The ‘So-Called’ Treasure

• Vaidehi Shiju Sankar, Grade 4, Ashgrove State School
• Short Story
• 2020

Excellence Award in the 'The Inside Story 2020' competition

"Boom", "Swish", "Pow" the waves splashed onto the wooden boards of my ancient boat. The Crew and I all knew the boat would not last for a long time because of how roughly we were sailing across the seven seas to pick up the people who thought life on a ship was peaceful, but little did they know it was like being a fish that got caught again and again. As slave by slave gingerly walked in, I noticed the last slave was holding a map "Oi hand it over or else " I ordered with the threat of being tied to the mast. He handed the thin piece of paper. "Yahoo" it was a treasure map. I gave the slave a bag of booty to tell me where he found it so he admitted it was found in the bush near the ship. So that's where the journey began. I and several others dashed on to the majestic sands of Bribie islands.
My beautiful black hair flowed in the breeze as I cautiously hiked up the most wonderful waterfall I had ever experienced. I took out the map and read the clue that was stated - "Hidden somewhere blue that only you can find". We searched everywhere but the item was not in sight. I was about to give up until I realized there was a gap between the waterfall and the mountain. So the crew and I ventured in and found a group of fantasy animals such as Unicorns, Pandacorns and lots more who had offered to help us. I was so pleased we had gotten one step closer to finding the treasure. I took another look at the map and followed its lead for the next clue.
The next clue was about fighting vicious dragons. Sadly we didn't have lots of men to fight them because most of them didn't survive the hike. Fortunately the fantasy animals volunteered to help. So with the remaining men and the animals we decided to face the dragons. I got the swords for the crew and the animals had their sharp nails at the ready. "Attack" I yelled forcefully and with that most of the dragons were defeated. All the men were exhausted so it was up to me to face the last dragon. So I bolted under his massive legs and quickly pegged my nose so I could drop my very last stink bomb. Slowly the dragon collapsed onto the rock hard ground. It was my chance I ran inside the minute cave and retrieved the treasure.
"Victory is ours" I shouted knowing me and my crew were going to be the richest pirates ever known to live. I yelled to the boys to come to help me carry the humongous bag of booty. So when we got back to the boat I eagerly ripped open the bag to find out the booty we expected was a bag full of "Cow Manure!!!!!"