The Crowns & the Flame

Note from the Editor:
Hello Readers,
This short story is written by Saanvi Shah of grade 6, Udgam School for Children.
In the 5 -day 'Tell a Tale' Level 1 story writing workshop, our young creative
talents followed the tips to story writing to the best of their abilities.
'Tell a Tale' workshop is conceptualized and executed by me. It is an initiative to
create child authors and provide them with a platform to hone and showcase their
creative writing skills.
Each and every participant has come up with a unique story of their own. Some
followed the prompts given to them, while others created their own story theme.
Some young writers have gone ahead and created some awesome illustrations too,
while others got busy only in writing.
It's been a very interesting experience for me to work with the creative and
enthusiastic participants. I, whole heartedly thank 'Udgam Proactivity Club' for
extending their full support towards making this workshop a huge success.
Sincerely yours,
Aritra Raj ( Tell-a-Tale Faculty)

Kenna Rys, the princess of Stormholt, the smallest reign in all the five
kingdoms of Abanthus, was practicing sword fight with her best friend,
Dominic Hunter.
Kenna : Come on Dom, let's start again!
Dominic: Kenna, seriously? We have already practiced two rounds. You
want a third round?
Kenna: Please Dom, one last time.
Dominic : Okay. I hope you know that the Royals from the other four
kingdoms might arrive anytime.
Kenna : Yes, yes I know. Now let's start.

Just then, someone coughs.
Gabriel enters.
Kenna : Gabriel ! What's the matter? Why are you here?
Gabriel : The Royals from the other four kingdoms have arrived. Your
majesty is calling you.
Kenna : Oh! already. Alright then, let's go.
When Kenna goes inside, her mother, Queen Ariadne was waiting for
her.
Queen : Ahh! here comes my butterfly.
Kenna : Mom! please stop calling me that.

Queen : ( Smiles) Awww.. Now comeon change into the silver that I got
made for you.
Kenna: Right away, Mom.
Kenna looks gorgeous. All the eyes turn to her, when she enters the
Royal throne room.
Queens : Wow! Kenna, you look stunning my dear.
Just then, Trystan, one of the servants' annouced, " King Luther Nevrakis
and Prince Marco Nevrakis of Lykos are here".
Marco: Hey you, bow when you announce my name.

Marco said this and slapped Trystan , so hard that he fell on the floor.
Not able to tolerate that, Kenna got up and slapped Marco.
Kenna : Get a hold on yourself Prince of Lykos. Show some respect to
our servants.
After the altercation, all the Royals went to the Royal dining room.
Queen Ariadne : I have called everyone here so that we can form a
treaty, make an alliance and destroy our common enemy, The Iron
Empire.
Everyone raised their glasses. King Luther stood up and said:
"Before my father died, he said that that our enemy - The Iron Empire
shall be destroyed, when the five kingdoms of Abanthus join and when

there is only one kingdom , led by one king. The leading kingdom would
be mine, with me as the one king.
As he finished saying this, everyone could hear clanking of armour ,
spears and shields. Nevrakis soldiers poured into the room. The nobles
of the rest of the kingdoms tried to run away for their lives but the
soldiers of the Nevrakis family killed them.
Queen Ariadne ( Shocked): How can this happen? The front gate is fully
manned and the secret passage is known by me , Gabriel and....
Luther Nevrakis ( gives laughs like devil): and your sister. What a fool!
She did not know that one of her latest lovers was one of our spies. She
had revealed the way to the secret passage to him.

The Queen was aghast as she listened to Luther. Just then, a Nevraki
soldier stabbed a sword in the queen's chest. Kenna was busy dodging
daggers , spears and swords. Suddenly, she saw her mother lying dead
on the floor. Blood gushing out. Kenna stood there as if her world is
turned upside down. She spotted one Nevraki solidier taking her
mother's signet ring . Soon, Gabriel came near Kenna, along with Dom.
Kenna ( crying bitterly): My mother's signet ring.
Gabriel: There is no time to retrieve your mom's signet ring. we need to
run, if we want to live. I know of a monastery, deep in to the Rajkur
forest, where we can hide.
Dominic: Yes, Kenna. Gabriel is right. Let's go.. come on!

