The Chosen Read online

  It wasn’t common practice, she knew, to leave your sword behind. After all, Guardian trainees spent most of their time training with a sword so that when they faced sword masters they wouldn’t easily be overwhelmed. To the majority, the sword became an extension of their arms when faced with a fight.

  However, Kathryn wasn’t one of them. She disliked fighting with a sword. Despite six years of intense practice with one, she had never come to feel like the weapon was a logical extension of her mind and arm. Her weapon of choice was the bow. She was one of the few experts whose arrow could easily span over five hundred meters and make its mark in one shot. In a tight situation she preferred one, or both, or her knives. If she couldn’t take out an opponent from a distance then she wanted to be up close and personal with them; crowding their space so that they didn’t have room to swing their sword or stationing herself so close it couldn’t reach her physically. Meanwhile, a few stabs with her knife, already positioned next to her opponent’s body, and the fight was over. Simple. Easy. Uncomplicated.

  When fighting an untrained opponent her method rarely required more than a few large swings before she was in a position to end the fight. Trained fighters, like knights, who had been drilled to circle while fighting required a little more creativity. But even they, with their highly structured drilling regimens, were relatively easy to predict.

  She continued to sit and listen to the soothing sound of the river as she heard the others of her shift waking up. Destiny swooped over the training field toward her and landed gracefully on the porch’s railing, her breakfast clutched in her talons.

  Kathryn moved inside as she heard Matt announcing her own breakfast. Rachel and Jenna, she was glad to see, were both fully dressed and ready to go.

  “Morning Kathryn,” Matt greeted as he ladled hot porridge into her bowl.

  Knowing that she’d been extremely short with David the day before, Kathryn had once again promised herself that she would try to remember Jasse’s request and try to be more approachable. “Morning, Matt, Jenna, Rachel,” she nodded at each one in turn.

  The two girls quickly added their “good mornings” to Matt’s and Kathryn’s, making short work of their breakfast.

  As soon as she was done eating, Kathryn went to saddle Lerina and call Destiny. Her horse gave her a slightly annoyed look at having such a loud, piercing whistle originate so close to her ear, but Kathryn figured that after all these years the look was probably just habit.

  Jenna and Rachel followed quickly, saddling their horses and performing one last check that everything was in place. Matt trotted in after them with small satchels of dried meat, fruit, and nuts.

  Kathryn eyed the food. “Matt, what is all this food for? We’ll be back in four radians.”

  Matt gave what she supposed was an attempt at a nonchalant shrug but instead gave off a mischievous vibe. “You never know when you might need to bribe a hungry person or animal for information, or who knows you might just get hungry again.” While he didn’t physically perform the act, she could practically see him rubbing his hands together with glee as he imagined scenario after scenario where he might have to save the group by offering up food as recompense.

  Kathryn nodded, a small grin appearing on her face. As much as she hated to admit it, Matt’s humor was catching. And despite what most people believed, she did find humor in some things. Matt’s flippant personality would apparently be one of them. “Okay then, let’s go.” She swung into her saddle, glad that once again she had left the cumbersome sword behind in her room.

  They rode south, instead of east like Kathryn and David had the day before, visiting with farmers and townsfolk alike. Or at least, Matt, Jenna, and Rachel visited; Kathryn preferred to stay in the shadows and eavesdrop.

  Old habits are hard to break, she thought ruefully as she listened to two old women gossiping about the mysterious deaths of cattle that were beginning to appear in the outlying farms.I listened, melding into the shadows when I was a child, invisible and beyond the senses of those I observed and I still do it as a Guardian. She had seen the surprise in David’s face when she revealed that she too had learned of the thefts. Honestly, she thought darkly, there were other ways to gather information besides actually talking to people. At least with her way they didn’t outright lie to you.

  When she caught up with Matt she learned that along with the cattle deaths, wells were becoming bitter and crops failing for no good reason.

  So much for David’s conclusion that Rima is a peaceful province, she thought as she and Matt decided to remain in the immediate vicinity to investigate. What she really wanted to do was to send Rachel and Jenna out individually to other towns to cultivate a Guardian presence, but knew that she couldn’t send them out this early in their assignments, best to wait until they had a dozen or more shifts for experience, and then split her shifts up even further.

  Rachel and Jenna agreed that the situation warranted further investigation and they split up into two groups. Jenna and Matt would maintain a presence in the town while Kathryn and Rachel would visit the outlying farms.

  Kathryn sent Rachel to talk with the farmers, getting as much information that she could while Kathryn investigated the wells and crops.

  Hauling a bucket of well water up out of the ground, Kathryn tasted it…and immediately spit it back out.Those old women weren’t kidding, however I think they downplayed the actual taste.The small trickle of water that hadn’t been spit out made its way down her throat, scratching and cauterizing as it went.No wonder the locals are upset, this stuff tastes awful!She frowned down at the water far below,and it definitely isn’t natural.

