-a/n- -Waves cheerily at everyone- How's this for a speedy update? Needless to say revision's going badly! (Although I did learn all about how the periaqueductal grey matter modulates descending systems that release endogenous opiates in times of stress, explaining why soldiers are sometimes able to continue fighting despite grievous injuries. And who says Neuroscience and fanfiction don't go together?)

I actually wrote this chapter on paper first, which was novel. I get less distracted writing in a notebook I've discovered, although typing it up afterwards was a mission.

Thanks so much to ye reviewers. I love hearing stories of how you stay up till crazy hours of the morning reading Fallen, or re-read the whole thing (something which I've yet to manage :P ) or print it out. With such wonderful readers how could I not be inspired to write?

Confusedknight xx

Kel was stunned. How in the name of the Divine realms did this young girl know so much about her?

'Irnai is a seer,' spoke one villager, observing the child with an expression that contained a mixture of fear and reverence. 'She arrived not two months back, telling us the "Protector of the Small" would rescue us from Blayce.'

'Then the gods have decreed that we shall succeed?' asked Owen, hopefully.

'Nothing is certain,' said a hollow-eyed man. 'The gods have forsaken these parts.'

'All is not lost,' said Kel, finding her voice at last. The idea of this young child having gifts she could not comprehend was disconcerting. 'We will rescue our little ones and then seek out this Blayce.'

'It's too late,' a dark lank-haired woman spoke, her face achingly familiar to Rhonda's. 'Stenmun has delivered his cargo to his master.'

Kel felt the blood draining from her face. 'Then we can't delay!' she half-cried, images of dead children and metal machines arising unbidden in her mind's eye.

'What are you planning?' Mocked a bitter man. 'Going to lay siege to castle Rathhausak with sixteen men, lady warrior?'

'Rathhausak?' breathed Kel, unable to stop herself.

'Aye, that's where the Gallan's been safely tucked away.'

A blonde man, who was but a shell of the muscular farmer he'd once been, spat on the ground. 'This is our gift from our Clan Chief - a monster who steals our crops and children.'

'He took your children?' Inquired Neal in surprise.

'Aye,' the villagers turned their deadened eyes on the knight. 'At first just the sick were taken away to be "healed". Then the older children from towns all around here were selected. Eventually any babe or child would do.'

'We should've fled,' croaked an elder lady. 'But where would we go? Our clan dwindles, forsaken by our chief. Our men are away at war, we've no friends within a hundred leagues of this cursed place...'

'And now,' finished the man who seemed to be their leader. 'We are told that you will rid us of this...evil. Since no one else is going to save us, we'll help you as best we can.'

Neal and the others were glancing warily around at the poverty-stricken villagers. Now that Kel looked closely she could see that the vast majority were women, the men all older, some crippled whilst others were wan and faded.

They were invited inside the tumbled-down inn. No fire blazed in the grate and but a handful of chairs served to reveal the building's original purpose.

'This used to be the life and soul of this town,' said the dark-haired lady sadly. 'Now look at it.'

'If you don't mind me asking,' said Kel politely in Scanran as they sat down. 'But are you related to Rhonda?' The woman froze, her hands grasped convulsively in her lap. 'My late daughter.' She looked wonderingly at Kel. 'But how? You are Tortallan, are you not?'

'I had the privilege of fighting alongside your daughter in the North,' said Kel sadly. She swallowed. 'A more honourable woman I have not met,' she told the grieving mother honestly. Tears glittered in the older woman's eyes.

'She had a fire within her, that the wrong done here would be put right.'

Kel paused momentarily and then plunged recklessly on. 'I was there when she, when she died.' Her voice quavered just a little. 'She didn't lose her hope even then. She knew that people, that we, would always keep fighting to see justice done.' Kel grasped Rhonda's mother's cracked, knobbly hands. 'Hold onto that hope. We still fight. He still fights.'

'Goddess guard you,' murmured the lady, tears spilling down her leathery cheeks. 'Avenge my daughter.'

