(-a/n- Wow! Chapter forty already…which seems an incredibly high number, although it seems like I've been writing this forever!
Sorry for the massive delay in updates; I feel so mean, but really exams had to come first. However, now I am free! (Or at least a lot freer than I was.) And now writing is top on my list of priorities, so I'm going to be updating very regularly, trying to make up for all of the missed updates.
Thanks for all of your reviews and messages that you've sent me. I've appreciated every single one of them, and although I haven't been writing anything, I've been thinking about Fallen a lot, and am incredibly excited as to the plot unfolding…
My thanks go to all of these wonderful people;
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I hope you continue to enjoy it :D
Confusedknight xx
Tor looked up from his conversation just in time to see someone come racing down the street. Her leather shod feet barely made a sound as she almost flew across the earthen road and the tousled light-brown hair that streamed out behind her was tangled, giving her an almost wild look.
He wondered briefly how old she actually was. About five feet and five inches tall, and extremely skinny, Tor wondered how old his friend was. It was a stage of growth where she could be anything from twelve to eighteen.
Now, as he looked on, she vaulted the low practice court fence and skidded to a stop in front of Tor and the men that sat next to him. He examined her flushed face. The long-lashed hazel eyes, full lips and a dusting of freckles did not appear to be the face of the fighter. But a slight crook in her nose and a scar above her eyebrow begged to differ.
Despite her passive face, the hazel eyes that flicked from face to face were intense, hiding carefully guarded emotions that only flashed to the surface occasionally.
'Sorry,' she gasped. 'I got lost somewhere down in the jewellers' district.'
The men chuckled, getting to their feet. 'Tor's been waiting for competition,' said an older man. 'He's already bested us all this morning.'
Her hazel eyes settled on him; a smile evident in them today. 'Well I'll try not to let him win another,' she said, stretching her arms behind her back.
'Are you ready Ana?' asked Tor, five minutes later, watching the young enigma before him finish her stretching.
'As I'll ever be,' she replied, shaking her arms loose and unsheathing her sword.
The men all stopped their fights, watching, waiting. The duel started slowly, and picked up speed.
This was the eighth day that Kel had met the fighters out here on the courts. Not everyone came everyday, and she had had a variety of practice partners that spanned almost a forty year age group.
Young fighters, like Tor, were good for building up speed and coordination, whereas the older fighters, whom Kel could defeat through pure speed, had been eagerly teaching her new sequences and passes. It was a good combination and Kel could feel herself improving daily under their guidance.
Kel lost the first duel, mistiming a move slightly, which gave Tor the opening that he needed. However, to her surprise, she won the second duel, earning her a round of applause from the spectators.
However she quickly lost the third duel and, her muscles trembling from the exertion, sat down to rest. Andir handed her a glass of water, which Kel accepted gratefully.
'Shall we have a group fight?' suggested Andir. 'If Tor doesn't have to rush off anywhere today…'
The other men agreed. They exchanged their live blades for practice ones; with multiple duellers the risk of injury multiplied somewhat. Then, armed with wooden blades, they split into two teams of five.
Tor and Kel were placed on opposing teams and soon the match began. It was different from free duelling, and the fighters had to increase their awareness, so that they concentrated not only upon their own duel, but also what was going on around them.
Being identified as a key fighter in her own team, Kel often had to hold her own against two or more opposition, before help arrived. Soon the teams had been whittled down to three on each side. Tor, who had avoided Kel up until this point, engaged her sword for the first time.
Kel, aware that the comrade next to her was losing his fight, felt that it would be best to try and beat Tor straight out. She chanced a powerful swing for the edge of his practice blade and, through pure luck perfected the strike, wrenching the wooden weapon out of Tor's hand.
Victorious Kel darted forward, and Tor stepped out of the melee bowing. Kel watched him go for a split second, still shocked that her tactic had worked. Unfortunately, a second later, she had a sword pressed to her own neck. She lowered her own weapon, and turned slowly to see who it was that had "killed" her. It was Jareid, a man of thirty or so, who was friends with Tor. He did what Kel had not, and darted back into the battle immediately to face the two surviving members of Kel's team.
Exhausted, and prepared to call it a day, Kel returned her practice sword to the barrel and picked up her own weapon from the dirt.
