-CHAPTER ONE-

The Prideriak Child

Jack Wilkinson began to see the large Prykree

Shop, having received a letter from the King
himself no longer than two hours earlier that
day to meet him at his palace.
Minutes later, Jack got onto the boat along
with the others. For a few moments they just
sat there. After about a minute, the boat
vanished and reappeared. Jack looked down
to see that they were now on the wide blue
sea.
Jack, by four ‘o’ clock that noon, had helped
himself to various luxuries upon the boat.
Jack after these few hours had got to know
the Humphrey’s a lot better too. He had
asked where they were actually going, and
they said Prida, The Crakren Palace.
‘Are they rich?’ asked Jack, excited.
‘Why do you ask?’ replied Miranda, laughing.
‘Dunno’
‘Well, considering they own Prida and they’re
the royal family…I’d probably say….YES!’
Greg laughed at this, and then joined eating
the food which was part of “help-yourself”
time. Jack filled a plate with chicken,
potatoes, eggs and sausages. He was to get
beans, but Donald sadly tipped them over
the side of the boat, which he claimed was
accidental. The voyage to the Crakren palace
was at least seven hours. It was exciting in
the first hour, seeing as it was his first trip.
At 5 ‘o’ clock noon, after a short half-hour
sleep, Jack found himself being able to see
the only just visible outskirts of an up coming
island.
‘Only twenty minutes now,’ said Donald,
thinking he’d revealed good.
‘TWENTY MINUTES?’ Greg shouted, whilst
reading a long scroll of paper which he held
in his hands.
He continued reading until they were nearly
there.
‘What’s that?’ Jack asked when they were
exiting the boat.
‘It’s a scroll of…something.’
Jack bit his lip, but continued walking.
The island’s sands burnt Jack’s feet, even
though he was wearing scruffy black shoes.
They walked straight into a large batch of
trees. Many of them looked like the ones
you’d use for Christmas in England. And then
he remembered the knight he had seen in his
dream last night, was that the same on he
had seen just now, when he had drifted off.
Jack fell back onto the side of the cabin and
drifted away once again.
*

The Crakren Palace was huge. It was just like

the White House, in Washington D.C, but it
was more grey than white. It was a lovely
smart white when you first visualised it. It
had dozens of classy windows engraved upon
it, all outlined with gold style piping. There
was a pair of large brown doors which swung
open as soon as the four of them came into
view, Jack liked these. As they entered the
hall, Jack saw that the doors had opened by
themselves. It was an amazing Palace. The
hallway which they entered was narrow and
dull. Paintings hung on either side (these
were clearly of the previous royal families).
As they entered the door which led outwards,
Jack saw an amazing sight.
A set of stairs followed upwards onto a
massive transparent balcony. Almost
everything in the chamber was a beautiful
pearl white. Jack observed the amazement on
Gregory’s face, who had clearly not been too
many times before. Donald walked over to a
tall, slim man dressed in a purple suite and
black tie; he wore a sword which was slipped
inside his belt.
‘Your rooms are upstairs boys,’ said the King,
a massive grin exploding across his pale
face.
So, Greg and Jack walked up the huge stairs,
eying the mantelpieces of the many
fireplaces’ which were scattered up the
stairs.
‘You know,’ said Greg, ‘my Dad’s ‘is brother.’
‘Really?’ replied Jack shocked.
‘Yep’ Greg gave a faint smile as he led Jack
into a misty corridor which had six doors,
three on each side.
‘This one,’ said Greg, leading Jack through
the second, left of the doors.
They entered the room, which was warm and
had three beds inside.
‘Why are there three beds in here?’ asked
Jack.
‘Cause I sleep here too.’
Jack and Greg turned there heads around,
back through the door to see four other
people standing there. The boy who had
spoken was clearly the tallest of the four,
who looked about the age of thirteen. On the
left of him there were three girls, the tallest
about thirteen too, the others eleven, maybe
twelve years old.
Jack turned around to see a fourth bed in the
far corner. He pointed and said, ‘Who’s
there?’
The boy looked over Jack’s shoulder.
‘Nobody,’ he said.
‘Oh’
Jack looked back round to the tallest of the
girls.
‘Us three sleep in here. Hang on, are you, are
you Jack?’
‘Yeah’
‘I’m sorry. I heard about your Dad and that
Muntarz guy. Killed him, dint he?’
‘Yeah, but I don’t really want to talk about it,
if you d-don’t mind’
‘Sorry, sure, don’t worry’
And the three boys left into their room,
closing the door behind them.
‘So- what d’you want to do,’ asked Greg,
relaxing his back onto the bed.
It was at that moment that Jack heard it. A
scream came from the girl’s room: a
terrorising scream that lingered in his body
for a few seconds. Jack rushed outside the
door, but the others didn’t follow.
‘Where you going?’ asked Crakren.
Jack didn’t reply. He grasped the sword that
lay upon his bed on the way out. He had no
experience with fighting. But if anybody
screamed like that, it would be something
really bad. As Jack opened the door, he
noticed that two knights, fully dressed in
armour had entered the room. Greg and
Crakren finally arrived, rushing into the room.
The Knights raised their mighty silver bladed
swords, ready to kill. Jack swung his sword at
the Knight’s; there was a tiny sparkling
explosion as they collided. Jack slapped his
sword once again, this time no fireworks
came. He swung again, this time there was
much more. A blue light explode from the
end of his sword and powered the both the
knights out of the window: the windows
shattered and they had fallen out of it, sixty
feet downwards.
Jack turned his head to see Francis lying on
the floor next to a set of cabinets. The three
girls stood still in shock.
‘What’s the matter,’ Jack asked Greg, seeing
a large cut on Crakren’s chest.
‘Knight cut him, dinnit,’ he replied, taking out
a long roll of bandage from the drawers that
were next to him.
Jack crouched down next to Crakren and
observed the cut. It was a deep gash in the
left side of his chest, where his ribs were
buried underneath.
‘Is he okay?’ said Lily McRae, who was the
smallest girl, short and slim.
‘Should be,’ said Greg, tying a knot in the
bandages. ‘Could of bin’ a lot worse if it wont
for Jack, you know.’
Everyone smiled, even Francis, who was in a
lot of pain.
It was only a minute or so before Donald and
King Crakren appeared in the doorway,
bellowing and swearing at the top of their
voices.
‘Wait,’ said Greg. ‘Jack saved us. He fought of
the knights somehow. There was a big flash
of blue and they crashed out of the window-’
‘SHUSH!’ shouted King Crakren, looking
smartly at the broken window and at Jack,
and then back again.
‘Sorry,’ confessed Greg, Jack, Lily, Sally and
Alexandra, who were now known as sisters.
Lily and Sally twins, Alexandra the eldest:
The McGuire sisters.
‘Don’t be sorry,’ said Donald, grinning.
‘Jack,’ said King Crakren, ‘you’ve earned
yourself the right to be in the Legion of
Pirates’
‘Cool,’ Jack muttered, under his breath. ‘But
what is it?’
‘Oh…I see. Okay. The Legion of Pirates, you
probably haven’t got a clue-’
‘No- I, I haven’t,’ he confessed, wiping his
deep blue eyes.
‘Jack Arthur Wilkinson. You have a power only
me, Donald, your father and two others have.
‘You have the ability to use Prideriak.
Prideriak is a very, very rare power that only
the most gifted of us possess. You see, the
reason you were able to fight that knights is
because of this power, you used the
Throwing Power. Now, there are many more
powers that I would love to teach you over
the next week before your mission.
‘If it is okay with you; I would like you to get
the most out of this power, for if you don’t,
when you do, whenever and wherever,
whether it be in this life or the next, duel
him!’
Jack felt a shudder of excitement trickle
excitedly down his throat: he couldn’t wait to
tell Francis and Greg.
‘Now,’ said Donald, in a “you better not!”
tone of voice. ‘I don’t advise you tell the
others straight away, if that’s okay with you.’
For a moment Jack gave a mere disappointed
look, but saw the harsh face that Donald had
on him, and his blue eyes streamed again
and he said, ‘Oh…sure.’
And Jack began to wonder off up the stairs,
taking all the information in as he stepped
onto the marble staircase.
Donald’s voice suddenly rang out once
again…
‘Oh, and Jack, I’ve got-something-for-you,’ he
pulled out a small silver object, Jack
wondered over to look. ‘This is a watch,’ he
said, quite obvious it seemed at first, until
Donald clicked it open to reveal the inside.
Concealed upon this tiny silver and grey
marked watch was a wondrous sight. He saw
a tiny oval shaped window which looked
awfully like a television screen. He stared
through the window. Inside the screen was a
green grassed field with many young children
playing on it, wondering delightfully. Jack
thought they were playing hide and seek, he
thought deeply and happily. He was suddenly
interrupted by Donald once more.
‘Jack. This watch is very special. It shows the
opposite of what Muntarz is doing. I’ll tell you
more on Friday, when you’re assigned your…
err….task.’
 -CHAPTER TWO-

The Task

The surprise that came at dusk on Monday

night came to a giant surprise to Jack. He did
not tell his friends in his bedroom for the next
two days, nor did he speak to them. Only Lily,
of whom the Knight was attacking at the
time, had spoken to him.
‘Jack! Jack! Here, Quick!’ she gasped, pelting
after him down the marble staircase which
looked to be matted with dust. ‘I know you
might think it’s a bit nerdy or whatever, but I
found this!’ she pointed to a large brown
book that looked as if it weighed about a ton.
The tip of her pink nail particularly pointed to
a large paragraph in the top corner of the
page, of which read:

In the year of 1945, Irak Muntarz was born of

Alicia Smith and Oliver Muntarz. Oliver did
not like his wife’s idea of having the child,
and killed himself immediately after the news
of it. Alicia then became a single mother on
the island of Skelakon. He attened
Phoenixaria School of Pirating (of which was
been given a temporary shut down as from
1970-present day) at the age of six, and
went on till the age of seventeen, when he
was awarded his degree in Sword Fighting
and Fencing. At the age of nineteen, and
after two years of working at Aunt Betty’s
Store of Swords, he was employed by Mark
Wilkinson, and his wife Sarah in the job of
Pirating. He also joined the “Secret Club of
Prida”, of which we have been told “we have
to stick our large and disturbingly crooked
noses out of there business”. At the age of
21, however, and in the evil year of 1966,
Irak turned against the “Secret Club of
Prida”, of whom told us once again that we
should “stick our noses somewhere else”, he
killed Mark after he refused to let him
destroy his son, after Muntarz had demanded
his execution due to the fact that he thought
he would rise against him. We only just got
hold of this information when we realised
that we could break into their offices through
the back door, but anyhow: Lord Irak Muntarz
is alive and well, and we strongly advise that
you go nowhere near him, or anywhere near
Muntarz’s army for that matter!
We can also confirm that Muntarz, Donald
“Big-Nose” Humphrey and King Francis
Crakren Senior, and Mark’s son Jack, are
officially gifted with the ability to use the
powers of Prideriak
By Susan Toadeface
(10 times winner of “Prida’s greatest Authors
Award”)

Jack gave a sheepish grin.

‘What’s a Prideriak?’ asked Lily
enthusiastically.
Jack turned a scarlet red, his temper rose
slightly and he said: ‘Nothing!’ he shouted,
making Lily gasp, and she walked over
carrying her book.
‘Sorry,’ Jack muttered, but he knew nobody
could hear.
*

Irak Muntarz stood waiting in the chamber, as

cold as ice, wiping is flaming nostrils with a
golden scarf.
He saw a thinnish, red creature approach him
with a thick roll of dried and stained scroll.
‘Hem-Hem,’ the creature said, and then he
began reading form the thick scroll.

“By appointment of the Pridarian King

himself, Peter Porkshaw will be the new
Minister, concerning all killings and strange
happenings around Prida and surrounding
islands.
“We are all very sure indeed that Mr. Irak
Muntarz has made no mistakes or any
killings, or by means of death and
destructions and regarding subjects-”

He looked at Muntarz, gave a thin grin and

raised his hairy eyebrows, looking back down
at the paper to read again.

