A/N:  Hi everyone.  This is my first fic ever so please read and review!

Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the tamora pierce stuff that you see in my story

Chapter 1:  A Meeting

Tarilenea sharpened her blade against the stone and sniffed the air. No horse smells yet; that was good. She had more time to prepare. She sheathed her knife in the leather belt around her waist and stood up, scuffing the marks of her toes in the dust out with her foot. Her curly brown hair flew behind her in the wind, and her freckles stood out against her pale skin in the summer afternoon light.


Tarilenea had the Gift for Senses. Her five senses--that is, hearing, smelling, seeing, touch, and taste-- were accelerated to a supernatural point. She could see things 50 or 60 feet away, if she wanted to, as clearly as most humans would see something 10 feet away. She usually did not use her Gift for taste, because it became overwhelming. Her smelling Gift she used almost all of the time, and also her hearing. They were both very helpful in tracking and knowing ahead of time when something was near her.

She had always been good at hide-and-seek as a child and she could never figure out why, until a Gift- Seeker had come to her house. The Gift-Seeker had tested her for a possible Gift, and had found that Tarilenea had the most unusual Gift of Senses. Tarilenea's parents had been surprised, but had immediately packed her off for Corus so that she could be trained in her newfound powers. That she was only 15 was of no concern to them; they wanted to do this quickly because of the political situation in Tortal.


The present King Alan was good, and just. However, he had a third cousin named Deleterious who wanted nothing less than the throne. This was a known fact; ever since Deleterious had been a child he had coveted the throne and not made any secret about it. Wherever he could he upstaged Alan in festivities and even went so far once as to take his place at a banquet. Everyone at court soon became tired of Deleterious trying to rule behind Alan's back, and isolated him at his castle until he agreed to behave.

He had been there for ten years so far and no good news had come; people were beginning to get worried. Because there were too many people standing in front of the throne, Deleterious had no chance of just killing them all off and becoming King. He would need to actually conquer King Alan's army in order to take the throne.

Most people assumed that he would never muster the forces needed to accomplish this; Tarilenea's parents were of the few who believed that anything was possible and that they should, in fact, worry about Lord Deleterious's evil intentions. So they sent Tarilenea from their home in Carthak to Tortal, so that she could travel the Great Road South to Corus and find a suitable teacher. They strongly believed that Lord Deleterious would somehow manage to find an army; and when he did, they wanted to be fighting against him. Tarilenea was their way to fight.


Suddenly Tarilenea's ears pricked up; she heard hoof beats approaching and she could smell the tangy sweat odor of two horses running hard. She leapt behind a tree and stood pressed up against the crisp bark, her ears and nose working hard to identify the newcomer. The horses, breathing hard, galloped into the clearing and stopped, whinnying as the rider pulled hard to curb them. The boy on one of the horses got off expertly, swinging over and down smoothly like a cat. He sent the horses off with a push, so that they could go find water and food. They would return at his whistle.

He stood and looked around, noting a few bent blades of grass and the rock on which a blade had been sharpened. He crept around the clearing, sniffing and listening carefully. A smile tugged at Tarilenea's lips, and she dug her fingers into the tree in suspense. A chip of bark cracked off at her touch, and floated gently into the grass at her feet. She gasped and looked down, and then up into the smiling face of her friend, Lark. They stared at each other for a moment and then hugged, yelling and pounding each other's backs.


"Lark! How did you find me so fast!" whined Tarilenea.


Lark grinned good-naturedly. "'Twas only because of your clumsiness, m'lady Tarry!" He whooped and ducked as Tarilenea threw a punch. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down on the ground with her.


"I've told you a million times," said Tarilenea as Lark pulled his shirt back into the right place, "just call me Tarry! I'm not your lady anymore. Those days are over." She looked down at the grass, and her eyes clouded over as she was transported into her memories of the home she had left. Lark saw this, and waved his hand in front of her face hurriedly.


"Don't think about that anymore, m'lady. I've come to help you escape. I have good news for you. It seems that Lord Deleterious is making peace with King Alan! He sent a letter of submission to him, along with a small army of centaurs as compensation. He is holding a Conference of Sorcerers at his castle in the Grimhold Mountains in two weeks time. He has requested that you attend, as you have the Gift and are from a noble family."


Lark held out a dirty piece of paper which had obviously been in his grimy jacket for a while. He wiped his nose on his sleeve as Tarilenea broke the official seal on the rolled-up parchment and read the letter over twice, slowly.


Tarilenea finally rolled it back up, and tied it with a bit of string from her pocket. She sighed and sat a while in deep thought, her foot tapping a pattern on the ground restlessly. She did not trust Lord Deleterious at all. He had been a well-known enemy of Tortal for as long as she could remember--he had been the main reason her parents had sent her away from home to train to become a sorcerer. Her mother had spoken a few choice words to her before she left, about Lord Deleterious and his evil intentions.


"Tarilenea," her mother had explained softly while they were riding to the boat, "there are things you must know which I could not tell you earlier for fear of being heard. I am not sure that even our house is free from the spies Lord Deleterious has planted throughout Tortall. His plans are purely bad. He wants to rule Tortall, and he is the third cousin to the king. However, there are too many people between him and the throne. The only way for him to become king is to conquer King Alan's army."


Tarilenea laughed. "How could he, mother? Tortall's army is invincible. We have so many sorcerers and soldiers, it would be impossible for a Lord, no matter how strong, to defeat the king."


Lady Lolana had looked pained at her daughter's carefree words.


"Do not speak so freely, Lenea. It is not so hard as you might think to take over Tortall's common people if you had mostly magic on your side."


Here Tarilenea was stumped. "But how could he have more sorcerers working for him than the king? I thought that King Alan had almost all of the magic peoples in Tortall working under him."


"He does. But Lord Deleterious, if he finds a way to capture these sorcerers, might be able to force them to work for him. You must understand, if this ever happens, Tortall is surely his. For what chance does an army of even 10,000 have against over 100 sorcerers?" Lady Lolana closed her eyes. "Nothing."


Tarilenea bit her lip but said resolutely, "Don't worry, Mother. I will become a great sorcerer, and fight against Lord Deleterious! He will not win with me on the other side." She smiled, and Lady Lolana nodded, her gray eyes squinted with worry. She turned and grasped Tarilenea's arm, her face expressive and worried.


"Please be careful my daughter, but work hard so that you will help defeat this evil man and bring honor to our family." She smiled then, and patted Tarilenea's cheek gently. "Just remember to listen more than you speak, and not to question orders. I love you, Tarilenea. Go in health."


Tarilenea came back to reality with a thump as Lark hit her hard on the back. She was about to cry out angrily and hit him back when she saw the urgent look on his face, his eyes wide and a finger held up against his lips. She closed her eyes and used her Gift to listen and smell. There was a horse coming, no she decided quickly, five or more at least, and they had been running hard because the horse's breathing was short and irregular. She frowned at Lark, indicating that she did not know who the riders where. They smelled different--more like leather and perfume than the simple homespun cloth and soap she was used to. The two quickly smoothed their tracks out of the dirt and scurried up the nearest tree, careful not to bend any grass or leave marks on the ground. From this tree Tarilenea and Lark had a bird's eye view of the clearing in the woods, and from this point they saw seven riders approach.

A/N:  So what do you think?  Review and tell me!