'I should probably get back,' said Kel regretfully, thinking that she needed time to clean herself up before her evening meal.
Her blonde haired friend clapped her on the shoulder and they parted. As Kel left the courts and began to jog back up the hill to her quarters, she turned back to see the four men still locked in combat. She smiled. Life in Somalkt was suiting her far better than she could ever have imagined.
The people all around her appeared happy, getting along with their everyday life in the practical way that Scanrans seemed to have. The camaraderie and friendship that she'd found on the practice courts here startled her. The men were all focused on one aim; becoming the best swordsmen that they could be. If Kel could practise from sunrise till sunset, she reckoned that there would always be someone around to fight with. She wondered if that was how Alex had lived in Rathhausak…
Dinner flew by in a whirl of listening to the gossip of the other serving girls. Kel nodded and laughed in all the right places, adding her own input here and there, not drawing too much attention to herself.
In truth the secrecy surrounding the running of the clan seemed to be well guarded, and Kel was beginning to think that her chances of finding out useful information for Alex were looking slimmer and slimmer.
When she arrived at Djamel's office, a hairsbreadth before the bell rang he was already waiting at the door, arms full of writing equipment.
'Hurry, hurry,' he urged and began to stride up the corridor, Kel jogging behind to keep up. 'We're needed to scribe at a meeting between Chief Gemmell and the heads of the military.'
Kel's interest was piqued. Finally she might learn something interesting, not just the price of sugar beet, or the current taxes on copper.
They entered a grand meeting room and Kel bowed deeply, copying her teacher. She smoothed her hands on her royal blue tunic, pretending to be nervous and scurried after Djamel. They were seated, midway down the table and Kel was surprised to find that a place had been set aside for her too.
Djamel passed Kel some thick parchment and a fine goose feather quill.
'You're going to scribe this meeting by yourself,' he whispered. 'I will be sorting out paperwork for the Chief.' The old clerk indicated a stack of documents on the table in front of him.
'Use the shorthand that you've been practising,' Djamel instructed.
Kel nodded.
Seconds later, a military looking man strode through the door, bowing briefly. He filled the final seat at the table, and the chatter died down, waiting for the Chief to begin.
'This meeting takes place at ten minutes past the seventh bell,' announced the herald. 'In the presence of chief Gemmel, his son and heir Torrien, General Hurth, Commander's Lene and Pyrin…' -The list went on, Kel scribbling so fast that flecks of ink spattered her pristine uniform.
The meeting began and Kel didn't have time to look up from her work. The speech came in through her ear and was transferred to paper through scribbles and squiggles that represented words.
A bell or so later, when Kel's arm was really beginning to cramp up, the meeting was put on hold, and in came several servants laden with jugs of mulled wine, ales, spicy apple juice and various sweets.
Kel didn't think that the food was meant for her and instead took the opportunity to study the company that she was keeping. The Chief, tall and imposing, sat at the head of the table. His blonde hair was flecked with grey, and a stiff moustache and beard gave his face a severe, disapproving look.
Kel brushed loose hair out of her eyes and turned to the man on Gemmel's right. Her heart missed a beat. Tor sat there, staring straight at her. Realisation hit Kel with the force of a stampeding bull. Tor was Torrien, Gemmel's son and heir to the clan of Somalkt.
He too looked equally shocked to see his practice partner sitting at the table taking notes. On the courts they were equals, here; well here they were a mile apart in status and position. Kel gulped, unable to break eye contact with Tor.
Tor looked around, glancing to see if anyone had spotted this exchange between apprentice clerk and heir to the clan. As far as he could tell, no one had noticed anything. He sipped spiced apple juice slowly, and watched Kel from over his goblet.
Kel squirmed uncomfortably inside. Why, in over a week of practising on the courts, had not a single person mentioned, that Tor was practically royalty? In the Scanran sense of things, he was. If anything happened to Gemmel it would be Tor that took over the running of the clan.
Kel stared down at her ink-stained hands. There was no mistaking that he knew who she was. Before her relationship with him on the practice court had simply been friends. She didn't think that Alex could find any harm in that. But he was Gemmel's son! And Kel doubted that Alex was going to be too pleased when he found out. She had effectively blown her cover.
