Elowen: Part 1 of the Prologue

This is my story that I am writing about a medieval young lady growing up in...well...the Medieval times.  :) Her name is Elowen, and I absolutely love her!  She's one of my more rebellious, loud characters.

Enjoy!

And seriously check out Alfred!  He's called an Irish wolfhound, and they're the biggest dogs in the world!   They're huge!  

Well, see ya!

-Madeline

Elowen

A Novel

By Emily Parker

Copyright Emily Parker, 2013

Prologue

Elowen snuggled deeper under the covers.  This was the second time the rooster had crowed, but she wasn’t ready to leave her nice warm bed just yet.  She was awake yet not ready to get up.  It would only be another long day.  Or would it?

As Elowen suddenly remembered what was planned for the day, she grinned from ear to ear and threw off the covers and stumbled out of her eye bed and onto the cold cobblestones below.  She pulled off her nightgown and got dressed in some boy’s breeches and a loose tunic that was much too big for her but had to be fastened with a belt.  Her Father had given it to her a year ago leaving room for her to grow, and she was grateful.  It would’ve been near to impossible to practice with swords in a lady’s dress.

Grabbing her boots and socks but too impatient to put them on, she threw open her door and raced down the narrow hallway.  It was dark, but there was little window slits for light to pass through, along with evenly placed torches mounted on the walls.

The castle was silent, but even Elowen’s panted breathing and excited giggle that escaped her every once in awhile wasn’t enough to wake up the huge castle.  As Elowen reached the bigger part of the hallway, she grinned mischievously when she saw one of the soldiers leaning onto his spear as he dozed.

Elowen hid, and then taking careful aim she hurled her boot at the soldier.  He woke with a start and a cry, and Elowen collapsed onto the floor in giggles.

“Elowen!” cried Collen.  The little girl continued to laugh.  “Why’d you do that?”

“You were asleep!” she said in a whisper.

“I was not,” said Collen, his cheeks flushing.

Elowen rolled her eyes.  “Well, I gotta go!”

“Wait!  What are you doing at this godforsaken hour?”

Elowen picked up her boot and made some quick justs and slices as if it were a sword.

“That’s a sloppy weapon that boot is, a lady shouldn’t have one in my opinion, especially one that isn’t yet eight winters.”

Elowen’s face fell, and then she glared up at Collen.  “Said who?  I can be whoever I want to be!”  Elowen then blushed as Collen grinned at her.  She had fallen for one of his jokes again.

“All right, hurry up!  You might miss your lesson!” he said, pretending to kick her but Elowen was already racing down the hallway.

* * *

Elowen took a deep breathe as she stepped into the kitchens.  While the rest of the castle was for the most part quiet and sleeping, the kitchens were rarely ever still.  There was always somebody mixing broths, baking bread, butchering the pigs, or seasoning the goose for the Lord’s supper.  And there was always dishes to clean.

Elowen dodged through the crowd and the servants were surprised to see her in boy’s clothes, but they couldn’t ever mistake the curly blonde head that could never seem to brush out the tangles.   

Elowen found who she was looking for.  Sitting before a fire was a plump old lady with sleeves rolled up to the elbows and dirty hair tied back in a rag.  “Margie!” squealed Elowen, throwing herself before the servant’s feet.  Marguerite smiled at the rosy face beaming up at her.  

“”Morning, child!  What are you doing today?”

“Remember!  Today I get to go practice with Father!”
“Oh!  Of course!  Now there’s your breakfast right there, little missy!”

Elowen grabbed a clay bowl that was piled with tasteless but still hot porridge, and there was some fresh goat cheese melted on baked bread.  She seated herself next to Marguerite again, putting her bare feet on the hearth so the fire could warm them.

They shared a comfortable silence, but then Marguerite broke it.  “You know, I don’t approve a young lady like you learning how to fight with swords.”

“But Margie!” said Elowen, with an exasperated tone.  “A Lady herself shouldn’t pluck a chicken’s feathers off!”

