Adiela rode Hooves into the wide woods where they were alone. Adielas castle was far from Sunny’s tree, so they had to take a brake once and a while. Adiela got off her unicorn and took a leather pouch from her belt. She took out the cork in it, and drank the water content. Her fingers were not numb now, but she was still very shakey. “How could it have happened that sudden?” she asked herself. “I, Adiela Veavet, an ordinary girl am going to fight dragons? It doesn’t make any sense.” She smiled, shook her head, tied the pouch back onto her belt and rode Hooves all the way home. When they got to the ruby stall, Adiela put Hooves away and ran home. She couldn’t wait to tell her parents.
When she got home, she knocked on the door, and was greeted by her parents and brother opened mouthed. “Ye already read the newspaper?” “Yes. We-we can’t believe it. If only Pierre was a year older. He is ever so jealous.” Pierre snorted and yelled. “Am not!” “Yes, well. I’m supposed to receive a letter at midnight. That will explain who I will go to” Adiela said. “Yes, well I am still completely horrified of the king! You are supposed to be a little lady! Well, I’ll let it pass this time. I’m going to a have a girl-boy as a daughter, just think of it! Rubbish! But I rather have my girl be a boy than be in jail, by the kings commands! Ugh. Lets have some tea.” He mother said, and went into the kitchen to make tea. Her father looked at her mud splotch on her dress, and snorted. Then he lit his pipe and smoked his tobacco.
That night, Adiela couldn’t fall asleep. “Mother!” She called. “What is it? I was just asleep!” “I can’t fall asleep. I’m worried I won’t succeed in my journey. In other words, I’m afraid I’ll die.” Mrs. Veavets frown softened, and she smoothed Adielas hair. “Honey, if I know you, you’ll be better than any man to be in the fight. I know you won’t die. That’s why I’m letting you go.” Mrs. Veavet kissed Adielas cheek and brought her some tea with honey that eased her stress. “Are you feeling better?” “Yes, ma. I love you.” “I love you too, Adiela. Now get some rest.” And with that, she went to sleep.
In the morning, everyone awoke to Adiela yelling “Its here! its here! My letter is here!” Her brother was the first to get out of bed, then her parents. In her hands, Adiela held a shiny, golden envolope with a wax sealing that had an imprint of a tree on it. The envolope felt heavy, as if there was a long list made out of cardstock. “Open it! Come on! Stop staring at it, and see whats in it!!” Pierre yelled. Adiela rolled her eyes, made a pig nose at him, but did as he commanded. She gently peeled off the wax, making sure not to crack it, and lifted the top flap. In side it was not even a piece of paper. It was a square of golden silk, with silver stiches embroided around the edge. Someone (she was guessing the king) had hand-stiched silver letters on the golden silk. In, the envolope was also a golden key. (Which explained why it was heavy). “Read the stiching!” Cried Pierre.
“Okay, okay. It says this:
Dear winners of the dragon hunt,
I, King Bartholomew, have picked you over thousands of other brave children for this special hunt. There are fourty of you, all together and your task is to help make the dragons go extinct. The key in this envolope is addressed to your own personal dwarf, who will teach you what and how to fight. Today is your first day to go to your dwarf. On the last Friday, all of you will come to my palace and receive your own swords and show eachother what you have learned. The address of your dwarf is also printed on your key. We expect the best of you, and hope this year we will be able to have a party of extinction.
We all hope you succeed on your mission,
King Bartholomew.” Pierre stared open-mouthed at the golden silk. “King Bartholomew sure has some good sewing, considering he is color-blind.” Mr. Veavet half-joked and half was serious. “Well, you’d better get going.” Mrs. Veavet said, smiling proud. Adiela hugged her mother and hugged her father and just to be nice gave her brother a kiss on the cheek.
