Carriage to Fate

Chapter 1

The lady falls to the ground, her husband at her side, both weeping and screaming after the carriage that holds their only child Maria. Maria and I were well acquainted; not friends, but not strangers either. We played together as young children. Now she's 14.
And her life will change forever.
At the age of 14, both boys and girls are taken to King Lark's castle to be trained as soldiers and prepare to fight in the coming war against the King's rivals.
It's been happening ever since the plague killed almost all of our soldiers. There were not enough soldiers left to keep his enemies at bay, so King Lark took the children of the land. If you don't have the skills to perform in combat, you simply get used as human shields in the front lines.
I will have to leave soon. Tomorrow in fact. The carriage will take me across the kingdom to King Lark's castle, where I will train to see what I am best at. Tomorrow I will turn fourteen, and just like Maria, my life will change forever.
I know I can't fight the soldiers that will come to take me, but I will try. I won't be dragged into that carriage without putting up a fight. I know it will get me nowhere in the end, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let the castle guards drag me off to my new terrible life without at least stepping on a foot.
On occasion a kid will put up a good fight, but nobody ever gets away. You go and train for a month before you would see the king, depending on how good you do, he will give you a place in the army. You train with a bunch of different weapons, to see which one suits you.
I sigh, and peel my eyes away from the road that leads to the castle. The road to my new life. The road Maria went down.
The road I will go down.
The sudden realization hits me. I will go down that road and who knows what will happen. I will never see my family again. I will never see my friends again. I will never see this town again. I could get hurt.
I might die.
I bite my lip to keep from sobbing. No I won't cry. I'm stronger than that. My eyes drift back towards the road, and I stare a moment more. I feel someone come up behind me and place their hand on my shoulder. I turn around to find my older brother, Xavier. He walks with a cane, so the army didn't want him. I would be grateful, but he seemed hurt that they didn't want him. I turn around to find him staring at the road.
"Isn't it weird?"
"What?" I ask. Sometimes X goes on and on about stuff. I only listen about half the time.
"Well, just thinking that in one hundred years, no one will be here."
I open my mouth and then close it. What did he mean by that? "What do you mean?"
"Well you see, if everyone of our children go to the castle and fight in the war, then more than half of them will die. Whoevers left, will be given a room and a job at the castle."
"Kayce! X! Dinner!"
"Coming!" we yell in unison.
"Race ya," I smirk.
"You're on."
We take of, leaping over anything that's in our way. I win, but only because X cannot really run anymore. He likes to stay active, though, just in case they decide they want him for the army.
For dinner we have have a loaf of fresh bread and raspberries and strawberries for dessert. Because it's the last time I will ever see my family, my mom and X have been saving up to buy some cheese. They couldn't afforded a thick block of cheese, so they settled for some cheap spreadable stuff. The dinner was the best dinner I that I've had in a very long time. It doesn't fill me up, but it does leave me less starved.
We eat in silence. All you can hear is the clanking of our poorly made utensils against some chipped plates.
After dinner I hug X and Mom and tell them that I love them. Mom bursts into tears, but X looks at me and takes me into the other room.
"Kayce, listen, you have to fight those guards tomorrow," he orders me.
"Why? It won't do me any good, I mean, I've never fought a guard before."
"Yeah but you've fought me." This was true. "Kayce, why do you think I made you practice beating me up?" I shrug. "So that when the guards took you, you could put up a fight! Kaycee, you have to remember everything I've taught you, understand?"
"I dunno X..." I say uncertainly.
"Just promise me you'll try?"
I think about if. If I don't put up a fight, then I will get no attention at all, and most likely be put in the front lines. If I do put up a fight, and do alright, then they might give me some attention. If I knock one of the guards out, I know I'll get attention, but I might also get in trouble. I sigh.
"I promise."