• CHAPTER ONE

    Maya ran down the long, twisted stair. If she was late for drill practice again, she might be banned from the Mayuma. That, plus the danger of getting chewed out by coach mimi, the Grand Drill Master, spurred her feet to new speeds.
    maya risked a glance out the wide tower window. she was still only thirty feet from the ground. she could see the roof of the gaurdhouse, ten feet down and five away. she pondered the jump, calculated for the slant of the old-fashioned shingled roof, and vaulted out of the window in a seamless, graceful jump. she landed perfectly, poised in a position ready to keep running. a few shingles slid away when her footpads slammed onto the surface of the roof.
    she pricked her delicate ears. "Crap," she muttered. she could hear the sounds of the royal anthem being sung. it was mandatory, even if you were the subject of the anthem, which was rather embarrassing. her father-the king- had commisioned it when she was born, the first daughter of the house maia.
    she tiptoed across the roof as only a cat could, and shimmied down the sapling planted next to the guard house.
    she snuck along behind the rows of singing cats, hoping that she would get there before sound off. Thump! maya winced. she hated wearing that clunky sword. every pair of eyes- green, blue, yellow, orange, all of them- turned and looked in her direction.
    "Well, well, well. Look who decided to join us." coach mimi hated maya, and didnt even bother trying to conceal it. "i guess the Princess thought she'd come and favor us with her presence, didn't she? I guess she thought that she can do what ever she wants. Well you know what? SHE CAN'T! THIS IS MY DRILL FIELD! WHEN YOU ARE HERE YOU WILL OBEY MY RULES! I AM THE RULER HERE! WHEN YOU ARE- Maya tuned her out after that. it had been the same last time she arrived late, mimi going on about respect and rules and leadership.
    "Can we wrap this up?" asked Maya."I have important things to do if I'm not going to drill practice."
    Coach looked speechless, which was a first for her. she always had some thing to say about every thing. she gaped like a fish out of water- mmmmmmm, fish, Maya thought- while she stood there.
    3nodding Maya strutted out of the arena, quite pleased with herself. now she had time for the duties that filled a princess's life. plus, she had managed to totally shock coach. ha! and she had thought this was going to be a bad day. now she could catch that pesky fly that had been buzzing around the Grand Hall, supervise the kitchen maids, direct the cleaning of three hundred rooms, plan the menu for a banquet- just thinking about all the things she had to do made her weak. at least she could get them done with drill practice no more. She wondered about salmon salad for dinner.