“And regarding subjects has not offended the

rules. Including usage of any illegal forms of
Prideriak..”
The creature grinned and folded the scroll up
neatly. He gave a grin of terror that scared
anybody.
‘So, Krollback, the bribe has worked?’ he
croaked.
The figure’s thin mouth gave, for what looked
like, just for a second…a grin.
‘Yes, my master. It has worked’
‘Well then,’ began Muntarz, happily, ‘you
deserve an award yourself for these past
weeks, you have covered up the killings and
disappearances of these many members of
Prida well,’ his hands, after the words
“Sworde Acrim” were spoken, now held a
long silver sword in their thin green bony
fingers.
‘Oh…my master…I thank you so much, I
thank you so…’
‘It was nothing,’ said Muntarz with a twisted
smile, ‘nothing at all…’
*
Jack shoved the suitcase onto the top of the
bed which he was laying on. This morning
broke the awkward silence between himself
and his friends when they were discussing
breakfast at 11 ‘o’ clock.
‘Terrible sausages,’ said Alexandra proudly.
‘I’m sure I’d prefer Aunt Miranda to Donald
for a chef, wouldn’t you Jack?’
Jack winced.
‘Oh yeah…sure….definitely!’ he smiled and
walked away.
It was going to be a strange day today, at
dinner they were to be told what this strange
“task” was, and this afternoon he, and the
other five, would set onto a voyage across
the ocean. Jack heaved his five books into the
suitcase and picked it up, struggling to carry
the weight. He twisted the door handle and
trotted into the corridor just outside his room,
where the girls room stood parallel. He
peered down the corridor to where four other
rooms stood. He knew who occupied two of
them, but the other two remained guest
bedrooms, or he thought so anyway.
He walked down the marble staircase, past
the pearl white walls and into the large hall.
Two armchairs were perched in the centre of
the hall, overlooking the lower level which
held only the doorway and a bathroom which
sat aside of it. He sat there for about a
minute before hearing light footsteps growing
louder, coming nearer and nearer more were
the voices of Donald, Francis Senior, his son,
Greg and the rest of the girls.
‘Oh hi Jack,’ said Donald, a broad smile
etched upon his chalky white face. ‘It has
come to the time where I am to assign you a
task, a favour that would do a great lot to the
Legion.’
The others stood blankly, watching Donald’s
sharp eyelids flutter.
‘The task I wish you to complete is,’ he
looked dreadful, ‘you must collect something’
he confirmed.
‘Yes,’ began King Francis, adding his first
lines of speech in the subject. ‘You must
collect something called the…the Sword of
Destiny.’
Jack stood hollow whilst Greg gave a small
giggle.
‘I wouldn’t laugh at it if I were you, Greg. I
was surprised when we had actually assigned
you to complete this task myself, as it is
highly dangerous and thoroughly very
frightening indeed.
‘You must pass terrifying beasts on the way,
and I am quite sure, whether or not it will be
in duelling, you will meet Irak Muntarz on the
way.’
Jack’s began to become drowsy. He snarled
at the prospect of being killed by Muntarz,
just like he had wanted to do many years
ago.
‘So, if you do, I assure you that you work
together to collect the sword.’
Donald and King Crakren froze. Questions?’
Donald asked, a grin spreading quickly over
his white face.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Francis sarcastically, ‘but do
we have the faintest idea where the darn
thing actually is, I mean, I don’t want to be
travelling all over the Earth!’
Donald snarled.
‘Well, we do know one thing,’ he said. ‘The
Sword of Destiny is supposed to be concealed
upon the largest object in the four islands:
Prida, Huntrike, Skelakon and Snailsrome.
‘The four islands offer many places where the
Sword could be…well then, I guess this is
goodbye for a while.’
‘Good luck,’ added Crakren.
‘Thanks,’ echoed across the six of them.
Donald turned to Jack.
‘I need a quick word, Jack,’ he said, ‘well, I’m
sure you realised Lily brought something to
you earlier this week?’
‘Yeah,’ Jack replied, edging away from the
other five of them who were walking out of
the Palace slowly now.
‘Well- I need you to see this,’ he dumped a
large sheet of parchment styled paper into
his hand. Jack began to read in silence:

The Forms, Enchantments and Usages of

Prideriak’s

Think of the colours:

Kill- Red and Black

Knock Out- Black and Yellow
Torture- Green
Block- Yellow
Average Shot- Blue

Word-Shots

Open: Opne-Sesmiae
Close: Sesmiae
Throw: Fyreballeia
Burn: Flamhart
Drown: Watre-mendi

Jack’s face turned to Donald, and then he

said worryingly, ‘Kill?’
Donald’s face looked worried too. He looked
deeply into Jack’s bloodshot eyes.
‘Yes,’ he said, almost crying, ‘if you do meet
Muntarz, which is likely, then he will use this
power. So you need to be ready, okay, Jack?’
Jack nodded.
‘Off you go then,’ he said, and Jack pelted off.
When he reached the large port at the base
of the Palace, Jack’s eyes fixed on the large
mast that overlooked the ship, he grinned
and then began to walk, quite fast, down the
stony path. He passed an owl on the way
down, which gave him a grin look.
When Jack arrived down at the ship, the
others greeted him with the usual “hello”.
‘Hi,’ he’d replied, seeing King Crakren gave
his son a small letter and a stone of some
sort.
‘Be careful,’ he began, tears forming in his
small beady green eyes. ‘Donald and me
have set you a hard task, i must admit if
quite foolish of us-’
‘NONSENSE!’ re-assured Francis, hugging his
father. ‘We’ll be fine, okay?’
‘Yep,’ spluttered the King, sending specks of
spit into the air. ‘I guess so’.
‘I KNOW SO!’
‘Fine,’ said the King. ‘You better be careful-’

‘I will Dad, but I wanted to know, where’s

mum and Miranda?’
The King smiled.
‘They’re...err….down shopping in
Hunchington’s, why?’
‘Nothing,’ lied Francis, staring at the others
on the boat.
‘Oh, Jack, I see you’re here now!’ smiled the
King
‘Yep,’ Jack said nervously.
‘Well be careful!’ he handed Jack three silver
and most handsome swords. ‘I better be off
now…meetings with Donald, okay,’ he said.
‘You be okay now.’ he repeated, making
short footsteps backwards.
He hugged his son one last time and walked
down to the side of the boat and untied the
knot which held the boat there.
‘Bye!’ he shouted, crying.
‘Bye!’ shouted Jack and Francis together,
smiling.
‘Well then,’ said Sally Sworde surprisingly,
‘better make some sandwiches!’
 -CHAPTER THREE-

Aunt Betty

‘So, where are we looking first?’ asked Lily,

nose deep in the same large brown leather
bound book. She clearly aimed the question
at Jack, who was tucking into some ham and
pickle sandwiches along with Greg, although,
unlike Greg, he wasn’t shoving the
sandwiches down his throat. Greg was quite
short and fairly plumper than Jack and
Francis. He had thick brown hair which stuck
up uncontrollably. Jack’s hazel brown hair
and slim body seemed perfectly normal.
Francis had wavy blonde hair which was
combed in an Elvis Presley style, although it
was quite a bad attempt to be fair. Lily had
straight blonde hair invaded with pink
highlights, she was ten. Sally, who was
almost identical to Lily in age and
appearance apart from the fact she was a
head shorter, Alexandra however, was the
same age as Jack at thirteen, and seemed to
have a rather peculiar liking of Jack. Jack was
reminded of his birthday last week, when he
had a tiny party in the Humphrey’s kitchen.
Next year he would have a massive party in
that old palace, if he was lucky that is.
Jack finally came round to answering the
question.
‘Snailsrome,’ he answered thickly, giving a
drone of boredom as he turned the steering
wheel from his tiny chair. He picked up a
large mug of hot tea that was sitting next to
him. ‘I think anyway, s’that alright Greg?’ he
asked, turning to Gregory he was sitting in
his chair, stuffing another sandwich into his
mouth, this time tomato and cheese.
‘Gon ven,’ he said.
He poked the last bites of the sandwich down
his mouth and picked another up, ready to
attack it with his teeth and maul it with his
tongue.
‘Go on then,’ he repeated more clearly,
smiling. He bit the new sandwich. A large
whole appeared in the bread.
Alexandra, Sally, Lily and Francis now came
into view, each holding a plate of three or
four half-sandwiches.
‘No more bread,’ remarked Sally as she sat
down, grasping her cup, which had orange
juice concealed in it, as she thought tea and
coffee were revolting.
‘Nice sarnis,’ said Greg, only just being able
to make the words with his tongue, which
was apparently twisting a tinned tomato on
its side ready to be bitten.
‘As there isn’t any more bread,’ said
Alexandra, staring at Greg with a disturbing
look on her face, ‘I suggest we got to
Snailsrome first. There we can look for the
sword, see if it’s in the cliff, plus as a bonus I
can pick up some more supplies,’ she threw
him thumb, pointing to the small cabin in
which food was usually cooked. ‘I can’t
believe your father!’ she pointed at Greg,
who was now laying on his back watching
clouds.
‘What?’ Greg said a few seconds later, as if
the message had only just streamed in.
‘No more bread. All his blooming put in is a
bit o’ bread, cheese, ham, pickle, tomatoes
and eggs! And guess what else? 1 bottle of
Milk!’
Greg blushed red.
‘It ain’t my fault! Besides, I know where we
can get some on Snailsrome!’
‘Where?’ asked Alexandra, intrigued.
‘S-N-A-I-L-S-R-O-M-E!’ Greg spelt out the
words; Alexandra gave him the “I’m not
stupid” look.
‘I mean where about?’ she asked again, this
time paying more attention to the relieved
look on Sally’s pale skinned face than of
Gregory.
‘Aunty Betty’s!’ shouted Greg.
The others only laughed.
*

