Author's Note Hey everybody! Here's the first chapter of my story for Tamora Pierce. It's set a couple years after Protector the Small, so keep that in mind. I hope you enjoy it and remember to review!
Disclaimer If you recognize it, its not mine! This disclaimer counts for the rest of the story.
Chapter 1
The girl's dark brown hair fell around her lightly pale face. Her ocean blue eyes were focused intently upon the target fifty feet away. She looked to be about ten years old, but mature beyond her years. She loosed the arrow and a second later it reappeared just outside the bull's eye. Her cousin Amery sighed dramatically a few paces behind her.
"Kyi," he said wistfully, "How you do that is beyond me by far! Watch what happens to my arrow."
Amery stepped into her place and notched an arrow. He took careful aim and released the arrow. Kyia smothered a laugh as she watched Amery's arrow fly into a thorny rosebush a foot to the left of the target.
"I guess you'll have to work on that before you go to Corus, hmm?" she teased. Amery hung his head dramatically, dropped his bow, and slowly traipsed over to retrieve his lost arrow. Kyia smiled wryly and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Ouch!" was the loud complaint issuing from the thorny rosebush followed by a string of mumbled cursed and then Amery emerged from the bush. His ear length blond hair was a bigger mess than it usually was, his lightly tanned cheek was scratched and bleeding, his forehead was smudged with dirt, and his clothes were torn. His emerald eyes remained the same however - laughing and mischievous. Kyia couldn't help herself. Her face broke into a grin and she laughed hysterically.
"Yet another reason why I should practice," Amery said dryly, "To avoid stupid rosebushes and their stupid thorns!"
"Whatever will I do with you, Amery?" Kyia laughed, placing a hand on her cousins shoulder.
"Go to the palace in my place?" Amery suggested. "Please? I can be a lady!"
Kyia laughed. "You know I want to come. Father sent my letter to King Jonathan already and we're just hoping he's not going to put me on probation like he did Keladry."
"Oh, yes! You're coming along to keep me in line! Mother put you up to this didn't she?" Amery demanded, suddenly suspicious.
"Yes, Amery, she put it into my head that I need to be a page with you so that she can make sure you're out of bed on time," Kyia agreed sarcastically, "It was never my idea."
"I knew it!" Amery screeched and acted insulted, back turned.
Kyia poked him in the side and ran. "Kyia! Come back here! Fine! I swear I'm gonna hurt you as soon as I catch you!"
"No! If you catch me!" Kyia called behind her. She stampeded into Traveursa's castle, avoided two nurses with Amery's little sister, slipped past one of the cook's boys, and ran through the stone corridors, feet pounding the flagstone floor. She arrived in her father's study, breathless, Amery a heartbeat behind her. He tackled her to the floor and they rolled to the base of her father's desk.
"Well that should be useful," Cameron's voice commented from behind the desk. Kyia and Amery scrambled to their feet and faced Kyia's father, Cameron of Traveursa. He was tall, dark and handsome with thick black hair, high cheekbones, and Kyia's blue eyes. He was smiling mysteriously at them.
"What do you mean?" Kyia asked suspiciously. Cameron gestured at something behind them. Kyia turned and saw a man standing just inside the door, smiling, obviously amused. He was travel worn, dusty and his appearance was disheveled. He wore a dusty gray cloak, black breaches, and a white shirt. The King's royal emblem was embroidered on the left breast. He was a messenger from Corus!
"I'm going to the palace?" Kyia asked excitedly, eyes lighting up, a grin creasing her face. Amery groaned but she ignored him. Her father's mysterious smile widened into a grin and he nodded slowly, awaiting his daughter's reaction.
"Oh no," Amery groaned, "Now I have to wake up!"
"Quiet you!" Kyia said teasingly. "I'm going to be a page! Be happy for me! You can mope by yourself later."
The messenger laughed at her eagerness. "An eager page, we need some of those," he commented appreciatively. "The princess will be glad to have another girl with her. She was afraid she would be alone. Now, my lord, I would take my leave if you will permit it. I have yet to travel to Queen's Cove and the day is quickly escaping me."
