A/N: Sorry for the delay again! School has been getting so hectic lately! Dang those tests and papers! But anyway, here's the next chapter…the men of the Own get some fun ideas… :D
Chapter Twenty-Four: Upping the Stakes
"She also bet on the contests held in the early evening: archery matches, footraces, and wrestling…After games, the men formed small groups, building little fires around the bunkhouses and barracks…"
-Tamora Pierce, Lady Knight
One night after the contests, the men of the Own sat around a small fire, talking and joking. Dom was among them, contributing to the conversation liberally. They were talking about the contests.
"I would've won a ton if Fulcher here hadn't lost to that soldier," remarked Lofren, speaking of the bet he had placed on Fulcher to win the footrace.
"Yeah, and the ten others that came in before him," said Wolset grinning. He had bet on the soldier and therefore was happy.
"And I can say as much for your archery skills," retorted Fulcher.
Wolset frowned, "Archery has never been my strong point."
"And what is?" questioned Fulcher, "Sewing?" The men laughed at that.
Before Wolset could reply however, Dom interrupted, "Too bad there isn't a contest to see who can jump highest, for Wolset would easily win. Just put his bum in front of the nearest fire."
The group of men burst out laughing.
"There's nothing to laugh about," said Wolset. Then he rubbed his backside mock-seriously, "It still hurts…"
This caused another round of laughter. As Dom laughed, his gaze happened to catch sight of a very familiar figure in the distance. Focusing in on it, Dom smiled when he saw Kel, standing in the middle of the fort and talking to Neal. She looked so pretty in the moonlight…
Sensing his gaze, she glanced over at him quickly. He could see the small curve of her lips from where he sat as she turned back to Neal. Just that small evidence of recognition brought a wide smile to his face.
"Lady knight alert," said Fulcher, grinning as Dom shoved him lightly.
"Don' tell me she's still with that other bloke," said Wolset, clearly in disbelief.
Before Dom could reply, Lofren spoke up, "You need to show her what she's missing!"
"Yeah, get her attention!" agreed Fulcher.
The men chorused their agreement. Then Wolset came up with the idea that Dom should take part in the contests held each night in order to get the lady knight's attention. The men all agreed with great enthusiasm.
While his men discussed the various ways he could get Kel's attention, Dom was having a very difficult time keeping his amusement concealed. If only they knew how much of her attention he had been getting recently…
"So what do y' think, Dom?" asked Wolset. "Are you up for it?"
Dom laughed, "Up for what exactly?" He had been thinking about Kel and therefore hadn't been listening.
"Stealing Lady Kel's attention!"
Grinning to himself, Dom asked, "And how do you suggest I do that?"
"Enter the contests of course! Lady Kel always places bets on them, so you should get her to place her bet on you. You know, get her attention!" encouraged Wolset. Again all the men chorused their agreement, encouraging him as well.
Glancing back at Kel and then at his ignorant men, Dom smiled. "Okay, I'm going to try my best to steal the lady knight's attention." Besides, it could prove to be entertaining, and perhaps, from Kel, rewarding…
"Are you going to be bettin' on any of the lads tonight, Lady Kel?" Wolset asked her the following night as the contests were again about to start.
She glanced out at all the men beginning to congregate, either to participate in the contests or place their money on those most likely to win. It was a beneficial way to get them to have some fun- as well as train at the same time.
"Of course," she told him, smiling, "though I might lose my money, I take as much enjoyment watching as the rest of you do."
"Are you, uh, watchin' for anyone in particular?" he asked carefully.
She laughed, "What do you mean?"
"You know, is there anyone you…favor tonight?"
"You mean over all the others?" She laughed, "No, of course not. Why do you ask?"
"Just wonderin'," he replied innocently.
The two of them then began to discuss the contestants, commenting over who would most likely win certain events.
Kel was discussing who she thought would win the footrace, when suddenly Wolset looked out at the contestants and said, "Is that- is that Dom out there?" Kel turned to look.
Though Wolset had sounded surprised to see his sergeant in the group of competitors warming up, really it was no surprise to him at all. The men in Dom's squad had worked out the plan that morning, to insure that Kel would notice the sergeant. He watched Kel curiously glance over at Dom. A satisfied grin showed on Wolset's face as he watched Kel look at Dom, as if she hadn't noticed him before he had conveniently pointed Dom out. Wolset felt smugly content with his success- not knowing that the lady knight was acting as well.
Of course she had noticed Dom. Her eyes were constantly drawn to him whenever he was around, and that night was no exception. Before Wolset had approached her, she had already noticed Dom in the crowd of contestants, laughing and joking. In fact, she had been enjoyably observing Dom when Wolset had come up to talk to her.
"It looks like it," she said, trying to sound casual.