Whether Gregory Humphrey was telling the

truth wasn’t really the question as the large
ship entered the island of Snailsrome. Jack’s
first look of the island wasn’t too good, he
thought it was slightly shabby and a little bit
scruffy, but as they entered further and
further closer to the sandy lands he began to
think better. He saw the ‘v’ shaped Christmas
trees which stood abrupt in the middle of the
sands, but as Jack began to notice; no sand
was there at all. What the six of them had
been looking at wasn’t sand, but slime. Thick,
messy horrid, disgusting…
‘Slugrarian Slime!’ shouted Lily. The heads of
the other five who looked down in deep
interest of the island turned their heads in a
fraction of a second.
‘What?’ asked Sally, staring madly at Lily; as
though she thought her sister was much too
stupid to know this.
‘Slugrarian Slime,’ Lily repeated, much more
calmly this time. ‘Slugrarian are creatures
that live here,’ she said proudly. ‘They feed
of animal teeth!’
Greg’s face turned red yet again, a droplet of
blackcurrant juice dropped loosly from his
lips.
‘You mean…those things l-like h-human t-t-
teeth?’ he spluttered, spilling even more
juice.
‘Oh yes,’ said Lily, ‘but there’s only a pack of
Slugrarian over there, baby ones anyway,
they shouldn’t hurt a fly…’
It was at this point that Jack and the others
heard the obvious sound of teeth being
crunched and squashed in mouths.
‘Uh-oh,’ said Francis, ‘it looks like your
reading skills are a bit downhill at the
moment Lil-AAAAAHHHHH!’
Jack looked up to a see a Slugrarian climbing
slowly up the wood at the tip of the boat, of
which they had been looking over. It was a
large green jelly like creature with four slimy
tentacles for feet. Jack heard the others
scream. The Slugrarian’s red eyes focused on
Francis. It began to show off its large dagger
shaped teeth, of which had been recently
chewing another animals teeth. The
Slugrarian’s large mouth drooped over
Francis, covering him in sticky goo. Jack
raised his hand.
‘You’ve made a mistake,’ he said, and a blast
of blue light had streamed out of his main
finger.
The Slugrarian was thrown of its feet and into
its own slime. The others were now
approaching, fully grown ones too. Francis
was about to ask him how he did it, as he
was drenched in a thick green substance, but
Jack gestured to him to fall silent. Jack
jumped off the side of the boat hurriedly,
almost slipping into a large puddle of
Slugrarian slime. Francis and Greg followed.
‘I’m not going in that stuff!’ moaned Sally.
‘Oh come on, you sill girl!’ Alexandra reacted
stubbornly.
They all climbed off the edge of the boat and
into the slime. They ran over to where the
Slugrarian’s would not see them. It was then
that Jack noticed a small hut about two
minutes walk from where they were standing.
He began to run to it, the others followed.
‘What are we doing?’ asked Sally.
‘See, that little hut there, I thought-’
‘Aunt Betty’s!’ shouted Greg gleefully.
‘What about her? Who’s Aunt Betty?’
Alexandra said, her jog evolving into a rather
fast pelt.
‘Aunt Betty’s – a shop just down here – a
café’
Greg came to a halt. A shabby straw roofed
hut sat silently in the sands. Jack peered
through the dirty windows to see that nobody
apart from one person was in. Jack made his
way to the door. It was a small hazel door
handle that Jack opened to reveal the inside
of the café. A small, wiry haired old woman
was sitting at a scruffy-looking table.
‘Hello, Greg,’ she said, in a high pitched
voice. She held her arms out for a hug, but
Greg spoke before she had the chance to
pounce on him.
‘Err…we need to talk to you about
something, Betty,’ said Alexandra, acting as
if she was leader of them.
‘Yes, darling?’
‘Well, we wondered if you knew anything
about…about the Sword of Destiny.’
Betty froze. Her upper lip curled into a smile.
‘Now, why would six little kids like you want
to know about such a thing?’
‘Donald an…we’ve been given this task,’
continued Jack. ‘I’m sorry but if you know
anything about, you must tell us. My father
was killed by the previous owner of the
sword, I know about it, I read about it last
night,’ Jack took one glance of Alexandra’s
chalk white face and smiled at Betty’s tanned
one.
‘Okay then, I guess you ought to know. I was
only seven when he was born, Irak Nemesis
Samurai Muntarz on the 4th August 1945, I’m
an old woman now, you see.
‘Muntarz’s reign of terror began in back in
’66. on the third of April 1966 Muntarz killed
two people; Mark Wilkinson and Warren
Beech.
‘I have no idea why the killings were made
public by Muntarz himself, but he claimed
there was only one way to stop him. Five
years ago I met with King Crakren,’ (she
nodded at Francis) ‘, he told me about
Muntarz. It was then that we discovered the
existence of the Sword.
‘The Sword of Destiny, is supposed to be
placed where Muntarz really wishes he could
be,’ Jack looked intrigued. Francis looked
slightly horrified, and Greg, Sally, Lily and
Alex looked perplexed, all with blood red
faces.
‘So, I only know that that sword is there,
sorry.’
Jack held his breath, so that he did not swear
at Betty in anger. She’d told him one thing…
one thing!
‘But,’ Betty continued, ‘I know that it is
extremely difficult to get to this place, and I
know it will be truly amazing if you succeed,
good luck.’
‘Is that all,’ Jack muttered under his breath,
eyeing the others as they stood up and
pushed their chairs under the tables which
stood, stained and dirty, in each space of the
room that they could possibly get to.
Betty poured two mugs of coffee.
‘Don’t you want a coffee, before you go?’ she
asked.
‘Nah,’ echoed from the four of them.
They walked silently out of the café.
‘By the way, Jack, how did you fight off that
Slugrarian?’
‘Easy.’
Sally grinned helplessly.
‘Cool,’ he heard her say. But he wasn’t
concentrating. He was thinking of these
magical powers he had managed to posses.

-CHAPTER FOUR-

The Four Islands

Jack led Sally, Lily, Alex, Greg and Francis

back out of the hut and into a large space of
sand. He could see the boat not too far away,
but they would have to risk being attacked
by a large pack of Slugrarian on the way. He
walked along a large patch of sand to where
he could see about fifty Slugrarian on the
sands. Every time the water almost touched
them, lumps of their green jelly-like skin fell
into the sea. The largest Slugrarian eyed
where Jack was standing very suspiciously as
it ate mounds of sand. The two red eyes of
the Slugrarian were cold and the spherical.
The pupil was vertical down the centre of its
eye, making it long awfully like a raptor’s. It
had large crystal clear jaws which were like
daggers, almost digging into its own gum.
‘How are we going to get past them?’ asked
Lily nervously.
Jack looked nervous too. He turned to the
others and said, ‘I think there’s a power that
can confuse them, but only for a few
seconds, we’d have to really pelt it.’
Lily and Greg nodded.
‘Okay,’ he took out the papers of which had
the Priderialk powers writing on them.
He read it, no power but for the torture that
would hold them off. Jack then thought about
it. Maybe, as he possessed the power, he
could make them too.
He looked deep into the eyes of the
Slugrarian and whispered to himself,
This being confuse its mind of please
Make it wonder into the trees
For I am in need of grateful help
I am in no state, I am a Pridarian
Please can you, confuse this Slugrarian

A flash of grey light streamed out of Jack’s

main finger once again, slashing the
creatures aside. They know stood abruptly
still in the green trees and grass, looking
around.
‘Quick,’ said Jack. The six of them rain past
the pack of creatures, tripping in the slime
they had left behind.
They reached the corner, no more Slugrarian
were between them and the ship now. Jack
braced himself and ran to the ship, they all
climbed aboard the boat and were ready to
visit Huntrike.
*
Jack’s head wasn’t looking anywhere near the
large mount of sand which was clumped in a
many piles on the surface which stood silent,
a few minutes ahead. He suddenly turned his
attention to Francis, who was standing
making food in the cabin, in more particular
terms what looked awfully like a mushroom
sandwich. He picked his creation up and
attacked it with his teeth. Jack looked back
around. The island grew nearer. In books that
Jack had read, Huntrike was told to be quite a
luxurious place with many places of interest,
but of what Jack could see, there was only
sand stretching as far back as his blue eyes
could see. Francis now seemed to be
developing three mugs of hot cocoa from
packets. Jack span his head again to see the
island hardly a five minutes sail away now.
He instantly thought of Slugrarian as he saw
a mould of what looked like slime on the
surface of the island, but now he looked it
seemed to be a mixture of wet sand, water
and sea weed. They had narrowly escaped
the Slugrarian, how lucky they had been; if
there were any horrid terrors like that here,
surely they wouldn’t be so lucky. Jack also
could hardly believe he had these powers, so
very rare, according to Donald, had this
power appeared. Maybe Donald had been
lying about himself and King Crakren also
possessing it, to make him feel more…
normal. He could hardly feel less normal not
as it was.
He picked up a large leather bound book
which was propped against the edge of the
boat’s rim. It looked over one hundred years
old, clearly used so many times its pages
were wearing off. Jack opened the page
randomly, and to his amazement, came right
to a page about Slugrarian. He read it with
great intent:
Slugrarian are creatures that usually lie on
the sands of Snailsrome, but occasionally
appear on the outskirts of Skelakon. The
Slugrarian are most commonly known as
killers, as they feed upon human and other
animal teeth. Slugrarian usually drench their
victims in a sticky green goo, almost
identical to their skin, before proceeding to
the next step, which is ripping out the jaws.
Slugrarian can usually be not as disgusting
and only eat their victims whole, but
occasionally these creatures are completely
harmless, as their young usually are.
If you do come across a Slugrarian, please be
aware that these creatures are not to be
messed with, and they shall not tolerate
themselves being either mocked or tampered
with.
Slugrarian are usually vicious with their own
jaws, which are obviously extremely strong.
Slugrarian have only ever been defeated by
the greatest of Priderialk’s, who have
managed to create, a power in which
confuses the Slugrarian (more on Page 44).

If you are looking for more information on

these creatures, we suggest visiting
Professor Hugo Limichwick, who is a resident
at 66 Hillstone Village in Huntrike. (NOTE:
Many dark creatures live in the village, be
careful).

Jack looked instantly towards the island; they

were almost there. Jack ran over to the
hanker and lowered it to the sand beds
slowly.
‘Come on,’ he shouted in the direction of the
chairs, where behind sat the small chestnut
brown cabin.
‘WE’RE HERE!’ he heard Greg shout, as if
nobody knew. Lily, Francis, Sally, Alex and
Greg made their way to the small lift off
where they could exit the ship neatly. He
then, for some reason realised something
strange. They had been given the task of
getting the Sword of Destiny, and Donald
had, earlier that week, given him the Watch
of Destiny. Strange, Jack thought. It was
awfully strange…
Greg nudged him to move forward. They all
edged there way carefully onto the sands.
They had just entered the boarder to the
Island of Huntrike. Jack’s stomach churned.
He felt a breath of coolness trickle down his
throat, his instantly grabbed his sword, which
was attached to his black belt. They entered
another large batch of green trees, overrun
with small cottages and small elves trotting
around.
‘Weird,’ muttered Greg, as they passed a
cottage which was very similar to the one
from “Hansel & Gretel”.
They continued walking through the forest
until they came to a halt at a rather normal
house. A large red bricked vertical chimney
overlooked the thatched roof and walls.
There was a large brown door that, as they
moved their way closer, swung open. Jack led
them inside. They entered a narrow porch-
way which was paintings looking at them.
Their eyes stared directly at Jack’s, as if
watching him. They walked further in. They
came to a set of four doors in a large
triangular place. One was labelled study, one
kitchen, one bedroom and the other
bathroom. Jack twisted the door knob leading
to the study.
‘HELLO!’
‘AAAHH!’ screamed Jack, and Lily, Francis,
Sally and Alex did the same. Greg only stood
there frozen in horror.
A small hunchbacked man, possibly in his
seventies was standing in the doorway. He
had a long red beard which was shoulder
length and a thick moustache, which was
also fiery red. The man held out his hand to
shake’s Jack, Jack shook it.
‘Err…Hello?’ said Jack, stuttering hardly.
‘Why, goodness me my young fellows- what
are you out here for, crossing the Forest?’
said the man in a squeaky voice.
‘We are, we’re on a, err….task, err…we need
to find something…’ continued Jack, still
stuttering.
‘What?’ the man asked, looking in Francis’
direction rather than Jack’s.
‘The Sword of Destiny,’ answered Alexandra
said clearly. ‘Greg’s father and Francis’ father
need it. Their legion needs it.’
‘Oh,’ said the man. ‘The Sword…well, that’s
very serious. You must be against him, I
believe?’ he nodded towards Jack.
‘Yeah,’ Jack replied.
‘Well, there’s only one way you’re going to
get that,’ he continued, wiping his mouth
with the cuff of his shirt. ‘Follow me’.
They followed the man into a large room
across the hallway: the kitchen. The man
placed seven cups on the side of his table
and poured boiling water into them.
‘Well,’ the man began, in a more manly
voice, ‘I think we should talk.’
He placed the mugs on the table surface. His
head tiled sideways and Greg picked his up,
he immediately put it down though as it
burnt his fingers. Jack blew cold air over his
cup which had a small illustration of the Prida
landscape on it.
‘The Sword of Destiny, The Watch of Destiny,
The Goblet of Destiny and The Shield of
Destiny; one of each placed on each island of
which in the four islands; Prida, Huntrike,
Snailsrome and…S-Skelakon…’
‘But we have the watch, I have look!’ Jack
pulled out from the pocket of his raggedy
clothes a small fob watch. It had a silver
mark engraved on the base of it which
pictured a skull with two swords slit inside it.
It was beautiful, thought Jack.
‘Oh my,’ he heard the man say gently and
faintly. ‘There you have Prida’s emblem, I
know where Huntrike’s Goblet is and I have a
single clue to where Snailrome’s Shield is
place-’
‘HOLD ON! Betty Bricketts told us that there
wasn’t one their!’
‘Well, Betty is wrong. The chances are she’s
working for him.
‘Anyway, Skelakon’s is the one you know of,
Skelakon holds the Sword of Destiny, and it is
placed in-’
‘Muntarz’s favourite place to be, yeah, we
know’
‘No,’ said the man, shaking his head. ‘My
name, Professor Hugo Limichwick, has not
been passed down six generations for the
sake of it. The Sword of Destiny is in; it is in
the Underhalls of Skelakon Palace’
‘Really?’ asked Jack, interested and intrigued.
Professor Limichwick drank some hot tea and
said, ‘I believe so, unless my many fathers
have lied through the ages,’ he chuckled.
‘Well, shouldn’t you be off?’ he asked,
gulping down the remaining quarter of his
tea.
‘OK,’ said Jack immediately. They began to
walk down the corridor.
‘I forgot to mention,’ said the Professor,
‘where I think the others are!’
‘Where?’ Jack asked, spinning his head to
Limichwick.
‘The Caves of Huntrike, and then the
Underground in Snailsrome, I believe,’ he
said, washing up the cups which most of
were left untouched.
‘OK, thank you very much,’ Jack praised,
walking out of the door.
Once they were back into the forest, Francis
asked Jack, ‘Do you reckon he’s right?’
‘Yeah,’ Jack replied.
‘But…what if Betty was working for Muntarz,
do you think we should go back there?’ he
asked shakily.
‘Yeah. I think we should,’ he said, ‘but not
now, wait a little.’
And they walked back through the forest in
silence and boarded the boat, ready to go to
the Caves of Huntrike.