“That’s different!”  That’s what Marguerite was doing so now, taking off the feathers of a dead chicken for the evening meal.  “Any girl, even if she is the second cousin of King Isaac--Lord bless him--should learn how to get messy!”

“And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing today!” Elowen beamed.  She put the bowl back on the table where it was swept away by some maid to be washed and put away.

“Just don’t come back covered in mud!  I’ll draw your evening bath for you and....”

But Elowen was scarcely listening as she struggled to pull her boots and socks on--or as well as she good as she hopped about on one leg.

“Lady Elowen!  You are not leaving this castle with hair like that!”

Elowen groaned and sat down as Marguerite washed her hands.  There was no getting around Marguerite when the old woman put her mind to it, and Elowen had tried before to argue.   Marguerite fished a wooden comb out of her apron pocket and began to brush Elowen’s thick, curly hair.  It was quite beautiful but wild and hard to tame, very much like the girl it was on.  With a sigh, Elowen put on her boots and warm woolly socks (though not in that order, mind you!), and then grinned when she spotted a familiar dark gray lump.  There were many fires in the kitchens, and lying before one of the bigger ones was a huge wolfhound, dozing.

Elowen clapped her hands thrice and the big dog lifted his head, but then rolled over and didn’t move.  Elowen groaned and then flinched as Marguerite began to braid her hair tightly back.  “Alfred!  Get over here, now!” Elowen said.  Her voice wasn’t very loud, but the wolfhound heard it.

The dog got up and then made his way over to Elowen.  The servants flinched and moved out of the way.  Alfred really was a huge dog, and even though Elowen was a tall child, she was only a few inches taller than Alfred’s head.  When Alfred stood up on his hind legs, he was as tall as Lord Stefan.

Alfred rolled over in front of Elowen, and she grinned as she ran her hands over his wiry, long gray hair.  Even though he was a huge beast and was a swift hunter, he was gentle and patient, and as a baby he didn’t mind when Elowen yanked on his fine hair, played chase with his tail, or climbed on his back as if he was a horse.

“Alright, I’m done,” Marguerite finally said.  Elowen jumped up in excitement, her now

crazy hair out of her face.

“Goodbye!” she cried.

“Goodbye, child!  Be safe!” said Marguerite.

“Come on, Alfred!  Come on!” she said.  Alfred got up and Elowen began to sprint as fast as her legs would take her, the dog loping after her, but not before Elowen snuck a juicy red apple.

Blah!

Blah!  I'm such a despicable creature!  I'm so sorry for not updating!  I'm such a little twerpozoid.  :)  But believe me, it's hard to update your blog!  Sometimes you don't know what to write about!  But I'll post something very soon.  :)  It's a story I'm working on, so enjoy!

-Madeline

WindWarrior

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIND_WARRIOR!!  Hope it's a good one!!  :D
Wind_Warrior is an awesome girl on YWP NaNoWriMo who has a birthday in April.  :)
-Madeline

The Easter Bunny

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!!!

In celebration of this holiday, I remembered a small story I wrote when I was seven.  A small, simple story that was my first 'novel/book' ever completed.  Even at that young age, that is still the only one that is finished. ;)

It is a sweet little story about the Easter Bunny and his son: Little Cottontail.  Little Cottontail is a type of bunny that are sooo cute!  Don't you just want to squeeze it death (not really I hope!)?

Well, let's get onto my little story of mine, and I hope you enjoy it!  Please a little comment for my little self.  I still get excited over this, and have a great Easter!  Don't spend all day at the computer screen and remember that Easter isn't about the candy and the bunnies and the food but the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

-Madeline

The Lost Easter

Bunny

       Once Upon A Time, The Easter Bunny was making Easter eggs for all the children.  He put all the Easter eggs in a basket, then he took the basket in his paws, said goodbye to his wife and his son Little Cottontail, then he hopped away. While he was delivering Easter eggs he fell in to a TRAP!  He yelled and yelled for help.

       Back at the house Mrs. Bunny and Little Cottontail were in the garden picking carrots, radishes, cabbage and other good things to eat.  Suddenly, Little Cottontail’s ear perked up from the cry.  He dropped his basket and hopped away from the garden.  Mrs. Bunny picked up Cottontail’s vegetables and brought them inside the house.  She made a salad. 

