Fantasy writing contest

Selena was a 15 years old. Her blonde hair was streaked with ash and coal. She looked fragile but had extremely strong arms. However, she had no smile, and looked so grim that even her guards looked away when she stared, scrutinizing them. Selena was a slave to the king of a country called Slava. She was captured along with her brother and her father, but they had both died the previous year. Because of this it had made her thirst for vengeance. While she was working she met a boy named Arith and they soon became good friends. Soon after that she got to know one of the guards named Nervis and he told them he worked as a spy for Zaria, a country that didn’t take slaves, and better yet, he could help them get out of Slava.
Arith was captured while traveling down a road with his father. During the fight that commenced, Arith’s father was mortally wounded and left to die at the side of the road, alone. Arith was also 15 but older than Selena by two months. The color of his hair was very unique. It was brown, blonde, and black at the same time so no one could tell what his true hair color was. However, the reason for this was that Arith was no normal boy; he was a mage in training. Before he was taken slave he was apprenticed to Zar, a very powerful magician.
“How much longer?” Selena asked as she Arith, and Nervis crept under cover of night to the branches of a weeping willow.
“Um, ‘bout two minutes.” Nervis said, glancing at the moon.
They sat and waited for the watch to change. Soon their patience was rewarded by the sound of Nervis’s boots crunching over to the guard that stood watch. It was time for Nervis’s turn. The other guard walked into the castle.
“He’s gone, come on” Nervis whispered.
Arith and Selena silently walked over to Nervis.
“Come on Nervis, aren’t you coming?” Selena asked as they walked to the door.
“I’m afraid I can’t go with you. But if you reach Zaria, give the King this letter, and don’t loose it, it’s very important.”
“Don’t fret yourself over it, I won’t loose it.” Arith reassured.
“Here, this is for you two.” Nervis said and reached for his pack. He pulled out a sword and a staff and waved away Arith’s and Selena’s thanks as Selena took the sword and Arith, the staff, “don’t thank me know, wait until they’ve saved your lives. Remember to stay of the roads and keep a watch every night, even when you reach Zaria.” Nervis said urgently.
“We will,” Selena whispered to reassure her long time friend.
“Bye Nervis,” Arith said.
Then Arith and Selena stalked out, ready to face the dangers of the unknown. But Selena felt sad that they had to leave all those other slaves to the mercy of the Slavs.
“Don’t worry about them Selena, we’re the best chance they’ve got. If we can reach Zaria, than we can come back to free them.” Arith encouraged. Selena sometimes had the idea that Arith could read minds, though when she asked, he always said that he couldn’t do it.
But what if we don’t make it? What if Nervis got caught trying to help us? What if you,”
“What if, exactly! What if. So stop worrying and let’s move.”
They walked in silence until it was daybreak.
“Do you think we should still travel in daylight?” Arith asked Selena.
“No, to many eyes. We should rest for tonight.”
“Okay.”
Arith and Selena laid out two blankets from Arith’s pack and soon were fast asleep. Then for some reason unknown to Arith, he woke with a start and stared around. The sun was down and the moon was casting eerie shadows over the sleeping form of Selena. He carefully looked around after letting his eyes adjust to the darkness but saw nothing. Suddenly, he glimpsed a flash of metal. There was a soldier just outside their camp.
“Selena, wake up!” Arith breathed in her ear. Selena slowly opened her eyes and started when she saw Arith so close to her ear. “There’s a soldier just outside of the camp, to the left of that pine tree. See him?”
“Yes, how,”
“Don’t worry, ill take care of him.”
Arith ducked behind another pine tree and crept around the soldier. He seemed interested in some object just left of Selena. Arith got right behind him and raised the staff to clout the soldier on the head, but he stepped on a branch and the soldier turned with his sword raised to block the staff. Arith and the soldier struggled silently for a while, but the soldier was well trained and was quickly on top of Arith. Suddenly a sword sprouted from of his chest and he fell over, motionless. Selena stood over him, holding Nervis’s sword.
“Thanks” Arith said gratefully. His muscles quaked with the exertion.
“Any time.” Selena wiped the blade on the grass beside the body.
We should’ve kept a watch, like Nervis said.” Arith said shakily.
“I think we should leave now”
“I do to. Let’s angle a little more west so we can avoid the bigger cities”
“Good idea. How much longer do you guess it will take until were out of Slava?” Selena asked Arith.
“About, two weeks with horses, four to five without.” Arith said. “Probably longer because we have to stay of the roads.”
Then I suggest we get some horses. We can disguise ourselves at the next town and see if we can buy two.”
“What if we can’t afford two, or even one? Arith argued.
“Well, we’ll just have to steal them, though I’m hoping it doesn’t go to that extreme.” Then, as an afterthought, “how many miles did we cover yesterday Arith?”
“Hm, ‘bout five or six, but with horses we would be able to over twice that distance.
The two friends walked in a companionable silence for a while, then,
“Arith?” Selena asked
“Yes?”
“You say that you know some magic, right?”
“Yes” Arith sighed.
“Well, I was wondering, why don’t you ever use it? Couldn’t you have stopped the soldier with it? Selena tentatively asked.

