How come everybody thinks that Kel's this depressed little chit who can't handle anything? Suicide, death notes, all so tragic… They must really hate her. Chauvinistic conservatives … Does it really sound like she's depressed? My light version of only pocky knows what (I finally know what that is! Yay for Wal-Mart foreign foods).

Oh and please be nice. This is my first Tamora Pierce fanfic (though I love reading them and reviewing them myself)

Protecting the Head – Chapter 1

By strawbeby

Keladry of Mindelan looked around confused. This was where she was supposed to be. She knew it. See, there was biggest tree in the forest on her direct left. And here. Right in front of her was the bubbling brook. And there. Underneath her feet was the 2 flat rocks described. Now where were they.

Better question – who are they? She had received the note under her door early this morning. As soon as Kel saw the parchment slip under the door she tried to rush to the door and maybe get a glimpse of who sent it. But she wasn't really dressed for going into public, and the palace court wouldn't consider it "appropriate" for one of the only female knights to run out into the markets wearing only a breast band and a loin cloth.

Normally Kel wouldn't think twice about a note that told like that. But some how it intrigued her. She snatched the crumpled up note out of her pocket to refer to it.

Dear Lady Knight, it read.

So you've made it through some of the adventures planned in your destiny have you? I'm not putting you down, though. We're just letting you think. You've almost single handedly destroyed the Scanran army's main weapon. For that We applaud you.

We have also come with a proposal, that We think you might enjoy. But to discuss it in a letter that could fall in any incapable hands? Never. If you'd like to confer with us We feel we must give one more test of your cunning. So We supply a complex riddle.

First find the place that you can hear bark at any time of day or night. Then move towards the one whose bark is the loudest. Next on your right you should search to find a witches cauldron that's filled with the thing that a hurt soldier demands. Got that? Good. Next we recommend getting your footing on two Gods-made shows. There you will find Us in the depth of the day. We wish you good luck.

And that was where it ended. It kept a question in Kel's head for the rest of the day until she just couldn't take it any more. She had to figure out who was behind it. So the next day she ate her breakfast, packed herself a light meal; dressed in one of her most comfortable leather breeches and shirt; grabbed her glaive, bow, and quiver of griffin fletched arrows (She may have been curious, but she was no fool); and set out on her journey.

The first thing that Kel had thought she would have to do was go to the kennels, where the dogs were kept. But what about the "day or night thing"? All dogs have to sleep don't they? Also their use of grammar in that first sentence puzzled her. These people sounded intelligent. Wouldn't bark actually be barking? Bark she thought. Bark but not barking. Almost as if it were a thing than an action… Then it hit her. Tree Bark! She would have to go into the Royal Forest.

The next part was quite simple, now that she figured the first part out. "Move towards the one whose bark is loudest." Well usually the biggest dog is louder than the rest so that would mean the biggest tree would have the loudest bark.

The third part puzzled her for a while, though. "find a witch's cauldron that's filled with the thing that a hurt soldier demands." Kel decided to ignore the witch's cauldron part and focused on "the thing that a hurt soldier demands." Food, she thought? No usually they're in too much 'pain' to think about that kind of thing. Their loved one? That would be hard to fit every soldier's wife, betrothed, or lover into the cauldron. She then thought of those she helped Duke Baird bandage when she had to help the healers. Water, she thought triumphantly!

But wouldn't a cauldron, pot, or kettle be really noticeable out here, she thought? Nearby her she heard a lovely stream, gurgling and bubbling all lovely….Bubbling? A witch's cauldron bubbles!

So she approached the stream filled with a slight pride, but still on her toes. You know, just in case.

"recommend getting your footing on two Gods-made shoes." The Gods didn't make leather did they? And anyway that would be the same situation of expecting a cauldron to be in the middle of nowhere, expecting a pair of shoes to be in the middle of no where. So she decided to think of what the Gods did make instead. Trees, Kel thought, looking back toward the biggest tree that she should keep in sight. Water, dirt, stones, clouds, animals…

Then she paused, having listed the most obvious ones. Probably not trees because that was the first answer, also the same thing for water. There's dirt everywhere and you can't set your feet on two clouds. Animals you could, but for them to be in the same place, then they'd have to be dead and another carniverous animal would be likely to carry them off as food. So stones would probably be the most sensible answer.