'I intend to,' said Kel solemnly.

Somewhat awkwardly Kel returned to her men, all of whom were fishing about for the stale supplies that they had left; one look at the miniscule amounts of food available to the villagers had promptly stopped Neal's complaining about how fed up of rations he was.

'Blayce takes a harsh cut milady. We've scarce enough to feed our families. Those who don't give him what's due end up strung form the castle wall.' A man laughed bitterly. 'At least we no longer have to watch our children go hungry.'

Kel's stomach turned. This was Alex's home, his birthright. She couldn't imagine Mindelan's people ever treated so, and realised just how awful it would be for Alex to see his childhood home in such a state.

'How long has he been here?' asked Dom through a mouthful of noodles.

'Near four years.' The Scanran shook his head. At first we complained to Maggur, our clan chief, but he had ten people hung just as an example of what happened to those who displeased him. He let Blayce clear our the town and every village roundabouts of our little ones. Then he sent in slave children, hundreds of them. The King no longer cares for his clan.'

'It wasn't his clan to rule,' said Kel, anger and hatred simmering in her voice.

'You are acquainted with our history?' The man asked in grim surprise.

'Enough to know that there is a rightful heir to the Clan,' Kel replied shortly.

'And yet he too has abandoned us to the Mage,' the man pointed out. Kel wanted to protest, to explain the extent of Alex's task, but she had to bite back her retort; there were too many listening to their conversation for that sort of talk.

'How many of you are able to bear arms?' Kel enquired, changing the subject abruptly.

'Few,' wheezed a balding man who leaned heavily on a cane. 'Our fighters are off in the armies and the few young'uns have no weapons but sticks and bows; the Mage confiscated them all.'

'But, we know a way inside the keep.' This startling declaration came from Rhonda's mother. 'I was the cook up there before Blacye found me too old for the job. I can show you a way in, at night mind.'

'Agrane-' cautioned another Scanran.

'I know the castle better than anyone,' she shot him down. 'Tonight you will have you chance to retrieve your young.'

'He could be killing them now,' protested Owen, slightly paler than usual.

'He won't be,' Agrane assured the squire. 'He'll cook them a nice mean, dress them in finery -'

Kel couldn't listen anymore to how Blayce played with his victims.

'I need to think,' she announced. Darting through the milling villagers, refugees and soldiers Kel exited the inn. She trod softly through the town, past scrawny goats and mangy-looking cats, past houses with holes in their roofs, past flowers wilted in beds that would've once bursted with colour. She came to the edge of the village. Here crude sticks marked the dead, row upon row of wooden pegs.

Kel looked out across the countryside whose grass was sickly and brown in the heat of summer, to a lake that glinted and sparkled a dazzling blue. On the western shore a grey castle rose dramatically, all towers and turrets, a red flag playing lazily on the summer's breeze. A cliff shielded the northern side of the ramparts -had some of the castle been cut out of the rock itself? Alex had spoken little of Rathhausak save some memories of the people that had once lived there.

Kel considered the task ahead. Stenmun had near one hundred and seventy-five men, plus the guards that Blayce already had in place. Even if the villagers could get them inside, those were still ridiculous odds. Kel didn't want to lead her friends to a near certain death, but was there any choice now that they were here but to attempt the impossible?

Sighing, Kel played with ideas. What would Alex do? She'd need to know the exact layout of the castle, where the children would be, where the guard houses, stables, barracks and Blayce's workshop were situated.

This would end tonight, one way or another.

The sky had darkened to an inky blue, stars dotted innocently above. Kel sent up a silent prayer to whichever Gods had taken an interest in the goings on in Scanra -she found it hard to believe that they could be blind such evil- and addressed those stood before her.