-CHAPTER FIVE-

The Caves Collapse

The large ship floated across the sea steadily,

dodging the large black stones which were
stood in the middle of the seas. It wasn’t
thirty minutes before they reached a gigantic
set of cliffs which had large black holes about
what looked the size of a big window. These
were apparently caves, according to Jack.
They reached the edge of large mounds of
sand, only to see their was no realistic way of
being able to get up.
‘How do we, err…get up?’ asked Sally
worriedly, seeing the mountains of rock
above her.
‘I don’t have a clue,’ Jack whispered to
Francis with a small chuckle. At this point
Jack thought of the sheet of paper, he pulled
it out of his pockets and read a part where it
said to crush, think of yellow. Jack did as it
said, and placed his mind on the rocks. They
began to fall down rapidly, each one coming
at amazing speeds. Jack watched as the
caves became lower and lower. After about
thirty seconds, the caves were on ground
level.
‘That was easy,’ said Francis, but at this point
he found himself struggling to battle against
something. A large humanoid crab was
standing in the archway to the cave; now
attacking Francis was probably its friend or
son. The creature had large menacing claws
which were blood red. It had a scarlet bone
stretched over its orange skull. It had a
window for a mouth, of which concealed
many blunt teeth except for a set of three
dagger-like ones. The creature clawed into
Francis’ arm. Jack thought of a power, the
knock out power. A blast of black and yellow
streamed from his main finger and hit both
the creatures square in the head. Both of
them fell aside and Jack began to walk
through. Lily, Francis, Sally and the others
didn’t ask Jack for two reasons. The first
because they were scared, the other because
they already thought they knew. Jack made
his way into the cave slowly edging past
damp dark walls. The walls of the cave were
hard and orange, very narrow too. They
walked through more until…
‘LIGHT!’ Greg shouted. ‘I CAN SEE LIGHT!’
‘So,’ Alex replied, picking her feet up from
the puddles of water. Jack then thought of
the Powers again, he could make them and
use ones that were already created, how
amazing was this power, how far would it
stretch…
They came to a halt. It was so dark they
couldn’t see what they had hit. Jack made an
instant power that made lights come on.
‘Cool,’ muttered Greg, but he was hushed by
Sally who nudged him hard in the ribs.
‘WOW!’ echoed across the six of them. A few
metres ahead stood, behind many bars and
chains, a large treasure: a large trophy, a
cup: the goblet of Destiny, Huntrike’s
emblem. Jack stared at it for a minute or so,
eyeing the glorious diamonds which were
engraved upon it. He saw blood red stones
which were shiny and bright. Two large silver
handles like ears stuck out of the sides of the
goblet. It looked to large and expensive to be
true.
‘No, GREG!’
Gregory had walked to the chains, the first
doorway of six. It would have electrocuted
him to death if he had not jumped out of the
way at such a fast pace. Jack felt the chains,
it did not affect him, and none of the other
bars did.
‘Hold on,’ said Greg quietly. ‘If only you can
go through-’
‘Then only I can escape those guards!’ they
all turned to the two guards who were now
running towards them, axes in their hands.
Their big crab like jaws chattering.
‘QUICK!’ shouted Francis.
‘But only I can go through,’ Jack moaned. He
looked back at the others. ‘I can’t leave you
here, can I?’ he hopped nervously on his feet.
‘Maybe if you grabbed onto my shirt, then it
might work…’
‘Try it then,’ Sally said reassuringly.
All five of them gripped onto Jack’s shirt.
Suddenly the chains felt like ice, the doors
felt like ice pops and they were running
through. Jack didn’t notice, nor did the
others, that the two guards had got through.
The guards came through rapidly, grasping
their weapons tightly. Jack slid through the
next ice cold door to reach the cup, standing
their. They touched the cup, and they felt no
more.
*

Jack was coughing harshly, as was Francis,

who sat beside him in the rubble. The cave
had collapsed on them. He looked around for
the others.
‘Sally! Sally!’ cried Francis as he saw a body,
unconscious in the rubble. It wasn’t Sally, it
was Alex.
‘Oh hi,’ said Francis blushing, as Alexandra
became conscious.
‘Hi,’ she said silently, coughing. ‘What
happened?’
‘Cave collapsed dinnit,’ Greg’s voice echoed
through the room. He had just cleared
himself from the rubble. His dark blue shirt
was torn and blood was visible beneath the
fabric.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Jack sympathetically,
watching Greg see his own scar which was
pressed across the middle of his chest. His
shirt was torn directly down the middle,
making more blood visible. Lily and Sally
were still under the rubble.
‘We should start moving some of this,’ Jack
said, coughing and picking up some clayed
rocks. He threw some of them aside to reveal
a hand.
‘Sally?’ he asked, ‘Lily?’ he threw more rocks
aside to reveal Lily’s body; she was still
unconscious. Meanwhile at the other side of
the rubble, Sally had been pulled from the
rubble.
‘What happened?’ asked Sally dreamily, also
coughing badly. Her voice seemed to be
severely damaged.
‘Y’okay?’ asked Greg. ‘Massive this,’ he
pointed to the rubble, and then stared
upwards. The air above them went above
many miles.
‘Wow,’ exclaimed Sally, who had just become
conscious.
‘Y’okay?’ repeated Greg, giving Sally a hoist
up.
‘At least we’ve got the Goblet,’ Francis said
happily.
Jack’s face turned light red.
‘Where is the goblet?’ asked Lily worriedly.
She looked deep into Jack’s eyes and rolled
her eyes. ‘Where is it Jack?’ she repeated.
‘I-I don’t know,’ Jack admitted, almost
whispering.
‘I’VE GOT IT!’ Greg bellowed, revealing a
large silver cup. ‘I’VE GOT THE CUP!’
The large cup had blood red diamonds still
engraved across it, Jack grinned, as did
Francis and Sally.
‘Yes!’ shouted Alex and her words echoed
across the caves of Huntrike.
‘Come on then,’ said Jack, leading them
slowly through the rubble.
*

Irak N.A Muntarz sat in his throne, completely

alone, watching birds fly outside his beautiful
crystal windows. He watched with interest as
a group of guards entered his chamber. The
ten of them surrounded a small purple
creature which was piercing red eyes and
square showing teeth. The creature was
carrying a large scroll with a hazel brown and
extremely thick stick through it.
The creature squeaked in a very high pitched
voice, before reading out his scroll:

“‘Hem, Hem’ “
‘SILENCE!’ barked Muntarz. The creature’s
eyebrows rose.
‘Yes?’ it asked cautiously.
‘SILENCE!’ repeated Irak.
‘WHY?’
‘SILENCE! GUARDS- YOU KNOW WHAT TO
DO!
And the creature didn’t feel pain anymore.

-CHAPTER SIX-
 Bad News

Jack Wilkinson hopped on one foot to the

boat along with Sally, Francis, Lily, Alex and
Greg. They walked silently to the boat, Greg
searing with pain due to his many scars. They
all felt thirsty and hungry, having spent very
long hours at the collapsed cave. They were
now making their way back to Snailsrome,
where they would truly discover the Shield’s
location. Jack walked across the deck
scanning the area, there was nothing wrong.
He picked up a batch of papers from the
floor. They were wet and he could only just
read it. Jack wondered, and then began to
read.

SNAILROME’S SECRET: THE UNTOLD STORY

TO THE THIRD LAND OF CRUTOPIA
I was only thirty-two when I truly discovered
Snailrome’s truly devastating secret. If you
are reading this, I am dead. I would have
thrown it into the sea at the exact point of
my deathbed’s coming. I hope you truly
understand what I have found, and even
more I hope that you are a Priderialk. I am a
Priderialk myself, you see. I truly master the
ways of this power. I am eighty-six as I write
on this paper. My name is I. Muntarz. I am
preparing to evade the forces of the evil
Knights of Crutopia, they are wanting me to
help them; I would rather die.
I have realised that if you are to collect the
four emblems of Crutopia, you shall become
the master of the four islands, and you will
be able to force combat on darker forces.

Yours Sincerely,

I. Muntarz
Jack re-read the papers. How could it be? The
man who bled terror from his eyes wrote this
letter so many years ago before switching
sides?
Jack read the papers once more just to be
sure before walking to Francis, Sally and
Alex.
‘Are you sure it’s him?’ Sally asked worriedly
Alex threw her an agreeing look. Francis took
the papers and read them for his own. When
he passed them back to Jack, he had a look
of pure shock etched upon his chalky face.
Greg and Lily both raised their eyebrows
when they heard the news; tears flooding
from Lily. Jack was sure, for now, that they
could hardly trust each other, never mind
Aunt Betty.
*

After a goods night sleep and a healthy

breakfast, Jack stormed out of his and
Francis’ cabin happily, striding across the
floorboards as they creaked behind him.
He walked over to the table where many
sandwiches sat ready to be eaten. Jack
stared at them eagerly, before realising he
was being watched.
‘What?’ he said quietly, helping himself to a
cheese sandwich.
The others sat blankly. Greg scooped a
spoonful of porridge into his mouth; it
lingered helplessly on his tongue.
‘What?’ Jack repeated several times, until
Alexandra McGuire sat down at the table with
a long roll of stained paper propped inside
her hands.
‘Err…’ she began, fright lingering on her
tanned face, ‘something terrible has
happened.
‘I’m sorry Jack, it came to a scare to all of us,’
she added.
She handed him the scroll of paper, Jack read
it.
I am sorry to inform you Jack Arthur
Wilkinson, that we have today confirmed the
death of Sarah Wilkinson, whose death was
described as terror.
She was brutally murdered earlier this
evening by Irak Nemesis Muntarz (read “A
day in the Life of Darkness” by Izzie
Fortknight). Her body was found earlier this
evening by a group of people calling
themselves “The Legion of Pirates”.

Thanks and sorry for your loss,

Your President,
Igor Magna
Jack’s head steamed, and then after two
minutes or so, he spoke.
‘My mother was dead already,’ he said, ‘she
was lost when I was 5, didn’t come back,
until, well…now, twelve years later.’
‘You mean eleven!’ interrupted Sally,
counting with her fingers; one of which
wasn’t there as it had been bitten of ten
years ago by a Sharkioum.
‘WHAT?’ Alex bellowed, almost frightening
seagulls on a rock which was perched in the
sea a few fare minutes away in distance.
‘Yeah,’ Jack said. He rubbed a tear that went
loose down his face. ‘Believed dead, she
was.’
Francis turned to Greg, who turned to Alex,
who turned to both Sally and Lily.
‘Oh,’ Francis muttered, quiet enough so they
could barely hear him. ‘I guess we better find
the Shield then, we’re almost here…’
‘Hold on,’ barked Alex, who was reading the
letter; ‘there’s more,’ she read aloud:

“Date of Mail: 19th October 1980”

They all looked puzzled. Alexandra then
spoke again: ‘Meaning this letter was sent
twelve years ago.’
They all gasped. Jack turned red.
‘No, that…nah, no it can’t…’
‘‘Fraid evidence is quite clear,’ Greg said,
turning the page back and forth several
times. He looked up at Jack, and they all said
at once…
‘Sorry, mate,’ or ‘Shame…if I were you I’d be
flooding in tears.’
But Jack merely sat there wondering. How did
the letter arrive to him now of all times? Who
was Igor Magna?
Jack had the shameful thought that in the
next few days he would find out. But for now
his mind was set on the shield and the
sword…
 -CHAPTER SEVEN-

