The Ordeal of Shang
Dissclaimer: Sadly,any characters you reconize aren't mine :( They all belong to Tamora Pierce.
`...` = mind speaking "..." = conversation out loud ' ...' = thoughts
To Kittykat and LadyArabianKnight: I'm not sure when Chris will find out. Probably a lot later in the story when he goes with Kally to Corus. All I know is that he's gonna be very surprised w/ a dark secret of his own.
To All My Other Wonderful Reviewers: Thanx so much. I'm glad all yall like it. U guys r the best and I luv u all!!!
And to all the pplz who haven't reviewed, be very afraid! J/K, but plz review :(
It was a hot summer afternoon in June when the Unicorn and her apprentice rode into the University of Shang in Maren.
16 year-old Kalasin of Conte, a.k.a. Kelly of Dove Heights, looked around the courtyard on top of her bad-tempered mare, Chocolate Storm. At 16, Kally was the youngest shang apprentice in two centuries to be ready for her ordeal.
` I can't believe I'm ready, Choccy, I'm only 16, what if I die?`
` If you were going to die do you really think that Kylaia would say your ready? Be sensible. And can we please go to the stables? I'm hungry and there's too many flies here.`
` Oh Choccy, your always hungry and complainin about flies. You're starting to get fat.`
` Watch it girly. I'm not fat and dont call me Choccy. I sound like a pony when you call me that. And if you dont get me to the stables pronto, I'll drop you in the mud.`
As if to prove her point, Chocolate Storm half- reared and Kally had to hang on so that she wouldn't fall off.
` Storm! If you stop I'll take you to the stables. I thought it was beneath you to act like that.`
`I'll make ecxeptions` Storm said as Kally got off and led her horse to an empty stall.
When she was done taking care of Storm, she went to see if anybody she knew were here.
In the practice yard, there was a secluded corner that was often the meeting place of all her friends, or it was 6 years ago. Three people were there. The twins, Robbie and Bobbie Pumpernickel were there, they were two years older than Kally, but very close friends. And, Chris was there too.
" Hey guys!" she said.
They turned around, ready to attack the person who had interrupted their conversation. But, they saw who it was and all thoughts of a fight were discarded as they pulled Kally into a group hug.
" So, here to cheer us on durring our ordeals?" Robbie asked.
" Do you still have that beast you got from the seaman, or did you come to your scenses and sell it?" Chris wanted to know.
" I'm not here to cheer you guys on," Kally said, " I'm here for my ordeal. I haven't come to my senses Chris, I still have Chocolate Storm, but she's a good horse and very fast you should see her."
" Who's Storm?" asked Bobbie.
Before Kally could answer, Chris did it for her, " It's this vicious horse Kally bought in Corus. Some old seaman was beating it, and you know how our Kelly is a lady of mercy, so without a second thought, she bought it. I bet your regretting your rash action now, eh Kelly."
" Actually, no. She's the perfect horse. "
" What do you mean you're taking the ordeal." Asked Robbie.
" Kylaia said I was ready for it and I guess the masters agreed.."
" But your only 16!"
" no kidding."
" You must be the youngest apprentice to take the ordeal in like a century. Hey! Maybe you'll be pheonix or something."
" yea right. I'll probably be the cockroach or something. Wanna go see my Chocolate Storm?"
" ok, and then we should think up pranks to play on the teachers, just like old times. Or even better, the little kids," Chris said.
" Chris, thats mean, sounds like fun," Bobbie and Robbie said together.
" i'm surrounded by idiots." Exclaimed Kally.
" Hey."
This led to a chase around the practice yards and then into the stables. Kally dove into Storm's stall. Chris and the twins came to a stop in front of the stall, Storm was not very excited to see them at all, she threw her head forward in an attempt to bite someone.
" Kelly, I thought you said she was a good horse? Good horses dont try to bite everyone they see. Maybe you should have just left her and bought that lady's pony." Chris whined.