'I will not insult you all by pretending that this battle will be easily won,' her voice was quiet, calm. 'We go against numbers ten times our own, with plans that may well not succeed.' She paused, 'If any of you would take your leave then now is the time. I will not lead those who are unwilling.' Nobody moved an inch. 'Then whatever the outcome tonight, I know that I got to fight an unimaginable evil with the finest fighters that Tortall had to offer. It is an honour to raise arms alongside you.' She looked into every face. 'For justice!'

'So mote it be,' murmured her companions.

They waited in silence for Agrane's signal. Even having completed her speech Kel still wanted to let them know how much it meant that they would walk to an uncertain end beside her, how much she loved Dom and Neal and Owen. The words wouldn't come however, and she forced a lake of Yamani calm to fill every fibre of her being.

'It's time,' came the whisper.

Kel clasped Owen's forearm, clapped Dom's men on the back and took the Sergeant's hand. A quick squeeze was all she allowed their farewell to be, clinging to the fading hope that they would both make it out alive. Then she, Neal, Fanche, Saefas, the Scanran soldiers and Gil, followed Agrane and her two companions into the night.

The air was cool and still. Crickets hummed and chirped, blissfully unaware of the assault that was about to begin on castle Rathhausak. Agrane and two others, armed with their makeshift spears and bows lead them through woodland, skirting fields they pressed themselves into the shadows cast by the hedgerows in the silvery light of the moon. As they neared the castle they had to scrambling over rocky scree. It was hard work and Kel wasn't the only on to slip and graze knees.

They reached the western front of the ramparts, grey rock towering above them. Hearts hammering, for any moment could lead to discovery, the attackers pushed themselves through seemingly solid rock and into an escape tunnel much like the one Kel had used to flee from Mastiff.

'Ain't no one been down here since them boys were young,' whispered Agrane.

The though that Alex had most likely stood exactly where they were walking hunched over, bolstered Kel. Hadn't they pulled off crazy plans together in the past? Indeed, Kel herself had survived years of fighting Maggur. Time to deal the hardest blow yet, she thought savagely.

The tunnel reached an iron-plated door. They paused. 'Is everyone clear on the plan?' Kel clarified one more time. Her fellows nodded briskly.

'Then may the Great Mother and Mithros guide you all,' Kel whispered. They slid the door slowly open to reveal the underside of a tapestry.

'I can't hear any one,' whispered Zerhek, the leader of the Scanran trio who'd sworn loyalty to Kel. The three Scanrans were dressed as Kel had found them; in their scarlet uniforms and company-issue chainmail. Ralsh saluted Kel, his hand balled over his chest and then forehead, Alex's sign, the sign of freedom.

'Here my lady, I will seek revenge for Somalkt,' he told Kel.

Mynt ducked his head towards Kel, breaking his usual respectful silence, 'You have given us something true to fight for,' he grunted. 'We won't let you down.'

And so, Kel watched all three slip from under the fabric and out of sight. They were to pretend that they were Stenmun's and would attempt to secure the outer wall so that when the time came the portcullis could be drawn and Dom's mounted soldiers be let in. Holding the wall would also ensure that no archers would have the ideal position from which to pick off Tortallan soldiers once the fighting had begun.

The next group to leave were Agrane, Fanche, Gil and Saefas. They were going to the children's quarters on the floor above. If they could move the kids into the tunnel and start leading them away from the fighting, then so much the better. Kel had instructed Fanche to try and take as many refugee children as possible, even if the other warriors were to die in battle.

Kel turned to her final three companions; Neal and the Scanran villagers Zerhalm and Massim. 'Let's go.'

They hurried through the deserted corridors of the castle, past rooms that would once have belonged to the family and friends of the Rathhausak clan. The four of them also wore red tunics, stolen from the dead at the slave-traders camp in a moment of foresight by Kel. This disguise allowed them to cross the back courtyard without raising the alarm from a guard on the castle wall. They marched slowly and deliberately.

'What is it you want?' asked a burly guard who stood watch outside the stores.

'The Mage has orders for us to fetch powders,' growled Massim.

'At this time?' Asked the young guard suspiciously.

