Written by a Ten Year Old- The New Beginning

Even the names have changed.... subtly

The New Beginning

Growing moss was the most boring thing ever, Snake thought furiously, as she moved towards the centre of the old, rocky circle, scattering formula while she went. Approaching the middle, she heard a growl of thunder from above. Storms round here could be dangerous, they had been known to kill before. There was a flash of lightning. She jumped in alarm. The adults had noticed it too. Now lightning was all around them, playing on the clouds, dashing round and round, like it was a game.
“Get in the bus NOW!” Matrian screamed, dashing between pillars of stone. “We can’t afford to lose another slave this year; business is too low as it is!”
Of course, he wasn’t worried about them, just his stupid business. Bitter thoughts flooded her brain as she watched the other girls scurry towards the black slave bus. Matrian turned, and saw her. His pale eyes widened in shock, as he looked above her head. She threw herself aside with a cry of fear, but it was too late. Her forehead burned with pain as the lightning struck her just below her fringe, singeing it off. All around her, the light was an eerie blue colour; it brightened and flooded the landscape, then- Gone. Snake lay on the ground. Alive. Definitely alive! But too stunned to move.

*

“I still don’t see why you had to buy all the bananas in the shop” Ravena complained to her companion, a short, fat, dwarf by the name Wigamog.
“Well, they’re tasty!” he replied thickly. “And that lady would have bought one, and then I wouldn’t be able to eat it”
“That lady you tried to curse into oblivion?” Ravena asked sarcastically.
Wigamog was about to reply when a slave bus roared past, and a flare of magic, so powerful it blinded them, was lurking inside.
“I think we’ve found the power that the elders sent us for.” Ravena commented dryly, before breaking into a run after the bus.
Wigamog looked from his precious bananas, to Ravena, to his bananas again and sighed. “Hold Up!” He shouted, running after her, vanishing the fruit as he went.
They tracked the bus all over town, where it kept stopping at shops, and letting girls in emerald dresses get off. Finally, it drove up the hill to the hotel/slave shop was. There, all the remaining girls got off, and then waited until they were dismissed, before all but one girl trooped into the hotel foyer, to greet the guests. That other girl went through a gate in the fence, into the training courtyard behind the buildings.
“Let’s follow her” whispered Ravena; hurrying from bush to bush. Wigamog didn’t really have a choice but to follow her. Inside, the courtyard was huge. There were stables, training grounds, gardens, and everything else you could imagine.
The girl walked over to the stables, and that burst of magic they had seen before flared up again. “I think we’ve found our girl!” Joked Wigamog. Ravena ignored him and continued trailing the girl. From what she learned, the girls name was Snake, She was not to be sold, her horse was called Black Jupiter and was a black thoroughbred, she had been struck by lightning the previous morning, Had a thing with animals and was the most important slave in the area. They found themselves in a garden under Snakes window, when a bell rang, and all the slaves stopped what they were doing, and turned inside.
*
Collapsing on her bed, Snake thought back on today’s events. She put a hand up to her forehead, where there was a strange, spiralled mark on the place that the lightning had hit. Her thoughts drifted back to the strange blue light. Nobody else had seen it. Was she going mad? Voices floated through her head.
“I’m telling you Ravena, she won’t like it.”
“Don’t be silly, Wig! What could possibly worse than this dump?”
Snake sat bolt upright. Those voices weren’t in her head; they were out the window!
Looking outside, she saw a girl with dark, black hair and chocolate brown eyes, who was wearing a black dress, and a strange little man who was like a clown, arguing about something. Ravena and Wig. What funny names! And what were they doing in the house slaves garden? The man, Wig, realised that she was watching, and gave a squawk of alarm, grabbing Ravena’s arm, then, they disappeared! Snake rubbed her eyes and turned away from the window. Matrian was working her to hard, she decided. Suddenly, in a flurry of arms, Ravena and Wig fell through the ceiling. Ravena struggled to her feet and said quite cheerfully
“Hello, I’m Ravena and this is Wigamog. How long have you had magic?”
*
The Slave called Snake sunk down into a chair. “So, your telling me,” she began “That I have, Magic. And I got it when I was struck by lightning. And It’s the most powerful you have ever seen. And you are going to help me escape this place. And-.”
“And how many more times can you say the word And. And do you have any more Ands to tell us about?” Wigamog asked cheerfully. Ravena glared at him.
“Yes. That counts for all those things you just said.” She explained. Snake touched the spiral on her forehead again. “This changed,” She told them absently, “This morning, when I got it, it was green. Then, when I visited Jupiter, It turned blue. Now it’s purple.
Ravena took a wild guess. “I think it changes according to your feelings and moods.”
A buzz inside her told her she was right.
“But, If you are going to escape tomorrow, we will need to make plans…”
*
Even though Snake was desperately tired, they stayed up for most of the night making plans. When dawn came, Ravena and Wigamog did their usual evaporating trick, and Snake prepared herself for the wakeup call. When it came, it was not as she had expected though. “Maria, Mila? What are you doing?” she asked, for two twin girls had just burst into the room, crying and laughing as one.
“We’re all escaping!” cried Mila.
“Yeah! Matrian’s still fast asleep!” Squealed her twin; Maria “So we tied him up, then took his keys!” She added.
This was not what Snake had expected. They needed a change of plan. Fast.
Calling up the other two, she explained the problem. To her surprise, Ravena was delighted.
“This means that we have all the other slaves to help us.” She explained. “get every one into the meeting hall.
They took it in turns to explain the situation to the other kids, answering questions and such, until one boy said:
“What if you took care of us? Stallion could train us for battling, Cobra for literature and so on. And you three could lead us!” This idea was greeted with a roar of enthusiasm.
“Okay, okay we’ll lead you!” Ravena hissed. “Just keep it quiet all right!” When she saw (Or rather heard) they had stopped yelling, she spoke again. “Right, now you three disable the alarms, you over there, Stallion isn’t it? Yes, you go and…”
The instructions went on. Finally everyone was ready to leave.
“Right!” Snake shouted. “On the count of three, we will run through those doors, and off to the clearing I told you about. If you get lost, hide, and Wigamog will come and find you. One. Two. THREE!” All the slaves burst through the doors and out onto the street. As the crowd of girls and boys thinned, Ravena walked calmly back into the old building and untied the struggling Matrian. “Where are they going?” he snarled.
“It’s none of your business thank you very much!” She replied sweetly, drawing her sword. “This sword is going to over here” she explained, “and if you try to follow us, it will show no mercy in stabbing you.” Matrians face went a sickly green colour.
“And if I don’t”
“It will just come back to me.”
“Oh.”
Ravena smiled at the look on his face, and then followed the others to freedom.
*

