I don't own The Shannara Chronicles. All rights go to their respective owners.
Chapter One
Deep within the deep dark woods, she runs blind.
Seriously blind, a piece of cloth tied over her eyes as she uses sense and memory to duck past trees, branches, bushes, whatever she believes to be in her path, only looking back once at the sound of someone else's footsteps.
She shouldn't, she can't see said someone after all.
She keeps on running, running fast a far, the person catching up to her, she can hear him, coming closer and closer…
Tripping over, she falls flat against a bank, her face pressed against the muddy surface, muttering out in pain from her fall.
"Amberle." The man calls her name.
"Still alive?" He questions as she shakes her head, rolling her eyes underneath the blindfold even through she knows he can't see her.
"Relax, Uncle Ander, it's not like I'm going to break." She reminds him as she lifts herself up with a light laugh, hearing her uncle drop down into the ditch beside her, freeing her hands.
Yes she'd been bound and blindfolded! Those are the rules of running The Gauntlet after all.
"How many times did I miss that jump tonight?" She inquires.
"Five." He replies bluntly, still freeing her hands.
"If you lose count of your steps tomorrow, it'll be the shortest half mile of your life." He comments as he frees her, Amberle's hands moving to remove the blindfold from her eyes, sighing in frustration.
"I'm going again." She declares as Ander grabs her arm.
"No, it's too late." He says sternly.
"The race starts at dawn. You need to rest." He proclaims.
It would be so easy to listen to him, Amberle thinks.
She aches and pains from all the training she's done so far.
A nice hot bath and her boyfriend… The thought of that is idyllic.
But that's not possible right now.
She would love nothing more than to rest but she can't.
"But only the first seven runners across the line become members of The Chosen." She reminds him determinedly.
"I didn't do all of this just to lose."
Next Morning
At dawn after a night of near excruciating training with her Uncle Ander, Amberle makes her way down to the forest grounds for the start of the race.
Beside her is her loyal servant and best friend Catania, who has her own concerns about this whole affair herself.
"Princess, are you sure you wanna step on thousands of years of Elvin tradition?" She questions anxiously.
"I know someone who's quite concerned about tradition…" She murmurs.
"There's no turning back. We need to stake out my starting place and um… It will be a nice surprise for that someone." Amberle replies.
"One hell of a surprise." Catania mumbles under her breath.
"Yet still I wish he were here right now." Amberle admits.
"Don't you worry, as your friend and loyal servant, I've got you covered." She smiles cheerily, her arm wrapped around Amberle, whom turns to her.
"Ok, let's stay focused, Catania." She replies as they walk toward the starting place, where a lot of other elves are warming up, readying themselves for the race.
Other than Amberle, all these elves are men.
"Bet you wish you'd told Lorin you were running now." Catania notes.
"No. Because you know full well we are most certainly not together anymore and despite the fact we have decided to remain friends, he can handle not knowing this." Amberle replies with a wicked smirk at her lips as they are finally noticed by the rest of the elvin men, including Lorin himself, all of them staring at the two women as Catania kneels down besides Amberle.
"Jace told me though that if Lorin becomes a member of The Chosen he is going to propose getting back together with you and asking you to marry him." Catania chuckles.
"And he's going to be bitterly disappointed when the answer is no." Amberle laughs lightly.
"That he will. Yet, I'm pretty sure both you Uncles and your grandfather are going to ask you why you turned him down. Prepared to give them a truthful answer to that yet Princess?" Catania raises an eyebrow to Amberle.
"No I am not. They interrogated me when we broke up the first time, thankfully I'm good and managed to work something out. You are right, if Jace's words are true, they'll interrogate me again when I reject Lorin but because I don't want to be responsible for will probably be a catastrophic event if they did find out the truth. I do not plan on telling them anything. In fact, if they question me. I'll give them the same answer as before." Amberle murmurs, falling silent when Lorin himself reaches their sides.
"Amberle." Lorin addresses his ex girlfriend gently.
"You're not allowed here." Is the first thing he comments on.
"Have you come to wish me luck?" He asks hopefully, hoping this is the get back together ploy he'd been so desperately hoping for.
"Yes and no." Amberle admits, before pulling off her cloak and revealing to the circle of elvin men and Lorin that she is wearing a uniform similar to all of them.
"I'm racing to." She reveals, annoyed when she sees all the other elvin men pointing, staring and murmuring at what they see and realize is happening.
"You're kidding." Lorin laughs nervously.
"Is there a rule that says a girl can't run The Gauntlet?" She retorts.
"That's the way it's always been." He reminds her.
"We have female Commanders in the Elvin Army and a woman on the High Council. It's time the Four Lands had a female Chosen." She states firmly.
