The kingdom was huge. And I mean huge huge. It was bigger than a city. Maybe twice the size of one. The buildings were all made of stone, and the castle glittered like jewels in the sunlight. A wall looped all around the perimeter of the castle and town that we could see. A moat surrounding the wall was half-way filled with water, and I think I caught a few glimpses of silver flashing pelts in there. A giant drawbridge sat undrawn at the gate.
Emmeline was the first to talk.
“There must be someone who can get us out of here in that place,” she said, nodding at the kingdom. “Like a wizard or a magic man in there.”
“Magic man?” Deetya snorted. “More like magik man.”
We all glared at her in unison.
“Now’s not the time for jokes,” Jonna snapped at her.
Deetya held out her hands. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”
I stared out at the kingdom. “Do you think we’ll be allowed to get in there? Maybe there will be security guards that check people’s Magik Citizen IDs,” I said. If there are, then we might as well give up. There’s no way we could fight a security guard.
An uncomfortable silence stretched out between us as we thought.
“Well, let’s go find out,” Emmeline said at last.
We climbed down the hill. I grabbed a branch for balance as I stepped down an especially steep part, when Deetya let out a yelp. She screamed as she crashed into me. I let go of the branch and shouted, “Watch out, Emmeline!” as we tumbled towards her in a heap of arms and legs.
Emmeline turned towards us at the last second, and her eyes widened as we bumped into her, causing the three of us to roll into Jonna, who was almost at the bottom of the hill.
As we fell, I only saw a blur of grass and trees and sky. My ears popped with the sounds of our yelps. (Especially Deetya, who was screaming bloody murder.)
The power of our tumble caused us to roll all the way down the hill. When we stopped, I let out a groan of pain and realized how close we were to the moat. Letting out a yelp, I rolled backwards.
If we had rolled two more feet, it would be a long fall into the moat since it was only half-way filled and, now that I had a closer look, had hippos in them.
“Careful,” I warned my friends unnecessarily.
Jonna got up, moaning like she would never stop. Deetya was still
screaming for some reason. Emmeline was peeking over the edge into the water.
I shook Deetya’s shoulder. “Deetya, we’ve stopped rolling,” I said.
“AHHHHH!!!!” she replied.
“Step on her,” Jonna suggested, rubbing her head.
I raised my foot threateningly. “Deetya, I’m going to ruin your new dress,” I warned.
That worked pretty well. Deetya jumped to her feet and shouted, “Beware, beast!” And tried to punch me.
“DEETYA! IT’S ME!” I said.
“Oh.” Deetya squinted at me. “Soo-ree. Mom says I need glasses, and I thought you were the monster in my nightmares when I was five.”
I rolled my eyes. But then I stopped short. “Wait—where did Emmeline go?” I asked.
Jonna blinked. “She was just next to me!” she exclaimed.
“EMMELINE!?!” I screamed. “WHERE ARE YOU?!?”
“Over here!” I saw a figure in the distance, crouching behind a giant rock. She was really far away, so she must’ve ran over there.
“Come on!” I said, taking Deetya’s hand and dragging her along with me. I didn’t want to lose anyone else, and I didn’t trust Deetya to work an advanced shower, let alone not get lost in a brand new kingdom we don’t even know.
Soon, I saw Emmeline, peeking over the rock.
“Emmeline! You scared the hell out of me! How did you get here so fast?” I asked, babbling out my questions like tongue twisters.
“Shh! Or else they’ll hear you!” Emmeline hissed at me.
“Who?” Jonna asked, lowering her volume.
“The guards over there,” she replied, pointing to two armored guards sitting under the shade of a scrawny tree. One of them was bulky and big, while the other one was much smaller. The lever for the drawbridge sat next to them. It looked like it was portable, so they probably took it in at night.
“I don’t know why Boss sent us to do this work,” Bulk Man complained. “We didn’t mess up in our training! And know we have to skip the party.”
Small Man sighed. “At least we’re not feeding the hippos.” He shook his head sadly. “Poor Hector probably lost an arm already.”
Emmeline pulled us down. “Okay guys. Do you see the plan?” she said, as if “the plan” was obvious.
Deetya, who was too busy tying her oh-so-important shoe to pay attention, whipped her head upwards and asked, “Wha—what plan?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Emmeline, we don’t get it.”