When the meeting started up again, it took all of Kel's attentiveness to keep on top of the conversation that was flying backwards and forwards. Topics were fiercely debated over at an alarming speed and Kel knew she must document everything.
Eventually all the matters; which ranged from the weapon supplies to a suggested increase in the amount of time spent drilling the soldiers, were sorted out.
Although Kel had lost track of how many bells had rung since they'd started the meeting, her eyes were drooping which told her that it must be late indeed. All of the men bar Djamel departed, leaving Kel to hand her scribing work to her teacher.
He cast an appraising eye over her shorthand.
'Good work. Your task for tomorrow will be to write these up,' the older scribe said, indicating the many sheets clutched in his long, pointed fingers. 'Now be off with you. I'll see you tomorrow at the usual time.'
Kel bowed hastily and half stumbled, half ran back to the room which she shared with the other girls under the clan's employ.
'You're back late Ana,' mumbled the girl in the bed next to Kel.
'The meeting went on for a long time,' yawned Kel sleepily, pulling on her nightshirt and slipping into bed.
'Good night,' whispered Eyrn from her bed to Kel's left.
'Night,' murmured Kel, before falling into dreamless slumber.
The next morning Kel tried to absorb herself in her work, trying not to think about the inevitable awkward meeting between Tor and herself. When she handed over the finished transcript of the meeting, it took her a few seconds to realise that Djamel had dismissed her for the day.
Feeling too anxious to eat anything, Kel collected her sword and headed down to the practice courts at a much more dignified pace than she had done the previous day.
It being much earlier than she usually arrived, Kel found herself looking at new faces; people she hadn't met before. After scanning the area twice, Kel concluded that Tor had not been released from whatever it was that he did as the son of a clan chief.
It suddenly dawned on her that Tor held the same rank that Alex would've held back when he lived at Rathhausak. Kel wondered how much of a resemblance that Alex would bear to the one she knew, the one who had come so far and seen so much.
You can't grow up in this world without things affecting you, Kel thought, knowing that she was living proof. Sometimes the girl that she saw in the mirror was not one who had grown up with two loving parents in the luxury that befitted the noble born.
It was odd, the many disguises that she had played…How rarely her exterior reflected what she felt inside…how her facial expressions and emotions could be disconnected so easily…how the only time she felt truly herself was when she had a sword in hand…
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Kel spun around, aware that she had been standing at the side of the court staring into nothingness. Tor stood before her, his blue eyes watching her guardedly from beneath his wild locks of blonde hair.
'Shall we go for a walk?' he suggested simply.
Kel nodded.
They ambled along through the bustling streets, each acutely aware of the busy town humming and thriving all around them.
'How many people live here?' asked Kel after several minutes.
Tor glanced up in surprise, as though he hadn't been expecting her to speak.
'Around two and a half thousand,' was his reply.
They continued on in silence. It was a bright day and the sun warmed their faces as they walked. Now that it was late February, the snow that had covered the roofs of the buildings for the last three months was dripping down onto the streets below. Kel had to step carefully to avoid the rivulets of muddy water that flowing down the sloped roads.
Tor led Kel up a series of twisting lanes. At first it seemed like Tor was leading her back to the castle, but then he veered off, taking her even further up than Kel had thought possible. Just as Kel's legs were beginning to ache from all of the uphill walking, they came to a small tower where two guards stood chatting idly.
Upon catching sight of Tor, they straightened and saluted. He acknowledged their gesture and steered Kel through the archway and into the dimly lit interior. They climbed up the stairs until they immerged into the blinding sunlight of the roof.
There was a guard here also, but after seeing Tor and sending a curious glance Kel's way he clattered down the stairs leaving them alone.
Kel watched him go and then looked around her. Seeing how high up she was, Kel stepped closer to the edge of the platform and gazed around, temporarily overcome by the fantastic view.
'This is the highest point in Somalkt,' explained Tor softly. 'I like to come here to think.'
Kel could see the whole town sprawled out below her. The only other building which came near the tower in terms of height was the castle, which sat slightly to the south of the tower.
Kel cast her gaze further afield, beyond the town. To the North, the land was higher and almost impassable. An imposing mountain range marred the unbroken horizon. To the south and west rugged plains stretched on as far as the eye could see, white snow with brown patches peeping through.