The Sleeps and the Shield

For the next two nights, Jack Wilkinson

neither slept nor saw any of his friends out on
the decks. A very long trip back to
Snailsrome was ahead of him, so he thought
he should conceal himself inside an under
boat room. He sat neatly on a deck hair,
continuing to read a day in the Life of
Darkness. Jack read with intent, skipping a
few pages which were based on his parents
and other unlucky warrior’s deaths. He was
just about to exit the room to fetch a few
snacks until a banging came at the metal
door.
BANG, BANG
‘Who’s there?’ Jack asked sheepishly.
‘Me,’ Greg’s voice echoed through the door
and straight into his head.
‘Me too,’ said another voice, which was
clearly Alex’s. Francis was also there as Jack
could hear them rumbling.
‘Err…can we like…come in?’ Greg asked.
Jack nodded, soon realising that they were
not in the same room he said, ‘go on’.
They entered slowly, all dressed in night
clothes. Jack hadn’t been able to realise
whether it was night or day whilst he had
been down there. Francis was the first to
speak.
‘Hi,’ he said, almost whispering and
whimpering.
Both Greg and Alex also said “hi” as they
walked up to him.
‘Where are the others?’ Jack asked.
‘Up there, playing cards I think,’ replied
Alexandra. Alex had wavy blonde hair which
stretched down to her shoulders now, unlike
last time they had seen each other and she
had thick brown, which was much shorter.
‘Done something with your hair?’ Jack asked
normally.
‘Yeah,’ she whispered, ‘you like it?’
‘Yeah,’ Jack replied, his view now was on
Francis and Greg, who had pulled up a chair
next to Jack’s.
‘We’re at Snailsrome,’ Alex explained, ‘but I
thought we better stop here for the night,
seen as you’ve been down here for forty-
eight hours’.
Jack nodded, but then realised what she had
just said.
‘NO!’ Jack growled sharply. ‘WE’VE GOT TO
GO TONIGHT!’
Alex sighed.
‘We thought you’d say this,’ she said, ‘so we
need to lock you in here…It’s too dangerous
with the Slugrarian and that’.
And Jack felt himself shout and scream, but
instead he merely knew that he was drifting
fast off to sleep.
*

Jack Wilkinson felt nothing. He only felt rather

cold sand pressed against his back. He felt
his clothes; he was wearing a long dressing
gown over a shirt and jogging bottoms. His
eyes were only just adjusting to the beautiful
sunlit world around him. Jack felt his own fist
adjust into a scooping shovel. He gripped
sand, and immediately let go again. He soon
realised that the water drenched his body up
to his waist. The sun evolved and turned
straight into his face. Jack suddenly felt much
more awake and began to stand up. He was
alone on the beach, he was on Snailsrome.
Jack immediately thought of the Slugrarian,
and that’s when he realised he wasn’t sitting
in water, but slime. He scanned the area
around him; no sign of any life. He walked
towards the trees, which were apparently
silent. Jack thought of Sally, Francis, Alex, Lily
and Gregory- what had they done the
previous night to him? Why had he felt as
though he had drifted off into a deep, deep
sleep?
Jack moved further into the many trees and
bushes. The greens of the grass collided with
the many bright colours of flowers; Jack
scanned the area, he thought it looked quite
nice.
BANG
Jack turned his head hurriedly to the noise.
Nothing was there.
BANG
Jack turned again, still nothing there.
BANG
And he fell asleep once more…
 *
Jack began to adjust the air outside. He
realised soon what had just happened, or
what he believed just happened. He looked
around; he was in a damp, dark chamber. He
appeared to be locked against something.
Jack could only just make out his arms; they
were tied up tightly with some kind of metal
ropes. Jack’s eyes fixed on the darkness
quickly and he began to see slightly better.
He could just make out another body in the
corner of the room; but he could not reach it,
as he was tied against the wall. He tried
stretching his legs, but it only was more
painful. Jack could now see a flight of stairs
etching upwards in to the steel roof. It had
many pipes sprang across it, some outline
with black colouring. He looked around again;
his vision became more unimpaired. The
body became much clearer now. He now
knew that it was defiantly male; there was
short blonde hair and muscled arms. Jack
saw that the person’s face was bruised and
scars with blood etched across it. He looked
at the body; a drop of blood fell from his lip.
Jack now saw who the body belonged to: it
was Francis. Jack struggled to get to the
body, his hands hurt as he tried. He tried
shouting, but no words came from his mouth.
Jack realised his voice had been damaged
somehow. Jack scanned the outer rims of the
room. He pulled tightly on the chains before
realising something. A gold glimmer shone
from Francis’ chest…it was the Shield of
Destiny. Jack pulled even harder, but then he
realised he had forgotten something; he was
a Prideriak; he could easily slash open chains.
Jack whispered to himself Slash the Chain to
Release the Pain. A green light shone from
the end of, what disturbed him, his smallest
finger- his index finger. Jack watched the
body with intent; he quickly ran over. He saw
Francis’ hair; it was thick and blood stained.
The Sword of Destiny was now the only
emblem left to collect; and then they could
return to Prida victorious. Jack was about to
grab Francis’ body and run up the flight of
stairs with it, before hearing a voice.
‘Excuse me,’ said the voice, whispering.
‘What do you think you are doing to my
slave?’

-CHAPTER EIGHT-

The Brother of Evil

Jack looked cautiously at the body and back

to the shadowed man. The man had clearly a
very pale body; it was just visible through the
vast, frightening moonlit cellar.
‘Who are you?’ the voice asked clearly,
watching Jack’s every move. Jack stared hard
at the damp floor. A puddle of water sat right
in front of him. He watched the man; a long
silver object slit from his belt.
‘Who are you?’ the voice repeated, this time
much more angry and with intent.
‘I-I’m…do I know you?’ Jack’s left eye flooded
with tears of anger. ‘I know who you are,’
Jack continued, ‘you’re him, aren’t you’
‘Who?’ the voice replied scarily, staring at
Jack through dark red eyes.
‘Irak Muntarz,’ Jack said, but he was not sure
if the man had heard.
‘Ah,’ the man said, ‘I thought you might say
that,’ Jack turned to face the man. As Jack
expected, the man took of his cloak to reveal
his face. It was Muntarz- or was it?
‘YOU’RE MUNTARZ!’ Jack barked. ‘I’VE READ
ABOUT WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE…IN BOOKS!’
The man shook his head.
‘No,’ he said, ‘I am not. I am in fact his
brother, Igor Magna. I changed my name
from Muntarz many years ago at his rise to
power. You are Jack Wilkinson, my friend’s
son.’
‘Prove it,’ Jack whispered, but the apparent
Igor Magna did not move, only continued to
speak.
‘I hated Muntarz for the killings he produced,
my most faithful brother, your father, my
parents…’
‘You parents?’ Jack said worriedly. ‘Really?’
Igor nodded silently, he still didn’t move, nor
speak this time.
‘I am his younger brother, you see. Jack
Muntarz was his eldest brother,’ he
continued, wiping his eyes. ‘Jack was the
eldest, as I said. I came six months after
Muntarz. Meaning he didn’t get much
attention, at all. He tried to kill me as well as
Jack, it’s only that…well…Jack was the only
one of us who didn’t posses Prideriak powers,
I am sure you realise-’
‘Yeah,’ Jack said hurriedly.
‘You were named after my brother, as my
father was cousins with your grandfather. It is
likely that you do not understand that
Muntarz is your, well…relation?’
‘Oh,’ Jack whispered, ‘Okay.’
Jack stared with intent at the damp floor, but
he only saw a large puddle of water.
‘So,’ said the man, ‘Are you OK?’
Jack nodded and stared more hardly at the
floor.
‘Your friend here seems to have suffered
quite a blow. I rescued you all, you know’
Jack’s fit lit up slightly and he looked at
Magna.
‘Really?’ Jack whispered.
The man smiled, and said ‘Yes.’
Jack continued to smile, until he found a large
hole in the plot.
‘Where are they?’ he asked.
The man’s eyebrows raised before speaking,
‘Up there,’ he said, almost too silent to hear.
He looked up at Jack and said, ‘we’d better
carry him up, you’ve been here quite a while
you know.’
Jack’s eyebrows rose too. The man looked
down at Francis.
‘I don’t understand why,’ Igor muttered, ‘but
this boy seems to have just appeared here, I
did, of course, understand. The others told
me, you know, Alexandra especially, she
seems to have quite a liking for-’
‘Anyway,’ Jack pointed towards Francis;
better get him upstairs, eh?’
Igor nodded, and scooped the boy up with
two hands.
‘What’s his name, eh?’ the man asked,
halfway up the stairs.
‘Francis Crakren,’ Jack answered, tripping
over a wire.
Magna was walking quite normal until…
‘OH MY!’ he bellowed, shaking the house
down to silence. ‘THAT’S A…THAT’S A…’ but
he did not finish as Jack saw the others; Sally,
Lily, Greg and Alex, they all beamed at him.
‘You okay?’ Alex asked worriedly.
Francis’ body was placed on a hazel brown
table. The table was placed in the middle of a
set of drawers which buried it; there was a
large sink area where packets of food were
placed.
‘Do you kids realise that you’ve got an
emblem of Destiny here?’ he pointed to the
shield which was placed on Francis’ chest. He
smiled as they nodded.
‘We already have two, now we’ve three,’
explained Greg, clear enough for a dog to
understand.
‘Oh my,’ Igor exclaimed. ‘Amazing!’
He beamed. ‘I have an offer for you,’ Magna
continued. ‘I will join you in your travels, seen
as I am a life long member of the Legion of
Pirates, and I will help you to find the last
emblem.’
Jack and Alex exchanged excited looks.
‘Yeah,’ they echoed. ‘That’d be great.’
Magna beamed once more.
‘Great,’ he said excitedly, ‘let’s go.’
And he placed his coat onto his back and
walked out of the door. Jack and Alex led
them through the door and to Magna. The
wind was streaming into his hair and waving
it about constantly.
‘Strong wind,’ commented Igor, placing a jet
black top hat onto his head.
Sally and Lily laughed, so did Jack.
*

The man sat in his chamber throne still,

wiping his eyes before replacing his glasses
with a stream of yellow light from his
Prideriak powers. Irak Muntarz looked down
at his works which was placed on a hazel
brown desk. He stared around as a man
came to his table wearing a knight’s uniform.
He gave Muntarz an excited look before
speaking.
‘News?’ Muntarz cackled harshly.
‘Yes,’ replied the man, he chuckled.
Muntarz smirked.
‘Yes?’
‘My master,’ said the man, ‘we know the
whereabouts of the Legion…they are based
permantly at Prida Palace!’
Muntarz gave another hollow laugh.
‘We already have confirmation that those
weird people are there, Muntrone, but I am
sad to say that my friend has told us that
Jack and his friends are on their way…finally I
can kill that little scrotum after so many
years of trying. He won’t even know how
many times I’ve tried, the silly little swine!’
The guards laughed madly.
‘Wonderful,’ the man muttered, almost
silently. ‘I just…’
‘YOU JUST WHAT, MUNTRONE? WHAT
MORE CAN YOU GIVE ME, YOU HAVE DONE
WELL!’
Muntrone grinned, so did Muntarz, for the
first
time in thirty-odd years.

-CHAPTER NINE-
 The Chamber of Darkness

Jack, Lily, Sally, Greg, Alexandra and Igor

watched the body of Francis twist and turn on
the table. The ship waved wildly on the ocean
beds, knocking into very small rocks every
now and again. Francis suddenly became
conscious again, he turned to Jack.
‘Monsters,’ he said quietly, ‘Slugrarian!’ he
continued, bellowing out loud.
Alexandra gave a frightened look to Jack, and
then said, ‘what did they do?’
Francis mumbled something, but then said
much more clearly, ‘They took me, they tried
to dissect me but I fought them, and only just
escaped.’
Jack bit his lip tightly. The Shield of
Snailsrome, The Sword of Skelakon, The
Goblet of Huntrike and The Watch of Prida:
The Emblems of Destiny. They now
possessed all but the sword…
‘Right, we’re nearly at Skelakon,’ Jack said to
Alex, as their paths collided whilst making
drinks. Alexandra nodded sharply and turned
to Francis, who was being treated to many
hot cups of creamy hot chocolate.
Igor Magna was sitting at the far end of the
deck, looking over to the seas; he was
holding a long roll of paper which was clearly
a map. Jack strolled over to him quietly,
edging his way past equipment of Magna’s.
‘We’re nearly at Skelakon,’ Jack explained
hurriedly, passing him a blue mug. Magna
took a gulp of hot chocolate before saying, ‘I
know.’
Jack nodded and placed himself next to the
man. Magna gave a soft laugh before turning
to Jack, looking deep into his eyes. Jack now
saw how young Magna looked compared to
his brother Irak. Jack’s eyes were a deep sea
blue, compared to Magna’s dark red ones.
‘Did you know that The Legion of Pirates is a
group of thirty Pirates, here’s a list,’ he
placed a roll of soft stained paper into Jack’s
hands. ‘Did you know that all of the Legion
have Priderialk but the other kids, this is
because in a battle a few years ago, ten
years ago, they all were given them by
Muntarz accidently.’