Looking after one hundred kids, all packed into a clearing in the woods was not exactly how Snake had planned to spend the night. When the younger ones had fallen asleep on the blankets they had put out, the older ones tended to the animals.
“So if everyone has one horse each, we should be able to ride over to the castle, and be there at dawn tomorrow.” Ravena was explaining to Wigamog and Snake. “But we can’t all go at once, it will look fishy.
“Yes we can.” Snake found herself saying. “We just need that illusion charm.”
“But the illusion charm is-!” Ravena was cut off in mid speech, as the tree she was sitting in became what looked like a baby elephant. She turned to Snake. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” was her reply, “I was thinking hard about the tree, then it sort of popped into my head that it became and elephant, and it did!” Snake stared hard at the tree. She cautiously put her hand on what looked like its tusk, and felt the hard bark of the trunk underneath. “I think we have that illusion charm!” She couldn’t help but say.
Wigamog whistled. “You’re good.” He remarked, as the tree became normal again.
Snake studied the tree again and then turned to her companions. “Tell the others. Wake up the little ones. We move tonight.”
Wigamog shrugged. Whatever you say.
*
They had reached the castle. Ravena turned to the crowd behind her, and saw they were all staring at something beside her left shoulder. A magnificent unicorn was looking at its tail, and then it’s hooves, then turned into Snake, who shrugged, and said “What? They’re better then Jupes.”
A year later, the castle was transformed. There were Hi- tech computers; Girls and boys were outside on the new training fields, sparring with each other and huge rooms, none bigger than the old throne room, which was empty except two girls.
“Why don’t you change your name?” Ravena suggested to the pale girl beside her.
“No-one will know that you were the runaway slave Snake, if you become Serpentine.”
“You know what, I think I will.” Relieved, Serpentine’s spiral changed from yellow to blue.
A noise behind them made both of them turn.
It was Tom. “Sna-Serpentine. Mila and Maria are missing.” His face was grave.
“Patrol 5 was attacked and they were taken. The Kidnappers left a message for you.”
Hello, the Revolution League’s Leader.
My name is Lord Hawk.
I am in charge of a group called Hell’s Angels. The land of Britain is my territory. I do not mind you intruding in it, as long as you don’t interfere with our work. What displeases me is that you employ my cousin Ravena. Give her to me, and you get your two girls back. Keep her, and you and your League die. Send a reply back by Friday.
If not, you can guess what will happen to them. I will await your answer.
Goodbye for now.
Lord Hawk.
The silence was so loud it was deafening. While Serpentine had been reading, the rest of the group had filed into the hall. She looked about her. Her mark was Black and Angry. “Ready the weapons. It’s war.”
*
Tom stood before the court. “They plan to make war. They have set out, and will reach the north outpost by noon.”
Lord Hawk smiled. “Thank you Tom.” He whispered. “Would you do me a favour, and tell the weapons master, then set to work on those bombs.” He turned to the silent ranks of men. “Well. You heard. Get going.” He snarled. This was not going the way he wanted. This girl obviously thought that she was better than him. He addressed the boy sitting beside him. “Python, please go and set a trap for our, ahh, guests.”
“Certainly Father.” The boy got up and left. Hawk was left alone in the hall. The bigheaded girl mustn’t have thought that the opposition would have magic as well, not to mention the foulest weapons upon the Earth.
*