She thought that Little Cottontail was at his friend’s house.  She got her cape and walked to Little Paw’s house.  When she asked if Little Cottontail was there they said no, so she just walked home.  She knew that he would be home in time for dinner.  But when dinner came he was not there.  So, she jumped up and hopped out the door.

       Meanwhile, Little Cottontail was in a neighborhood.  He saw his father in a cage.  Little Cottontail started nibbling hard at the cage with his two front teeth.  At the same time Mrs. Bunny was hopping as fast as she could go.  When she saw the neighborhood she hopped toward it and peeked over fences.  She could not see any Easter eggs and the children’s baskets were all empty.  “That’s odd,” she thought to herself. 

       Just then she caught a scent.  She sniffed hard… it was Little Cottontail’s!  She turned her head and saw his fluffy white tail and started hopping towards it.  She was so focused on his tail that she did not see the trap!  She jumped right in. Cottontail heard it—“Bang!”  He stopped nibbling on the hard metal and turned his head.  “Mom,” said Little Cottontail. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
       Just then a man stepped out of a truck.  Little Cottontail leaped in a hole.  The man put the two bunnies in the back of the truck. The engine started. Cottontail peered out of the hole. Something shinny caught his eye… it was the cage key!  He leaped out of the hole, grabbed the key in his mouth, leaped on the truck, and unlocked the cages.  His mom and dad hopped out.

       They hopped out of the truck, then hopped out of the neighborhood.  Through the forest they ran until they got home.  In their little house they slept for a long time.  Finally the Easter Bunny got up and made some eggs, then he put them in a huge sack (he lost his basket), threw it over his shoulders and out the door he went to deliver Easter eggs.

The End

Blogs!

Blah, I'm a horrible updater, but hey, I've been busy with school and writing my novels!

Since my friends (namely Kylee, Abby, Katie, and Aubree, loves!) love to read my stuff and I don't update 24/7, I have been 'feeding them' my fanfiction novels!

The first is about Lord of the Rings.  (THE BEST SERIES EVER!!!)  Lord of the Rings which was first got me writing, and I created a character to travel along with the Fellowship, a human girl named Laurana.  You can read more about her adventures here: http://lordoftheringslaurana.blogspot.com/

The second is about Harry Potter, the book that first got me into reading!  I also created a character: a half-blood girl named Emma Roth.  Compared to other fanfics I've read, I think mine is more realistic, but you can be the judge of that.  :)  http://emmarotherharrypotter.blogspot.com/

So that's it!  Please check them out and leave comments on there and maybe even follow it.
Love ya!  :)

-Madeline

Theseus and the Minotaur: A Novel

Hey!  This is a novel I am currently writing.  We all know about the Greek tale of Theseus and the Minotaur where a prince goes on an island as a tribute (Suzanne Collins was very clever with this and the gladiators!) to be sacrificed to a wretched creature: the Minotaur.  Theseus ends up killing the beast, and going home wit Ariadne.  In History, I learned more about this and the island it takes place on: Crete.

In Crete they did something called bull jumping, and with this I created a story about a young girl named Thaleia who becomes a bull jumper and when she is older falls in love with Theseus and helps him out of the maze.

It's unedited and it was very hard to write the beginning and might not make to much sense, but enjoy!  

-Madeline

The

Minotaur

A Novel of Theseus and the Minotaur

Chapter One

I couldn’t show my fear.  I couldn’t show how my legs were shaking, how the sweat was pouring down my face.  It would be shameful to do so.  But I was nervous.  This wasn’t a bad thing; if you were completely confident Master Cleon would slap you on the head with his palm and tell you you would die the moment you entered the arena.

But even though I was nervous, I was also leaping for joy.  After years of training to flip and twirl off small animals and doing complicated twists in the air, I was ready for what every child in Crete dreamed of: to be a bull jumper.

Two other youths were waiting to go into the arena with me.  Adelphe was standing tall but was clutching her stomach; Aetios was crouching down low, his dark hair falling in his eyes.  Like me they were both dressed in loose tunics, with nothing on our feet.

