Chosen Ones Read Online Free PDF

do, Gaius?”
    “That is for you to discover. Al I can do is tel you of what has been. I can no longer change things.
    That is for you to do. And you wil not be alone, fair one. You wil be given a new power to help you fight.” He raised his head, listening. “Your brother comes. I must leave you.” He stood and helped Julia to her feet. “I must warn you not to speak of this to anyone
    —not even to your brother.” Julia opened her mouth to protest, and Gaius put a finger against her lips.
    “No one may know what you have learned. Do you understand? You alone know these truths, and they are dangerous truths indeed. Not everyone you meet can be trusted.”
    “But Peter…”
    “You can keep Peter safest by your silence,” Gaius said. “He comes!”
    Julia looked around, and then realized that Gaius was gone. He seemed to have melted into the shadows. But she was alone for only a moment before a wild-eyed figure appeared from between the trees.

    “Peter! You found water?”
    “A castle! Julia, there’s a castle! Come on!” CHAPTER
    5
    T here!”
    Peter pointed triumphantly into the distance.
    “Over there, through that pass in the mountains.” Julia caught up with him on the crest of a hil and stared into the distance. They edged their way forward into ful daylight, making their way onto a large rock. It had steps cut into it, leading up to a kind of platform on its peak. Julia ran up, enthral ed by what she saw. The ground fel away sharply beneath the rock to reveal a truly resplendent landscape.
    Stretched out in front of them, as far as their eyes could see, was a gentle plain, bathed in the late afternoon sunlight, with rich green fields and hedgerows. There were meadows ahead of her reaching to distant hil s, studded with flowers that lent a gentle perfume to the light breeze.
    Far away, in the center of the enormous plain, was a great park enclosed by huge, strong wal s with fortified gates set at intervals. And at the heart of the park was a castle. Its wal s, towers and battlements rose from the plain, glowing in the curious slant of morning sunlight.
    Peter turned to her, his eyes flashing with excitement. “It wil take us ages to get there but we’l make it. And there’s bound to be water along the way—and food when we get to the castle!” Julia nodded absentmindedly. Food and water…and whatever Gaius intended his “chosen ones” to do, surely it had to begin at the castle.
    They came down from the stone platform and wended their way down a steeply sloping hil . They soon found themselves in the midst of dense forest, but by keeping the mountains in sight whenever they came to a clearing they managed to stay on course.
    It was not, however, the most comfortable walk they had ever taken. If you have ever slept on hard ground with branches and needles poking into your back and no pil ow or blanket, and gone long hours without food or water and then been asked to walk al day without proper shoes…wel , then you have some idea of the mood Peter and Julia were in.
    Peter took it better than Julia. He was remembering his time scouting in the woods—
    remembering how to walk and how to find a path, and how to avoid al the little pitfal s that would lead to a twisted ankle. As he reached the crest of a hil —
    this one steeper than most—he looked back to see that Julia had fal en behind. She was tired, he could tel . Her face was red from the exertion and she was breathing hard, and her hands were muddy from where she’d fal en and caught herself.
    He took a low branch from a nearby tree and snapped it off cleanly at the trunk. By the time Julia had caught up with him he’d stripped it of al its twigs and leaves, and he thrust it at her without a word.
    “What’s this?” she asked, puzzled.
    “A walking stick,” he said. “It’l help on the hil s.” She nodded and grasped it.

    “Thank you.”
    Those were the only words that passed between them for some time. There wasn’t much to