To Be Chosen Read Online Free PDF Page A

Vessel, confronting the evil that was Balen Tamm. I told Enrick months ago that we were fated to leave Lobenia, travel the back trails of Ducaun, and avoid all human contact. I did this because I wanted to announce who you are before my people learn you are a Melody Wielder. Even now I am trying to come to grips with having to sit just a few paces from one. But I will manage, can even sympathize, knowing it must be even harder for you a Ducaunan to grow up fearing and despising Melody Wielders, and then learn that you are one. If I did not know any better I would suspect the Creator has a taste for irony. Ducaun, the most devastated of the twelve kingdoms during the Great War, the one kingdom wanting the least to do with Melody wielding of any sort, becomes the birthplace of His champion.”
    The notion was ridiculous and Daniel did not want to hear any more talk of his being the Chosen Ves sel. “I want to live in peace.”
    Ruth actually laughed. “What you want matters little. You are the Chosen Vessel. The sooner you accept this truth the better off we will be.”
    “Do I have a choice?” Daniel asked. This was all crazy talk, why was he even listening?
    “Oh, you will always have a choice. The Chosen Vessel, in addition to ultimately facing evil’s champion, often faces grievous wrongs being perpetrated against the innocent and unsuspecting, rescuing them from danger. You will have the same choice any of us have in those circumstances; walk away, stand and watch, or take action. The only difference is that you will have to make one of those three choices far more frequently than the rest of us. I hope you have a strong stomach because if you choose to hide away or do nothing a lot of innocent people will die. In the mean time, your adversary will grow stronger, break free, and take over the world. I cannot see which of you will win the ultimate contest but I know if you wait too long, you will be all alone when the time comes and will probably die,” Ruth told him in no uncertain words. She was not laughing or even smiling now.
    Well, he asked her if he had a choice, and so could not blame her if he did not like the answer. Besides, she was right, maybe not about him being the Chosen Vessel, but about the choices. Anytime anyone confronts a horrible wrong being done to another person or just coming across someone who his hurt or in trouble, the choices are to walk away, stand and watch, or lend a hand, even if the help is to go find someone more capable of rendering aid.
    “You need not take my word alone on the matter. The events surrounding you declare you to be the Chosen Vessel, that is, to anyone with the time and wit to figure it out. In our journey from Lobenia to this place in Ducaun we encountered not one yeti. How many have you encountered?” Ruth patiently replied.
    “Not counting tonight, twenty in the past five days,” Daniel replied and realized he was perspiring under her gaze even though the shield spell kept the temperature surrounding him at a comfortable level; this was so whether he was sitting on hot coals or on a block of ice. No question about it, she was making him nervous.
    “The beasts were caught up in your swirling of events. I knew to camp here, I knew a large group of yetis would come, I knew the Chosen Vessel was close, but I did not know what choice you would make. You chose rightly and we are alive because of it. I believe, though I hesitate to put words in His mouth, the Creator made you His champion because it is in your nature to help. Think about yourself. At an age when most Aakacarns possess only one lighting bolt, you were given six, this I saw, and your potential grows even as we speak. You are stronger now than when you left Tannakonna and I know not how many more bolts you will gain, but I do know however much it is will only be enough to make it possible for you to defeat Tarin Conn. This does not mean you will possess as many lightning bolts as he, only that you