I could tell Emmeline was trying very hard not to roll her eyes. “So we go over there and see we’re the next guards and that they go to the party. Our story? We were kids who messed up on something really badly and our mom decided we needed punishment, so ‘Boss’—whoever that is—sent us to take over the work.“
“Um…and then what?” Deetya asked.
I rolled my eyes. “And then we lower the drawbridge to get across to the kingdom.”
“But aren’t drawbridges supposed to be on the inside of the castle?” Jonna asked Emmeline.
“Maybe they’re on both sides,” I said.
Deetya was frowning. “Do you think they’ll believe us?”
“You could probably hear how desperate they were,” I said. “We tell them not to ask too many questions, say the Boss wasn’t very convinced that we could handle it, so they better not press him on it, and say they can go to the party.”
“I guess that works,” Deeya said, convinced.
I grinned. Time to put our plan into action!
We walked over to the guards, our heads bowed, hands in pockets. After trudging over to the guards, I mumbled, “The Boss sent us to replace you.”
Bulk Man laughed. “Ya sure? A buncha…kids?” Small Man chuckled along.
I glared at them. “Well, kids mess up. And mom told Boss and he sent us over as…as…discipline!”
“You guys messed up?” Bulk Man asked.
“Yeah, real bad,” Emmeline pretended to confess. “Don’t ask us about it.”
“Hmm…” Small Man shrugged. “Sorry guys, we can’t go.”
I gawked at them. Then I stopped immediately and played my trump card. “Don’t you have a party to go to?” I asked. “Boss said if we replace you, you guys can go to the party. But don’t press him on it. He’s not really convinced we can do it.” The guards are looking really convinced now.
“But we could always tell Boss that you guys didn’t want to—after we played,” Jonna added. “Come on, guys! Let’s go play in the woods!”
We began walking away when Bulk Man called us back. “Wait!” he barked.
We all looked back over our shoulders. “Yeah?” Deetya called.
“You can replace us!” he said.
We all shared a secret smile, but pretended to look disappointed as we shuffled back.
“Okay. Stay here. Anyone comes, tell them that we’re not opening until 9:00 at night,” Small Man said. Then they drawed the bridge, which made a shrieking sound louder than a dragon’s roar and they walked across. At the other end, they pulled the bridge up again.
I was almost shaking with excitement. Thank goodness they didn’t notice that we didn’t come from the inside of the castle, and instead the outside.
“We did it!” I said. “We’re almost home!”
I noticed a sign a few feet away from where we stood.
Emmeline was the first to talk.
“There must be someone who can get us out of here in that place,” she said, nodding at the kingdom. “Like a wizard or a magic man in there.”
“Magic man?” Deetya snorted. “More like magik man.”
We all glared at her in unison.
“Now’s not the time for jokes,” Jonna snapped at her.
Deetya held out her hands. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”
I stared out at the kingdom. “Do you think we’ll be allowed to get in there? Maybe there will be security guards that check people’s Magik Citizen IDs,” I said. If there are, then we might as well give up. There’s no way we could fight a security guard.
An uncomfortable silence stretched out between us as we thought.
“Well, let’s go find out,” Emmeline said at last.
We climbed down the hill. I grabbed a branch for balance as I stepped down an especially steep part, when Deetya let out a yelp. She screamed as she crashed into me. I let go of the branch and shouted, “Watch out, Emmeline!” as we tumbled towards her in a heap of arms and legs.
Emmeline turned towards us at the last second, and her eyes widened as we bumped into her, causing the three of us to roll into Jonna, who was almost at the bottom of the hill.
As we fell, I only saw a blur of grass and trees and sky. My ears popped with the sounds of our yelps. (Especially Deetya, who was screaming bloody murder.)
The power of our tumble caused us to roll all the way down the hill. When we stopped, I let out a groan of pain and realized how close we were to the moat. Letting out a yelp, I rolled backwards.
If we had rolled two more feet, it would be a long fall into the moat since it was only half-way filled and, now that I had a closer look, had hippos in them.
“Careful,” I warned my friends unnecessarily.
Jonna got up, moaning like she would never stop. Deetya was still
screaming for some reason. Emmeline was peeking over the edge into the water.
I shook Deetya’s shoulder. “Deetya, we’ve stopped rolling,” I said.
“AHHHHH!!!!” she replied.
“Step on her,” Jonna suggested, rubbing her head.
I raised my foot threateningly. “Deetya, I’m going to ruin your new dress,” I warned.
