(-a/n- Here is the weekly update…Again I must apologize, but it seems physically impossible for me to write a decent chapter in under a week I just manage to accumulate a great list of other stuff to do and because all of my chapters are now a whole lot longer than they used to be, they take me a whole lot longer to write…Anyway Happy Valentine's Day for tomorrow, eat lots of choccy and enjoy yourself :D
As always thanks for the splendid reviews they make me so happy :D )
queenoftheostlersno because if I named the horse Timber then he would be dead…see there is a method in my refusal…
x17SkmBdrchiczxxyeah she was a grouch in the books but I figured that was because she had lost all her family, so when she still had her family she'd be nice…
SarahE7191no, I'm going to keep going with the timeline, up until we reach the scene in chapter 1 :D
theknightofkonahaThanks :D
brighid's flamehehe thanks!
brezzybrezyup :D
Grace of Masbolle maybe… you'll have to wait and see :p
Fjk thanks :D
SaphirePhoenixthanks, ok I'm updating !
darkjewelledassassinthanks!
Yabberlihehe thanks :D
inuyashaswife12um…a few days maybe a week..
SavingSaturnthanks, happy reading!
K.D. Rainoooo chocolate is good for you!
PoopieI know I can't wait for the new Harry Potter book, although it will be a shame when it's all over…
Elentarielthanks ;D
Mrs. Dom Masbolle I didn't want to kill Kel! So I had the Goddess tweak things a little :P Kel is in Goatstrack village which is just inside the Tortallan border.
after.a.hard.dayhehe, I know but not for a while…
Hasamakiyup :P
oirishgoddessI reckon she was always a nice person but the death of her family and being made a refugee probably hardened her into the grump that we saw in Lady Knight.
bookworm-4-ever2012Thanks :D
Erynfaerhehehe there shall be twists galore, just to keep you all on your toes!
Erythayeah but in the books Fanche had lost everything and was made a refugee so I think that was what made her grumpy.
Pie of Doomeh hehehe!
Me thanks!
Justanotheraddiction I agree with you he isn't a sit and wait sort of person but when there's a blizzard there really isn't much you can do…
nativewildmagehehe!
On top of cloud 9aww…homework sucks…anyway thanks for reviewing :D
Love's a four-letter wordthanks :D
katiebug123oh dear, thunder clouds aren't good…yeah basically the Goddess intervened a little which is why Kel survived and found herself a long way from the Convent, but that will be explained later on in the story…thanks for reviewing :D (as always)
Aly the Spythanks :D
Confusedknight xxx
P.s. Here's another song which I have recently become addicted to because it helps my creative musings along! (Thanks to Sammy for suggesting it.)
Stand in the Rain by Superchick
She never slows down
She doesn't know why
But she knows that when she's all alone
It feels like it's all coming down
She won't turn around
The shadows are long
And she fears if she cries that first tear
The tears will not stop raining down
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day what's lost can be found
You stand in the rain
She won't make a sound
Alone in this fight with herself
And the fear's whispering
If she stands, she'll fall down
She wants to be found
The only way out is through everything
She's running from
Wants to give up and lie down
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day what's lost can be found
You stand in the rain
Early March, Goatstrack Village, 454 H.E.
It was just before dawn, yet already Kel was up and dressed. She wore her plain shirt and breeches with leather shoes to protect her small feet. The air was mild; the winter had gone, taking with it the biting wind and heavy snows. But it was pouring with rain and within minutes Kel was soaked to the skin. She vaguely wondered why she was acting upon this crazy whim. Normally she wouldn't awake until Fanche opened the curtains, but this morning she had awoken with a sudden, strange desire to get out of the house.
She slipped and slid her way up a hill that lay ten minutes north-west of the village, still unsure why she felt such a strong need to climb the hill, least of all in weather like this.
By the time she neared the top of the hill, her clothes and shoes were covered in mud, her hair was plastered to her head and her wet shirt clung to her in the way that wet clothes will. She had never actually been up the top of this particular hill before, and as the ground levelled out she gasped aloud. She could see for miles around. Kel stood for a minute taking in the glorious view. The Sun was just rising in the distance, unhidden by rain clouds. To the East stretched the Great Northern forest as far as the eye could see and to the West lay more ragged ground, broken up by hills, farmland and patches of dense woodland. Small settlements could be seen, clinging to life in the harsh Northern climate. Kel could see down into Goatstrack, see Gothar's mill, the common land and the farms that surrounded the small village.
