A
Destiny All Her Own
A/N: All the characters except Riley are Tamora Pierce's
so don't sue me. Don't steal the plot either!
Riley
pulled her slinky blonde heir back from her face. Her father, Sir Gareth of Naxen, always said she looked cuter
with her hair up. Well I'm not exactly going for the cute look but oh well,
thought Riley. With blonde hair,
innocent-looking brown eyes, and a trim body that would rival Queen Thayet's,
Riley wasn't exactly unpopular with the males.
That should
come in handy, because Riley was traveling in a carriage from the City of the
Gods, where she attended the convent until her recent fifteenth birthday, to
Corus. After she arrived at the palace
she would be presented at Court the next evening and attend a ball later that
night, welcoming her and other maidens looking for a husband. More specifically, the maidens' parents
looking for a husband. Dad wouldn't let me marry just anybody would he? And
he's cousins with King Jon so that pretty much rules out any losers, Riley
thought. But what if he's only nice to
Dad and Jon? He might be awful to
me. I've heard stories of men who come
back from the taverns only to beat their wives and get more money, probably for
other women. But what if he's old? What
if-
But Riley's
thoughts were interrupted by the carriage's screeching halt. She smoothed her skirts and checked her hair
before the driver came barging in.
"Come on,
miss," he wheezed. "Group of
spidrens….. 20 at least."
It was clear
that the carriage wasn't going anywhere, thanks to the rain that recently began
to pour. Wonderful, Riley thought.
First I have to get a husband, then one of my bags gets ripped. Now I'm about
to run from a pack of killer Immortals in a skirt while it's raining. Can life
get any worse?
As if on cue,
a wolf snarled it's teeth not more than eight feet from Riley. "Excuse me," she
said, frantically looking for the carriage driver. But Riley was alone. On
the road. With a wolf and approaching
spidren pack.
Goddess, this just sucks, mused Riley. Why can't I just have Wild Magic like
Daine? At least then the wolf wouldn't
be looking at me like I'm a piece of meat.
Just as the
wolf inched closer, an arrow whistled through the air and connected solidly
with the wolve's neck. Seconds later it
fell on the ground, dead. Okay, there's
one problem solved, Riley thought.
Wait, if the driver is gone, he couldn't have shot the wolf. Then who did? Mithros, this is worse than a wolf. Bandits, most likely.
She must have
muttered the last two sentences aloud, because a voice said behind her "Bandit?
I'm hardly a bandit?" Riley started to
turn around, then everything went black and she collapsed to the ground.
A/N: Okay people, this is my first fic so don't be too mean
when reviewing. And please review! If I get 10 reviews, I'll post the next
chapter.
