Poetic Merchant

• Jessica Keegan, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2019

A poetic merchant tells tales of the mythical, the present, past and future. She tells long, unexplained stories that could make a crowd intrigued at the start and bored after a few sentences. She didn't detail her stories to keep the children entertained as she spoke, sitting on stools in town squares of villages and kingdoms beyond our maps. She was an... interesting character.

It had been rumoured within King Arthur's land that she would be visiting us after a letter was sent to their beloved king. When? She never told.

A nervous aura filled the streets of people as they had heard stories from smaller villages within the region. She will curse the place you grow your crops and cattle if you were to not listen. She would cause famine to the people and drain their water. No one knew where this power came from nor why she used it so greedily against others. It was always a mystery.

The king nodded his head towards his trusted guard, Kyle, as they heard a soft knock on the door. Kyle gulped, slightly frightened, although he didn’t want to show it. He grabbed a cold, metal lever that was built into the wall beside him and tugged his arm down, switching the lever on.

The door creaked. It was almost silent as the king waited to see the mystery woman scaring the town out of their shoes. Although the guard could not see what this girl looked like from the door in his face. He bit his lip when hearing a gasp from the king.

“You are...” the king started, his mouth staying slightly agape before shutting into a thin line. “not scary at all,” he huffed quietly, confused on why his people were so gullible as to believe the stories told. “Come forward.”

Quiet footsteps were heard as the girl approached the king, a small smile on her face as her cream-colored pigtails lifted slightly. “It is nice to finally meet you, King Pancho.” She giggled slightly, kneeling down in front of the throne. “My name is Athena.”

Kyle was finally able to get a good look at her as he approached Pancho’s side. She had silky cream-colored hair that went down to her hips and sparkling purple eyes that could pinpoint any danger in a second.

Athena stood, a grin forming on her face. “Would you like to hear a story?”

The king was quiet for a second, before sighing as he got up from his throne. “I would love to hear your anecdotes of the myths, but I am afraid I have to decline. I have many things to do you see.”

Athena’s grin was gone in an instant. Her eyes narrowing to look dark and gloomy. “Sorry?”

“I have to decline,” Pancho repeated, going down some steps and holding out his hand. “I can have my guards accompany you to a room where you can rest for the night and speak your stories tomorrow at the dining table.”

The girl kept quiet; her head faced to the ground. She balled her fists unnoticeably, although her rings, curled with her fingers, glinted at the soldier.

He glanced to her hands and his face went slightly shocked as he noticed a purple snake seeming to form within her hand from a blue light source. He glanced around, thinking of what to do to stop her from performing any magic on the king.

Pancho stood still, keeping his hand out as he waited for Athena to make her decision on whether to stay or leave. He smiled softly, “I promise. Tomorrow we will have a lovely talk- “

Pancho shrieked, gasping for air when he was suddenly tackled to the side and a loud boom came from the golden chair he would sit on for many hours. He looked up to see Kyle, his white face mask slipping slightly to show a bit of blood dripping from the guard’s nose. He reached a hand up only to grasp air. He sat up quickly, to see Kyle flung up against a wall bleeding.

The king’s eyes widened as he quickly went to stand before being knocked back down from a staff hitting the back of his knees. He turned his body over slightly and whimpered, seeing Athena’s purple eyes quickly fall into deep shades of red and black.

“You don’t want to listen?” She spoke, her voice deep grumbly. “You deserved punishment!” She screamed at the top of her voice, bringing her staff down onto Pancho’s head.

The last thing Pancho heard, the last thing Pancho had to remember in the deadlands…

Was Kyle’s screams and cries of pain.


Everything went black.