(-a/n- As always, I owe you all a big apology for my late update. Life is relentless. The holiday was not a holiday at all, and now I'm returning to school for more work, work, work. I have an unbelievable amount of things to do and I need to start revising hard, otherwise I won't get the grades I need to get into Vet school. Updating will be infrequent until the fourth of June… Anyway I'm sure I'll muddle through. Thanks for all your lovely reviews, the reviews which are currently causing me to spend the next five hours writing this. )
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elfie-may hope this makes you feel better x
amitai a chapter of 'Hell is other people' would be nice :P
Confusedknight xx
Another icy gust tugged at Kel's clothing and she bit back a moan. Her fingers were so cold that she could barely clench the reins tight enough to be able to pull her horse to a halt. Following Alex's lead she dismounted and tethered her horse to a nearby tree. As Kel watched through her scrunched up eyes, Alex removed his thick cloak and unsheathed his sword. Miserably, Kel did the same, shivering violently at the loss of the thick material.
'Guard,' Alex instructed mercilessly.
Fumbling, Kel held her sword upright, and sorted her limbs into the correct stance.
Alex began to attack. He started off at a slower pace than he normally did, but Kel presumed this was because they hadn't done a warm up. Gritting her teeth, she positioned her sword again and again to meet his blows. Alex was placing his attacks carefully, forcing Kel to twist and change position to avoid injury.
Kel's attacks in return were slow and sluggish, her mind could only focus on one thing; how cold she was.
'Concentrate!' Alex half-shouted over the roaring wind. 'You won't get to pick the weather in a battle.'
Knowing that there was sense in Alex's words Kel began to pour more energy into her attacks. She tried to immerse herself in the movements of her body, ignoring her stinging face and hands.
'And again,' instructed Alex as she completed a complex set of moves. He was a ruthless teacher, but Kel knew deep down that it would pay off in the long run. All the same, she would much rather have settled down in her bed roll next to a fire, and have worked off the chill that way.
Without bothering to tell her that he was changing to a free duel, Alex changed the speed and direction of his attacks. After one hurried block in which Kel stepped backwards, she rose to the challenge and met his attacks with renewed vigour. Kel could finally start to feel warm blood entering her frozen extremities and although the icy air hurt her lungs she felt much more awake, adrenalin coursing through her veins.
The attack sped up, both fighters searching for gaps in the other's defences. It didn't take long for Alex to find one in Kel's. Despite practising almost every day since having her sword returned Kel had had little chance to fight against an opponent. She retrieved her sword from the ground and they began all over again.
Alex won his second victory when he pulled off a complicated feint that Kel hadn't come across before.
'You'll have to teach me that one tomorrow,' she said before starting up the duel once more. The second time that Alex tried the new feint Kel spotted it at the last minute and danced out of the way.
'You learn fast little one,' said Alex, impressed.
Kel didn't reply, instead choosing to spend her breath on executing a series of swipes at Alex's defences.
They continued in such a fashion for just under an hour until Alex declared that they'd better journey a little further before night fell. Panting hard, the sweat on her face already freezing, Kel nodded and sheathed her sword.
Alex glanced over at his young companion as she readied her horse. His eyes were full of respect; Kel had never once beaten him and at the same time had never given up or tired of their relentless duelling.
'Is it far?' Kel asked, tucking her cloak securely around her frame.
'About forty minutes of hard riding,' replied Alex, swinging himself onto Prince.
'Good,' muttered Kel, 'I need a hot bath.'
Alex smiled to himself, just catching Kel's words over the howling gale.
The ride to the small village was unpleasant, and they arrived cold, hungry and tired outside the Inn. The man that greeted them was short, unctuous and showed them to their room with an altogether disapproving air. Looking down at their attire Kel wasn't surprised. They'd been on the road for five days and both of their clothes were stained with the blood of the villagers that they'd found on that horrible night after they'd left Redroc.
The room was a pleasant size and Kel made a beeline for the privy, where she found a bathtub standing before a crackling fire. Alex poked his head around the door and chuckled at the sight of Kel already heating a bucketful of water over the fire.