That worked pretty well. Deetya jumped to her feet and shouted, “Beware, beast!” And tried to punch me.
“DEETYA! IT’S ME!” I said.
“Oh.” Deetya squinted at me. “Soo-ree. Mom says I need glasses, and I thought you were the monster in my nightmares when I was five.”
I rolled my eyes. But then I stopped short. “Wait—where did Emmeline go?” I asked.
Jonna blinked. “She was just next to me!” she exclaimed.
“EMMELINE!?!” I screamed. “WHERE ARE YOU?!?”
“Over here!” I saw a figure in the distance, crouching behind a giant rock. She was really far away, so she must’ve ran over there.
“Come on!” I said, taking Deetya’s hand and dragging her along with me. I didn’t want to lose anyone else, and I didn’t trust Deetya to work an advanced shower, let alone not get lost in a brand new kingdom we don’t even know.
Soon, I saw Emmeline, peeking over the rock.
“Emmeline! You scared the hell out of me! How did you get here so fast?” I asked, babbling out my questions like tongue twisters.
“Shh! Or else they’ll hear you!” Emmeline hissed at me.
“Who?” Jonna asked, lowering her volume.
“The guards over there,” she replied, pointing to two armored guards sitting under the shade of a scrawny tree. One of them was bulky and big, while the other one was much smaller. The lever for the drawbridge sat next to them. It looked like it was portable, so they probably took it in at night.
“I don’t know why Boss sent us to do this work,” Bulk Man complained. “We didn’t mess up in our training! And know we have to skip the party.”
Small Man sighed. “At least we’re not feeding the hippos.” He shook his head sadly. “Poor Hector probably lost an arm already.”
Emmeline pulled us down. “Okay guys. Do you see the plan?” she said, as if “the plan” was obvious.
Deetya, who was too busy tying her oh-so-important shoe to pay attention, whipped her head upwards and asked, “Wha—what plan?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Emmeline, we don’t get it.”
I could tell Emmeline was trying very hard not to roll her eyes. “So we go over there and see we’re the next guards and that they go to the party. Our story? We were kids who messed up on something really badly and our mom decided we needed punishment, so ‘Boss’—whoever that is—sent us to take over the work.“
“Um…and then what?” Deetya asked.
I rolled my eyes. “And then we lower the drawbridge to get across to the kingdom.”
“But aren’t drawbridges supposed to be on the inside of the castle?” Jonna asked Emmeline.
“Maybe they’re on both sides,” I said.
Deetya was frowning. “Do you think they’ll believe us?”
“You could probably hear how desperate they were,” I said. “We tell them not to ask too many questions, say the Boss wasn’t very convinced that we could handle it, so they better not press him on it, and say they can go to the party.”
“I guess that works,” Deeya said, convinced.
I grinned. Time to put our plan into action!
We walked over to the guards, our heads bowed, hands in pockets. After trudging over to the guards, I mumbled, “The Boss sent us to replace you.”
Bulk Man laughed. “Ya sure? A buncha…kids?” Small Man chuckled along.
I glared at them. “Well, kids mess up. And mom told Boss and he sent us over as…as…discipline!”
“You guys messed up?” Bulk Man asked.
“Yeah, real bad,” Emmeline pretended to confess. “Don’t ask us about it.”
“Hmm…” Small Man shrugged. “Sorry guys, we can’t go.”
I gawked at them. Then I stopped immediately and played my trump card. “Don’t you have a party to go to?” I asked. “Boss said if we replace you, you guys can go to the party. But don’t press him on it. He’s not really convinced we can do it.” The guards are looking really convinced now.
“But we could always tell Boss that you guys didn’t want to—after we played,” Jonna added. “Come on, guys! Let’s go play in the woods!”
We began walking away when Bulk Man called us back. “Wait!” he barked.
We all looked back over our shoulders. “Yeah?” Deetya called.
“You can replace us!” he said.
We all shared a secret smile, but pretended to look disappointed as we shuffled back.
“Okay. Stay here. Anyone comes, tell them that we’re not opening until 9:00 at night,” Small Man said. Then they drawed the bridge, which made a shrieking sound louder than a dragon’s roar and they walked across. At the other end, they pulled the bridge up again.
I was almost shaking with excitement. Thank goodness they didn’t notice that we didn’t come from the inside of the castle, and instead the outside.
“We did it!” I said. “We’re almost home!”
I noticed a sign a few feet away from where we stood.
