Writing Encouragement

Emily loves to write stories and comes up with quite elaborate ones.  This is her newest attempt and she already has two chapters.  I told her that I would share the first chapter here.  There are some grammar mistakes, but I'm not to concerned with them at this point since my main goal is to encourage the love of writing in her.   I think she did a pretty good job for a 13  year old! She loves the fantasy genre so it certainly has a bit of the Lord of the Rings style mixed in there. lol

I know she would appreciate a word or two of encouragement.

The Beginning

It was dark as the castle door shut behind me. I was here to see Aaradel. He was the king of this region. I was here to deliver an important message. The guards led me to the throne room. As I entered I bowed before him. He told me to rise so I did.

            “My lord, there has been sightings of goblins off the north shore of Panagrea.”

            He stood up.

            “Have they reached the village yet?”

            “No but they are near. I have already given the order for them to evacuate and my army is standing by.”

I was in charge of the army and I had fought many battles and won. So destroying these few goblins would be easy right? Was I ever wrong!

            “Good. Rianna, I need you to gather all your men and host a attack.”

            “Yes, my Lord.”

            “Be careful.”

            “Yes.”

I bowed and left the room. I was to be married to his son in five months. I was going to be Queen, but, for some reason I wasn’t excited.  Probably because I hated the king’s child-like son, Riven .

As I got to the stable I jumped on my horse, Recleana, meaning “God of Fury” in my language. I made a low whistle and off we took riding in the night. The wind was blowing my hair into my face and covering my eyes but I didn’t care. I approached my village and jumped off my horse. She ran into the woods to her home. I have tried many times to find her home without success. She is the only one of her kind, and I am the only one she trusts and only comes if I call her.

I went into the army tent and gathered my men. We went over a battle plan and decided to fight right away. Twenty of my men would approach each side of the goblins. We would let none escape and take no prisoners.

            All the men cheered and got ready. All around me was the sound of swords sharpening, and horses neighing. Men were gearing up and choosing swords. When everyone was ready I split the men into three groups and chose who would be with me. I put two of my best men to lead each of the other groups. I then went out of the village and called my horse.

“Recleana!” I called. After about a minute a heard a nicker in reply. My beautiful white horse appeared like an apparition. I patted my horse and gave her a tidbit. I pulled my cloak around me and mounted.

The night air was chilly and the full moon was out. When I was a child, telling ghost stories around the fire was my favorite thing, but now was not the time to remember the past. I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed the memories back into my head.

I rode back into the village and got my torch.  We were going to burn the bodies in the end, and we also needed to see. Several men were holding torches and lanterns. We rode out each group being led by a different leader. We rode off, each group in “stealth mode.” As we approached the goblin camp I pulled out my sword. Despite the darkness the sword glowed like it was hit by a ray of sunlight.

            “Charge!” I shouted. My heart was pumping and butterflies flew around my stomach. The battle had started and horses and their riders came closing in from all sides. The battle was a success so far. All around me the air filled with noises of swords clashing, and everywhere I looked bodies were falling. There were only a couple of goblins left, but, then everything changed. There was another wave of goblins and there were more of them than us. My men started to fall and there were far too many of them.

            “Retreat!” I cried. I drew back and led my army away.