" You are such a baby! And she is a good horse, if she likes you, which just happens to be not very often." Kally replied, " Come on, we should rest the ordeals start tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kally got up the next morning very early. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. Today was the day she had been waiting for, for 9 years! Her ordeal was finally here. ' Too bad father wouldn't approve of this. I'll see him when I've gotten a rank. Will he still be mad?' Kally thought.
The bells rang and she went for breakfast. She sat at the table with the others taking their ordeal. There were 5 other people at that table, two of them seemed to be about 3 or 4 years older than her. They introduced themselves as Murray Jackson and Todd Peterson. The other three people were Chris and the twins.
After breakfast they all practiced fighting together for an hour, then went to wash up and prepare for the ordeal to come. Kally dressed in the traditional orange and brown uniform and buckeled her sword to her waist. She hid 3 daggers in her clothes then decided she was ready and went to the stadium where her ordeal would take place.
It was really an indoor arena. There were stairs lead ing to a room with huge windows where the masters and teachers would sit and judge the ordeals. Over to the side, there was a door, she guessed that was where they would all wait their turn. On the Opposite side there was an even bigger door, about three times the hight of a reallly tall man. ' Goddess, What could possibly be in there?' she thought. She went into the smaller door and saw everyone else in there. The masters came in to give them instructions and to wish them all luck.
" Hello everyone," Kylaia greeted them, " You are all here to take your ordeals. We just want to fill you in on what it is you are meant to do."
" Your task," Shane continued, " is to defeat whatever it is that comes at you, you are not permitted to know beforehand what that is, nor, should you survive, tell anyone about what you face after the ordeal."
" If you pass this test," Kylaia told them, " You shall live alone in the world for a year and be given a quest to help determine your rank. If, in one year, you have completed the quest, you willbe a full Shang warrior. You will fight for what is right and follow the rules of Shang. If you do not, there will be major punishment."
" Murray Jackson, you will be first. Then you, Todd Peterson. Then Bobbie Pumpernickel, and then his brother Robbie. Next will be Chris of Rapid Falls. And lastly, Kelly of Dove Heights. You will hear a gong ringing when it is your turn. Good luck, you'll certaintly need it," Shane finished and he and Kylaia left.
After five minutes, the gong was herd and Murray left. Everyone was to nervous to talk and anxiety was thick in the room. Kally wished that she didn't need to be last. She barely nooticed as one by one everyone left and was startled when she heard the gong ring and she went through the doors to face the unknown.
" Kelly," Kylaia told her, " fight as many of these as you can."
The huge door opened and out came a giant spidren, twice the size of a normal one and those were bad enough. It carried a huge battleaxe.
It swung without warning and Kally quickly dodged. She ran under it as it ran past, she was almost trmple as she drew her sword and threw it up with a huge force into the belly of the immortal. She had forgotten about the blood and some fell on her arm. She swore at her own stupidity and ran as the body started to fall. It still wasn't dead and it tried to hit her with it's legs, she threwe one of her daggers into an eye and it shuddered and lay still. Wary of it still, fearing it hay be a trick, Kally retreived her sword, it was buried to the hilt.
The doors opened again and another spidren came out, a little smaller than the last, but not by much. It wasn't armed. It swung at her with a leg and she cut it off, careful of the blood this time. It swung with another and she cut that off too. Since it was so heavy, it started to wobble without those two legs. She cut another off and another and another and it came crashing down, narrowly missing her. She kept hacking away at it tillit shuddered and finally lay still.
The doors opened again and another spidren walked out. It was normal size and carried a broadsword. She could tell it was smarter than the others, even though it was smaller. They circled each other warily, then it lunged for her. She dodged and just in time, but the sword cut into her shoulder. She was tired and the spidren knew it, it keot attacking fiercely , but she held her ground. She looked for an opening and there itwas, she dove under the sword and chopped off it's head. The body fell forward and landed on her ankle, she let out a cry of anguish. The two masters and her teachers came and helped her up. They led her to a room where the other apprentices were lying down with healers attending to them. She fainted as a healer came to tend to her.
