Wilcroft Chronicles: The Waterfall Warrior , livre ebook

Troubador Publishing Ltd - B Lewis Owen

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126 pages

English

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Description

Hannah is a hotel worker, who struggles with depression after a trauma in her childhood and a toxic ex-boyfriend.Callum is a student, questioning his own sanity since a strange young man appeared on the other side of his mirror.When Hannah disappears, her brother Callum determines to find her. His journey leads him to Epping Forest and a mysterious waterfall. But Hannah has fallen through a portal to another world. Together with a Warrior called Fay, she must unveil the secret of the ancient prophecy before Therrhain is destroyed...The Waterfall Warrior is a YA fantasy novel that also tackles normal day-to-day themes, such as discrimination and mental health. The central plot is that Hannah falls into another world which is both similar and very different to our own, and we experience this strange new place with her. At the same time, we also see the repercussions as Callum and the rest of her family do their best to cope with her disappearance.

Sujets

Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)

Fantasy

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	10 septembre 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781800466296
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Copyright © 2021 Owen B. Lewis

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Cover artwork designed by Yu-Hsuan Tseng

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To George, Mum and Dad

Contents
Cross Paths
Train Thoughts
Cobbles End
Café Conversations
Wilcroft
Broken Glass
Christmas
Osrell
Epping Forest
The Bridge
The Prophecy
The Bookshop
Carol’s Conflict
Aquatic Falls
Mirrors
The Wrong Warrior
Rescue
Home