Looking out on the world it made Kel feel very small and insignificant. Kel had never properly thought about just how big the world was and this was just a small part of Tortall, what about all the other countries, Islands and Empires out there? Yet still there were people who managed to fight and made a difference to huge numbers of people, Lady Alanna for example. It wasn't impossible, maybe it just seemed that way sometimes.
For several minutes time seemed to still. Kel stood there, the rain still belting down, but oddly she didn't mind anymore. The beauty of the sunrise and the landscape before her filtered in through the numbness that she'd been feeling for over a month.
For the first time since she had run away she deliberately thought of her family, Neal and Lucie, realising in that moment that the world still went on, outside her new sheltered life in Goatstrack and she promised herself that one day, when she was ready, she would see them all again.
Kel smiled. It may have seemed like such a small gesture, but Kel felt in her heart that she was now ready to accept what had happened, put the past behind her and carry on with her life.
When the sun was fully up, she turned back to the village, but not with the heavy, burdened steps with which she had come, but at a light jog. She tripped over a rock and instead of cursing, she just picked herself up and carried on running. This time she wasn't running away from anything, but running towards something, aiming for something again. Kel had fallen, but now she had picked herself up she was ready to try again.
The King's Own had arrived back in Corus after a long, slow journey back from the North of Tortall. They had stopped at several villages and towns along the way, helping with bandit problems or sorting out flood defences and by the time they had reached Corus all the men were thoroughly looking forward to having a hot bath and sleeping in proper beds once more. Unfortunately it fell to Lord Raoul to break the news to Lady Ilane and Baron Piers that their daughter had gone missing and was presumed dead.
Raoul and Wyldon had agreed that it would be better for them to deliver the sad news in person and had requested that the Convent not send a letter ahead. After their agreement that they wouldn't tell anyone the truth about what had happened to Kel, Raoul told Kel's parents that Kel and Lucie had been ambushed by a Tauros, fortunately Kel managed to hold it off for long enough for Raoul to get there, but Kel had been wounded and severely shaken by the accident which caused her to run away. After the blizzard the horse which she had taken was found along with all of Kel's belongings, dead.
Lady Ilane of Mindelan, having lived for several years with the Yamanis, accepted the news calmly, but as soon as the two men left, she flung herself upon her husband and wept. Although as a mother she shouldn't show favouritism towards her children, Lady Ilane had been very close to her youngest daughter. Kel had always been the little one of the family and had stayed with Ilane throughout their years in the Yamani Islands. So the news of her death upset Ilane and Piers terribly.
Princess Chisakami had recently been killed in an earthquake in the Islands and so it was down to Lady Ilane and Baron Piers to forge a new marriage contract between Prince Roald and a Yamani Princess. This kept them busy, helping them to cope with their grief. Ilane and Piers didn't blame Lord Wyldon for Kel's death, accepting calmly that it was just a terrible tragedy. This helped to ease Wyldon's feelings of intense guilt about the whole situation, something which he was immensely grateful for.
Neal's perception of the matter was a different kettle of fish entirely. Dom broke the bad news to his cousin gently, before the news became Palace gossip. Despite the fact that Neal didn't wish to embarrass himself in front of his cousin, he couldn't help hot tears filling his eyes when he learnt of Kel's death. Dom comforted Neal awkwardly, until the initial shock had worn off. Neal's dumb horror was quickly replaced by anger towards Lord Wyldon, even though Dom assured Neal that Lord Wyldon was most upset by the whole incident, that it was his daughter whom Kel had saved.
Eventually Dom left Neal alone with his grief, to give him time to regain his composure before dinner and left to find a warm bed and a respite from the hundreds of 'what ifs' that plagued his brain. What if he'd caught her before she'd gone into the forest? Or had the sense to leave someone guarding the horses? He shook his head, it was hopeless, what had happened had happened and he'd just have to live with it for the rest of his life.
Kel entered Fanche's kitchen, sopping wet, covered in mud and smiling. When the family saw Kel they all stared openly, not because she was about as dirty and bedraggled as it was possible to be, but she was smiling. They had never seen the quiet, serious girl smile before and it was a welcome change. Her features were lit up, though it would be a while before her eyes lost that 'haunted' look.
