Young Writers Society

Chapter 1 ; Even Stars must Fall

Miss Musgrave, could you please share with the class what you find so extremely fascinating about the back of Mr. Browns head?’

Cassandra started, awaking from her reverie, blushed and then stared intently at the maths book in front of her. A chorus of suppressed giggles erupted from behind her as she sank down further in the seat. She cast a cautious glance at the aged clock on the wall in front of her. Its ancient hands, once black and shiny, had now been reduced to a murky grey, weighed down with dust and grime. From its perch over the tainted, dull blackboard it had a detailed view of its surroundings -the colourless charts suspended precariously on the walls, the tattered schoolbooks decorated with expressions like “Smile once in a while” and “ Ann loves ?? 4ever” and, of course, the students seated at orderly lines of desks all wearing the same uninterested expressions on their faces. Mr. Doyle, the maths teacher, was rattling away about advanced algebra when, suddenly, the bell rang. His final sentence was drowned out by the clattering of desks, chairs and school bags. Cassandra waited, packing her books away slowly before trudging out the door and into the hallway beyond.

She hadn’t gotten far before the patter of footsteps tottered up behind her.

“ Cass, hey Cass - he-llo!”

A tall blond girl waved her hand animatedly in front of Cassandra’s face, almost skimming the top of her nose. Cass blinked.

“ Oh, hi Liz, sorry I didn’t see you there!” she spluttered.

Liz smiled and flicked a strand of stray hair away from her face. As they walked side by side the differences between them were obvious; Liz tall and charismatic almost dwarfed her friend who was small and glum looking. Cass pulled her hand through her thick, black hair.

“ Bad day?” Liz questioned, carefully scrutinising her little friend.

Cassandra sighed and related the occurrence in the maths room.

“Ooh, embarrassing huh. Still, nothing could top science remember? It took a month for that patch of hair to grow back!”

It wasn’t long before Liz had Cass in fits of laughter and a happy smile crossed her face as she made her way home.

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Far away deep in the centre of a wood a meeting was about to commence. The large stone circle which loomed in the centre of the wood was glowing a golden orange as a large bonfire crackled and sparked in its centre. A ghostlike silence reined making the large oak trees seem even more foreboding. Slowly eerie figures started to emerge from the dense undergrowth. Their eyes, hidden under dark green cloaks, seemed to dart to and fourth from under their shadowy hoods. When the area around this stone circle was filled a hushed muttering began. Suddenly one of the hooded ones stepped forward into the clearing. They slowly raised their hand to the hood covering their face and lowered it. The muttering stopped abruptly as the light from the fire illuminated her striking features; her dark eyes and straight black hair which fell almost to her waist, tinted only by a grey streak which shadowed her left eye. She raised her hands.

“Sisters,” she cried. Her voice pierced the darkness shattering the calm serenity. A barn owl screeched in the distance.

“ From the beginning of time we, the Witches of the White Coven, have protected the world from the destruction of the dark magic. Yet again our task has been threatened. Our nemesis’s, the dark sorcerers have attacked and murdered some of our coven killing them without mercy.”

Gasps echoed throughout the clearing as the witches shuddered and recoiled at her words. Death was inevitable but death by a sorcerer’s hand was something which no witch whished to ever experience.

“Our task is clear!” cried the head witch. “ War is our only hope! Our comrades the centaurs, and the vampires and werewolves of the east have agreed to help us in our plight…”

Suddenly there was a thundering sound of hooves in the distance. The ground shook as hundreds of small animals and deer fled in terror from an invisible force. A look of dread flashed across the faces of all the witches. The head witch looked up utter revulsion etched on her face. In the distance a cry was heard:

“Trolls!”

Suddenly the clearing was surrounded. Trolls, massive creatures, couldn’t be described as the most attractive of beings. Their wrinkly mouldy lemon coloured skin sagged in the places where it wasn’t covered in warts, and their tattered rags which served as clothes smelled like rotten eggs. Immediately the senior witches gathered, linking hands, and began to utter incantations in solemn, chanting voices. Elsewhere there was pandemonium. The younger witches panicked, fleeing into the woods around them where high-pitched screams were now chorusing. Some less startled witches had tried to conjure a paeinaer charm to shield them selves only to be struck down by the trolls’ fists. Something was blocking their magic.

The trolls battered their way through the masses of witches, trampling determinedly towards the circle of witches in the centre of the clearing. Their bestial roars echoed through the hearts of the terrified witches turning them cold. Suddenly a troll burst through the lines of witches and came to the circle of senior witches. They did not move, even look up at the terrifying figure looming above them. The troll raised his fist to strike the fatal blow to the alpha witch. Suddenly he was flung backward, high into the air and landed, impaled on a tree. Groups of trolls gathered now, fighting the invisible shield surrounding the witches. The witches only chanted louder - ignoring the trolls as they battled and then were hurled back into the woods. Suddenly one of the witches opened her eyes to see a warty, yellow fist come suddenly towards her. She let out a startled cry and broke the link with her coven sisters. The shield was broken and she was the first to fall. The alpha witch opened her enigmatic eyes and surveyed the battlefield around her as a large club came plummeting towards her. A brief spark flickered in her eyes as the large club came down on her dark form- and she smiled brazenly menancingly at her attacker.......