Serpentine turned to the surge of warriors. What had started out as a hundred escaped slaves were now over a thousand children, all well trained fighters, and masters of literature. “The Enemies are fully grown men.” She shouted. “They think we are just bigheaded, idiotic kids. They think that their weapons are superior to our own. But they are wrong. We can win. WE WILL WIN!” The crowd roared its approval.
“CHARGE!” the girls and boys rushed forward towards the defence that Hell’s Angels had set up. The battle had started.
Ravena dashed through the throng of people. Their numbers had taken the defence by surprise. Both sides were evenly matched.
Someone grabbed her arm. It was Tom. “Ravena, I’ve found the twins.” He led her over to the Black tower of the Hells Angels. “Down in the dungeons.” He told her, showing her the path and then pulling her into it. They raced round corners, and through cells, before they saw the twins. They were in the room at the end of the corridor. Ravena pulled out of Toms grasp, and raced towards them- straight into the web of ropes hung across the door. Her heart, once pounding in her throat, sank. It was a trap.
*
“YOU DOUBLE CROSSING BIT OF SLIME!” Ravena screamed at him, fighting against her bonds.
Tom grinned at her. “You know what?” he smirked. “I am feeling very happy at the moment. So happy in fact, I think I’ll try out my brand, new bombs. Right here.”
The colour drained from Ravena’s face. “You wouldn’t,” she breathed. “No.”
Tom laughed cruelly. “Once I’m done with you, I’ll raid the treasure tower. Then I’ll trigger all the different surprises I have planted around the ground. They’ll blow up, killing both teams. Then I can gather up any survivors, as a big hero, and start afresh.”
“do you like my little baby?” He asked, holding up a sphere the size of a tennis ball.
“my own invention.”
Ravena could hear running footsteps in the hall. Tom hadn’t noticed yet. He went on. “I’ll just clip it onto that nice, shiny belt of yours. Goodbye Ravena.”
Serpentine burst into the room in time to see the bomb blow up in his face.
“NO!” she cried, lunging at him. But it was to late. His empty, black eyes stared at her. The eyes that would never see again. She kneeled beside his body, at a loss of what to do, as the door opened again, and Wigamog wandered in.
“Whadid Imess? He asked. His mouth was full of bananas.
*
The throne hall was crammed full of people, all were talking excitedly about what had happened. Many were sporting injures, though only a couple serious. The chatter died down as Ravena stood up beside Serpentine’s chair, at the front of the room. “The death toll to our side was one. Two counting the traitorous Tom, but Alangia, you will be glad to hear, died of, not injuries, but of malnutrition, having just come to us from her starving village in Africa. Sadly, only five died from the opposition. Hawk was not one of them. Now, there is a party in the next room if you care to join it…
*
The people in the room drifted away in little groups, until only Ravena and Serpentine were left. “Serpentine?” Ravena asked cautiously.
“Yes?”
“It wasn’t your fault. Tom chose to double cross both of you, and he got killed in the process. It was his decision.” Ravena stumbled over her words in her rush to get them out.
Serpentine sighed. Back in the Hotel, she had never needed to deal with these sorts of things. Her troubles had been making guest’s rooms, and teaching the younger ones. Hawk and his Hell’s Angels would be back. This wasn’t the end of them. Serpentine smiled for what seemed like the first time in days. There would be time for more battles in the future. Right now, in the present, it was time to join the loud party in the banquet hall. She got up, and with her friend Ravena beside her, she too left the room.

The End