Ultan

• Nicolas Brookes, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2004

In a time of battle, when mighty armies’ fought and mythical creatures ruled, only those battle-hardened and prepared would survive. This was life on Ultan.

The dense tropical jungle of Diereasma is a treacherous place to be. Alexandra, a legendary warrior, leader of the Wood Elf race, was hunting for the raiders that captured her squad. Instinctively, she sensed something large nearby. She defensively withdrew her pair of triple bladed weapons, the Sai. A strike of magical lightning appeared before Alex, but to her amazement all that lie under the lightning that had started to fade, was a letter. The note started to speak softly,
“Beware, enemies are near
That even you can’t hear,
Save those who you see
Otherwise you’ll be forced to flee.”
Alex paused for a moment, who is this from? Is this to be my future? These distracting thoughts gave enemy Goblin spider mounted troops, of twenty in number, time they needed to climb to an attack position.

The Spider Rider’s leaped suddenly at the unsuspecting warrior who had barely time to react. Flipping out of the way she landed on a branch and considered her options. A muffled sound caught her attention. Moving quickly to that sound she saw her squad frozen in mid air with a sorcerer keeping watch. The sorcerer attacked shooting streaks of lightning at the Elf leader but already it was too late; she responded by hurling a Sai at its feeble body killing it instantly. Her four troopers’ fell to the ground as the spell broke.

The Spider Riders were getting close now, she could feel it. The group readied themselves for an attack. One of the Elven warriors suddenly shot an arrow straight ahead killing a camouflaged spider mount. The battle has begun.

Alex spoke, “Watch the trees and rely on your eyes”.
“Yes commander” said the Elven bowmen in a whisper.
The Goblin Warboss, raising its blood stained axe, yelled “ TO WAR”. Charging the Elves with crudely shaped weapons and spider mounts, the Goblins attacked fiercely. Outnumbering the Elves by four to one, the Goblins were confident of a decisive victory and pushed forward fearlessly. The Elves were undaunted by the Goblin attack and responded with deadly accurate volleys of armour piercing arrow fire.With Goblin numbers falling , the Elven warriors switched from using long bows to bejewelled broad swords and charged swiftly into the Goblin horde. The Goblins were no match for the skill of the Wood Elves and fell in numbers. Alex speared the Goblin leader with a thrown javelin taken from a slain enemy. Seeing their leader fall crushed the Goblins courage and the remainder fled.

When the squad reached their hometown they were informed of the Elf with foresight that had warned Alexandra of the enemies capabilities. These raiders had been pillaging many towns and few had survived their wrath and knew how to defend themselves. Another battle to the records of the brutal life on Ultan.

THE END

By NICOLAS BROOKES