Young Writers Society

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

Emmett

I was ready when Meave returned. I was going to go next. Every time I'd tried, though, someone would say so before me. I spoke fast, right when she came back to my side.

"I'll go next." I said, raising my hand to the lever of my ear. The instructor just nodded, and gestured to the platform as if to say 'go right ahead'.

I walked onto the platform steadily, hoping I would be a dragon rider. I closed my eyes and bowed. For a while, nothing happened, but then there was a huge thud on the ground. I could feel the flat surface beneath me shake, and there were a few gasps from the people watching. I opened my eyes, only to see another pair staring back at me. I didn't look at anything but the eyes. There were piercing black, and amazing.

After about ten seconds, the dragon pounded off the ground and into the sky. I didn't move for a second, in awe of the dragon, but then I got up and was to Meave's side in a millisecond. That had been such a rush, and a worry. I wasn't sure if I was going to be a rider or not, but I was just glad to be by her again.

~Maeve~

I watched Emmett return to my side,talking was getting easier, but i still had to fight off butterflies everytime he looked at me. I smiled, wondering if he felt the same way I did when he met eyes with his dragon. Only a few were left, and we needed to get settled into the place where we would be staying.

I played with my ring, my mother had given me at her death bed. The ring of silver centered with a teal stone, slid off my finger into the dirt path. The shine in my eyes faded, I got on my knees, and searched through the sand and leaves. No luck. My eyes were now filled with tears, but i held them back from falling. I couldn't lose the ring!

~Allon

"Here you go." Allon knelt down and handed the stone to the blonde haired girl. She blinked at him and a tear slid down her eye.

"Thanks, I don't know what I would've done without it." She smiled.

Allon smiled and said, "Oh it was no problem at all." He turned to leave but stopped, "Nice job back there with the dragon thing."

Maeve smiled and looked as if she was about to say something back but Instructor Bofus interrupted. "ALRIGHT! THAT BE THE LAST OF THE FIRST DAY. WE'LL MAKE CAMP AND START UP FRESH TOMORROW."

Bofus led them further down the mountain and into the forest. Those that had met their dragons followed in a daze behind the other's who had yet to have the experience. The cadets set up camp on a lower area at the base of the mountain. They all lined up in front of Bofus to await instructions.

"ALRIGHT YOU AND YOU," he pointed at Tiaan and Kassie "GO LOOK FOR FIRE WOOD."

"Yes!" Tiann jumped estatically "Isn't this gonna be fun?!" Kassie barely had time to respond before she was pulled away by the other girl. Bofus moved on to the next two.

"YOU TWO," he pointed at Maeve and Emmit "YOU WILL BE COLLECTING FIREWOOD ALSO." Some of the students giggled and the two of them blushed. Bofus moved on though and finally his eyes landed on Allon.

"YOU'RE GOING TO GO WITH..." Bofus staired down the line of left over cadets. His eyes wondered past the violent girl who Allon remembered was named Blake. Thank God! He didn't need another beating. Unfortunately, Bofus's next choice wasn't any better for him. "HER, YOU'LL REMAIN HERE, DIG THE PIT, AND STACK THE WOOD." He pointed at the red haired girl from the ship. Allon had asked Kassie what her name was she said she was called Jocasta. Jocasta didn't seem so happy about it either.

"NOW, THEN YOU TWO," Bofus said stopping in front of the two other remaining cadets. "WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

"My name's Blake," said the girl "and his name's..."

"Manatar...erm..sir."

"AYE, YOU TWO ARE WITH ME. LET'S GO."

After Bofus and the two other cadets left Allon turned to Jocasta and grabed a shovel. "Okay," he said "Shall we get to work?"

* Alright, I tried to include everyone in this post!*

Jocasta Redwolf:

Grinning, I pointed to the ground, said, "You're doing the work. I"m going to watch." And then crossed my arms over my chest. He stared at me for a second before dropping the shovel.

"No way," he said and pointed towards the shovel. "That's not fair at all."

