Y4-Emily+B.

Hello! I am Emily Bailey. I am ten years old. I love to read and write. I think knights, dragons, swordfighting and all that stuff is really cool. I have a highly annoying identical twin sister. I live in Auburn, Georgia. I hope you like my story! =__THE VOYAGE OF THE MASKED FLIER__= =**__PROLOGUE __**= Death is only a part of life. This is what they say, nay, ‘tis the unknowing muttering of a heartless fool. Death is not part of life. Death is death, and death ends life. Death exiles from the world of men the things that are dearest to us. And it comes sometimes when all is well and when you least expect it, striking its helpless prey like a hawk, ending its earthly life. And when it doesn’t just happen, when someone brings it, death must be avenged. I am Matthew Burk, and I sail on the //Masked Flier//, seeking to avenge my brother’s death. My brother was ruthlessly killed by a band of pirates, the Kings of the Shadows, they call themselves. When they raided my brother’s ship and killed him, they took his daughter. That was four years ago. My brother was thirty years of age and myself eighteen. His daughter, Cynthia, was eighteen as well. I have learned since that the nine Kings of the Shadows have landed on a wild island in the Pacific, where, to avoid being found, they have started rumors that the place is haunted. But whatever the danger may be, I swore to my brother, and more than that to myself, that I would not rest until the last King of the Shadows is dead, and his daughter is safe. I am not a liar. It’s said that the ship I sail on, the //Masked Flier//, is haunted. Supposedly, it once belonged to a tenth Shadow King, and after he was killed in battle, he returned, angry and vengeful, to haunt the ship he once loved. When he came, he, in his anger, triggered a war between the angels and demons. It is said that to this day, the war still rages, and all who set foot on this ship, however strong, will die before their errand aboard it is done, and be taken- by the angels or demons, there is no way of knowing. But I do not fear death, and I keep promises.
 * __Emily's Page__**

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The waves broke against the sides of the ship, their steady, tranquil rythym drawing me, snaking into the depths of my thoughts until only their mystical rhythm existed. Only the sparkling blue, the soft sound of water against wood... and I was jolted back to the present by the shriek of some terrified creature. Instantly alert, I whipped out my knife with my disfigured right hand, my left hand ready on the hilt of my sword. Rarely did I encounter anyone apart from myself on these waters. Most of the time, I could be the only living thing on this earth and it would make no noticeable difference to me. Whether it was due to my remote locations, I knew not, for my ship was cursed by a strange and terrible nemesis- the Demon Legion. But at the present, with this beautiful golden sunlight caressing my face with warm fingers, and the seabirds cawing contentedly, and the waves forever rolling and breaking against the Masked Flier’s sturdy sides, it seemed quite unlikely that the ship was possessed. I heard the shriek again, this time louder. Tightening my grip on the knife, I scanned the water. I saw nothing. But something inside me said to me, //Turn around, Matthew//. My instincts had formed a habit of being right in the thirty-four years of my life. And so I whirled around. Something black flitted past the corner of my vision. In less than a second, I knew. //Demons.// I growled in frustration. In the time I had spent on this ship, I had tired quickly of their games. I took no haste in deciding what to do. Should I leave the demon to whatever evil business it had and save my time and energy, or should I rid myself of it? After a long moment of pondering my choices, my decision was to leave it alone and save my trouble. But then, demons don't particularly care what anyone wants. With a snarl, the demon lunged at me, rusted knife drawn. My own knife went sliding across the deck of my ship, the Masked Flier, as I drew my sword. I was an half a second too late. The demon was almost upon me. Thinking fast, I threw a savage kick at the demon. It stopped, releasing a painful groan. The knife fell from its hand. I ran and ducked behind one of the barrels on the deck. It didn't take the demon long to recover. When it raised its scraggly head, it roared in rage seeing that I was gone. Slowly it searched the deck, intent on finding its mortal prey. As soon as it was close enough, I rose silently to my feet and plunged my sword deep into the demon's scrawny side. But I did not feel victorious. I only felt the same sick fear, the same evil, that radiated from a demon's very presence. As I grimly pulled the bloodstained sword from the demon, it stood for a moment, its features frozen in shock, then collapsed on the deck. Black blood poured from the wound in its side. //Its very blood is the color of darkness//, I thought. With that, I lifted the limp body of the demon by its one bony arm- and tossed it away into the sea. //Those eyes,// I thought as I walked on seemingly heavy feet across the deck to retrieve my knife. I slid my sword into its sheath after trailing it through the water for a moment to wash away the blood. My knife I slid into my belt. As I began to pace, as I so often did, I gazed at the disappearing sliver of sun on the horizon. To the west. Where I was headed. West to the island of the Shadow Kings. All of the sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I raised my arm to examine it. My brow furrowed. There was a long gash from my shoulder down to my elbow. I realized that the demon had indeed found his mark once, and I, in my excitement, hadn't noticed it. I was so tired that I couldn't bring myself to care. Tearing a strip of fabric from the tattered shirt I wore, I wiped off some of the blood. Then I lay down on the bare wood of the deck and slid into fitful dreams. ======

