Here is a story which I recently wrote. Feel free to comment and enjoy!
Knock, knock!
“Mother! The door!” called Sherene, 14 and the first born to the family.
“Got it!” her mother called back.
“Oh Sarah,” giggled Isabella (called Bella by her friends and family), 12-years-old and the second born to the family, "You've dropped your book in the wash basin!"
When Sarah heard this, she ran to Isabella and tried to shake her book dry.
Anne, eleven, laughed openly. The two were always arguing over one thing or another. Sherene gave Anne a hard look and continued cutting her potatoes. Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the doorway, and the door slammed shut.
“Mother!” Sherene cried and dropped her knife. Isabella and she ran to the doorway, finding their mother swearing angrily under her breath and shaking her fists at the door.
“Stop that!” demanded Sherene, shaking her delirious mother.
Then Isabella asked somewhat more gently, “Mother, what happened?”
“Stupid-drunk-messenger-great-grand-liar-bunch o’ rats-” So, she was put to bed.
The worried girls waited all day for their mother to recover from her terrible fit. Sherene, who was in charge, tried to keep order by playing, teaching, even knitting to make herself seem the slightest bit motherly. But in the end, even they gave up.
Five dreadful hours past. Suddenly, there was a whooping call. “GIRLS!!” All the frightened girls rushed to the bedroom and found their mother sitting up in bed, red eyes and face. “Your father’s been kidnapped- save him- you must-” And then, she dissolved into tears. The poor girls looked at each other in disbelief. Sherene, who knew their mother best, decided to take action.
“Right then, off we go!” She shooed the other girls out of the room then followed them herself.
“You’re not really gonna leave Mother here all by herself and- and go searching for Father are you?” laughed a hysterical Sarah.
“Of course not!” replied Sherene, who strapped a bag on her shoulder. “We’re going to the castle to see if this rubbish is true, and what really made mother get into such a terrible fit!” This did not exactly cheer the others up, but they reluctantly agreed.
So the four worried girls went off to the kingdom’s castle, at the far end of the village that the girls lived in. The shortest path to the castle was only two miles but was covered in boulders and sharp rocks. All the girls (except Sherene) groaned when they realized that the shortest path was the one Sherene chose.
By the time the girls arrived to the castle, it was already late evening, and the girls were thoroughly tired and all of them except Sherene had fallen and bruised themselves at least once. But Sherene wasn’t worked hard enough for a break. She grabbed Isabella’s hand.
“All except Isabella must stay here. Anne, you’re in charge!”
Sarah and Anne were relieved for the break, but Isabella groaned once more and trudged along with Sherene up to the castle gate. Then, she gave it a smart knock with her knuckles.
“Halt!” cried a thin, high pitched voice called from under a fairly large boulder. It rolled over two feet, revealing a large hole. Out of the hole emerged a short, stubby dwarf with a helmet on his head and a spear in his hand.
“Guards,” muttered Sherene under her breath, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “We come in peace! If we may, we’d like an audience with His Royal Highness.” The dwarf looked at them in suspicion.
“’Snot in!” he said in a nagging voice.
“Her Royal Highness?” At this, the dwarf jumped on a boulder and screeched,
“Do you think that I’m just allowed to send peasants straight into the castle? I need permission!” Sherene and Isabella looked at each other in dismay and annoyance. Anne was the best in situations like these.
“Well then get permission!” Isabella exclaimed. Suddenly, the dwarf grabbed Isabella by her collar.
“Do you think I’m stupid? Eh? Do you think I don’t know-”
“Mondor, stop that! Let her go!” a stern but gentle voice came behind the newly opened gates.
The dwarf let go immediately, which caused Isabella to go stumbling backwards. “S-s-sorry my Lady! I’m only tryin to do my job!” The queen appeared in front of them.
“Don’t mind him; he’s a bit awkward,” Sherene and Isabella curtsied deeply, and then they began to explain their problem.
“Well, our dear mother’s gone a bit mad, pardon the language. She said that Father’s been kidnapped, that she said, was what the messenger had told her.” The Queen’s eyes filled with tears and Sherene wondered worriedly if she had offended her. The queen beckoned the girls to the castle. They followed her in.
It was a magnificent hallway, higher and wider than four village cottages put together. It was lit up with many a chandelier hanging from the long, golden chains. The floor was covered in brilliant scarlet tiles that were so shiny that they almost looked wet. Along the walls were numerous oak doors, each set with a golden knob. But the most wonderful thing in the hallway was the spiral staircase with ruby carpets and railings pierced with the cleanest, shiniest diamonds. The queen climbed up the stairs and beckoned Isabella and Sherene forward.
