The Girl Who Was A Warrior (The Clandestine Chronicles Book 1)

by L. S. Emory

  “How do I do that?” I asked.

  “You have to pay attention to yourself. Always be aware. Constantly be taking an inventory of what’s going on in your head, in you body. Getting angry? Ask yourself why. Ask yourself if you want to let that anger loose. Are your hands sweating? Ask yourself why. Are you nervous? Are you scared? Figure out what’s going on. Are you breathing hard? What’s causing that? By the way, if you can control your breathing, you can control everything. The way you are breathing is the barometer of how you are handling a situation. Your emotions have power, and you need to learn to control them. Think of it like this. Imagine yourself standing in a storage room. In that storage room, there are shelves with boxes on them. Everytime you feel some emotion or feeling getting out of control or starting to take over over, you take that emotion and put it in a box. Then you take that box, and put it on the shelf. You’re not getting rid of that emotion, because it can give you power. You’re just putting it in a box, and saving it for later, for when you need it. Get it?”

  “I think so,” I said. But I had a lot more questions.

  “And for the record, you weren’t going to kill me with that sword or anything else. I barely even felt that. I’ve been around a long time, and there’s a reason for that.”

  “Of course. That’s why an untrained wizard could knock you on your rear end. By accident,” Aunt Linda whispered, with a smirk on her face.

  “Shut up,” Cody said, pointing at Aunt Linda. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  We just stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything. I was waiting for something to happen. But I wasn’t good at waiting. “So does this mean you will train me?” I asked Cody.

  Cody straightened his hat. “It does not. One moment of showing me some guts doesn’t mean anything other than you might have a shot.”

  “I still have to take this test.”

  “That’s the way it goes, amiga. Do you think that you are ready to do that? Do you think you can make it?”

  “I know I can,” I said. At least I hoped I could.

  “Tell me how you are going to complete this test,” Cody demanded.

  “I’m going to find the ‘X’ on the map.”

  Cody reached down into his pockets. When he pulled his hand out, he was holding a watch. “Here you go, kid,” he said, tossing the watch at me. “It’s important that you keep this on at all times. You have three hours from when the test starts. Not a second more. In those three hours you have to find your destination, and then meet back up with me. Got it?”

  “Sure,” I said, sliding the watch on to my wrist. ‘Got it.”

  “Remember everything that I’ve told you. It’ll help you out. And one more thing to remember, just a lesson in life.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing is ever what it appears to be. I’ll say it again, remember what I’ve told you.”

  “Ok.” He hadn’t really told me much, so I wasn’t sure what he had told me would help me out. “I’ve got some questions, though.”

  “Sure, kid. Go back inside and get your map first,” Cody replied.

  I nodded, and then turned around and walked back inside. I looked around at everything. Surely this isn’t where Cody really lives, I thought to myself. It’s not big enough. There’s no kitchen, no bed, and not a lot of furniture. But I didn’t have time to figure that out. I needed to get going. I was ready to get this over with.

  I grabbed the map and looked at it as I walked back outside.

  “So, I want to know more about…” I started to say, before I stopped. It was suddenly very quiet. Eerily quiet. Quiet like that point in a horror movie when you know the axe murderer is about to jump out from behind a door. The only thing that heard was the wind blowing through the trees. I looked up. “Cody? Aunt Linda?”

  I didn’t see them anywhere. I looked around. No sign of them, or anyone else. No one to answer my questions. I was all alone.

  Chapter 8

  I guessed that this was Cody’s sneaky way of starting the test. That was fine with me. I wasn’t sure what I was in store for, but I did know one thing, and that is I work better alone. And I was going to show Cody, Aunt Linda, the school, the Wizarding Authority, and whoever else doubted me, that I was cut out to be a wizard.

  I looked down at the map. A dot was was blinking at the beginning of one of the lines. I assumed that was me. The line on the map didn’t go very far, but it looked like it was going to the northwest, through the trees. So, that was the way that I went.