'Don't sleep like normal folk, that mage. Besides he's got two hundred new ones to make ain't he? Gotta be stocked up.'

The guard shrugged and let them inside.

They spent a tense five minutes rooting around inside until they found the barrels they were looking for. Kel sniffed gingerly and recoiled at the sickening acrid smell of blazebalm. 'Yes that's definitely it.'

Signalling silently with her hands, Kel summoned Neal to the door, mouthing instructions.

'Oi, look here,' Neal exclaimed in his best Scanran.

The guard stepped inside and died almost instantly, sliding off of Kel's sword to become the first casualty of the night. They dragged him into a corner and pulled sacking over the body before picking up the second barrel of blazebalm.

Neal and Kel followed Zerhalm and Massim, their arms protesting at the effort of lugging such a heavy weight. Fear kept them moving through corridors, gardens, yards and courtyards until they came to long-house style barracks. They positioned their cargo outside the large wooden doors.

Kel took a shuddering breath and chopped her arm down in a sharp signal. Neal pulled open the door to the first barracks and Kel rolled the barrel gently inside. Their actions were mirrored by Zerhalm and Massim. Both doors were pulled shut. Massim and Zerhalm sprinted away to join Kel and Neal sheltering behind a granite pillar.

'Do it,' Kel instructed Neal. A flash of sorrow crossed the mage's green eyes and he conjured his gift. The blazebalm needed little encouragement and with a crackling roar, fire exploded into the barracks. In under a minute flames had gripped the front end of the building, burning so ferociously that Kel, even at her distance felt sweat prickling her forehead.

She turned her back on the barracks and dragged Neal away. It would not do for him to hear the yelling of one hundred men as they died. Stenmun had just lost half his army. Unfortunately for Kel and the others, the remaining half had now been alerted to their presence.

Men spilled into the yard ahead of Kel. She drew Courage at the same instance Neal drew his own sword. Zerhalm and Massim also squared up to the enemy with axes they'd stolen from the storerooms. And then Kel was in the thick of the fighting, enemy swords everywhere and she was doing what came naturally, unthinkingly until stillness fell once more. Fourteen enemy dead lay strewn across the ground.

'This way,' hissed Zerhalm.

Kel followed Neal up a narrow flight of stairs and they met with another band of eight guards in the upper corridor. Their tunics gave them the element of surprise until the men got close enough to see that their armour was not army issue.

As Neal smoothly dispatched his opponent, Kel became fully aware for the first time, that Neal had been trained by the Lioness. She had always thought of Neal as a healer, a mage first and foremost, not a formidable swordsman. If he took his nose out of a book every now and again, thought Kel as she watched Neal helping Zerhalm to subdue his attacker, then he could actually be quite good.

'We should get back to the main courtyard,' Kel told her comrades. 'The others might need help.'

Indeed they did. Red-clad Scanrans swarmed everywhere in the semi-darkness. There was fighting on the battlements.

'They've got the portcullis up, I think,' shouted Massim over the din.

'Get to the gates and open them,' cried Kel. 'I'll help Zerhek's lot.'

Kel hurried boldly through the soldiers, praying that in the confusion no one would notice that she wasn't one of Stenmun's men. She reached the stairs and plunged into the fighting. Men hacked at her from front and behind and Kel was intensely grateful for her well-made armour as it shielded her from the worst of the blows. She scrambled up the stone staircase shoving Scanran soldiers head first over the wooden railings as she went. Kel struck at the vulnerable ankles and knees of those on the steps above and then leapt to the side as they crumpled so as not to be squashed.

When she'd finally made it up to the top she was nearly decapitated by Ralsh.

'It's me!' Kel shouted in alarm, batting away his longsword. Recognition flashed across the Scanran's bloody face and moments later he pushed her down so that they both narrowly avoided a volley of arrows.

'Domitan's men are out there,' the soldier told Kel. 'But Mynt went down and we haven't been able to open the gates.'

'Neal and the others are on it,' Kel shouted back. 'We must hold the battlements.'