Bens General Washington Poem

George Washington
had a great caution,
that one day the world would end
some people think
it will be by me
and others by vampire peas

but i think it would be
by giant fleas
eating up all the trees

Civil War Battles

1 The Civil War had many bloody battles that finally led up the end of the war. There were two sides, Yankees (North), and Confederates (South). The battle that started it all was the battle of Ft. Sumter, where the Confederates fired upon the fort. 2 In the battle of Petersburg alone, there were 19 battles. 3 Curiously, not all battles were fought on land though; the battle of Mobile bay was not fought on land but ships instead. 5 As the world was advancing in technology, which included iron ships covered in armor, there just had to be a battle between the two ironclad ships. There was the C.S.S. Virginia (Confederate) and the U.S.S. Monitor (Yankee). 6 Nobody won the long battle.
1 W. T. Sherman’s daring march led him the city of Savannah, which he was planning on capturing. In order to completely capture Savanna though, he had to take over a Confederate Fort called Ft. McAllister. 6 It was very bloody though. During the battle, William Tucumpsa Sherman, who could not bear to watch, turned his head away until his 2nd in command told him they were in the fort. 2 After they captured the fort, Sherman wired Lincoln. 3 Finally, battle that ended it all was the battle of Richmond. Grant and Sherman were there coordinating the attack. 5 Because the Civil War was full of many battles, many people died.

Were our Weapons Came From

By: Nick Prasch
The Civil War is where most of our modern weapons came from. There was the curved saber, which was favored by the cavalry. There was the amazingly stunning Henry Repeater, introduced to the world by Mr. Henry, which was favored by any group of soldier. The Henry Repeater could pull off seven shots before you had the reload. 2 Before the Henry Repeater was the smooth bore musket. 5 Since the smooth bore musket was one of the first guns made, it had a lot of weaknesses which included taking one to two minutes to reload. 3 Amazingly, only the North had the Henry Repeaters. 6 The Confederates weren’t very advanced. 1 The Civil War was the building platform for weapons of today.

How to Amaze an Emperor

How to Amaze an Emperor
By: Nick
There was once a lion who moaned pitifully because he had a rough thorn in his paw and it pained him immensely. He went to the humble shepherd. He herded sheep in Rome for King Nero. The lion slowly limped up to the shepherd and lay down, still whining. The shepherd thoroughly searched the lion and when he found the barbed thorn, he yanked it out of his paw to cause less pain. The lion bowed his head in humble thanks and walked of onto the forest.
A few months later, the king needed lions to brutally mistreat for his lion pit. His loyal subjects went out and caught the same lion who’d had the pointed thorn stuck in his paw long ago. While this was happening, the shepherd, because he was innocently arrested, was sent to the lions. The lion was starved and mistreated, so as to make him angrier. The shepherd was on his knees praying for a miracle. The pudgy jailer than threw him in.
The lion angrily charged at the shepherd, drooling and foaming at the mouth. The lion, who chased the shepherd all around was about to take a bite out of him but stopped. He recognized the shepherd as the one who had pulled out the thorn. Because the lion laid his shaggy head on the shepherd’s lap, it flabbergasted of everyone. Although king then ordered that the lion and the shepherd be released, the lion and the shepherd never forgot that day when they amazed and emperor.