i
Cross Paths
Hannah
Walking through the forest brought back so many memories. It seemed smaller than it had when I was a child. I remembered the time I had fallen over a branch, the one that was still sticking out menacingly between the trees. It had made me fall and cut my knee. I had cried for hours.
I used to play there with Chloe, Laura and Callum. They were my only friends back then. It was a time in my life before I realised you could have friends that were not part of your family. We used to use sticks as swords and playfight with each other. We even made dens with blankets.
There was a house there that looked as though it was about to collapse. It used to belong to my grandparents, Grumbles and Numbles I called them for some strange reason. Back then I used to think this forest was their garden.
When I passed this area, I could almost smell the cooked dinner that my grandmother used to make. It had always tasted as good as it smelt. My mouth was watering. The memory cheered me up but not for long.
I was now further into the forest. I wasn’t very familiar with this part. We were told to never cross this point when we were kids, or we would be in “very serious trouble”. It was hard to believe it now, as this part of the woods felt very innocent and peaceful compared with the rest. The ground was flatter, there were no stones to graze your knees if you fell, and no hills to climb and fall down.
I came across the stump of a tree. It was right in the middle, all by itself. Lines of trees standing tall on either side of it, squashed together like sardines.
I went and sat down on the stump. Without even a thought I broke down and cried for about ten minutes. I didn’t understand why I suddenly felt so upset. I was feeling low, but I didn’t think I was as bad as all that. Then something startled me. The strangest, but most beautiful sound. Someone was singing.
I looked up and tried to get a sense of where it was coming from. I wiped my eyes and jumped up. I then walked in what I believed to be the right direction. The voice was getting louder and louder as I delved even deeper into the forest.
Eventually I came to the top of a small cliff, which was odd because I thought I was on low ground. Perhaps this was the area our grandparents never wanted us to reach. All the times I had come back to roam this forest as an adult, whenever I was feeling down, I’d never come across this part. I’d never known it existed. I was still in the forest, but there were fewer trees about. I looked down and saw a waterfall. The sun gleaming down made the water sparkle. It looked magical but something didn’t seem right. I didn’t think there were waterfalls like this in England. I stared at it, mesmerised, but then I heard it again and looked down. The woman was sitting at the bottom of the waterfall. The singing seemed to be coming from her.
I made my way down the slope and walked quietly as close as I could get to hear her singing more clearly. When I was near her, I hid behind a bush and watched her as she sat gracefully in the pool of water. I could now see her more clearly. Her eyes were bluer than the water next to her. They were more like sapphires. Her face looked soft, but her body was strongly built.
When she sang, it sounded unlike any language I had ever heard before. The melody was more appealing than anything I would hear on my car radio. Time stood still and for the first time in my life, my mind was not focussing on the past or the future. I was just enjoying what was happening to me right now.
I decided to give her a name. I called her the Waterfall Warrior. She was dressed in a leather top, trousers and boots, with armour protecting her chest. Her arms covered with gauntlets. Still and dignified.
She suddenly stopped singing and stood up. There was a sword hanging from her belt. I crouched even further behind the bush, scared she might see me. From what I could make out, her eyes were gazing at the forest.
Eventually she stopped and turned around. She walked towards the waterfall, stepped through, and vanished.
I waited for a few minutes to see if she would appear again. She didn’t, so I got up, brushed the dirt from my knees, took a leaf from my hair and scurried towards the waterfall.
I stepped into the pool that she’d been standing in just a few moments ago. The water felt comforting. I wasn’t expecting that sort of reaction. I slowly walked closer to the waterfall. I reached out my hand and placed the tips of my fingers under the falling water. It felt cool and tranquil. Next minute I placed my whole hand inside. I felt there was something luring me in.
Once I got inside, the water behind me was trickling down like drizzly rain. This side of the waterfall felt very different. More gravel and no trees. It was dark and looked like the inside of a cave. I crouched and wrapped my arms around myself. I wanted to head back but was intrigued by who the Waterfall Warrior was. I wanted to know her real name and where she came from.
Ahead of me there was a round pool of water. It was bubbling out of a bricked surface and looked like the shape of a small jacuzzi from a mediaeval setting.
As I got closer, I could see whirls of purple colours circling in the blue water, like nothing I had ever seen before. I wanted to reach out my hand. Suddenly, I could feel my face moving closer and closer and my chin getting wet. Next minute my whole face and body was sucked in and under the water.
I felt as though I was descending on a slide, but the speed of it made it feel more as though I was on a rollercoaster. All I could see were lights and dashing colours. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I screamed and closed my eyes.
*
‘Are you all right?’ said a voice.
My eyes opened; my vision was slightly blurry. In front of me I could see an outline of someone. I rubbed my eyes a few times. I could see more clearly now. Staring down at me was a face. It was her. The Waterfall Warrior. I crawled backwards.
‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’
I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure whether to trust her or not. She had a sword, at the end of the day.
‘Are you lost?’ she asked.
I didn’t respond straight away, even though I wanted to.
‘Well?’ she prompted.
‘I’m not sure,’ I said. ‘I was in a forest, and I came across a waterfall and you were there.’
I pointed straight at her and she looked puzzled. I told her everything that had just happened in the cave.
The Waterfall Warrior stared intently at me.
‘I don’t like it when people lie to me,’ she said.
‘I’m not lying!’ I exclaimed. I pulled out my shirt to show I was wet but then I held back, as I realised I was dry as a desert.
I closed my eyes ready for her to slice me in half.
‘I’ve got to go,’ she said.
I opened my eyes and took a quick glance around the cave. I realised it was much smaller than the one I had been in. No further holes or corners to investigate, just a gap for an entrance. No sign of a pool to transport me back to where I came from. The part we were in was literally the whole cave.
‘What do I do? I don’t know how to get back,’ I panicked.
‘Come with me,’ she said.
She held out her hand and without even thinking I clutched on to it for comfort.
We ran together out of the small cave and into a forest. It still had lots of trees and grass scattered everywhere, but the colours were different. The leaves were purple, and the grass was blue. It had been the middle of the day, but now the sky was getting dark, so I assumed it must be early evening.
‘Where are we going?’ I asked.
She didn’t say anything. She just continued running. I struggled to keep up with her.
When she eventually stopped, we were next to an enormous tree. It was probably the largest tree in this forest, though I wasn’t certain. All that running had made the trees blur into one.
The Waterfall Warrior looked at me and frowned, then turned her head and stared at the tree. I think my heavy breathing was annoying her.
She had her eyes closed and was saying words that I coul