Well, here is a story, not really based off anything, just the world of Tortall by Tamora Pierce. Hope you like it.

Chapter 1 Encounters

Kim sighed as she left Kassy's house. She was still working and couldn't come riding with her. She and Kassy had been best friends forever and always did everything together. Recently Master healer Oldive had graduated Kassy to assistant healer and hadn't been able to go places as much as they used to. Kim understood since being a healer was important. They were both sixteen with long brown hair, Kassy was barely taller at 5'6" while Kim was 5'5".

Kim wandered toward the river and sat on her favorite rock. It had been carved by the river into a natural chair that was shaded by an ancient willow. She sat there being bored until she suddenly heard a commotion coming from upstream. She glanced over in time to see two boys burst from the trees, fighting over something. She stood up to see better just as one threw the strange something into the river. It landed with a splat then suddenly she could hear cat cries coming from it. She gasped in shock then gasped again as the other boy dove into the river and started swimming toward the sack. She started running along the bank wishing she could help in anyway.

After a ways the boy grabbed the sack and started swimming toward the shore and Kim struggled to get through some trees. At last she broke through to see the boy pull out a knife and bring it toward the sack of cats.

'He's going to kill them.' Kim thought. She quickly glanced around for anything to stop him and spied a rock as big as three fists.

'That will work.' She picked it up and threw it at him just as he cut the mouth of the sack open. The rock hit him in the head causing him to drop the sack and knife and stumble to the ground a few feet away.

Kim ran forward and picked up the knife and rock, smiling a little at the cat and kittens before turning and scowling at the boy who was clutching his head. Now that she had the chance, she could see that he was probably around her age maybe older with long black hair tied back in a ponytail. The boy glared up at her the best he could while wincing in pain.

"What was that for?" he demanded and struggled to stand. Kim paused, she had thought that he was going to kill the cats but obviously she had made a mistake. She glanced at the cats then back to the boy who had managed to stand. Kim gulped, he towered over her and she suddenly felt small and defenseless. He hissed and lowered his hand. Kim gasped. There was a large cut on his head and it was bleeding freely. The boy scowled and wiped some blood away before it could get in his eyes. He looked back at her.

"Well, why did you throw the rock?" Kim cringed and glanced away.

"I thought you were going to kill the cats." she said. She heard a sigh from him and looked back to see him shaking his head.

"That's what I get I guess." he turned and started walking away.

"Hey what am I going to do with these guys?" she asked, motioning towards the half dry cats. He turned to look then continued walking.

"Find them good homes." Kim frowned and ran forward until she was in front of him.

"Don't think you're getting away that easy. That other boy you were fighting, Kamo is the son of the Lord here, and a real crybaby, you're going to have some bodyguards on your tail soon." he blinked at her and muttered something that sounded like, 'it's happened before.' but she wasn't sure.

"And why are you telling me this?" Kim stood straighter.

"Because I'm going to need help hiding the cats and you." he frowned.

"Why do you think I would..." suddenly another voice rang out.

"There he is, he's the one who attacked me." it was Kamo and about six guards. The boy turned and ran and the guards followed yelling at him to stop.

After the guards left Kim turned towards Kamo who had his back to her.

'Why that fat, lazy, overgrown pig.' she snarled to herself. She looked at the rock in her hand and back to Kamo who had drawn a dagger and was reaching for one of the kittens. She snapped and the next thing she knew she was sweeping the cats back into the sack and Kamo was on the ground unconscious, her rock by his head.

'Oh this is so not my day.' Jake thought as he ran through the trees. 'I knew I shouldn't have stopped to listen to the girl.' he quickly dodged as one guard lunged at him. Unfortunately he dodged directly into another guard and they both tumbled to the ground. The man grabbed his arm and jerked, pulling Jake back down. Jake growled and kicked the man in the face, quickly rolling away as another tried to grab him and was soon on his feet, running again.

Suddenly he heard a roaring noise and smiled as he approached the falls. There was an open space of about twenty feet that he had to get across and he only hoped that none of the guards had crossbows. He burst from the last of the trees and ran even harder toward the cliff. He got to the edge just as he heard a faint click and something slammed into his shoulder. He pushed off and fell into the churning water below.

"Kassy! Kassy open up!" Kim yelled as she pounded on the door. A flustered Kassy pulled the door open and glared at her, book in hand.

"What do you want, I was studying." Kim put the sack on the ground and gently rolled the cats out. Kassy's face instantly changed at their bedraggled appearance.

