The Trooper's Apprentice, Izzy [small books to read .TXT] 📗

Izzie Potter. The age cyclist,she can only go up to the age twenty-five and then going back toe the age fifteen as soon as she hits her twenty-sixth birthday. She's in a place called Texas. She was sent here by Lord Eric to investigate whaat has been happening with all of his Troopers. He told her that they've been disappering from the kingdom, and they haven't been seen or heard from in a very long time.
She had found what was left of the kidnappers' tracksafter they got on shore. The ocean had waashed away the details of what had happened here on the unknown shore, but the main message is clear: They've been here and she needs to find them fast.
She looks at the sun and estimates that it's around three in the afternoon. She looks at the trail and decides that she must keep going for as long as she can see the tracks. She knows time is running short for the Troopers, and she's their last hope at ever seeing their families again.
The tracks head north, but another pair of tracks head west. She kneels and examines the tracks heading north. She finds that it's the main party of kidnappers. "They're very clever these people," Izzie says, mostly to herself than to her gaurd,"But I wonder. Why leave a false trail? After all, this is a different country."
"Izzie? Who are these people? Why would they take the Troopers?" asked a young man, one of her gaurd.
"Wha-? Oh, they call themselves the Aleria-nappers. Why they would take the Troopers, I've no idea," Izzie replied,"But they obviously think that they were being followed..."
"And they were!" yelled a man who looked like he was in his mid-to-late thirties, also one of her gaurd.
"Keep your voice down! I wouldn't blame them if they sent men to go retace their steps to make sure they weren't followed," Izzie says hastily.
"So which trailare we going to follow?" asked the young man.
"We? All of us aren't going to be following the same trail. Half of you will be following the false trail,"she pointed at the tracks heading west,"And the other half are coming with me to follow the north trail."
They split up lide Izzie told them to;half on one side, half on the other. "O.K. Good luck. People going west, I want you to come back to this shore in two days time, and wait for us to return. We should be back here in about three or four days' time. If we're not back in four days, then sail back home and get some reinforcements."
The group going west nodded and went down the trail going west, and Izzie went north. She went on foot, but her guard were on horses. On and on they went; resting periodically for the horses. The resting periods were really getting on Izzie's nerves. They were loosing daylight; and fast.
"Let's go, you guys. We need to goet moving."
"Izzie, what's the matter?" asked the young man called John.
Izzie sights,"We're loosing daylight and the Troopers are loosing their lives. Come on. We need to get going." She continues her steady jog along the tracks, while the horses canter behind her.
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They reach the site of the Aleria-nappers at dawn. The Aleria-nappers had put sentries around their hidout. It's an old, abondoned town. Izzie sees an old factory building, and compared to the small houses, it would be a perfect place to take twenty Troopers.
She motions for her gaurd to stop; fearing that they would attract the sentries's attentions. She didn't want that to happen; yet. She waited while thay dismounted, John came foward and Izzie put her mouth right next to his ear and in a voice that was very hard to hear even though her mouth was so close he could feel her breath, said,: See those sentries? In order to get into that factory building, we've got to take them out, leaving no one behind to send word that we're coming. Understand?"
He nodded, and she continued in the same voice,"Good. Now, all we're going to do is charge at them. We should have the element of surprise on our side if we do this right."
John nods once again and goes over and tells the rest of the guard. They move into position, too loudly for Izzie's taste
The sentries hear the comotion coming from the forest and they get ready to face whatever's in there. Izzie looks over her shoulder,nods, and charges at the sentries,screaming her battle cry.
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Izzie opens her eyes, and looks around. I must be in the factory

, she thought. She tries to move her arms, but finds that they're tied togerther. She looks around and sees John sittying next to her, hands and feet tied, too.
"John,"she whispers,"John!"
He stirs. "Yeah?" he mumbles softly.
"You okay?"
"Other than the pain in my ribs and head, m'alright. You?"
"Yes. I'm fine. I think we're in the factory. But...where're the others?"
"They're dead. Killed in the battle."
"I think those sentreis were ready for us. Otherwise, they would've been surprised to find us charging out of the forest."
"Izzie?"
"Hmmm?"
"How're we going to get out of here?"
"Well. First we've got to cut this rope,"she feels around and finds a shard of glass and begins to cut the rope binding her hands together,"John? How long have we been here?"
"About a week," he says. Izzie stares at hime in disbelief,"Yeah. I've been drifting in and out of consiousness, and you've been out all week," says John.
She finally cuts through the rope on her hands and starts cutting the rope binding her feet,"Well, at least they haven't taken our weapons."
"Yeah, that's the advantage that we've got," John says doubtfully.
_________________________________________
They escaped the factory. John lay dead in the grass beside Izzie. She kisses his forehead and goodbye, tears streaming down her face.
She hears voice yelling behind her, and she tades off running toward the shore. She tades an arrow from her quiver, nocks it on the string, stops, turns around, aims and fires. She repeats this until her pursuers are half their original numbers. She tades off, sprinting toward an old abandoned farm house.
She crouches behind the abandoned farm house, arrow nocked on the string. Waiting for her pursueres to attack her once more.

"Tomorrow's a big day, Zach. You've got to eat something," Alice said. Yeah, tomorrow is a big day. Don't remind me,

Zach thought.
Tomorrow is Selection Day. Selection Day is the day when the Castle Aleria orphans, who are eighteen years old, are granted or denied their request to be apprenticed for a Craft they would like to be in.
Izzie Potter, the most beuatiful and most dangerous person on Earth, was invited to attend the Selection Day ceremony; she had been a Castle orphan herself. She was granted her request to go to Combatschool; a school where young men, but in this case young woman, start their training for knighthood. Izzie was the first girl to ever be accepted into Combatschool. Sir Henry, the Combatmaster, was very impressed with her build and a little puzzled at how short she was; she's five foot five inches.
She was a Trooper, too. She was apprenticed to Trooper Holt; the trooper assigned to Aleria Fief. She left reight before she was due to graduate. She left behind only a small note on the kitchen table addressed to Holt, saying:

Dear Holt,
I'm leaving.
I don't think I
want to be a Trooper
anymore. I think
my talents lie elsewhere.
It's