Special sneak peek of the second Time Travelers book from my blog Dragonmaster

I know lots of you guys have read the first book of The Time Travelers series on my blog Dragonmaster. Here is a sneak peek of the first chapter of the second book.

1

The Time Quest

The girls woke up all at the same time. The oldest sister, Jennifer, flicked her hazel eyes open, staring around the room. She flicked a piece of long brown hair over her shoulder and got off the couch she’d been lying on.

   The second oldest, Victoria, opened her blue eyes and looked around. She blew a strand of long blonde hair out of her face and got off the sitting chair she’d been sleeping on, coming to join Jennifer in standing.

     Katherine, the second youngest, burst awake, her fierce green eyes staring around at her sisters in disbelief. Lying on her lap, almost hidden in her piles of black hair, was the Book—the huge, aqua colored book that contained the secret of Time Travel.

     And the youngest, Elizabeth, screamed and then burst out of her sleeping state, huge gray eyes blinking around and bright red hair flying as she cried,

  “Where is he?! Where he is he?!”

    “Relax, Elizabeth,” Jennifer smiled gently. She shrugged lightly, a wan smile on her face. “We’re home.”

  The sisters all looked around the room—she was right. They were home, in the girls’ own special sitting room upstairs. There was Katherine’s pile of books, and Jennifer’s table full of scientist goo, and Elizabeth’s pile of balls and play swords, and Victoria’s wrap lying on the couch.

     “We’re actually back,” breathed Victoria in disbelief. “But remember what the person said? About the question for the four original Time Travelers?”

    Jennifer narrowed her eyes and stared off into space, clenching her teeth. “I bet my life that that was Father Time.”

   “Jolly mean fellow, wasn’t he?” snorted Elizabeth, staring out the window over the rooftops of London. “I say, wouldn’t the four original Time Travelers be our parents and grandparents?”

   Katherine sent Elizabeth a look. “Snap out of your snooty accent, Elizabeth. And, yes, I think you may be right.”

    “So maybe the book will guide us,” whispered Victoria. She looked up at her sisters, her eyes bright. “Maybe all we have to do is touch it again, and the Book with take us to where we need to find the person. We’ll still have to find the person and bring them to Father Time, of course, but still…” Victoria started pacing. “The possibilities….”

     “Victoria is right,” Jennifer nodded. “It’s time our Time Quest began.”

   Victoria nodded, carefully taking the book from Katherine and placing it on the floor. She looked up at her sisters. “Grandmother’s obviously not here. If she was, then she’d be yelling at us to get up. Come on—we’ve got to get started.”

   The other sisters nodded, and they arranged themselves in a circle around the book. At the same moment, they pressed their four hands together on the book.

    Everything seemed black, at first. Then all of them could see a dim light, like a tunnel appearing out of the never-ending darkness. The light seemed to swirl all of them into its light, taking them from the clutches of the dark.

   Then there was a blast of light, and then they saw something that never before had been seen by the human eye.

  They were in space. But they were moving forward, and rapidly. Moving towards a thing that none of them knew what it was. It looked like an eye, to them, at least.

   There was a blast of light as they drew closer to the thing that looked like an eye. It had in their first journey, too. And then there they were, standing on the stone platform that hung weightlessly in space.

   The stone was black, just as it had been before. They looked towards where the door that had led them to Greece had been. Instead of the huge door that they’d seen, they now saw a wooden door.

   Surprisingly the rest of them, Victoria stepped forward first.

  “Wait!” cried Jennifer. “What if…”

   “Remember last time,” Victoria smiled. “We’ve got to go. We’ve got to find everybody and bring them back to Father Time.” She shuddered. “Who knows what will happen if we don’t.”

        Victoria turned to the door, reached out, and touched it. Light sprayed out and blinded them.

Allegra Anderson Has More Adventures...

I believe that I left you guys off on my I-wrote-this-when-I-was-lots-younger story Allegra Anderson in a pretty exciting place. :) So, here's more!!

Chapter VII

Newlands Valley

I practically ran down the stairs and into the courtyard, but quickly stopped my stampede whenever somebody was around. I walked VERY quickly into the stables, opening the book.