"Oh the poor things. What happened to them?" Kassy looked up at Kim.

"They were throw into the river." at the mention of the river Kim's eyes widened and she grabbed Kassy's arm.

"Kassy, a boy saved them from the river but he got hurt and now he is running. We need to find him." Kassy put her hands on Kim's shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"Kim only one thing at a time okey? Now start at the beginning." Kim took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Well, it started out when I was at my rock by the river..." by the time she was done Kassy was shaking her head.

"You never change Kim." she glanced at the cats that were now asleep. "Well, we'll leave these guys here. Let me get my bag, I'm coming with you." Kim smiled and soon they were headed toward the river.

"Kim, who is this boy anyway?" Kassy asked as the moved through the city. Kim paused for a minute before answering her.

"Well, I don't know what his name is but he is tall and has long black hair." Kim turned to Kassy and blinked at the scowl on her face. "What?"

"A little vague I think Kim." Kim smiled a little.

"Huh, um well." She paused again. "You know that I am not good at describing people Kassy."

"Well, how old did he look? What condition were his clothes in? What condition was he in? How dark was he? What..." Kim held up her hands.

"Okey, okey I get your point. Um, he looked like he was about 16 or even 17, his clothes were not that clean, but that might be from the fight, and they were a little worn, he looked like he had some old bruises on his face and I know I saw one on his arm, but he looked healthy and not very underfed, he was nicely tanned..." here Kim drifted off and turned to see Kassy smirking at her. "What!" Kassy turned away still smirking.

"Oh nothing." a pause. "Nicely tanned?" Kim jumped at her and Kassy quickly moved out of the way and started running down the road laughing.

"Get back here you, you fiend!" Kim yelled at her smiling a little to herself.

They soon reached the place where Kim had last seen the boy and saw Kamo, laying on the ground with his guards surrounding him.

"Oh my what happened?" Kassy exclaimed as she saw Kamo. One of the men looked at her then dragged her over.

"You're a healer, heal him." the man demanded. Kassy gently pulled from his grasp and glanced at Kamo.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just a trainee, I don't know enough to heal him, you're going to have to take him to Master Oldive." the man grumbled but turned and picked up the still unconscious Kamo, grunting at the weight. After they left Kim turned to Kassy in shock.

"You lied. You, Kassy actually lied." Kassy blushed and turned away clearing her throat.

"Well, aren't you looking for someone? Come on, let's go." and she started off. Kim shook her head and took the lead.

Jake woke up to the sound of the rushing water and a throbbing pain in his left shoulder.

'Oh, what happened.' suddenly he remembered, he had jumped off the cliff and something had hit him. He must have passed out and the current had taken him to, he looked around, to a cave.

He moved to sit up but a sudden flare of pain stopped him and he involuntarily cried out, slumping back to the ground. Blinking back tears of pain he paused to see if anything had reacted to the outcry. After hearing nothing out of the ordinary, he slowly tried again, this time making it up to lean against the wall.

'Well, that hurt but at least I can sit up.'

He let out a sigh of relief and slowly crawled outside. He winced at the bright light and slowly waded through the shallows to the shore. He sat down abruptly as the world spun and he rested his head in his hands.

'Okey, I'm down river from the falls but not far which would make me about two, two in-a-half miles from the city.' he glanced at the position of the sun. 'Well, I'll get there by dark maybe that's a good thing.'

He stood up and clutched at the tree again as the ground moved under his feet. He gently shook his head and slowly let go of the tree.

'Okey, slowly walk to town, might get there later than I thought.' he started walking when he suddenly heard voices coming his way. He froze and recognized the voice of the girl from earlier, but not her companion. As quickly as he could he climbed the tree he had been leaning against and hid in its leafy branches, out of sight of those below, just as the two girls pushed themselves through the brush.

"Come on Kim, it's getting late, we're not going to find him." said Kassy as she stepped from the tangled branches. Kim didn't answer her and continued on towards the river. Kassy sighed and followed her.

'We've followed the river all the way from the falls and haven't seen anything, unless you count the fish that were swimming but I don't think you would.' Kassy sighed once again and glanced at the sky seeing how close it was to dusk.

"Oh, look Kassy! Someone has been here." Kassy looked and sure enough, there were foot prints on the sand leading to the shore. "They're fresh, which means, the person is still here." Kim started looking around cautiously while Kassy stepped up next to her. Jake watched all of this from the tree. He moved to find an better vantage point but suddenly he became dizzy and he felt himself falling. He twisted around and managed to land on his feet but quickly sank to the ground, still very dizzy. The girls had jumped back when he had fallen but now they approached him cautiously.