As Kel straightened up to face the onslaught once more she heard a victorious cry and a clattering of hooves on cobbles. Her heart soared; they may yet pull through this.

An arrow raked her hip, leaving a shallow, stinging wound, but Kel didn't have time to stop and attend to it for she was soon fully engaged in battle with a giant, bearded swordsman. With a cry the man stumbled back, an arrow lodged in his neck. He toppled and joined the carpet of bodies lining the stair. Wiping sweat out of her eyes and thanking the gods for the enemy archer's poor aim, she scrambled over limbs and lifeless bodies to reach the chaos below.

Dom's men had driven the bulk of the Scanran's back from the wall and Kel guessed that only about forty or so remained. They were forming ranks and walls of shields. Owen's warhorse went down with a horrible whinnying scream. Cursing, Kel made it her aim to pick off the archers who were shooting from within the guardhouse.

Grabbing a shield from a corpse, Kel charged into the building and raced up the stairs. The first archer turned, releasing a crossbow bolt. Kel's arm jarred as it thudded into her shield but she didn't waver, running the archer through smoothly. The seconds archer turned and fled until Kel's dagger struck him on the back of the neck and he too dropped, gargling and flailing. Kel wrenched Courage from the Scanran's belly and hurried back downstairs.

She paused, thinking hard. Her primary concern now was that Blayce would somehow escape. And Stenmun was still unaccounted for.

With a huge effort Kel pushed herself off of the door frame she was leaning on and entered the fray once more. Neal was whirling his sword impressively as he chopped and changed between his two adversaries. Kel killed the closest of the pair.

'Thanks' panted Neal.

'I'm going after Blayce.'

Worry passed across the knight's blood-spattered face. 'I'll come-' Neal was distracted as he hacked down a soldier who'd crept up behind Kel.

'You're needed here' pointed out Kel numbly, it seemed as though this calm conversation was separate, detached form the cacophony all around her.

'Blayce is a mage,' Neal pointed out.

'Come and find me when the fighting's done,' Kel decided. 'They need you more here.'

'Gods protect you Kel,' Neal clasped her forearm briefly before darting back to the fight. There was no longer a mass of soldiers and guards; those that were left were turning and fleeing, trying to hide in the castle's many corridors and floors. Kel could just see Dom sending his men to hunt them down, but she didn't dare try to count how many had survived.

Kel began to make her way through the castle, up and up, until she reached the top floor. Following instructions drilled into her by Agrane, Kel took the western corridor. Here, large stained-glass windows cast a colourful light across the wooden floor; the sun was rising.

At the end of the corridor was an iron door. Even as Kel approached the sinister structure, a blond giant came crashing through. In one hand was a large leather pouch, clinking ostentatiously.

Upon seeing Kel he unslung from his back a giant battle axe. It's blade was sticky with blood and Kel presumed that Stenmun, for surely this was he, had been fighting and had now come to, collect his pay?

Kel advanced with her sword drawn. She recognised the axe as the one that had once shattered her right wrist.

'Move aside,' snapped Stenmun. 'I have no interest whether you kill the Mage or not. Take this castle, I'm not stopping you.'

'You stole our children,' was Kel's simple reply.

Stenmun shrugged. 'I was paid well for the job.'

Anger flared in kel. 'I cannot let a man who would see two hundred children slaughtered and enslaved by a necromancer walk away,' she said, her voice shaking. 'You're a worse monster than the ones he creates.'

'So be it,' replied Stenmun. 'You, little girl, will die and I will escape and return to my King.'

The duel began and Kel found herself struggling to maintain the upper hand. She'd drilled for hours on end against swordsmen, but the great axe twisted and turned in ways she didn't expect. Several times kel deflected killer blows from the sharp-edge, only to have the blunt side slammed into her with the force of a rampaging bull. Her left arm and ribs suffered the worst and Kel's breath became ragged with pain. She couldn't perform any clever trick that might save her, such as throwing a dagger or transferring her sword between hands because her left arm now dangled uselessly.