And, sure enough, about ten paces in front of her gaze were two flat stones each a bit bigger than a foot print. So Kel smiled as she walked to the stones and stepped on them.

There she waited for a few minutes until she had realized that there was one more riddle plastered into the letter. "There you will find Us in the depth of the day." Depth usually meant distance. And it would probably refer to the position of the sun, being as it said day. The time of day when the sun was the farthest? Noon, of course!

Kel peered up at the rising sun. She still had an hour's wait until it would be more accurately noon. So she took her belongings and had a nice, peaceful eat by the "witch's cauldron" enjoying its pleasant noise. When she was finished resting she decided that it would be better to wait for whoever it was in the on the stones mentioned. So preparing her weapons for a second time she walked over to the place and stood there.

As soon as her second foot hit its stone, Kel felt a stream of constant energy run through her body. Then, just as suddenly, she felt tired. So tired that she had to kneel, and she knew that if anything or anybody came right at that moment she would never be able even lift her glaive, let alone fight with it. So her hand flew to her bow and quiver, reaching for three of her griffin arrows.

Her hand filled with energy as soon as she touched it, despite the growing fatigue in the rest of her body. Quickly she placed one of the arrows behind her ear like an artists pencil, tucked another in her belt, and strung the last one.

"Show yourselves, oh treacherous ones, so you may pay for the crime you were to commit!" she heard herself shout.

But she heard and saw nothing. No ambush of warriors gleeful that Kel had fallen for a stupid trap, no cocky mage trying to get rid of one of the most known Tortallan knight, no anything. Just the sound of the water laughing at her mistake.

Or was there something? Kel heard something faint, but distinct. The noises made out the words of a conversation that was being had.

"…you owe me 15 coppers. She's here at least an hour before you said she would be." This voice had the ring of a tenor but it was as though through lips that were being bobbed up and down.

"Oh, bully for you. You know that was never a clear bet? So I don't really owe you anything." This voice had a stronger baritone taste though it still sounded like he was trying to speak while some one was moving his lips at the same time.

"YOU DON'T OWE ME ANYTHING! I assure you, you do-"

"GUYS!" a third voice interrupted, an nice rough mixture of tenor and baritone, but still the garbled sound was there. "Will you stop acting like your immature selves for two seconds to notice the girl!" Kel felt three pairs of eyes focus on her.

"Arthur, just how much chamomile did you use in the spell?" Kel heard the second voice ask.

"Well," the first voice began. "I reduced the amount that we usually use to knock Ian out by about a tablespoon."

"You fool!" the third voice raged. "Ian's a full grown black robe mage with an insomnia problem! That could easily knock out a few legion of soldiers! How in the world she's still conscious is beyond me, but you've got to take the spell off. We wanted to seize her, not KILL her!"

"How was I to know!" The first voice replied. "You two always told me that's the way the spell went. I never knew any better! And anyway, how are you sure she still is conscious!"

"Her bow stupid!" The second voice grunted. "Or would she fall asleep while it was half hanging in the air. Now, with out any further delay, take Eric's suggestion and REMOVE THE SPELL! She's our only hope!"

After Kel heard a gurgled sigh she felt her burden of fatigue lifted from her. Quickly she stood and restrung her bow and pointed it towards a bushy area where they could be hiding.

"Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan," the second voice started, but this time it sounded larger as if he spoke through a cone of paper and with the gargle sound filtered through and gone. "So you are clever enough. Very well. Now that you've traced through Our riddle, you are probably wanting to see your pursuers."

The voice didn't sound like it came from the bushes, though. It sounded like it came from… everywhere. With a determined gaze that revolved slowly around her Kel replied. "Indeed. I would very much like to know why I was called here as a friend, but then attacked like a foe."

She heard the third voice chuckle then reply in the same omnipresent ungarbled kind of voice as the second voice did. "We are very much sorry for that inconvenience. We only needed to test you, and then you had to remain in the same place until we were finished. A mistake (and this she felt was spoken harshly and toward the first voice) though was made, and you were probably tested harder than you should've been. That was unnecessary and will probably hinder our future, but as they always say. No use crying over spilt milk."