   “Surely there must be something about where Sean is…” I murmured to myself. “Come on, come on!”

  I flipped through the pages, trying to find something about his location. And then I found it in chapter 7. It read:

Sean had, after saving the lives of the beautiful girl Rowena and the feisty Princess Aspen, decided he needed to visit his old mentor, Dr. Phillip Factator. He headed along the bright Newlands Valley and followed the black, mucky currents of the river Thames. Soon, the dark caves of Speedwell Caverns appeared, and Sean could see the Peak Cavern, belonging to Dr. Factator. He urged his horse on, riding up the steep cliffs, making sure to stay out of the way of the serpents.

   Huh. Well, I knew where I was going—to the Peak Cavern.

       I stuffed the book under my arm, and hurried back into the castle. I went up to “Rowena’s” room, and checked all of the dresses—nope, none of them would do. I checked under the bed, thinking maybe she kept a spare thing of clothes there. And to my surprise, I came across one of those girl archery outfits—you know, pants, leather boots, vest, shirt—complete with a little belt. I quickly pulled it out—it was just my size! I quickly changed, and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Grabbing a warm, “normal” cloak from the wardrobe, (and grabbing a bag, which I stuffed the book, food, water, rope, a dagger, firestone, and a compass) I peeked out of the door, making sure that nobody was there. I quickly hurried out, making my way to a side stairway I had seen maids use before. Hurrying down it, I snuck through the kitchens and out back.

    I then snuck into the stables, glancing at all of the horses—and then I saw the horse I would need. He was a dark bay (good for hiding in dark places, not like a white horse), with black mane and tail. He had deep, trusting brown eyes, which he stared right at me with. I glanced at the nameplate on the stall. It read Trusty. I smiled—so true. I quietly tiptoed over, and was glad to see it was already saddled and bridled, though I couldn’t see any sweat, betraying Trusty had been ridden lately.

  I swung on his back, opening the paddock door. I then kicked him, and to my surprise he shot off at a canter. I was surprised at how smooth the gait was compared to the gallop.

   Okay, so first it said he went through the Newlands Valley. Where on earth was that? I should have brought a map! 

  Good going, Allegra.

We hurried down the streets of the town, and out into the countryside. I knew that all of the places mentioned were actually in England, but I hadn’t ever visited them.

A while later, another smaller village came into view, and I stopped Trusty for a moment, and hopped off.

  “Excuse me,” I asked a woman. “Do you know where the Newlands Valley is? I need to get there.”

   The lady nodded and pointed. “That way.”

I nodded. “Thank you.” Then I mounted Trusty again and we were off. We cantered a very long time, and I was starting to wish that Trusty would slow, but he didn’t. I was definitely getting riding lessons when I got back to the real England.

Soon, a bright and beautiful valley came into view. Little cottages dotted here and there along the slopes gave it secludedness.

  We raced down the hill, Trusty enjoying every bit of it—me, not so much.  As we rode through the valley, I wondered where to go next—not to mention it was getting dark out and I didn’t know where to stay…but could I just go up to one of those cottages doors and knock on it, asking for shelter? I doubted it.

   I stopped Trusty right by an abandoned hut. It was more of a lean-to, but I knew that it would work for the night. After tethering Trusty, and eating some food and a sip of water, I took the blanket off Trusty’s back (which just happened to have been on him) and lay facing the opening.

My eyes started to close, and weariness overtook me.

I woke with a start, and saw sunlight streaming through the opening. It was late! I scrambled off the ground, grabbed my bag and blanket, and jumped onto Trusty, who was peacefully nibbling the lush green grass of Newlands Valley.   I kicked Trusty, and immediately he started off at a brisk canter.

Chapter VIII

The River Thames

Trusty was still hurrying when I heard the pounding hooves of another horse—and I glanced back. A rider was about several hundred feet behind me. I kicked Trusty faster, and he broke into a gallop.

  “Allegra!”