Kel fought on bravely but soon found herself being forced back down the corridor. Conscious that the stairs must soon be looming behind her, Kel made a brave, risky pass which somehow managed to entwine sword and axe. Stenmun grabbed her by the throat with his free hand, preparing to toss Kel down the stairs. With one last burst of determination, Kel hooked her leg around the Scanran's giant one and pulled. It was a simple self defence move taught to all Yamani ladies. At precisely the same moment Stenmun had tried to throw Kel forward, with the result that they both went crashing down the stairs. Weapons escaped from clutching fingers as two pairs of arms flailed against the inevitable downwards flight.

The first impact wasn't too bad, Kel landing on top of something squishy, presumably Stenmun, but the second somersault saw her baring the brunt of the blow. Kel's back was smashed into the wooden staircase which splintered, and her head hit something very solid.

In a tangle of limbs they catapulted over several more times before coming to a halt.

It was surprisingly quiet. The thought entered Kel's head quite of it's own accord and was followed by an explosion of pain. Everywhere hurt. She could taste blood, she could smell blood, she could see blood pooling on the wooden landing; though whether it was hers or Stenmun's she couldn't tell. With a groan that became a gurgle due to the blood sliding down her throat, Kel lifted her head. Stenmun lay motionless across her legs.

Kel's mind was foggy, her vision blurred, but she reached to her belt and buried her dagger in the giant's neck for good measure.

It seemed to take unbearably long for Kel to stand upright. Swaying, heavy blackness threatening to cloud her vision, Kel picked up her bloody sword from the ground and hobbled up the stairs.

She had to finish this, finish Blayce. She was so close. Then she could lie down, then she could sleep. It was the only thought that drove her battered body onwards, up the smashed stairs, along the corridor, up more stairs, though this flight was spiralled and un-bloodstained, and into the workroom beyond.

'What is it now, Stenmun? I gave you what we agreed did I not? Take those men and leave.'

A short, greasy rat-like man turned and realised that he was not in fact addressing Stenmun.

'Oh,' he sneered. 'Who are you?' He looked Kel up and down as she limped into the room. 'One of Stenmun's captains no doubt. Well if you've come to me for a healing then you're out of luck.'

Kel could barely register the mage's words. There was only pain and the knowledge that she had to destroy the vermin that stood before her. Using Courage as a cane, she limped on.

'Now see here,' blustered Blayce. 'You're not to come barging in disturbing me so. I have important work to be done, for the King you know.'

Kel struggled on, until she was but five metres way from the man who'd murdered children by the cartload, the man she'd sworn to kill.

Courage slipped from Kel's bloody fingers and she lurched forward using the bench to hold her shaking body upright.

Blayce stepped forward, 'I really must insist that you leave Captain, or I'll have you strung-' But Blayce never finished his sentence but looked down at his chest, a small 'O' of surprise on his face. Buried there was one of the foot-long blades from a killing machine.

Kel, who'd grabbed the blade from the workbench as though it had been what she'd intended to do all along, sagged with relief.

Her legs gave out completely and she slid to the floor. From her new vantage point, she noticed the bright mornings sunshine streaming in through the windows. Kel strained to her ears to try and hear the sound of the battle below, but the room was completely silent. Must be spelled, Kel thought sleepily. Good, she wouldn't be disturbed. Kel closed her eyes.

Kel was having a very strange dream in which a purple-eyed cat was pacing around in front of her. The small feline was insistently mewing that she get up.

Kel's practical side found these instructions mildly confusing; a cat shouldn't be telling her anything.

Purple orbs burned up at her and Kel found herself beginning to stir. She wanted to ask the cat, as ridiculous as questioning a cat was, where it had come from, but was soon distracted by the pain that accompanied her return to wakefulness.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, Kel took stock of her injuries. Her left arm was still unusable, her right hip bled sluggishly from the arrow wound, but apart from various lacerations and bruises from head to toe Kel had been extremely fortunate not to be in worse shape.

