"Fantastica: Book 3: The Gorgon's Game" & Book 4:"County of the Unicorns" By Brandon H, Age 10, Class 6KR

****This is book 3 of a series by Brandon - so make sure your read Books one and two first (scroll down below or use contents links on the right)******

Fantastica: Book 3: The Gorgon's Game

Dear readers.
We just want you to know, what has happened to us.
can happen to anyone.
Do not take any wrong turns on your way back home.
You never know where you may end up.
Yours sincerely.
Brandon H and Georgia B.

Chapter one
IN WHICH…
Mum gets kidnapped

Deep in the witching hour, when the creatures of the night are stirring, Aaron, Georgia and Brandon’s friend, woke with a jolt. He had just snapped out of a nightmare.
“Oh, god, I have to tell them (Georgia and Brandon) this!”
Aaron scampered in his slippers and dressing gown, to Brandon and Georgia’s house.
He walked on the damp ground and pounded urgently at the door with his fists and pressed the doorbell so fast that it wouldn't play anything but a continuous beep!

“Don't get your knickers in a knot!” yelled Brandon. “I'm coming, I'm coming.”
Brandon peered through the spy hole and saw Aaron red-faced and breathing heavily.
“Oh, it’s you Aaron. What do you want?”
“Can I speak to you and Georgia in your bedroom?”
“Fine, but it’s your fault if we're grumpy.”

Brandon led Aaron upstairs to his bedroom after waking Georgia up and turned on the light.
“Why my room?” inquired Brandon.
“Well I was hoping you'd do a drawing of my nightmare.”
“Get lost, not at this time of night, just look at the clock.”
`12 `o’ clock’
“OK.”

Brandon led Aaron up the stairs and told him to wait in his bedroom while he fetched Georgia.
Georgia moaned when Brandon nudged her, she had her eyes squinted, because in the mornings hers and Brandon’s vision is blurry.
“Why have you woken me up at this time of night, Brandon?” she inquired.
“Because Aaron’s here.” Brandon yawned.
“Aaron!?”
“I know crazy isn't it?”
“I'll say.”

“Right then, come on, Aaron’s waiting in my room.”

Aaron was sitting up on the ‘Purple Ronnie’ duvet, mumbling a tune.
“Right, on the bed and listen to my dream:

“You and Georgia were in it.”
“Mm hm”
“And your mother.”
“Get on with it.”
“Stop interrupting so I can.”
“Fine.”

“You were in your rooms, and Amy (mum) was in hers, a creature flew into her room and swooped her out of the window!”
“Good God! Check her room ! ”

Aaron went to the end of the corridor and peeked through Amy’s keyhole.
Quickly, he sprinted to Brandon and Georgia and told them :
“There’s something in Amy’s room!”
“What?”
“I don't know what it is.”
“Oh, God!”
“Sh!”
“Shut up!”
“Ssh!”
“We're being quiet!”

Quickly a plan formulated in both Georgia and Brandon’s head.
“See here,” they said together, “we're going to slip through the back door.”
“Jinx!” said Brandon.
“Jinx padlock!” said Georgia”
“Aw, phooey”

“This isn’t a laughing matter, guys,” interrupted Aaron, “and what if the thing follows us?”
“Just do it,” said Brandon.
“Fine, fine.”


Chapter two
IN WHICH…
The creature is made of stone.

When outside, Georgia, Aaron and Brandon ducked behind some bushes and peeped through a little gap.
“The creature’s out,” he said.

The creature looked like a dog-faced giraffe without spots; its gray skin looked suspiciously like stone. It was about the size of a large toddler.

Slumped over his shoulder, was a tall, thin woman in a skirt and cropped-top and a sack over her head.

“And it’s got mum!”

The thing crashed through the gates, scattering wood like hale-stones.
With a mighty leap, the creature flew into the midnight sky.

Chapter three
IN WHICH…
The trio share a vision and the secret is out.

The creatures eyes glinted, greedily, they looked down on the young woman huddled in the bed.
He crept towards her, and lunged as the terrified woman let out a piercing scream.
It shoved a sack over her head, and...

The children shook themselves from the vision.