I smirked, watching him. I remembered what his family had done to mine, how I had lost everything. "Nope. It's fair. Now. Go on, little fox. Dig."

The Aymir boy narrowed his gaze at me. "You...." He sighed and shook his head, bending over to pick up the shovel. "Jocasta..."

I flinched and turned my back on him. "I"m going to be over here," I said and walked off a few paces to stare after the others. What the hell was that stupid old man thinking? Unless he knew... I sighed and turned around, moving back to the boy's side.

"Fine," I muttered and picked up the other shovel. "I'll help."

We worked in silence until he looked up and watched me. "I'm Allon."

"I don't care," I hissed and got back to work. Allon sighed, apparently giving up.

Moved!

Moved !

hey Pudnit you can move these posts to the discussion thread. And I'll delete the one's I did kay?

~Allon

It only took them twenty minutes to finish digging the pit. The work was hard and they were both completely drenched afterwards. By then some of the other cadets had already returned and dropped off their collection of wood before returning to the forest. Maeve and Emmit were two of the firsts.

"Hey, you two!" Jocasta greeted, something in her voice told Allon that she knew something about them he didn't. Even in the dim light of the setting sun he could see them blush. When they walked off he noticed they were holding hands. Allon didn't know why but for some reason that bothered him.

"Aren't they cute together?" Jocasta beamed dreamily. Allon didn't reply immediately but started stacking the wood.

"We need to hurry it's getting dark soon." Jocasta glared at him.

"You're such an unromantic little Fox."

"Yeah, well, you be romantic and I'll start us a fire before we get cold!"

Jocasta sighed and gave him a hand. By the time the sun fully set they started the fire and were seated in front of it.
They sat quietly not having anything to say to eachother. Jocasta was the first to break the silence.

"Hey," she started.

"Yeah?" Allon looked up.

"Umm, well...what was it like?"

Allon stared at her. "What was what like?"

"You know! Meeting your Dragon."

Allon scratched his head. He hadn't expected that kind of question out of her. He must have been giving her a strange look too because her face turned color.

"Never mind!" she growled and shifted her position so she no longer faced him. Allon laughed.

"You're cute when your irritated."

"Shut up!" she shot back. Allon laughed some more but didn't say anything. He let the silence hang for a moment before he spoke.

"It's weird. It's like before I met him--my Dragon--I didn't know that I was missing something important. But when he came down and looked me in the eyes that missing part of me was filled."

"Wow..."Jocasta said. She didn't seem capable of finding any other words.

"Hey Guys!!" came the loud sing-song voice as Tiaan bounded into the clearing. She was a lot stronger than Allon he noticed she was carrying a huge stack of fire wood. Kassie came into the fire light not far behind her carrying her own small stack.

"Hi" said her quiet voice.

"Hey," Allon patted a spot near the fire "have a seat."

~Kassie~

I laughed silently, putting the wood down and going to sit next to Allon. He was nice, and he had managed to do something normally no one could do. He had made me smile on the first day I met him. He was from place I was from, so maybe there was a connection or something. I didn't know, but I shook that thought away, not looking at him. Instead, I rested my eyes on Maeve and Emmett, who seemed to bonding well. I smiled at her when she caught me looking, and she smiled back. I could tell we would be friends, but I was shy at first, so I hoped she was good at communicating. From the looks of it, she was.

I laughed aloud to my own thought, while others talked and laughed themselves. Someone had got a fire started, and we were all warming up in a tight circle. Maeve was on the opposite side of the circle from me, but I could have still talked at a normal voice and she would have been able to hear me.

I looked down at the locket on a chain around my ankle. Most people kept them around their necks, something about keeping them close to your heart. There, you wouldn't be able to tell if it fell of, but when it's on my ankle, I feel it, the same way I feel my family. Symbolic, you could call it. I opened it, looking at the tiny picture of my last family. Of course they weren't my real family, but they were the only people that cared about me. I was an orphan, my tale unknown to even me. I closed it, looking up at Allon, who had been looking at it to. I smiled sweetly, feeling my face flood with heat, and I knew it would be bright red.