I turned back again—how did the person know my real name? Unless, of course, it was Alan Noodletire. Which it was. I slowed Trusty down to a walk, and Alan stopped the horse he was riding.

  He looked at me. “I know you don’t know how to get out, but if you won’t try and look for a way out until we find Jennifer, well, then, I’m going to help you find Jennifer.”

   I nodded. “Good. Come on, we have to get to the River Thames. Have you ever been to London?”

 Alan scoffed. “I live in London.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great. Then you can get us there.”

He coughed. “Well, uh, okay. This way!”

   I shook my head. “You mean this way?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. I was just testing you. I thought you said you didn’t know how to get there?”

  “If you have forgotten, I live there, too. I just wanted to test you.”

     “Well, Father always drove me—it’s not like I paid attention or anything.”

   “Hmm.”

We rode out, heading toward what was London in our world.

A few hours later, the smell of smoke and the stench of the Thames reached us, and I knew we were close. Unlike Alan, I always paid attention to the different landmarks.

   “Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?” asked Alan snootily.

I nodded. “Yes. Smell the stench.”

   Alan smelled and wrinkled his nose. “Okay, so maybe we are close.”

I sighed, and urged our horses onward.

  “So,” I asked, “where did you get your fine horse?”
Alan looked away. “Oh, you, know, from the stables. I didn’t enjoy it, but I was sure it was the only way home.”

   “Oh,” I said, “truly.”

Silence. Only the soft padding of the horses hooves betrayed that we were there at all. Trusty had finally gotten tired, which was why we were walking to London instead of cantering. I supposed Alan’s horse was tired, too.

  “So,” I asked, breaking the silence, “what’s your horses name?”
I glanced over at the dapple-gray mare.

   “I think her name’s Monica,” he said. “I’m not sure, really.”

I laughed. “She looks more like a Stardust, to me.”

   Stardust whinnied, as though in agreement. And so I dubbed her Stardust. I was kind of royal, after all.

  And then I saw it—the Thames. I urged Trusty into a canter.

“Allegra, wait up!” yelled Alan.

  But I’m afraid I didn’t.  I didn’t pause until I reached the edge of the Thames. I glanced at a washerwoman who was washing her clothes.

  “Excuse me,” I asked, “did a young man pass by here not too long ago?”

She nodded. “Yes, an old friend of mine named Sean. Do you know him?”

  I nodded. “I am Rowena.”

    She gasped. “You’re Rowena? Take off your hood, child, let me see your face! Sean has told me a lot about you. You see, you’re like the little sister he never had.”

  I nodded, and took off the cloak. “Please, in which direction did he go?”

She pointed. “That way.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

And I urged Trusty into a gallop—we had to find Sean and have him help us find Jennifer—and soon. I didn’t know how much more I could take of being Rowena.

  Or Jennifer as being Princess Aspen.

Once a Pirate, Always a Pirate: Part Six {by Willow}

 Written by Willow and Assisted by Darrion

 Jack placed the compass into Darren's hand.
 "Here you go, mate. Now, try to want to find the stoney treasure as much as you can."
 Darren squeezed his eyes shut, and the compass' needle spun crazily. It came suddenly to a stop, pointing due East.
 "Sparrow! Darren! Wills!" D cried, thundering down the creaky wooden stairs. "Teeza's ship! It's close! I can see it through the fog!"
 "Oh no." I shoved her aside as I raced to the deck.
 In the distance, I could barely see a tiny three inch by five inch ship bobbing in the waves.
 "Yep, it's there all right." I called down the steps as I pattered down them once more. "Coming from the East too."
 Jack glanced at the compass, then snatched it up and handed it to D. "Why don't you try, lass?" He suggested.
 D smiled smugly as the needle spun. And spun. And spun. And spun.
 Jack plucked up the compass and cleared his throat. "Ahem, well. Maybe you should try?" He held it out to me.
 I shrugged. "Sure."
 Taking it, I stared intently at the little needle. It spun for only about a minute, then stopped.
 Darren leaned over my shoulder. "It's pointing North East." He reported.
 "Lovely, now let's head for that stoney treasure!" Jack smiled cheerily as he headed for the wheel.