  It wasn’t hard to find the path leading into the forest. But once I got in, the path ended. I looked at the map again. It wasn’t much help. The line hadn’t changed. I supposed that I hadn’t gone far enough. I started walking, hoping that I could find something that would help me find whatever it was i was supposed find.

  The leaves on the ground crunched as I walked over them. The trees were pretty dense. I walked around for a few minutes, but it didn’t seem like I was making much progress. I hadn’t really been in the woods before, these woods or any others. Once time, when I was little, my parents took me camping. We had a tent, portable stove, sleeping bags, the works. All I could remember from that was that I got poison ivy, and scared to death when a frog jumped on me in the middle of the night. It was then that I decided that I like civilization more than nature.

  I kept walking, checking the map to make sure I was still on the right path. For some reason, my hand kept going over my shoulder to my back, just to make sure that the sword was still there. I still had my wand, but after that morning, I wasn’t very confident in my abilities to fight off a bear or wolf with my magic. Or anything else, for that matter.

  I wasn’t even sure why I was doing this test. When Cody first mentioned the test, I kind of assumed that it would more like a standard wizarding test. Make this rock levitate, change this water into orange juice, make a first aid potion, something along those lines. But wander through the woods on some treasure hunt? I had no idea about that. It certainly wasn’t the standard test like I would have in school. But, then again, Cody wasn’t a standard wizard.

  I did wonder why both him and Aunt Linda disappeared like they did. I didn’t know about Cody, but I really didn’t expect Aunt Linda to do that. And I still didn’t get what their relationship was. They obviously had some history, but I didn’t have any idea what that was.

  I kept having to dodge tree limbs and long, thick vines as I was walking. I wished that I had a machete or something to knock them down. Then I realized that I did. I pulled the sword from its sheath and started whacking away at vines. I was surprised at how sharp the blade was. What I really wanted to do was stop and see if I could get the thing to shoot lightning again. But, with the luck I was having, I might have caught the woods on fire. Cody really wouldn’t like that. And I could just hear Aunt Linda giving me a lecture on how irresponsible it was to be doing that when I had this test to complete.

  It felt like I had been walking for an hour. I looked down at my watch. Fifteen minutes. I had been walking for fifteen minutes. I guess that was good, given the time limit I had. I wondered if the watch did anything special, like the sword. A guy like Cody, a rogue wizard illusionist, or whatever he was, must have a lot of magical devices around. Surely the watch did something other than tell time.

  I started playing around with the watch, pushing the buttons on the side. Nothing happened. I pulled out the map again. I hadn’t moved very far, but I was still on the right path. I looked around. I couldn’t see anything but trees.

  Then I heard a twig snap.

  I wasn’t alone anymore. There was something else in the woods. I pulled my sword out of its sheath. I wasn’t sure what direction the noise came from. I carefully tiptoed to the nearest tree, and tried my best to stand behind it without being seen. I wiped the sweat off of my face and looked around one side of the tree. Nothing there. I peered around the other side. Nothing.

  I breathed a little easier. Maybe it was some
forest animal. I imagined a cute little rabbit with black and white splotches on its fur hopping around, accidentally making noise. But I was pretty sure that cute little rabbits didn’t live in this kind of forest.

  I carefully tiptoed back on to the path, careful not to make too much noise. I looked around, but I didn't see anything. Maybe it was just my imagination. I began to breathe a little easier. I looked down at the sword in my hands. The sun glistened off of the blade. As my eyes made their way down to the hilt, I could see that my knuckles were white from gripping it so tightly. I just needed to relax and get back to the mission at hand.

  I pulled out the map and unrolled it. Nothing had changed. I was still where I was supposed to be, I guess. I was still on the path. I rolled it back up and stuck it underneath my belt. I looked at the watch again. Time was wasting, and I needed to get a move on. I started walking up the path again, in the direction that I had seen on the map.