'Eager are we?' he asked.
'I've been waiting for this all day,' said Kel with feeling.
'Well I'll let you get on with it,' said Alex retracting his head and shutting the door. Several minutes later he heard splashing and a yelp as Kel climbed into the tub of hot soapy water.
His limbs ached after days in the saddle and wearily Alex set about unpacking their bags, sorting out what needed washing and making an inventory of the supplies they needed for the next leg of their journey.
He finished making piles of their dirty clothes and removing his shoes, he lay back on the bed. Within seconds Alex's eyes had closed and he was fast asleep.
Ten minutes later, Kel reappeared, wrapped in a large bath towel and looking remarkably pink. She was just about to ask Alex if she had any clean clothes left, when she spotted her friend sleeping peacefully on the bed, she smiled and tiptoed over to where all the clothes lay. Kel rummaged around and picked out the cleanest looking shirt and breeches that she could find. After double-checking that Alex was definitely asleep, she pulled on a loincloth and the pair of slightly-too big breeches. Letting her towel drop to the floor, she fastened a breast band and pulled on a grey shirt. Kel then picked up the towel and wound it around her dripping hair.
Deciding to let Alex rest, Kel scooped up the mound of clothes and staggered down the stairs. The short innkeeper frowned as Kel entered the empty room, as though she were distracting him from something important.
'Where can I get these washed?' asked Kel from behind her armful of clothes.
The man gestured to a doorway on Kel's left. Using her foot to push open the door, Kel entered the back room.
'Is that washing for me?' asked a friendly voice. Within seconds a pair of firm hands were easing Kel's load.
Kel nodded, examining the woman in front of her.
'Sorry about my husband,' the lady chattered on, 'he's in a bit of a bad mood today, but no matter.' She eyed the washing that was split between her and Kel's arms. 'I'll get this lot cleaned up for you tonight, and with any luck it'll be dry by tomorrow morning.'
'Thank you,' said Kel politely, still having difficulty comprehending that this cheerful buxom woman could possibly be married to the miserable, greasy man next door.
Dumping their clothes in the basket that the woman indicated, Kel scurried back to the room that she was sharing with Alex. Her friend was still asleep when she entered, so Kel crept quietly into the room and shut the door gently. There was an armchair near to the fire and Kel curled herself up, enjoying the heat emanating from the grate.
Staring into the fire, her chin resting on her knees, Kel wasn't sure what she found so mesmerising about flames, but she knew that when her eyes were occupied with their dancing colours, her mind was free to wander. Kel found herself thinking of Isra, Hal and Meah, of the family that she had left behind. She had promised Isra that she would return, but would that ever be possible? She had also promised Neal that she would return, but now that Kel found herself caught up in Alex's cause, sworn to fight alongside him, would she survive long enough to see that promise through?
She tried to picture Neal and her other page training friends in her mind's eye but it was becoming increasingly difficult, the images were blurry and unfocused. She sighed to herself. Recently she'd been so caught up in the present that she'd begun to forget the past. There had been a time, a year or two ago, where she couldn't sleep without remembering her failure to try for knighthood. Now, her musings were filled with bloody corpses, downtrodden slaves…images that filled her with a righteous anger, at the injustice. It was only this anger and her hatred of Maggur that stopped Kel from being overwhelmed with despair at the enormity of what she and Alex were trying to achieve.
They're all finishing their final year of page training, thought Kel with a jolt. Soon Neal, Merric, Seaver and Esmond would all be squires. They still seemed so young in Kel's mind…so blissfully ignorant of what was happening up here in the north. She couldn't imagine them out here in Scanra, in the wilderness, facing Maggur's armies…And that's the reason why we must keep fighting, remembered Kel, so that when they have to face Maggur they're prepared.
Kel's thoughts were interrupted by a strange noise. It was Alex, and he was whimpering. The noise was barely audible, but in the quiet of the room Kel could hear it. Getting up, Kel walked over to the bed. Alex's hands were clenched tightly into fists and his face was screwed up, his handsome features contorted.
'Hey,' said Kel, reaching for Alex's balled up fist.