"Lovely?" I grumbled. We had been sailing through a rough storm

for about a day. I was wet, cold, and hungry.

  All we had on board was some really nasty beef jerky type stuff, and some gross molding biscuits. I {of course} refused to eat any of the biscuits, and took one whiff of the meat and refused to eat that, too.
 So here I was. Sitting in the Crow's Nest. Freezing cold {probably getting hypothermia}, starving, looking for land.
 A pirate's life for me.
 I was just dreaming of some hot apple cider and pumpkin pie, when Jack yelled at me to switch with Darrion.
 D appeared from below decks, quite displeased with having to sit up in the Crow's Nest in the poring rain. I could hear her muttering to herself that this must be against the law somewhere or something.
 She sent a brown-eyed glare my way as she hoisted herself up the rope ladder, as if I was responsible for her 'torture'. I shrugged.
 Now that I was safely of some kind of solid-ish ground, I needed to calm down.
  Breathe. Breathe. Move your arms... I smoothly began a fighting/exercise routine that was designed to calm you down. It mostly involved dance-like moves and ninja-like flips.
 Okay, you need to flip here.... I arched my arms and pushed off the splintery deck, flipping my body into the air.
  Thunk. The ship hit something hard and stopped with a jerk. I, of course, was still in the air.
 "Oof!" I connected hard with the door of the Captain's Cabin. Rubbing my head, I sat up.
 "We've struck land!" Jack crowed cheerily, trotting down the stairs and past me without giving me so much as a backward glance. I curled my lip. Men.
 "Land?" Both D and Darren each stuck a head out of the below-decks door {D had obviously shirked on the Crow's Nest}.
 "Is the ship alright?" D scrambled past me and inspected the bow with an intense eye. "I heard a big thunk." Darren followed. "We could have ripped the hull apart!"
 I winced, rubbed my head again and stood up, placing both hands on my hips. "I'm okay too, thanks for asking." I rolled my eyes.
 Both Ds looked up vaguely, question marks on their faces.
 "Never mind. Where did we land, anyway?" I asked.
 Jack waved from the rock that he was perched on. "Over here! I found the island! Let us be off!" He waved a be-ringed hand. "Come along now, savvy's. We have a treasure to find!"
To be continued...

 

Also, here are some 'piratey' pictures for you {from Pinterest} 

 

{This is from the first movie-but works for the 4th part of this story:)}

 

{Cool, huh?}

 

    

{An intimidating bridge, to say the least}

 

 

{Pretty cool, am I right?}

{PS, I'm very sorry for taking soooo long-but I was super busy and didn't have a lot of time to do this story, but you can expect the next part pretty soon, I think!}

The labels can be kinda interesting.....

I know I haven't written anything in like foooooorrrrrrreeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeeerrrrrrr on here, and this is even my own blog!!!! So I thought I should post something today. :) Something extra special...... ;)

Signed,

OK, little warning--I made this a longgggggggggg time ago, so it might seem a little bit more little kiddish. Hope you guys enjoy!!!! :)

Chapter I

The Strange Box

Allegra Anderson. Allegra. What kind of name was Allegra? I mean, it’s nice and all but nobody else has the name Allegra. I mean, in my expensive school we have two Hannah’s in our class, and two Sarah’s, and I think we had three James, and the list went on and on. But nobody else had the name Allegra. Anyway, I was 12 and life wasn’t getting better.

  I sighed and looked at my history textbook. I lived in England, and it was during World War II.  This was a country school, so nobody worried about it being bombed.

  I had to stay here at the boarding school in the girls dorms.  I didn’t leave like the other children either on holiday. I only left when it was the summer break.

  Then, I stayed at a country cottage with my Uncle and Aunt. I led a kind of boring life.

 “Allegra!” my head jerked up, sending my straight, blonde hair flying.

“Yes, ma’am?” I asked, as the history teacher came sailing in, her brown curls bouncing.

  “May I see your history report? The principal confirms you have not handed it in yet.”

  I looked at her. Then I remembered how Alan had been smirking at me. He had probably stolen it and stuffed it in some garbage can.