"You knew about this?" Lorin snaps at Catania.
"Who do you think sneaked her past the Home Guard and out of the palace?" Catania smirks in response to Lorin's annoyance, who turns to Amberle then, placing his hands on her shoulders, causing her to glance up at him in annoyance.
"The Gauntlet is dangerous, Amberle. These guys will do anything to win." He warns her.
"So will I." She retorts in a more gentle voice as she practically pushes his hands off her.
"Then good luck." He sighs as he takes her hand in his.
"I know we're not together anymore, but may the best Elf win and who knows, if we both make it as members of The Chosen, we can talk about us." Lorin says hopefully.
Not likely, Amberle thinks as Lorin kisses her hand, making Amberle want to slap him with it as he leaves her standing there, Catania moving back to her side in an instance, placing her hands gently on her shoulders.
"I'm definitely sensing a lot of sweaty elf-boy hate." Catania winces at the sight of all the other elvin men watching Amberle with angry looks upon each one of their faces.
"Not to mention, I'm also sensing the oncoming rage of a certain someone with magic when he returns. Are you sure you want to do this?" She asks Amberle again, whom in response, holds out the hand that holds her purple blindfold and her rope.
"Tie me up."
Later…
It isn't even ten minutes later when each and every one of those elves hoping to become members of The Chosen are stood at the starting place.
When the Black Guards slam their staffs into the ground, each one of the blindfolded and bound elves take a step forward in stance.
"Steady!" One yells acting as the referee.
"Only the first seven to cross will be anointed." The rules are shouted out.
"On the sound of my horn." The man yells, as each elf waits in anticipation for the sound.
It sounds out loud and clear only a second later, each one of the elves making a sudden mad dash, one of them stopping to already knock Amberle off her feet and onto the ground.
"Get up, Amberle." A female ghostly voice speaks from within her mind, causing her to instantly scramble to her feet, chasing after the other elves in a mad hurry after being held back barley a minute due to being knocked off her feet, she races into the woods, already hearing the yelling and sounds of elves knocking into trees, falling to the forest floor, even being knocked out but she keeps on running, hurriedly counting her steps as Ander had advised her to, ducking past what she believes to be a tree expertly.
It's almost as if she can see through the blindfold.
See an image of the forest clearly, the trees, the ditch…
"Jump." The ghostly voice returns and she jumps, soaring over the ditch, landing with ease on the other side, scrambling to her feet as quickly as she possibly can when she doesn't exactly land upon her feet.
She continues to run.
She's getting closer to the finish, to the clearing.
She can already hear the cheers as she guesses elves have already made it.
Become members of The Chosen.
She can hear them counting down.
They're already on five.
She's getting closer, she's going to make this!
However, suddenly something hard knocks her down.
Another elf, she's guessing as she suddenly receives a painful kick to the ribs, knocking all the air out of her.
"Six!" She hears the crowd that is so close by call out…
"Don't give up!" Some members of the crowd call to her.
"There's one Chosen left!" They remind her of what she's here for. What she must do.
She has to win.
Ignoring the pain from where she was violently kicked, she scrambles to her feet determinedly, somehow also knocking down the elvin man who had caused her to fall and be in pain in the first place with her feet, before running, smirking when she also manages to stand upon said man as well as she just keeps on going, running, hearing the crowd cheer for her.
The female commander Amberle had mentioned to Lorin before smirks proudly as she watches the female run and run until she knocks into one the crowd, the finish line.
The cheers and applause fill her ears in an instant.
A horn rings out.
She made it.
She's a member of The Chosen.
Later…
Each new member of The Chosen, each still blindfolded are led into The Sanctuary by the previous members of The Chosen.
The large oak doors are shut behind them, which is when the previous members of The Chosen reach to pull the restraints and blindfolds from the new Chosen's eyes.
Whispering and muttering and gasps are heard the minute Amberle is revealed to the crowd of people, which also happens to be her two uncles, Prince Ander and Prince Arion and her grandfather, the king.
King Eventine.
"It's a girl." People whisper in shock, horror and awe.
"Is that the Princess?" Another asks.
Amberle takes no notice of the negative comments she hears, instead breaks into a beaming smile as now, with her sight intact she can see where she is.
The Sanctuary.
She's been here a million times, stood here thousands more but never before has she felt like this.
The feeling of accomplishment, achievement, pride as she stands facing the grand, beautiful tree she became a member of The Chosen to protect.
The Ellcrys.
She looks up to it with a wide smile and gleaming eyes.
I made it, father. She thinks before looking down at the almost unreadable expression upon her grandfathers face, the look of smugness upon her uncle Ander's, the look of horror upon her Uncle Arion's (as expected) the smirk upon her ex boyfriend Lorin's, yet she looks past him to smile back at the very young beautiful Elvin child smiling widely at her.