Alex woke with a start, his eyes opening wide, sitting up so suddenly that Kel leapt backwards. His hazel eyes filled with confusion.
'You were having a nightmare,' said Kel gently, stepping forward again to perch on the bed next to him.
Alex ran a hand through his tousled hair and looked up at the ceiling, blinking back tears. Kel pretended not to notice, and instead threaded an arm around her friend. Alex let his arm drop until it was around Kel's shoulders and they held each other close.
'I keep seeing them,' said Alex gruffly, 'the terror on their faces…' Kel tightened her embrace involuntarily. 'The blood on my hands, their blood on my hands…'
'It's not your fault,' Kel interrupted vehemently. 'It's all Maggur's, he spilled their blood and he will answer for it. We won't forget Alex, we'll make him pay.'
Alex sighed, and after a pause changed the subject. 'Are you hungry?'
If Kel had been asked a few minutes earlier then she would have replied instantly with a "yes", but she now found that she'd rather lost her appetite. Kel shook her head.
'No,' said Alex, 'me neither.'
Kel ogled at the sight that lay before her. If she hadn't known before, the last week or so had taught her the true meaning of wilderness. They had passed for days without signs of human existence. The continually wintry weather, snowstorms and howling gales had stretched her endurance to the limit.
With the exception of the one night that they'd spent at an inn, Kel and Alex had been roughing it, huddling in the small tent, night after night, buried deep in their bed rolls.
Now however, great stone fortifications rose out of the early morning fog ahead of them, and Kel could see the town of Somalkt stretching up into the sky. The clan's home was build upon a natural rise in the land, giving Kel the impression of a fort more than anything.
'Impressed?' asked Alex, glancing sideways at Kel who shrugged in return.
'What are we doing here?' asked Kel.
'How good is your mathematics?' replied Alex.
'Pardon?'
'How good is your mathematics?' repeated Alex.
'Reasonably good,' replied Kel, thinking back to days of being locked inside with tutors or Mithran priests.
'In that case you are going to learn to be an apprentice clerk.'
'Okay,' Kel said slowly, 'and you want me to keep my ears open as I work?'
'You've got it in one,' replied Alex. 'I'm going to continue to ride as I have an important meeting with the clan chiefs of the north, but I'll be back by Spring.'
Kel's heart plummeted at the thought of Alex leaving again.
'Rhonda will be around if you need anything,' he assured her, almost detecting Kel's change in mood. 'I'm not abandoning you completely.'
Kel nodded and kicked her horse towards her new home.
Three hours later, Kel stood opposite a grey-haired man who was seated at his desk. Her crisp new uniform felt unworn and strange. It reminded her strongly of her first day at the Palace; the new clothes, the new bedroom, new faces and a new master.
'How good is your reading?' barked the man suddenly.
'Alright sir,' said Kel.
'You can write?'
Kel nodded, thanking the Goddess that Scanran was a phonetic language and was fairly easy to translate speech into written words.
The man gestured to a piece of paper and a writing stylus on the desk in front of him.
Kel dipped the nib into an inkpot and copied out the paragraph that was indicated, printing letters in a small, neat script with embellishes on the capital letters. The head clerk glanced over her work and appeared to be satisfied.
'I'm going to put you under the guidance of Djamel who writes the requisitions for the supplies of various groups within the clan.'
Kel ducked her head, not entirely sure what this job entailed.
'Your working hours will be from the ninth bell to the twelfth. You may please yourself in the afternoon, but from the seventh afternoon bell you may be needed to scribe the minutes of any meetings that occur.'
Kel nodded and listened to the rest of the man's speech without saying another word. Her expression was interested but that did not reflect how she felt inside. She was becoming adept at slipping into roles; this time Liana the apprentice clerk. Kel had mastered the art of separating her facial expressions from her emotions and now, even though her face was earnest, Kel was impatient. She couldn't wait to leave the stuffy office and perhaps find somewhere to practice her swordplay, or maybe even have a snoop around.