  “Well, I turned it in. It must have been taken or something.”

“Or maybe,” piped up Alan, “she threw it into the trash can!”

He burst out laughing.

  The teacher came over to his desk. “And would you happen to know what trash can that may be, Mr. Noodletire?”

  He kept laughing, and fell into the trap. “Why don’t you try the cafeteria one!”

 Then, realizing he had given himself away, clamped a hand over his mouth.

  Ms. Trapass (the teacher) nodded with satisfaction. “How would you like the job of digging through the trash can?”

  He looked down.

“I expect it out before lunch. Now, as I was saying…”

And so began a long day of history.

Later that day, I was walking one the grounds, getting my daily exercise with the other children.

  Alan sulked with his buddies, but thankfully didn’t pay me any attention. Lila, one of the girls, walked over and started playing with him in a way you knew she was flirting.

  Disgusting.

I started doing knee-ups across the front lawn, and started wishing we didn’t always have to wear skirts. Oh, the freedom of pants!

  Not that I had ever put a pair on, but I imagined.

    Lucky boys.

Very lucky boys.

That evening, as I was about to go to my dorm, the doorbell rang. A moment later, one of the teachers came my way.

  “Hello, Allegra, this is for you. It was on the step, no sign of the sender.”

I took it. It was a huge box, and I wasn’t sure what was inside.

  “Thank you,” I said, and retreated to the safety of my dorm.

When I was inside, I opened it. It was full of books. Just what a twelve-year-old who has an enough books already needs.

  They looked like pictures books, with stories from different time periods. Then I noticed something else—a letter.

  I opened it, and it read:

Dear Allegra,

You might not think this is very important, but this box of books may save your life. Please guard them well.  Inside, you will find stories from all different time periods, including World War I. Guard well, and enjoy. These books hold more then you think.

Your Protector

Okay. Weird. Who on earth would send a school kid a bunch of books? And what did it mean by protector? Was this my guardian or something? Did Alan send this as a trick, just to be spiteful?

  I wasn’t sure, but sure was going to found out. Soon.

Chapter II

Sean and the Dragon

The next day, I sat in the library.

 “Hey Allegra, what are you doing?” called my friend, Jennifer.

I turned around. Jennifer’s long, brown, beautiful hair was, as usual, perfect. Not like mine.

  “I’m looking for a book on the civil war of the United States. We have to learn about it in our class. I think it was over slave rights. I wish they didn’t even have to have a war.”

  Jennifer nodded. “I know what you mean. Hey, I was wondering, Lila said you got a box of books. I was just kind of curious. What are they about?”

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. Do you want to come and look at them with me? My next period still isn’t for an hour. We got out early.”

  “I can see that,” commented Jennifer.

We then hurried out of the library, up the several flights of steps to the girl’s dorms.

  I opened my door, and took the box out from under the bed.

“Wow,” said Jennifer, “that’s a big box of books.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking that myself.”

Jennifer got down on the floor with me, and we stared at it.

  “So,” said Jennifer, breaking the silence, “which are you going to read first?”

  I started going through the books. There were dozens, but I saw one that really made me look again.

  It was covered with dragons, and a picture of a knight and maiden covered the front.

 “Do you think I should read this one?” I asked, pulling it out.

Her eyes went big. “Definitely.”

  “Come on, lets go out onto the grounds. I’m glad the next period is P.E.!”

Jennifer nodded, and we headed outside.

A few minutes later, we were outside. I just started to read the book. So far, it was about how a boy became a knight.

 “Uh oh,” said Jennifer. “Here comes Alan!”

I looked up, and sure enough, Alan and his bunch of buddies were coming toward us.

  “Hi,” I said cheerfully, “what do you all want?”

“To get back at you for yesterday!” growled Alan.

“Run!” cried Jennifer.

    The mad chase led us through the courtyard, around the hothouse, and into the garden.

  While I close the gate, I dropped my book. It flipped open to show a picture of the knight about to get eaten by a dragon! In the back round, were two maidens, and a pageboy.

 “Jennifer!” I yelled.