No one knew quite what to do. Eventually it was Fanche who, practical as ever bought Kel a towel and told her to strip off her soaking clothes. That morning Kel spoke more than she had done for weeks. Nothing to reveal any secrets about her past, just mundane things like complimenting the cooked breakfast, asking what they were going to do today. She spoke quietly in a level voice, one which indicated that she was not from any of the villages near Goatstrack, as the occupants of these villages all spoke with a gentle Northern accent.
A few days previously Geran had dropped a heavy mallet on his foot, severely bruising it and was therefore under Fanche's strict orders to rest it for a few days. Once breakfast was over Kel volunteered to help in the Mill. Her brown eyes saw Gothar's unconvinced look and Fanche's hurried expression telling him that he should accept Kel's offer. Kel wasn't offended by his obvious belief that a mere girl could do a man's job, it wasn't as though no one had ever thought that of her before.
The mill was powered by wind and therefore relied heavily on the weather. There wasn't a breeze to speak of today, so the sails which turned the millstones were still. Kel learnt however that there is a lot more to be done in a mill than grind grain into flour. The Weir's mill was the only one in the district and Gothar was well known and respected among the farming community, all of whom paid Gothar to grind their grain.
Naturally the grain was harvested in the autumn, so the mill was busiest in late autumn, early winter, to make sure that all the families had enough flour to see them through the winter months. The mill usually started up again at the beginning of March to grind all the leftover grain which had been bagged and stored carefully over the winter.
Gothar had been busy yesterday and had taken advantage of the strong winds to grind as much grain as possible. Now all the sacks of flour were temporarily piled in the bottom of the mill. The main job for the day was to move all the sacks of flour into the outbuilding ready for them to be collected.
The machinery also needed a good check over, so Gothar, still unconvinced by Kel's readiness to help, set her to shifting bags of flour, with the thought that after a morning's hard work, she'd change her mind about helping in the mill. He set to cleaning out the shafts, troughs and sieves that made up a large part of the mill.
Kel lifted a bag of flour, her arms protesting at the surprising weight. She struggled out to the outbuilding and deposited the bag next to the others. As she returned to the mill she could see Geran's smug face watching her from the house. Kel felt a sudden desire to prove herself and returned for another sack of flour.
By midmorning she was dirty, sweat-covered and her arms ached. After nearly nine months of doing no particular exercise, her once strong muscles were weak and protested against the hard labour that Kel was putting them though. Yet it was all worth it when Kel finally called up to Gothar that she had finished shifting the flour and saw his disbelieving expression change to surprise as he saw that her words were true.
Kel continued to work in the mill, long after Geran's foot had healed. She liked to think of is as a way to repay Fanche and her family for all of their kindness and generosity towards her. The hours of physical labour had also begun to put some muscle back onto Kel's skinny arms.
The first of April dawned no differently to any other day but when Kel awoke she immediately realised that she had overslept. Fern was still fast asleep, so cursing fluently in Yamani under her breath, Kel dressed silently. She was about to pull on her cloak and hurry down to the mill, when a man burst into their room.
He was tall, dark-skinned and filthy. His long beard and hair were matted and his clothes were torn and stained. In one hand he brandished a small axe. Fern awoke at the noise and shrieked in terror, Kel stood motionless. The man quickly crossed to Fern, yanked her out of bed, covering her mouth with his dirty hand.
'Get downstairs, now.' He ordered, 'Don't make a noise.'
When they entered the living room, Layla and Fanche were already there, flanked by two more men, both of whom were armed, one with a dagger, the other a wooden club. They conferred briefly in undertones.
The man with the dagger volunteered to stay behind and the other two men left a second later. As soon as they left Fern ran sobbing into Fanche's arms and Layla stood next to them, her knuckles white as she gripped her mother's arm. Kel joined them.
'What's going on?' she whispered.
'It looks like a bandit attack. Don't worry Kel, they'll take what they want, but I don't think that they will harm us.' Fanche replied, trying to reassure herself as much as the three girls. 'In a minute some others in the village will realise what's going on and then they'll come and help. Geran and Gothar are nearby in the Mill, they'll be here as soon as they realise what's going on.'
