A/N:ok this is my first fic and it's totally NEW (guilty cough) so I hope you like it, but you can flame if you don't. just read and review, that's all I ask…
Keladry of Shang
Chapter 1
"Girls cannot be knights. You cannot fight. The Lionness is a chosen of the goddess, you are not. You will not survive. I cannot allow you to return, Mindelan. Go home."
Keladry of Mindelan grimaced, remembering the day her dreams had shattered. Now she trained as a Shang warrior, determined to show Lord Wyldon that girls could be knights--even better than knights, noble girls could be Shang.
She was the best of the students. She could already, after eight years of training, beat every Shang except for her best friend, Kylaia al Jmaa, the Shang unicorn. Technically, Kylaia should have been the dragon, but once the ordeal gave you a rank it could not be taken back, and it was commonly known throughout Shang (though not the rest of the world) that the unicorn was now the most powerful mythical rank.
Kel could defeat Kylaia nine out of ten bouts. The rest of the Shang warriors never won against her. Not even the griffin.
" Kel!" Kylaia called. "Guess what?! You're gonna' take your ordeal!" the older woman cried.
Kylaia al Jmaa and Keladry of Mindelan were referred to (jealously by the girls and longingly by the boys) throughout the training school as the "warrior goddesses," for they were the most beautiful and deadly of the Shang warriors. Kylaia had a graceful, lithe dancer's body, wavy, raven-black hair, and stormy gray eyes. Kel had a taller, more powerful build, but walked with just as much poised grace as her friend. Her golden-brown hair cascaded down her back, and her dreamy hazel eyes had delicate gold flecks in them. Both girls had full, red lips. Though they were every man's dream in looks, no man approached them, for all knew it to be suicide.
Now Kel spoke: "When?" Only a hint of nervousness entered her voice, but from Kel this was a lot, as she had spent years perfecting the art of hiding emotions.
Kylaia smiled. " Tonight."