I own nothing you recognize. Please, please, PLEASE let me know what you think.
Part 1: The Tomboy
"Can't catch me." I heard as I fell on my knees. I looked up at the person who had tripped me. Andrew was standing over me, gloating.
I looked down at the wrap around skirt and the shoes I was wearing. Good. I thought. I can run in these. I swung my legs around and delivered a solid kick to the back of Andrew's right leg, thus forcing him to the ground. Then, I sprung up and took off running. "Bet you can't catch me." I shouted over my shoulder as I rounded a corner. While out of sight, I removed the wrap-around skirt to reveal a tunic and leggings and pulled my brown hair up into a cap produced from my pouch.
By now, I had made it into the garden. When I heard footsteps behind me, I looked back to make sure the Andrew still couldn't see me and then I vaulted the wall into the castle marketplace. Phew, I thought. Safe.
As I wove my way through the hustle and bustle, I set off looking for Jonah, my best friend and the only person who knew that I sneaked out of the castle dressed as a boy. I found him trying to talk a farmer out of a few apples. "Jonah, leave him be."
He spun around to face me. "Kirk, I haven't seen you in a while." Kirk was the name I used when I was incognito.
I smiled. "You haven't changed a bit; you're still trying to talk farmers out of their produce." I produced a coin. "Two please."
The farmer looked at me with gratitude and even handed over an extra apple. "Thank you for your good sense and honesty, laddie."
I nodded and grabbed Jonah and lead him away. As soon as we were out of sight, I tossed him an apple. "Why do you insist on trying to talk people out of produce?"
Jonah looked around and made sure that no one we knew was anywhere near. "Lighten up, Alana." By then, we had reached the river that feeds the moat.
"You're probably right."
"Why do you care anyway?"
"Did you see the way that he was happy when I actually paid him?"
"Yeah, it was money. What of it?"
"He has fallen on hard times, because his boots are in ill repair. His hand was inching toward his dagger as your hand was inching toward the apples, so I know he needs the money. He prides himself upon his self sufficiency, so he felt that he needed to thank me for paying him to help fuel mine."
"How do you know all that?"
"I guess I can just read people..Hey did you see that?!" Something flickered near the edge of my vision.
"What?" Jonah's hand ventured to his knife.
"Nothing, it's gone now, whatever it was."
"Okay, if you insist."
We sat in silence for a while, munching on the apples. Jonah finally broke the silence. "How is life at the castle?"
"It is basically the usual awful right now. I live with four teenage girls who can't stop screaming, fainting, or fawning. They all make fun of me because I have different dreams from theirs. They boys tease me because I'm not like the rest of the girls, but they strangely seem to be quiet when I beat them in fights."
"You know you can always come stay with me, right?"
"I know. It's just, I have a better chance at the future I want if I tough it out and stay. Thank you for the offer, though."
"So, what is your chosen future?"
I grimaced, knowing that he might laugh. "I want to go to Battleschool."
"Alana, you know they'll never let you in."
"I know, but I still have to try."
"So, what's plan B?"
"I might try the Courier service." I winced at the thought of that, however. I didn't want to spend my life negotiating and playing political games. I was a person of action, though my action always had reasonable, logical thought behind it. Also, I didn't do white. Those white gowns were so easy to get dirty. Just one good fight would…
"I think you might need to be heading back, Alana. Those loud screamers you live with might be starting to look for you."
I hugged Jonah and then started running full sprint up the path towards the castle. I am a faster runner than most guys, but it still took me a full five minutes to duck back inside the castle. When I reached an empty stairwell, I pulled the wrap around skirt out of my bag and tossed the cap back into it. Now that my knife and my leggings were concealed, I could face the screamers.
It wasn't that I didn't like Josie, Rose, Alice, and Macy. They were just loud and annoying to live with. All they did was gossip and giggle and sew and cook and all that other girly stuff. I liked to hunt, read, write, sword-fight, fight in-general, run, and climb. At almost 16, I was pretty short and light, but I was made of almost nothing but whip-cord tough muscle.
So now, as I walked into our dormitory, I saw their beds covered in clothes and dresses, and all that. My bed had been made, the few clothes I owned put away, and the rest of my things organized in military-like fashion. The only thing remotely out of place was the mound of books that always stayed beside my bed. I changed them out every few days, though, because the Baron allowed me access to his personal library (I think he was happy to have a Castle Ward take so much interest in reading). Happily, I flopped down and immersed myself in the top book. It was too bad we couldn't write our own story; that pretty much everybody was destined to be just normal.
Let me say this: writer's block is a NASTY disease. I finally got this part done. I think later chapters will come quicker, though because it's all the set-up for a story that I have a hard time working through.
