dear all,

I really hope you enjoy this new chapter! Thank you so much to Lollypops101 for your lovely comment, you have no idea how much it means to me and inspires me to keep writing when school gets hard! Everyone, keep letting me know what you think of both my old and new chapters, and enjoy chapter 14!

lots of love

izzy

Chapter 14

Bandits

Not long afterwards, Kel reached her twentieth birthday. Much to her annoyance, all of her friends, who could, arranged for a celebration: a small banquet and party. She spent most of the day with her family, having spent the previous day celebrating with the Own. She had gotten to know many of the newer recruits over the past months because she and Dom often sat at the tables with the men. While she could tell that many of the men had issues, she had come to like a few of them: Rowan, who was slightly cocky but got along with everyone, Clayton, who had his brother's temper and flaming red hair, a sixteen year old named Floyd Sharpner, who was a bright young Mage with some of the best skills with a dagger Kel had seen, and Jerome, who rode his horse as though it was a moving mattress.

On the morning of her birthday, Kel woke to join her regular glaive group and continue training the newest ladies. They ended the session early to enjoy frothy green tea and give Kel some of her first presents. Ita, Leila and Arina together bought her a set of purple and green jewels that looked perfect with her eyes, while Margarry (and her father) bought her an elm bow and ivory quiver from Raven Armories. The queen and lady Alanna (who had secretly given Kel gifts throughout her page training) gave her a huge set of magic and charmed arrows.

Once back home, Kel's mother, father, brothers and sisters all gave her their various gifts, which included collection of Raven's throwing knives from her brothers and some new dresses from her mother and sisters. Various friends appeared at her door throughout the day offering gifts of all sorts; Raoul gave her a book on battle strategy and how it falls apart, Neal gave her charmed ring that lessons the impact of punches and kicks, and Yuki gave her a small collection of typical Yamani things that cannot be found in Tortall, including green tea, good luck charms of various sorts, a decorative shukusen and a few various weapons that you only see in the Yamani Islands: nunchaku, sai swords, shruiken, a kama scythe and a shuko claw, all of which Kel had been trained in whilst she lived in the isles.

However, the best gift was the one she got from Dom: a thin link, flexible but strong chain mail made with a stainless steel alloy that was designed to be lightweight but no less strong or attractive. The mail was long sleeved and reached down to her mid thigh and the thin links made it comfortable and safe without hindering any movement. It was clearly the work of Raven Armories and was thus very expensive but Dom insisted that it was worth every gold crown he spent on it.

Following on from her birthday, Kel and her brother Conal concluded that it was long past time that they returned to Mindelan to visit Anders, whose second son had just begun his Page training. It was a two and half days journey at a quick pace and given the good weather, they made it there in good time. The journey was largely uneventful with Conal opting to read whenever they took a break, during which Tobe would look after the horses. This did not bother Kel, who took every opportunity to practice what little training she remembered from the Yamani Islands with the various small weapons Yuki had given her. She was alright with the sai swords and the kama, and the shuko fit it well with her hand to hand combat. However, she could barely remember how to use the nunchaku and the shruiken. She would need to find one of the Yamani men who had opted to stay in Tortall with the princess and see if one could retrain her.

When Kel and Conal arrived in Mindelan, they were greeted by Anders and some of his younger children. It felt strange being back since the last time she was here was when the Grand Progress came through Mindelan on her sixteenth birthday. One of the biggest changes that she noticed was Anders, whose limp had gotten worse and whose hair had started to show signs of greying. Besides that, he'd lost weight and his skin was paler. When Conal asked if he was okay, he insisted that he was fine, he'd just been a bit ill. As a change of subject he brought Kel to the family room where he had left her birthday present: a new set of saddle bags that could hold more and were beautiful dark brown leather and polished to perfection.

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After five days at Mindelan, where Conal's constant insistence that Anders was unwell had grown tiresome to the extreme, Kel ventured into the area surrounding the house. She soon found herself at the clearing where she had defended a newborn kitten from a spidren with nothing but a stick until Anders and some men had come to her aid. The kitten was still at the house and would occasionally walk around the family room in search of the most comfortable place to sit.

She sat there for a while, half expecting to see the annoying boys from the village come out of the trees and taunt her.

She had lost track of time when she heard horns coming from the direction of her house. She sprinted.

Five horses were being held by stable hands but their riders were inside the house with her brothers. When Kel stepped into the living room, she recognized most of the men from the backs of their heads. There were also two women with them.

'Sergeant Wolset? What brings you to Mindelan?' She asked as the stout man and his companions rose. They included both Rowan and Clayton, both of whom had been assigned to Wolset's squad.

'Bandit attacks not far from here' Wolset replied solemnly.

'Where?' Conal asked.

'Calder's hollow.' Rowan replied. Calder's hollow was a small village less then half an hours ride from Mindelan.

One of the girls turned to face Kel, who recognized her instantly as Loey, one of Tobe's friends from the refugee camp, who had travelled to Tortall to join the riders. She said, 'The captain and Evin believe that the bandits are attacking all the small towns along the way to Mindelan. Though it seems that they weren't expecting you to be home, Milady.'

'Then let's give them a surprise.' Kel replied with a smile. Turning to Wolset, she asked 'where is the captain?'

About twenty minutes ride from Mindelan, the Own and some of the riders were camped in and around a small town that was likely the next target. Upon her arrival, Wolset led her straight to the town hall, where Kel saw Dom, Evin, some sergeants and rider group leaders bent over a plan and map, discussing how to block the bandits and protect the village.

Wolset cleared his throat before joining his peers, who all looked up and prepared to bow, except for Dom who smiled crookedly at her and pushed some short strands of his dark hair out of his eyes.

Kel smiled quickly before insisting that everyone who stood there knew her well enough to know that bowing is an unnecessary courtesy, particularly at a time like this.

The plan that they had put together was pretty good, but the was a small fault that they didn't consider: some of the bandits would attempt to escape through the small secluded goat paths or try to come round the back, both of which were not well defended.

That evening, third company and the seven riders groups that came with Evin were in position, some to block entry to the town and others to circle around and trap them. Kel was positioned with Wolset, Volorin, Osborn and their squads inside the town, hiding in the houses and buildings in small groups. Dom had the 2 squads and some of the riders groups outside the town, preparing to circle around the bandits. Evin had gone ahead to the next town with the remainder of the riders and third company in case the plan failed and the bandits went onto their next target.

After what seemed like an intolerably long time of waiting, the bandits crept into the center of town. Kel didn't dare move a muscle in case they heard her. Jerome, Qasim (a man in the Own with whom Kel had worked in her first year as a page) and one man from Osbern's squad whom Kel didn't really know were hidden in the same building, all straining to hear the conversation that the bandits were having.

One of them was saying that the village was too quiet while another smacked him over the head saying that the people were asleep and that this was a blessing for them.

A deeper voice joined the conversation, 'we need more women to entertain us! The ones you fools snatched from the last village are too stubborn and not enough fun!'

Kel clenched her glaive tighter, until she could feel her nails cutting into her palm and her knuckles cramping. She hated this man already.

The first man was saying that he was sorry and would find better women. The man with the deep voice must have been their leader.

He whispered loudly to some of his men telling them to enter each house, kill the men, take the loot and lead out the women. Those whom he liked would be taken to their camp, the others would be hung from the door frames of their own house.

Foot steps approached the house where Kel and her team had hidden so she rose, readjusted her grip in her glaive and clenched the hand on which she wore the shuko claw from Yuki. Various other weapons hung from her belt including her sword Griffon in case she needed them. The door was kicked down by one of the bandits and the fight began.