They looked at each other three times, then nodded.
They had all seen the vision.

“Whoa, creepy,” said Georgia.

“Aaron,” said Brandon. “I'm going to let you in on mine and Georgia’s biggest secret ever”
“No,” objected Georgia.
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
“As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,” Brandon turned to Georgia, “me and Georgia know about these things.”
“What things?” inquired Aaron.
“Things like, like… that thing.”
“Oh, right.”
“We've killed them too.”
“So?”
“We're going to kill that thing.”
“Nutter.”
“Was I supposed to hear that?”
No reply.

Chapter four
IN WHICH…
It is time to find mum.

All three children packed their rucksacks with a months supply of food and drink.
They lugged them on to their shoulders and stepped through the remains of the front gate.

The trio had recently found out that the creature was a gargoyle, by reading a copy of Arthur Spiderwick's field guide to the fantastical world around you.

“It’s time to find mum” Brandon announced.

Chapter five
IN WHICH…
Their perilous journey begins

The children started walking north, the way that the gargoyle flew.
This led them to a large field with hills dotted here and there and a great apple tree at the farthest end.

A pond was next to them, and they could hear the sound of sweet music coming from it.
They walked over to it and saw there a woman with translucent green skin.
She was playing a strange instrument like a flute, but smaller.
The brown hair of the woman was straight and dripping frequently with a strange liquid.

“La le lo le, do not sleep under the apple tree,” she sung.
“What is that?” Georgia and Aaron asked, pointing.
“It’s a nixie,” answered Brandon.

Aaron turned his attention to the nixie.

“Why not?” he said.
“La le, lo la,” she sang, “le lee” she dived under the pond without answering.

Chapter six
IN WHICH…
There is impending danger and a piskie-mouse.

“Wait, come back!” the children cried.

“There isn't a snowflake’s chance in a volcano of her coming back,” said a funny voice from beneath. “She simply delights in confusing passers-by.”

“Who’s there?” shouted the trio.
“Down here!” said the voice again.

Down on the ground was a largish field-mouse with a shiny bracelet around its waist.
There was an earring on his chewed left-ear.

“Who are you?” said Aaron.
“I am Billy C Harklark and I am here to warn you of impending danger”.
“Riiight” said Aaron, Georgia and Brandon.

“What are you?”
“What is this? An interrogation? I am a piskie-mouse”

“Well, anyway, we're off. See ya”.
“Good luck!”

Chapter seven
IN WHICH…
The trio are carried away by faerie folk.

“I feel tired,” said Georgia.
“Me too,” said Aaron.
“What did the nixie say, though?” pondered Brandon.
“I don't know,” said Aaron. “Let’s just crash under that apple tree.”
“Good idea,” said Georgia.

The three unloaded some food out of their bags and ate it.
Soon later, the children fell asleep on the dewy grass.

When they woke up, the children felt as though they were hanging upside-down.
As a matter of fact, they were as Georgia’s hair was touching the ground and Brandon’s jacket was hanging over his face.

They looked up and saw that their arms and legs were tied to a long branch being carried by two people.

One was a woman in a leafy blouse and dress, her skin was light brown. Her hair was wound round and round above her head.

The other was a man with pale, green speckled skin, like the underbelly of a frog.
His hair was long and black.
His clothes were also leafy but more colourful.

“Where are you taking us?” said Georgia.

No response.

Chapter eight
IN WHICH…
There are elves.

The children had fallen asleep while they were trying to get an answer from the faerie folk, and missed half of what they would have seen.

In front of them now, was a mound of grass surrounded by toadstools, a man like the other one carrying them with a bow and arrow stared at us as though we were a plate piled up with cockroaches.

“Em, yas nepo,” said the woman.

“That’s just what the dragon at home said,” whispered Brandon.
“What dragon?” asked Aaron.
“Long story”

The toadstools disappeared, and the two people charged in the direction of the hedge.

The people passed through the hill as though it were water.

Inside the hill it was bigger than outside, like Doctor Who’s Tardis.
There were loads of people like the people carrying the three, all dressed in leafy clothes.

Most of them were dancing around to Irish music, and there were smaller people in the corners sewing what looked like shoes.