She came back.

Then several things happened at once—Alan opened the gate, Jennifer came running back, I got pushed to the ground.

  But instead of the gardens, when I got up I saw the scene of the picture. Alan and Jennifer were staring wide eyed in horror at what lay in front of them. A dragon!

   I got up (tripping over some long skirts that happened to be on me, but I didn’t really notice), grabbed a fallen sword, rushed up behind the dragon and stabbed it.

  It roared in pain, and turned toward me. I acted as though I did this everyday, and quickly rushed and stabbed it in the heart.

  I stopped, just realizing I had killed a living creature.

It’s just like killing a spider or a lizard, I told myself, except that was a very big lizard.

 The knight got up and walked painfully over to us. I could see blood rushing from his shoulder. Jennifer grimaced.

  Then I noticed the funny clothes Jennifer and Alan were wearing—Jennifer was dressed in a medieval ladies outfit, and Alan like a pageboy!

  Just like on the page in the book!

“It is kind of funny,” remarked the knight, which I knew was Sean (the main character), “that I came to save thee (with the help of my pageboy, of course), and yet thee saved me! How did thee do it?”

  I saw he was directing the question at me. “Oh…well…I just kind of stabbed.”

  Sean looked puzzled. “Thee are speaking strange, fair lady. Thee used to talk like thy, and yet thee now talk differently. Why is it so?”

  I groaned. We had become book characters! “Well, I don’t know. I just…you know, speak this way.”

 Sean shook his head. “I don’t understand thee.”

Chapter III

To the Horror of Jennifer

I sighed. “Look…”

   Jennifer looked at me, but I couldn’t do anything. I knew she was despairing.

  “Where are we, Allegra?!” Alan demanded hotly. “Where is England? What have you done to us?!”

  Sean looked with disapproval at Alan. “Pageboy, what makes thy speak so rude? Thy are lower then they are, and yet thy acts above.”

   Alan turned to Sean. “For your information, I’m not your pageboy! I am a free citizen of England, and I go to an expensive boarding school! So there!”

  I looked at Sean. “Where are we? England?”

 He nodded. He probably thought maybe the dragon had hurt our brains somehow.

  “Thought so,” I mumbled to myself.

Jennifer looked on the verge of tears. “What are we going to do? I want to go back!”

Sean looked puzzled. “Back where?”

I sighed. “We’re from a different time period, but you wouldn’t understand. We fell through a book—you’re a book character, as are we now.” I knew he thought we were crazy. “But you wouldn’t understand. Come on, Jennifer.”

 I pulled her by the hand, and was about to walk away when Sean started speaking.

  “Please, don’t go! I want to understand thee.” He sighed. “So I am only a lowly book character?”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry, really.”

Sean shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. But what are you going to do?”

  I wished I had the book. Oh well.

“I…well, I don’t know.” I thought for a moment, trying to recall the book…of course, I hadn’t got as far as the picture, but still…then it hit me—there was the lovely young princess Aspen, and the Duke Viscount’s young beautiful daughter, Rowena.

 (NOT the one from Ivanhoe.)

I groaned, as I knew who I was—Rowena. The beautiful Rowena. But I wasn’t beautiful, for goodness sakes!

  That’s when I noticed that I had a lot longer curly hair. I looked despairingly at Jennifer.

  “Jennifer, I have something awful to tell you…” I started.

Jennifer looked right at me. “Who am I? I’m someone, aren’t I?” she groaned.

  I cringed. “You’re the princess Aspen.”

She shrieked. “NO I’M NOT!”

  I nodded. “You are in the story.”

 Sean nodded. “Of course thee are. Thee were both taken by that horrible lizard.”

  I turned to Sean. “Look, we have to get out of here, because I’m not going back, and neither is Jennifer. She is not going to act Princess Aspen. Do you understand?”

  Sean nodded. “But I can’t do anything.”

Just then, there was the gallop of hooves, and several horses and riders appeared.

 Jennifer groaned. “They’re going to take me, aren’t they? Come on, Allegra, you know the story—do they separate us?”