It was an awe-inspiring sight that made Kel feel very small. Apart from the odd black smudge of a settlement, Somalkt was the only sign that humans inhabited the hundreds of square miles of land all around them.
'It's quite a sight,' said Tor softly. 'Sometimes you can get too drawn into the city and you forget that there is a world out there.'
Kel nodded, understanding what he meant. It would be all too easy here to ignore the terrible happenings in the rest of Scanra.
'But,' Tor continued, 'I fear that if we ignore the happenings of the outside world then it could well lead to our downfall.' After a moments pause he stated, 'You're new to the city.'
Kel nodded, trying to recall exactly what she had told Tor about who she was and where she had come from.
'There's something different about you,' he said. 'I noticed it the first time that I met you.' He frowned slightly, staring down at his smaller companion. 'You're always alert and you fight with a sincerity that I rarely see in our soldiers. Where have you come from?'
'Dundine,' replied Kel, speaking at last.
'And?'
'And what?'
'Is it true the rumours that we hear of terrible things occurring out there?' he gestured at the landscape surrounding them.
Kel paused for a second and then decided to be truthful. She nodded.
'On our journey here,' she said slowly, 'we passed through a village. An ordinary village, one with nothing special, nothing unique about it. But all the villagers were dead. They'd all been killed, down to the last mother and child.' She stared hard into the distance, battling against the tears that were welling in her eyes. 'Their bodies were just strewn everywhere…' Kel couldn't continue. The memories were too fresh and it hurt too much...
'And who committed such an atrocity?' asked Tor, his voice hard.
'There was a note…a note pinned to a man's chest. Maggur of Rathhausak claimed responsibility.'
Tor let out a stream of expletives. 'We've heard rumours, been debating for months what we should do about the growing threat…' he trailed off, suddenly aware that he was discussing matters with an apprentice scribe.
Kel wanted desperately to warn him, to tell him about Sekholm and the massive armies she knew Maggur was building up. But she held her tongue. It would be for Alex to decide what the leaders of Somalkt should know.
Neither of them spoke, and they stood for a while, letting the nippy eastern wind tug and tease at their clothing. Kel inhaled the fresh air deeply.
'Just make sure that we're prepared,' she said quietly, unable to help herself. 'Those villagers weren't…and they paid the price.'
'Our army is seven hundred strong,' said Tor proudly. 'Any clan chief, Maggur of Rathhausak or not, would think twice about making an enemy of Somalkt.'
Kel hoped against hope that these words were true, although she knew that in reality Maggur would have plans for Somalkt. Whether it be next week, or in two years time, Somalkt would fall under his banner.
'But that's not really why I wanted to talk with you,' said Tor, finally broaching the topic that had hung above their heads for the last hour. 'From your somewhat stunned expression last night, am I correct in thinking that you weren't aware that I was…well that I am who I am?'
Kel nodded, tearing her gaze off of the horizon to meet Tor's blue eyes.
'Does it matter to you?' he asked.
'No,' replied Kel shaking her head. It doesn't matter to me, she thought, beggar or king you're one of the only friends I've got here. I'm just worried that this might matter to Alex.
'Good.' Tor said awkwardly, wiping his palms on his shirt. 'Although with a talent like yours for the sword, you're wasted as a scribe. Would you consider a position in the army?'
Shaking her head, Kel said, 'I like my job. And besides, I'm sure not many men would want to fight alongside me.'
'I think you'd be surprised,' he replied. 'The men will respect anyone who can best them in combat.'
Kel shrugged, unconvinced. 'I'm happy as I am. Are we still okay to meet up everyday?'
'It's fine with me,' replied Tor, turning back to the stair case, 'although I'd better watch out; you're going to be a mighty fine swordsman-'
'Swordswoman,' corrected Kel.
'-swordswoman, one day.' Tor finished and smiled at his young friend.
Suppressing a blush at the compliment she asked; 'Are you free to practise now?'
'I'm sure I can delay paperwork for an hour longer,' Tor replied smiling, and together they left the watch tower.
(-a/n- I hope that I'm not rusty after my long break! What did you think of this chapter? I know it wasn't particularly action packed, but I'm laying the seeds for something big! )
As always please review and let me know your thoughts,
Confusedknight xxx