“Elves” whispered Brandon.

Chapter nine
IN WHICH…
There are changelings and an Elven council.

The elves let go of the children and marched them to three small stools and ordered them to sit.

A tall female elf came from over a far corner, with a jug of maple syrup, which she offered the three children.

“Don’t drink it” mouthed Aaron to the others.
So Georgia and Brandon didn’t drink any maple syrup.

The elf had a Canadian accent, which the children found out at the Elven council.

The Canadian elf sat on top of a smooth tree which was bent into the ground, and said:

“You have trespassed upon our boundaries, why?”
“We’ve come to look for our mum and Aaron here’s helping us out,” Brandon said.
“Pardon?”
“I art Brandon and this is Georgia and Aaron, we hast cometh to thy boundaries to find our mother”
“Ah, I see, in the meantime we shall keep you here”
“What!?”

The elf gestured to three mounds of leaves, all red, golden and amber.

The three watched in astonishment as the leaves swirled into human shapes and the leaves swirled down to reveal three children, all exact replicas of the trio.

Changelings.

Chapter ten
IN WHICH…
The changelings die and the trio break out.

“One, two, three…” whispered Aaron “…strangle!”

The children leapt from their seats, and pounced on the changelings; they cupped their hands around the changelings’ necks and bashed their heads on the floor.
Sappy blood seeped from their crowns and rolled onto the floor, as all of this happened, the changelings’ skin started to waste away in leafy, petal shapes which swirled up into the air and disappeared.

When this happened, the children also started to fade away.
Starting with the legs then the torso and arms and lastly, the head.

Their bodies reappeared in a small, cramped stone room, with a pewter throne in the middle, curtains hung over the holes in the walls, long, tatty pieces of aged, yellow cloth with bloody stains.

The children looked around and at such an inappropriate time, said;
“The people who live here have absolutely no fashion sense.”

At that point, dog-like creatures with long necks, creatures that were small and pot-bellied with pig like appearances, emerged from inside the wall.

Then, as if by magic, sabers appeared in the children’s hands and automatically started puncturing the skins of the creatures’ and slicing off their heads.

In a few minutes, the sabers stop killing and disappeared.
The little room was now littered with dead gargoyles.

A fragile-looking figure of a hunched woman in a charcoal-gray cloak, emerged in a cloud of smoke, Cionacs’ broke through the surface of her hood.

“Fascinating creatures, gargoyles, aren't they?” she said in a raspy voice.

She pointed a long, bony finger at a corner of the room, a long, slender figure in shackles and a sack over her head.

Automatically, the children gasped;
“Mum!” and “Oh, my god! Amy!”

“Is she…?”
“Dead? Heavens, no. Knocked out, asleep”

Georgia and Brandon lifted the sack off of Amy’s head and saw the grossest, most contorted face they had ever seen in their whole lives.

They stared at the hunched figure for quite some time and her body straightened out, became more slender, the wrinkles on her fingers disappeared as though they had been ironed out.

She pulled back her hood and the children observed that she was a new-world gorgon, who had taken the form of their mother.

“Oh, my god!” the children chorused “Oh, my god, oh, my god!”

Wands appeared in the children’s hands and pointed directly at the gargoyle.

There were three flashes, all going towards the gorgon, which all flashed back and sent the children flying into three, separate cages, which bound up with vines which obscured the children’s view.

Brandon tried cutting through the cage with his pocket-knife, it cut the vines but not the metal.

A gargoyle scampered towards them and offered help, the gorgon saw this and, summoning all her power so that she lit up like a star, all this energy surged through her and slithered all over, like Cionacs, that all welled up into her hands and blasted the gargoyle, which gray skin, hardened like granite.

The gargoyle’s granite body tilted and swayed, it went this way and that, like a pendulum.
The gargoyle fell against the cages which smashed into each other, which made the cages’ doors swing violently open.

The gorgon’s head swivelled round and watched, terror-stricken, as the children hauled themselves off the ground and dusted the earth off of them.

“But…” she began, her face started to contort, she reached for a flask which seemed to be made of a frog’s underbelly.
Her flask slipped from her grasp and the face which was on Amy, faded away.
The children were awestruck as the face on the gargoyle, floated gently through the air and landed on Amy’s face.