The parlor was much different than what the girls had expected. The fluffy black carpets looked new and the black walls smelt newly painted. All the lovely crimson picture frames were filled with nothing but black paper. In fact, the only things that weren’t black were the squashy cream colored armchairs that lined the walls and the turquoise colored throne, pierced with emeralds. The queen sat down in her throne. Sherene chose a squashy arm chair and sat down. Isabella sat next to her.
“It was the middle of the night,” the queen began, “and I heard Herald say something or other about the creaking noise from downstairs. I didn’t think anything of it, but apparently Herald did, as he should have. He went to check things out. Then, there was a terrible yell, and nothing. I ran downstairs to see what was wrong, but no one was there. I went another flight down, and there was still no one. I checked all of the floors, yet I found no one there! I found no one in the castle- I was alone. Not one servant, not one guard, not even Herald!” the queen broke down in fitful sobs. Once she recovered, she continued her tail. “The next morning, I got many complaints of missing family members, children, men or women. All that they found afterwards was a thick puff of smoke, the kind of smoke witches make when they disappear. We think the witches are responsible for kidnapping all of the people.” The queen was finished.
“Then who are you going to send out to save all of these innocent people?” Sherene inquired.
“Who will volunteer? Who will accept? All of the heroes of Spawn are kidnapped!” she answered desperately.
“Why, Our sisters and we will most certainly volunteer!” Isabella suggested boldly.
“Then you may.” said the queen as if she didn’t believe Isabella. Then she walked quietly away, not looking back.
“Spoiled queen!” muttered Sherene angrily under her breath, shaking her head.
* * *
Anne was a bossy sister and loved being in charge. Sarah personally thought that anyone could be a better leader.
“Sarah, do something useful! Pick those berries up! Those bright red ones over there!” Another pointless order, thought Sarah.
“You fool,” she replied, “Those are poisonous yew berries! Haven’t you got any sense?” Anne looked quite embarrassed.
“Well, they’re for killing the squirrel that steels our food every year.”
“That’s mean!”
Anne sneered her bossy sneer. “Well, that’s too bad, isn’t it?”
“Hey, you stop!”
“No, you stop!”
“Eat berries yourself!”
“Silly old squirrel!” And the girls kept on fighting until Sherene and Isabella came back.
“Oh, stop bickering!” Sherene cried. “Up you too, up! Anne stop arguing, Sarah drop the berries! Come on! Back home, quick rests, and then we’re off!”
“Off where?” Sarah inquired curiously, but Sherene didn’t answer, and strutted back down the rocky path in which the girls had come from. Isabella glanced at Sarah and Anne and followed Sherene.
When they finally reached their home, Sherene made them all quiet and wait outside. She left Isabella in charge
“What’s up with Sherene? She is never so as rushed and anxious as this!” Anne whispered softly to Isabella once Sherene was out of earshot.
“Oh, she’ll be all right; she’s like that when she’s nervous.”
Sherene returned carrying a sack on her back, four swords in her arms, and four ribbons on her hair. “Come on! Everyone up! Let's go!” She handed everyone a sword and tied each of their hair up with a ribbon.
“Where are we going? Stop acting like a- well, where are we going?” Anne demanded.
“Going to find father, of course!” she replied, “Everyone, here is the plan. We eat only when we’re half starved, drink whenever there’s water, and fight whenever it’s necessary. And we’re not coming back without him, dead or alive.”
So began their quest.
Sherene was the leader, so everyone was to follow her. She started their search in the forest, which was highly infamous for its ogres and griffons. But Sherene thought it would be the place most likely to be where their father was. Presently, everyone except the tireless Sherene was thoroughly exhausted. Sherene became less sharp and decided to give everyone a small rest. Suddenly, there was a growl in the dark forest.
“What was that?” whispered Anne frightfully.
“I don’t know,” whispered Sherene back. “Swords out, it could be an ogre.” There was the growl again. And then-
“Help! It’s got me! Stop! Let GO!”
“Sarah! NO! Fight the ogre! We’re helping!” Another scream, another growl, and then nothing.
“Sarah?” Isabella cried out, “Sarah, are you all right?” A meek voice called out, “I’m all right, just a little shaken.” Sarah crawled back to her sisters. Her sword was covered in bright yellow ogre blood.
“What happened?” asked Anne.
