Stories

The Curse on Rondulf by Tanyel, aged 11, from Welling, London, England.

There once lived a great and powerful Wizard named Rondulf. He was a kind Wizard who would do anything for his people. He had his own village, which was called Thordin. His people were called Thords. They had small wooden houses and each had a stallion and cart.
The men were quite large around the stomach, which meant they were healthy. They had either brown, bushy beards or white, frizzy beards, to tell you if they were old or young. They all hung around the Great Horse and Cart Pub, smoking pipes and gulping down beer, every night.
The women really didn’t have a fair life, because every night when their husbands were down at the pub, they had to do all the cleaning and washing up, but they didn’t mind. They all had long hair, because all the men said it would make their wives look ugly if their hair was short. They never wore any make up, because they never really went anywhere. Everyone seemed to have a great time. But, all of this was about to change.

* * *

One day in the land of Thordin, a Thord named Undi was sleeping happily in his hammock. He was about 5 ft tall and he had brown, thick hair and a short, dark beard. A strange gloominess coming from his window woke him up. Sleepily, he got up pulled the curtains back.
“AH! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THORDIN!” he screamed loudly. He shakily went to open his front door.
What a horrid, cruel sight met his eyes. Outside, the sky had turned into a blood-curling reddish black colour. He looked ahead of him and instead of lush, green grass and animals running along happily were a dark, damp ground and fierce, silhouetted animals howling in the blackness. All his friends and their wives were being tortured by some evil devils with red, staring eyes. He ran back into his house and shut the door. “I must go to Rondulfs Tower to see what is going on,” he said quietly. He put on an emerald cloak and walked out. He got on his stallion and he set off.
Once he arrived, instead of looking up to a huge, white marble tower, gleaming in the sun, he saw a tall, foul, spiky tower with poison ivy wrapped around it. Undi gulped and walked in.
Inside, was an everlasting staircase leading to a small wooden door. He quickly ran up it and knocked on the door.
“Enter if you must,” said a menacing gruff voice. Undi entered. In front of Undis eyes was a very long room. It was all pitch black, and the only light was some tiny torches on the walls.
“STUPID VILLAGER! ONLY IMPORTANT PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER MASTER RONDULFS TOWER!” roared one of those tall, devils with red eyes Undi saw before. “No, Bogre. Let him speak. Ah, Undi. What can I do for you?” said Rondulf calmly. “W-where are you?” Undi asked nervously. Rondulf stepped into the tiny light. Undi was so surprised of Rondulfs appearance. He had yellowish-pink skin, and dark coloured hair and beard. He wore grey robes and carried a brown, wooden Staff. “What do you want?” Rondulf asked irritably.
“What has happened to Thordin?” Undi asked.
“Are you blind? Can’t you see? I’ve turned it into a dreamland.”
“How could you? You’ve made our world into a lifeless pit!”
“Do not attempt to raise your voice at me, midget!”
“How dare you! Why have you done this to us?”
“If it will shut your little gob up, I’ll tell you. One night, the brilliant and evil Wizard Strubeck arrived at my doorstep. He managed to get past all my guards and the moment I opened the door, I realized how powerful he actually was. He told me what a novice of Wizardry I was and that if I joined the evil side I would be as strong as him. He also said that I would be able to transform into anything I liked, which was what I had wanted to do all my life. He taught me many things, and has put a brilliant spell on me, and now I worship him for his gratefulness.”
“I don’t believe it. You gave up us: your friends, for that evil old maniac?”
“HOW DARE YOU CALL HIM THAT! I HAVE THE RIGHT MIND TO DESTROY YOU!” He stepped forward, raised his Staff, and a purple jet shot out the tip of it. The mauve jet fired into Undi, and he shot up into the air and landed hard onto the tiled floor.
“This won’t be the last of me, Rondulf! I’ll be back!” Undi shouted angrily. He was so furious he stormed out of the Tower and slammed the door.
Undi knew an old, amateur Wizard named Gondi. He lived on the edge of Crystal Lake. He decided to go there and tell him what happened. He got back on his stallion and off he went, to Crystal Lake.

* * *

Undi got off his stallion and knocked on Gondis door. “Oh! A visitor!” Undi heard Gondi say. He opened the door.
“OH! Undi! Come in! Sit down, and I’ll make some coff- why, Undi, what’s the matter?”
“Oh, Gondi, its terrible,” Undi cried.
“What’s wrong?”
“That stupid Wizard of ours, Rondulf-”
“Stupid? Why, he’s my friend!”
“HE’S MADE OUR VILLAGE INTO HELL! THAT WIZARD, STRUBECK, FORCED RONDULF TO TURN OUR VILLAGE INTO A CRUEL LIVING DEATH!” Undi shouted in an irritable tone.
“How could he? I mean, he was always on the side of good,”
“Exactly! Wait!”
“What is it?”
“I’ve just had an idea…!”