Dissclaimer: Sadly,any characters you reconize aren't mine :( They all belong to Tamora Pierce.
`...` = mind speaking "..." = conversation out loud ' ...' = thoughts
To Kittykat and LadyArabianKnight: I'm not sure when Chris will find out. Probably a lot later in the story when he goes with Kally to Corus. All I know is that he's gonna be very surprised w/ a dark secret of his own.
To All My Other Wonderful Reviewers: Thanx so much. I'm glad all yall like it. U guys r the best and I luv u all!!!
And to all the pplz who haven't reviewed, be very afraid! J/K, but plz review :(
It was a hot summer afternoon in June when the Unicorn and her apprentice rode into the University of Shang in Maren.
16 year-old Kalasin of Conte, a.k.a. Kelly of Dove Heights, looked around the courtyard on top of her bad-tempered mare, Chocolate Storm. At 16, Kally was the youngest shang apprentice in two centuries to be ready for her ordeal.
` I can't believe I'm ready, Choccy, I'm only 16, what if I die?`
` If you were going to die do you really think that Kylaia would say your ready? Be sensible. And can we please go to the stables? I'm hungry and there's too many flies here.`
` Oh Choccy, your always hungry and complainin about flies. You're starting to get fat.`
` Watch it girly. I'm not fat and dont call me Choccy. I sound like a pony when you call me that. And if you dont get me to the stables pronto, I'll drop you in the mud.`
As if to prove her point, Chocolate Storm half- reared and Kally had to hang on so that she wouldn't fall off.
` Storm! If you stop I'll take you to the stables. I thought it was beneath you to act like that.`
`I'll make ecxeptions` Storm said as Kally got off and led her horse to an empty stall.
When she was done taking care of Storm, she went to see if anybody she knew were here.
In the practice yard, there was a secluded corner that was often the meeting place of all her friends, or it was 6 years ago. Three people were there. The twins, Robbie and Bobbie Pumpernickel were there, they were two years older than Kally, but very close friends. And, Chris was there too.
" Hey guys!" she said.
They turned around, ready to attack the person who had interrupted their conversation. But, they saw who it was and all thoughts of a fight were discarded as they pulled Kally into a group hug.
" So, here to cheer us on durring our ordeals?" Robbie asked.
" Do you still have that beast you got from the seaman, or did you come to your scenses and sell it?" Chris wanted to know.
" I'm not here to cheer you guys on," Kally said, " I'm here for my ordeal. I haven't come to my senses Chris, I still have Chocolate Storm, but she's a good horse and very fast you should see her."
" Who's Storm?" asked Bobbie.
Before Kally could answer, Chris did it for her, " It's this vicious horse Kally bought in Corus. Some old seaman was beating it, and you know how our Kelly is a lady of mercy, so without a second thought, she bought it. I bet your regretting your rash action now, eh Kelly."
" Actually, no. She's the perfect horse. "
" What do you mean you're taking the ordeal." Asked Robbie.
" Kylaia said I was ready for it and I guess the masters agreed.."
" But your only 16!"
" no kidding."
" You must be the youngest apprentice to take the ordeal in like a century. Hey! Maybe you'll be pheonix or something."
" yea right. I'll probably be the cockroach or something. Wanna go see my Chocolate Storm?"
" ok, and then we should think up pranks to play on the teachers, just like old times. Or even better, the little kids," Chris said.
" Chris, thats mean, sounds like fun," Bobbie and Robbie said together.
" i'm surrounded by idiots." Exclaimed Kally.
" Hey."
This led to a chase around the practice yards and then into the stables. Kally dove into Storm's stall. Chris and the twins came to a stop in front of the stall, Storm was not very excited to see them at all, she threw her head forward in an attempt to bite someone.
" Kelly, I thought you said she was a good horse? Good horses dont try to bite everyone they see. Maybe you should have just left her and bought that lady's pony." Chris whined.
