Chapter 23: Unpleasant Surprises

Ambling alongside Kel, Adalia couldn't help but be frustrated. They had been searching for a Tauros that had been reported of being in the vicinity, but as of yet they had had no sign of where it may be.

"Where is it?" Adalia grumbled at Kel.

Kel turned in her saddle to see Adalia settled lightly on Sora, staring intently into the trees on either side of the trail. "How am I supposed to know?"

Adalia rolled her eyes, "You are the one with the marvellous tracking sparrows; you tell me."

"Relax. We will find them in time. In case you have forgotten, this forest is very large. Huge. Gigantic. As if it will be easy to find one Tauros amongst all this greenery. If you are to last as my squire, I must insist that you realise that we can't have action all the time."

Adalia sighed, "I guess you are right."

"You know it. Now be quiet." Kel could still hear the girl shifting in the saddle, and grinned. This is entertaining.

Adalia looked behind, turning in the saddle to be facing backwards. She observed the long line of soldiers, each of which were talking amongst themselves.

"I think you're the wrong way around." A voice said from her left side.

Adalia span back round to face the front, and then searched for the person whose voice it was.

She saw sparkling hazel eyes settled on her, a mischievous grin on his face; it was the man she recognised as Steve from the day she pulled out the dagger (and replanted it) in front of the Own's mess. She examined his face, and seeing no ill meaning behind his words, grinned, "I was getting so bored of being the right way around, that I decided to make it more interesting."

He shook his head, "Did it work?"

"Unfortunately, no." Adalia said, sighing.

"Never does."

Adalia raised an eyebrow, "And you know this because…?"

"It's always boring until we get the scent – then it gets interesting."

Adalia scratched her chin. "I am Adalia."

"Steve. Nice to meet you." They shook hands and continued following Kel and Dom, scanning the tree line.

"How did you do it?" Steve asked after a while.

Adalia grinned wryly, "Half crow. What did they do with it?"

"I had heard that, but it sounds…"

"Weird. I know. Mix that with the Lioness being my grandma and I am unique."

His eyes lingered on her purple, "Yeah, I saw the similarities."

Feeling a little self-conscious, she turned back to scanning the tree line and sought for another subject, "What did they do with the dagger?"

"Still trying to get it out. The problem with that is that they have to climb the tree."

"Has anyone fallen?" Adalia asked, curious.

He grinned, "Only the Giantkiller himself."

Adalia burst into giggles. Tears streaming from her eyes, she gasped out, "WHAT?!"

He was laughing as well, delighting in the memory, "Well, the problem was that Jon had sent a messenger after him, and being our one and only crafty Knight Commander, he got it into his head to join in the competition to avoid the messenger. He was climbing to the top, and he stepped onto a small branch, and – get this – it broke! He came tumbling down the tree!"

He was overcome with mirth, and burst into laughter alongside Adalia. Managing to catch his breath, he forced out, "That's not the least of it though! The messenger just happened to have the honour of breaking his fall!"

Both broke into laughter, unable to stop. Adalia was picturing the enormous Raoul doing something as undignified as falling out of a tree. "What happened to the messenger?"

Taking a big breath, he gathered some composure; "He was fine after some healers got through with him."

"Raoul, on the other hand, said that he had gained a resistance to healers, so the King couldn't call on him while he was recovering!"

After the two had finished laughing at the formidable Knight Commander, they settled into a companionable silence, both searching the tree line for the illusive Tauros.

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At night they set up camp and Adalia went with Jump to help hunt.

Upon returning with some game, she approached the fire and handed it to the men who would prepare it for the meal, and then settled down next to Kel, who had just finished collecting water.

She watched, interested, as sparrows flew over to Kel and gave her signals that meant 'nothing.' Adalia had been forced to learn the simple signals that the animals had learnt so they would be able to protect Haven, a refugee camp that Kel had been in command of.

Most settled on or around Kel, and some settled on Adalia or other men close to them.

"So. How have you found your first month as my squire?"

Adalia, who had been dwelling on her friends and hoping that they were all right, snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her knight master, surprised. "It can't have been that long."

"Oh, but it has." Kel grinned, enjoying the unusual sight of her squire being completely bewildered. It didn't happen often.

Adalia propped her hand on her chin, looking thoughtful, "Now I see. You are conveniently forgetting the time you knocked me out for a full day. That means that technically it hasn't been a month until tomorrow." She kept her voice light and thoughtful; her expression not changing even when Kel scowled at her.

"I told you, that wasn't my fault. You should have raised your shield a bit more."

Adalia grinned wryly, "I'm not likely to forget that any time soon. But remember that I told you crows have an aversion to long poles."

Kel sighed and shook her head, deciding to abandon the conversation that they had had many times before, and left Adalia in peace.

Adalia grinned slyly and turned back to watching the dancing flames.

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Early in the morning Adalia found herself awake and glaring at the roof of her tent. She stubbornly got out of bed, found something to clip her long black hair out of her face and snuck out of her tent stealthily, making her way towards the lake that was not far from their camp.

The only reason she had woken up early was that she felt like there was a coiled spring inside her. The energy that she had been not able to expend while slumped upon her horses was going to make her scream in frustration if she didn't expend it soon.

Feeling anticipation rise, she started complicated drills with her sword, the steel creating a deadly wall between her and the world.

Having completed the most complicated sword drills she knew, she moved on to hand-to-hand moves, working methodically through patterns that she had completed endlessly through her page years, as well as quite literally in her sleep when forced out of bed by her Evil Personal Shang. Her mind wandered as she left her muscles to follow the well-known drills perfectly, breath coming more and more quickly as she wore herself out more and more.

She did not know how much time had passed since the beginning of her exercises, but glimpsing at the sun, she realised that it must be about past time when the company would have woken. Lightly slapping her head and thinking, Idiot, she walked towards the water, kneeling down to splash the sweat out of her face that she had gathered through her remonstrations.

That was when she heard a loud bull cry, sounding on the edge of insanity. It shook her to her core as she forced herself to slowly get to her feet and turn around. Her worst fear confirmed, she stood still, taking a second to recognise the half bull, half human beast that she knew to be called a Taurus.

Oh shit.

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Disclaimer: Not TP

Hmm. I know this is small but well, since I am putting two up at once I guessed that it wouldn't matter, especially since the others should be long(er). NE ways I hope ya like it.