  I wish Jenna was here, she thought, her mood now matching the taste of the water,as a healer she might be able to neutralize whatever it was that had contaminated the water. She stopped short.

  Water.

  Her gift.

  She scowled at herself. Moving back to the bucket she dipped one of her hands into the remaining liquid. She focused on the water, noting the familiar feel of the water and picking out the element that didn’t belong. She forced her mind to focus only on the strange element, learning what it felt like.

  Confident that she could now separate the element from water she dropped the film back into the bucket. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and imagined a filter forming at the bottom of the well, a filter that would allow nothing but water to flow through it. Slowly she raised the filter through the water, removing the contamination from each water drop, one by one, until the strange element, unable to go through, formed a thin layer that grew thicker the farther up she brought it.

  Finally it reached the surface where she paused. Water was her gift, not telekinesis. How could she bring the element to her?

  She solved this problem by wrapping the element in a ball of water and urging the water to flow up the side of the well and into her hand where she slowly let it drain away. At her feet now lay a large pile of what looked like grains of sand.

  “Impressive.”

  Momentarily startled, Kathryn relaxed as she recognized Rachel’s voice. That was another reason she hated using her gift. It took all of her concentration to work with water and left her vulnerable to outside attacks. Scooping up some of the contamination she studied it.

  Rachel moved to join her. “Is that what’s been poisoning the wells?”

  “Yes. Do you recognize it?”

  Rachel bent down and retrieved a handful of her own. She studied it and after a moment shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

  Kathryn pulled out a handkerchief from her satchel and piled some of the unknown material on it. She tied the fabric together and placed it back into her satchel. “Burn the rest of that, would you?” she asked, nodding to the rest of the pile.

  Rachel grinned. “With pleasure.”

  The element that was causing the crops to fail turned out to be simply salt, but Kathryn still took a sample in case it contained other contaminates. Because her gift was water
and not earth, and Rachel’s were wind and fire, neither were able to cleanse the soil the way Kathryn had purified the water.

  However the family living there was simply grateful for the clean water and did not hold the fact that their land was still contaminated against the two Guardians. Four more farms were located on the outskirts of the town and the two Guardians visited them all. For each, Kathryn cleaned the water while Rachel took samples of the contaminates in the soil.

  They met up with Matt and Jenna at the edge of the village and Kathryn handed the samples they had taken to Jenna, asking if she would be able to identify the source and find a counteragent to neutralize it. Jenna readily agreed to give it a try. Since they still had two radians to go, they decided to move on to the next village to see if they were having the same problems.

  Along the way they found a farmer whose cart had lost a wheel, toppled, and dumped a good portion of his load on the path.

  Unfortunately the load he was carrying turned out to be manure. Kathryn and Matt offered to shovel the spilled mess back into the cart while Jenna and Rachel gave the farmer a ride into the nearest village so he could get a replacement wheel.

  It didn’t take Kathryn and Matt very long to shovel the manure back into the cart and as they waited for the farmer to return Kathryn began to get restless.

  Matt noticed. “Why don’t you take a look around those woods,” he suggested, pointing to the ones about a kilometer before them. “Looks like a great place for bandits to hide.”

  Kathryn tossed him an,I-know-what-you’re-doing-but-I’ll-humor-you-anyway look before remounting and moving in that direction. Matt was right, it was the perfect place for troublemakers to hide, and it was probably the only reason she was willing to leave Matt alone.

  As she rode toward the forest she realized that she didn’t have any idea as to what the individual combat capabilities of her shift were. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. Before she considered splitting up her shifts further she would have to examine that aspect. Maybe tomorrow she would take the lunch break to spar with each.

  She left Lerina at the edge of the forest, knowing that she could travel faster, and quieter, on foot.

  As she moved through the forest she was aware that many of the normal sounds, birds singing, deer prancing, and squirrel chatter, were missing, which was as good an indication as any thatsomething else was in this forest, something that animals feared—something human.

  Silently, she removed her knives from their scabbard. As much as she preferred to use her bow in a fight—keeping well out of range of any of her opponents or attackers—safety dictated that she keep close combat weapons at hand in case the fight didn’t start out at that way.

  Her only warning of an attack was the abruptsnap of a twig to her right. She was already spinning, bringing her blades up to parry, when the muttered curse reached her ears. A giant of a man leapt out from behind a large oak tree, his blade caught between hers.

  By the stars, he’s strong!Kathryn thought as she whipped her left knife around to parry his side thrust,and fast too!

  A second sword appeared in her peripheral vision, aiming for her neck. Kathryn dropped to the earth and somersaulted between the first’s legs. She heard his grunt of confusion. Unfortunately, however, the second man wasn’t fooled. He nudged his companion aside and brought his sword down in the classic execution’s chop.

  Rolling to her knees, Kathryn brought both blades up in a block. The power behind the blow was enough to stagger her and she knew she was in a very compromising position—something she was about to change.