Emmett

As we ran back into the woods, our hands met. We both immediately pulled away. I could feel a small, crooked smile on my face, and I could tell I was blushing. Good thing it was dark. I hoped no one had seen that.

We returned back to camp for the second time with more wood. The fire was already going. I sat next to Allon, and Meave sat next to Kassie, who was on his other side. It felt like we already had a little circle of friends. Tiaan was sort of in it, but I wasn't as close to her as the other three. It was good to have friends, since I normally wasn't good at making them.

Finally, everyone one back at the camp, sitting around the fire. We were all laughing together, and it felt...nice. I hadn't really felt that complete before. I mean, when I met my dragon, I felt more complete than usual, but now I had friends. They were like family to me.

"So," Allon said, flickering on a flashlight, "who wants to tell ghost stories?" We laughed. His face looked odd, the way the light shone on it. It was kind of funny. He took that as a yes and began the first story. I wasn't that big a fan of scary stories, but I didn't want to back out and seem like a scaredy-cat. I decided I'd just deal with it.

~Allon

"You guys really want me to tell scary story cause it's pretty scary and it's true." Allon enticed. And everyone nodded in agreement--even Jocasta.

"Yeah come on don't hold out on us!" Tiaan chided.

"OKay, this is a story retold over and over in Aymeeth. It's a tale of two lovers..."

As Allon told the story he lowered and raised his pitch at different points in the story to add effect. He was a good story teller and good at talking in front of others. It was the tale of a family where the husband and wife had married outside of their class. The husband was easily jealous and convinced that his wife was cheating on him with an upper class man even though they had a four year old son. So, one night while the son was out the husband cooked dinner for the wife and slipped poison into her wine glass. Then when his wife died he burried her in the back yard so she could never be found. The husband paced back and forth all night wondering how his son would respond once he realized his mother was dead.But when the boy returned home he didn't seem to notice. For a week, the husband waited wondering if the boy would say anything about his missing mother. But the boy said nothing. Finally the husband couldn't take waiting any longer so one night while that sat at the dinner table he asked the boy "Aren't you curious about where your mother is?"
The boy quietly stared at his father before he answered "What do you mean father? Mother's been standing behind you this whole time..."

When Allon finished his story his classmates stared at him in silence. A cold wind picked up and flickered the flame.No one said a word. Then suddenly Tiaan stood. "Did you hear that?"

They all listened intently. "Yeah, I hear it!" Emmit yelled "someone's coming towards us." All of them huddled close to the fire--except Tiaan who drew her sword and stood in front of them.

Allon smiled at Kassie "Don't worry Tiaan's scarier than anything out there."

"I heard that!" Tiaan growled. They waited imagining all kinds of ghosts and ghouls that might walk into the fire light but did not expect the two cadets that appeared instead.

"Blake!" Tiaan yelled as she leaped over and gave the other girl a hug. The quiet Manatar entered the firelight also not far behind.

"That bloody instructor!" Blake complained once she'd shaken off Tiaan's choke hold grip. "He's stranded us here!"

"What? " Jumped up to greet her. "Why?" Blake rolled her eyes.

"Why?" she said "I dono, the guy's bloody mad!!" Manatar dropped a huge bundle of bags he'd been carrying. Allon smirked. The guy may have been quiet but he was extremely strong. He was carrying enough sleeping bags and equipment for all of them.
Blake pointed at the bags and said,"He atleast left us this stuff. It's not much but it's enough for spending the night out here. He said tomorrow we're to return to the top of the mountain and he'll be waiting there for us."

"Where'd he go?" Emmet asked.

"Probably back to his warm room in the academy," Blake spat and sat down next to the fire looking pretty angry.

Allon sighed as he sat back down next to Kassie. "Well...I guess since everyone's here. We should tell something about ourselves."

