(-a/n- Hello! Skiing was awesome, we had a brilliant time as there was loads of snow and conditions were perfect :D unfortunately I'm now back at school with mock GCSE's in a week so I'm meant to be revising…yeah updates will be few and far between for the next two weeks I'm afraid. Anyway when I do update I'm trying to lengthen my chapters so at least they'll be long updates. Anyway I hope you all had a fantastic New Year…
Hyperbookworm, Shadowluck231, brezzybrez, Cheeseycraziness, Pie of Doomeh, AMulata, Ti-Ti, Me, Sammy, Yabberli, Aly the Spy, inuyashaswife12, Love's a four-letter word, darkjewelledassassin, after.a.hard.day, oirishgoddess, rvwr, On top of cloud 9, Mrs. Dom Masbolle, theknightofkonaha, Stoned Lorikeet, shamrockgirl07, Justanotheraddiction
katiebug123yay! That's what I like to hear! Now I just have to maintain the standards…lol Thanks as always :D
queenoftheostlersooh yes lots of lovely plot ideas were indeed born in France ;D Yup our R.E essay was legendary!
the. dead. addict.Don't worry my imagination escapes all the time! Yup drastic is in store…
Also here's another song for you guys!
Confusedknight xx
Reflection by Christina Aguilera
Look at me
You may think you see
Who I really am
But you'll never know me
Every day
It's as if I play a part
Now I see
If I wear a mask
I can fool the world
But I cannot fool my heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
I am now
In a world where I
Have to hide my heart
And what I believe in
But somehow
I will show the world
What's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection
Someone I don't know?
Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
There's a heart that must be
Free to fly
That burns with a need to know
The reason why
Why must we all conceal
What we think, how we feel?
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?
I won't pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
Kel ran her fingers over the smooth tempered metal of her sword, fingering the back of the blade quietly and pensively. Gripping the familiar handle she stood up slowly.
'Lady Keladry are you in there?' asked a tart voice.
Kel jumped and hurriedly slid the sword back into the scabbard, burying the weapon in her trunk. Shaking her head at her own folly she went to the door. If the sister hadn't bothered to knock on the door she would have been saying goodbye to the sword before she could say 'unfair.'
Kel opened the door and came face to face with Sister Maera.
'Sister,' she demurred and curtsied dutifully, her face devoid of any emotion, concealing the deep-seated dislike for the sister who had confiscated her glaive and revealed her past to the other convent girls.
'Why aren't you in your social interaction class?'
Kel said nothing.
'Answer me Keladry,' the Sister's tone was icy cold and full of loathing.
Kel looked up and met the narrowed grey eyes that were staring down at her.
'I went to the class but Dorna didn't want to talk, she seemed too intent on insulting my family. So I left.'
The Sister's eyes bulged. 'I don't like your impertinent tone,' she said, barely controlling her anger. A vein was pulsing on her temple and her nostrils were slits.
'You will return to Dorna at once and apologize for your rudeness. As a punishment you will not be allowed into the City of the Gods for the grand market in two weeks time. Instead you will stay here and reflect on thinking before you act and controlling that insolent tongue.'
Kel thought bitterly that if she did let her 'insolent tongue' loose, then her shouting and cursing of this whole godsdammed place -with the use of some of the more colourful language she'd picked up over the years- would send the Sisters and dainty convent girls into seizures.
Dismissing the idea, Kel followed dutifully, her eyes downcast and resigned herself to another half hour of insults. She knew that the next day she would be the main topic of gossip between Dorna and her air-headed friends, who would mutter in scandalized tones of her barbaric upbringing and unseemly manners.
The Page's Quarters, in the Royal Palace, Corus
Merric, Seaver, Roald, Cleon, Neal and a first year page named Owen had all crowded into Neal's room to study.
'I'm dying,' declared Neal dramatically as he flopped down onto his bed. 'Remember to put daffodils on my grave loved-ones.'
Merric sniggered.
'It's just a few kilos of lead weights,' said Owen practically. 'You're not going to die.'
Neal opened a bleary eye. 'Fine, you can wear my harness tomorrow and exercise with "just a few kilos of lead weights", then you would be able to understand the true depth of my pain and suffering.'
'You know Lord Padraig's methods of training aren't that different from the Stump's,' Seaver mused.
Neal's face darkened at the mention of Lord Wyldon. 'At least Lord Padraig is fair,' he said.
No one needed any further explanation as to what Neal was talking about, the memory of the injustice shown to Kel was still a sore topic.
Owen however blundered in as usual. 'I never knew her but I agree that it sounds completely unfair that she was made to leave. From what I've been told she got into some jolly fights and took Joren and his cronies down a step or two.'