Kenna: How do we get out of the castle? It must be attacked already.
Gabriel: I have checked everything. We will use the same passage to get
out , from which our enemies got in.
Kenna: You mean the secret passage?
Dominic: Yes, now stop talking. Let's get going. Run!
Kenna, Dominic and Gabriel ran past dead nobles, soldiers, women,
children. Just as they reached the dungeon, they could hear the Nevrakis
soldiers screaming. Kenna spotted the soldier who stole her mother's
rings. She took a sword from one of the dead soldiers, lying on the
ground and attacked the thief of a soldier. Kenna slit his eyes through

the helmet and killed him. She knelt down and took out her mother's
signet ring and kissed it.
Kenna : This is my mothers' . I love you mom, wherever you are. ( tears
rolling down her eyes)
Gabriel came an gave a pat on Kenna's shoulder." Congrats. You are a
true daughter indeed. You got back your mom's ring. Now let's run
again."
Kenna, Dominic and Gabriel start running again and reached the end of
the tunnel. They could hear more cries and screams, coming from the
hallway. Dominic hits the lever near the fire exit and pushed Kenna and
Gabriel outside the tunnel. Suddenly, some metal bars appeared between
Kenna and Dominic. However, Gabriel was with Kenna.
Kenna : " Dom, What are you thinking?:

Domininc: " Nothing. It's time for you to run and escape the kingdom.
He looks at Gabriel and says :
" Take Kenna to the monastery and keep her safe".
Kenna :( sobbing) Dom be safe. Don't get yourself killed and that's an
order from the princess of Stormholt.
Kenna and Gabriel got out of the castle and ran towards Rajkur forest.
Kenna looked backed and saw the castle burning.
Kenna : ( sighs) Dead. All dead.
The next morning, in the Royal chambers of the castle, King Luther
summoned all the survivors and killed all those who refused to serve

him. He asks the remaining servant to leave. Just then, Hex, the royal
weapon inventor of Lykos comes in and bows.
Hex : Your majesty, I bring you the most dangerous weapon in all the
five kingdoms.
While Hex was speaking to King Luther, Trystan, Dominic and another
soldier, Rose Blake were spying on them. The moment they heard it,
they were curious to see the weapon. Rose looked down and gasped.
Rose : Dom , Trystan , look down into the courtyard.
Three of them went down into the courtyard and saw a big cannon.
Beside the canon, they saw a teenage girl , lying in a cage. As they go

near it, the girl tries to pounce on them. Rose and Trystan back off but
Dom stays calm and asks:
"Who are you girl and where are you from?"
Girl: I am sei Rhukha and I have come from the village close to the bear
mountains. What is that on your chest?
Dominic : Oh! that is a gadget I have since I was born. By the way, I
too, was born in a village near the bear mountains. What a coincidence.
Sei ( with a straight face): You are not the only one who has it. I have it
too. Do you know what it is used for?With this gadget you can play
with and control fire.
Dominic: What?

Meanwhile, near the Rajkur remains , Kenna practiced her sword moves
with a monnk. After the daily practice, the monk was amazed by her
improved moves.
Monk: Very good princess. Now you are ready to go for a war with the
King of Nevrakis.
Kenna: Thank you, sir
After the monk leaves,Kenna goes and fills in two buckets of water from
the nearby pond and carries it to the cottage. Just then , Gabriel comes
up to Kenna and starts talking.

Gabriel: Wow Kenna, nnow you can comfortably carry two buckets of
water! Earlier, you wouldn't even get up to get yourself a glass of water,
forget about carrying buckets.
Kenna : ( Laughs)! Gabriel, now i need to head back to my castle. Let's
go in search of those 2000 mercenaries that you knew about and
mentioned to me once.
Gabriel : Yes, sure!
Dom and Sei, secretly come to the Rajkur forest to find Kenna and
Gabriel. Finally they meet and start planning their attack on King Luther.
While Kenna find the surviving soldiers of Stormholt, Dominic keeps
everything ready at the castle with the help of Sei, Trystan and Rose. It
takes them three months to plan their attack and invade into Luther's
territory in Stormholt.

Finally, after 2 months of fighting with Luther and Marco, Kenna and
her team gained victory over the Nevrakis family. They rejoice their
victory . Kenna is crowned the queen . She decides to liberate the other
three kingdoms of Abanthus.