Penny Moor
By: Graciey GarrisonPenny was awake, but no one else was before sunrise, when there came a knock at the door. There was a man at the door; Penny thought he looked like one of the messengers from Imril City. As she opened the door, the man started telling Penny something so fast, she didn’t hear a word he was saying. Penny asked him to start over, but he just handed her a letter and kept mumbling. Confused, Penny shut the door on him.
"What’s that in your hand?" Penny’s mother asked when she woke up.
"I don’t know, some man came to the door and gave it to me. On the outside it says ‘to Penny Moor- URGENT!’ that’s all it says, I haven’t opened it."
Penny’s mother, Mabel, told her to open the letter. So she opened the letter and read it. After she finished reading it, she burst out laughing. "BE QUIET- I’m trying to sleep." Said Caity, Penny’s older sister.
"What’s so funny?" asked Mabel.
"Well, this letter says that Queen Isabella in Imril City wants me to come to a feast next Friday. I mean, why would she want a poor person like me to come to a feast? Maybe she wants to give me an endless supply of food for us."
"No. This letter says you are to discuss something with Queen Isabella, along with quite a few other people who are poor. You didn’t finish reading the letter did you?"
"No."
Later that day, Penny’s family bid her farewell as she set off on the long journey to Imril City. Although she knew nothing about what was going to happen to her when she got to Imril City, she felt a cold fear growing inside of her.
She was about 5 miles out of sight of Riverton when she decided to stop and make camp. But she changed her mind when she heard a roaring sound about a mile south of where she was. Being very curious, and wanting to investigate the roaring sound, she headed toward the sound.
The roaring sound wasn’t out of her way at all, in fact, Penny was planning to go that way the next day. Penny found that the sound was the Mystic River. You could not touch the Mystic River unless you are proved a true hero, or else if would put a spell on you and you would drown.
There was a rope in her pack that she had brought, and when she reached down to pick up the rope, her sklitchen jumped out. "Oh, I forgot I had you with me. You cute little flying cat. Since you’re here you can fly me across the river."
Galaston, Penny’s pet sklitchen grabbed Penny and her things, then flew over the river. When they got above the river, they saw some thing before their eyes that made Penny want to go back, and Galaston shiver. There was, right before their eyes, the old dragon of the Green Mountains, Kutaul.
This particular dragon was thought to have been slain many years ago by the Great Knight in Shining Armor. The only dragon anyone knew of living in the Green Mountains nowadays was Smaul, the small giant dragon. Smaul was about thirteen feet in height, twenty-three feet in length, and seven feet in width. Although Smaul was one of the kindest dragons ever to men, her brother Kutaul was one of the cruelest dragons ever-to everything and everyone.
Galaston tried to fly back over the Mystic River, but went on ahead against his will. When Penny first saw what was happening, she was scared. But, as she looked closer, she saw what was actually happening. Smaul, Kutaul’s barely older sister was punishing him for trying to take over the Green Mountains, her Green Mountains. Finally, Kutaul lost the fight with Smaul and flew away with two cut scales, and a number of burns from dragon fire.
Just when he flew away, he caught sight of Penny and Galaston. As if he had had the speed of light within him, he was where Penny and Galaston floated. Galaston flew away, as if for just a moment, he too possessed the speed of light. Penny grabbed a dagger from Galaston’s collar and thrust it upwards into Kutaul’s right eye. Kutaul’s wound might have been fatal if Penny’s dagger had been but an inch longer. Although Kutaul would have been mighty glad to blast Penny and Galaston with his fire, he had not the strength after both fights. Flying away, not quite so fast as before, Kutaul looked at Penny and Galaston as if trying to say, I would of killed you if I had the strength, and I still plan to kill you.
Gladly, Galaston flew forward on Penny’s command and went into Smaul’s valley. There seemed to be movement in Smaul’s valley, other than the Smaul herself. When she got off Galaston, and approached the movement, Penny realized that it was Sam, her friend the healer in Riverton, rushing to Smaul’s aid. Even though Smaul had won the fight, she was badly burned by Kutaul.
" How did you get here so fast Sam?" Penny asked as she walked to the wounded dragon.