Cameron chuckled. "You have my leave," he said to the messenger. "Our cook will give you something to eat and Aylwin will give you a fresh horse from our stables so you can be on your way. Thank you." The messenger bowed formally and swept out of the room. Ari walked into the study right after the messenger left and Kyia immediately ran over to her.
"I'm going to the palace! I'm going to the palace!" she yelled and hugged her mother tightly.
Ari laughed a clear, bell-like laugh and hugged Kyia back, brown hair falling into her eyes. "That's wonderful, honey!" she enthused. "Excited?"
"She is, I'm not," Amery said quickly. "My mother will have her waking me up every morning at the crack of dawn so that I won't sleep the day away! What if I want to sleep the day away?" Amery looked like a spoiled child, deprived of a favourite toy. His arms were crossed defensively across his chest, dried blood on his cheek from the roses, and an annoyed look on his face.
Serena, Kyia's aunt and Amery's mother, swung into the room in a swirl of baby blue cloth. "You'll get up anyway, boy! I will not have the training master writing me letters about your future tardiness or complete failure to show up to training at all!" she began. "You'll get up whether you like it or not, whether Kyia throws a bucket of cold water on you or drags your body from your bed herself you will get up! Kyia, sweetie, write me if he doesn't wake up when he has to. I'll come to Corus and straighten him out myself." She gave her son a warning glare before seating herself comfortably in an armchair by the fire. She was identical to her twin sister, Ari, save her blond hair instead of brown.
A cool draft slipped in from her father's open window, causing Serena and Ari to shiver. "I don't know how you can sit in here, Cameron, with a window open! Its the middle of September for Mithros' sake!" Ari complained loudly to her husband and forcefully shut the window.
Cameron chuckled easily. "Calm down, dear, I'll stoke the fire."
While Amery argued with his mother and Cameron stoked the fire Kyia strolled around her father's desk and took the warm seat left vacant by Cameron. She looked at the two envelopes left abandoned on the desk addressed to her father and to Duke Pierce of Shark's Cove, Amery's father. The royal wax seal on her father's letter had already been broken.
"What are these letters for, father?" she asked curiously. Cameron looked up from the fire.
"Well one is the letter accepting you as a page at the palace," he said, straightening and positioning himself behind Ari's arm chair. "And the other one is for Pierce. I can only presume its Amery's acceptance-"
"Or rejection," interjected Kyia.
Cameron, suppressing a smile, continued "-from the palace for page training."
"Here, can I see it?" Serena asked, holding out her hand. Kyia hopped out of the chair, grabbing the letter, and placed it in her aunt's hand. Serena opened it, read it, and then refolded it, shoving it back into the envelope. "You've been accepted, Amery."
"Jump for joy, Amery!" Kyia said brightly while her blond cousin glared at her, clearly irritated.
"Haven't you ever heard of respecting your elders?" He demanded grumpily.
"You're only older than me by two months," Kyia shot back. "And haven't you ever heard of respecting your betters?" She smiled triumphantly as Amery's face turned red with annoyance and the adults laughed.
"There are too many sharp tongues in this room," Serena declared and rose, grabbing the back of Amery's tunic. "We should start packing you up anyways!" She said to her pouting son and walked him out of the room, winking over her shoulder at Kyia.
"Well congratulations, dear," her mother said, upon turning to observe Kyia. "I can tell you're excited. Your brothers will be shocked when they see you turn up there in two weeks, won't they?"
"Probably," Kyia agreed with a shrug. She was excited but didn't quite know how to act. She didn't want to appear an over-excited child.
"Cameron, we'll have to send one of the maids with her," Ari said to Kyia's father. "Maybe Briar? Or Annie?"
"Could I take Aylwin?" Kyia cut in. Both her parents turned to her and gave her an wary look. "Please?"
Author's Note Okay, so there's the first chapter. Review please!