  All of a sudden I felt something grab my foot. Before I could look down and see what it was, I was picked up and went flying up in the air. I quickly looked to see who had attacked me, but there is no one around. I looked up towards my foot, and saw a rope wrapped around it. I tried to swing around a little to look up above my foot, and saw that the rope was attached to a tree limb. So now I was suspended, by a rope, about ten feet off of the ground.

  Luckily I still had my sword in my hand. I looked up at the rope wrapped around my ankle, and then below me, thinking about how much it was going to hurt to hit the ground. I was also wishing that I had paid more attention to my gymnastics class. The problem was that I was not the most coordinated person that ever rolled around on a mat. Now I had to be.

  I looked down at the ground again, but it wasn’t getting any closer. And I was wasting time. I awkwardly pulled my other arm in front of my face, looking at the watch that Cody had given me, now attached to my wrist. The face of the watch had changed. It still showed the time, but now it had begun to pulsate a light orange color. I had no idea why it was doing that. It could be magic, which would make sense. I just hadn’t considered that. I thought it was just to make sure I knew how much longer I had to complete the test. I suppose I should have asked Cody more about it. But, then again, he probably wouldn’t have told me anything.

  Whatever it meant, I didn’t like it. I had to get down, fast. I could figure everything else out later. I looked up at the rope again. I tightened my grip on my sword. It was pretty sharp, so it shouldn’t be too hard to cut myself down. I just hard to swing hard enough to cut through the rope, and position myself to land in a way so that I didn’t break my neck. I might have been worrying about that too much, but today hadn’t been going that well, so a little paranoia wasn’t out of the question.

  I held my breath and counted to three. One swing. That’s all it would take. I swung as hard as I could.

  And the sword bounced off the rope.

  I could feel the sting in my wrists. It felt like I had hit a piece of steel. This rope was much tougher than I thought. I tried to compose myself. I swung again. Harder. This time, the sword bounced off violently, nearly taking my hand clear off my arm. Obviously, I needed a new strategy.

  I leaned up and grabbed the rope with my free hand and pulled myself up. I couldn’t get up far, but did get closer to where my ankle was caught. Maybe if I couldn’t whack the rope into pieces, I could saw it in two. I placed the blade on the rope and began work the blade into the rope.

  The more I pressure that I put on the rope while I was holding myself up, the tighter it felt on my ankle. And sawing the rope didn’t seem to be doing anything. I gave up after a couple of minutes and let go of the rope. So, Plan B didn’t work.

  Now I was beginning to think that I was in real trouble. Time was wasting. I wasn’t going to pass this stupid test. And I was stuck in a forest in the outskirts of town, hanging upside down. Aunt Linda would hold me in contempt for the rest of my life for bringing shame to the family. People would point and stare at me. I was going to be eventually be tracked down and punished by the Wizarding Authority. I would live out my life as a hermit. I was not sure how much worse this day could get.

  “Hey, you there, what do you think you are doing? Get out of there!”

  Chapter 9

  I jerked my head from left to right but didn’t see anyone. That voice had to have come from someone. “Hello?” I said, still looking around.

  “I said, get out of my trap! What is wrong with you?” I heard the voice say.

  “Who are you? Where are you?” I asked.

  I heard a loud “Hmph” but it sounded like it was coming from all directions at once.

  “For Hilda’s sake, girl, Look down! Directly down underneath you!”

  I stretched my neck downward, and then I saw him. He looked to be about three feet tall, green skin, and huge ears sticking out of the side of his head like an elephant’s ears. I tried not to react, but I knew the moment that I saw him that I was talking to a goblin, and that made me a bit nervous.

  Goblins and wizards had a long and complicated history. Wizards used magic, but goblins did not. They preferred gadgets, sprockets, and other mechanical devices. Wizards tolerated the goblins, because they needed the goblins’ expertise at technology. And none of the supernatural races could fix or build new mechanical things like the goblins. They were geniuses with a wrench.

