Chapter One
"You there!"
Slowly turning my way around to see what the matter is for I was just about to put my plan in action.
"Girl, tell me how I'm suppose to get in pass this gate, I'm suppose to meeting the king in a few minutes?" said obviously a king, probably from our neighboring kingdom The Silver Kingdom. He was followed by about a half a dozen guards and I could see two carriages and a couple more young men riding next to them. Why are they here, I didn't know we were having company.
"The guard should let you in, as were very careful about who gets into the kingdom," I answered back to him, I was about to finish my thought but this man obviously has no patience for he very rudely yells back at me.
"Don't you think I know, that that's why I'm asking you!"
"Well at least I have manners unlike you!"
"Just get me a guard before I have your head!"
I'd like to see you try but fine, boys I'll be right back," I told my "guard pack" which is what I called them and soon ran down the dirt road, letting my old faded red dress run around my legs and leaving my guards more confused than before and extremely anxious for me to get back. For if something did happen to me my uncle "the king" will probley have their head.
I just rounded the corner a good while away to find one of my best friends. Chase.
"Did you get them by the gate?" he asked anxiously.
"In a different way then planned but yes I did," smiling very greatly.
"Okay, you know what to do now, right"
"Duh, I've been planning this for weeks, why wouldn't I know!" giving him a very big "I'm not that stupid look, which ends me with a big smile from him." We met when we were about five when his mom worked in the kitchen and he was too young to stay home alone. I worshipped the times we could get together and play mostly because my parents were dead, I lived in a big castle with older people everywhere, and he was like a brother to me.
My parents were killed in war when I was little so my uncle took me in and since then I've been treated like a princess for my uncle had no children of his own and treated me like his daughter. Sometime I liked it and sometimes I didn't. Like now, he's probably throwing a ball in honor of my 18th Birthday. He was also too over protective as you see he makes four guards follow me around everywhere, he says he does it because he loves me but I think it's just that I'm his real true heir and he doesn't want to have any children.
One of the things I hate about him being the king is that whenever I go out into the city he always wants me to wear formal bright colored dresses that make it impossible to run in so I mostly wear pheasant clothes like now, I'm wearing old brown traveling boots that went up about a quarter of my leg and were quite comfy. A thin faded deep red dress that went up to my knees, the sleeves were cut down the middle and attached together every couple of inches by gold thread spun into the dress. The last thing I was wearing were brown leather cuffs on my wrists mainly because they helped me hunt and ride my horse Annabel. I had my long curly brown hair brought down into one large braid. My name is Kahlan and I was named by my mother when….
Chase nudging my shoulder while his eyes reminded me of what I needed to do waked me out of my short little flashback so I soon let my body change. I felt the adrenaline go everywhere in my body, giving me tingles everywhere, it was exhilarating. I could feel my body welcoming the change of my normal self into an animal, a hawk, which was my favorite animal besides a horse. I flew up into the sky, pumping my wings hard on the air, letting my newly formed body catch up with my mind. I felt great. With my great eyes I could see my "guard pack" anxiously waited my return and soon seeing the relief on their faces when they saw me from the sky. I lived in The Red Kingdom, which to me was a wonderful place to live in. There were mountains, valleys, streams, rivers, lakes, pastures, and a beautiful city that contained many people and beautiful stone buildings that our ancestors had made.
I was getting close to the gate at the front of the city, which was only one of two ways out and into the city. My excellent eyesight let me see where Chase was hiding with his bow notched and ready to shoot. Closer and closer I got until finally I yelled well more like squeaked a big yelp that signaled him to shoot when ready. For just a moment I actually breathed in the fresh air loving that I could fly like this, for only nine people in the whole world were given it to help them fight when the darkness comes from the prophecy of the sky. I quickly moved out of my trance and waited for the laughs to come for this was the best prank I had pulled on my guards yet and Chase was the best man with a bow I've ever seen so I had no worry. My guards hated it when I pulled pranks on them and that actually just made it more fun to me.
Swish, I could hear the arrow coming from miles and was glad I could tell it was going to hit just under me. It was so close I could feel the air moving out of the way from the arrow onto my lower body. I snapped my head back onto my "guard pack" which I knew Chase was doing the same for he had a perfect opening on the scene. The look on their faces was priceless as it always was, they were horrified at first for me cause they actually did care about me and then they realized what might now happen to them. After all it did look like a mysterious arrow came out of nowhere and hit me surely meaning I was dead. I was already acting like I had been hit and was steering my way toward the ground where I met my goal area, already starting to transform back into my human self, laughing my heart out, I thought I was going to burst and I was having trouble breathing.