Adiela ran to the ruby stall. When she got there, of course she found a pile of kids admiring Hooves. All of the boys were about her age and were holding golden keys. “Hey, are you guys in the dragon hunt this year? I see you have the keys.” One of the boys who was a red-head looked at her kindly. “Yeah. I’m Robert. Hey, are ye Adiela, the girl from the paper?” “Yeah.” “Hey!” Another red-head, who looked liked he was a chubbier version of Robert called from the back. “Do you know who this unicorn belongs too?” “Me. I found her when I was seven.” Adiela felt her self blush when all the boys from the hunt stared at her in amazment. “Hey, is this yer first time on the hunt? If it is, I could help ye. I’m a senior. I’m thirteen. How old are ye?” Robert kindly asked her. “I’m just eleven. I live in that castle down the river.” Robert smiled. His smile was warm and friendly and made Adiela feel less nervous. Robert got on a brown horse with white spots. “Is this yer horse?” Adiela asked him. “Yep. This is Buckle. But we can’t keep him inside since we couldn’t afford a house. We live in that wooden ‘shed’ with all the hay in it. You’ve probably seen it.” His warm smile faded away as he spoke. “Oh. I-I’m so sorry. Can I do anything to help ye? We have lots of clothes and food we could give to you. And yer family.” “I ain’t got no family. It’s only me and my older brother, the chubby one. That’s Jones. We lost them one day and didn’t have medicine around.” “Oh, golly. I really am sorry. Well, you know I have something better than a horse or house.” Adiela said, getting on Hooves. “What?” Robert asked her. “I got a friend.” She smiled at him, and they walked down the stream together on there horses.
“So whats the sparkly fellow’s name?” Adiela fed him an apple. “This here? This is Hooves.” “Nice name.” Robert said. Buckle watched Hooves eat an apple greedily. Hooves noticed Buckle staring at it with sad eyes. She lowered her head down and put the apple in front of Buckle. He thankfully nuzzled Hooves and munched on the apple. Adiela laughed. “It looks like the’re becoming friends too.”
Pretty soon, they came to Roberts dwarf’s cave and said goodbye and that they would she eachother at the ruby stall after class. Robert, before leaving, gave her some tips that if her dwarf was a grumpy-non-playful one like his, to not make it grumpier. So they bid farewell, and Adiela went farther down the stream torwards her dwarf’s cave.
Soon enough, she saw a cave made out of dirt and grass sticking out of the ground with a wooden door on it. She matched the address on her key to the address on the door, and gently knocked. “One moment!” Came a voice inside the cave. It was a sing-song voice that sounded like you were plugging your nose and doing it in a high voice, it was a rather silly goofy voice. Adiela politely knocked again. This time, the door opened and out came a little round fellow. His cheeks with chubby and pink, the perfect type to pinch. His stoamach was as round as a rolling ball, which was probably causing him to fall every three seconds and laugh. He was not old, tough and aggressive looking, but a rosy sight that made Adiela unexpectly laugh. He was wearing blue pajamas and a floppy pom pom hat. He looked rather young, for he had no facial hair and no wrinkles. He came up to Adielas knees, (about the size of an average dwarf) and was a merry, rosy little ball of fun. Adiela was glad she didn’t have an aggressive dwarf like Robert. “Hello! Welcome!” The little dwarf said. “My name is Tumble!” “Hello. I-I’m Adiela.” Adiela said, trying not to laugh. “Nice to meet ye! Are ye the girl in the dragon hunt?” “Yes. I think so.” Tumble laughed and wiggled his ears. “Come on in! Welcome to my home!” Adiela had to bend over to go threw the door, but the rest of the house was a rather large place for a dwarf. It was the size of Adielas ballroom, furnished and everything. She and Tumble felt so small in there. “Now. First you’ll need to be dressed properly. We don’t exept dresses in here.” “Okay. Where’s the clothes I should wear?” “Over here.” Tumble came and handed her a plain white blouse and tan colored pants and dark brown boots. Then he handed her lots of golden armer, which to Adiela looked stupid and were too big for her. “I think I’ll be okay with a sword or bow and arrows.” She said, only taking the blouse, pants and boots from him. “You sure? You might regret it.” She nodded. “Alright, then. But if you die on the first day, don’t blame me.” “Okay, I won’t. Now close your eyes.” Adiela said. Tumble did. Adiela got undressed out of her stockings, dress, and petticoat. She put on the pants, boots and shirt. The shirt was a tad scratchy, and the boots a tad big, but she still wore them. “Tumble, where is a mirror? You can open you eyes now.” Tumble opened his eyes, and showed her to a large mirror where she could she her whole body. “Hmm. My hair looks silly, having it so long. Tumble do you have any siccors?” The little dwarf shook his head. “No. But I do have a knife. That’s what all the men cut there hair with.” He handed her a sharp, short knife. “Alright. Adiela, you can do this. Come on. Its only your hair.” She said to her self. She took a handful of her hair, and cut the bottom. She then looked in the mirror. “I have to say, its pretty good considering you used a knife.” Said Tumble trying to lie. “I know you don’t really think so. My hair is hideous.” She said. “Well, anyways. It dosen’t matter. You look better than most of the boys. Come on. Lets practice fighting.” He handed her a silver sword. “This is just a practice one. Next week, when you go to the kings you will be presenting with your own true, sword.” Adiela nodded. “Now. Let us begin.”