" You are such a baby! And she is a good horse, if she likes you, which just happens to be not very often." Kally replied, " Come on, we should rest the ordeals start tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kally got up the next morning very early. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. Today was the day she had been waiting for, for 9 years! Her ordeal was finally here. ' Too bad father wouldn't approve of this. I'll see him when I've gotten a rank. Will he still be mad?' Kally thought.
The bells rang and she went for breakfast. She sat at the table with the others taking their ordeal. There were 5 other people at that table, two of them seemed to be about 3 or 4 years older than her. They introduced themselves as Murray Jackson and Todd Peterson. The other three people were Chris and the twins.
After breakfast they all practiced fighting together for an hour, then went to wash up and prepare for the ordeal to come. Kally dressed in the traditional orange and brown uniform and buckeled her sword to her waist. She hid 3 daggers in her clothes then decided she was ready and went to the stadium where her ordeal would take place.
It was really an indoor arena. There were stairs lead ing to a room with huge windows where the masters and teachers would sit and judge the ordeals. Over to the side, there was a door, she guessed that was where they would all wait their turn. On the Opposite side there was an even bigger door, about three times the hight of a reallly tall man. ' Goddess, What could possibly be in there?' she thought. She went into the smaller door and saw everyone else in there. The masters came in to give them instructions and to wish them all luck.
" Hello everyone," Kylaia greeted them, " You are all here to take your ordeals. We just want to fill you in on what it is you are meant to do."
" Your task," Shane continued, " is to defeat whatever it is that comes at you, you are not permitted to know beforehand what that is, nor, should you survive, tell anyone about what you face after the ordeal."
" If you pass this test," Kylaia told them, " You shall live alone in the world for a year and be given a quest to help determine your rank. If, in one year, you have completed the quest, you willbe a full Shang warrior. You will fight for what is right and follow the rules of Shang. If you do not, there will be major punishment."
" Murray Jackson, you will be first. Then you, Todd Peterson. Then Bobbie Pumpernickel, and then his brother Robbie. Next will be Chris of Rapid Falls. And lastly, Kelly of Dove Heights. You will hear a gong ringing when it is your turn. Good luck, you'll certaintly need it," Shane finished and he and Kylaia left.
After five minutes, the gong was herd and Murray left. Everyone was to nervous to talk and anxiety was thick in the room. Kally wished that she didn't need to be last. She barely nooticed as one by one everyone left and was startled when she heard the gong ring and she went through the doors to face the unknown.
" Kelly," Kylaia told her, " fight as many of these as you can."
The huge door opened and out came a giant spidren, twice the size of a normal one and those were bad enough. It carried a huge battleaxe.
It swung without warning and Kally quickly dodged. She ran under it as it ran past, she was almost trmple as she drew her sword and threw it up with a huge force into the belly of the immortal. She had forgotten about the blood and some fell on her arm. She swore at her own stupidity and ran as the body started to fall. It still wasn't dead and it tried to hit her with it's legs, she threwe one of her daggers into an eye and it shuddered and lay still. Wary of it still, fearing it hay be a trick, Kally retreived her sword, it was buried to the hilt.
The doors opened again and another spidren came out, a little smaller than the last, but not by much. It wasn't armed. It swung at her with a leg and she cut it off, careful of the blood this time. It swung with another and she cut that off too. Since it was so heavy, it started to wobble without those two legs. She cut another off and another and another and it came crashing down, narrowly missing her. She kept hacking away at it tillit shuddered and finally lay still.
The doors opened again and another spidren walked out. It was normal size and carried a broadsword. She could tell it was smarter than the others, even though it was smaller. They circled each other warily, then it lunged for her. She dodged and just in time, but the sword cut into her shoulder. She was tired and the spidren knew it, it keot attacking fiercely , but she held her ground. She looked for an opening and there itwas, she dove under the sword and chopped off it's head. The body fell forward and landed on her ankle, she let out a cry of anguish. The two masters and her teachers came and helped her up. They led her to a room where the other apprentices were lying down with healers attending to them. She fainted as a healer came to tend to her.