Donald Humphrey (aged 44)

Miranda Humphrey (aged 40)
Gregory Humphrey (aged 14)
Leon Jones (aged 28)
Isaac Jones (aged 28)
Barbara Crakren (aged 43)
King Francis Crakren (aged 45)
Francis Crakren (aged 15)
Mark Wilkinson (aged 39)
Sarah Wilkinson (aged 34)
Jack Wilkinson (aged 15)
Ryan Venus (aged 35)
Hannah Venus (aged 26)
George Venus (aged 405, deceased)
Mark McGuire (aged 39)
Rosemary “Rose” McGuire (aged 37)
Jo-Jo McKingston (aged 45)
Igor Magna (aged 59, deceased)
Irak Muntarz (aged 60, disbanded)
Obliviosak Neglenet (aged 50)
Jared Murray (aged 59)
Elliot McCormack (aged 56)
Jaquelikinos (aged 40)

‘Amazing,’ muttered Jack, to himself, but

apparently Magna heard him. ‘Are you sad
that your brother’s like he is,’ this had
appeared to have spilt out of Jack’s mouth,
but he answered anyway.
‘No,’ Magna replied strictly. He turned his
head to the map. ‘Not far off now, eh?’ he
said, changing subjects.
‘No,’ whispered Jack, ‘a few minutes in fact.’
Only ten minutes later, the island of Skelakon
was not far ahead. Jack scanned the island’s
sands; nothing appeared to be there. Jack
scanned once more; still nothing appeared
through the binoculars.
Finally, after a few more minutes, they
actually boarded the surface of Skelakon. It
was much damper sand than the other three
islands. As soon as they grabbed the Last
emblem, they could finally have the ability to
destroy the Muntarz Division. When they all
arrived safely onto the sand beds, Jack told
the others something with Igor.
‘Well then,’ he said, ‘it is possible that we
may not return to the boat.’
Alex and Sally shook their heads in dismissal.
‘It’s possible,’ Jack repeated more harshly
than last time, ‘that we will not survive.’
More heads shook.
‘Okay then, we better go.’
He led them down the sands until they came
to a cave door. ‘Silence,’ Jack whispered.
They saw many flamed torches hung on the
two sides of cave as they entered. They saw
shadows, but it was only light.
Suddenly Jack came to a halt. There was a
body standing straight in front of him.
‘Who stands before the Chamber of
Darkness?’ the voice cracked.
He stared at his piercing green eyes which
lingered in his mind for many seconds after
seeing them.
‘Who stands before the chamber of
Darkness?’ repeated the man, strictly and
extremely harshly. Surprisingly, the man lit a
flamed torch. ‘Are you Jack Wilkinson?’ he
asked, strangely accurately.
‘Why?’ Magna asked reassuringly, winking at
Jack.
‘I asked the boy!’ barked the man, staring
blankly at Magna. For a moment the man
thought that Magna was Muntarz as he
blinked twice, but then observed the hair of
Magna and shook his head.
‘Come with me,’ barked the man again,
throwing Jack into dirt on the floor, they
walked away, Jack’s friends following.
Magna followed with intent, looking around at
the caves as if in a sweet store.
They gradually entered a gigantic chamber
with pots of thorns around the room. There
were portraits of an oddly familiar man
scattered across the room. It was the
Chamber of Irak Muntarz. Jack saw him, in
the throne at the end of the hallway. He was
only a cloaked figure from what Jack could
see of him. Jack could see large blobs of red,
which were presumably his eyes.
Jack looked deep into the man.
‘Bring him hear,’ a fiery voice croaked. ‘Now’
The man in the suite of armour followed his
master’s orders swiftly. Jack was thrown into
a patch of grey dust onto his knees.
‘So, come back, do you?’ Muntarz cackled.
The many guards laughed joyfully, until
Muntarz held up his most long and boniest
finger on his left hand to silence them. Jack
watched as the cloaked figure moved
towards the man beside him, looking for any
sign of a face underneath the hood; but none
came.
Jack heard Muntarz tell him happily to torture
the others in the dungeons unless Jack was to
hand something over.
‘Give us the Emblems Jack!’ barked Irak
impatiently.
Jack wondered how he knew.
‘How do you know?’ Jack asked, whispering.
‘Your friend Igor, my brother in fact, as been
helping me greatly’
Muntarz sneered, the man laughed.
‘Dolkrink here,’ he pointed to the guard who
had let him in and thrown him on the floor,
‘has kindly given me the codes to bewitch
this rag of a man’ (he pointed to Igor as if he
was something rotten under his shoe) ‘he has
been informing me about you’re happenings
every night and day, most of the time…’
‘Why?’ Jack said outrageously, ‘Why couldn’t
you do it yourself?’
‘HA HA! You think I would waste my time with
silly little kids who have been given an adults
task…you were never going to succeed! Why
do you think you ended up in my chamber
anyway?’
Jack saw the frail and bony bodies of his
many friends shiver as they were pulled
away from the chamber, they attempted to
wave frightendly, but Jack could hardly see
them as they faded away slowly.
Jack turned his head to the cloaked figure
who was now sat in his throne patiently.
‘Jack Wilkinson, you are about to join your
father in hell…!’
BANG, ZOOM, BOOM!
An explosion of red and green light erupted
from Jack’s fingers. The ceiling had burst into
debris and matted carpets of dust. Muntarz
was somewhere under the rubble. To Jack’s
ultimate surprise, he saw the place had fallen
down completely. Sally, Lily, Francis, Greg
and Alex were making their way out of the
rubble hurriedly.
‘Quick,’ he heard Alex scream faintly.
He ran towards them frightened.
‘What happened?’ Greg asked cautiously.
‘Later,’ Jack muttered, ‘Muntarz no doubt will
follow us, he’s got millions…’
‘Yeah, well…we know something too,’ Alex
said proudly.
‘The Legion are back at Prykree Palace! We
need to get there fast!’
Jack looked shocked and worried at the same
time.
‘How d’you know?’ Jack asked.
‘Forced it out of this guy,’ began Francis a
little sharply, ‘called Binkins, weird one ‘e
were, gave him a punch, told us all ‘e knew!’
‘His mate din’ like it,’ added Greg chuckling.
Alex and Sally were stood startled.
‘COME ON!’ Alex barked furiously, making
her way out of the cave entrance.
They walked back to the ship, ready for a
battle…

-CHAPTER TEN-

The Battle Begins

Jack slung his body hurriedly over the side of
the boat to reach Priderian sands. A fast
journey from Skelakon had startled him
slightly. Jack wrapped himself in a large
overcoat made of leather, and two black
knuckle-less gloves for some warmth. Prida
was cool and icy today, as frosty as winter,
even though it was spring now.
Alex and Sally led them, with Jack leading
them though, up to where the Prykree Palace
was. It stood, as shiny as ever, gleaming in
the sun light.
The walked slowly up the long path leading
to the large hazel wooden doorway. Jack
eyed the Palace with a glint of proudness in
his eyes.
KNOCK, KNOCK
Jack had knocked on the door. They stood,
breathing heavily, until a familiar voice rang
through their ears.
‘Hello?’ came Miranda Humphrey’s voice.
Another three voices were audible, those of
Donald, Francis Senior and another woman,
who had now been joined by another man.
‘It’s us!’ Jack shouted excitedly. The large
doors swung open, in the archway a beaming
Donald stood there awestruck with six others.
‘Oh my,’ Miranda muttered silently.
‘Really?’ Donald asked eagerly. ‘Quick, hurry,
hurry- come in quick!’ he glanced over their
shoulders for any watchers. ‘No spies today,
Fran, must be a little bored, eh?’
Francis nodded, staring down at his son and
hugging him hard. Donald gripped Greg and
Jack by the arms and hugged them so hard
Jack thought he may never breathe again.
Jack’s head turned to the four anonymous
people; Donald saw him eye them- he
explained.
He nodded towards a tall, pale, thin man who
was lanky and rather handsome; he smiled
awkwardly. The woman beside him was also
tall, but slightly plump too. She also gleamed
at Jack and Greg.
‘This is Mark and Rosemary McGuire,’ he
explained, as Mark and his wife hugged Sally,
Alexandra and Lilly. ‘They are, as you may
understand, parents to the McGuire sisters,
obviously…’
Jack turned his head to another man and
woman, who were clearly not couples, as the
woman was constantly projecting disgraced
glances at the man’s clothing.
‘Jack,’ began Donald happily, ‘this is Hannah
Venus, with…’ (Another man happily joined
the other man) ‘Isaac and Leon Jones,’ they
began walking into the kitchen. ‘This is Obby,
Jaquelikinos, Jared Murray, Jo-Jo and Ryan
Venus,’ Jaquelikinos was one of the names
Jack remembered from the sheet of paper
Magna had given him. He was tall and purple
skinned, Jack thought he was a lot younger
than he really was, about the same age as he
was, fifteen. That reminded Jack that it was
his birthday this Sunday, but there was more
time for that later…
Jack strode silently to an unoccupied
armchair and watched in complete silence.
BANG, BANG, BANG
‘OH-NO!’ growled Francis Sr. ‘The battle’s
begun…’
Jack turned his head to the window, were, a
large silver boat was sitting in the middle of
the green grass. Jack saw many pirates
dressed in all black streaming out of the
entrance. Jack recognised the leader as the
guard who had accompanied him several
times during their narrow escape from
Muntarz’s palms earlier that day.
‘His army!’ bellowed Donald frighteningly, as
he gazed imposingly at the all-blacked
pirates.
For a few seconds, everything seemed to
turn silent, until…
CRASH
The mighty window which overlooked the
large hall erupted into tiny fragments.
Muntarz, wearing a new uniform, lead them
fiercely into the manor.
Jack, for a few seconds, hid behind a door
before it was ripped to shreds by the guard,
who was now apparently called Remy
Callacto. Jack ran fast and show the throwing
power to his chest, knocking him into another
one of his colleagues. Jack saw glimpses of
the battle; Francis and his parents were
battling Gobline Slimesoe, a terrible victim of
Muntarz. Gobline had hit them many times
with the Watre-Mendaie, the killing power,
and of course, Nufus, the throwing power.
Jack heard many screams, most of which
coming from unarmed prisoners of Prida who
had escaped from the dungeons to help fight.
Jack watched as his friends battled; The
Venus’ siblings were fighting three dead
opponents, all of which Jack heard the names
of; Ruby M’frinkey, Leoniak Puddinese and
Harrison Xaraian.
Something terrible then caught Jack’s eye;
Alex and Greg were being almost tortured by
Alec Nublinxe, Walter Warrings, Rubin
Warren and Isaac Narls.
‘Zanriksta!’ they all shouted together,
throwing the red showers of light into Jack’s
friends’ faces.
But Jack couldn’t stand it…that was the kill
power…
‘WATRE-MENDIA!’ Jack shouted unstoppably.
A stream of blue light, yet again, erupted
from his three fingers. It hit all of the
opponents straight into the necks, but
something, somehow, had ceased the
fighting.
A tall, cloaked figure was walking, chuckling,
over to the centre at the hall. Jack watched
how he strode cockily over the tiles. He
laughed at Greg, scathed and almost dead,
throwing the teenagers head to the hard
flooring.
He walked straight up to Jack.
‘Now-Now,’ Muntarz chuckled. ‘I’m going to
give you a choice…’
‘I won’t accept either, I’m going to avenge
the many deaths!’ barked Jack furiously,
throwing dark looks at the figure.
Muntarz chuckled more, and then more, and
then yet even more, he finally stopped and
turned to Jack.
‘Nobody will die,’ he began, ‘and little Igor
will not be killed, if I can have something…’
‘WHAT!’ bellowed Jack; he looked deep into
Muntarz’s red eyes. ‘I KNOW YOUR STUPID
LITTLE GAMES IRAK!’
The halls erupted into laughter.
‘Oh little dumpling…’ (They chuckled harder),
‘I can kill you on the spot, but what would the
point in that be?’
Muntarz sniggered.
‘I will bring back your father- and find your
mother…for one thing!’
Jack stared at him, transfixed. He looked at
the deep disgustingly thin nostrils on him
flare.
‘What?’ Jack said, almost as a whisper.
‘If you give me the Emblems of Destiny!’
Jack watched suspiciously as Muntarz pulled
out a small, emerald green bottle.
‘This,’ he said, ‘is the Xariofonex’s Elixir.’
 -CHAPTER ELEVEN-