The gorgon, however, returned to her natural, contorted self.

The children held onto Amy at this moment because she started to peel just like the children did, in leafy, petal shapes.
They all disappeared and Amy was lying with the children on her bed and was awake again.


Chapter eleven
IN WHICH…
The family and friend are home again.

Amy gathered the strength to stand up, the shackles disappeared but they left a mark as though a red hot bangle had been put on her wrist.

“Would you three like to tell me what’s going on, please?” Amy said.
“Amy,” Aaron said. “We've just been attacked by gargoyles’ to save your life, can we have just a little praise, please?”
“I know but that isn't what I asked, is it?”

“Well, me and Georgia have been fighting fantasy creatures since the same day that you called the police.”
“Have you? And today was to save my life, you children are my heroes”

Amy tousled Aaron’s hair and planted a kiss on Georgia and Brandon’s heads.

The trio may have more adventures, who knows?
Maybe soon there will be four children, we'll just have to wait and see.

End of book three


************************
Thursday 4th December

****Editors note: The 'strange markings' in the following story were beautifully laid out by Brandon but unfortunately the website/blogger programme would not allow it. I have had to substitute with 'Webdings' font which unfortunately is not as effective. Sorry Brandon!******

Fantastica: County of the Unicorns

Chapter one
IN WHICH…
The trio becomes a quartet.

“Catch!” shouted Aaron, serving a ball.
Brandon attempted a catch which turned out to be ill-fated.
“This is too easy!” Aaron said, serving again.

“Can I play with you guys?” Asked a voice behind them.
The trio looked to see who it was; it was Chloe, a bright blonde-haired girl in a red coat, who was also in year six.

“Sure, Chloe,” They said.

And so the ‘catch championships’ began.

Chapter two
IN WHICH…
The sky is opening.

Chloe pointed towards the sky, the others observed what she had seen.

“Oh, my god!” they shouted.

The sky tore open, a great gash of light started to curl at its edges, the edges set on fire and burned outwards.

The gash started to swirl and glow harder, the quartet were drawn closer to it, Georgia and Brandon acted casually like this was an everyday thing, Aaron acted slightly amazed, Chloe was just plain gob smacked!

“What,” she said, “is that?”

“Long story,” the others said.

The four started to wobble in a dazed motion, their eyes became cloudy and they saw two of things; two trees, two of each other…

“Wh… What’s…?” The four dropped to the floor.

Chapter three
IN WHICH…
They are in Fantastica; county of the unicorns.

Birds hovered overhead, the sun cast a pale light over the quartet’s sleeping bodies, and the sun was like a pale coin that someone very high in the sky was dangling.

The children awoke and a slight breeze played across their faces.

They were in a meadow, lush, green grass mingled with the air, daisies and buttercups swayed softly. There were trees as high as shacks piled on top of each other, with twisted knotholes which seemed to be watching them.

Nearby, animals that looked like bleach-white ponies grazed on the grass and lapped from a pool full of still, clear water.

“Wow,” the quartet’s voices were extended.

One of the “ponies”, turned around and the quartet saw what the “ponies” really were.

Its eyes were like glaciers, a color of the palest blue. A single horn twisted above its head, which shimmered in the sun.

The unicorn, for that’s what it was, whinnied and the others came cantering into a cluster around it.

The unicorn that they had seen first, tilted its head downwards and observed the children, sniffing them, its shaggy mane tickling their faces, which made them chuckle.

“I Thought that I wouldn’t ever see the day,” it said, Chloe being the only one who’s lower jaw hung open.

“Salutations, children. I am Strawberry, these are my followers; Manticora, Miscellanocious, Thistlebud and Clover. We are, as you can see; unicorns. Legend says that we were hunted for our healing properties and horns which bestowed wishes. That is only partly true; we do have healing properties, but cannot bestow wishes. The other reason that we were hunted was that we started a war, years ago here in the world of Fantastica.”

“Fantastica?” Children in a surprised tone. “This place is called Fantastica?”