Jake stiffened when he heard them move and moved back against the tree, blinking and trying to clear his vision. Kassy reached out a hand and gently touched his head making him flinch away from the sudden contact. He hadn't expected her to be there. Kassy pulled away a bit and lowered her hand.

"Don't worry I won't hurt you." she kneeled in front of him. "My name is Kassy and I am an apprentice healer to Master Oldive." she waited for him to show that he had heard her and looked over at Kim.

"Kim, is this the boy you were talking about?" she could almost feel the boy behind her stiffen while Kim nodded and moved over to her side.

Jake shifted a little, his sight slowly righting itself and feeling uncomfortable with the two near him. He glanced between Kim and Kassy who looked right back at him, he looked away, slightly unnerved by their twin gaze. Kassy sighed and pulled a cloth and waterskin out of her bag. Wetting the cloth she brushed it against the head wound until he hissed and pulled away, from pain and from the sudden unwanted contact. Kassy sighed in exasperation.

"Look, I need to clean that before it gets infected and makes you ill." Jake looked at her in surprise then looked away slightly. Kassy frowned, and reached for the wound again. This time he didn't move and only winced a bit as she started cleaning it.

"Why do you care?" the question made her pause in surprise before continuing on.

"Because you're injured and I'm a healer." she paused again. "Also because you saved those cats at your own risk, the river is very rough at this time of year." he blinked at her and glanced at Kim before quickly looking at his spot again. Kassy finished cleaning the wound and was about to stand when she noticed the blood on his tunic.

"You're still hurt!" she exclaimed turning him around to where his back and the crossbow bolt faced her. He hissed as she touched the wound and tried to pull away from her. Kassy grabbed him by the shoulders making him stiffen up once again and turned to Kim.

"Kim, hold him still. I need to remove this arrow and don't need him twisting around." his eyes widened and he quickly found himself leaning forward a bit and unable to move.

'Wow, these girls are stronger than they look.' he glanced at Kassy. 'She is a healer so she knows how to keep a patient still. This will hurt.' Kassy lightly touched the arrow and Jake hissed as the arrow moved slightly.

"Oh, by the way, I am Kim and this is Kassy. What is your name?" asked Kim as she watched Kassy. He looked at Kim for a moment distracted by her question. Kassy used that opportunity to quickly pull the arrow from his shoulder. Jake screamed in pain and slumped a bit Kim being the only thing holding him up. He groaned again as Kassy pressed another cloth against the wound to stop the blood flow.

"Jake." Kim looked at him in confusion and he managed a small smile. "My name is Jake." Kim nodded and smiled back. After a while Kassy gently helped Jake into a sitting position against the tree. He had his eyes closed and his face was pale and slick with sweat. She gently shook him and he glanced at her.

"I need to bandage your shoulder, but I need to get rid of your tunic. It might hurt." he nodded and started removing the offending article. Kim moved up and with Jake's knife cut the tunic way. Kassy nodded at Kim and started bandaging the wound. Kim sat off to the side and stared into the river, thinking about what to do.

'Jake will need a place to stay until things cool down with Kamo and so he can recover without any interruptions.' she glanced over at him. 'He looks strong, I wonder what he can do.' at that moment Jake looked up at her and she quickly looked away.

Kassy stood up, pulling an extra tunic out of her bag and handing it to Jake. Kim looked at her then at the tunic.

"Why did you have that?" she asked. Kassy shrugged and put her things away. Kim went to help Jake up but he brushed her away and stood on his own, with a little help from the tree.

"So what are we going to do with him?" asked Kassy, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Jake looked at them and started backing away. Kim rolled her eyes and tossed his knife to him, which he caught easily.

"Look we're not going to hurt you or turn you in. You need to lay low for a while." she folded her arms and looked at him. "A place to stay and work maybe. Not to mention where you can rest up." Kassy looked over at Kim.

"Do you think your mother would mind another hand?" Kim shook her head.

"No actually I think she would love it, we are short handed at the moment and mom and dad are too busy taking care of the inn to hire anyone. Also it is pretty hard at the moment to find anyone good at taking care of animals, especially horses." she looked back at Jake. "So what do you think? Want a job?"

Jake stood there looking at them. Then he smiled and shook his head.

"I could use a job I guess and I like horses so, sure." Kim smiled and the three of them headed towards the city.

End Chapter 1

Well what do you think, please R&R please, hopefully the next chapter will be here soon.