" The fight started last night right after I had finished picking herbs for my shop," Sam replied, "I hid in Smaul’s cave when I saw Kutaul coming towards the valley. Wasn’t the Great Knight in Shining Armor the one who supposedly slain Kutaul?"
" Yes! No wonder he ran away from the city as soon as they asked him where he had slain the dragon. They wanted to get one of Kutaul’s claws as a trophy for him. Later he was found killed in one of the furthest farms in the City from the castle. When the Royal guards asked the farmer that lived on the farm why he had killed the Great Knight in Shining Armor, and why they shouldn’t arrest him. And he said, ‘It was the great big dragon Kutaul.’ And at that, he had a life sentence in the dungeon. They punished him for not telling what they thought was the truth. It all fits together, I always wondered what had happened to him."
" Yes, it does. But now I must tend to Smaul’s wound."
" I will wait."
The next day Penny asked if Sam would come with her to Imril City. He gladly accepted, because the thought of going back to Riverton with Kutaul headed that way was unbearable. Galaston did not want to go; he thought it nice in Smaul’s valley. The quiet was nice, the green was nice too, but it seemed to Penny that if she did not go on, Imril would be overtaken by something.
Later that day, the three set out of Smaul’s valley. They made it to Imril City in a week’s time with no troubles. But when they got to Imril City’s castle, no one was to be let in but a few people of fame and one other, Penny Moor.
Penny went up to the royal guards, and when they saw her, they told her to go play somewhere else. But when she told them that she was Penny Moor, they grumbled and let her into the castle. Sam just stood there patiently, when the guards asked him if he was Penny’s companion on her journey.
"Why, yes I am, and may I ask, why would you like to know?" Sam replied.
Someone who looked exactly as Penny had described the mumbling man at the door came up to Sam, but instead of mumbling, he said, "Because-if-you-are-her-companion-then-you-can-go-in-with-Penny." As if he had taken lessons learning to talk slower rather than faster in between now, and when Penny had talked to him.
The man beckoned Sam inside the castle. Sam had never been in the presence of royalty before, and he had never, not even in his wildest dreams, imagined he would ever be meeting royalty. In this castle, the walls were sparkling as if they were under water, sparkling water. But of course, as every witch and wizard knew, if you touched the walls, they would turn into regular walls until the King and the Queen had enough time to spare to redo the walls.
"Sam! I’m so glad you’re here," came Penny’s voice from behind Sam, " I mean, everyone knows the way around the castle, but it just seems empty without someone that I really actually know."
Sam went over to Penny and asked why they were there. Penny did not know why they were there, so she asked the man that had brought Sam into the castle why they were there.
"Well," came a response, but it was a woman’s voice, not the man’s voice, " you are here Penny Moor to have a meeting with a few others, like yourself. I cannot speak of the meaning of the meeting until tomorrow at breakfast. Francis, the man that gave you your letter, Penny, will take you and Sam to your rooms for the night. In the morning, he will come wake you, and you will dress in the outfits that we have supplied for you. They’re in your closets. Then, after you are dressed and washed up, you will come to breakfast."
After saying that, Penny realized that it was the queen. In response, Penny said, "Yes your majesty," and bowed, along with Sam.
With that, the queen walked off, her knee-length red hair flaming behind her. Francis waved his hand in the air and told Penny and Sam to follow him. Penny’s room was on the seventh floor of the castle, right next to the staircase, and Sam’s room was right across the hall from Penny’s room. Both Penny and Sam slept soundly that night in the warm waterbeds with warm down comforters and pillows. Penny’s bed was a canopy while Sam’s was attached to the ceiling, like he had always wanted it to be.
In the morning, Francis woke up Sam first, then Penny. When Penny got out of bed and went to the closet, she saw that outside it looked as if it were six o’clock in the morning. Inside the closet, there were two dresses, one was pink, and the other was blue. Penny hated pink, so she put on the blue dress. When she went over to the water bucket, she saw the mirror that sat upright on the dresser above the water bucket. It was beautiful, she thought. The mirror had a golden frame with pictures of the big battles engraved on it.