“Aye, children. For this is a world of fantastical creatures and objects, you could be in the middle of Nowhere-‘Nowhere,’ is spelt with a capital letter because it is a glade in Fantastica- and you could be being watched by the sprites, or the gremlins or even the trees.”
“So this place-that we’ve visited so many times- isn’t on Earth?” Said Brandon.

“It is on Earth, just in a place only the chosen ones can travel to.”

“So we’re the chosen ones?” They asked.
“I take it that you are,” he raised his head towards the sky, and said with awe: “the four of legend.”
“Wait, wait. You must be mistaken. We ent anyone special, just two of us keep getting sucked into Fantastica, and that’s Georgia and me,” said Brandon.

“Why didn’t you guys tell me about this place?” Said Chloe. “I take it that Aaron knows too?”
“Yeah, he does, but that’s only because he got tangled up in it. We didn’t tell anyone else ‘cause we didn’t think they’d believe it so we kept quiet about it.”
“Oh, sorry I snapped.”

“Nus, hchctawtekcop,” said Strawberry.

The sun shone brighter and little un-understandable looking markings appeared and swirled on the face of the sun.

“Has been two-thousand and eight years since any human stepped forth into Fantastica, the exact amount of time that he said.” Strawberry whinnied excitedly.

“Really? I thought that he was dead.”

“You must be the chosen ones; the four of legend!”

“King Starbuck was right.”

“King Starbuck?” inquired the quartet.

“He is the king. The great, noble king. He has foretold that this day would come! And so it has! You are the four of legend!”

“Four of legend. Is there any history on them?”

“Yes, I shall show you immediately!”

In a glade, that Strawberry had led the four into was a twisted tree stump, with a book, bound in what looked like animal skin, probably from a gremlin.
As the children stalked towards it, the pages turned left and landed on some strange markings, like the ones that were on the sun.

The children and Strawberry loomed over the page.

‘The four of legend,’ was the title, which was the only part in English.

The four of legend are the only humans able to step into Fantastica. Legend says that they must venture to Angel Island to prevent hell’s demonic plague from being spread by the evil omen himself, Satacrisatia.

The markings faded and in their place, English writing said:

The four of legend are the only humans able to step into Fantastica. Legend says that they must venture to Angel Island to prevent hell’s demonic plague from being spread by the evil omen himself, Satacrisatia.

“What are the names of the four of legend?” Asked Chloe.

The page altered and said, in the same, strange markings:

Brandon Georgia Aaron Chloe

The page altered again and said, in bad spelling:

Bryndun, Jyorja, Aarun, Clowee.

“Our names aren’t spelt right,” said Brandon.

The names vanished and in its place, said:

Brandon, Georgia, Aaron, Chloe.

“That’s us,” said Chloe.

“Indeed it is,” said Strawberry.

“But, Strawberry, who wrote this book? How do they know about us?”

“I must take you to the very man himself! He shall tell you. Jump onto my back, children.”

Strawberry galloped, he built such speed that the horseshoes on his feet gave off sparks, which set the grass alight.

Strawberry stopped in front of a huge castle, with towers at the sides, a huge, mahogany, arch-shaped door and a giant drawbridge to cross the lake around it.

The four dismounted from Strawberry’s back and stood there for five or ten minutes, their mouths gaping.

Chapter four
IN WHICH…
The quartet meets King Starbuck.

“Gink Starbuck, ti si tsuj I, Strawberry, yam I emoc ni?”

These Fantasticans speak funny, thought Chloe. What the hell does ‘yam I emoc ni’ mean?

A booming but withered sounding voice rang out from a room in the castle; “René, gnu Strawberry”

Strawberry led the children through tall, red-bricked turrets and up long, winding staircases; the children couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off of his feet.

His feet were like normal, human feet, except smaller, his small toes protruded from underneath fluffy heels.

They slowly walked through an archway which was at the very top of the staircase, into a small room.

Around them were things that looked like they were from the human world; an old, wind-up radio, some battered armchairs, etc…

Slumped in one of the armchairs was a midget of a man; he had small, beady black eyes that were so slit-ed that they could have crawled through a closed, Venetian blind. His beard was long and wiry, with a spray of white running down the middle. On the top of his head stood a magnificent, emerald encrusted crown, with spears rising from the rim. He was reading what looked like a newspaper.

