The Magic Saber

Since I couldn't think of anything else to post today, I decided to give you a story I wrote. This story was requested by my cousins Oliver, (age 8) and Colin, (age 7). Here's how it happened:

One day while I was baby-sitting them they asked me, "Rebekah, tell us a story!"
I smiled. "Ok, what do you want the story to be about?"
They thought for a minute, and then all at the same time said: "Us! And have us fighting pirates! On a ship! With a parrot!"

So, that's how "The Magic Saber" came to be a story. Of course, I used different names, in fact, let's see if you can figure out who is who in this story. I'll give you a hint: I am also one of the character's.

Without further ado:

 The Magic Saber

 

Written By: Rebekah Eddy

 

Dedicated to: My cousins, Oliver and Colin Olson; for their active imaginations and love of adventure.

 

Chapter One:

Once upon a time, not long ago or in a country far away, there lived three children. Their names were Luke, John, and Emily. Emily was the oldest at age fifteen, and loved history. Luke was next oldest, he was eight and he loved anything that had to do with battles or weapons of any kind. Then there was John, age six; he loved a great many things, but mostly he liked to follow along in his older siblings footsteps.

One of their many adventures began when one day, while the trio was visiting their grandparents; Luke decided to explore the attic. Now, you must understand, this attic was not a clean, organized attic, but a delightfully old and dusty one. It was full to overflowing with queer things, and usually the children spent most of their time looking through the various boxes and chests.

This was what Luke was doing when he suddenly came across a chest he had never seen before. It was covered in decades of dust, and its lock was rusty. He tried to move it, but it remained where it was; not so much as moving an inch. Luke again applied all his eight-year-old muscles to moving it, but was rewarded only with a slight groan of complaint. He frowned thoughtfully, and tried a different method. Instead of moving it, he put himself to opening it. After several minutes of sweaty work with a bent nail on the lock, he succeeded, and opened the lid.

It gave in at last, and creaked open, revealing a sword of some kind. Now thoroughly confused, Luke sat back on his heels to contemplate this. What was an old sword doing up in his grandparents attic? It puzzled him, and he was still thinking heavily on the matter when John’s head popped around the door.

“Hey, what are you doing up here?” he asked. Luke jumped with surprise, and he spun around.

“Oh, it’s just you!” he exclaimed. “Look what I found!” John came over and looked over his shoulder at the sword.

“What is it?” he asked.

Luke shrugged. “I think it’s a type of sword, but I’m not sure. Let’s go see if Emily knows.” Quickly, the two boys dashed down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of Emily. She was engrossed in a book at the moment, and it took a few polite coughs to get her attention. She looked up, and smiled.

“Alright, what do you need?” she asked, uncorking a flow of questions from Luke and John.

“Can we show you something?” “We’re not sure what it is.” “It looks like a sword or something.” “Can you come?” “Please?” Emily held out her hands to stop the questioning.

“Hold on you guys!” she laughed. “Ok, Luke, you tell me about it.” In as few words as possible, Luke told Emily about his find. She leaned forward in her chair excitedly, and once he was done, she agreed to see the thing they found. Wasting no time, they went back into the attic and Luke showed her the sword. Emily picked it up carefully and looked at it. After a while, she spoke.

“It’s not exactly a sword…” she began, “It’s a saber, like what pirates would fight with.” Luke exchanged a glance with John. Pirates? It sounded exciting. Emily suddenly gasped and looked at the boys, her eyes gleaming. Wordlessly, she pointed to the handle of the saber, and Luke leaned over to investigate. He frowned, there was some sort of inscription on it, but he couldn’t read it.

“What does it say?” he asked.

Emily grinned. “It says:

‘Whosoever picks me up, to find a treasure hidden deep,

These few words will do the spell,

And then, when found, the treasures keep.’”

She paused. “Then there’s a few lines of words beneath that must be the spell. I suppose we should say them out loud.” Luke and John nodded, so they held their hands together, and Emily said the spell:

“Away, away, take ye us; away back to your home.

And then, when treasures found, back to ours we’ll come.”

There was a rush of air that caused them to shut their eyes tightly, and they felt themselves spinning dizzily.

Suddenly all was still. Luke opened his eyes and blinked once. Then he blinked again, but he still couldn’t believe his eyes.