'Unfair hardly covers it,' said Neal grimly, getting up off of the bed and walking to the window. Nowadays he often found himself staring out at the city, wondering what Kel was doing hundreds of leagues away.
When he had first heard from his sister that Kel was at the Convent he had been stunned. Kel wouldn't just give up like that. It had taken him a few days before it dawned on him that Kel may have had no choice. Neal tried not to think about what would happen if Kel came back in four years from now to be presented as a Lady of the Court.
He turned back into the room with a sigh, and went to make a start on his mathematics homework. For the rest of the evening they worked in an uncomfortable silence, which was broekn only by Owen's cheery whistling. The younger page seemed to be indifferent to the tension in the room.
Lord Wyldon had resigned as training master two months ago. He had left suddenly, giving no reason for his abrupt departure. Saying only that he chose Lord Padraig haMinch as his successor. The truth was that after Kel had left, the fights had not stopped; her friends had carried on with her war against bullying, almost in a tribute to their lost friend.
Then one day Lord Wyldon had caught Joren, Garvey and Vinson red-handed as they forced the chubby first-year Owen of Jesslaw to perform stupid errands, punching him for 'being to slow.' This had caused Lord Wyldon to reflect upon his training methods. He knew as well as any that the Chamber of Ordeal required a certain amount of flexibility in a person. Had he Lord Wyldon encouraged these boys causing them to become who they were? If that were true then perhaps Keladry was right to fight them.This had troubled Wyldon to the point when he decided that the Pages could benefit from a new training master. He'd been doing this job for ten years now and he much preferred active combat duty. Before I'm too old he thought sardonically, I'll get out there and fight for my country once more.
He requested that he join the King's Own, which under fifteen years of Lord Raoul's command had become the main fighting force for the King. There were three companies, each consisting of one hundred well-trained warriors divided into squads of ten. There had been a vacancy for a squad commander in the Third Company and Lord Wyldon had applied to Lord Raoul.
Despite Raoul dislike of conservatives like Lord Wyldon, he didn't share Alanna's deep-seated resentment of the man and knew Wyldon to be a good warrior, the only person who could match him in a joust, and a fine Commander. He accepted Lord Wyldon's application and Lord Wyldon had left the following week, leaving the pages under the wachful eyes of Lord Padraig haMinch.
When all the other pages had left Neal's room that evening he sat by the window, his head buried in his hands trying to solve the many problems that were whirling in his brain.
Ever since his sister had written to him and told him that Kel was at the Convent he had been writing frequent letters to Kel, yet he hadn't received a single reply. Was she ignoring him? Had the letters got lost on the way? Were the Convent Sisters keeping the letters from her? He balled up his hands in frustration.
Standing up and wincing as his sore muscles protested, Neal put away the last of his homework and got into bed, wondering whether Kel was doing the same thing.
After enduring her 'social interaction' with Dorna, Kel had retreated straight back to her room and locked the door. Lucie had called by half an hour or so later but Kel was in no mood to talk and pretended she was already asleep.
She changed into a nightshirt and extinguished the lamps and fire in her room until the only light was that of the moon which shone down through the window. Opening the window wide Kel climbed up onto the window ledge, shivering slightly in the freezing air. It was the third week of January and snow still lay on the ground, turning everything a brilliant white. The sky was clear and the air temperature was well below freezing.
It was crazy and probably very stupid, Kel thought to be sitting here shivering, but Kel needed some release, something to concentrate on other than Dorna's barbs that still rang in her ears. She was not a failure, in five months she would leave this cursed building and become a respected warrior in the Yamani Islands. Though looking down at her stick thin body, Kel thought she might need some feeding up first.
It was moments like these when Kel was sick of the world. All she had ever done was try to make a difference, to change something and yet it had all been thrown back in her face and she was being punished because of it.
Her thoughts drifted to Neal and the others, many leagues away in Corus. Lucie had told Kel tentatively that her father had resigned from his post. This puzzled Kel, did this mean he was regretting his decision to get rid of her? Or was it completely unrelated?
Kel's eyes watered in the cold air, but she forced herself to look out at the icy beauty of the world, trying to persuade herself that there was still hope. She was still holding on, even if by just a thread. She knew Lucie worried about her, Mithros she worried about herself sometimes! Like now, one rational part of Kel's brain was telling her that sitting on a wide open window in temperatures below freezing was not in fact a good idea. Still, she smiled for Lucie, and put on a brave face, as she always did. Bottling it up until it reached an almost unbearable level.
Her fingers and toes numb Kel finally retreated into the relative warmth of her room. She shut the window quietly and slipped into bed, praying that she might soon be able to leave.
(-a/n- Ok so not that long –I'm sorry- but this is setting up the next chapter in which a major event happens…I also wanted to show what was happening at the Palace etc.. Please review…)
Confusedknight xxx