There's still one face she wishes she could see in this crowd of people.
Yet thinking of that face, she is unsure of what expression said person would be wearing!
"I thought you were teaching her how to fence?" Prince Arion hisses to Prince Ander discreetly, but still people can hear them, including Amberle.
"She was a quick study." Ander replies with a smile as they watch as the new Chosen members step forth, each of them falling gracefully to their knees as the old Chosen members following them, taking of the cloaks that had marked them as members of The Chosen and fastening them around the necks of the new members of The Chosen firmly before stepping back and allowing the new members of The Chosen to rise.
"Congratulations." King Eventine starts with a brief smile.
"As King, I welcome you to The Order Of The Chosen." King Eventine bangs his stick loudly, loud eruptions of cheers and applause sounding all around the large room, Amberle smiling widely at her uncles and grandfather, whom passes his stick to Arion before addressing the new members of The Chosen.
"At the dawn of every new year, we gather in this sacred garden to recount the story of The Ellcrys." The King pauses as he walks down the steps away from The Ellcrys.
"Thousands of years ago our Elvin ancestors fought a war against an army of Demons. The Elves were at the point of annihilation when their elders turned to magic. Using this powerful gift they managed to imprison the Demons in a realm known as the Forbidding. The Ellcrys was created to stand sentry. As long as it lives, the Demons are locked up for all eternity. Now I realize that for some of you this is merely… Folklore. But in no way does this diminish your responsibilities and you are now its protectors." He states firmly, patting Amberle's cheek affectionately in passing.
"Now step forward, place your hands on the tree and be accepted by The Ellcrys." He commands as one by one, each member of The Chosen begin to move toward The Ellcrys, placing their hands upon it to be supposedly accepted by it, each of the, bowing their heads to a disgruntled Prince Arion and a still smug Prince Ander in passing.
"I can't believe you let her embarrass our father like that. It's bad enough she's seemingly friends with… Him. Now you've caused this to happen! This is our fathers last ceremony before her abdicates the throne." Arion growls.
"I didn't let Amberle do anything. Ok? This was here idea. I just aided and abetted and so what if she's friends with him, I'm friends with him and you don't hold any feelings of resentment toward me for it, I thought." Ander replies calmly.
"That aside. She could have seriously hurt herself. I'd have thought for Aine's sake that you'd want to keep her safe." Arion plays his chosen cards well.
"Invoking our dead brother? That's very subtle… Did you work that into your coronation speech?"
"We made a pact to protect her." Arion snaps firmly.
"Well at least you'll know where she'll be for the next year. Locked behind these walls, watering an old tree." Ander replies in a still calm voice as he watches with pride as his niece steps up toward The Ellcrys to be accepted by the tree herself.
"Do you have any respect for Elvin tradition?" Arion hisses.
"Only the ones with parties." Ander retorts, watching with a smiling face as Amberle places her hand upon The Ellcrys.
However, her hand comes into contact with The Ellcrys bark, it's like she's transported someplace else. Away from The Sanctuary, someplace completely different.
Opening her eyes, Amberle sees that her hand is still resting upon The Ellcrys but she's not there in The Sanctuary, she's outside and when she pulls back her hand she finds it covered in thick deep red blood.
Removing her hand from the bark and spinning around Amberle looks on in horror at what she sees in front of her.
Aborlon destroyed.
Plies and piles of Elvin bodies lying at her feet, lying everywhere.
The palace in ruins, destruction everywhere she looks.
What she believes to be none other than a demon, equipped with wings and talons tearing a person to shreds.
Something grabs her ankle.
A hand…
She looks down to see the beautiful little Elvin child, covered in blood and slashes up and down her body, choking on her own blood as she grips Amberle's foots.
Amberle begins to scream.
Elsewhere In The Four Lands
In a far away cave, quite a distance away from Aborlon a magical Druid, name of Allanon is busy pulling old dusty scrolls from a well hidden place into a satchel at his feet to carry back with him to Aborlon.
He'd been meaning to visit Druid's Keep, but he had decided against it, knowing he'd want to return to Aborlon when he could, the place becoming something of a home again for a The Druid after being away from it for twenty nine years.
On the thirtieth year, Allanon had awoken from the Druids Sleep, only to find that twenty nine years had passed and whilst the Druid Sleep had kept him from aging a day, he'd come to Aborlon to find all of those he once called friends had greatly.
One person in particular he knew must have aged but he'd never asked around for her.
He didn't want to know where she was even, he'd caused her enough heartbreak as it was and King Eventine never even mentioned her to him, which had made Allanon assume the worst instantly. Still he did not speak a word.