“It grabbed me from behind, the ogre, I dropped my sword and the ogre tripped over it and stabbed himself.” Sarah explained.
“Well, if I were you, then I would have fought it, not let it trip over a sword- that’s cheating! I would have shown it-” Anne started, but Sarah interrupted.
“Sure, I’d love to see you at it!”
“Oh, stop it!” cried Sherene exasperatedly. “Come on! Let’s sleep. I’ll keep guard. Sleep, because tomorrow, you’re not going to rest.”
As promised, Sherene kept watch. They were lucky, for there were no evil creatures that visited to their little camp.
With the first crack of dawn, it began to drizzle. Sarah, a very sensitive girl woke up when she felt the rain. She walked silently up to Sherene.
“Sherene, have you even slept a wink yet?” she asked, quite amazed.
“Of course not!” Sherene replied in a teasing but gentle voice. The two girls sat and kept watch until early morning. Then, Sherene yawned a purposely loud yawn and said in a very loud voice, “I wonder if anyone is hungry enough to eat a little something?” At this, Isabella and Anne jumped up from their sleep and cried “Please!” at the very top of their lungs. A few birds flew out of their nests.
They each were given a miniscule piece of almost fresh bread and a minute piece of baked potatoes. They all begged Sherene for more, but she said no and wouldn’t change her mind. The girls went on with their quest and Anne wouldn’t stop complaining about how the quest was “ridiculously pointless” and why Sherene couldn’t have packed her “a mite more food”. And then, of course, Sarah would bite back and give Anne a list of her flaws. Then, Sherene would tell the both of them to “stop bickering” and then Isabella would laugh, the only one remotely cheerful.
The forest was not a place to picnic on a sunny day. In fact, this forest was so thick with prickly green evergreens that every hour looked like night. Of course, it was only like this very deep into the forest, where not even the ogres wanted to live. The griffins would stay as far from this area as possible. They stayed away from this place not because of darkness, but because of an evil force that nobody knew about, and certainly not Sherene.
So when the girls entered this part very part of the forest, no one knew why it suddenly was as if the sun had turned itself off, or why they heard whispers all around them.
Suddenly, an arrow skimmed past Sarah, narrowly missing her ear. She shrieked. More arrows kept coming. The girls ran frantically from the arrows, but the arrows followed them. They ran faster, not seeing where they were going for lack of light. Sherene grabbed Isabella’s hand and ran, Anne surprisingly hand in hand with Sarah.
Sherene stopped abruptly. An arrow whizzed past her. “Where are Sarah and Anne?” Isabella stopped.
“Oh, no! What’ve we done?” Isabella cried.
* * *
“Come on! Run faster! Sherene and Bella are way ahead of us!” Sarah urged Anne. Anne looked at her with an I’ll-do-what-I-want look on her face. She didn’t like being told what to do.
“Well, I’m trying! Anyway, how do we know where we’re going?” she demanded.
“Just run!” Sarah repeated. They ran a short distance, constantly crashing into trees when-
“GGGGHHHHAAAAAAHHHH!!!” Anne had disappeared.
“Anne?” Sarah stopped. Suddenly, an arrow hit Sarah’s leg. She screamed, and fell down.
* * *
“Anne, Sarah? Where are you? What was that?” A high pitched scream sounded through the forest.
“Sarah!” Isabella recognized the scream. For some odd reason, the arrows had stopped coming. “They’ve got her!” she cried.
“But who? Where’s Anne?” Sherene demanded though she knew the answer.
“I don’t know!”
Sherene begged Isabella to stay behind and keep running till she reached sunlight while she tried to find Sarah and Anne.
Finally, Isabella gave in, but her fingers were crossed behind her back.
Meanwhile, shadows were closing in on Sarah, and one of them looked oddly familiar…
Chapter 3
All was black for a moment. Black. Darker than the dark forest. Darker than any shade black that Anne had ever seen. Then, Anne was briefly blinded by a bright sun beam. It took a while for her to realize where she was.
“Where am I?” she asked to the air, which of course didn’t answer.
But someone else did. “Yoor in ze hidzen casselle of light!” replied a cranky old voice cracked with age. “Yoo’re in my ’ouse!” Anne looked around the light filled room for the speaker.
“Who are you?” Anne demanded, “Where are you? Show yourself!”
“’Oo are you? Vere are yoor seesters?” the voice inquired back.
Anne was puzzled and quite alarmed. “How do you know that I’ve got sisters?”
“Beecauze I’m a vitch!” screamed the voice and a green skinned hag materialized into the air.