"I didn't know he was goin' to be competin'," said Wolset, "I'm goin' to have to include him in the pool then." Then he looked at Kel, "Would you like to be the first t' bet on our sergeant?"
Looking back at Wolset, Kel wanted to say yes, but refrained. What would it look like if she bet on him for every event? Instead, she placed her money on the soldier who had won the night before in the archery competition, the first event of the night.
After all the bets were made, the event started. Round after round flew by with men being eliminated and others moving on, the arrows cutting through the air and landing on the targets with soft thumps. In the final round, six men were left. The man she had bet on remained- as did Dom. Though she and Dom tried not to acknowledge each other too much in public, Kel couldn't help but watch him throughout the competition. Dom had looked up to find her eyes on him more than a few times. The small quirk of his mouth and the twinkle in his eye he gave her made her want to approach him, but she didn't. Her thoughts must have shown, for Dom's grin widened.
As the final round commenced, everyone watched. The first few men's shots were all close to one another's. Then Kel held her breath while Dom shot. His arrow landed on the target, clustered around where the other arrows had fallen. It was a good shot. However, the soldier she had bet on, coming behind Dom, pinned his arrow right in the middle of the target. After the man behind him couldn't beat it, he won. Dom came in fourth.
Wolset approached her afterwards to give her the coins she had won for betting on the winner. As he did so, Kel caught Dom approaching, amusement showing in his blue eyes as he said, "Collecting your reward?"
"Yeah, she didn't want t' bet on you," said Wolset before Kel could reply.
"Is that so?" said Dom, a smile tugging at his lips as he looked at Kel.
"Well I didn't want to lose my money," she replied, her hazel eyes twinkling.
Wolset laughed loudly. "And lose you didn't, Lady Kel," he said as he placed the last coin in her hand.
"Whose side are you on?" Dom asked him.
"Clearly not yours," he replied, holding up his own coin purse which clanked with coins. Then he continued on, handing out the money to those who won.
Shaking his head, Dom looked back at Kel.
"So are you going to be running in the footraces?" she asked him.
"That depends," he said, grinning. "Are you going to bet on me?"
She pretended to think on it. "I don't know, one of Sergeant Gavrain's men is rumored to win…"
"You mean you're going to pick him over me? And here I thought you liked me…"
Kel smiled, and replied, "Liking you doesn't have anything to do with not wanting to lose my money."
"But aren't you supposed to show favor for the man you like?" he asked playfully.
"And what kind of rumors would that start if I betted constantly on you?"
He grinned, loving the playful banter between them, "The right kind."
"I'd rather not lose my money."
"Then how am I supposed to win your favor?"
She smiled, her eyes bright with amusement, "I think you can find a way." Then moving passed him, she said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go place my bet on Sergeant Gavrain's man for the first race…"
Dom watched her go, grinning as his eyes followed her. He liked this playful side of Kel. And he would find a way to gain her favor- by winning the footrace.
The last round of the footraces rolled around, and Dom was still doing well. The last event which he entered, and Sergeant Gavrain's man was favored to win, was a race of two laps around the fort's walls. As the men walked to the starting line, Dom placed himself right beside Sergeant Gavrain's man.
As Dom talked to the man next to him, he glanced over to where Kel was standing. He was pleased to find her watching. Before this race had started, he had conveniently bumped into the lady knight- as his men had planned for him to do- and asked who she'd be betting on for this last race. She again said she favored Sergeant Gavrain's man, that playful look back in her eye as she said it. And even though he had been doing well and bets were starting to turn in his favor for this race, he waited to see who Kel would bet on.
Dom watched as Wolset approached her to place her bet. She glanced at him and Dom raised his eyebrow in question, his eyes challenging her to bet against him. Kel turned back to Wolset and, in plain view of Dom, she said the other man's name and placed her money in Wolset's outstretched hand. She, in turn, was challenging him.
He met her gaze fully, his determination to win showing defiantly in his humored eyes. He then looked at the soldier next to him, sizing him up with a sudden look of dislike of the man who Kel had bet on instead of him. Kel could tell he had every intention of beating him because of it. Though she felt silly to think it, she couldn't help but feel pleased at the thought.
Everyone waited in anticipation for the race to begin. Before it started, Dom gave Kel one last look, a look that told her he was going to make her lose her money by betting on the other man. The look made her stomach flutter in a pleasing way, and when the race started, it was all she could do not to shout 'Go Dom!'.