  She shifted her weight onto her left leg and pivoted, rising up and kicking outwards as she did, catching her second attacker in the stomach while turning to face the first, who had managed by now to pick himself up off the ground after his companion had pushed him aside.

  He charged at her, his sword held high above his head, cursing at her with a string of very creative words. However he had failed to notice that as she pivoted she had thrust one of her knives into the ground and stood facing him with just one knife. Or so it appeared.

  She feinted left and he moved to block her, still cursing. He failed to notice that as she moved left her right hand had slipped behind her back and even still he hadn’t noticed the small throwing dagger concealed in her hand. His companion, still gasping for breath— and no doubt feeling the broken ribs resulting from her kick— shouted at him to finish her off.

  He charged again and she threw the knife while throwing herself into a somersault to the right, leaping to her feet to face him. This attacker, however, would no longer be a factor in the fight. Her blade had hit its mark.

  She turned, ready to face her original attacker, however he had already abandoned the fight and she caught sight of him fleeing through the trees.

  She followed, but lost him after he mounted a horse waiting in a glade and sped off.

  Slowly, she made her way back the way she came, carefully observing the trail to see if he had dropped anything. He hadn’t.

  When Kathryn reached the attacker she had killed she quickly retrieved her knife. As she was cleaning it she realized something she hadn’t noticed earlier. Those voices were familiar. But why? She retrieved the dead man’s weapon and noticed that the broad sword had the same striations and color as the one David had recovered from yesterday’s fight. There were no nicks or damage of any sort on the blade.

  Great, she thought bleakly,with two bizarre swords within two days, Rima is already proving itself to be problematic.

  Making her way back to where she had left Lerina she managed to place the voices. Her two attackers were the same men whom she had overheard in the glade two nights ago!

  The knowledge did nothing to improve her mood. One of them had gotten away. Kathryn counted that as a personal failure.

  Even Matt noticed her mood when she made it back to where she had left him.

  “I take it, it didn’t go well?”

  She told him about the attack, but not about recognizing the voices.

  “They must have been pretty desperate if they attacked a Guardian,” he commented as Jenna, Rachel, and the farmer appeared on the road.

  Kathryn was forced to agree. They had attacked first, not many bandits would. Most would attempt to flee first before standing and fighting, yet these two had attacked.

  She didn’t like the implications.

  When the group returned, Kathryn briefed David on what had happened. He agreed that bandits actually attacking a Guardian was out of the ordinary and promised to keep a look out for the one who had gotten away. He mentioned notifying Lord Mora about the two swords and their ability to deflect Guardian swords but Kathryn didn’t pay attention since that was his job and not hers. He asked if she was alright and she, somewhat icily even to her ears, assured him she was.

  She had failed. Kathryn didn’t like failure and she liked it even less when others tried to make her feel better.

  Chapter 11

  As the shifts traded out, Kathryn went out into the garden to do some weeding. Destiny hopped alongside catching the occasional worm that Kathryn would toss her.

  “That is so gross.”

  Kathryn glanced up to see Natalie and Lindsey leaning against the fence, a look of disgust etched into their faces. “Is there something you two need?” she asked, striving for a neutral tone that she probably failed to achieve.

  “More like something you need,” Lindsey said, holding her nose between two fingers.

  “A bath,” Natalie sniffed.

  Kathryn raised an eyebrow and turned back to weeding, shooing away two pribbles that had come to investigate her work. “You’d stink too if you had to rake up manure,” she told them calmly. At that moment the larger pribble relieved itself creating a pile nearly as big as a dinner tray.

  “Ewwww!” Natalie shrieked.

  “Gross!” Lindsey added, her face turning a little green.

  Kathryn didn’t bother acknowledging them. As far as
she was concerned both Natalie and Lindsey had some growing up to do. Just yesterday Natalie had wanted to appropriate three of the four bathrooms for the girls, leaving one for the boys. Kathryn had told her, in no uncertain terms, that the bathrooms would remain open for everyone. In any case, all that was in the bathrooms was a bathtub, a full length mirror, and lots of shelf space for towels and soaps. And it was not a sunken stone bathtub like the one in Kathryn’s apartment in Jasmine’s palace. It was nothing more than a raised metal tub barely big enough to sit in. Natalie was still simmering. She didn’t like having to wait to take her daily bath, and the idea of sharing a bathing tub with one of the boys repulsed her even more.

  They reminded Kathryn, a bit too vividly for comfort, of two serving girls back at Blackwood Manor. Linisse and Marite had been very pretty girls, had thought of themselves much higher than their situation allowed, and had often taken great pains to keep themselves looking nice. Many times their efforts had included blaming Kathryn for “undoing all their hard work” on chores they couldn’t have been bothered to complete. Of course once they had blamed it on Kathryn, she had been forced to complete their chores on top of her own…plus any extras that had been added on as punishment for making Linisse and Marite look bad. Of course the two girls had found it humorous to watch her do the chores they hadn’t done and had taunted her constantly throughout her time at the Manor.