Kel's mind whirred, thinking over the situation. She had no idea how many bandits there were. She had two options, either lie low and wait to see what happened, running the risk that another bandits might return, or she could attempt to disarm this one while he was on his own.
Kel's mind was made up for her when the bandit turned back to the room, looking hungrily at Layla. Kel's mind seemed to freeze and horrible memories surrounded her. She was at the Temple again, the Tauros was there staring menacingly and hungrily at a sobbing Lucie.
Kel shook her head slightly; clearing away the images and saw the bandit tear Layla away from her sister and mother, threatening all three of them with his dagger.
Kel didn't even know Layla that well, but she knew in her heart that it didn't matter whether the girl in question was Layla, Lucie or any other girl in the whole world, Kel would not be able to sit back and watch it happen.
She stepped forward, into space and the adrenalin began to rush through her system. Blood pounded in her veins, her muscles tensed. She had slain a Tauros, this was just a man and she could defeat him.
Fanche saw Kel step forward, her level gaze determined. There was an unmistakable hatred in her eyes as she watched the bandit push Layla to the floor. Fanche wanted to do or say something that would protect either of the girls, but Kel's mind seemed to be made up.
Kel let out a stream of insults that would've made even the most dishonourable man colour. The bandit whirled around and Kel's leather clad foot snapped out and knocked the dagger from his hand. The bandit cursed, but didn't take his eyes off Kel to retrieve his dagger.
That's better thought Kel, surprisingly calm, a nice even fight for once. Although in reality they were hardly matched. The man was a good five inches taller than her and almost twice as broad.
Kel darted in and swung a punch at the man, it connected with his stomach and he grunted in pain. Kel ducked his hasty return punch and continued her attack. At one point during the fight that followed he grabbed Kel's right wrist and would've almost certainly snapped it, had not Kel broken his nose first with her free hand. He bellowed in agony, releasing her as he clutched at his nose, from which blood was now streaming.
Although it was probably dishonourable to do so, Kel didn't think that there was anything honourable about this bandit, so she kicked him violently in the groin, causing him to double over and then finished the job by rendering him unconscious with a fierce blow to the back of his unprotected head. He crumpled to the ground, blood still oozing from his nose.
Kel hadn't escaped unscathed, she would sport a good collection of bruises the next day and would almost certainly have a black eye for her troubles but she concluded that it was worth it. Allowing herself a smile at her fallen opponent she turned, to find Fanche, Layla and Fern were all staring at her, their expressions a mixture of awe, fright and shock.
Deciding that she wasn't going to wait around for questions about where she learnt to fight or orders to stay where she was, Kel slipped outside. In that moment she was oddly reminded of an incident which had happened just before she'd entered page training. Kel had tried to fight of a spidren single-handedly, armed with nothing more than a few rocks and she remembered a conversation which she had with her mother shortly afterwards.
'I want the training, and the right weapons. Anders was right. It was stupid to go after a spidren with stones.'
'And if they send you home at the end of a year?'
'I'll still know more that I do now.'
At that moment Kel realised that it was true. Before she undertook her year of page training she couldn't have beaten that bandit in hand-to-hand combat. She might've been able to fend him off with the Yamani self-defence she had been taught, but she doubted whether she'd have been able to knock him out. No matter what she did with the rest of her life, her year's training at the Palace had taught her valuable lessons, ones which she would not easily forget.
Time to put some of those lessons to a test, she thought grimly and launched herself into the pandemonium that was the village centre. The fighting was mainly fist-fights, men punching each other left, right and centre, but there were a few bandits who were armed. Those were the bandits who were doing the most harm, leaving their victims dead and not unconscious. Kel grabbed a garden hoe that rested against a fence nearby. Admittedly it was not the best weapon in the world, but the metal head appeared to be sharp and was better than nothing.
Kel began to fight a man who was wielding an axe. It was hard work; the hoe dipped at the end and was lighter than her glaive, so Kel had to adjust her grip and stance slightly to match. She also didn't have anything to act as a shield and had to dodge most of the blows that descended upon her. A well aimed thrust caused the metal head of her weapon to bite into the muscle of the arm that wielded the axe. The man howled and dropped the axe.