  I felt guilty. “Jennifer, I don’t know—I hadn’t gotten very far into the book.”

  She groaned AGAIN.

And the horses stopped right by us. But, to Jennifer’s surprise, they didn’t run to her side, they ran to mine.

  “Rowena!” cried an older man.

I recognized him from the description of Rowena’s father. I smiled, and hoped I could remember to talk like they did, with ‘art’, ‘thee’, ‘thou’…you get the picture.

  “Hello, father, thy daughter is very grateful to thy servant, Sir Sean.” I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping Sean really was Duke Elbert’s vassal (Duke Elbert was my “father”).

  Elbert smiled. “I see thou art fine, and yes, I must reward our trusted servant, Sir Sean.”

  I smiled.

And inwardly cringed.

He turned to Sir Sean. “I will promote thee to knighthood. Is that what thou wanted?”

  Sean nodded eagerly. “Oh, thank you. Thy servant is forever grateful.”

   

Chapter IV

Nomad’s…friendly or not?

  Allan walked up to me and sneered. “Yeah? And about me?”

    Just then an angry looking man rode out from the middle of the group up to Jennifer.

 “Not so fast, my coddled pet. Thou art going back to thy castle, to face thy father, of course.”

  Jennifer gulped, and looked at me as to say, “help!” I wasn’t feeling jealous of her situation, I can tell you that.

  Elbert smiled down at me. “I am just glad thou art well. When I heard that thou and thy yonder princess had gone away (with the princess taking thy, of course, since thy are her loyal servant), I was much troubled. I am just so glad thy are safe.”

   He kept on hugging me. I smiled (fakely, of course).

     Jennifer didn’t look happy riding on the man’s horse, (I wasn’t sure what his name as, but I was sure I would soon find out) but my “father” seemed pretty nice.

   “Lord Guardian Crispin,” said Elbert, “what art thy going to do with yonder charge?”

   Crispin (which I now knew was the one Jennifer was riding with) grunted. “I told thou—I am taking the princess to her daddy!”  The way he said “daddy” sounded more like “datty”—not to mention him talking in an English accent.

  (As do I).

Elbert and Crispin urged their horses faster, and soon we lost sight of Sean. Not good.

Before he did, I watched as the hero of the book faded away, into the dust, into to falling night. And Allan, of course.

It was nighttime, and still there was no sign of the castle. The Lords all made it look as though it were perfectly normal, and soon were setting up a huge camp.

 Jennifer and I had our own personal silk tent, furnished with the finest things. Jennifer was sleeping in the same tent, as I was her attendant.

  I ate some of the finest things (including Turkish Delight), and went to bed early. I yawned and jumped into the bed, clothes and all.

In the middle of the night, the most atrocious yelling started. Jennifer and I woke with a start.

 “What is that?” asked Jennifer, already hiding under the bed.

    I didn’t answer her, but ran over to the wall and grabbed a sword. Surprisingly, it was strangely light weighted, and fitted my hand perfectly, as though made for it. Then I grabbed a dagger that was sitting on a trunk and stuffed it into the sash on my dress.

 I hid to one side of the tent flap. Soon, a nomadish looking man (that is, Arab dressed) poked his head through. I didn’t have the guts to kill him, so I silently knocked him over the head, making him unconscious.

   I wrinkled my nose at him, and threw him back outside. I heard Jennifer scream, and turned to see a nomad holding her, Jennifer struggling fiercely.

 He said something, and then started laughing.

Bonk!

 Nothingness.

I struggled to open my eyes, but they seemed heavily weighted. Finally, I won the battle and my eyes flew open. Surprisingly, I wasn’t tied up.

  Instead, I was just stuffed into a bag.

    Not that much better, mind you.

I started struggling, but was whacked.

 “Stop that!” came a voice.

I noticed it wasn’t English, and wondered why I could understand him. Then it hit me—young girls of my age, who might acquire the throne some day, were taught different languages.

    Through the sack, I could tell it was daytime. Since my hands were free, I could move them some.

  Then I remembered! The dagger!

I felt my sash, and it was still there. I was ready for action.