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I awoke to find myself lying beside a window on a bed made of a sort of broad, pointed leaves. Bright sunlight streamed in from the window, and I rolled over away from the light. Only then did I see a boy and a girl sitting on a mat in the small room. They didn't seem to see me. The boy was reading something aloud. I could hear plainly what he was saying. And it was so wonderful to hear the sound of a human voice after all of this time at sea. ======

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"//And the strongest forces of mortal men shall fall before them, they will swallow the sunlight and the world will be dark; they will defeat the men of the greatest courage and valor. They will enslave the very sunrise, bend everything living and dead to their evil will. They will do this, but even darkness can not long withstand the Virtues of a Knight, and among these are Courage, Valor, Chivalry, and Humility. Even walls of stone will crumble by the wear of time, but these virtues shall prevail! This is the First Prophecy of the Age of Darkness, and shall the Shadow Kings' swift swords elude these words, the world shall face wrath beyond mortal power..."//======

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I started at the mention of the Shadow Kings. I thought of Cynthia. I thought for a furious moment of my brother. Then I threw back the rough sheets and jumped to my feet. The boy instantly leaped to his feet, pulling the girl up beside him. To my surprise, the girl was the one who clenched her fists. They only stood staring for a long moment. Then they turned to a figure that sat on a wooden stool in the corner. I watched in puzzlement as the boy bowed, his brown face taking on a taut, unsmiling expression. The girl hesitated for an instant, looked at me, and stood quite still. Her defiant gray- blue eyes glowed in affection for the shadowed figure in the corner. Then the figure raised his head. I found myself confronting the fierce glow of two dark eyes, a glow that reflected years of treachery and pain and hardship and joy. Should I bow? Before I had a chance to decide, the figure swept a arm- a //feathered// arm- in the direction of the girl and boy. A deep, resonant voice, gentle but clearly concealing centuries of knowledge and power, filled the room. "Rise, my child." The boy stood, gazing straight at those two glowing eyes. The eyes looked lovingly at the girl for a moment, then rested upon me, my clothes filthy, my hair unruly, and my expression certainly unreadable. "Matthew Burk," he addressed me. Before i had time to ponder how he could possibly know my name, he continued. "You seek revenge. I can feel it. You know of the Shadow Kings." My own voice sounded small and timid. "Y-Yes." I stood a bit straighter. " I seek the death of the Shadow Kings." The powerful voice of the feathered creature filled the air once more. "I am Talon, King of this, the Island of Talon, High Chief of the Flidorns." That was what it was. A Flidorn."These are Laiyeen and Tonash, Daughter and son of pirates, cast ashore on this island." The boy made a backwards thrust of the hand, clenched his hand into a fist, and touched a golden embroidery of a fist crushing a moon that was sewn to his tunic. Although I was wary of the embroidery on the shoulder of the boy's jerkin, I guessed that the sign meant that he was my friend. The girl did the same, although with quicker motions, in a more excited manner. Then she smiled. Talon made the same sign of the hand.======

As I walked along the shore, sword already drawn, I felt extremely grateful to Talon and the two children. They had taken me the rest of unbelievably short way to the island of the Shadow Kings. Still, I wondered why they would do this for me when they hardly knew me. But my fears were not as strong as my gratitude. Beside me walked Laiyenn, grinning excitedly and twirling the silver hilt of her sword in her hand. I expected that she would be rather clumsy with a sword, being a girl. Still, her valor was admirable. She seemed genuinely happy to be awaiting a battle, and downright fearless in the face of the danger we were pursuing on this island. I was still gazing at her sternly beautiful face, which did not at all match her unruly, excitable nature, when I heard a faint rustling some distance away in the twisted trees to my left. The others heard it, too. Laiyenn's smile broadened. Talon carried no weapons, which I found odd, but whirled around at the same time as Tonash. Strangely,whoever had stirred among the trees did not try to conceal themself. A man with muscular arms wearing a black, tattered tunic stepped nonchalantly in front of us, barring our path. If I had remembered, the embroidery on Tonash's tunic, I might have fared better. I turned to Tonash and Laiyenn. I felt Talon's gaze boring into me. I opened my mouth to speak to them. Then Tonash lashed out at me with his sword. Baffled, I stepped back. Then came a croaking laughter, far different from the wise voice of the Flidorn I had spoken to only a matter of minutes ago. Warm wind caressed my face. "We have fooled you!" said Talon. Only the voice itself had not changed. It remained wise and steady, full of power. "Idiot, we were never you friends! Don't you see what we've done? We've gotten you here, and now we're going to help the Shadow Kngs kill you!" My face contorted with rage. I roared and launched myself at them, Laiyenn and Tonash and Talon, traitors and liars. Allies to the Shadow Kings.