Lesson one of weapons training, thought Kel, never, ever drop your weapon. Pressing her advantage she punched the man square in the face and left him in the same state as the bandit in the house. The fights were gradually stopping, bandits fleeing away and Kel decided to not draw anymore attention to herself and returned to the house, hoping that not many of the villagers had seen her fighting.
As Kel had predicted she was inundated with questions about how she had learnt to fight. Questions which she was not going to answer. She simply shrugged or looked at her feet, making it plain that she was not in the least bit inclined to tell them anything about her past.
At Midday she snuck out of the house and returned to the summit of the large hill, where she had watched the sun rise all those weeks ago. From out of the folds of her cloak she brought her sword.
It still lay sheathed, concealed in the plain leather scabbard. With trembling fingers Kel unhooked the straps that held it in place and drew the sword. The sunlight glinted off of the silver blade, made from tempered steel.
The mornings experience had clarified two things for Kel. Firstly no matter where she went or what she did, she had been trained to fight, she enjoyed it. At the Convent, suppressed and forced to live as a true 'Lady' she had been miserable, she would never be content with a lifestyle such as that. Even living out here in a simple village there were still dangers. But the thing that surprised her most about the fight was the adrenaline rush, the elation that filled her as she fought, pushing her body to it's full extent, dodging, weaving and attacking. And that brought about her second realisation; if she was going to fight she would need to regain her fitness.
The sword fitted into her hand as well as it had always done and Kel gingerly lifted it into the air. It bought back all sorts of painful memories but Kel pushed them aside. It was time to concentrate on the future. She swung the sword down in a basic sweep and returned it to the 'guard' position.
She repeated that move until her arm worked independently of the brain. She stepped, jumped, twisted, and straightened, all whilst performing that same, simple move. It was the basic building block of all weapons training. Start simple, practise, practise and more practise, then slowly, very slowly increase the difficultly of the move you were practising, combining several moves into pattern dances. The more practise you put in, the better you were and the better you were, the longer you lasted in battle.
Kel's arm ached even just from that hour or so of exercise and so Kel completed her training with some of the arm-strengthening exercises that Eda Bell had taught her, such a long time ago. Sweat-soaked and thirsty, Kel concealed her sword and exercised an iron-grip on her will as she forced her protesting body to run back to the house.
That night Kel slept soundly. Her dreams were not the usual nightmares of Tauros's, but instead were of a memory, from a long time ago.
Her mother was fighting Scanran Pirates in the Yamani temple, protecting the sacred swords, but the dream was different from the actual events. More and more pirates streamed in and Ilane began to falter. Kel gasped, horrified, this wasn't how the events had occurred; her mother had protected the sacred swords and killed all of the pirates. Without thinking, her dream self snatched up one of the golden swords, the long sword of duty, the Killing sword, and began to attack the pirates, standing alongside her mother.
Twice the number of raiders attacked them that had done in real life, but with Ilane and Kel standing and fighting, all had fallen. Eventually their rescuers arrived as they had done in real life and had bowed low, their heads touching the bloody floor.
And Kel heard an echo of her ten-year-old self say, 'I want to be like that, I want to protect people. And I will. I will. I'll be a hero one day, just like Mama. Just like the Lioness. Nobody will kill two kittens in front of me then.'
And a voice replied, a voice that was both terrible and gentle at the same time,
'And so you have protected people and will continue to do so for many years to come. You saved two girls from a terrible fate, selflessly sacrificing and endangering yourself. Know also that not all heroism is sung about and handed down through generations in bed-time stories; often the more important deeds go unnoticed by the world. But I am watching and to those whom you saved it made all the difference in the world. Sleep in peace my daughter, your time will come sooner than you realise.'
Kel sunk into a state of dreamless sleep.
'I remember a certain violet-eyed daughter of mine who also wished to perform great deeds. She managed to find her way in life with a little guidance here and there along the way, and so will you my daughter, so will you.'
(-a/n- So…What did you think? Is the plot progressing at a steady speed or is it too rushed/too slow?
Yep, that was the Goddess again at the end. My idea was that she is not going to appear directly to Kel, because I reckon Kel would freak out a bit, hehehe but she will poke and prod Kel a bit on the way…(ie…in the snowstorm she survived because a certain deity was protecting her. And all the other slightly odd things like Kel's compulsion to climb the hill…it's all the Goddess nudging her back on track :D )
Please review,
Confusedknight xxx