* * *

“Undi, are you sure about this?”
“Of course I am! If we go to Strubecks land, and if we all have enough power, we can destroy Strubeck and break The Curse on Rondulf!”
“But we can’t just go together, we need a swordsman with us, because neither of us have used a sword before.”
“Hmm, good point. I know! You know that fighting centre you spoke about a few years ago?”
“Yes?”
“ You said that your nephew Carsian passed his ultimate test to become a member of the Crystal Tribe?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Oh, Gondi! Use your common sense! He can come with us!”
“Ah! Yes, he can come! Let us hope he will agree, though.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Lets go!”
Gondi and Undi got off the horse and entered Sword Palace. Inside was a group of young men and boys using sword skills in combat. A tall, skinny man with very thick, curly hair and a fit, muscular man with long, blond hair and blond whiskers stood next to him. They looked like the instructors. The fit, blond man was muttering to a young boy who was obviously doing something wrong. The skinny man looked over at Gondi, completely ignoring Undi and mumbled something to the blonde man. “Master Carsian, Wizard Gondi has come,” said the skinny man. The blonde man stood up, and walked over to Gondi. He bowed.
“Wizard Gondi, what brings you here?” he said.
“Carsian, I need you to do me a BIG favour.”
“What kind of favour?”
“I need you to give up your work for my friend here, Undi.” Carsian looked at Undi from head to toe distastefully.
“Hello,” Undi said nervously.
“What do you want me for, Undi?”
“Well, you know the village, Thordin?”
“Yes! My father Rondulf runs it.”
“Well, I have lived there for quite some time, and only yesterday, your father turned evil. He turned our village into a living hell. The evil Wizard, Strubeck has put a curse on your father, and I want you to come with us to destroy Strubeck.” Carsian looked down at the floor in sadness.
“Yes, Undi, I will come.”

* * *

“Wizard Gondi, I think we should take the path through Silver Mountain,” Carsian suggested firmly.
“A-aren’t their Wolfbogs and Grizions through there?” Undi asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry,” said Carsian. “Me and Wizard Gondi will protect you.”
“After all, it is actually the safest way to Grinagerd, Strubecks land,” explained Gondi. After hours of riding on their horses, no one said anything.
“Here we are,” Carsian said proudly all of a sudden. In front of them was a long, narrow snowy path leading up to Silver Mountain and down again. The “Tribe” rode up the mountain, which seemed hard work. While the horses were galloping, a pack of Wolfborgs jumped out of nowhere. They looked exactly like wolves, but except they had light brown fur and skinny bodies. They roared like lions, and suddenly, they all pounced at the horses. They had razor sharp claws, which scratched them. The stallions shook around painfully, which caused the riders to crash to the soft, snowy ground. Carsian got up quickly and with brilliant skill, slashed one of the Wolfbogs several times. Another one jumped on top of Carsians back, but just in time, a fiery red jet pounded the Wolfbog to the ground, which was from Gondis Staff. Carsian struck his sword into a Wolfbog, which was lying on the ground. It howled and lay lifeless once he took his sword out of it. Meanwhile, Undi was sitting down on the snow, praying quietly. “Don’t worry Undi! We will protect you!” shouted Gondi in the blizzard. He was using spells from his Staff, which sent Wolfbogs flying everywhere. Strangely, by the minute, Gondi was glowing and his robes were going whiter.
“Why, Wizard Gondi, you’re glowing!” Carsian shouted in amazement.
“Am I?” Gondi chuckled. He was sending Wolfbogs shooting up into air in all different directions. He sent some falling back down the steep path; he sent some zooming into the distance and never to be seen again. He was getting stronger. Rapidly, all the Wolfbogs were gone, and Carsian had only defeated three, while Gondi had defeated a huge sum of seventeen.
“We’ve done it!” exclaimed Gondi.
“I wonder why you were glowing,” Carsian said.
“Because,” began Undi, “I was praying that we would get past the Wolfbogs safely, and Gondi started getting stronger,” Undi explained.
“Strange,” Carsian whispered in a jealous tone. “Well, lets get going. I think we are nearly through Silver Mountain,” The Tribe got back on their horses and rode on through the snow.
Once they reached the very tip of the mountain, Carsian said, “Now, from here we can slide down because it’s very steep,” Undi laughed nervously.
“You aren’t serious,” he asked. “Are you?” Suddenly, Gondi and Carsian fell down the steep slide. Undi heard Gondi say faintly as he dropped down into the white hole beneath, “I think he is!”
“Oh, no,” Undi whispered. “Well, here it goes!” He shut his eyes and went down. It was like falling down into a giant plughole. He wailed down all the way. Once he reached the ground, he crashed into his horse and flew right into something hard. Once he looked up to see what he went into, he knew he was in trouble.