Now there were nine Shadow kings, circling around me. And there, among them, an image that bruised my heart, was Cynthia. Her face was terrified, even as it was hopeful. //She recognizes me,// I thought. I knew that my brother had told her stories about me. We had been so close. But that was long ago, back in England, where things weren't so complicated. //These are not the kind of thoughts you should be thinking!// I scolded myself in my mind. I ducked behind a small tree to avoid a lunge from a shadow king with a tangled gray beard and beady eyes. There was no way I could kill them all. And I was hoping for a lot if I even expected to live. And there was no way I could escape. Beyond this island lay the fathomless Sea, and as long as I was on this island, I would be killed by the Shadow Kings. Barely in time, a dodged a blow from a tall man in a black tunic. Three Shadow Kings began advancing toward me. A brilliant idea hit me. Moving quickly I scooped up a handful of sand and threw in the face of a Shadow King. But before I could do anything more, I was struck by the fist fist of Talon. Staggering, I fell onto the sand. A beautiful voice, clear as the sky on a autumn day, cried, "Watch out, Matthew!" I rolled away just as a sword plunged into the sand where I had been a moment before. The voice of Cynthia, young and brave, called out to me once more. "Behind you!" I whirled around to face a long curved blade that glinted in the sunlight. I had always been good with a sword, although I never had really gotten to use one. I moved my head slightly to avoid the first few slashes. Sparks flew as the blades met. I jumped into the air. A second later, a sword slashed into the ground in front of me. Although the Shadow King was fast, I was faster. In the time it took him to retrieve his sword, I stabbed the balde of my own into his back. My triumphant thoughts did not last long. Before anyone could move, a gargantuan wave towered above us for an instant, darkening the sky, and crashed down on the island.

I sputtered and coughed up seawater. My soaked clothes clung to my skin. Was Cynthia alright? I sat bolt upright. And there she was, smiling at me only a few feet away. "The Shadow Kings," she said as if it hurt to say the name. "They're all dead, washed into the sea by the wave. I can't understand why it spared us." I gazed at her face. I guessed that for the rest of my life, I would ascribe special importance to waves. And always feel grateful to the ocean. Before my thoughts were completed, I felt a warm, smooth hand on my shoulder. Beautiful deep brown eyes met my gaze. Then, without warning, Cynthia pulled me close, and before I could do anything more, planted a soft kiss on my cheek. Before I had time to sputter and stare at her, an arrow came flying toward me out of no where, and grazed the back of my shoulder. I cried out in pain, clutching my shoulder. Cynthia's half- embarrassed expression hanged to one of concern-- and puzzlement. Raising my head, I tried for a grin that looked rather like a wince. Regaining my composure, although my shoulder still hurt, I stood to find Laiyenn holding a bow only a few yards away from us. Cynthia's puzzlement swiftly vanished. "I though you were dead." Laiyenn shrugged. She looked ever so much more sinister than the adventurous girl I had seen listening to a prophecy on a mat in the little hut I had been in several hours ago. "I have a way of tricking people into thinking whatever I want them to." She cast Cynthia a knowing glance. "An idiot, isn't he? Such an easy opponent!" Cynthia's eyes flared angrily. "You speak as if this were a game." Laiyenn stepped closer. That put her in reach of my blade. Seizing my chance, I drew my sword and lunged at her. I had caught her off guard. She fell to the ground, a deep wound in her chest. I should have been happy. But I knew that the toughest problem was yet to come. How would we get off the island? Then I remembered that Talon and the two children had left their boat on the other side of the island. that meant that the wave that had drowned the Shadow Kings had spared it. "Come," I said to Cynthia, and we ran side by side to the ship to return home.

__Epilogue__ Matthew and cynthia returned safley to England, where they lived happily together for many years. They had two children, a boy and a girl, whom they told the story of their adventures with the Shadow Kings. HERE ENDS THE STORY