Chapter 1: trebond twins
Alanna looked at her twin miserably as her father, Lord Alan of Trebond, gave them their letters and one final blessing before sending them away. Thom was as unhappy as Alanna, neither of them wanted to be sent away from their home. They left, subdued, filled with dread that they had to do their father's bidding and go to Court and Convent. "I don't want to learn to be a lady at the Convent, I want to be a knight! Why do you get to have all the fun?" Alanna's last comment was directed at her brother.
"Fun? Who wants to be a knight? I want to be come a great sorcerer and walk with the Gods!" Thom added angrily. "You should have been the girl," Alanna began, "the girls are always taught magic." Alanna shivered at the thought. Both of the twins had the Gift, but Alanna feared and disliked her magic, while Thom relished in the power of wielding his sorcery. Alanna reluctantly smiled, for all that they looked alike, her and Thom were very different people. They both had copper colored hair, bright violet eyes, and were a little on the short side. In fact if Alanna's hair was shorter it would be almost impossible for a stranger to tell them apart. As this though drifted through Alanna's head, she came up with an idea. Her twin looked up and saw a small smile playing on Alanna's face. He knew too well that she had another crazy plot up her sleeve, and also knew that she didn't want to talk about it here. Her followed her in silence until they were in Alanna's room and then he asked what she was thinking of. She just smiled at first but then relayed her plan to her twin. "We can switch places!" she began, "We look enough alike to fool everyone but Maude and Coram, and father won't even know." "You can go to the City of the Gods and become a sorcerer, and I can go to the Capital and become a knight"
"You really think that would work?" Thom asked in a whisper.
"Of course, if we don't lose our nerve and we can convince Maude and Coram to help us. Without them, we will never make it, they can tell us apart"
"Well, we can tell Coram we will make him see things that aren't there, he hates the Gift. But Maude might be a problem, we will have to convince her that this is the best for everyone, and to help us"
"Alright, lets go and talk to Maude, hopefully we can convince her"
The twins made their way down to the village healing woman, Maude, to talk to her. Maude had taught the twins the basics of magic, just as Coram taught them the basics of the fighting arts. Maude thought them a lot of healing magic and she knew that Alanna had a special talent for it, but the girl feared her magic and had to be begged and tricked to try spells. The same went for Thom. He had to be practically ordered to hunt and practice archery, wrestling and hunting among other things. The twins entered the healers dwelling and found Maude in a back room. Alanna thought that she might as well not beat around the bush, so she explained her plan to Maude immediately, finishing with "Please, Maude, I am good at fighting and Thom isn't, and he wants to be a sorcerer, and I'm don't want to learn to be a lady"
Maude considered the twins plea for a moment and then gently denied their request. "The Gods have willed you, Alanna, to be a girl and a lady, for all that you excel in the fighting arts. And you, Thom, are your father's heir and are to learn to be a knight and carry on the legacy of Trebond." She saw the twins faces and continued just as softly, "Ye can not change what the Gods have willed for ye and it would be unwise to try"
The twins were walking back to their rooms when Thom burst out angrily "Why don't we just switch anyway, we can fool even them, I know we can! Come on Alanna, I know you want to be a knight as much as I want to be a sorcerer." "You're right! We can do this!" Whether Alanna was trying to convince Thom or herself, she wasn't sure, but she pushed on anyway. She was going to be a knight, no matter what it took!
A/N: Please review! Even if you hate it, but give me a little break….this is my first fanfic. Hopefully next one will be longer.