Warrior Princess

Hey everyone!
I know it's been forever since I posted. I made a few changes on my story, so I'm reposting Chapter 3, but I'm posting Chapter 4 also. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. Everyone on the blog has great stories!





Chapter 3

                Lendra looked toward the city in front of her. She couldn’t believe her eyes, it was so huge! She shook her head in amazement. Growing up in a little mountain village, she had never seen anything like it. Neece stood beside her, smiling at her amazement. Lendra looked at Neece sideways.

                “This is your hometown?”

                A smile went over Neece’s face sort of sideways.

                “Well, now it is. I stay here when I’m not on a mission.”

                “And the King is here?”

                “Oh, yes. The King is wherever you need Him to be.” Neece looked at Lendra. “You didn’t know that?”

                Lendra shrugged. “Well, sort of. I feel like I don’t know very much about the King and the Prince.”

                Smiling encouragingly, Neece patted Lendra on the back. “Well, you’ll learn. I’ll teach you as we are together.”

                Lendra smiled. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

                They started down into the city together.

 

                Soon they were surrounded by people, and Lendra was amazed at how Neece navigated the crowds. Eventually they came to a great building, and Lendra gaped in astonishment.

                “This is a huge palace! Does the King live here?” Lendra asked breathlessly.

                Neece smiled at Lendra’s exuberance. “Well, the King is here, but we can’t see Him. We will talk to the Prince, who will tell us of our quest.”

                Lendra nodded. “So are we going to go in and see what we need to do?”

                Neece cocked an eyebrow. “As soon as you’re ready.”

                “I’m ready! Let’s go!”

 

Chapter 4

                                    

                Lendra gasped. “This is… incredible! I can’t believe it!” Inside the palace, flying buttresses supported intricately designed walls as they soared up to amazing heights. Stained glass windows lit the interior with beautiful hues of red, green, yellow, blue, orange, and purple. Beautifully embroidered curtains closed off chambers from the main hall.

                Neece led Lendra to a curtain on the far side of the hall from the door. A winding staircase led to a smaller hall, where a servant came and bowed front of them.

                “You seek audience with the Prince?”

                Neece nodded. “I am Princess Bernice. I have found my companion, so now I need a quest.”

                The servant bowed again. “I will tell the Prince. You should be able to see Him in a few minutes, please to wait here.” He made a gesture toward the chairs along the sides of the hall. A few people sat here and there, but not many, and Neece and Lendra sat down comfortably.

                Soon the servant came back. “You are to see the Prince immediately. Please come with me.”

                They followed the butler up another staircase, through a long corridor filled with wall hangings, and up to a simple wooden door. Lendra frowned.

                “This is the Prince’s room? It doesn’t seem to be as grand as it should.”

                Bernice looked at Lendra reprovingly. “Lendra, the Prince does not aspire to grandeur. He will appear in all of his glory at the end, but for now He shows Himself to us as one of us.”

                Lendra nodded, but she didn’t really understand. If she were the ruler of the kingdom, she would want to be in the most regal robes possible, have the fanciest clothes, and own the most beautiful palaces. True, this was a beautiful palace, but the apartment they were being shown into now was very simply decorated—almost plain. As she was considering this, they went into the chamber. A tall man greeted them with a warm smile.

                “Ah, Princess Bernice! I see that you have brought your companion Lendra with you. How are you?”

                Lendra opened her eyes wide. How had he known her name? Beside her, Bernice bowed, motioning for Lendra to do the same.

                “We are very well, your Highness. As you know, I now have a companion, and we wish for you to give us a quest to do for you.”

                The man, (who Lendra realized was the Prince) smiled thoughtfully. “Ah, yes. You need a quest.” He rubbed his chin slowly, then smiled. “I have just the thing. I want you to go to the castle of Syntafa and free the prisoners that are held there. You will need to cross the Crawdon Mountains, because Castle Syntafa is in the south of Adainia.”

                Bernice nodded, her eyes wide. “You trust us with taking that castle? I am honored, my Lord.”

                The Prince nodded. “You will be able to do it with the King’s help.”