* * *

“AHHHHHHHH!!!” Undi screamed. He flew right into a Grizion. It was enormously tall, and it was extremely ugly. Its face was squashed up like a slug, and it was covered in mud. It had a foul breath and was armed with and axe and bow.
“ROOAAARRR!!!” It bellowed. It punched Undi right into a tree with one of its slimy fists. He charged right at Undi and struck him with his axe. Undi howled with pain. The Grizion pulled out an arrow and said in a gruff voice,
“Bye, midget!” But Undi didn’t die. In fact the Grizion died. When the Grizion was about to fire, Carsian crept quietly behind it. He struck his sword into its back and it fell to its death. But Undi was still in a lot of pain.
“Wizard Gondi, he has a nasty cut in his stomach,” said Carsian.
“Don’t worry, I’ll heal him with my Staff,” A green jet shot into Undis cut and suddenly, it disappeared.
“Thank you,” said Undi. He got up.
“I think you landed on the wrong side of the mountain,” Carsian said. “Well, you’re OK again, so we better get going. There is a small cave somewhere here, and we can go through that. Once we’ve been through the cave, we will be in Strubecks land. I’ve heard rumours that a cave troll lives in the cave. They are very strong and dangerous, so we will need a lot of strength. Lets go.”
It was very dark inside the cave. It seemed very narrow, and the Tribe had to walk in single file.
“I don’t know how a fat thing like a troll can move around in this place,” said Carsian when they were nearly there.
Suddenly, the Tribe heard a grunting noise.
“What in the world-” Carsian couldn’t finish his sentence. There in front of them was a 15 ft tall cave troll. Its skin colour was greenish-blue and it had the exact same face as the Grizion. The Tribe noticed that around its huge foot was a heavy, steel chain. “Cave troll!” Gondi yelled. “Father of Grizions!” He stepped forward and sent out a blue jet from his Staff. Even though it done little damage, the troll lost its balance, and nearly fell over. The troll immediately set its beady eyes on Undi. With one huge hand, it swiped Undi from the floor.
“Why is it always me?” Undi asked angrily. Carsian leapt onto the trolls enormous back and struck his sword in it. The troll wailed and shook around madly.
“ROAAAAHHH!!!” it screamed. Carsian felt dizzy while he was being shaken around, and he fell onto the hard earth. The troll turned around and gave a huge grin at the injured Carsian. It picked up Carsians sword and threw it directly into his stomach. Gondi was furious with this and with all his might set out a huge jet of lightening, right into the trolls’ back. It gave a shriek, and silently collapsed to the ground, dead. Undi rolled out of the trolls’ hand, and to Gondis surprise, was completely unharmed.
“I’m OK, but Carsian seems to be injured,” Undi said.
“Where is he?” Gondi asked.
“Uggh…over here…” said a weak voice. It was coming from under the trolls’ hand.
“CARSIAN!” Gondi yelled. He lifted the trolls’ heavy hand and looked at Carsian who was covered in blood.
“Go on…without me…” he said.
“NEVER!” Gondi cried.
“You…must…”
“No!” Carsian stopped breathing. He wasn’t moving at all.
Out of nowhere, a menacing gruff voice was heard, and to Undi it sounded very familiar. “Ha ha ha! My cave troll has killed your swords man! Ha ha ha!”
“STRUBECK! BREAK THE CURSE ON RONDULF OR ELSE!”
“Or else what?”
“OR ELSE WE WILL COME AND DO IT OURSELVES!”
“We? Ha, who’s we? Don’t tell me it’s midget boy!”
“How dare you call him that! Beware Strubeck! We are coming!”
“Come on Undi. We will have to go on without Carsian,” Gondis eyes were filled with tears.
“OK. Here we come, Strubeck!”