The Xariofonex’s Elixir

For some time Jack sent withered glances

towards his frozen friends. Could he accept
an offer of peace? Could accept an offer of
the Xariofonex’s Elixir? Or could he even
accept an offer of his mother and father
being back with him?
‘You have ten seconds,’ commented Muntarz,
watching Jack with great interest. He peered
at the other attackers who were frozen
almost. From time to time he heard one of
them comment on the decision, whether it
being ‘Do it Jack!’ or ‘Don’t. Just don’t!’
Jack shot a nervous look at Muntarz, who, in
reply, looked him in the eyes and said ‘Ready
yet?’
He continued to watch his own self for a few
moments before saying, ‘Depends.’
‘What does, my dearest friend?’
Jack looked at his friends and then said,
‘What is the Xariofonex’s Elixir?’
Irak Muntarz merely looked to his followers
hopefully before saying, ‘The Xariofonex’s
Elixir…is what is I am truly here till this day
for. It is a weapon of natural resource in
many ways except one…it cannot keep you
safe, or immortal, for more than a day.
‘And until today I realise that as soon as you
drink a mere drop of the liquid…you will
indeed become dark…’
Jack smirked.
‘I am not a dark Pirate, young boy…I am
good. You see, today’s average Pirate is
equipped with varities of Prideriak, that, in
my opinion are not natural. They come from
my own blood, from, to be exact, the
thirteenth of September 1999.
‘I am fully aware that I cleanly destroyed
your father, of who at the time was my
master’s son, Nifullus Wilkinson. I can give
you the fully fledged truth for those
emblems…the elixir of Xariofonex’s would be
yours, completely,’ he continued proudly. The
elixir clutched tightly in his hand, Muntarz
walked further forward, so that his nose was
only a matter of inches from Jack’s, whose
mouth was ready to speak.
‘I-I-I ac-accept,’ Jack announced, his many
friends turned to him, frozen. ‘I accept that I
will never give you these! For Prida!’ Jack
raised his sword into the air.
‘For Prida!’ echoed across the room. Francis
and Greg had just been knocked off their feet
by Bella McGuire, sister of Rosemary, who
was assisting her husband and eldest
daughter, Verity Shawn, and her husband
Joseph in duelling Frank Burton and Gobline
Slimesoe. Jack saw Donald, King Francis and
the newly arrived Igor Magna (who was back
after the bewitching) in a fierce battle with
Lord Muntarz; jets of light streamed out of
Muntarz’s eyes let alone his fingers.
Jack ran towards Alex, Sally and Francis who
were all hiding behind a table.
‘We heard something from a guy called
Binks,’ said Alex unexpectedly. ‘He said that
you were the only one with the powers to
kill-’
‘I KNOW!’ Jack bellowed in a very loud
whisper. ‘You-’ (he nodded towards Francis),
‘need to take Greg, these three and yourself
outside…I’ve got you in enough trouble
already…’
‘No,’ Sally muttered simply. ‘I don’t want to
leave…my whole family…what if…what if
they-’
‘They’ll be okay,’ assured Jack, ‘I swear!’
Alex and Sally hugged him, he then turned to
Francis. ‘I’m sorry,’ Jack confessed.
‘Why?’
‘I broke you’re sword souvenir from Greece,’
and Francis chuckled. ‘But really…be
careful…’
‘We will!’ Francis whispered.
‘Okay,’ Jack muttered silently. ‘I need to find
out more about this liquid thingy-’
‘What?’ he replied hurriedly, standing up, and
as he did so he saw Bella McGuire shot into
the pearl white staircase by Miranda
Humphrey, who had shot Watre-Mendaie at
her left eye. Jack turned to his friends.
‘Where’s the others?’ he asked.
‘Who?’ Alex replied.
‘Lily and Greg, where are they?’ Jack
repeated.
‘Err…’ but Alex couldn’t continue, as nobody
knew where they were.
‘I think…’ Francis began.
‘Well, you better look for them quick!’
BANG, BANG
Suddenly, after a flash of blood red light, a
body was thumped to the floor at the side of
Jack. Jack’s eyes fixed on it.
It wasn’t Greg….it wasn’t Lily….it wasn’t
Muntarz…
Jack peered closely…it was a friend…a foe
must have killed them…
 -CHAPTER TWELVE-

Back to the Chamber

It was Donald Humphrey. His son Gregory

was sobbing, he was lingering over the body
like a Donald was a shadow. Jack couldn’t
believe it; his father’s best friend was dead…
forever.
He watched Miranda move herself through
the crowds as the battle failed to cease, he
realised that her eyes were bursting with
tears. She had five handkerchiefs in her left
palm which was supported by King Francis,
who was also looking exceedingly upset.
Jack, without noticing, was crying himself. He
felt himself drift into darkness like he was
falling through heaven and hell together…he
was falling still, and then fell with a thump.
*
‘Mum! Mum! Mum!’
Jack woke with a start to find Alexandra,
Francis and Mrs. Crakren watching over him.
He turned over to find himself lying on a long
cushiony bed. He realised he was moving…
he was on a boat.
‘Where am I?’ Jack asked grumpily.
‘You’re on the Shi-Wrenger…my husband’s
ship, we’re following the Darker Division…
secretly, I mean,’ it was Verity Shawn,
standing now next to Mrs. Crakren with her
husband, Joseph. He was tall and muscular
and had a light brown moustache which was
rather short and stumpy. His clothes included
a V-neck shirt, a long black cloak equipped
with a sword and pistol.
‘Hi,’ Jack muttered, straining his lips.
‘We only just escaped after it happened…’ he
heard Miranda’s voice tell him, who had just
materialised next to Joseph.
And then Jack remembered what she was
probably referring to with “after it
happened…”, he threw himself over the bed.
‘He’s not dead…he can’t be…why?’
‘Sit down!’ moaned Miranda reassuringly.
‘I’m afraid Jack, but we have to move on, I
were his wife…I must say I have known him
longer than anyone…except Francis, of
course.
‘It is a most terrible loss that we will have to
compete with I am afraid. It is the worst
death yet…’
‘YET?’ WHAT DO YOU MEAN “YET”; DO YOU
EXPECT US ALL TO GO? OR DO YOU THINK
YOU KNOWING HIM LONGER THAN I GIVES
OW’T TO ME? HE WAS MY FATHER SINCE I
WAS TEN…HE ROSE ME UP ALONGSIDE
GREGORY…AND YOU SAY I HARDLY KNEW
HIM?’ the words had almost slipped out. He
felt his stomach ache harshly…and then he
wondered…
‘WHERE ARE WE GOING?’ he barked, a little
less stressfully.
‘The Chamber of Darkness is our destination,
Jack. I am sorry to hear for your loss and you
may not know me very well at all, but for a
fifteen year-old you have coped with a lot. I
am Joseph Shawn, wife of you’re cousin
Verity. Meaning I am your, well…that doesn’t
matter. Anyhow, we need to discuss
something.
‘The Elixir of Xariofonex is exceedingly
important in myth, Jack. It is the top most
Prideriak power, it gives you power over the
four islands. Then comes the four emblems.
‘When I was not even placed upon the crust
of planet Earth, there was a war in 1970.
Many of our members were accidently given
the Prideriak power, even though it may not
be so strong, though. The four emblems are
four objects in which, if they are added to
one drop of the Xariofonex’s Elixir, is very
dangerous, even for a fully fledged killer like
Irak Muntarz.’
Jack took it in well, resting his head back on
the soft, cushiony pillow.
‘So, if Muntarz has, and he will have, a drop
of the Elixir he can overrule the many
islands. Into this comes the Legend of the
four islands, I shall give you it: here....’
He placed a sheet of tea-stained paper in
Jack’s palms, it read-

On the Saturday the Ninth of October 1970,

the Muntarz war began, named after the first
killing, Mr. Irak Nemesis Muntarz.

He turned over the sheet. There was more

writing, this read-

The Four Islands, the Four Islands, the

Xariofonex’s Elixir…what are they?
By Mary-Jane Johnson
_____________________________
The Four Islands (Snailsrome, Prida, Huntrike
and Skelakon) were formed in the year 1108
by Lord Blake Bearde. He constructed them
with his two best friends Snailing Rome and
Isaac Muntarz. Each of the Islands was, in
1150, the year of Bearde’s death, given an
emblem. (Huntrike- The Goblet, Snailsrome-
Shield, Prida- The Watch, Skelakon- Sword)
They were also given four Kings: Igington
Crakren, Jane Berry, Colin M’Funtrin and
Pordge Wenkins. There was also myth that
said Bearde had a secret connection created
for his descendants to live forever, this of the
four emblems being placed in the Silver
Cauldron with the Xariofonex’s Elixir. There is
also another myth:

The boy who becomes the King of Prida

Will become the death of the decider
As when the clock strikes midnight
The fall of a friend will be the fight
As the saviour becomes stronger
He will realise that no longer
He is a child
He will be the death of the wild
Jack, very slowly and carefully, folded the
sheet of paper up and gave it back to Joseph,
who was looking worried.
‘It’s all true,’ Jack muttered frighteningly.
‘The fall of a friend…when the clock strikes
midnight…’
‘Yes,’ confirmed Joseph carefully. ‘It is true,
yet we are making our way to Skelakon
now…’
‘WHY?’ Jack interrupted sharply.
‘For you to make everything true!’
*

It was at least half an hour until they could

catch a glimpse of Skelakon. It seemed, as
they entered the boundaries, that Snailsrome
were assisting Muntarz, as many Slugrarian
strolled forwards and backwards, surveying
the grounds.
‘They expect us to invade them,’ Alexandra
said, watching Greg hug his mother
consolingly.
As they boarded, one of the oddest things
happened in anyone’s lifetime. On the sea
bed, an army of transparent figures were
fighting the Slugrarian, and it was working…
they were ghosts. Many sprites, faeries and
hob goblins had soon joined in, making a
neat path for them to walk through.
Suddenly, Jack noticed that Greg and Miranda
had stopped, observing one peculiar ghost. It
was Donald.
‘Oh my…’ he heard Miranda mutter. Greg
soon added ‘Cool,’ which struck his mother
badly. She began to sob; he could see the
older Francis run to help her. Only King
Francis, Jack, Francis Junior, Sally, Greg,
Joseph and Verity and her mother and father
had made the trip onto the island.
Jack and King Francis led them through the
many sets of trees that stood abruptly in the
middle of the cottages. Jack led them to a
large windy path which was dark grey; it led
to a gigantic prison-like terrace. It was the
Palace of Death, which almost confirmed the
presence of the concealed Chamber of
Darkness.
They walked steadily up to the doorway,
edging slowly with their swords aside their
legs.
Jack was a few feet further from them now,
he was almost at the door…
BANG, BANG
The gigantic metal doors slammed shut. He
was now separated from the Legion. He felt
his heart race as he turned to the others,
they looked almost frozen, he looked
forwards- the door sat there, alone, as pearl
white as usual
The Legion were stood frozen.
‘JACK!’ bellowed Miranda forcefully. ‘YOU CAN
DO THIS…ALONE. DONALD WILL HELP YOU
ALONG THE WAY, HE IS WITH YOU STILL…I
KNOW!’
Jack nodded and said, ‘yeah…I’m ready!’
He made his way closer to the door, his hand
was now an inch from the golden handle. His
grip on the handle suddenly became very
firm, and suddenly as loose as an un-
tightened screw. The door opened by itself.
It wasn’t just the narrow corridor he had
expected, it was a large pearl hallway where
the Lord Muntarz sat on a throne.
‘I’ve been expecting you…’
Muntarz began walking slowly; Jack had no
choice but to follow. They entered the manor
house.
Muntarz was now dressed in the rather
familiar and odd all-black uniform, which
included a raggedy black and torn shirt, a
black and white tie and finally a black cloak.
There was a small badge on the place where
a small pocket had been ripped off, it said-

THE
D.D
Lord Muntarz is my Pride
Lord Muntarz is my God
Lord Muntarz is the one
Who shall lead us through the tide?