They were already rushing towards me to make sure I was okay, until they realized my "crying" was actually laughing. Then they just backed up and started covering their faces with their hands as if that would save them from that embarrassment.
Tears were coming out of my eyes and I couldn't see a thing. After a while my laughter slowed down but the spirit inside me sure didn't. Chase had come out of his hiding spot and was making his way towards us clearly laughing just as much as I have been.
"That was not funny," said one Henry one of the guards.
"Yes, it was," Chase, replied.
"Excuse me, now that your done fooling around we would like to enter," said the king of the silver kingdom. Now a young man stood next to him on a brilliant horse, it was white as the moon and sure looked strong. The man was probably the oldest prince, but maybe not because he was dressed just like me well like a pheasant.
"Oh, yes sorry sir," said Chase, " I'll get right on it", for he was still wearing his red guard uniform for his post was actually to be at the gate. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys, but while he was walking towards the gate, one of the king's messengers came up and talked to Henry before running back the way he came. I suddenly became very suspicious and then it hit me, my uncle wanted me.
I quickly turned around and ran round towards the gate while whistling for my horse to come and save me. But my guards were of course always one step a head of me for as I ran around the two men in the front two of my guards were waiting for me and before I could react they each grabbed one of my arms and started walking back in to the castle grounds.
Just then my horse came running around the corner getting excited for she knew she could go out and run but was soon disappointed when she saw me. The other king soon started laughing at me telling me I deserved it while I pleaded with my guards to tell my uncle I got out and went out riding for a half an hour but they weren't hearing it.
The group from the other kingdom soon passed us and not soon after we were walking into my uncle's study where we found the other king, the man that was riding next to him, and a girl about 14 and another little boy about 10.
"Ahh, here come Kahlan," says my uncle.
"Can you please tell them to let me go, since they won't listen to me," I answer back while pointing with my eyes at my captors.
"Okay, boys you can let her go, thank you, I know how hard she is to keep track of," he said. "Now honey come and sit down and I'll introduce you to our guests."
"Well, I kind of already met that one, I say pointing to the king."
"Ahh, so you're the smart mouth pheasant that pulled the so called prank on our guards."
I couldn't help but smile and laugh a little for I still couldn't get their faces out of my mind. Me and my uncle shared our since of humor most of the time so usually all the guards got was an apology and a little more gold in their paycheck.
"So I'm guessing you know what I'm planning now, right," asked my uncle.
"Yep," was all I answered unhappily back to him.
"Well then I'd like you to meet King Charles, his son Richard, his daughter Lily, and his other son Gabriel."
"Hello," I said to them.
"What are you wearing!" said my uncle finally looking at me for real.
"Just my clothes," I said in a quiet voice.
"Go up in your room and change right this instant, we have company!"
"Well, how come he gets to wear regular clothes," I say pointing at Richard, the oldest child.
"Because he's been riding for five straight hours," was all he said, "Now go!"
"Fine!" and I walked out the door into my room which took me about seven minutes to even reach my door.
My room consisted of a big gathering room with a couple of coaches, a fireplace, and lots of pillows. I then had a bedroom with a desk, bed, and lamp in. Both of these rooms were a deep shade of red with cream colored, blankets and pillows, my favorite colors. Red was one of my favorites because it was the color of war. I had excellent hunting skills and I could take on ten to fifteen guards each time with no weapons.
I also had a huge bathroom with the same colors as the rest of my room. I then found my white dress very similar to the one I was wearing except it trailed behind me a little bit and went down to my ankles. There were also had just regular sleeves that went tight to the elbow and then were cut so that the fabric would fall down past my arms. I had to take off my arm guards, which made my arms feel naked without. My room maid soon barged into the room making sure I was know wearing something expectable.
"Okay, I'm going to go see my uncle," I told her very truthfully.
"Wait, let me see you one second, ahh here we are come here." I walked over towards her and was turned around by her fingers.
I could feel her fingers going into my braided hair and pulling out some of the hay that was suck in there and then pulling out the braid and shaking my now lose brown curly hair out and around my shoulders.
"Much better," she said, "Okay now you can go," she said with a smile.
"Thank you," I said in a low sarcastic voice and then was out the door.