The Unwilling Adventurer (The Unwilling #1) by Heidi Willard Page A

and many more stood to give the chair a try.
    Lord Tramadore laughed at some of them. "Hoping for a different result?" he teased the older ones.
    Fred frowned, but Ned was there with an explanation. "The chair has an interesting curse attached to it. No one may sit in it unless they are the one to lead a great change to the land. If they are not the one, then the chair is bewitched to be the most uncomfortable seat in the world. That's why it's called the Uncomfortable Chair, though not so much of doom as of awkward distress."
    The scene was repeated for everyone's pleasure until Pat scooted back her chair. Fred and Ned watched with interest as she took her place in the dwindling line, and got her chance at the chair. She stood for a moment beside the seat, and her hand slid over the smooth arm. Her eyes showed their eagerness as they traveled over every speck of wood and nail. The other guests had taken the legend lightly; Pat took it very seriously. She turned around and gently lowered herself onto the seat. Like all the others, she jumped up the moment her derriere touched the wood planks. The crowd laughed; Pat blushed and hurried back to her seat.
    When she sat down Ned leaned over the table to her and spoke in a whisper so low Fred could hardly hear him. "Hoping to change your fate?" he asked of the girl.
    Pat shrugged. "I thought perhaps they were intertwined."
    Then there was nobody left to try but the small young man beside Ned, and nobody paid any attention to him. Fred himself didn't have enough courage to go up there and make a fool of himself in front of all these fine ladies and gentlemen. After the laughter and teasing died down, the guests finished their meal and scurried on their way to other festivities. One of the few to remain behind was Lord Sturgeon, who approached the three companions with Lord Tramadore.
    Sturgeon glanced over them with a careful, but friendly eye. "I'm sure these two young ones have never seen the show before. What did you think of it?"
    "It was very interesting, my lord," Pat replied.
    Sturgeon laughed. "Is that all? Surely you, too, were hoping that the legend would apply to you."
    "I don't believe I would make a good leader, sir," she politely answered. Fred thought she would make a perfect leader; she was bossy and reveled in giving orders.
    The lord raised his eyebrows. "How strange. I expected you to say the complete opposite."
    Pat feigned surprise. "Me? Oh no, I'm not fit to be a leader. Why would you believe such a funny thing?"
    Sturgeon shrugged. "Perhaps a strange fancy of my addled brain, or perhaps I believe that is the wish of everyone who tries the chair. To lead the land in a great change would be a marvelous position, fraught with perils and equal, if not greater, rewards."
    "I wouldn't know of such things," Pat replied.
    "Ah well, I must be wrong then." Sturgeon turned his eyes on Fred, and the boy shrank beneath them. "I don't believe I've seen this face before. Is he a relative of yours, Ned?"
    Ned patted the boy on the shoulder. "No, merely an orphan I picked up on some half-rotten estate. I hope to make a good workhorse out of him, provided he lives that long."
    Fred paled, but Sturgeon only laughed. "He will have a tough time of that with you, my good sir. You have had more adventures in a day than many of us have in a lifetime, myself included."
    The old man smiled, though Fred noticed the expression didn't make it to Ned's eyes. "I'm sure you've had a great many adventures in your long and interesting life, Lord Sturgeon."
    Sturgeon nodded. "Perhaps, but as an old man I have very little now to entertain me, which is why I ask a favor of you. May I have the honor of showing you around the city? I don't know as Ned would like to see the old sights, but surely these two young ones would enjoy the beauty of our city."
    "I'd be delighted to go," Ned assured him.
    Sturgeon's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he bowed. "Then if you and your companions are not so