Jack continued walking aside him until they

finally reached a large dark black room. It
was alit by several flaming torches which
were propped up against the walls. There
was distinctive black and red striped
wallpaper which stood out. Jack’s view turned
to three people in the room; Gobline
Slimesoe, Bella McGuire and Kearney
McDonald.
‘Donald okay?’ smirked the one called
Kearney, who was male with long brown hair
stretching down to his shoulders. The brown
parted down the middle to form a log of
straw-like hair. Jack watched gave a dark
look.
‘SILENCE!’ barked Muntarz scarily. He turned
to Jack. ‘I regret your friend’s death as much
as you…’
‘LIAR!’ bellowed Jack surprisingly. ‘You
wouldn’t have killer him, would you?’ he
added in a calmer tone. ‘WHO KILLER HIM?’
‘NOBODY!’ Muntarz barked again. ‘You killed
him, young boy!’
Jack’s fists tried to penetrate the grey-like
body of Muntarz. Muntarz had dinosaur like
eyes and a nose which had two long dark
slits, which could scare anybody in their
correct mind.
‘I, nor did my fellows, try to kill Donald Jay
Humphrey! He bullied me since the age of
six, and I regret the death myself, but I
assure you that the swine was not killed by
man!’
‘Then…who killed him?’
BANG, BANG
‘What’s that?’ Muntarz asked, throwing
extremely scared looks at his three
colleagues.
The doors swung open suddenly. In the
doorway which led to the Chamber, a
humanoid shape began to form. A man who
Jack recognised some how was there. He
eyed Jack suspiciously, and then ran to hug
him.
‘No offence,’ he whispered to the man, ‘but
who are you?’
The man stalled for a minute, then saw
Muntarz’s fuming nostrils. The man
screamed, and then turned to dust.
‘Who was that?’ Jack asked suspiciously.
‘That was Donald J. Humphrey…he is only
half dead. You have his body, I have his soul.
You see, I hit a simple Watre-Mendaie at him,
but he hit a crystal ball, I think. His soul was
smashed apart and formed into this…the
elixir. Donald’s soul and your father’s are
both in this liquid. You see, I never did add
them to the Emblems, because you failed to
give them to me. I have changed a lot- you
may have noticed this, since our first
encounter in the chamber, this has one great
reason.’
Jack stared at him, wondering.
‘What?’
But at that moment, Muntarz’s hands
released streams and streams of coloured
lights. He fell to the floor with a thud, and
spoke no more. Irak Nemesis Muntarz was
dead.
‘Stupid man…telling you the truth…silly old
man…telling him the future. You little boy,
we need to die; you know too much, you
know far too much.’
But Jack just dodged the killable red light and
ran out of the doorway. He only just made it
out of the chamber before he met the steel
gates. He could hear Slimesoe’s chanting
behind him. He was coming, and fast…
Jack couldn’t escape, it was locked. Gobline
Slimesoe stood there, his fingers raised, and
he screamed ‘Zanriksta!’

-CHAPTER THIRTEEN-

St. Paul’s Home for the Elderly

The next week seemed to be rather

enjoyable after the past week’s events. Jack
Wilkinson, Lily, Sally and Alexandra McGuire
had on several occasions been accompanied
by Verity and Joseph Shawn on weekend
holidays in Huntrike. For now, everything
seemed okay. But what was on most minds
at present was that of the time of the
Coronation. Another resident of Prida was to
be awarded the King’s crown, therefore they
would take the place of Francis’. After the
King had recently decided to give up the
position to concentrate on the Legion, the
ceremony card was this-

Please Attend.

The Official Prida Coronation

7pm: Doors open
8.30pm: Announcements
9.00pm: Celebrations
2am: Doors Close
Jack had no thought of not going. He put his
name down, but the problem was you
needed to be in pairs for the annual Dance.
After a couple’ days thought, Jack had
decided to go in a larger group with his
friends; Francis, Lily, Greg, Sally, Alexandra
and Joseph, and oh, of course, Verity.
They all agreed and set of in a horse carriage
together at six ‘o’ clock. The carriage also
had the many other members of the Legion
inside.
It took only twenty minutes for the service to
begin, unlike what it said on the letter, they
must have been eager.
‘Welcome, welcome. It is with pride and
pleasure that today I will announce the new
King of Prida- and the Prince; I will begin with
the “Services to Prida” award.
‘I chose this person because I thought they
put incredible amount of service, as well as
effort, courage and wisdom into their life. I
award this to Francis Crakren…and Gregory
Humphrey!’
There was a wave of applause at this. Greg
and Francis grinned towards each other.
‘And the award for “Best Skills in all
Subjects” is given to…Lily McGuire!’
More applause greeted them. To a surprise,
Lily hugged Jack and Francis hardly.
‘And the award for “Most Valuable Person”, is
another joint award…given to Verity, Sally
and Alexandra McGuire!’
More applause again greeted Crakren’s
words.
‘And finally…the Prince of Prida award. I have
to admit I have given this award a disturbing
amount of thought. I begin to say that the
Prince of Prida is not an adult, and the King is
an adult. The Prince of Prida…is a joint
coronation!’ (There was an incredible amount
of muttering and questioning), ‘It is awarded
to Gregory Humphrey and Jack Wilkinson.
You may have noticed that tonight’s awards
are all my good younglings and friends. I
know you may think that I am bias to pick
them, but I must say, young Gregory has lost
his father in recent events. This is, however,
naturally, not a laughing matter to all!’
Greg was cheered up. He felt so happy now it
was out of the way, that everyone knew his-
‘AND TODAY’S MAIN AWARD…THE KING OF
PRIDA IS NOW AWARDED TO…’
Jack and Greg’s hearts thumped hardly.
‘JOSEPH SHAWN!’
There was heroic applause as the curtains
were shed to reveal a large gold and red
diamond throne. Sparkles of gold glittered
round the rim. There was a large velvet soft
cushion to place you, and there were also
many features such as “The Delibritner” and
“The Move-Butter”.
Joseph strolled happily up to the edge of the
stage, and bowed as Francis placed the large
golden crown above his head. It was a day
for heroism, and a day that needed them.
From now on, the death of Lord Muntarz was
nothing…or was he really dead…and what
would happen now? What would the Darker
Division do next?
All these thoughts streamed through Jack’s
brain.
*
The next morning, Jack awoke early in
Prykree Manor (where the whole Legion now
stayed) in his bedroom, alongside Greg and
Francis. It was a fine summer’s day. Most of
today would be took up by visiting St. Paul’s
Home for the Elderly. Jack wasn’t quite sure
who they were actually visiting, or as a
matter of fact, why?
They had a quick breakfast (Cornflakes and a
slice of buttered toast) and all made their
tracks to the home. They walked through the
forest until they came to a giant piece of land
which was covered in fresh green grass.
Jack’s wondered why they were here.
‘Now, Now,’ Francis Senior explained. ‘We
need a large space of land for the
Dematerialisation now, quick, quick…’
All of them stood round in a circle holding
hands, until…
CRASH, BOOM, BANG
They were no longer in the middle of a field,
now they stood abrupt outside a large red
bricked house with gold lettering spelling-

ST. PAUL’S HOME

A place to rest your latter years

They passed the sign and wondered into a

large pebbled garden which gave the feeling
of a graveyard.
Jack saw two gigantic glass doors slide open
to reveal a pearl white reception desk. A
young, dark skinned woman was sitting still
at a chair taking notes from visitors and
residents were arriving.
A large, moustached plump man had just
entered another set of, much smaller, glass
doors.
‘Hullo,’ said the woman. ‘I nid’ you’re cad’
please miss. New policy, ya see?’
‘Oh sure,’ replied Miranda weakly.
She let them pass into the hall that the
moustached man had recently entered, it
was rather un pleasant and cold. There was a
large waiting room which chairs were spread
across. Two doors were sitting at either side,
one was the bedrooms, the other the
bathrooms. Jack had the impression they
were standing in the Games room. Many
elder people were sitting playing cards or
other board games. They wondered into the
bedroom section where, in a large white bed,
sat Igor Muntarz.
He had a large magazine held up in his palms
called Swashbuckler Weekly.
‘Ah,’ he said in a frail voice, ‘it’s wonderful to
see you here Miranda, not staying I must
add?’
‘Oh no,’ Miranda reassured him, ‘just on a
visit, you know, to see you!’
Igor’s newly looking body was much plumper
than before, he now had a large bald head
and wore tiny circular spectacles.
‘Great, ah, young Jack, I hear, before I was
placed here, you completed that little task of
yours, have you news on my darling brother?’
Jack looked unpleasant.
‘No, I don’t…’
‘Oh, great. Anyway, I need to be off myself,’
he said, ‘first things first I shall make a trip to
the loo, then I shall return for a few sweets of
my own from yourself, Marge’ (he nodded
towards an old woman sitting in an armchair
in the far corner of the room) ‘then I shall go
to the games room, for half an hour…finally I
shall have tea, which will include smarties, I
hope…’
Miranda and Igor then spoke more about
recent events, including the death of Donald.
‘Ooh. That’s a shame, Miranda, I real terror
my brother, anyway…I am sorry, but I have
to go!’
And he left. Walking back to the field, Jack
met with Miranda. And she said, ‘He was
lovely, wasn’t he?’

-CHAPTER FOURTEEN-
 Mail Day

Many weeks after the events of St. Paul’s

Home, and the few days before during the
start of the wars, Jack Wilkinson was sitting in
the Prykree House’s study checking for
information in Niro’s and Werebunnies, by
Lewis Carter, a book he had been given for
his sixteenth birthday last Tuesday. He read
each paragraph with great intent until there
was a rather loud “knock-knock” on the hazel
brown door. The door swung open to reveal
Alex, Sally and Francis.
‘Hi,’ they all said at slightly different times.
‘What y’up to? ’ Francis asked, a sheepish
smile etched upon his chalk white face.
Jack looked up to see that all three of them
were actually dressed formally, too.
‘Why you wearing that?’
‘Dunno,’ answered Francis, just before Alex
interrupted by saying, ‘you see these, these
are all for Christmas day!’
‘Nice,’ Jack answered, ‘already got mine
though, from Miranda, for my birthday…’
‘Oh yeah,’ Sally said.
‘So…what are you doing?’
‘Reading up’
For a few moments Sally looked as though
she would faint.
‘You…are reading?’
‘Yeah, always do,’ Jack grinned. He was
Alexandra staring wonderingly at him out of
the corner of his deep sea blue eyes. She
smiled at him hardly and said, ‘funeral for
Donald, this Saturday. Okay?’
Jack nodded; he noticed that Greg and Lily
were both outside being measured. ‘We’ll
always remember him, Jack, as the one who
showed you what you really are…’
Jack nodded again, almost crying.
He was Miranda now hugging Greg so hard
he was fit to burst. He was wearing a lovely
black tuxedo which suited him dearly.
Suddenly, Francis Senior was walking into the
study with a pearl white vest on, showing his
muscles. Jack noticed a mark on his left arm,
which was clearly a tattoo. It said-

DONALD HUMPHREY
THE LEGION OF THE PIRATES
LEADER OF THE WARRIORS OF PRIDA:
The day will come
Well all will be done
All you shall rest in peace
Of every weep
Of the crying sheep
My angel will live
For I have nothing more to give
To this earth
And until rebirth
Goodnight
So let my light
Shine on through the weary stars
And let me live until the end of wars

Jack was now crying, though very faintly. He

watched as the ex-king and the new king,
Joseph Shawn, both made their way into the
study.
Joseph spoke first.
‘Jack, we have a letter for you. I do not now
what it is about, for I have not read it…’
‘Yeah,’ Jack muttered, he untied the ribbon
and undid the scroll to reveal a full foot’s
worth of blood red ink etched on the page.

Dear Jack Arthur William Wilkinson

I have written to tell you that I am now alive.

I have been dead for a matter of weeks, for I
am now murderous once more, as you
people say. I am Spanish, after all. I go by
the name of the Prince of Prida, I have no
intentions of telling you my whereabouts, or
even real name, but I must tell you this: Lord
Irak Muntarz is not dead. He is alive and well,
on the furthest island from the stars.
Thank you for being my trust through the
operations which are yet to begin, for there
are terrible things to happen. There will be
an education facility, and you will hate this. I
will save you, Jack. I will save you.

Thank you once more, from

THE PRINCE OF PRIDA

Jack turned to Francis, and then to Francis

Senior- and then to the parchment again.
This wasn’t good, and nor was it bad.