'Come one,' Kel muttered to herself. She'd suffered worse injuries than a graze and a broken bone before. The tired girl clambered to her feet, ignoring the bloody smear she'd left on the floor. Kel picked up Courage with one horribly sticky hand.

The room swayed and Kel vomited violently. When she'd expelled the meagre contents of her stomach and coughed up quite a lot of blood, Kel stepped over Blayce emotionlessly, hoping that relief and satisfaction at defeating her enemy would come later.

Kel rifled through the man's desk. It would not do for others to copy Blayce's work, so she threw handfuls of papers and armfuls of books in to the fireplace. When she was satisfied that no record had escaped her purge, Kel took a box of matches and lit the blaze with difficulty, one-handed as she was.

The dry parchment burned merrily and Kel left the flames to consume the evil. She turned and made her way slowly down the spiral stairs. Down she went, following her own blood trail, over Stenmun's body where she paused only to retrieve her dagger and further on, out into the courtyard.

The battle was over, Tortallan men, now rid of their Scanran uniforms, were piling up the dead. In one corner of the cobbled yard was a crouched group of people. Kel hobbled over and found Neal with glittering fire trying to heal Lofren, one of Dom's men. The fire died.

'I'm sorry,' said Neal heavily, 'I can't save him.' Dom straightened and turned away from the group, running his hands through his sweat-soaked hair in distress.

'Kel' he breathed, spotting his commander and lover for the first time. Kel reached for Dom's hand, unable to withstand the pain of an embrace.

'Thank Mithros above!' Breathed Neal, his eyes damp. 'You're alive.'

'He's dead,' rasped Kel, answering the unspoken question.

'You look bloody terrible,' exclaimed Owen, appearing behind Neal and sporting a heavily bandaged arm.

Kel breathed a small sigh of relief. Neal, Dom and Owen were still all alive.

'Who've we lost?' she asked quietly.

'Zerhek and Mynt.' Replied Owen.

'Lofren, Corporal Fulcher, Massim and Zerhalm.' Luke, one of Dom's men, told Kel.

'I've healed Gil the best I can, but it's not looking hopeful,' said Neal dully. 'I've used too much gift patching up Saefas, Owen and Luke already.

Kel swallowed, they were heavy losses.

'Let's get out of here quickly,' said Dom, squeezing Kel's fingers. 'The children wait in the village with Fanche and Agrane.'

Kel nodded in agreement, although the movement made her head pound. 'There's just one thing I want to do.' She released Dom's hand and disappeared into the castle. It took less than five minutes to find a sheet that could be ripped for her purpose. Kel pressed her hand to her bleeding hip and it came away wet. Placing her hand flat out on the sheet as she'd once done at Somalkt, over five years before, Kel printed a red hand onto the fabric.

Kel tore down the Rathhausak flag one-handed and fastened hers tightly to the metal rings. With an almighty effort she hauled the new flag up and tied the rope so that it was secure.

Let the rebel flag fly as it once had down in Somalkt. A breeze unfurled the symbol of freedom and Kel's heart lifted. It struck her fully for the first time that Blayce was gone.

She hoped that somehow a whisper of the flag would reach Alex, that he would know he still had a loyal supporter in her.

With as many horses and as much food as they could carry, the depleted partly left castle Rathhausak in the late morning. They'd burned the Tortallan dead, including Gil who hadn't pulled through, but had left the Scanran dead for the stormwings that gathered overhead.

'Nice flag,' Neal commented in an undertone as he passed Kel. 'Who's is it's?'

'Hope's.' Kel replied.

-a/n- Hooray for Kel! She got Blayce :D I hope you enjoyed my version of the assault on the castle. I was always a bit dissatisfied in Lady Knight with how Kel's small band magically managed to beat back so many of Stenmun's men...

As always, your thoughts would be treasured,

Lots of festive love to you all,

Confusedknight xxx