Adelphe glanced my way and gave me a tight smile.  “You’ll be fine, Thaleia.  You’re first bull jumping is always the scariest, but nothing will happen to you.”

I gave a slight nod.  This was my first bull jumping.  I had practiced on sheep when I was a child and for the past year off of gentle cows, but this was different.  Not only was I coming a few months earlier into the arena for one my age, this was the ceremony of the gods; the beginning of the new year.  We were one of the first acts, followed by more advanced jumpers, but it was still an honor.  But I had seen the beast we would be jumping off of.  A huge bull with long ivory horns and huge muscles rippling under shiny black hair.

In the arena, three children were currently leaping off gentle cows, twirling in the air.  That was what I was doing last year.  Then they finished, and all

too soon it was our turn.  “You’ll do fine,” whispered Adelphe, giving me a hug.

Aetios smiled up at me from where he was drawing in the dirt with his finger.  “If you do half as well as you did last night during practice, you should be great.”

Then the conch horn blew, and they were shouting our names.  I was sure my stomach was full of butterflies, and I whispered a hurried prayer to the gods to protect me and keep me safe while still giving a splendid performance.

We all ran into the huge arena.  It was in a huge circle, and my fellow Cretans were in the stand, cheering and shouting.  They wore brilliant colors that dazzled the eyes, and their dark eyes shone with delight.

While Adelphe and Aetios cartwheeled off to the side, I took a running leap.  I twirled twice through the air like I did so many times and then landed on my hands, using my weight to pull me back on my feet.  The crowd roared with approval.  I smiled and then did two more of these.  My last twirl was a giant running start and the doing a flip in the air and landing on Aetios‘ back, holding myself up with my arms.  Everyone screamed, and I beamed.  If this was what a bull jumper did, I loved shining in the spotlight!

I jumped off his back and we ran to our correct positions in the arena.  Then, the crowd screamed as one.  The huge wooden gate where the animal was kept was suddenly thrown open.  The bull stumbled into the clearing, and my stomach knotted in fear once more.  He was bigger than I remembered.  There was nothing to stop him from him killing me.  His huge ivory horns were covered in gold bracelets, his cloven hooves raked up the dust of the arena.  His eyes were dark and angry, and then he snorted and charged toward Aetios.  I wanted to scream, but restrained myself.  My friend would be torn to shreds with those horns!

This was every bull jumpers fear, the moment when the bull you were jumping could kill you or you could jump and break your neck or bone, or worse.  But that was the dangerous thrill of the sport.

Aetios stood his ground as the bull charged toward him, and at the last second he took a leap.  The horns almost caught his tunic but Aetios safely landed behind the creature, rolling skillfully to the ground.  The crowd cheered.

The beast wheeled around to try and chase Aetios, but Adelphe began to do cartwheels while shouting, to get the beasts attention.  She did the same thing that Aetios did, and the crowd roared again.

Then it was my turn.  The beast charged toward me, and I stood my ground.  And then at the last second I jumped into the air.  I clenched my hands around the ivory horns, pulling my body up into the air.  The crowd screamed and whistled.  The bull then threw his head and I let go, landing behind him on my feet.  Sweat poured down my body, but I was grinning.  That was amazing!  My first bull jump ever!  I bowed and waved cheekily to the crowd, and they laughed.

I then turned around.  The bull was chasing Aetios again, who was sprinting.  Adelphe and I made our way toward him.  As Aetios ran right in front of the bull, she and I cartwheeled in front of him as well.  The creature was confused who to chase!

He chose me again, and I sprinted along the wall as the crowd laughed.  I stayed right in front of him to cause the crowd to laugh in fear, but far away so I wouldn’t be killed.  Aetios joined me and we danced to the side.  We did flips again and my stomach tightened again, but I landed safely.

For the last act I grabbed the bull’s horns again but landed on his back, standing.  It reeled to the side and I almost lost my footing, but I grabbed onto his horns.  He charged madly around, but then here it was: in a split second Aetios and Adelphe did a handstand on the bull before falling off.  I did as well, and as the crowd madly cheered the three of us raced toward the safety of the wall.