* * *

Strubeck's village was no better than Rondulfs. It had the same darkness, the same fierce animals, the same blood curling sky, but the only difference was the villagers themselves. They seemed to be shabby looking, and very pale and thin. They were almost dying. While Gondi was riding Undi's horse, a pale old woman wearing rags starting begging. Gondi couldn’t do anything, so he just rode on.
Strubeck's Tower looked exactly the same as Rondulf's. Gondi and Undi got off the horse and went in. The entrance was different. Instead of a staircase, was a huge door in front of them. Two Bogres armed with spears were guarding the huge door. “Yes?” one of them grunted. Neither Gondi nor Undi answered. Instead, Gondi knocked the two out by hitting them against the Tower wall with his Staff. Gondi broke the door down with his foot. Inside was a tiny room, with a dim torch hanging from the ceiling. Two more Bogres appeared in front of them.
“OI! GET OUT! YOU’RE NOT ALLO-” before the Bogre could finish his sentence, Gondi let out a powerful blast from his Staff, which sent the Bogres flying out the window.
“STRUBECK, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!” Gondi demanded furiously. “IF I WIN, YOU WILL BREAK THE CURSE ON RONDULF. IF YOU WIN, THE YOU KEEP RODULFS LAND THE SAME AS IT IS NOW!”
“No!” Undi whispered. Gondi fixed him with a fierce frown, which shut Undi up.
“Challenge accepted,” agreed Strubeck calmly. “Follow me to my duelling arena,” he beckoned. The arena was lit well, and when Gondi saw Strubeck for the first time, he looked exactly the same as Rondulf, except he had a grey beard. “On the count of three,” said Gondi. “One, two, three!!!” Strubeck shot out a black jet at Gondi. With quick reflexes, Gondi blocked it. “HA!” he said. He stepped forward, and a ray of emerald green blasted out of his Staff. Luckily, it knocked Strubeck flying, but he soon got back to his feet. “Good,” he said, “But not good enough!” He swung his Staff in a circle gesture. A black circle appeared.
“BLOCK THIS!” Strubeck laughed maniacally. It rapidly went into Gondi, and he launched right into a wall. He was injured, but wouldn’t give up. He was about to use a spell on Strubeck, when out of nowhere; another black ball flew into Gondi. He was bleeding and looked like he had lost. Again and again, Strubeck sent out the black balls, and at any moment, Gondi would die.
“FACE IT, GONDI, I’VE WON!” While Gondi was lying on the floor, he remembered something.
“I must do this for Undi, and especially Carsian. Carsian might come back to life if I break the Curse.”
He felt a surge of power run through him, exactly the same as when he defeated all those Wolfbogs.
“What the-” Strubeck began. Gondi stood up and raised his Staff. A massive ball of power was at the tip of his Staff. He stepped forward and let it out. It shot right into Strubeck, and he went flying through the wall. “You…win…the…curse…has…broken…and …your…people…are…safe…” Strubeck was defeated. Gondi looked out the window, and gradually the world outside became lighter, and the villagers became happy again. “Well, Undi we’ve done it,” Gondi chuckled.
“Hooray!” Undi sang delightedly.

* * *

On the way back through the cave, Gondi saw a body lying on the floor.
“Oh, no! It didn’t work!” yelled Undi.
“Yes, it did,” said a voice. Carsian suddenly stood up, and smiled.
“WE DID IT! YOU’RE ALIVE! IT’S A MIRACLE!” Undi yelled happily.
“Well done, you broke the curse,” Carsian said weakly.
“Yes! Come on lets go back to Thordin. This calls for a celebration in the Horse and Cart pub…”
Once they arrived, Thordin was just how it always was. A jolly, happy, wonderful village. Everyone was at the Horse and Cart pub (Even the women, who got a break off working). Undi, Carsian and Gondi went to Rondulfs Tower, which was back to normal.
They entered in Rondulfs Room. Instead of ugly Bogres, were jolly musicians playing violins and trumpets. And it was full of life once again.
“GONDI! My friend! How are you?”
“I’m fine. You done a very bad thing, you know that?” Gondi chuckled.
“Yes, sorry.” He laughed too. “Undi! Lovely to see you again! Oh, Carsian, my son! Keeping well?”
“Yes, father,” Carsian answered firmly.
“I’d like to thank you all for doing such a brave thing for me. This calls for a celebration, don’t you think?” With a click of his fingers, a very long table with all different kinds of food was in front of them. Bright coloured balloons appeared and the musicians were dressed in dance uniforms. Everyone was having a great time, when eventually, it was over. All the party equipment faded away, and Rondulf said,
“Ah, time flies when your having fun, doesn’t it? Well, Gondi, hope to see you soon, son, take care, and Undi, see you tomorrow. Goodnight everyone.”
The Tribe walked out the Tower.
“Well, this is it. I’ll never forget what has happened. Hope to see you soon,” said Undi.
“Bye, old chum,” said Gondi.
“Farewell, see you soon.” Carsian said. Undi watched Carsian and Gondi walk further and further away from him.
“Goodbye, my friends,” he whispered sadly.

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