"I-we are," Gregor was a little out of breath from fighting the sea monsters and storm and horrible waters that had ravaged the ship as they entered the port, "sorry, out of breath a little. We are Sarah and Gregor Strike with several of the best elite Federation troops. We heard about your little Graggle problem and we were wanting to help. You see we-" the shore guardian raised his hand to stop Gregor.
"Follow me. I will take you to see our king." Gregor smiled at Sarah, who gave her brother a thumbs up. The group followed the shore guard through dead and deescalate forests. There was no life around them. Everything was burnt to a crisp or dying from starvation. The ground was cold and hard, the air was foul and thick, the once great land of Daneland was dead.
The hike was finally over and the group approached a disintegrating castle. The shore guardian spoke with the guard at the door for a moment and then bid his farewell. The door guard knocked on the large wooden doors until a small scribe appeared. The poor boy looked terrified of everything and skinnier than a stick with meat on it. The guard talked to the boy for a moment and then the boy ran back inside.
"Are we going to be able to speak with your king?" Sarah asked the guard, who rudely ignored her.
"I would answer her. She doesn't take well to being ignored." Gregor mentioned.
"I do not speak to lowly wom-" WHAM! Sarah sucker punched the guard before he could finish his sexist comment.
"What was that again?" The guard righted himself and wiped the blood from his mouth.
"The king will be here to greet you all momentarily. Please be patient."Gregor coughed in a poor attempt to cover his laugh.
"Thank you kind sir." Sarah walked back to her brother and winked at him. That was how she got stuff done.
"You didn't really need to punch him, did you?" Gregor whispered.
"Maybe, maybe not." Sarah responded.
The boy soon returned with an old man draped in silvers and purples and an only slightly younger woman behind him dressed in the same colors, bright red braids of hair hung on either side of her head.
"Welcome my friends! I am King Claudes and this is my queen, Queen Flora The Beautiful. What has brought you to my lands?" Gregor stepped forward and explained the situation again and the king and queen nodded.
"I will not wish you luck, since I believe your quest is a suicide mission, but I will wish you good passage to the other world and a warm place to rest for the night. Come! We shall place food in your belly and wine upon your tongues!" The king turned and everyone followed.
"I love when we find planets stuck in the medieval age. It is so much fun to play knights!" Gregor confessed to Sarah.
"I know! Me too! Wait till we pull out our big guns and scare the crap out of that Graggle!" The two talked about their odd enjoyments and then moved on.
There was a great feast that night with the last of the Daneland people, to honor the great heros that had come to "save" the land.
One of the remaining Daneland knights had a problem with that however.
"And where have you all been for the last twenty years? Why are you just now making it to us? And why would they send the bounty hunters that are the laughing stock of the galaxy? I don't trust them. I say, we throw them out and never let them return!" A few hoo-rahs of agreement sounded, but the croud was silent otherwise.
"First of all, we only just received a distress signal from this planet. If we had known anytime earlier in the past twenty years, we would have come then. Second of all, I don't see you getting out there and doing anything about this problem, Sir. Third of all, we are the most well known, well respected, most kick-ass and take names, duo you will find in this section of the galaxy. The fact that you, a single person on this small planet, so far away from where we do most of our work, know who we are, just goes to show how well known we are. So, if you want us to leave, then we will. But, if you know who we are, then you know what we are capable of, and I don't think you really want that." Gregor sat back and sipped his wine as Sarah took over defending the crew. She was the one who was better at that sort of stuff. Gregor just wanted everyone to get along.
"My dear Sarah, I am sure the words of one replaceable knight has not upset you too much. His words do not reflect the feelings of us all. Please, sit and enjoy the rest of your meal. When you are finished, I shall show you to your rooms." The king sat, the knight sulked, and the merriment resumed.
Author's note: this storytelling is based on Beowulf. I only read half of the unit and I didn't manage to get the big fight, otherwise I probably would have retold that one. I actually stuck pretty close to the original story line. Warriors, lead by Beowulf, go to Daneland (I couldn't think of a better name so I just didn't change it...) are met by the shore guardian after going through all sorts of hell to dock the boat. The guardian takes them to the castle, they talk to a boy from the castle who fetches the king, and then the king takes them in and eventually there is a feast. At the feast, there is a knight who has problems with Beowulf and calls him a coward and a failure. Beowulf informs him otherwise. The king settles the argument and the feast continues until everyone goes to bed. Really I just changed the names of some people and added my spacey, futuristic flair.
I didn't read Beowulf this week, but I have read it in high school. I think my favorite part of your story is when Sarah punches the guard, because that is exactly what Beowulf would do if he was being disrespected haha. I like how confident Gregor and Sarah are, because the King called for them, so he definitely recognizes their skills. This is a great adaptation of this scene!
ReplyDelete