Upon leaving the office ten minutes later, Kel managed to return to her lodgings without getting too lost. She was to share a dormitory with six other young women employed by the clan as maids, cooks and healers.
As the midday bell had already rung, Kel realised that she wasn't required to present herself to Djamel for at least six hours. The dormitory was cold and empty, so Kel hurriedly changed, shivering as the cold air hit her bare skin.
Once garbed in a comfy pair of breeches and a thick sweater, she pulled out her sheathed sword from underneath the mattress. Pausing only to pull her hair into a hurried braid, Kel slipped unseen from the main building.
She walked the bustling streets, her senses overwhelmed by the sights, smells and noises of the new clan. People were calling out on either side of her in slightly accented Scanran. Kel strode purposefully, knowing that the more you tried to pretend that you didn't exist, the more attention you would draw to yourself.
She tramped along the slush-covered streets, her breath rising in furls in front of her. On either side of the street were shops with their wares proudly displayed on stands and stalls. People chatted and bartered, exchanging goods and money. There was so many people, so many people living normal lives. It was a stark contrast to the quiet village of Redroc or the hellish slave plantation at Gentlund.
Since Alex hadn't hung around; riding off as soon as he'd secured her an apprenticeship as a clerk, Kel had decided to find somewhere else to hone her swordplay skills. There was only so much you could learn from drills and solo practise; it was important for Kel to gain practise against real opponents.
It was for this reason that she had sought out the busy practice courts that lay in front of her. Kel had reasoned that since fighting was one of the things that Scanrans valued most, it would be logical for there to be a communal place for the young men of the clan to fight and train.
However, finding the place had been the easy part. Now she was stuck with the task of finding someone to practise with. Steeling herself and displaying a "couldn't-care-less" expression upon her face, Kel marched across the busy grounds, looking all around for a suitable opponent.
Several heads turned as she walked past, but she ignored them, heading for an area where other men seemed to be warming up. Her head held high, Kel unsheathed her sword and began to warm herself up. She hoped that her proper warm up would convince the other fighters that she was serious.
When Kel could prolong her warm up no longer, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and peered through her lashes at the men who seemed to be available for a duel.
'Fight with me?' Kel directed the question at a man in his early twenties who had just won against an older man.
'With you?' he asked surprised, running his eyes from Kel's determined face to her sensible boots. Shrugging he followed Kel into a space on the large open practice court.
Kel let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding and prepared herself to fight. She bowed shortly to her opponent and he did the same in return.
They bought their swords up, and the fight began. Kel started out sensibly, not taking risks and batting away the man's attacks with strong blocks. He was quick, not as quick as Alex, but clearly he'd grown up with a sword in his hand.
The duel continued in a fierce exchange of complex moves, their bodies engaged in a dance, the like of which only a swordsman could truly appreciate. Breathing hard, Kel allowed her limbs to take control, absorbing herself utterly in the power and accuracy of her movements.
What seemed like seconds later, although in reality it was much longer, a bell rung loud and clear across the practice court and Kel's opponent backed off, holding Kel's sword still and halting the duel.
'I've got to go,' he panted, eyes crinkled at the edges, full of respect. 'We'll continue this tomorrow?'
Kel nodded, allowing herself to smile. 'Same time, same place.'
He mock saluted her and turned on his heel, dashing away. Kel watched him go, the smile still on her face. She had found acceptance in that man at least. The blood still alive in her veins, her muscles tensed and ready to fight she turned back to the men who had been watching, searching for a new opponent.
Having observed her in action, Kel didn't have a problem in finding opponents to occupy her next four hours. She won the majority of her matches, but most had been hard fights. Towards the end, Kel's arms were aching and her attacks slowed dramatically, something which cost her several duels.
When the sixth bell boomed out across the court, Kel excused herself and returned to her dormitory, a spring in her step. All the way back, her mind buzzed furiously with ideas of ways to improve her stamina. Early morning runs, arm exercises and hours of duels would occupy her days for months to come.
By the time she had cleaned herself up and found the dining room Kel had very little time to actually eat anything. She gulped down some spicy stew, burning her mouth in the process and practically sprinted to the clerk's wing. Kel knocked on the door her eyes still smarting from the stew's spices and upon invitation entered the office.