He's a mind reader, he could learn anything he wanted to from simply reading people's minds, but when it came to her. He couldn't.
He had to let all that go and he had.
He had most certainly moved on in a way he never thought he would…
Suddenly, a piercing scream fills his ears.
A familiar scream he knows all to well.
Spinning around toward the entrance of the cave, he feels a spark of magic as his sword flies into his outstretched hand.
The magical sword of his unfolding itself in an instant.
Thoughts hit him, thoughts of past, present and the future.
It's the future that worries him now more than ever.
"It has begun."
Aborlon
Amberle had awoken in her room hours after she had passed out in front of The Ellcrys.
The memories hitting her in an instant and the thought of the fact that she had passed out in front of so many people in The Sanctuary after touching The Ellcrys isn't at all what bothers her the most.
No, it was what she had seen when touching The Ellcrys.
The destruction, the dead, the Demons…
That young child in her last moments grabbing onto her foot…
After spending an hour gathering herself, cleaning her rather sore self up from the race and changing into a silky silver dress, she sits upon her bed and simply draws; drawing the Demon from the supposed vision she'd seen hurriedly, scratching out each detail with her pencil as flashes of said vision keep coming back to her, over and over again.
The pencil breaks she was scribbling so hard and the minute she drops the whole thing onto her lap, looking up with fearful eyes, she suddenly hears the door of her bedroom opening.
Instantly, she drops the drawing and pencil to her bed before facing whomever has decided to come and visit her, considering she had specifically said, after waking up in her room after passing out, to the Home Guards, not to let anyone in.
It's only Catania, whom is beaming cheerfully.
"Someone's here to see you." She says in a sing song voice.
"I thought I told the Home Guards not to let anyone in." She murmurs as Catania nods before pushing the door open all the way to let that someone into the room.
"Princess." A familiar low voice fills Amberle's ears, whom instantly looks up to the door.
"Allanon?" She whispers back in shock, wonder and amazement, unable to believe what she's hearing until he takes a step further into the room, flashing one of his half smirks in her direction.
"If you won't tell me what's going on, maybe you'll talk to him." Catania shrugs, turning to exit to leave Amberle and Allanon alone, nudging him as she goes.
"You owe me." She murmurs as she closes the door behind her.
"What are you doing here? I thought your quest wasn't over for another two months?" Amberle says the moment Catania is gone, leaping up from her position upon the bed before practically racing into Allanon's arms.
"I was passing through here and decided a break was in order." He replies.
"I am so glad that you're back." She smiles widely, her feelings of fear from before slightly melting away at Allanon's return.
"I really missed you." She admits.
"As I you, Princess." He murmurs as she wraps her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes to kiss him for a few lingering moments that she cherishes before eventually pulling back, happy when he keeps his arms wrapped around her as she rests against his sturdy form.
"Now what is this I've been hearing about you becoming a member of The Chosen?" He questions after a moment of silence.
"Yes about that. I kinda ran The Gauntlet and I managed to become a member of The Chosen." She admits, looking up into his immense deep brown eyes.
"Amberle." He starts sternly as Amberle buries her head against him, waiting for the long speech she's most certain he's about to give her about Elvin tradition.
"I couldn't be more proud." He murmurs, pressing a reassuring kiss to the top of her head.
"Wait. What?" Amberle pulls back momentarily to look up at him in shock.
"I thought you were going to give me the whole Elvin tradition speech and…" He cuts her off by kissing her softly.
"It's as you said, Princess. There's no rule that says there cannot be a female Chosen." He replies as Amberle raises an eyebrow at him.
"Did you just read my mind?" She questions as he looks at her innocently.
"Well I'm not blaming you, if I had your crazy Druid mind reading abilities I'd be using them right now." She sighs before looking up at him once more.
"I'm gathering you saw what happened next, when I touched The Ellcrys…" She trails off as he releases her suddenly to reach for the picture she'd drawn.
"You did this?" He murmurs, a dark look appearing in his eyes.
"Yes." Amberle nods, a fearful look crossing her face at the look on Allanon's.
"Am I going insane?" She whispers anxiously.
"No. This is…" He stops for a moment.
"What?" Amberle fixes him with an anxious stare as Allanon sits down, Amberle choosing that moment to sit on his lap, Allanon immediately responding by wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to him.
"A beginning." He finishes as Amberle frowns.
"The beginning of what?" She questions softly as Allanon tightens his hold on her, almost as if he feared letting her go…
Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading this first chapter. I'm not sure if I'll write anymore to this. The idea of this just came to me and I wanted to write it out. Thanks again so much for reading and please say if you want me to continue :)