Title: Chosen

Summary: As the gods watch a girl with a strange, powerful gift, talk of war is heard in Tortall, and the mischief of a god has killed the King.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading this story. I hope you like it. Please review with ideas, mistakes you found in the story, approval, disapproval, or anything else you can think of.

Syshe- Thanks for reviewing. Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, places, or plot ideas that were created by Tamora Pierce. I do own characters, places, and plot ideas (mainly the plot of this story) that you do not recognize and do not belong to Tamora Pierce.

Chosen:

Chapter One: Leaving

"We must get you trained," her mother said, her voice urgent. "We've got to go to the capital, leave by tomorrow at the latest You're a danger to everyone, Elyssa." They were inside the house, in the back room, and her mother was craning her neck around the door, trying to get a glimpse out of the window without being seen, and rubbing her palms together nervously. "Elyssa- what happened out there?" And she was lost in the memory:

She'd come out of the forest, basket of herbs that she'd been sent to gather in one hand, and the other empty.

"Witch girl," Tayra spat at her, picking up a fist-sized rock from the ground and aiming it at Elyssa's head. "No one's got a right to a gift as powerful as yours is. You're not human."

The group of girls, Tayra's friends, gathered around, each holding their own large rocks, blocking her exit from the forest. "Die, witch girl," Tayra whispered, holding her rock higher, swinging it around.

"Why are you doing this?" Elyssa cried, half-hoping that someone would hear her, come to see what was going on, stop the girls. And half because she really wanted to know. She knew that they weren't really jealous of her Gift- how would they even know how strong it was? She also knew that the rocks they were holding could easily knock her into unconsciousness- and just as easily kill her. As she suspected, no one replied. And then Tayra's rock was flying through the air, straight at her head, and half a second later, the rocks of the other girl's followed "No!" she yelled, knowing her words would have no effect on the rocks. But at that moment, time seemed to slow down and before her astonished, eyes, the rocks changed direction, and sped back to the ones who had thrown them. Elyssa was struck by the surprised fury in Tayra's eyes as the rock struck her and she fell tumbling to the dusty earth below her. Then time returned to normal.

"What have you done?" The voice she heard next was that of Tayra's father, the blacksmith. "I'll have you hanged! Look, you've near killed my daughter!" Tayra was rising dazedly from the ground, as were most of the others, but some of the girls did not move.

"I- I don't know-" she had time to say before the rest of the village was upon them. Her mother pushed her way through the crowed and grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the cottage where they lived, as the others followed, yelling and angry.

And the memory ended. "I'm not sure what happened," she managed to tell her mother.

"They were screaming bloody murder. I heard something about how you killed the blacksmith's daughter- I didn't see anything, of course- it was your Gift, was it not?"

"I-I think it was. I feel tired- but I don't think I have any reason to, unless that was my gift."

"We've got to get away from here. They hate you now. What's this about dead girls, then? I'm sure you did nothing on purpose"

"They were throwing rocks at me- because I was a witch girl, they said. But the rocks came back and hit them, not me- some of them are unconscious, I think, but not dead." Surely not dead. They couldn't be.

"In any case, we have to leave here. Find some mage to train you- we'll go to the capital first, where the King is, and that Numair Salmalin-" She made the Sign against Evil. Although she knew about her daughter's strong Gift, mages and magic still made her nervous, and Numair Salmalin was the most powerful mage in the realm. The thought of him made Elyssa herself nervous, but only because she had just barely gotten used to the idea of her Gift. "-Numair Salmalin," her mother went on. "I'm sure one of them can teach you. Well- go pack your things. We can leave when you're ready. I'll go explain to them what happened." Good luck, she said silently to her mother. But I doubt they'll be willing to listen.

"What was that?" her mother said.

"Uh- nothing" Her mother had heard her thought? Ignoring the strangeness of that, she went to back packing her things- a single change of clothes, for when they weather turned colder, the hairbrush her father had carved for her back when he was alive- and the necklace that had been given to her when she had been given to her mother. For although Elyssa called this woman she lived with Mother,' both mentally and aloud, she was not her true mother. Elyssa could almost hear her voice whispering the story she'd told to her so many times I worked in an inn once, when times were hard and we were low on money. One day we had a strange guest, a mage of some foreign land, and his wife, a beautiful lady but obviously common- born, and from here I'd suspect. She was pregnant, and about to give birth- and she needed somewhere to stay. The man said he was being tracked by assassins, and he was in truth, for the found him while his wife was giving birth- I never saw it, only heard about it later- and they killed him, a poisoned dagger right in his throat. The wife was dying too- well, from grief or from childbirth I could not tell, and she said to me- "When my child is born, you keep her, for the ones who killed my husband will be looking for her," and then she was dead, and the child barely born. And the child was you, and I kept you, and worked at the inn until I had enough money to go back here.' And she would always end the story with, And here you are.'

And the necklace- it had been around the neck of the woman, her true mother, and the woman not her true mother- her mother of the heart rather than of birth- had been given it, told Give this to my daughter to remind her who she is, but tell her it is dangerous, for if they know she has it, they'll be able to find her.' By they, Elyssa's mother had always assumed she'd meant the assassins who'd killed Elyssa's father of birth. And so she'd always been wary of the necklace, never putting it on where anyone might see her, and keeping it safe and hidden. But it was her treasure, and she wouldn't part with it, so the out it with the things for their trip to the capital- to Corus.

She heard the door opening and shutting- her mother was back. She went into the other room to see how it had gone- and gasped. Her mother had a large bruise under her right eye where it seemed that a rock had been thrown at her. Her arm had a large scratch on it that was bleeding slightly, and there was a large, still swelling bump in her head, which was plain to see under her dark hair.

"Mother- are you all right?"

The woman tried to grin but only managed a pained expression. "They called me the witch girl's mother and threw things at me. It's all right. It's not your fault. Are your things ready?" Elyssa nodded slowly, shocked that the people of this village, whom she had lived with almost her won life, would do such a thing. After all, it had been Elyssa who had hurt the girls, not her mother. "Well, let's go then," the woman said in response to her nod. She took her own things- packed while she'd been talking to Elyssa before- and led the girl out the back door, not the front. Minutes later they were on horseback, and on their way to Corus.

NEXT CHAPTER: 2- The Road to Corus