“Fantastica’s governors screwing things up again, as usual,” he said grumpily.

“Gink Starbuck,” Strawberry perked up “easnt era eht nendlich. Eht Ruof Fo Dnegell, fi I ma tecerroc.”

King Starbuck nodded and slid a pair of horned, half-moon spectacles on.

“Come in, come in!” Starbuck said, not bothering to hide his glee “sit down on the sofa, rest your feet on the pouffes!”

“There aren’t any pouffes or a sofa, your majesty,” said Aaron.

The dwarf-like king-or ‘gink’ as Fantasticans call him- pointed at the armchair and did a swish and flick motion with his hand.

The armchair stretched at both sides, staining, making grunting noises as though it was alive. Two morphed up in the middle of the other two. The sofa started to swirl at the bottom, bits ripped out of it, making pouffes that were perfect ovals.

“So,” he said “sit down”.
The quartet did reluctantly as they were told.

“So, Four Of Legend, eh?”


Chapter five
IN WHICH…
The quartet is prepared for what is ahead.

“Oh, um, suppose so,” the quartet answered. “Why are we sucked into Fantastica again?”

“Because we need to prepare you for what is ahead, a war, a horrible, bloody war.”

“Who is this war against?” Chloe asked.

“Satacrisatia; a despicable demon from Vampire Beach where the fruit bats reside”.

“Vampire Beach?”

“Yes, you must go to Angel Island to thwart his plan of spreading the demonic plague to all of the residents”.

“Residents?”

“The death-foreseeing banshees, phookas, seamaids, seakings, burrowing beaver people…”

“Are all of those…on our side?”

“Yes, Angel Island is home to our side, although…”

“Although what?”

“Although if we do not stop Satacrisatia soon…Angel Island will be ruins and the residents will die”.

“When do we start to thwart him?”
“Tomorrow”.
Tomorrow dawned and the curtains of the bed chamber that the quartet had used to sleep in fluttered.

“King Starbuck said that we should see Minestrone Knight in the hall today!” Shouted Chloe, pulling the covers off of the separate beds and rustling the others.

“Oh yeah, we do as well, c’mon guys,” said Aaron.

Chapter six
IN WHICH…
The quartet is suited up.

In the hall which was full of paintings of past kings and queens and armour was a dog-like being with blue-black fur and a tweed waistcoat; his ears were tall and pointy like a rabbits’, there was no mistake that he was a phooka.

“Follow me!” He beckoned hurryingly.

He led them into what looked like an Arthurian dressing room; it had four dressing screens made from the hide of an old world wyrm.

“Why are we here?” Aaron.

“To suit you up, your armour is hanging upon hangers in those cubicles that King Starbuck st…borrowed from the first dimension”.

In the cubicles were red robes, breast plates, gauntlets, chain mail and different helmets.

They stepped out from behind their screens; their armour fitted them all perfectly.

The phooka gestured to the far corner of the room where there stood four weapons; a sword, a saber, a javelin and a halberd.

The children slowed themselves down even though they were in a seriously excited rush to train with the weapons.

Brandon picked up the saber; “I could do some serious damage with this!” He admired it and tried to remember what he had learnt in his fencing class. He measured the weight and size and did a few practice swings.

Aaron picked up the sword; “god, this is so light; I think it’s a part of me!”
Aaron did the same as Brandon and stepped aside for the girls.

“I think Chloe should go before me, she is the latest person to find out this.” She said, giving Chloe a pat on the back and a gentle push.
Chloe bent down and hesitated before grasping the halberd; “It looks like an axe.”
She traveled to the left corner of the room and violently tackled a rugby ball that King Starbuck had ‘borrowed’.

Georgia had to have the javelin; she opened the arched window and aimed with precision at a tree, the javelin hit the tree and was stuck in it like a fly in honey.

They were all happy with their weapons.

They suddenly started to peel in petal shapes like the last time that they traveled to Fantastica.

Chapter seven
IN WHICH…
The battle begins.

