Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Write something suitable for CHILDREN (05/31/07)
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TITLE: The Defeat of Mentano | Previous Challenge Entry
By
06/06/07 -
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She touched the sword that had given her the inspiration, and she felt a shock, as if it was alive. Perhaps the words her father had said about the sword, and this special book that went with it, were really true. She hoped so, for the mission she was about to embark upon was a dangerous one for a trained knight, let alone a princess of the realm. She quickly braided her long dark red hair into a plait, and slid into the boy’s riding clothes she kept hidden under her bed. Into a bag slung over her back, she threw the book, some bread and a skin of water. Her father’s sword she thrust through her belt. Within minutes Constanzin had saddled her mare and was off at a gallop towards the black forest where the dispirited armies of Perdana were camped.
A wizened old man came out of the cluster of silent tents to greet her. “Greetings, my child. I knew you would come to us. Have you brought the sword and the Book?”
Constanzin, confused by a lack of sleep and barely able to understand him, nodded. How could this rough old man know she would bring them?
Sagin continued, “When the words of the Book are spoken over this sword, the Sword of Veritas will find its mark every time. Your father had the sword, but the enemy Mentano had stolen the Book of Vitas the evening of the king’s death. The valiant warrior Tolleranzo recovered the Book and had it sent to the castle with the messenger. Tonight I will speak the words of the Book of Vitas over the sword, and tomorrow you will lead out the armies of Perdana.”
“Me? I am a princess, I am only a young woman…How can I fight this battle?” Constanzin felt her voice squeak in fear.
“Is it not so that you secretly have been fighting mock jousts with the stable lad these ten years?” Constanzin blushed. “They tell me that you are strong as any warrior. Your time has come….It has been written in this Book that a woman will defeat the armies of Mentano by the power of the sword and the Book.” She watched the wrinkled, stooped old man place the gilded sword upon the ancient pages of the open book. His voice began to read the rhythmic text…
The brown face so close to hers startled her into alertness. “The armies of Perdana are ready, my child. Take the sword now, and go, finish the work your father has begun.”
They were assembled waiting for her, row upon row in their shining armour, faces smiling in the light. News of her arrival had given the disheartened army energy and buoyancy she could feel. The white mare parted the cavalry like a stone in a river, and Constanzin took her place at the front as the trumpets blasted. Her heart pounded in anticipation. She held up the sword of Veritas, her father’s sword, facing the dark armies of Mentano.
As the trumpets blared and the armies on both sides lunged forward, she held the piercing gaze of her father’s enemy, now her adversary, too. The white mare and the black stallion charged towards each other. She lifted the sword to strike and felt a burning pain in her left arm. A manic laugh rang out as the black stallion hurtled past. She saw the red seeping through her shirt. Mentano roared past her, his arm raised to strike again. She felt the sword, like a living thing, pulling on her arm, flying out to the man on the black horse, and the thud as the sword found its target. As Mentano fell from his horse with the handle of Veritas protruding from his chest, Constanzin knew that tomorrow would herald the start of a new era in the land of Perdana.
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