I jumped up with Adelphe, and with her help pulled Aetios safely, his legs narrowly missing the bull’s horns.  In a sweaty heap we all cheered and laughed and hugged each other.  We had all survived!

Our trainer appeared out of nowhere, beaming.  Grabbing our hands we danced in a silly circle and Master Cleon gave us all firm hugs.  We had done it!  We were now true bull jumpers.  In the few moments it took for some workers to get the bull out of the arena, we ran back out.

The crowd madly cheered, and I bowed.  They then began to throw roses and necklaces of seashells, and I smiled as I picked them up.  To please them again, in unison we took a running start once more, did a flip, landed on our hands at the same time, before finally landing on our feet.

And then we bowed low to our king.  He was an older man, but still was strong and lean.  His pepper-gray hair was streaked with white, and he had cold eyes.  He was dressed in finery as he sat on his bejeweled throne, eating fine treats and sipping from golden cups.  Beside him was his daughter.  She was dressed in the finest clothing, golden bracelets and precious stones on her arms.  She was so beautiful, with her thick brown curls and beautiful green eyes, and a flawless expression.  Aridane was three years older than I was, reaching the end of her childhood at twelve.  She smiled at me, and King Minos nodded.  Adelphe and I smiled, and I noticed that Princess Aridane eyes lingered on Aetios.  

We then walked respectfully away, waving and smiling at the crowds.  In the darkness of the tunnel we laughed.  “We did it!  We did it!” cheered Aetios.

“You did amazing!” said Adelphe, giving me a hug.

I sighed, happy to be out of the arena, but waiting excitedly for the day I would go and jump over a bull again.

Was it good, bad? Leave it in the comments! If I get one, I shall dedicated the next part to that commenter! :)

-Madeline

Popstar Love 2

Oh my goodness! I'm so evil. I haven't posted in forever! Grr!! Well, here is more of Popstar Love. I have been writing a TON but not on this. :)

Anyway, enjoy! :)

And any band names would be awesome! Thanks!

-Madeline

As Taylor told me about Cash, I glared at the road.  How dare he do that to my best friend!  Looking at my face, Taylor laughed as she usually did when she was nervous.  “Alright Dani, let’s turn on the radio again.”

She turned it on, and we sang to the familiar lyrics, until a new song came up.  It was the huge one, the one that kids would sing all the time and drive everyone crazy.  The lyrics were amazing and the voices were great at singing.  When the song ended I stared at Taylor in shock.  “They...they sounded better than Tyler Rush!” I cried.

She laughed.  “I know!”

“They were boys, right?”

“Oh yeah.  And they are so cute!” squealed Taylor excitedly.  “They’re called One Direction, and there are five boys that are the cutest!”

I grinned.  “Lemme look them up!” I dug into my purse and grabbed my iPhone.  I tried to look them up on Safari, but sadly there was no internet.  “Dang!  There’s no internet,” I said, putting it back.

“Oh, well.  They are super cute.  Ooh!  Look!  There’s the airport!” said Taylor.  She suddenly got off the highway and we went to the airport, trying to find a parking spot.  But there was no need.  Standing in front of the airport with all her bags and boxes was Evangeline Jones.

We both squealed and I jumped out of the car giving her a huge hug.  “Evangeline!” I cried.  

“Hey, Dani!” said Evangeline, putting her back on the ground.

I stood back and looked at her.  She was dressed stylishly as always, probably even wearing one of her own clothing.  Out of us all, Evangeline was the one that loved to shop for clothing and would wear fancy stuff, wearing the best clothes.  She had been working in Chicago for a year now with a fashion designer, and she loved her job designing clothes.  Out of the three of us, Evangeline was the shortest and the most delicate looking.  She had beautiful dark hair and big soulful hazel eyes and perfect skin.  But when I looked into her face, I saw weariness and bags, and her eyes looked a little red.  Taylor wasn’t joking, she was still sobbing over the loss of her boyfriend of three years.