* * *
Sarah screamed again. “Father! No! I’m Sarah! STOP!” A man amongst the dark shadows stopped cold. He looked much too withered for his and had a horrible expression on his face. He looked puzzled when Sarah spoke.
“I think I know the name Sarah…” he mused in a dreamy voice that Sarah didn’t know. Sarah wondered why his eyes were closed shut.
“It’s no one! Get back to work! It’s either we leave her hear to die with her broken limb, or we turn her in to Her Majesty. Don’t fall for her childish tricks!” yelled another shadow, which seemed like the boss. Sarah wondered who “her Majesty” was, knowing it couldn’t be the queen of Spawn.
“Oi thought that she is a choild…” muttered another shadow.
“Shut up, Ogre! We don’t have time for this!” screamed the boss. An ogre? Sarah shuddered, then pain shot up her leg and she had to stifle a scream.
“Okay, mas’r,” replied the ogre to the boss, “oi’ll be quoiete naow, oi’ll tie-”
“Shut up!”
And suddenly, Sarah felt cold cables tightening across her body, and before a hard block was stuffed into her mouth, she managed to scream once more, the ear-piercing, blood-chilling scream she had been known for. “HHHEEELLLPPP!!!!!!!”
* * *
Sherene heard a shrill scream that sounded an awful lot familiar. Her blood chilled. It was Sarah, screaming in utter horrification.
* * *
Anne backed away from the witch, and banged into the wall. The hag flew towards her.
“Are yoor seesters in ze forest? Ze dark parth?” Anne, afraid to answer, cringed.
“TELL ME!” the witch screamed.
“Yes, yes! They’re in the dark part! Don’t hurt me!!” The hag, satisfied, turned away.
Suddenly, a great ogre materialized into the castle. But the ogre was only half of the part that scared Anne out of her mind. Sarah was in the ogre’s giant arms, unconscious and bleeding. But when she heard Anne’s voice, she cocked her head.
“Anne?” Sarah whispered, without opening her eyes, “Is that you?” Then she fell unconscious again, engulfed in pain from her broken, bleeding leg.
* * *
Isabella had been secretly following Sherene, making sure to stay hidden. She followed the sound of her footsteps until, suddenly, they stopped. Isabella stopped too, afraid that Sherene might have heard her. She waited for ten minutes, but there was still no sound.
“Come on, maybe it just got quieter,” murmured Isabella to herself, and walked on.
* * *
Sherene quickened her pace to a run, not seeing anything but still searching. Suddenly, everything turned a horrible black. The black of death. A black blacker than night, blacker than black itself. Sherene felt herself slipping into nothingness, and somehow, she couldn’t make a sound…
* * *
Sherene awoke from the terrible nothingness. She squeezed her eyes shut for she had been briefly blinded by a sudden burst of light.
“Where am I?” she cried.
“Sherene?” a familiar voice inquired behind her, and she turned around.
“Sarah! Anne! You’re here! I’ve found you-”
“And I have found you!” The witch swept down from her invisible perch. “Glad to be united, are we?” she cackled.
“Who-who are you?” Sherene inquired fearfully, and few things scared her.
“I am ze vitch, Drazelda ze powerful!” Sherene’s eyes widened as her gaze fell on Sarah. Sarah’s face was as pale as moonlight, almost pure white.
“What are you doing to her?” Sherene cried, horrified.
“I’m getting stronger and stronger with her power! Soon, I vill become ze strongest vitch zat Spawn has ever seen!”
“Are you- you’re not killing her, are you?”
“Vorse!” shrilled the witch. “I’m going to suck up her all of her energy; her mind will do as I command! She vill have no mind of her own! And vat’s even vorse is I will do the same to all of you!” She laughed menacingly for a few moments, and then faced the ogre.
“Bind zem! Make sure zey don’t leave zis castle!” The ogre conjured a thick, heavy rope that tied them to the wall. They were forced to stare at the blinding light and the distorted face of their almost mindless sister, all the while not realizing that one of their sisters had gone missing.
* * *
Isabella looked around. She had just caught a glimpse of Sherene, but then Sherene had disappeared. She took her sword out, ready to fight ogres or griffons (not that she thought she was going to see any). But she kept her sword out just in case. Isabella walked on, not seeing any ogres or griffons or, more importantly, her sisters. She stopped by a particularly wide tree, feeling as sad and dark as the forest.