Djamel was a kindly gentleman, who looked remarkably similar to Kel's grandfather on her mother's side. They shared the same scarcity of hair and portly stomach.
'Well come on, these calculations won't work themselves out.'
Kel scurried over and seated herself opposite her master.
'Right, today we're working out the kitchen's budget for the coming week…' It took Kel over an hour to use algebraic formulas to calculate the money that would be needed to provide lunch for the clan house's employees and occupants.
Djamel checked her workings occasionally and corrected Kel when she went array. When Kel heard the bell ring again –she noted that the Somalkt clan seemed to run by the hourly bell- Djamel stood up and wiped his ink-stained hands on a cloth.
'We're now scribing at a meeting between the blacksmith's guild master and the clan's treasurer. I want you to take notes as best you can and we'll see how you get on.'
And so Kel's evening passed. She quickly learned that it was impossible to transcribe the conversation that occurred word for word, and had to make do with her own abbreviations, even on some occasions scribbling the Yamani symbol because it would take her too long to spell the Scanran version.
Despite Kel's initial doubts, the meeting didn't turn out to be boring. Her hands were kept full by her constant note-taking, but the politics and diplomacy employed by the clan treasurer fascinated Kel. It reminded her of her father, a diplomat by trade. She had had years of experience watching him solve everything tactfully and recognised a master at work. The disgruntled guild master left looking slightly mollified and the treasurer breathed a sigh of relief.
'Well that's that sorted. It's been coming to head for weeks.' He addressed Djamel. 'I see that you've got yourself an apprentice…'
'That's right,' replied the older man, adding the finishing touches to his notes. 'We'll make a head clerk of her yet.'
'Hmm,' the treasurer cast an appraising eye over Kel. 'What's your name girl?'
'Liana,' replied Kel demurely without a second thought.
'So why do you want to be a clerk?' he asked idly.
'It makes sense sir,' said Kel looking down at her ink-blotched scribbles.
'What does?'
'The numbers and letters sir, I understand how they work. I always have.' Kel shrugged, looking up at Djamel, 'Ma always said to play to your strengths.'
'Wise words,' replied the old man gathering up his writing tools. 'We'll finish this tomorrow,' he said with a yawn. 'You can get an early night.'
Kel bowed politely and scuttled out of the room, maintaining her timid pretence.
'You're late,' he accused her.
Kel shrugged, 'I'm here now.' Djamel had released her late, after making her check through the final copies of the kitchen's budget and then copy them out several times so that they could be sent to various official personnel.
Now, down on the practice courts again, Kel warmed up quickly and launched into a continuation of the previous day's duel.
Today, the man was deciding to focus on the strength of his attack, trying to tire her out. Kel combated this by speeding up her attacks, her sword never pausing to allow him to press it to the side.
She tried to use some of the more complicated drills patterns that Alex had taught her, in the hope that the man would be caught off guard, but he seemed to recognise the moves and blocked her before she'd had a chance to gain the advantage.
In the end it all came down to a split second where Kel hadn't bought her sword up fast enough. His weapon snaked in and came to rest on the exposed skin in the "V" of her shirt, just below her collarbone.
'I yield,' she said, stepping back to bow respectfully.
'Well fought,' he congratulated her, his vowels round and broad. 'I haven't had a fight like that for a while.'
'Me neither,' said Kel truthfully; her matches against Alex had never lasted that long.
'I'm Tor,' said the man extending a large, callused hand.
'Ana,' replied Kel accepting the handshake. She had decided the previous evening to abbreviate Liana to Ana, simply because Lia had been a different place, a different person. Sometimes it was time for a change.
'Who taught you to fight like that?' Tor asked. 'It's not often that we see women fighting.'
'My brother practises with me,' explained Kel, wondering how far Alex had travelled and whether he missed her as much as she missed him.
(-a/n- I finally completed this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, despite the long wait. Please leave a review to cheer me up; the amount of work that I have to do between now and my exams is thoroughly depressing…)
Confusedknight xx