" Hurry up Penny," Sam said from outside Penny’s door. At that, Penny ran out of her room to Sam. When they got down to the breakfast hall, they were some of the first people there. Apparently, most of the guests stayed in the twelfth through eighteenth levels and had just been awakened by Francis.
When everyone was down in the breakfast hall, the king and queen walked into the breakfast hall. For the first time in history, the breakfast hall was not silent when the king and queen walked in as if they were just normal people. Unlike what the queen had told Penny the night before; they did not talk about the meeting that day at breakfast.
After breakfast, the queen met Penny outside the breakfast hall. She took Penny by the shoulders, and said in a kind voice, "I am truly sorry dear that we did not talk about the meeting at breakfast. There were unexpected guests here and they could not know about the meeting. We will have the meeting tonight at midnight tonight in the Grand Hall."
"Yes your majesty," Penny replied and she bowed and walked up to her room. When she got to her room, Galaston was sitting on her bed with a great giant smirk on his face. He was just lying there, taking a nap, looking innocent and guilty at the same time. Penny crept up to him, and found he was not really asleep. She pounced on him, as she always did when he had that look on his face, the innocent guilty look.
He almost got away, but Penny landed on his tail. Galaston hissed. He didn’t hiss because Penny landed on his tail but because he lost when Penny landed on him. It was a game most of the children of Riverton always played with their pet sklitchens. Sam heard Galaston hiss, and knew that Penny was in her room. He went and knocked on Penny’s door.
"Come on in Sam," Penny said without even looking up or asking who was there at the door. Sam came in and asked if Penny wanted to ride the royal horses. Penny agreed, and levitated Sam into the air and out the door with her magic, which she hadn’t used in quite a while.
"What was that for?" Sam asked as Penny shut the door with her magic and opened it again.
"I was just bored Sam, levitating things is fun, and easy, and besides, I haven’t used my magic in quite a while. It’s especially fun levitating you Sam. I’ll be right out," Penny said, and she levitated him out of the room and out the door. Then, she laughed, she laughed for a long time. When her jaw began to hurt, she put Galaston on her bed and went outside with Sam for a ride.
That night at midnight, Francis awakened Penny and Sam with a lantern in his hand, and the three of them went to the Grand Hall. The meeting was about a quest that everyone must try and help each other on the way. There were about ten people that were supposedly going on the quest.
" I gathered you all here to tell you that you were the ones chosen for a certain quest. You do not have to go, but if you don’t go the consequences will be harsh. For all I know, if not all of you go, everyone in Imril will have to pay the price," the queen said to the ten sitting in the hall.
" When you go on this quest, you are looking for The Great Draze. A draze is a bat like creature; except for one thing- they paralyze their prey with a venom bite, only curable by certain herbs- very rare herbs. The Great Draze can be invisible, but is almost always visible. He is the size of a horse, and his fatal bite is never curable. Your quest is to find The Great Draze, and kill him. The only things you can kill on this journey are drazes.
Before you all go on this quest, you will have one week of training. You will learn to battle drazes, and how to sneak around. You also, will get one hour of sleep a day- only one hour, not one second longer."
" But, why were we chosen?" asked someone in a dark corner of the room who sounded as if he knew why they were chosen. Penny couldn’t see his face. She had never heard his voice before, but it seemed like she knew him.
"Jason, you know that answer, but I suppose you all don’t," the queen looked worried when she said this, " You all were chosen because you have a magical power. Everyone in this room, except Sam and myself, has the powers to outdo anyone in the world. Now, I suppose you want to know why this quest is so important. If The Great Draze lives, drazes will take over Imril," now the look on her face was a look like she didn’t want to have said that to everyone in this room, who was under the age of fifteen.
" Tomorrow, you’re training will begin. You will all meet out in the barns at eight o’clock sharp," and with that, she walked away.
Francis awakened Penny early the next morning. He was holding a lantern just as he had earlier that night. Penny wondered if it was still dark outside since Francis was holding a lantern.
"Hurry up, it is seven o’clock, you will be late to the barns unless you hurry up," Francis said in his rushed voice.
Penny got out of bed and shooed Francis off. When she went to her window, Penny saw why Francis was holding the lantern. You couldn’t see anything because there was fog everywhere, and it was fake fog. Probably for the training Penny thought, because she could tell that the fog was made by magic- not Mother Nature’s magic. Penny got dressed and went to the breakfast hall.