~Kassie~

I didn't like the idea of telling my story. I shook my head, but was ignored by a bunch of yea's. I sighed, leaning back on the rolled up sleeping bag behind me, pulling my legs to my chest. Allon was smiling at me like a maniac, probably anxious to hear something about me.

"Why don't you go first?" he asked, proving my theory. I shook my head, thinking of nothing to say.

"I'll go last. Why don't you go first?" I suggested.

~Maeve~

I sighed, looking down at the ring i nearly lost, that Allon had found. I was trying not to pay attention to the stories being told, I didn't like scary stories at all. I grabbed a sleeping bag, and silently walked to the closest thing to resemble an empty field. I unrolled the sleeping bag, and sat inside it, thinking.

It took a few hours for me to sort everything out in my mind, but once i did, I was pleased. I was now on my back, facing the sky, then I noticed. It was nearly pitch black, the only light was the stars and the full moon. My heart was now beating faster, and my nerves were flooding my senses. I couldn't move, and at that moment, anything would scare me. I forced my self to keep my scream inside, I didn't want to seem like a baby,but right now, i didn't really care.

This is torture! I thought. I was freezing, terrified, and my thoughts were jumbled all over again. I bit my lip and a tear rolled down my cheek. Leaves rustled, and twigs broke, I couldn't hold it back anymore, I screamed, so loud, i gave myself a headache, and the scream echoed through the forest.

Blake

I sighed. "Since no one else seems to want to, I'll start."

I swallowed. "When I was ten years old, my father tried to kill me." There were gasps. I shushed them all with an impatient wave of my hand. "See, I had been growing my hair out. Last time we docked, one of the guys on deck couldn't stop blabbering about some girl with pretty blonde curls and an hourglass figure, who wore silks and jewels..." I choked up.

"I knew I would never be one of those girls. I was just the pirate's daughter, who was too violent and had no patience. So I decided I would at least try. Well, one day my father came in while I was trying... don't laugh, or I swear I'll kill you... I was trying to figure out how all those pretty girls in town just seemed to glide, y'know? So He turned to me and started yelling. 'Your mother wanted to be a proper lady,' he said, 'And she decided life on the seas was too messy. So she left you here with me, and ran off to be with some duke. Now you're going to be just like her, won't you? Rejected, penniless, ridiculed, and dead.'"

I tried not to cry. I had never gotten over that night.

"And then he came at me, with his gun drawn. It was new- some invention from the west- and he pressed it against my ribcage until I swore that I would take pride in what I was. That night I sheared off my hair, and I have been ever since. See, that's why I'm like this." My breath caught, and I struggled to breathe for a second. "I can't be bubbly. I can't be sweet and pretty and nice. If I was, I'd be my mother. And I never, ever want to be like that wretch."

I turned to Allon. "Y'know why I hate you?"

"Because I'm from Aymeeth?"

"Because the man that had an affair with my mother, then exposed her to the public, pushed her onto the streets, and stripped her of her money and left her to die was one of you." I spat out the last word.

I ducked my head and turned away from the light so no one could see the one angry tear that spilled over.

Emmett

I heard a scream from where I saw Meave disappear, and I immediately got up and ran to her.

"What happened? What's wrong?" I asked quickly. She was just lying there, crying. I relaxed, and laid down beside her, looking up at the stars.

"I...c-c-can't...t-t-take it!" she said through gritted teeth.

"Ssh." Calm down. It's okay. What are you worried about?" I said, trying to calm her down.

"It's freezing, dark, and all around terrifying!" she said. I didn't know what to do, what to say. I just laid there, and eventually, she fell asleep.

I walked back into the camp, where Blake had just finished telling everyone about her past. From the looks on all their faces, it was pretty harsh. I didn't really want to share my past, so I just listened to everyone else as they told theirs. I knew that Allon was going to make me, though, so I figured I'd just leave when everyone else was done. Then again, knowing Allon and Tiaan, they'd probably find a way to get me to talk. I decided not to think about that. I'd worry about it when it came up.