On the 2nd May, I posted a piece of work that I wrote on settings (click here to see). Since then, I have turned that setting into a short story. Enjoy!
As the full moon shone overhead, not a bird chirped. I looked to the star-filled sky. Soon, a glint caught my eye. Lowering my head, I looked to the vast ocean and noticed the sky’s reflection in the ice. As I neared home, I caught a whiff of smoke. My brother must have lit the fire, I thought. Once I entered the garden, the oak door opened and I saw Sol waiting. Now, I entered our home and Sol said:
‘Hello, Sky!’
‘Hi, Sol,’ I said as I looked once more at the shining ocean.
The next morning, I woke to the delicious scent of Sol’s cooking. I headed downstairs. As I entered the living room, I saw Sol lighting the fire.
‘Morning,’ I said.
‘Morning,’ Sol echoed. ‘Take a seat, breakfast will be ready shortly.’
I sat down on the leather couch and read the newspaper:
TNT Miners Make Disturbing Appearances
Last night, TNT-welding miners charged through town and demanded to see Mayor Emerald. Cliffern is famous for its cliffs, however, the mayor has announced a shocking deal. In return for gold, Emerald has allowed the miners to blast our cliffs for resources. However, the miners have another block: brothers Sky and Sol live by the sea and the miners have to talk to them…
Suddenly, someone knocked at the door. Sol was there first, but I followed him. If I was right, trouble was here. As we opened the oak door, a towering, muscular man burst in.
‘Are you Sky and Sol?’ he barked.
‘Yes,’ Sol answered coolly, ‘and who might you be, hammering on our door so early?’
Surprised by Sol’s tone, the man took a second to respond.
‘I am TNT Miner Boss, Terror Necro Tray. I have come to get you to sign a contract.’
He handed Sol the contract, and as my brother read it his eyes stretched wide.
Still keeping his cool tone, Sol said: ‘Mining our cliffs is one thing, but blasting them! We will not sign your contract,’ as the miner leader opened his mouth, my brother continued, ‘no matter what price you offer.’
‘Fine!’ the man snapped. ‘You have five days to present evidence that we shouldn’t mine here or we’ll mine anyway.’
Finally, he stalked away.
As we drank our hot chocolate, Sol said, ‘Let’s search the cliffs from top to bottom.’
‘While we are in town, we could talk to the mayor,’ I suggested.
‘Mayor Emerald has always seen the cliffs as a business opportunity;’ Sol replied, ‘we won’t be able to change his mind.’ Sol paused thoughtfully, before resuming: ‘However, if we see him during our search, we can talk to Emerald.’
We searched the cliff ledges by town, only finding rock formations and one or two pieces of coal. The next day, we started searching the smaller caves. As Sol and I explored, we heard a couple of bats, but they weren’t enough evidence. As we looked further and further from the top, we found amazing underwater caves, stalactites, stalagmites, diamonds… and even emeralds! Gems? Well that wasn’t going to help our cause. As we entered a gigantic cave on the last day, all hope seemed to be lost.
Suddenly, a shadow caught our eyes. We slowly turned around and saw red scales that seemed to be glowing and orange eyes staring right at us. The dragon turned to walk away, before waving its tail at us.
‘I think it wants us to follow,’ I whispered.
Sol nodded and we followed the beast. It led us to a wall, before pushing a boulder to the side. The boulder had been hiding an amethyst cave. There seemed to be paths in this cave, lined with amethyst shards. Clusters of glowing red amethyst were suspended from the ceiling. The mighty creature showed us to a ‘room’ off the main path. Unlike the smooth walls of the main cave, there were cracks (at regular intervals) in the walls. The dragon strode toward a crack at the very back and pulled something out of it. As soon as I glimpsed a fossilised insect in the orange gem, I knew it was amber.
‘Will this help you save the cliffs?’
‘Yes,’ Sol said, taking the sphere. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Flame,’ the dragon replied. ‘Sky, Sol, you’d better hurry: the sun’s setting.’
‘How do you know our names?’ I asked.
‘I’ve been watching you,’ Flame said.
He accompanied us out of the cave. The dragon lay down on the beach and said:
‘Get on.’
We climbed aboard and Flame flew us to the forest just on the edge of town.
‘Go! I’ll wait here.’
Thanking Flame, Sol and I ran to the miners’ camp. Terror Necro Tray was waiting.
‘Come to sign my contract?’
‘No,’ Sol said, holding up the amber. ‘One explosion and handfuls of amber and fossils would be destroyed.’
‘There is a museum in town and you have arrived at the last minute; how do I know you haven’t borrowed this from the museum?’
‘Check with the museum manager,’ Sol said. ‘But until you do, postpone your mining operation.
The following afternoon, our door was being hammered on.
‘Terror?’ I asked Sol.
Sol went to the window and said: ‘A defeated one I’d guess.’
Sol opened the door and Terror handed each of us a card.
‘As a reward for us failing to get your permission, most of the locals have forced me and my miners to give you these.’
Turning round, Terror stomped away.
Then, I read my card:
Dear Sky,
You are invited to a party in honour of you and Sol at 3pm in the town centre.
From,
The people of Cliffern
I looked at the clock and realised it was quarter to.
Sol and I got out and started running to the town. We arrived just as the town was gathering. There were four long tables round the central fountain. The first was full of food (with a cake in the middle), while the second had drinks from orange juice to hot chocolate. The third table was full of shells the guests could buy. Last but not least, the fourth table housed gifts the town had got for us. After the whole town had gathered, we started the party by having a meal, and Sol made hot chocolate. Afterwards, the museum manager asked if he could take our picture. Once he had taken it, the manager explained he would add it to the town’s Hall of Heroes. Finally, the blacksmith presented us with Cliffern Medals of Heroism. Once we got home, we noticed two glowing red amethyst crystals on our doorstep. Thanks, Flame, I thought.