When she got there, the queen handed her a plate, all that was on it was a piece of toast. Well, it’s pretty much the same amount of stuff we had at home, Penny said to herself. As soon as she finished her breakfast, it was seven thirty. She still had to go to the barns. So she walked out of the breakfast hall, and ran out of the castle, she ran until she was out of breath, which was at the barns.
Someone saw Penny around a corner, and said, "In here Penny."
Penny ran inside a room that was around the corner, and to Penny’s surprise, there was only one person in the room.
"Who are you?" Penny asked the person in the room.
"I’m Jason. You might have noticed me talking to the queen last night after the umm… meeting type thing. She is my … uhh- aunt. Yeah that’s the word. Aunt. My Aunt Anna. She is also one of my best friends," Jason said like he would rather not of told Penny, " I’m surprised that no one else is here. It is already seven fifty; they must be taking their time. Wait, no here they come now."
When everyone had gotten there, they practiced killing fake drazes with swords. Everyone succeeded. They did that for the whole week of training. On the last day of training, everyone was assigned partners to go on the quest with. Penny was assigned to go with Jason.
The next day, Penny took only a dagger, spare clothes, food, and water. Everyone was supposed to look different places for The Great Draze. Penny and Jason were supposed to look in the Green Mountains.
It was Friday when Penny and Jason started for the Green Mountains; on their way they killed tons of drazes- literally. They even found one village that had about ten people that had been bitten, and fifteen people that had been scratched. Luckily, Penny knew where to find the special healing herbs. So, in the long run, the village was safe.
"I see the Green Mountains!" cried Jason one morning while they were eating breakfast, " but they aren’t green," Jason seemed disappointed.
"Of course they aren’t green Jason. Didn’t you ever wonder why mountains would be green? They are called the Green Mountains because they are never green," Penny laughed as she said this.
It must of made Jason feel like a fool because his face turned bright red. In spite of that, he was still very determined to find The Great Draze.
When they got on the Green Mountains, they found a cave that would be perfect for a draze to live in, or probably one hundred to one thousand drazes. Penny felt queasy when she saw the cave. Jason luckily had brought draze armor for himself and Penny. When they put on the armor, they suddenly felt braver, and swords appeared when they put the armor on.
They entered the cave with looks upon their faces that looked like they were about to be sick. But, to both Jason and Penny’s surprise, there were no drazes- so far. As they walked in the cave, Penny realized, it wasn’t getting darker, but that it was getting lighter. She wondered if Jason realized that also.
" Is it just me, or is it getting lighter in here?" Jason asked.
"Well, it certainly isn’t just you," Penny replied.
Before Penny had finished talking, there was a great noise in front of Jason and Penny; tons of drazes were flying right at them. They pulled out their swords and managed to stay where they were without getting bit.
"Those drazes sure seemed scared," Jason said in amazement.
Penny nodded and stepped forward into the passage that the drazes had come out of. Jason stayed right where he was. As soon as Penny stepped in, she ran right back out.
"I think we’ve found The Great Draze Jason," Penny said, smiling.
Penny and Jason stepped into the passage. When Jason saw what was in the passage, his face went pale. When Penny saw what was in the passage, she smiled a great big smile, like she had waited for this for a long time. The Great Draze heard Jason’s breath and turned around to face Penny and Jason. Jason stepped back behind Penny. Penny pulled her sword out and put it out right in front of her. Then, she walked straight toward The Great Draze. The Great Draze didn’t move, so Penny just stuck the sword right into his mouth, and The Great Draze fell down dead, and Jason smiled a great smile.
Jason and Penny tied The Great Draze up and started to head back for Imril City carrying The Great Draze.
" Well, I guess he’s not so great anymore. Is he?" Jason told Penny.
" Right," Penny replied with a smile on her face.
After a week of dragging The Great Draze, Penny and Jason reached Imril City. The queen greeted them both, and they were both accepted into knighthood.
From then on, when there was draze trouble, Penny and Jason went and sorted things out. Jason and Penny were still legendary two thousand years after their deaths.