They were in the middle of a burning wreckage of mud huts, galleons and bones; the sound of screams and tramping feet were audible as they were carried by the breeze.

Demonic-looking creatures emerged from the wreckages and stared blankly at the four of legend; they advance with their weapons.

A shadow loomed into vision, covering the grass like tarmac.

“Satacrisatia,” muttered the phooka.

He was at least seven feet tall with huge arms and hands the size of stereos.
He had amber eyes like cats’; he had teeth like sheep though they looked threatening.

He looked down, reached out a grubby hand and snatched Chloe; she managed to grasp her halberd firmly.

He breathed on her, she turned a ghastly shade of the palest white, she had small, black markings around her eyes.

Chloe went limp in his gigantic fist, the halberd landed thump on the floor.

Aaron charged with his sword, in the light of the fire, markings engraved in gold flashed down the blade of the sword.

Two large humps appeared on his ankles, they burst through his chain mail as wings.

Aaron whisked into the air, sword flashing, wings flapping…

The sword pierced Satacrisatia’s body and he stared; the sword glinted brightly and it coursed through his body.

Satacrisatia fell backwards and squashed some of the demons, a few minutes later, and the sword pulled itself out of Satacrisatia’s body and glowed.

Aaron clutched it, felt Satacrisatia’s chest. “He’s still breathing, he’s out cold,” he said. “We’d better get a move on before he wakes up”.

Chapter eight
IN WHICH…
The battle is won…but by whom?

The quartet wandered through the Beach of Angel Island, Chloe was still unconscious, and she was between the arms of Brandon and Aaron.

Dragging Chloe and seeing which direction they were in was a pain, they always had to check and see if they were losing grip or tightening it too much.

Chloe started to lift her head, the markings around her eyes faded and her face flushed when she saw who was holding her.

“Normally,” she said “I’d have slapped you two in your faces if this wasn’t happening, but in this case I’ll make an exception”.

The shadow loomed over them again. Chloe found her feet again and grasped her halberd.

She swung it into his foot, all three of his toes blackened and fell of, and they burnt to ashes.

Satacrisatia roared in pain, he went to grab Chloe again but couldn’t because she ducked and dived.

This time he roared in anger and tried to grab them all, Chloe fainted again.

Georgia brought up her javelin and Brandon did a fencing move with his saber.

The saber went straight through Satacrisatia's leg and the javelin cleaned his neck and stayed there.

He collapsed and groaned, his eyes drooped shut and his arm slid off his chest.

The children removed their weapons from his body and raised them in joy; Aaron and Brandon picked her up again and dragged her body towards the castle.

Chapter nine
IN WHICH…
The quartet is knighted and crowned.

The quartet was asked to sit on thrones; Chloe had a few bruises and a crutch but wore her armour over her still.

They each knelt in front of King Starbuck while he knighted them princes and princesses of Fantastica.

The crowning ceremony began and each was given crowns and tiaras.

The new names were given out; “Prince Aaron, ‘Aaron the adamant’” said King Starbuck. “Prince Brandon, ‘Brandon the brave’, Princess Georgia, ‘Georgia the great’, and, finally, Princess Chloe, ‘Chloe the courageous’”.

The looked at each other and grinned. “One question though, King Starbuck: are we the…the heirs?” asked Brandon. “Even if we leave Fantastica?”

“Yes, time will pass and I will be old and weary, but when the time is ripe, you will return to Fantastica, probably when you least expect it to”.

The children peeled, first their legs, then torsos and then their heads; “goodbye!” They shouted before they disappeared.

Chapter ten
IN WHICH…
The quartet is home again.

The quartet was on the lush, green grass outside of Hillside Park, they were still in chain mail and they had their weapons and crowns.

“Quick, let’s…Chloe, your crutch is gone! And your bruises and bandages!” Shouted Georgia. “Let’s get inside before anyone sees us in this get-up”.

Brandon and Georgia invited Aaron’s mum and Chloe’s mum, to their house to explain what had happened, when they told them they were absolutely horrified and gob smacked!

A short raving at and praise later, the children collapsed on the sofa and slept for two days.

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By Brandon H
Age 10
Class 6KR
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