Immediately the soldier beside him took the lead of the pack as the rest of them followed closely behind. Though the fort was not as big as Mastiff and Giantkiller, a lap around the ramparts was not a short run, and the men that fell behind could attest to that. Sergeant Gavrain's soldier still stayed in the lead, but Dom was in the small group of men still behind him as well. As they started on their second lap, two more men fell back from the pack Dom was running with. Dom, Kel noticed, was keeping a steady pace as he and two other men trailed behind the favored soldier. One of them, growing tired, started to fall back slightly, soon leaving Dom and the other man left close behind the man in first. Then, by the middle of the second lap, Dom seemed to get his second wind, and began to pull away from the other man, gaining on the soldier.
"Move yer bum, Dom!" shouted Wolset from beside Kel.
She was doing her best to keep her mouth shut, although in her mind she was screaming for Dom to go faster. He was now on the heels of the other man. Kel was practically bouncing in her place as Dom then moved up alongside the other man, keeping pace with him, and as they rounded the last corner, Kel noticed the other man starting to look tired.
Around her his men shouted for him to go faster, their yelling so loud and encouraging that suddenly Kel heard herself shout, "He's getting tired, Dom! GO, Dom, GO!"
She was unaware of the looks his men gave her, surprised and pleased as she urged him on. Wolset grinned at them, for he knew she had bet on the other man, yet here she was cheering for Dom. All the men gave each other knowing looks, then again joined her in yelling.
As the finish line drew nearer, everyone was in an uproar, some yelling for the soldier, others yelling for Dom. Then, to a loud cheer from the crowd, Dom pulled out in front, and when he crossed the finish line, a good few feet ahead of the other soldier, the loudest cheers came up from his men- and Kel.
Immediately his men ran up to surround him, patting him on his back as he leaned over and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He felt like that was the fastest he had run in his life, and was happy to hear his men's congratulations.
"You did it!"
"Good goin', Dom!"
"Brilliant!"
"Nice job, she was yellin' for you louder than the rest of us!" said Wolset, swatting him on the arm.
"And you should have seen her cheerin'!" said Fulcher.
Dom looked up at them, just then realizing that they weren't congratulating him so much on his run but on the fact that Kel had been cheering for him.
"She was?" he asked, the voices all having sounded like a blur as he ran.
"Was she? Her eyes were glued on the race! She was cheerin' for you as if you were her own sweetheart!" Wolset told him proudly.
Dom couldn't resist smiling at that, but the men interpreted his smile for being pleased- and he was.
Seeing that his breathing was finally returning to normal, his men started to press him to go talk to her, encouraging him as they did so. Dom soon found himself approaching Kel, trying to look nonchalant as he headed straight toward her through the crowd, receiving congratulations along the way.
As he got closer, he saw her glance his way as she talked with Merric. Seeing that he was deliberately making his way toward her, she excused herself from Merric and walked toward him, amusement in her eyes as she congratulated Dom on his win. "Even though you did make me lose my money…" she added teasingly.
"You mean you still wanted that soldier to win?" he asked her carefully.
"Of course," she replied, smiling, "Why would I want the man I placed my money on to lose?"
"Because you were secretly hoping I would win."
He grinned at the look she gave him. "And where did you get an idea like that?"
Dom moved closer to her, his grin still in place as he told her softly, "My men informed me that you were cheering me on as if I was your own sweetheart…" He was pleased by the small blush that appeared on her face.
"You mean they noticed?" she asked, cringing slightly.
Dom chuckled, "That's why they ran up to congratulate me. They couldn't wait to tell me." Then he smiled down at Kel warmly, "They're trying to get us together."
Kel laughed, returning his smile with a warm one of her own. "I think they're a little late," she told him quietly.
"Yes, but they don't know that. It's been amusing to hear the plans they concoct. Do you know that's why I'm competing tonight? They thought it a good way for me to get your attention." Looking at her as she laughed, he then asked her, "Did it work?"
"Perhaps," she told him with a grin.
"Then can I tell them that I have won your favor?" he joked.
"Now, don't think my favor is that easy to win," she told him mock-seriously, "A girl has to set standards you know."
Grinning attractively, Dom asked, "And what must one do to win your favor? Save you from carpentry duty once more?"
A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. "I don't think I have to worry since you told the whole Realm how horrible I am with hammer and nails," she told him. He smiled at the recollection.
"Fine, then should I win another race for you?" he asked. "Or better yet, how about you pick the event and I shall win it for you."
Kel laughed, "Are you that confident that you could win any event I choose? That's pretty bold…"
"You're right," he concurred in thought. "Perhaps we should up the stakes then…you know, sweeten the deal…"
"And what do you have in mind?"
Dom grinned at her flirtatiously, "How about a kiss." She eyed him closely, a sparkle alighting her hazel eyes as he continued, "If I win, I get to kiss you…to a slow count of twenty."
A/N: If I was Kel I would make him enter a race he would be sure to win with those stakes! Haha! I'll update soon! I'll make sure it comes faster than these last two, really! :D