“Get the girl! The last one! Why didn’t you activate a portal for her? Do so now!” a voice boomed from inside the tree. Isabella jumped and hid behind another tree, afraid to be seen.
“Yes, my lord.” Another voice called back, and someone emerged from the tree. He walked past Isabella, not noticing she was there, for his eyes were closed shut.
Isabella knew that there was some entrance in that tree, and she knew that the “last girl” was her. She wondered gloomily what might have been done to sisters. She made sure that she heard no booming noises before she inspected the tree for an entrance to a place that might lead her to her sisters. Suddenly, the tree gave in, and she, like her three sisters, felt herself falling into a pit of empty space.
* * *
Isabella fell with a thump on the soft floor and was, like her sisters, briefly blinded by light.
She looked around the room she was in. It was empty except for-
“Sherene! Anne! Sar-” Isabella looked at Sarah and almost belched in disgust.
“Get us out of here already!” cried Anne, feeling quite uncomfortable. But Isabella already had her sword out and cut off her sisters’ binds. While she was cutting, Sherene and Anne explained what had happened.
“Come on!” cried Isabella eagerly, and went through the exit\entrance into the dark for est. “Wait! Sarah!” she realized once they had gotten into the forest.
“I’ll go.” said Sherene boldly.
“No!” Sherene was taken aback. “Your job is to take care of us when Mother isn’t there! I’m almost as old as you are and I can take care of myself! Go back home and tell mother that father, Sarah, and I are coming!” There were few times when Isabella got like this, and when she did, she knew what she was talking about. Without anyone protesting or having time to think, she went back into the tree for Sarah.
* * *
“Sarah, please wake up! Ple-he-he-he-hease!” Sarah stirred.
“Bella? Help! She’s controlling my mind! She’s replacing it!”
“Open your eyes and let me see what is wrong with you.” Isabella suggested. Sarah did, then squeezed them shut again. Isabella noticed how Sarah looked like one of the witches workers, with her eyes closed in such a way.
“Open them!” Isabella pried Sarah’s eyes open, and kept them open.
“Bella, stop!”
“It’s okay.”
“Bella! It’s too bright!”
“This is the only way!”
“I believe you.”
“Tell me when your eyes have adjusted.” After a few moments, Sarah gave a relieved “they’ve adjusted” and Isabella let go of her eyes. Sarah blinked a few times, but never closed them for more than a second.
“We’ve gotta’ get outa’ here!” said Sarah, restored to her normal health.
“Sarah,” Isabella reminded. “We came to save Father, and we will.”
Chapter 4
“But where’re all the others?” Sarah asked. But before Isabella had time to reply, Drazelda entered the room.
“Quick!” whispered Sarah to Isabella, “Shut your eyes so that they look closed but aren’t really!”
* * *
The next few days, Isabella and Sarah were forced to act as if they were being controlled by the witch and her supervisor. Everyday, they were forced to search the forest thoroughly for any people or ogres that had wandered into the forest by accident, or activate portals that would transport people to the castle of light. They saw their father several times, but never up close. Until one night, when all of the workers were given an hour to rest. All the workers had settled on the floor of the bright castle and were trying to get some sleep (not that they needed any.
“Father, wake up!” pleaded Isabella, shaking her father. “Please, Father!” But he didn’t move so much as an inch. Sarah groaned.
“This isn’t getting anywhere…”
“I know! How did I get you awake anyway?” The time came back to them and idea brewed and bubbled in their heads. They were going to force their father’s eyes open by acting like Drazelda.
“Open yoor eyes! I command ov yoo!” Isabella commanded into her father’s ear, using the accent that Drazelda used. He opened them in a trance-like state.
“Yes, my lady, anything, my lady…” The blinding light filled their father’s eyes and he began twisting in pain. “You-have-no-control-over-me!” Their father awoke from his trance.
“Sarah! Isabella! You saved me!”
“Oh Father!” whispered Sarah, embracing him.
“We thought you’d never wake up!” Isabella embraced her father too.
Now it was only a matter of getting out of the castle and they were almost safe. And how they did that is part of another story.
Chapter 5
“Come on! We’re almost home!” cried Sherene encouragingly to Anne. They walked into the house.
“Mother?” Their mother came running up to them, hugging and kissing them.
“You’re home! You’re safe!” The mother couldn’t be happier. Until she realized who was missing. “But where are Sarah, Bella, and your Father?”
“Oh, they’re coming.” Anne reassured her.
“Never fear, mother. Isabella has never failed us yet!”
posted by Sahanna Seeker @ 12:13 PM
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