Easy for you to say, Kel thought. I feel like I just jousted with my Lord Raoul for five continual times. But her Yamani training held her tongue. She would not let the stranger's rudeness be cause for her to anger.

"Pardon me for saying so sirs, but who are you?" she asked instead.

The first voice spoke up this time, also omnipotent and ungargled. "Oh, dear knight, We are but ones that seek out your help." He gave a squeal of pain, and Kel guessed that one of the others had nudged him in the ribs. "What I mean to say is that We heard of your greatness in helping others, and though we could handle this evil ourselves, We would feel comforted if you'd join Us in fighting Our hindrance."

Then his voice went garbled as he said, "You didn't have to elbow me Tomas! Now she'll think I'm the foolish one."

"You are the foolish one, Arthur," the second voice replied in a garbled voice. "And anyway you were making us sound too needy. Remember she's the privileged one, not us. So try not to make us sound like we're poor little orphan children begging for chocolate coins."

"Fine!" the first voice replied in his bobbed voice.

"Um, excuse me?" Kel said. "How can I, uh, 'join you in fighting your hindrance' when I cannot see you?"

"We, uh, can never be seen." The second voice replied to her in the omnipresent voice. "Uh, no. That's just a disadvantage of being us. Yeah, we are… permantly invisible!"

"Smooth move," the third voice replied in his garbled voice. "Like she'll ever buy that. I thought we agreed that we are ghosts."

"No," the second voice replied in his bobbed voice. "You said we were ghosts. Arthur and I agreed that we had a freak invisibility accident."

"I did not!" the first voice replied indignantly and garbled. "I thought we were going to say that we were telepathic and were able to get messages into her head from long distances and that we're locked up."

"Now that's just absurd," the second voice said. " 'Telepathic' indeed!"

"Of course now it is," the first voice said. "Now that you went and screwed it all up. Now we're stuck."

"Gentlemen," Kel said, speaking up and hoping that they could hear her when they were speaking like this. "I hope you all realize that I know that none of you are invisible, ghosts, or telepathic."

"Fantastic!" the first voice said to his accompaniments in his bobbed voice. "She herself is a mighty telepathic! I've always wanted to meet one!"

Kel heard another garbled sigh and then the third voice reply in a gargled voice. "Silly! Our tests would've shown that. She's clearly NOT telepathic. Somehow she's able to hear us. And if I'm correct then it would be a waste of energy to continue using the spell." Then he took the gargled sound out but his voice didn't sound omnipotent this time. "Am I correct, lady knight?"

Kel smiled and decided that it was safe to lower her bow. "I would think so. I'd like to know also why you three are hiding. Unless I'm mistaken and there are more?"

She could practically feel the grins on their faces as the second voice replied to her request. "No, there are three of us, though I would not say only. We're only hiding because… Well, because…. Eric, if we're going to have her help us then she needs to know who and what we are."

"No Tomas. Then she won't help us. No body else has, remember!"

"But she's different Eric! For Mithros' sake her name is the 'Protector of the Small'! She's got to help us!"

At this Kel was extremely confused. "Are you three talking bugs or animals of some sort?" she asked.

The first voice then laughed. "Guys, she thinks we're grasshoppers! I am not a grasshopper, for your information lady knight, I'm tired of doing this, and she's got food."

"Arthur, NO!" Eric called out, evidently thinking that Arthur was going to do something.

And then all of a sudden a head popped out of the bushes. It belonged to a lad of about 11 years of age and the body quickly tumbled out along with it. The boy then stood up and shook Kel's free hand.

Arthur had a mass of curly, ear length, jet black hair, tumbled together on a heart shaped face. His happy almond eyes were a chocolaty brown, and his pale skin was frequently sprinkled with cinnamon freckles. A pleasant nose crowned his thin smiling lips as dimples robed them.

"Sir Lady Knight Ma'am Keladry of Mindelan, my name is Arthur of Emtuem and I'm the youngest member of the Head. And if you have any food in stashed away in the pouch of your belt, I'd be happy to oblige to carry it for you. I have to warn you that it probably won't get returned either." And with that the boy grinned up at her.

Hey, this actually came out as the beginning of a good story! Weird, that never happens to me… O.k. so you know the drill. Click that nice little box below to tell me how much you love (or hated) my story. I'm sorry I broke my own rule and made characters. I think that you'll like them though