look on his face and the dire need to get to him as soon as possible. She had missed him last time. She wasn't going to lose another chance. The letter he had written her was still tucked safely down the front of her dress and it served as a constant reminder of what she wanted and what she wasn't going to give up a second time at no matter how many centaurs were attacking.

Everyone who saw the look of searing determination on Kel's face that evening only stared after her as they stepped out of her way. Dom couldn't move, Mithros he could hardly breathe and Kel felt nearly the same way, but didn't let it stop her.

Dom opened his mouth when she was but a few feet away. "Kel—" he started, his voice nearly failing him but it didn't get a chance to. The lips that were still as soft as he remembered cut off his own. Any words he had been thinking of saying vanished. All reservations ceased and every dream he'd had of having Kel back in his arms became a reality. Dom surrendered to it, his arms wrapping around Kel tightly as her own were thrown around his neck.

The kiss was the most passionate the two had ever shared. It was filled with a million of unsaid words, thousands of unadmitted wishes and secrets. Nothing could have dragged one away from the other at that moment. Not the fact that over a hundred people were watching them, some with triumphant grins, others with jaws nearly on the ground in shock, most with bewildered expressions of surprise. Not the fact that a pin could have dropped on the ground and it would have reverberated off the walls without a problem. Silence entrenched every single person at Mindelan, but Dom and Kel would not have known it. Each had been waiting for this moment for too long to care about anything else. Only the flapping of the sparrow's wings made any noise as they fluttered around the couple in excitement.

When finally each pulled back a few inches, they still cared about little else than staring into the other's eyes. Dom's hands moved up so his fingers carefully stroked his love's cheek. Kel smiled without any reservation, one hand running through his dark locks.

"I was considering a poem…" Dom started to explain, the sly grin that Kel had missed pulling his wide mouth apart still further. "But I didn't want to completely handicap myself."

"Good. I might have had to burn it," Kel teased, resting her forehead against his. The two stood like that for several seconds, wrapped in each other's embrace, not aware of the second roar of cheers that had erupted from the shocked crowd around them. Instead Kel pulled back to look fully in Dom's eyes.

"Dom," she started softly. "Marry me?"

Kel took the rough, deep kiss he initiated as a yes.