Saving Marion

• Juanita Allingham, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2008

Once upon a time there was a beautiful, shiny castle. The windows were outlined with sparkling rubies, sapphires and diamonds. I walked past it every day, and dreamed of working there when I grew up. One day, a fantastic job was advertised for kids under fifteen, to help around the castle. I asked my parents (hoping they would let me) if I could go for an interview in the castle. They said it would be a good experience for me!

On the day of the interview, I was very nervous. When I went to the castle, the King interviewed me and answered all the questions that I asked. I wanted to make sure that the job was right for me. A week or so passed before a letter addressed to me arrived. It had a royal seal on the front and the writing was very neat. It was from the King and Queen! I had got the job! My family and I were very pleased.

The night before I was due to start my new job, I went to bed really early so that I would be wide awake and alert for all the new things I would be learning. I kept on thinking how beautiful, shiny and clean it would be. When I arrived, Queen Petunia of France (the prettiest Queen ever) was outside waiting for me. She was dressed in a shiny, silk gown and was wearing a tiara of diamonds and pearls moulded with silver. After five minutes, the King walked through the door in a proud way. His name was King Gregory of France. He was wearing a blue cape with white fur around the edges and his crown was moulded with gold and had large rubies on the top. Then the princess walked out of the door in a proud way (like her father). She looked familiar…. I remembered her from school! She was one of my best friends and her name was Princess Marion. Marion was the most gorgeous girl in France.

The King took me on a tour of the castle. It was stunning (it had 26 floors!) My first job was cleaning and brushing Marion’s dog Blueberry. It took 2 hours. Suddenly, I heard a scream from within the castle. I quickly wrapped Blueberry in a towel and rushed into Princess Marion’s room. Queen Petunia was crying, but the King did not come to comfort her. I asked what was wrong. She told me that the dragon in the big cave had captured Marion.

I comforted the Queen and said that I would go and try to rescue her. After a long, long walk, I finally go to the big cave and set up my camp for the night. In the morning, I got dressed, packed up and entered the cave. I was very dark as I went deeper into the cave – luckily I had remembered to pack a torch. Then, the sound of screaming could be heard. It must be Marion!

Running as fast as possible for what seemed like forever, I finally made it to the cave’s dungeon. The dragon was not to be seen (probably trying to kidnap someone else). There was Marion! Suddenly, there was a horrible roar behind me. The dragon had been hiding! I broke the dungeon gate and together, Marion and I ran behind a rock. The dragon raced after us but couldn’t see us. We raced out of the cave as we were worried that the dragon would catch us. Luckily he (or she?) was too slow and we escaped.

We walked back to the castle, calming ourselves by talking and laughing about our times together at school. Having finally reached the castle, we went to see the King and Queen who were very happy and relieved to have Marion back. They threw a big party to thank me for saving Marion, followed by a special ceremony to award the royal service medal to me. My family were so proud of me and I was too.

The End