Adiela practiced fighting and defending and how to escape a dragon for a long time. Tumble kept on telling her about how good she was. She thought it was just because Pierre had taught her at night how to fight, which was an advantage. When she asked Tumble for a snack, he taught her how to refuse to your stomach. This was Adielas least favorite part of the lesson.
When the lesson was over, Adiela said goodbye to Tumble and shook his hand with a sweaty palm. “Huh…Huh…..goodbye…huh,huh…Tumble…huh.” Adiela said, gasping and panting every second. “Goodbye Adiela. Tomarrows lesson starts at midnight. Be prepared with your sword and clothes.” “Huh,huh..yes.” Adiela limped hungrily to untie Hooves from a tree. Then she got on her, and greedily chugged all the water from her leather pouch. “If I have too fight that dwarf all day every day, I’ll turn into a piece of smoked bacon!” She said to herself, as she put Hooves in the ruby stall. “How’d ye like yer first lesson?” Adiela heard Robert say from behind her. She turned around. “Oh, golly. It was-was tiring, that’s for sure. I’m not sure I’ll make it.” “You’ll do fine.” Robert said. “Well I gotta go. See ye tomarrow at midnight.” “Yeah. See ye.” Adiela tirely said and trudged all the way home.
CHAPTER TWO: THE SWORD
The few next days where just as tiring for Adiela, and every time she came home, she raided the pantry where they kept there food. She had been working for two weeks now, and tomarrow was the day when all the hunters went to the kings palace. Adiela could feel her heart beating fast and her forehead was sweaty. At midnight, she went to her last class with Tumble for this year. She got dressed with her blouse, pants and boots. She filled her leather pouch with water and didn’t mind getting Hooves. If she could fight a dragon, she could walk to a dwarfs house. When she got to the little cave, she barely knocked on the door. Tumble came out. His face was just as red and cheery and active as always. He never seemed to get tired like Adiela.
“Hello Adiela! Ready for practice?!” Adiela yawned and nodded. They went into Tumbles cave and got in position. Adiela took her sword and Tumble took his. “On yer mark, get set, go!” Adiela charged down the room, with her sword in front. Tumble had on golden armer, and was charging towards her, too. Right when Tumble was going to slash at her, she jumped behind him, (She wasn’t aloud to jump over him, since she couldn’t jump over a dragon) and with her sword knocked him to the ground. Then she faked to cut off his neck with her sword like she would do to a dragon. Then she also faked to cut off his arms and legs. “Bravo!! You killed me!” Tumble yelled. “Let us recite it again. This time, you’ll have to defend with your shield, for I will blow air and that will be fire.” Adiela got back where she started. “Ready, set, go!” Adiela raced towards Tumble. Her stomach rumbled. She had forgotten to eat breakfast at one in the morning. She felt her belly grumble. She felt sick. As she was just about to jump over Tumble,when a big green splotch of throw-up came out of her mouth and nearly missed Tumble. “Ew. Sorry, I guess I forgot to eat breakfast. Can I get some water?” Tumble studied the green splotch. He got a mop and cleaned it up. Then he handed her, her water pouch. She went outside and drank some and spit it out. Then she came back in. “Okay, lets start over.” She went to where she started, and called “Ready, set go!” again. This time, Tumble raced towards her faster and blew air on her. She got out her shield, and backed away. Then she started running back towards Tumble, and jumped behind him. She then knocked him down again and cut up his body. “Yay! You succeeded! You passed the test!” Adiela smiled to herself. Maybe she did have what it took to be a dragon hunter. “Now can I have a snack?” “No!” Cried Tumble. “We must practice what to do at the king and queens! Tomarrow you’ll go there ye kno’! I want you to look spick n’ span!” Adiela rolled her eyes. She drank and spit some more water, and cleaned her boot which had dirt on it.
awesome! I love Tumble's character! "Bravo! You killed me!"
ReplyDelete:) Ava