  The goblins put up with the wizards, because they could make a lot of money selling their inventions to the wizards. But goblins hated magic. They didn’t trust anything that they could not see or touch. And they always felt like the wizards looked down on them as being a lesser race for not using magic. This wasn’t true, at least according to my History of Supernatural Origins textbook. According to it, goblins were just prone to jealousy. And they couldn’t be trusted.

  “Hey,” the goblin said, poking me in the side with a shining, silver staff, “I said get out of my trap!”

  “I’ve been trying too,” I replied, “But I’m kind of...stuck.”

  “Of course you are stuck! No one gets out of my traps.”

  “Well, could you let me out?”

  “Hmph,” he snarled. “And why should I do that? You went and got yourself trapped on your own. Get yourself out.”

  He had a point. I had gotten trapped on my own. I should have been more cautious, but what did I know about searching through the woods? Goblins were known to be cunning, so I needed a reason that would get him to see things my way. This might be part of my test. I had to think carefully about what to say.

  “Hurry up! Answer! Now!”

  “All right, all right,” I said. “Hold on.”

  “I think I’m going to let you stay up there for a while. Teach you a lesson about messing up someone else’s hunt.” I could hear his footsteps going away from me.

  “Wait!” I yelled out. “What are you hunting? I can help you.” I probably couldn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. Not yet, anyway.

  The footsteps stopped. “How can you help me? You can’t even avoid a trap that is right in front of you.”

  “Ok, we have established that I am trapped, so can we move on? What are you hunting?” I stretched my neck again to get a better view of my captor.

  He just stood there with one hand on his hip and the the other one holding the staff. “Fine. I’m hunting a Wood Elf. Escaped prisoner. There’s a big bounty on his head. This,” he said waving his hand around me at his trap, “was a supposed to be for him. Impenetrable. Designed specifically for Wood Elves.”

  “A fugitive?” I asked.

  The goblin narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes, in a manner of speaking.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

  “So, how exactly can you help me? Assuming I let you go.”

  I had to think quickly. Time was ticking away. I had to get out of this trap, and get away from this goblin.

  “Speak up, girl! I haven't got all day!”

  “I can do magic,” I said. It was the
first thing that came to my mind.

  The goblin stepped back, and tilted his head to the side. “Magic? What are you?”

  “I’m a wizard,” I replied.

  He rubbed his hand over his face, stroking his purple goatee. “A wizard. Isn’t that interesting.”

  I didn’t know why that was so interesting. But, then again, he was a goblin. I guessed he didn’t have many encounters with wizards.

  “You look kind of young. I think you’re lying.”

  I could feel my face flush. “I am not lying,” I said through gritted teeth. Once again, someone who didn’t think I had any magical talent. I was getting tired of this.

  “What’s a wizard doing out here, then? Wizards keep to their cities,” he said with a smirk on his face.

  I wasn’t sure that I wanted to get into the whole story. But I had to tell him something.

  “I came out here to take a test.”

  The goblin looked intently at me for a second, then started laughing. “A test? Out here in the forest? You’ve got to be kidding me. Wizard testing is the safe confines of one their schools or the conference rooms of the big hat, wand waving, chief wizarding muckety-muck ruling council. There’s no wizard testing out here in Greenleaf Forest. Who are you?”

  Now, I was just getting mad. “Let me down and I’ll prove it to you.”

  He looked at me again. “What’s it worth to you?”

  He just wasn’t going to stop. I could feel the air around me getting hotter. “Let me go, or you will be sorry,” I said pointing my sword at him.

  “Or what? You going to try to cut me in two with that pitiful excuse for a sword? A real wizard would just cast a spell to get loose.”

  He didn’t look intimidated one bit by me or my sword. I was tired of not being taken seriously. I swung the sword as hard as I could through the air. A blue wave of energy flew off the blade, hitting the goblin square in the chest, and throwing him back against a tree. He hit it so hard that a tree branch came falling down, followed by a flurry of green and brown leaves.