Another day, another great story cooked up by the young people of Northamptonshire. Today I visited the libraries in Thrapston, Rushden and Irthlingborough. I gave the first group the option of carrying on the story started by the young people in the group of libraries I visited on Monday, or starting a fresh one of their own. They chose to do a new story. Once again, they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve called it:

SHADOW PORTAL

As soon as Elaine entered the trees she could feel her anger begin to drain away. The crisp greenness of the leaves swallowed her in a sea of calm, and the damp, earthy smell of the forest made the day to day trivia of being a princess seem a world away.

Riding on Erillion made her feel truly alive. The rhythm of his footfall, the smell of his sweat rising from his strong back and the sense of freedom that she felt when on his back all combined to make riding him her favourite pastime. Even though the sun had set and the shadows were lengthening, the warm Spring evening tempted her to be just a little reckless. Heedless of her father’s warnings about the forest, Elaine pressed on, delighting in the growing distance between her and the castle.

Erillion danced nervously as he weaved between the trees. Reaching down, Elaine patted his neck.

‘It’s OK, boy,’ she said, her voice soft and calming. ‘Don’t be scared.’

Something moved ahead, flitting and fluttering in and out of the branches. A sudden High-pitched screech split the air. Startled, Elaine eased back on the reins, slowing Erillion almost to a halt.

‘Oh it’s only a bat,’ she whispered, chiding herself as much as the horse. ‘Let’s not get spooked over nothing.’

A path seemed to be opening up ahead. Elaine steered Erillion along it, drawn by the bubbling sound of water in the distance ahead. Just the sound of the stream made her mouth feel dry and, glancing down, she could see that her horse had foam around his lips. A drink would be more than welcome, she thought.

With a gentle kick to encourage him, Erillion broke into a trot and they threaded through the trees faster, looking ahead for the water they could hear so clearly. The trees to either side of the path thinned, opening into a wide clearing. The stream was at the far side, but as they moved to cross the open space, Elaine sensed something in the air that made her hesitate.

She didn’t see it at first, for it was not very big. A strange shimmer, distorting the air like a heat haze. But this was no illusion. The blur was little bigger than her fist. It was hovering in the air at about chest height and constantly moving in a slow, vertical circle.

‘What’s that?’ she wondered, curiosity pulling at her mind with as strong a pull as the reins she used to guide her mount. The anomaly was irresistable. Thirsty though she was, she could not help herself. If she went for a drink first, it might disappear, never to be seen again.

Flipping her right leg over the saddle to join her left, she slid down Erillion’s side and ran to investigate. Erillion wandered on alone towards the stream. The blurry haze continued its slow circle as Elaine approached cautiously. She reached out to touch it, pausing just short as a sudden wave of icy fear raced through her body. Her hands began to tremble and uncontrollable shivers ran up and down her spine.

‘What IS that thing?’ she whispered aloud. ‘And why am I feeling so scared?’ She reached out again, but even as her fingertips approached the surface, the blur suddenly expanded and a hideous dragon-like head burst out from it, knocking her from her feet.

The creatures’s head was almost skeletal. It looked to be all scales, bone and horns. It’s scales were a deep crimson and its horns were twisted. A vicious row of spikes ran up its neck and a collar of spikes, joined by a thick membrane flared out from the back of its head. Elaine instinctively reached for her silver dagger, but she had no time to draw it as the dragon lunged towards her again.

For the briefest instant, Elaine felt sure she would be torn apart by the wicked teeth that filled the creatures mouth, but to her surprise, the creature did not strike. Instead it stopped a mere fingertip’s width from her, it’s eyes glowing with hypnotic power. Inside her head a whispering voice began to call her name over and over again.

‘Elaine … Elaine … Elaine. Follow me … follow me … follow me now!’

With the words still going round and round in her mind, the creature began to withdraw back into the strange portal. To her horror, Elaine suddenly discovered she had no choice but to follow. Her body was no longer hers to control. With slow, jerking movements she regained her feet and moved forwards. One step. Another. As she did so, the shimmer in the air expanded to meet her.

She felt empty inside, as if the creature had sucked all of her emotions from her body. No sooner had the haze swallowed her than it was as if the earth had been pulled from under her feet. Her stomach lurched up towards her throat as she fell, spinning out of control into a hazy void.

With a thud, she landed on hot, dust-covered rock and promptly vomited. She couldn’t help herself. The fall and the sudden overwhelming smell of dead, rotting animals combined with the stench of rotten eggs turned her stomach.

Dust and hot ash filled the air. She wiped her lips with the back of her sleeve smearing the mucky mix of vomit and gritty dust across the soft material.

‘Where am I?’ she breathed, coughing as the dusty air began to tickle and burn at the back of her throat.

The landscape was bizarre, and unlike anything she had ever imagined in her wildest dreams. Gone was the forest of green and the cool stream. Now she was sitting on the side of a volcano with a large cave looming behind her like a gigantic open mouth. Thoughts of the dragon creature and its strange, hypnotic call suddenly filled her mind. Why was she here? Why had the creature not killed her instantly?

A distant roar made her heart leap. Further down the rocky slope, two enormous skeletal beasts were facing up for a fight. One had great plates of boney armour all over its body, with what looked like great random shaped sheets of bone sticking up in a line along its back. The other stood tall on enormous hind legs. It was hard to get a sense of scale at this distance, but both creatures looked to be at least five times the size of Erillion …

The young people at Daventry Library decided to add a bit more to this story today, but it would be great to see an ending or two for this story. Have a go and send one. I’d love to see your ending.

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