“Evie!!” squealed Taylor.  She jumped out of the car and tackled Evangeline, giving her a huge hug.

“Hey Taylor!” said Evangeline with a laugh.  I began to pick up all of Eve’s bags and put it in the trunk.  While the other girls helped.  In no time we were once more on the road.  Evangeline sat in the back as we all laughed and talked about all the things we were going to do.

After a few hours of singing ourselves hoarse and running low on water and chips and other snacks faithful Evangeline bought, we pulled over at a gas station.  We raced each other to the restroom, and I was grateful after the long car ride.

While Evangeline bought some more snacks, I went over by Taylor, who was filling up the gas tank.  As we chit-chatted, a pickup truck with a huge trailer and an awesome Suburban pulled in, followed by an awesome motorcycle.  “Gosh, are they moving?” I joked.

Taylor shrugged.  The doors opened, and out came the passengers, the motorcycle squealing up to fill up.  There were five boys, and they were all very handsome--the kind of kids you find at the jock’s table or those ‘boy-bands’ they talk about on tv.  They all joked and laughed and nudged each other excitedly, the one with the dark hair that had rode the motorcycle went inside, followed by one with curly hair.

The other three boys were filling up their tanks, and Taylor and I stared transfixed.

“Are they cuter than Tyler Rush?” I whispered.

Taylor shrugged.  “I dunno, but I wanna meet them!” she said.  I grabbed her arm and rolled my eyes with a laugh.  

“Ah, Taylor, a little too boy crazy are we?” I said.

Taylor blushed.  She suddenly took a step toward me and whispered in my ear.  “The super cute blonde one is watching you.”

I turned around and saw indeed one of them was watching me.  He had thick, wavy sandy blonde hair and a perfect athletic build, and I blushed.  He, too, looked away quickly when he saw I noticed.

Just then Evangeline came out, her arms full of goodies.  I immediately went to help her, and then we all got in the car.  Taylor blared on the radio, and my favorite song came up by Tyler Rush.

We all began to scream the lyrics, and I laughed as we pulled out.  I stuck my head out the window, and the three boys were staring at me.  I grinned, and waved at them cheekily, and they laughed and waved back.

“I want, I want, I want, but that’s crazy!  I want, I want, I wanted to be loved by you!” we sang.

After a few more songs came on, the same song that was sung by One Direction came on, and Taylor and I laughed as we tried to sing the lyrics.  “Oh!  Hey, Evie, do you have internet?” I asked.  “I wanna see a picture of them!”

Evangeline was silent, and Taylor was focused on the road, trying to figure out where we were.  I turned around, and looked at the back seat.  Evangeline was holding her iPhone.  She was trying to breathe, and her mascara was running down her face with tears.

“Evangeline?” I whispered, touching her arm.

She looked up, her hazel eyes full of sadness.  “Evie, what’s wrong?” I asked.

She sniffed.  “I...I...Cash...Cash want’s me back,” she whispered.

I stared at her, and glanced at Taylor.  For once, Taylor looked angry as she gripped the steering wheel.  “What?  Why?”

She shrugged.  “He...he just texted me and…”

I snatched the phone away though she tried to take it back, but I ignored her.  The jerk had indeed text her, and it wasn’t a long one:

Ev, i wantcha back. luv ya, babe. xoxo

He could at least learn grammar and how to spell, I thought darkly.

“Danielle!  Give it back!” cried Evangeline.

I ignored her, and quickly texted him back.  It wasn’t a nice one, and I gave him a good yelling, but I was proud.  He wouldn’t dare text her back.

“What did you do?” moaned Evangeline as I handed it back to her.

“I told him that he is the biggest jerk for dumping the sweetest girl ever, and that she is partying at the Sand Dune Beaches having the time of her life with her best friends and if he texts you again I am going to come and personally hunt him down,” I said.

Evangeline laughed through her tears.  “Thanks, Dani.  And Taylor.  This vacation is just what we need--free of boys and nights of constant partying.”

“That’s right!” I said, and Taylor rolled down the windows, the wind blowing back our hair.