Chapter 1

One day in a little village of Harkelum off the coast of Aligasria (The Empire of Xytillia), a boy about 15 was out in a forest called Parulean, hunting for food so his family could survive the winter. He had two brothers and a mom. His dad had gone missing in the war when Xytillia was trying to take over the kingdom. The boy’s name was Kellach and his two brothers’ names were Gillryn and Allrubiand. Gillryn and Allrubiand were with Kellach on the trip through the mounts. When they crossed the road, a stranger in a black cloak walked up to them. Or maybe it was a dark blue. Whenever the stranger moved the cloak turned a different color.
“Hello there, who might you be?” asked the stranger.
“We could ask you the same question,” stated Allrubiand grumpily.
“Calm down,” said Kellach quietly. Allrubiand wasn’t very happy with the result of the hunt so far. They had split up and hunted together but to no avail.
“Sorry about Allrubiand, we haven’t killed anything,” Gillryn said. The man obviously knew they were hunting from there packs and the bows.
“What? I beg your pardon, what did you young men say?” the man said
“Nothing, we're brothers. I’m Kellach, this is Gillryn and Allrubiand” Kellach said, pointing as he named them. “Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m Ainhelm. If your Kellach, I have a message for you.”
“Really, what is it?” Kellach said. Ainhelm didn’t look like he was about to say anything.
“Ahem,” coughed Allrubiand to attract attention.
“I can’t say in front of those two.”
“Oh, very well, I’ll leave. I guess I’m not important enough to know.” shouted Allrubiand on his way to the camp.
“No! Come back.” Kellach shouted. Than he turned his attention to the stranger, “Whatever you tell me can be heard by these two.”
“It’s very confidential. If the wrong person finds out it can be used to kill you. Are you sure you can trust them?”
“I would trust them with my life”
“That is exactly how much you would have to trust them,” he added in a murmur.
“What did you say?” Gillryn said.
“Alright, let’s get down to business.” said Ainhelm, dodging Gillryn’s question. “The leader of the Varden has sent a message to you.”
The Varden were a rebel group that was constantly fighting against the Empire. A lot of them were mainly people trying to get away from the Empire. Nobody knew were they were hidden, although it was said that the bulk of the army came from an island south of the sea. There leader was said to be very cunning.
“You’re from the Varden?!” they all shouted
“Shhhhh! I don’t like it when the whole land knows of my existence. If there are guards around, I would be in big trouble.”
“You already are,” snorted a deep voice from behind them. “I’m taking you under arrest.” The guard was a very hairy man. He had a sword in one hand and an axe in another. He was about six feet tall and very broad. Ainhelm looked around and saw there were no more guards.
“Try me” Ainhelm said nastily.
The guard rushed him but stopped. He looked down and saw a broad knife protruding from his chest. Then he fell with a thud and a gurgle.
“Now, here is a letter and the gift.” And then Ainhelm vanished into thin air.
“Think it’s safe to open?” Allrubiand asked.
“I don’t know.” Replied Kellach
“Read it!” Gillryn said.
“Okay.”

Dear Kellach,
This egg is a dragon egg. I would like you to care for it.
Guard it with your life. Tell your brothers they are
needed in Silvanas. you will come six months after the
dragon has hatched.
From,
Markain

There is one problem, how are we supposed to break the news to our mom?” asked Gillryn in a sarcastic way.
“I got a plan. Just let me do the talking.” said Kellach slyly.

if you see any mistakes tell me.